One Year Ago I Put Myself Through Hell Week…

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Now begins Hell Week Part II… Today marks the one year anniversary of what I’ve taken to calling my Hell week. Basically, the Saturday before the Mercury Open I took some foot runs in the morning, injured my shoulder (it is still sore to this day), still did 4-high pyramids corning at practice, got stranded on a highway by a broken down truck in extreme heat and humidity, stayed up half the night getting the music ready for the tournament show the next day, and that was just day one.

Rest of the week was just as busy. Lots of skiing, lots of fun.

This year it is looking like I’m doing the same to myself. Kicked off Hell week early by closing down the Come Back In last Sunday night and going to Pat McCurdy on Tuesday. We had practice this morning at 7am, but I still went skiing on my own before that at 530a to get some good runs in on good calm water. Tonight I’m prepping for the tournament tomorrow. Will try to go skiing multiple times a day multiple times this week, Pearl Jam Concert on Friday, Rhythm and Booms on Saturday. More skiing. I love Hell weeks!!!

Good part is I didn’t start the week off with an injury! And the funny part, this is just the busiest week of summer, but not by much. The rest of it is nearly as busy and just as fun.

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Click

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Caught Click last night starring Mr. Adam Sandler. Having seen the previews I went in thinking it was a comedy and it actually starts out that way as well. Then about 1/3 of the way through it changes from a comedy to a drama. To sum up the movie, its message is simple.

Live life for every moment, and savor every minute of it.

It got me thinking a little about my life and I’d like to think that I try to follow that motto, but at times it is difficult because there are times that one needs to relax a little as well.

Anyway, back to the movie… As a movie it is pretty good, but as a comedy you’re not going to like it. It just isn’t a comedy to write home about. Sandler does a good job with his dramatic role and Henry Winkler (aka Fonzie) as his dad is great. The other guest stars are well cast as well. There are some allusions to his other movies, specifically, his neighbors. I liked the movie, but be warned, it isn’t a comedy. And one last thing, next time I go to Bed, Bath & Beyond (yea, I do go there once in a while) I’m going to look for the Beyond section.

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This Looks Bad…

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This is a picture of Mr. Jeff “Cupcake” Jacobson. He’s a really good skier. Doesn’t it look like he is going to smash his head into the top of the jump? In reality, he does this damn near everytime. We even have a picture of him from a year ago that looks even closer. And just like always, he skied away.

Photo from Jim’s Photo’s.

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Jumping Again, More Things to Think About

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Took a jump set on Monday night. Landed all 4 (really is no way not to land a jump) and skied away on 3. Little Rich actually managed to catch a good picture of my landing on the first jump. As you can see, way too much slack in the rope (it should be a straight line). If you look at my arms you can see I’ve pulled up on the rope while in the air. My elbows should be tight to my side, not one in front of me and another behind my shoulder. Now I have pretty broad shoulders, but you can also see my skis are a bit more than shoulder width apart. They should be a little closer together and I need to resist the water more. This picture is just a moment before my ass hits the water. And when that happens, it acts like a giant anchor. Just a few things I picked up from looking at this picture to think about next time…

Now in this picture, from my second jump of the night, you can also see my skis are just a little too spread out. I did a better job of not pulling up on the rope. It is relatively straight and you can my elbows are still tight to my side.

I wish I had a good picture of my fourth jump. It felt like I was going to go out the front and that usually means I’m in about the right position in the air.

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The Break-Up

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I went out and caught The Break-Up last Friday. Would have rather have been skiing, but things didn’t cooperate so I hit the theatre. Took some slack for it from my buddy too. Anyway, back to the movie. My main reason for seeing is it looked like it might be a little bit of a continuation of Swingers, kind of taking up the character of Trent (played by Vince Vaughn) several years later.

Saying it is like Swingers is doing a little disrespect to just how good Swingers was. Now for those of you who don’t know, Swingers, in my opinion is the one and only Guy Flick. Now the ladies in the world have hundreds, if not thousands, of Chick Flicks to choose from. Us guys have one. Luckily, we have a great movie to pick from since our list contains only one choice.

Now back to The Break-Up. Yes, it is a little like Trent’s life a few laters, but it is nowhere near as good as Swingers, but it is just a little bit enjoyable. Just enough where it was worth watching. There is another pretty good video game sequence, once again not as good as the sequence in Swingers, which is the definition what a video game movie sequence should be.

BTW, Jennifer Aniston is in the movie as well, and that never hurts.

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Out of the Sound Booth

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It’s nice when they let me out of the sound booth during the ski shows… Here’s some proof that they actually do let me ski on occasion. They let me ski my favorite act, conventional doubles. It’s not much, but I’m on the water. I’m 3rd from the left in the first picture.

Now if I can only convince them to let me do part of the opening barefoot act. I even have a way to work it into the theme.



These photos are from Jim’s Photos.
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Inspired to do some eights…

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Spray in the sun!

Having watched lots of people do lots of figure eights a couple days before, my buddies and I were inspired to try some of our own. I had a tough time making through the first half of the eight, but was holding my position well until the driver realized he needed to tighten up the corner a little or he’d be too close to shore. When he tightened the turn, my cut was no longer enough to hold my spot and I was whipped through the bubbles.

I’ve posted some action photos that show me holding, holding, whipped… enjoy…

Photo 1: Starting the corner

Photo 2: Holding my spot in the corner

Photo 3: Whipped through the bubbles

As you can see in the last two photos, there is a definate difference the in radius shown by the bubbles. In photo 3 the bubbles are a lot tighter than photo 2. Needless to say, I’ll keep working on it, just need to find a better driver. Until then, I’ll blame the driver (just like any good skier does!)

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Dual in the Weeds

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Last weekend the 2nd Annual Mad-City Dual took place in Monona Bay. It was a successful tournament that ended up with a competition between Bob Manhke and Paul Stokes for the championship and Paul ended up winning.

As I mentioned before, there are a lot of weeds in the bay area. I’ve attached a few pics of the final figure eight and you can see the weeds are evident everywhere.


Notice the weed cutter sitting idle in the background


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Random Thoughts About Sports

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First up, Soccer… Today while eating lunch I caught the end of the World Cup soccer game between Germany and Costa Rica and I ended up learning something new about the game of soccer. I knew they played two 45 minute halves and would go in to overtime or shoot out and the end of regulation if it was tied. I also knew that the clock kept running when the ball goes out-of-bounds, there’s a penalty or injury. What I didn’t know is they keep track of how much time runs off during the out-of-bounds, penalties and injuries and then at the end of regulation they go into something like extra time to play for the time when, at least in my opinion, the clock should have been stopped. My question is why don’t they just stop the clock then? Every other sport that involves a clock does this. I can’t think of a good reason for not stopping the clock. Is there one?

Next up, Endurance Barefooting… Later on today the second annual Mad-City Endurance Dual takes place and I’ll be attending. I’m curious to see the condition of the bay. As I mentioned earlier, it is typically chuck full of weeds and was just a couple days ago.

Finally, Sport Laws… Saw a very funny article by Gene Wojciechowski on ESPN.com today discussing what is acceptable to do in various sports situations… The very best “law” in my opinion was the last one. The Packers beat the Bears on a Brett Favre touchdown at Lambeau Field. You turn to the Cheesehead next to you and embrace. What is the maximum time allowed for a Man Hug? Lets just say the answer involves no nipple-to-nipple touching. Read the rest of it here.

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