Ordinary Middle of Month Thursday Rundown

Must say I didn’t mind the 75 degree weather we had today in Myrtle Beach. My parents and siblings, on the other hand, are enduring a big snow storm in Spokane. So, if you are in South Carolina go ahead and cool off with my latest Thursday Rundown but if you are in Washington state feel free to warm up with it (that probably didn’t make sense at all). Here we go…

Valentine’s Day Recap – Yesterday, Sid and I repeated our Valentine’s Day tradition we started in 2017 with one minor wrinkle – we let a little person join us! Sloan participated in our card exchange early Wednesday morning. Although she didn’t have a card to give, we still gave her one (and a couple toys). Our little girl also started her own mini Lenten journey when she participated in Ash Wednesday by receiving ashes. The combination of her Valentine’s Day outfit and the dusting of ash on her forehead made for a very special photo.

Note: Last night on social media, I posted the link to my 2013 Lenten blog post instead of the one I wrote yesterday evening. Sorry for the error. You can read my 2018 Lenten blog post by clicking here.

Sloan looked great sporting her Valentine’s Day outfit and ashes.

Instagram Safety – Although it wasn’t the reason why I wanted to be on the news, I did give a couple interviews this week to local stations about protecting yourself on Instagram. Recently, a fake Instagram account tried to scam some of our students. True to the intelligence of our students at CCU, most didn’t fall for it. I spoke with WPDE and WMBF about the incident and gave advice on how to spot a fraud. Thanks to Summer Dashe and Amy Kawata for their stories.

I was on the news earlier this week discussing Instagram safety.

Reunited With A Winner – Last Friday, the Coastal softball team opened up the 2018 season by hosting Iowa State. The significance of this? The Cyclones are led by Jamie Pinkerton, the man who was hired at the University of Montana to start its softball program. Coach Pinkerton joined the Griz athletic department about seven months before I left for CCU. During that short time period I got to know Jamie and really respected how he went about beginning a program from scratch and also by how he treated me. It was no surprise that he had tremendous success at Montana and was quickly hired as the head coach at Iowa State. At the end of last week, I got to see Coach Pinkerton win his debut with the Cyclones and I also had the pleasure of catching up with him. The guy is a pure winner.

I was reunited with Jamie Pinkerton this past Friday.

Winter Olympics Review – As many of you know, I was lacking enthusiasm for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Probably because I set the bar so low, I now find myself kind of enjoying the games. Over the past week, I have watched the early morning coverage while working out at the gym and then Sid and I have fallen asleep watching the primetime coverage. Although still nowhere close to the Summer Olympics in terms of entertainment and prestige, I am blown away by the talent and fearlessness of some of these athletes.

Sloan at 48 Weeks – Sloan is wrapping up her second consecutive healthy week. She babbles non-stop and is a handful to keep tabs on, even if she is still just crawling. Her hair is really coming in and it is starting to resemble that of a little girl. She is extremely sweet in the mornings and a “little monster” (our term of endearment for her) around 7 – 9 p.m. She is starting to pull herself up and she is having a great time experimenting with real people food. On Saturday she will be 11 months!!

Here is Sloan’s 48 week collage.

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To all those people who hate Valentine’s Day, take solace that it is now over and the weekend is right around the corner. Thanks for reading! Don’t Blink.

My Top Five Favorite Summer Olympics Events

I have said it over and over again, I think the Summer Olympics are far superior to the Winter Olympics. At the base of this opinion is just that the games in the Summer Olympics are much more relevant to the entire globe. With that said and with the opening ceremony occurring this Friday, I thought I would share the events I look forward to watching the most at the Summer Olympics. So, without further adieu, here is my countdown of the top five sports I thoroughly enjoy when it comes to the summer games.

5. Basketball – I know basketball is perhaps a little bit regionalized but it makes my list mostly for nostalgia. I was mesmerized in 1996 (first time I ever remember watching the Olympics) by the United States men’s basketball team destroying the competition. To see all the superstars from the NBA come together for a common goal stuck with me. With Coach K once again leading the team this year, I get excited at watching America’s athletes transform their NBA game to the international level. I will be watching.

4. Swimming/Diving – Sorry to lump two different sports together but this list is too short. I don’t get as excited about swimming as some do, but it is still a Summer Olympics hallmark sport and I love the photo finishes. Also, with the technology available these days, the actual broadcast/coverage of the races is superb. Diving is great because it makes me nervous and it makes me hold my breath. Not to mention what they do in the air before making a perfect splash is incredibly cool.

