He has a dimple!

Meeting Adrian George

You laughed when I ducked...

I was once hit by a foul ball at an Iowa Cubs game. My consolation prize was a baseball signed by Scott Bryant, the player that hit me that said "I'm Sorry-Scott Bryant". Ever since that day, I have flinched and ducked whenever at a baseball game. Everyone laughed at me, but check out the story below. Not so dumb now, am I?


Baseball Fan Blinded by Foul Ball Will Lose Left Eye

A North Carolina man hit and blinded by a foul ball at a minor league baseball game will lose an eye, MyFOXWGHP.com reported.

Carroll Master was walking from the concession stand at the NewBridge Bank Park in Greensboro, N.C., to rejoin his wife and 2-year-old son at their seats when the ball hit him in his left eye.

"It wasn't long that I was laying there and I could hear the EMTs saying 'Oh my God, why are they still playing ball?' and I actually heard them say stop playing and another ball came our way," Master told the TV station.

The ball's force destroyed Master's left eye, doctors said. He was undergoing surgery Thursday to have it removed and replaced with a prosthetic.

Even though Grasshoppers, a Class A Florida Marlins affiliate team, warns fans on the back of tickets and on signs that it is not responsible for injuries, Master thinks the ball club could be a little more sympathetic.

"I've not been contacted one time or anything. It's as though they have no care, interest or fault or anything," said Master.

The team, however, issued a statement saying it regrets the incident occurred and wishes Master a speedy recovery.

Surprise!

Cute...

Even if she's a Democrat...For those of you who didn't know, Shawn Johnson led the Pledge of Allegiance at the Democratic National Convention today.

Get a Kleenex

Click Here

More on StrydeHax

If you haven't taken the time to look at Stryde Hax's (his name is Mike Walker) blog, you should do so. It is extremely interesting from a many aspects and I'm sure he will go down in journalism school history. He takes the stance that he doesn't care about sports, gymnastics, and not necessarily if these girls are underage or not-he cares about the issue of censorship the case presents. He does a great job of explaining how he found the evidence, complete with screenshots. If you do decide to read, go to the first post, it is titled "Hack the Olympics", and can be found HERE.

He continues to find more evidence, also supported by bloggers from around the world who have contacted him with their finds. Super interesting. If the link doesn't work, the address is www.strydehax.blogspot.com

Johnson on Letterman

To those of you who go to bed early...set your Tivo! Shawn Johnson's trip home today was delayed for a stop in New York to tape David Letterman! I hope he's nice to her. Nicer than TMZ was!

There will be a homecoming event for her tomorrow night-wish I could be there!

Killer Willard

Nick and I saw this on Animal Planet lastnight. HA!

The New Bachelor!!

That's right..it's JASON! For those you who don't know Jason, he was the runner up from last season. He was a super sweet single dad from Seattle. (that's a lot of S's..whoa) This is really exciting because yes, like Deanna the last Bachelorette, he had his heart broken on the show.

I'm going to go recruit my single friends to tryout for the next season!

Yesterday's Visitors

I'm getting a lot of great hits about the Olympics. Feel free to leave comments or to sign the guest book to the right.

This is a Start..FINALLY!

Finally they are at least pretending to look into this fraud. I got into an argument with a girl who kept insisting it didn't matter. Yes, it does. The basis of sports is that you compete on an even playing field-whether it be number of players, weight class in sports such as wrestling-or age eligibility requirements. DUH. And to add insult to injury, athletes such as Nastia Liukin could have competed in the 2004 Olympics-but had enough respect to play by the rules. This just eats away at me.

International Olympic Committee launches probe into He Kexin's age

Operation: Hack the Olympics

This is super interesting. I don't know how anyone can turn a blind eye anymore. Here's the scoop. A computer security/hacking expert set out to prove the Chinese gymnasts were cheating. What he found just confirms what everyone knows and will make you even more appalled at the arrogance of the Chinese. His blog is below. As he says, catch up by reading the first article first...then go on to Part II.

