Weird melon and my last day with little Sparta

Can anyone tell me what kind of melon this is?! I asked the lady at the counter who said it was cantaloupe but she doesn't really speak english so I cant trust her... I opened it and it smelled like watermelon, but looked like cantaloupe. Took a bite and it had the texture and watery-ness of a watermelon but tasted like a cantaloupe. It was like drinking milk and tasting orange juice!! weird.

You know what else is weird? Mormon graffiti...



I had to give Sparta (my hamster) to the humane society because my roommates didn't like him/were allergic. So I brought him to the Oval with me and let him run around in his ball on the track outside the long track, he was so cute!!





We aren't really allowed to have animals in the dorms anyway... :P

Im leaving for Cleveland tomorrow morning to kick some ass in the American Cup 2!!! (In my new New Edge skinsuit!)

Maple Syrup

Here I am on Sunday in Salt Lake which is guaranteed to the the most boring uneventful day of the week... everythings CLOSED even the COFFEE SHOPS. Its all the work of a specific religious group that kind of runs the city, they shall remain nameless.

Anyway my parents sent me this can of maple syrup because they don't believe in it here, most people (GASP) don't even know what it is. So I go to the cafeteria and ask the lady to open it for me. She takes it and looks at it for several minutes then dissappears. Then comes back with the open can with a look of confusion and stares at me as I walk away... HAHAHAAA!

So now I have this can of maple syrup sitting on the table next to the french toast. If I could only have gotten pictures of the looks on peoples faces when they walked by and tried to figure out what it was!! Funny stuff.

World Cup 1, SLC

The national teams started to flood in a couple weeks ago to get used to the ice/elevation, there may be more, but the teams I see during practice are Latvia, Korea, Germany, Belgium, New Zealand (all 2 of them), Australia, USA (they're always here...), Canada, Netherlands, Russia, Holland, Haven't seen China but I know they're here, MONGOLIA (what??), and Poland. My favorite is Fran Jackson from NZL, shes been skating with us for a while now, along with Corey Williams from AUS who wont be competing because he broke his leg. Hes got screws in and hes back skating. I raced him for fun in long track last week and beat him so baaaad! Your thinking well duh hes recovering from a break, right? Well his short track 500m with a broken leg is still 4 seconds faster than mine... so it felt pretty good. :P

I guess the last couple weeks have been "tryouts" for block chasing for the world cup (moving the track, pouring water on it, squeegeeing it) and I was definitely not approved on the volunteer list...hahaha! Now your thinking what?! How can you mess up at pouring water on a track?? Trust me...its complicated and requires skill and technique. Too much, too little, not on the right track, in my case I couldnt even lift the bucket...etc! The last thing I want to do is do it wrong during the world cup and have multiple helmets thrown at me... haha!

So now im a Runner, which either means I take the results and post them around the rink, or take the skaters skate guards and warmups and bring them to the exit when they get off the ice. Should be fun! Racing starts friday at 10. This one should be live online at the US Speedskating site.

Heres my Credential!



Sorry these videos suck, theyre from my phone. They're blurry and I only get 15 seconds!

Here is a practice session from this morning with Germany, Latvia, New Zealand, and Belgium.


And heres Poland and Australia.

Am Cup 1 pictures

Ever try to do an inside pass AND outside pass at the SAME TIME?! This is what it looks like...








These are some Jerry Search took at the meet, the guy takes mad pictures. If you google search him you can see pics from almost all the big speedskating meets, hes even got falling sequences!!

The New Short Track

We got to skate on it this morning, its so cool. A track made especially for short trackers. Its got NO hockey walls or markings. It has huge thick pads that are spring loaded so you don't kill yourself on impact, you kill yourself by being flung back into the pack of skaters! But the ice is fast and it feels official. Makes us feel special, no more hockey players destroying the ice! yaaaay!

Heres the short track national team practicing on the amazing new ice.
The ones skating appear as blurs on the far straightaway, and you can also see some long tracker blurs on the oval on the right.



And....I get another shot at that long track qualifying time this weekend! Theres another Time Trial, I just wana take off another 3 seconds!

LT Time Trials

I raced the 500 and the 1000. But mostly the 1000....I just used the 500 as a warmup, HA that 500 was the most awkward race ever. I tripped like 5 times in the first straightaway! I wanted to get a 1:27 in the 1000 to qualify for the A group at American cup, or a 1:29 to be able to skate A group practice ice at the oval. I was REALLY happy with my time, 1:29.???, I was a couple hundredths off that qualifying time...but still, PB by about 6 seconds!!! (Got a PB in the 500 too by a second). I think there are more TT's next weekend ill try for sub 1:29!

I found a new hobby, UNICYCLING!!!! Fun but It takes mad skillz. Mad skillz I don't have.

SHANNON (and Derek Parra's doppelganger)

She's my roommate who INSISTED I put her on my blog. I even CAPITALIZED your name Shannon! What can I say about Shannon.... she hates our hamster Sparta, she loves pink, she joined a sorority then quit, and she thinks I'm a dork. But I think we BOTH know who the dork in the room really is...


She even took a picture of herself and saved it to my backround so I wouldn't forget what she looked like! What a nice person.

Also.... Take a look at these two guys. Roland Gift, who sang "she drives me crazy", and Derek Parra, gold/silver medalist speed skater.


Separated at birth??