3. Beach Volleyball – To me, beach volleyball is plain fun. It screams summer. The rules are simple, the chemistry between teammates is top notch, and high level athleticism is on display at all times. I also enjoy admiring the physiques of the participants. This isn’t in some sick way either. Beach volleyball participants, both women and men, are a crazy type of fit. My full respect goes out to them all.

2. Weightlifting – In terms of the goal, weightlifting is an easily defined sport. But everything that goes into catapulting a bar that is five times your weight over your head is not. Rather, it is a science. I am intrigued at watching the athletes go through their whole routine. Watching them get in the zone, approach the platform, brace themselves, practice perfect technique, and then execute the lift is quite the sight. You can feel the tension the whole way through and then you can also feel the unrivaled accomplishment as the athlete drops the bar after a successful attempt. So much power, yet so much discipline. I love watching weightlifting.

1. Track and Field – The easiest part of making this list was designating my #1 favorite event to watch. By far, I enjoy watching track and field the most. In my thought process, track and field is synonymous with the Olympics. When you shut your eyes and think of the summer games, a vision of people running, jumping, and throwing should appear. But my joy of watching track and field at the Olympics goes beyond just symbolism. The competitors you see compete in track and field this month are the best athletes in Rio. How can you not like watching people perform a full out sprint for 800 meters? Or use a pole to fly over a bar 19 feet in the air? Or hurl a ball of metal 75 feet? Or glide through the air covering ten yard sticks?

With track and field, I just find it the epitome of athletic competition. The title of “World’s Greatest Athlete” that is bestowed on the decathlon winner is the most accurate description in sports. When the lights go on in the stadium at Rio and the track and field events start that is when the 2016 Summer Olympics truly begin.

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Can you tell I am excited for Friday to get here? We only have the opportunity to enjoy this once every four years so start preparing yourself. What events can’t you miss? Don’t Blink.

The Underwhelming Winter Olympics (so far)

I hate sounding negative so please excuse my whining but after the first several days of the Sochi Winter Olympics I am not impressed. By no means though am I blaming my lack of inspiration on the host city, the athletes, the stray dogs, or NBC. Rather I take full responsibility for not doing everything I personally can to make the 2014 Winter Olympics more enjoyable for myself. In the same way that millions of people love “The Walking Dead” and I am indifferent to it, the same can be said for these games.

Although I enjoyed the opening ceremony my attention has since waned. Probably going against me the most is that I am not a winter sports enthusiast. But even with my ho-hum attitude about sports played in the snow and ice in the past I have still enjoyed the competition and pageantry of the games. This year that spark has disappeared for me.

I think I have become so spoiled with the Summer Olympics and the coverage of other sports broadcasts in general that I am a little underwhelmed and bored with the games going on right now. When I get home from work it seems like the only competition coverage I am finding on the Winter Olympics is the primetime package on NBC. This is cool and all but I would prefer to have the option to view the more obscure events on other networks within the NBC family. I just like the choice to watch events more in their entirety rather than watching the flagship station jump in and out of the most popular events.

I also have a tough time connecting with the athletes. To put it truthfully, many of the Olympic athletes lack the powerful and adversity-filled backgrounds and stories that athletes from the Summer Olympics hold. Events in the winter games are more specialized and equipment dependent. Because of this many of the athletes come from more established backgrounds. This privilege, along with geography (it doesn’t snow everywhere), also reduces dramatically the amount of countries participating. I never have a sense that the “whole world” is competing at the Winter Olympics. Speaking of equipment, the helmets, pads, and full body suits cover up many of the athletes. You can’t see faces, body physique, and in some cases, emotion. These things (when visible) are big reasons why I enjoy watching sports.

How can an Olympics go on without Bob Costas? Tonight will mark the second straight night without Bob behind the desk as he faces a nasty eye infection. Rotten luck for sure but not hearing him give his powerful intro, not watching him interact with the athletes in the studio, and not smirking at his dry sense of humor takes a lot away from my enjoyment of the games. Trust me on this one, I like the guy so much that I wrote a blog post about him.

Maybe lacking the most is just the buzz. I don’t feel that people are that engaged in the games, even in the social media era that we live in. I haven’t heard anyone really talk about the games at work. I haven’t received any texts yet from people asking me if I am watching. My Twitter feed is by no means blowing up with #WinterOlympics hash tags. Maybe I am living under a rock and I just don’t know it but the magic of the Olympics is not there.

I haven’t given up all hope yet. The games are still young and a lot can still happen. I will continue to tune into the primetime coverage and give it a chance until boredom overtakes me. The Olympics are just too important for me to write off so I am not jumping ship. But can someone please give Bob Costas a miracle drug so he can get back to that anchor desk? Don’t Blink.