Stryde Hax

A more concise article can be found here:
Fox Article

Kitesurfer Video

Have you seen this??? Some dummy tried to use one of those strap on kites during the tropical storm...I think he learned his lesson.

Ciao for now...

This was the sunset lastnight with some neat Fay clouds blowing our way. Today (Wednesday) we do still have a constant wind, which actually feels fabulous compared to our normal humid, unbreathable environment. As you probably know, Fay is out over the Atlantic but may be heading back in our direction before too long.

Snow Day!

We spent yesterday laying pretty low. Nick looked like a dejected puppy when we found out the storm would hit a ways down South. And further disappointment was added when we didn't even get any rain. Winds, yes. Rain, no. It really honestly felt like a snow day back home.

We made the most and sat out on the front porch watching the clouds roll in. We even experimented with our camera taking some 'family photos'...minus ellie mae, who growled at me when I tried to get her on my lap.

Pineapple Mango Juice??

Tuesday night, getting ready for the storm. Of course we always like themed meals and drinks..so duh, we had to make hurricanes! We went to the liquor store...pineapple and orange juice sold out, rum almost gone. Next stop; grocery store. No pineapple juice! Apparently we weren't the only ones with a hurricane craving. For those of you who don't know, Hurricanes= orange juice + pineapple juice + grenadine + rum

Of course we made the pineapple mango juice work. : )

The Calm Before the "Storm"

Monday night sunset as Fay rolled into the state. The cloud bands were much cooler in person. At this point, we still thought it was coming to Tampa. County offices and schools were closed Tuesday...meaning...no work for Nick! Snow Day!!

Sunday

A lot has happened in the last few days, I'll go ahead and recap!

We went to Anna Maria Island on Sunday for a laid back day at the beach. It was beautiful..and the Italian even managed to get a bit of a sun burn! That evening we went to the Tampa Bay Bucs vs. Patriots game. Tons of traffic getting there, amazing stadium (home of this year's Super Bowl), really nice night out, a little less exciting when you really don't care about the teams.

Johnson & Johnson Introduces 'Nothing But Tears' Shampoo To Toughen Up Newborns

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—After decades of coddling young children, Johnson & Johnson unveiled its new "Nothing But Tears" shampoo this week, an aggressive bath-time product the company says will help to prepare meek and fragile newborns for the real world.

A radical departure for the health goods manufacturer, the new shampoo features an all-alcohol-based formula, has never once been approved by leading dermatologists, and is as gentle on a baby's skin as "having to grow up and fend for your goddamn self."

"We at Johnson & Johnson have been making bath time a safe and soothing experience for far too long," company CEO William C. Weldon said. "Years of pampering have left our newborns helpless, feeble, and ill-equipped for the arduous road ahead."

"It's time our children got the wake-up call that's been coming to them," Weldon continued. "It's time they cried their precious little eyes out."

The result of five years of intensive research and market testing, the company's "Nothing But Tears" shampoo contains only the most abrasive of natural ingredients and is nearly impossible to rinse from a baby's screaming face. According to directions printed on the label, the bath-time product is best used with scalding hot water for optimal toughening-up of newborns.

Available in an easy-to-find-and-open bottle, the new shampoo is also guaranteed to give children a "healthy dose of reality."

"You'll notice a difference after just one use," said Michelle Baker, head of new product development. "Whether it's your newborn's more hardened appearance, the way he now approaches people with guarded skepticism, or just that look on his face that says, 'Oh wait, maybe life isn't all hugs and kisses and rainbows. Maybe I need to get my f**** act together.'"

Added Baker, "Johnson & Johnson will kick your baby's ass into gear."

A publicity campaign for the tear-inducing shampoo has already begun, with Johnson & Johnson debuting a series of television ads to push the baby-care product. In one of the minute-long spots, scheduled to air later this week, a mother cradles her crying newborn in her arms. As time passes, the weeping infant grows increasingly older, until the now elderly woman struggles to hold up her 48-year-old, 230-pound son. A voiceover announcer asks viewers, "Worried your child will never toughen up? At Johnson & Johnson, we can help."

