Thursday, August 28, 2008

Some good ole olympics

So the Olympics are over. And I never knew so much bonding could happen around one television.

This was one television activity that my wife and I really enjoyed together. Usually she wants to watch Gilmore Girls or Bringing Home Baby and I want to watch Sports Center or CNN. It is a constant underground skirmish of switching channels and programs until one of us finally gives in.

The olympics were quite different. Every night, from the Opening Ceremonies to the Closing Ceremonies, the main TV was tuned into NBC for the Olympics from 6:30 p.m. until 11 p.m. (and often during the day from 9 a.m. until noon since we were both unemployed). I can't lie, the job searching was a bit scarce in those 17 days. I can honestly say I have never had a time period where I was more happy to be unemployed.

But anyway. Kathryn and I had fun watching the many athletes perform and compete. Here are a few things we loved about the Beijing Olympics:

Kathryn's Top Five:
Gymnastics - especially the underage Chinese team
Swimming - especially Phelps events
Beach Volleyball - especially May-Treanor and Walsh
Track - especially Bolt
Diving

Drew's Top Five:
Men's Basketball
Swimming - especially Phelps events
Volleyball - especially Rogers/Dallhauser
Track & Field - especially Bolt
Gymnastics

Some Memorable Olympic Moments:
3 races, 3 new world records. Any Usain Bolt race was worth watching.

Michael Phelps' seventh gold medal. He beat the Serbian by .01 seconds in the 100m butterfly.

Leona Lewis and that Led Zeppelin guy. What was that crap about? Thanks England. Almost as bad as your London 2012 logo.

Jason Lezak's amazing race to clinch another Phelps gold. Lezak closed a seemingly uncloseable gap to overtake the Frenchies and win in world record time.

That crazy Cuban who kicked a judge in the head and is facing booted-for-life status.

Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson win gold and silver in women's all-around gymnastics. First time American athletes have been both gold and silver in that event.

How scared I got from the communist flag guys. Those dudes were a bit too much.

The crazy Chinese drummers. Not only was their performance seizure-inducing, but it was flawless. Impressive stuff.

The U.S. basketball team beating the Chinese by more than 30 points, including the Chinese spectators cheering after every American dunk (there were 12) on their team.

That Chinese rower who forgot to show up to his event, thus disqualifying himself from two events (and his partner).

Shawn Johnson's gold. After winning three silvers, she finally ended her Olympics with a gold.

Both American relay teams dropping the batons. Two dropped batons and eight lost medals all in 25 minutes.

The tension in the USA and Spain gold metal basketball game when we felt we could possibly lose. You could really feel it at 3:30 in the morning.

How much Shawn Johnson looks like a bunny rabbit. It's a striking resemblance.

Did I forget any?

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Do you ever have one of those days where you find out you're pregnant?



Well, we did.

I know, weird, huh? The baby is due early March and I am twelve weeks along. We went to have the first ultrasound and we heard the baby's heartbeat (183 beats per minute) and saw it jumping around. The end.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Che Sport & Photoshop


In high school I used to dollop (incorrect usage according to Kathryn) in graphic design. I had a class and we learned programs like Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop. The other day I was wondering if my Photoshop skills were still relevant and I developed Che Sport. It is an imitation of the famous digitized photo from Albert Korda entitled "Heroic Guerilla" about the Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. The photo has been deemed the most recognizable photograph of all time. Often you see anarchists, communists, politically neutral Swiss teenagers without lives and other crazies wearing this shirt to protest democracy.
Now we have one of the most recognizable dogs of all time, my dog Sport. He makes a pretty good revolutionary dog.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Creepy Crawlers...


Look who we've seen wandering the streets on our last two walks.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Some Recent Things I Have Learned

It's true, you really do keep learning about your spouse the longer you are married to them. Honestly, I figured I had learned just about everything I could about Drew. We have recently been spending LOTS of time together, what both being unemployed and all.

Turns out there are some things I could learn. And where better to learn it than in his own home town, in his own home. One thing is that he knows how to play with those "Magic" cards. Um, I'm sorry, but I thought that was what "nerdy" kids did. Like the kids who went to the mall on Saturday afternoons and dueled with each other. Kevin pulled out some of his cards (that was a shock enough) but then when Drew started asking him questions and then actually volunteered to play with him...I was, to say the least, STARTLED. And slightly amused.

A few weeks ago, I also found out he loves Settlers of Catan. This game is perfectly legit (I think) but only because a lot of people at BYU liked it (including one of my best friends and roommates). Drew hadn't said anything about this game until a few Sundays ago when Kevin and Drew ganged up on me to play. I knew I hated the game. I tried to play once and I wanted to claw my eyes out of boredom. But, being the wonderful wife I am, I agreed. They promised it wouldn't take long. SEVERAL hours later, we were still playing it. To show the seriousness, my dad called on my in laws house phone because he hadn't heard from me all night. THAT is how long and depressing the game was.

Tonight, once again, they tried to rope me in. I successfully fended them off.

What is Drew going to pull out this next week? Or in the weeks to come? I don't even want to try to guess. It might turn out he's a closet Golden Girls fan or something. The surprises never cease.