Sunday, March 22, 2009

Now hear this...

I'm digging the song and the video.

Holy Sunday Batman!

Oh geez, what a day! Well, for all of you who have been following March Madness you have probably noticed that UCSB did not make it to the men's bracket. That means that my life now revolves around women's tennis. Yay! So I had a match to cover today that began with me getting up at 6:45am this morning for a match that was to begin at 10am. I woke up to the sound of a heavy rain shower that had pretty much soaked everything, always a great beginning to a match day. I got to the office around 7:45 and began the waiting game. When I had not seen any of my athletes by 8:30 I took a stroll to the courts to see if anyone was out there. Luckily or unluckily It had stopped raining by the time I left my apartment.

As I walked I did not see much life around the courts so my mind began racing with thoughts of; yep the match is cancelled and no one told me, go figure, maybe I can catch David for some breakfast. When I made it to the courts there was the coach vigorously trying to dry the courts. As it turned out the match would be delayed till around noon. So much for those thoughts of a nice Sunday breakfast. It didn't help that I was hungry because I decided to just go for a glass of Orange Juice this morning, yeah I know what an idiot.

Long story short, the match began at 11:30 and lasted till 4:30. We won the doubles point and then proceeded to have three singles matches go into third sets. Add on top of that the fact that the deciding match went to a third set tie-breaker and you have a tennis match that lasted longer than a 9 inning baseball game that started at 2pm and an entire Men's tennis match that started 2 and a half hours after ours. I was outside for five hours with a consistent 20 mph wind striking me in the face. Needless to say it was a miserable day to be watching tennis, yet alone playing. I have the wind burn to prove it!

Here's hoping tomorrow's match is a little shorter!
Gaucho's won 4-3.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Friday, March 6, 2009

Playlist

When I feel lonesome:

"What Hurts the Most" by Rascal Flatts
"Safe and Sound" by Sheryl Crow
"Never Say Never" by The Fray
"Save Me" by Aimee Mann
"Secretly" by Skunk Anansie
"Trouble" by Coldplay
"The Fall Out" by O.A.R.
"When the Stars Go Blue" by The Corrs featuring Bono
"All Fall Down" by OneRepublic
"Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova with Marja Tuhkanen and Bertrand Galen
"Dreaming with a Broken Heart" by John Mayer
"Fix You" by Coldplay

Arts and Lectures Series

This past Monday I went to support the Arts and Lecture series by purchasing a ticket to the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour that was showing in Campbell Hall. I wasn't quite sure what the film festival was all about, but since it pertained to the outdoors I figured it would be a delightful evening. And it was a very delightful evening!

Check out the introduction video:


The first film was called "The Sharp End: Eastern Europe". This excerpt was about a group of american climbers who traveled to Germany and the Czech Republic to learn about climbing technique unique to the region. Instead of using traditional climbing methods the climbers in this area of the world use knots of varying sizes to tether themselves to the rock faces. It can be very harrowing and you just hope you have the right sized knot.

The second film was "The Cable Car". This was an animated short film from Switzerland. This film follows an old man loaded with a roll of tape and a perilous journey towards the top of a mountain. As an Athletic Trainer I could relate, because I know just how handy tape can be at times.

The third film was "Red Gold". This film is a documentary about the potential opening of the largest open copper and gold pit mine in the United States in the watershed area of the worlds largest wild salmon fishery system. The parts of the documentary shown at the film festival was fairly one sided, but what do you expect when they are showing this to a bunch of eco-lovers and tree huggers; I do include myself in that group. The documentary was very compelling and makes me want to move and live in Alaska even more. Now if only Sarah Palin wasn't the governor!

After a short intermission we watched our fourth film of the night. "The Red Helmet" was a short six to eight minute film where a group of adventures were given a camera and a challenge. The challenge was to show five outdoor sports in a film six to eight minutes in length. Well, they saw their challenge and countered it with showing eight outdoor sports while telling the story of a young boy overcoming his fears.
Check it out:


Next up was "Mountain Town: The Cowboy and the Park Goddess". This film was an excerpt from a documentary about the people who live in Aspen, CO. The subjects of this film was a snow patrol chief at Half basin and the park manager. Following "Mountain Town" was "Patagonian Winter". This film followed to Scottish climbers who were attempting to summit a rock formation in Paragonia in the winter time; a feat that had never been done. To say the least this film was mostly comical. Although they did not make it to the summit, they had an adventure all the same.

The final film of the night was "Crux": Imagine twelve solid minutes of this type of stuff!

By far the most insane thing was watching Ryan Leech ride his bike the distance of a driveway on a metal chain! I wish had that kind of balance! Shoot, I'm wishing I had a bicycle!

I had a ticket to go to the second night of the film festival as well, but didn't end up making it as I spent the evening in the Emergency Room with one of my athletes. I was fairly bummed about it too, because after Monday nights line up I was really looking forward to Tuesday nights. The film festival spanned two nights with a different line-up airing each evening. If the Banff Mountain Film festival world tour comes to your town don't walk but run and get your tickets, because it is purely amazing!