After rigorous product testing at the company's research headquarters in New Jersey, the new "Nothing But Tears" shampoo was found to give newborns up to three times greater resilience than the leading competitor, as well as a stronger grasp on the crushing disappointment that is life. In addition, when combined with Johnson & Johnson's new line of bleach-based conditioners, the shampoo resulted in noticeably thicker skin after only six uses.

In recent years, a growing number of parents have begun looking for ways to raise more adequately jaded toddlers, and Johnson & Johnson is not the first company to respond to the rising demand. In 2003, Fisher-Price unveiled a new adventure play set containing 85 easy-to-choke-on pieces, and in 2006, the Walt Disney Company introduced an interactive DVD entitled Baby's First Brush With A Cruel And Unforgiving World.

Whether or not Johnson & Johnson's new move will ultimately pay off remains to be seen. However, reaction to the tantrum-provoking shampoo has thus far been positive.

"My 13-month-old used to be a total pushover," said new mother Catherine Smith. "But ever since I started washing her hair with 'Nothing But Tears' shampoo, not only does my little Debra kick and scream and wail, but yesterday she said her first words: 'No, Mommy, don't.'"

Despite testimonials from satisfied customers, some concerned parents have come out against the new shampoo.

"To knowingly upset your baby like that is downright cruel," said Hershey, PA homemaker Barbara Sterling. "My child is going to lose his blissful sense of innocence the old-fashioned way—by coming home from school one day only to learn that his parents are getting a divorce."


From "The Onion", August 2008

Undeniably a Champion

By Sally Jenkins
Washington Post
Wednesday, August 20, 2008; Page E01

BEIJING

Shawn Johnson is tigerish and alive, forceful where other gymnasts are ethereal, or in the case of some of her rivals, almost wraithlike. At times at the Beijing Games, it seemed as if the marks of the gymnastics judges were based purely on a preference for a certain esthetic. To be frank, it was almost as though they punished Johnson being too overtly muscular.

Tuesday night, Johnson surveyed the span of the balance beam with her hands on her hips, as if it were nothing more than a cheap two-by-four. Here's one way to deal with personal disappointment at the Olympics: hop on a piece of wood that's four inches wide and intolerant of mistakes, and stick your landings as if you're driving nails into it with your feet, until you force the judges to give you a gold medal.

Johnson dusted chalk on her hands and stood poised for her last try of the Games, managing to give the impression of towering resoluteness, even at 4 feet 9, in a blue leotard with red gauntlet cuffs. She leapt firmly onto the beam to begin her routine, and for the next 90 seconds she barely trembled. Off to the side sat that panel of adjudicators in their official blazers, who had marked her unsympathetically all week for being too, well, strong. What they couldn't know was that she didn't give a rip about their opinion anymore. "I didn't really care how the scores went up, what the placements were," she said.

She delivered a series of commanding, gravity-defying aerials, flying splits and cartwheels, until her feet seemed to spend more time off the beam than on it. When they did touch down, they did so convincingly. The performance not only earned her the individual gold medal in the balance beam with a score of 16.225 to nudge out teammate Nastia Liukin, but a priceless realization, too. What more valuable two things could a teenager take home from the Olympics than the gold, and the understanding that self-worth doesn't hinge on the opinions of others?

"I knew in my heart what I deserved," she said.

