Olympics - Figure Skating (W)

Who stayed up to watch the Olympics Ladies Figure Skating finals last night? I did. After I left the Royer’s, I drove as quickly as I could, more or less within the speed limit of course, so I wouldn’t be able to miss too much. Thankfully, my mom recorded everything. Well, she recorded as much as she could fit into the tape.

I was rooting for Sasha Cohen to win the gold, but she didn’t have a perfect run and fell twice. Fortunately for her though, the other skaters made a number of mistakes too, so she managed to hang on to second place and got the silver medal, but hats off to her for persevering and finishing her routine with just as much grace and drive despite messing up at the beginning. It is usually difficult to recover from a fall and get over it to continue the routine.

The gold went to Japanese skater Shizuka Arakawa who was sitting in third place after the short program. She did a magnificent job in the long program and didn’t make any significant mistakes. I think her routine was beautiful, and she got a standing ovation for that. Her gold medal is well deserved.

Irina Slutskaya got the bronze medal. She too made some mistakes in her routine, and she was unable to take the gold or the silver.

Michelle, Sasha, and Irina – Will they every get that Olympic gold they wanted so much? It’s like every time they get the chance, they mess up and loose the gold. It’s the same thing last Olympics. And of course, they’re not getting any younger, and there are a lot of younger skaters entering the scene.

Kimmie Meissner – As I was driving to work this morning, the radio stations were all talking about last night’s skating event, and they mentioned Kimmie Meissner. She’s from Bel Air, Maryland, so it’s no surprise that people here would be talking about her, but the DJ referred to her as the “Fresh Princess of Bel Air.” I thought that was funny. Anyway, she’s young and she’s good. She’s definitely someone to watch out for.

Ok, enough of my figure skating musings. I always get into this figure skating state during skating seasons, and especially during winter Olympics. Aren’t you glad it only happens every 4 years? Hehe.

A Break from Rentals

Rent & Domino DVD

I just bought these two DVDs yesterday. I didn't get to watch them when they were out in theatres, so when the DVDs came out yesterday, I went and got them. The best time to buy a newly released DVD is the day it comes out, because it's sold with an introductory price ranging from $15 - $17. The introductory price usually lasts for a week or less, depending on how popular the movie is. If you wait too long, it'll be back to its regular price of about $20 - $25. New DVDs come out on / every Tuesdays. Anyway, I had a $20 coupon to Best Buy, so I ended paying about $7 for each DVD. Sweet savings! ^_^

SI Swimsuit Issue 2006

Sport Illustrated Annual Swimsuit Issue

I really don't know what the hype is about with the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which happens to be the most widely read issue of any magazine. I don't know why it's the most read when you don't really get to do much reading with this special issue. I was surprised to get one in the mail, and then I remembered that I signed up for a free trial subscription when I bought a DVD at Suncoast, which reminds me to cancel that or I'll end up paying for it. Anyway, I was hoping they'd have articles on the Winter Olympics but no, it's all bikini clad models in "exotic" locations all over the world. The models are predominantly white / Caucasians with seemingly perfect and flawless bodies. The cover alone says it all... 6 blonde ladies and 2 dark haired Latinas. Not much diversity if you ask me. Bottom line, it's 250-pages of pictures and that's pretty much it. I think it's a waste of money.

Now, when can I get a Winter Olympics Special Issue? Are they even doing one?

Pics - Snow Day

We had our second snow for this winter season. Hopefully, it will be the last. This winter's been really weird with all the spring and fall weather, and very little snow, but now it's starting to feel like winter with only a few more weeks to go before spring officially begins.

The snow melted quickly throughout the day because of the sunlight, but of course, you still need to clean the snow off your car. I thought I can finally use that shovel sitting on the corner collecting dust, but when I got out of the house all ready to take on the snow, it was already cleaned and it looked like the snow never even touched my car. [Thank you, Malcolm ^_^]

They cleaned and salted our walkways as soon as the snow stopped. It was pretty impressive considering it's a Sunday.

They cleaned out the roads pretty well too. When I left to go out, the roads are all clear and more or less safe.

Winter wonderland - taking some pictures while driving. It wasn't easy and it's not safe either. Kids, don't try it. ^_^

Snow covered trees behind our place. They always look so beautiful when the snow sticks to the branches like that.

Pics - Random Items

Vash from Trigun - one of my favorite anime and character

A motorcycle made from wires from Malcolm, which he got when he went to England. It's really cool!

A few shotglasses from my collection. If you're going somewhere and thinking of getting me a gift, get me a shotglass. ^_^

My little Dalmatian pup with the big head and small body. He obediently sits still above my monitor looking cute and all.

And my friend Jose Cuervo. We have a lot of history together. Bwahaha! That made me sound like a drunk, but as you can see, it's unopened and full. It's one those really small collection bottle thing.

Randomness 2/3/06

* I got a postcard in the mail and another one a couple of days later, both from the same person. Thank you, gorgeous! It made my day. Love you! ^_^ (You know who you are, and I'm very sure you'll read this.)

* We just lost a $1.38 million contract because the seller wants that extra $15k. Oh gosh, $1.38M is just not enough. Working in this business made me realize just how greedy people are, and 98% of the time, they always end up getting less than what they would have made if they took the initial offer. It's frustrating. So we're back to square one. I don't know if we'll even get an offer as good as that one.

* New nickname: Annita - My officemates are now calling me Annita, and I like it. It means that I'm now definitely part of the family. Haha. Everyone's got nicknames here at the office. There's Lancito (Lance), Victoriano (Vic), Pulgita (Cynthia), Reynita (Reyna), Bossing (Marlon the boss), etc. Although, my boss calls me a different nickname... “Piyaw Liyang" which is a Chinese word. You figure it out. ^_^

* I've recently been referred to as a "Pool Shark"??!!! Huh? Eheh..

* I watched an advanced screening in Georgetown. It's the movie "Imagine Me & You". It was an "unconventional" romantic comedy movie. What more can I say about it... It's not a movie everyone will go run to watch. I have to admit, I am enchanted with the British accent. It sounds lovely. Eheh. The best thing is that it's free and you get the chance to watch a new movie before it comes out in theatres. I should do this more often.

* Which one should I pick Hawaii or Southern California? A couple of trips I've been invited to are coming up soon, but I couldn't decide which one to go to. Both would cost more or less the same, which is a lot of $$$. The Hawaii one being a little bit more expensive, but it would take 2 weeks, and the California one would just be for 4 days max. I'm thinking twice about Hawaii because that would mean I'll off from work for 2 whole weeks, so I don't get paid for 2 weeks. Hmmm... I don' know, maybe I'll end up not going to both and just go to New York for a day to catch a show or two. That sounds like a very good idea.

* I've been eating at least one pack of Ritz Bits Sandwiches (Peanut Butter) every day because we have an endless supply here at work. Is this thing even good for me? I'm reading the back of it, and it sure has a lot of fats and very little vitamins.