For Johnson, 16, of West Des Moines, Iowa, it was a cathartic end to a confidence-shaking week. Ordinarily an athlete of bounding charisma, her three successive runner-up finishes -- in the team event, the all-around and the floor exercise -- had left her emotionally brittle. In the all-around competition, the difference between her and Liukin was all but imperceptible. Liukin, who looks like a willow branch in motion, won the gold simply because the judges deemed her the more physically elegant performer. In the floor exercise, Johnson took silver again with a performance that was physically almost faultless, only to be surpassed by the very last competitor, Romania's Sandra Izbasa. To a world champion accustomed to finishing first, the stinginess of the judges had begun to seem harsh.
ad_icon

"I'm totally, fantastically happy for her," U.S. team coordinator Martha Karolyi said. "She needed this. This helps her, gives her a good feeling for the future. All the time we tried to assure that she did an excellent job, that she did her job at the highest level, and that's what we care about."

Through it all, Johnson was consistently gracious, never failing to compliment the winners and refusing to whine about her marks. "For some reason, the judges were not giving me the scores I was used to," she said, simply. "I have to respect that."

But the long week of trials and the effort to maintain her emotional composure finally caught up to her on Tuesday morning before the competition, when she came down with a raging headache and an upset stomach. She had had four days to stew over her silver medal finishes, especially in the individual all-around. It couldn't have helped that just across the room was the gold medalist, Liukin, with whom she shared a suite.

As the days went by, Johnson practiced her beam routine to the point that it almost fell apart. It was her strongest event, and her favorite one, and suddenly she was making uncharacteristic errors. A succession of seven shaky warmup routines Tuesday morning left her enervated. She made mistake after mistake, each repetition worse than the last. "I was very tired," she said. "I was just not feeling normal."

But as the competition approached on Tuesday evening, Johnson's feeling about her silver medals changed, as if they grew shinier. "I thought about it, and I didn't care," she said. What mattered was her own internal judgment of her performance. "Everything happens for a reason," Johnson said. "Those silvers mean more to me than anything else could. Everything that's happened this week, I don't know how to explain it. But it's a feeling I'd never want to replace."

By the time Johnson stood before the beam ready to begin her routine, she wasn't thinking about a gold medal, but about her personal measurement of a successful Olympics. "I didn't want to leave here knowing I could have done better." When she finished, the scores were strictly a formality for what she knew was a worthy performance. As the numbers came up, putting Johnson in first place, she accepted a hug from Liukin, who gave voice to what everyone who had watched Johnson all week was thinking: that a lovely gymnast, and a thoroughly classy champion, had gotten a just reward. "Finally," she said.

Lucy is Her Mother's Daughter

Lucy was calm, sleeping, chewing on toys in her kennel. We turned on the coverage of the McCain/Obama Forum. Obama was talking. All of a sudden, out of nowhere Lucy starts howling/barking/freaking out/making noises she NEVER makes. Mommy gave her a treat. Some people say dogs can sense evil...

(Nick hasn't seen this post yet, read it while you can, I predict it may be down before too long...)

Read it ALL

So on Tampabays10.com, our local weather station I was browsing hurricane preparedness stories. The following isn't funny...until you get to the comments. It's classic Florida. Read to the end...

Your storm supplies shopping list
Posted by Phil Landeros


Water - at least 1 gallon daily per person for 3 to 7 days

Food - at least enough for 3 to 7 days
— non-perishable packaged or canned food / juices
— foods for infants or the elderly
— snack foods
— non-electric can opener
— cooking tools / fuel
— paper plates / plastic utensils

Blankets / Pillows, etc.

Clothing - seasonal / rain gear/ sturdy shoes

First Aid Kit / Medicines / Prescription Drugs

Special Items - for babies and the elderly

Toiletries / Hygiene items / Moisture wipes

Flashlight / Batteries

Radio - Battery operated and NOAA weather radio

Telephones - Fully charged cell phone with extra battery and a traditional (not cordless) telephone set

Cash (with some small bills) and Credit Cards - Banks and ATMs may not be available for extended periods

Keys

Toys, Books and Games

Important documents - in a waterproof container or watertight resealable plastic bag
— insurance, medical records, bank account numbers, Social Security card, etc.

Tools - keep a set with you during the storm

Vehicle fuel tanks filled

Pet care items
— proper identification / immunization records / medications
— ample supply of food and water
— a carrier or cage
— muzzle and leash


READER REACTIONS/COMMENTS TO THIS STORY
Shirley341 wrote:
In the list I did not see a camera. That is essential for after the storm picture taking of damage.It is also something most people would not think of in relation to a hurricane.



Michele67 wrote:
I agree Shirley... It is also good to take pictures of your home and belongings before the storm as well. For Ins. purposes ect...



CousinVinnie wrote:
DON'T FORGET A GUN TO DEFEND WHAT YOU GOT.


duke33771 wrote:
Right on Vinnie!! Also remember if the cell phone lines are busy, try text messaging, that is on a different system. If your call can't go through, a text usually can! I heard about this just after 9/11.

Here we go...

NICK'S OBAMA VP PICK

CHUCK HAGEL R-NEBRASKA

Rationale: Obama wants to continue to pull from independents and republicans and he needs someone with military service and foreign policy credentials. Furthermore, having a republican advances his motto of change since a unity ticket would be a first.

Caught red handed...

Yes, I am obsessed with the Olympics and cheating Chinese.
Check out THIS new bit of evidence!!

For all those gmailers out there..

So there have been lots of frustrating problems with gmail lately. Here's a hint to perhaps bypass some frustration and take a timeout.

www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com

no you can find out if it really is just you..or if it's a bigger problem. Works for any website!

The Freedom to Fail

Shawn Johnson's coach permits mistakes, leading to success
By Alan Abrahamson


Posted Thursday, August 7, 2008 10:09 AM ET

In her own words: Shawn Johnson describes her emotions and mind-set as she approaches her first Olympics and becomes a household name. Featuring training and competition clips from over the years.

Shawn Johnson candidly acknowledges that she can feel nervous when the spotlight turns to her at major gymnastics events.

As she says, who wouldn't feel nerves when everyone's watching?

But you wouldn't know it watching the 16-year-old from West Des Moines, Iowa, who is widely considered a favorite to win the women's individual all-around competition at the Beijing Games.

And here's why:

Shawn has the express permission of her coach, Liang Chow, to make mistakes.

And, in one of those great twists, it's precisely because she feels the freedom to make mistakes that she rarely makes big ones.

Before the U.S. Olympic Trials, in June in Philadelphia, for instance, Chow told Shawn, as her mother, Teri recalled, just two things:

Perform like a champion.

And don't be afraid to make a mistake.

After which Shawn went out and, just as she did at the 2007 world championships in the individual all-around, came out on top -- finishing with the best overall score at the 2008 U.S. Trials.

"I remember him telling me that," said Shawn, who now wears a team silver medal from these Games. "It is almost just a relief. You're just trying to please the person who has taught you eveyrthing; you want to show them that you can be just as perfect as they've trained you to be. You're afraid to make mistakes. You're afraid to let them down -- even though you wouldn't.

"For him to have told me that, that as long as I went out there and did my best and he knew I had done my best, no matter what happened, he would have been happy -- it made me have a lot more confidence in myself because I knew if I went out there and made mistakes it wouldn't be the end of the world."

In her own words: Shawn Johnson describes her emotions and mind-set as she approaches her first Olympics and becomes a household name. Featuring training and competition clips from over the years.

"I think that is so helpful to her, that he gives her permission to be imperfect, to be human," Shawn's mother, Teri Johnson, said, adding, "It's as simple as, 'Go do your best.' And, truthfully, that's all anybody can do."

In high-level sport, the mental edge often can -- and does -- make the difference.

Only the bounds of human ingenuity limit the ways in which coaches, trainers and others in the camp of an elite athlete seek that edge.

Chow's way is refreshingly simple.

It is based, he says, on a humanistic approach to the sport and to his athletes.

It is based, he says, on the idea of love.

Love? In gymnastics, perhaps the most rigorous of all competitive sports?

Growing up in China -- his return to the Beijing Games marks one of the most enchanting stories of the 2008 Olympics -- Chow said, "I had a very loving environment." So, at the gym that he and his wife, Liwen Zhuang, run in West Des Moines, they are committed to what he called a "fun, loving and supportive environment."

He said, "As many times as I talk to the girls -- I have eight or 10 girls in my group -- I tell them, 'You are all like sisters.'

Which means, he said: "It's not necessarily that I like you more than I like her, or whatever. And [one of the girls] might like, or might not like, sister one better than sister two. But we all have to help each other and enjoy each other."

That sort of approach resonates deeply with Shawn, who is -- for 16 -- keenly aware of her emotional environment. During the Trials, when she wasn't practicing or competing, she was reading; she read at least three books cover to cover during the Trials, noting her affinity for works by Dan Millman, perhaps best known for the best-seller first published in 1980, "Way of the Peaceful Warrior."

"In competition," Chow said of Shawn, "she knows I care about her seeking perfection. I care about how she hits her routines beautifully. But there is no pressure if she is making mistakes, from me or Li.

"We are just there to help prepare her so she can perform beautiful routines. She's a human being -- we have to realize that."

It is in the vault, in particular, that this approach is most easily seen for those who don't have a technical eye for gymnastics.

Shawn performs an extraordinarily difficult vault called a Yurchenko 2 1/2; she is the only American woman who even attempts it. Instead of sticking the landing, it's not uncommon to see her take a little step.

On purpose.

Better, Chow reasons, that Shawn should give in and allow that small step, if she feels she needs to, than obsess over the perfection of sticking it.

"She absolutely is allowed to make some mistakes," he said, adding, "She has a great personality ... she enjoys herself on the floor -- and in the gym, also. I can't say enough words, enough great things, about this kid. She is a loving person and very respectful.

"She is the world champion, the all-around champion. She is a huge star. But she is also like a normal kid, helping the younger kids, moving the mats, just like all the little things the other kids are doing. There are no exceptions for her.

"I'm very proud of what she does on the floor," he said. "But I am also very proud of her for who she is, as a real person."

Johnson is Little Miss Perfect

For those of you who have missed out on the excitement, here is a fun article about Shawn Johnson...

August 8, 2008

BY GREG COUCH Sun-Times Columnist

BEIJING — Shawn Johnson sat straight with her fingers clasped on the table directly in front of her, and her smile big, straight and never wavering.

"In the end," she said, "if I give everything I have, I’ll be happy."

In every Olympics, we look for some tiny sweetheart to fall in love with.

Johnson is it.

She is the American gymnast, who not only is favored to win the all-around competition, but also possibly take down China’s team in the most hotly contested U.S.-China team matchup in the Olympics.

That’s right, all 4-9 and 90 pounds of this 16-year-old, probably the toughest Olympian pound-for-pound, is set to take down the big bad guys. This is a Wheaties box cover waiting to happen.

"It’s such an honor to know that USA (gymnastics) picked me," she said.

But wait, you don’t know the half of it.

The truth about Johnson is — and remember I’m a critic for a living — she is perfect. Little Miss Perfect.

If that sounds like sarcasm, forget it.

No, I’ve been studying this, looking for the flaws to expose. If she has one at all, it’s only that perfection can be annoying. It can be fake or plastic. And Johnson does have that perfect smile.

But somehow, she makes it work.

Here’s the deal: Johnson is from West Des Moines, Iowa. She had far too much energy as a baby, and was doing pull-ups in her crib. I swear. So her mom put her in gymnastics when she was 6.

She’s a straight-A student, who, according to the Palm Beach Post, spends her free time walking dogs at a shelter and wiping off muddy footballs for her high school’s team. I swear.

Her parents? Junior high sweethearts who met at a roller rink.

She’s the one.

They are calling her the next Mary Lou Retton, and frankly, we have a tendency to label these athletes that way. Michael Phelps is the next Mark Spitz. It’s completely unfair, and pressures athletes, in this case a kid.

"It’s an honor to have someone make that comparison," she said. Smiling. Hands clasped.

Get ready. Because after Phelps and the men’s basketball team, Johnson is the American face of these Games.

Did I mention the butter statue? They made one of her at the Iowa State Fair.

If these Games evolve into something about protests of China’s human rights record, then the medal count will serve as the great scoreboard, and the biggest image fight will come from the smallest competitors.

Accusations have already come out that China is using girls who have not reached the minimum-age requirements.

"We are ready to take on any team," U.S. official Martha Karolyi said. "Over-age or underage."

Now, I’ve always liked gymnastics during the Olympics, found it amazing and one of the most courageous sports. You get your moment and you have to nail it. It’s beautiful movements mixed with incredible power.

But I don’t like to see how its made. These little girls are constantly overtrained and hurt, with plenty developing eating disorders.

"I have been remarkably injury-free my whole career," she said. "Minor sprains, yes. But anything big? No."

Her parents have said over and over how important it was that Johnson have a "normal" life, which, with prodigies can mean they’re allowed to make one phone call a day while starving themselves in the sports academy they’ve moved to away from their parents.

Johnson stayed in Des Moines and goes to public school. A typical work schedule for these kids is 40-hours a week of training. Johnson does 25, which would seem to be plenty, and might explain her lack of injuries. She also says she’s on no particular diet.

That’s all the plan of her coach, Liang Qiao, who now goes by "Chow." See, when Johnson’s mother enrolled her in gymnastics as a 6-year old, it turned out that the guy running the place was Chow, a former Chinese champion gymnast.

Now, I’m not sure how many Chinese champions can accidentally be found in Des Moines, but that’s where he was. He came to the U.S. to go to the University of Iowa, and then staying nearby to open his gymnastics school.

He hadn’t been back to China until now, but he said that was just a matter of having time in his schedule. The story goes that Chow was running his gym with worn-out equipment he had talked the University of Iowa’s coaches into giving him.

When Chow was young, China selected him as a future champ and moved him to a camp, where he trained ridiculous hours. He feels that plan was wrong.

So Johnson big competition figures to come from one Chinese gymnast, and also from her own teammate, Nastia Liukin.

Just a guess (a hope?), but Johnson despises Liukin?

"We’re just like a big family," Johnson said. "We couldn’t love each other any more."

Sometimes, things can be a little too sweet. She makes it work.

The team competition starts Tuesday, and if she wins this gold, and leads the team past China, then who knows what the people of Iowa will use to make a statue of her next.

Sarcone '08

Bad, bad, BAD judgement in so many ways

Would you have an affair with this woman? Better yet..would you risk your family, friends, career and dignity...I didn't think so.

WOW.

I'm so full

So we just got done with our homemade Chinese-Olympic dinner. WOW. I am so excited right now. The Mongolian beef was the best I've had and it definitely measured up to the "P.F. Changs Mongolian Beef recipe" it claimed to be. The hot and sour soup-AWESOME. Though of course I added a bit more spice than it calls for. My favorite food, and now I can make it myself! And the other best part...all together it was less than $30-and we have leftovers.

I'll share my secret recipe, though I am hesitant because I would love to claim that I came up with it! Click on the links below:

P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef

Hot and Sour Soup

Oh, and I made mildly-fried rice which just topped it all off!

Olympics here we go!

I decided tonight is chinese food night in honor of the opening cermonies. I am trying my hand at hot and sour soup (my favorite) and a recipe I found online for PF Changs Mongolian Beef...we'll see how that turns out. We looked up the next 3 Olympic locations to see what I will have to cook on those opening ceremonies..but it looks like we have somewhere in Canada, London and somewhere in Russia. Russian food could be fun I suppose. I've got time.

Here is a picture of the girls getting ready for tonight. We even put up red, white and blue streamers and balloons. They can't wait to get a glimpse of Shawn Johnson! Ellie keeps asking if she can enroll at Chow's Gymnastics next year when we're back in Des Moines. Silly Ellie.