Hittin’ the World Rankings

     It’s not often a person can say they’re ranked world class, so I just have to sing about it a bit. Anyone who visits this blog regularly knows I speedskate. Love the sport and the camaraderie with adult skaters. Turns out I can be pretty proud of my actual performance, too. Just found out that I’m ranked in the top 20 worldwide in my age division. And get this — you see only one American flag there. I alone represent the women of the U.S. in all four distances (500, 1k, 1500, and 3k) in my age division. And speedskating’s given me four national championships, too. I never imagined any of this when I set out to simply find a workout that I could do with my kids.

     I hope this encourages other moms out there to strap on some skates! Olympic fever, courtesy this go around of Sochi, Russia, is just 390 days away!

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Muddier Than Ever Before

     Wow! I just had the most fun ever working out! I completed Tough Mudder Wisconsin 2012! If you don’t know much about this obstacle course, click here. And there’s just too much to say in one blog post, so I wrote an entire blow-by-blow of the whole event and gave it its own page! Check it out by clicking here and then return to this page if you’d like to leave a comment. So much fun! So much mud!

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Laugh Along with Me

     
     Sometimes you just get along with everyone in the room and have the best time. That’s how it’s been the past couple of days guest hosting The Morning Blend. I’ve done it a few times before and am always honored to be asked back. Tiffany Ogle and I had a lot of fun laughing at — and with — each other on air along with the whole crew, who are just a blast to be around besides being top-notch professionals.

     If you’d like to see how the show went, you can check out the segments at The Morning Blend. Click on Past Shows for the dates June 6 and June 7, 2012. I hope you’ll enjoy watching them as much as I enjoyed being there!

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Ten Commandments for Editing Someone’s Work

     Really love this list of dos and don’ts when editing someone’s work. It’s put out by author, blogger, and former literary agent Nathan Bransford. Point number eight, Don’t Overdo It, especially speaks to me because we’ve all been asked to critique something that needed a lot more work than comma correction. If a whole section needs a rewrite, line editing is hardly worth the effort.

     Check it out for yourself and let me know if you agree with the commandments or might add/delete a few. Happy writing!

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There’s No Double Standard – They’re Just Smart

     I had to laugh when I read this New York Times article, which at the start seems to suggest that parents who use e-readers are hypocritical by insisting their children read paper books. To quote a bit, “They freely acknowledge their digital double standard, saying they want their children to be surrounded by print books” and they “fear that a shiny gadget might get all the attention” and “if little Joey is going to spit up, a book may be easier to clean than a tablet computer.”

     Chah! There’s no double standard here. There’s intelligence. Wisdom, even.

     I have no fears that little Joey will grow up to be at least computer literate. His parents already own e-readers, so there’s a decent chance that they own other electronic communications devices, and there are also computers at the very libraries and schools that little Joey may visit or attend, and, oh yeah, his place of work will likely have a computer, too. So I’m not worried that little Joey will think an e-reader is a shiny paperweight.

     I’m a lot more worried — as are his parents obviously — that little Joey will think of the e-reader as a nifty projectile. Seriously, what do toddlers do when they’re done with a book? They throw it. Okay, maybe, if they’re particularly gentle children, they’ll drop it. Super. Imagine, all my faithful readers, going to your bedroom and repeatedly dropping, oh, say, your alarm clock, which probably cost a whole lot less than your precious e-reader. After even two drops, are you still thinking that giving little Joey an e-reader is a good idea? Of course parents are hesitant to hand their kids devices that cost hundreds of dollars. Witness the evidence; this second picture is from a friend who handed his iPhone to his toddler. Not as pretty as the first picture above, is it?

     So let’s imagine instead that you choose to simply hand little Joey a couple hundred-dollar bills (the cost of the e-reader). What will he do with the bills? Why, tear them! Obviously! That is why books for the young are BOARD books, because otherwise the books would end up shredded all over the living room or chewed up in baby’s belly.

     And, yes, I must concur with parents that electronic gadgets don’t enhance a child’s concentration. How many times have we seen children hit buttons just to see what will happen? It’s power at their fingertips!!! “Forget what Curious George did at the zoo!” thinks little Joey. “Look what happens when I press the bat! He flies! Yippee!” It’s cool and all but doesn’t exactly help him sound out the word “bat.”

     So I say, don’t feel too hypocritical if you refuse to surrender your electronic gadgets. They’re yours for now. When little Joey can handle it and respect it, he too can enjoy all the whiz-bang extras of the latest and greatest electronics. He’ll be just fine for now.

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Sprinting for the Hardware

     This weekend, my eldest daughter, Corina, did something pretty awesome. She took home the third place medal for what was only her third meet as a high school cross country athlete!

     It was during her 4k (2.5 mile) run at the Whitnall Invitational at Hales Corners Park. In that meet, her time dropped almost two minutes from the previous races! She’s loving the sport and her truly supportive teammates. Here’s a great picture of my daughter sprinting toward a finish line. Go, girl! Go!

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Guest Hosting The Morning Blend

     What a wonderful time! This morning I enjoyed the rare opportunity of guest hosting a television talk show. The Morning Blend is a warm, affirming, and really fun show airing weekdays at 9 a.m. on TODAY’S TMJ4. Lovely host Tiffany Ogle welcomed me as I filled in for her equally talented partner, Molly Fay.

     It was my first time on television in nearly three years. I remembered how it all worked, so I guess it’s just like riding a bicycle.

     Want to watch some of my foibles? Just go to The Morning Blend’s website, click on “Past Shows,” and choose the links under Friday, August 19, 2011. I’d love to hear your feedback!

     A special thanks goes out to everyone at The Morning Blend for welcoming me!

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Throw the Confetti

and let’s celebrate because I’ve finished my latest manuscript! It’s a 68,200-word young adult fantasy. Can’t say what it’s about yet as that’s under wraps, but it’s off with my agent, and I’m really pleased with it.

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Sweeping Changes On the Way for US Speedskaters

     This weekend I had the privilege of attending US Speedskating’s Board of Directors meeting, which is where big (and small) changes are made in U.S. speedskating regulations. The spring meeting is held in a different city and area of the country each year, and Milwaukee was the place this go-around. I sat through every minute of it and posted a link at the end of this post to the board actions that I think will most interest skaters.

     First, let me briefly tell you how the event was laid out. It began Thursday night with a roundtable discussion in which 24 board members and USS staff were onhand to answer questions from the general membership. Friday was devoted to committee meetings, where proposals were debated and eventually voted on to either die in committee or advance to the board. Saturday was when the board made the final votes on each proposal, either denying them or turning them into law. How’s that for PoliSci 101? I think Marquette U. should give me an honorary degree.

     So what are the changes? There were 25 that I thought would most interest my readers. You can find them HERE.

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Now I’m Officially Official

     Okay, I’ve been a part of the speedskating scene for a long time, but today I actually got a little bit of authority at a meet. I was one of the officials at the 2011 Masters International Long Track Speedskating Championships held at the Pettit. Tempting as it was to flaunt my new powers and disqualify anyone who looked at me funny, I instead behaved and did my best to keep the racing fair and moving along.

     Here you see me setting up with a bucketful of blocks. These blocks are rubber lane markers laid out along the turns and sometimes the straightaways to clearly mark lanes. I also acted as a corner judge (watching that skaters not cross too far to the inside), finishing line judge (watching that skaters not kick out their skates and are ranked according to their finishing place), and heat box caller (getting the right skaters checked in and onto the ice). The latter was very easy, as adult skaters know where they are to be and when.

     I had two fabulous assistants in my youngest children, whom you see here. They are preparing to put red and white armbands on the skaters. The armbands indicate in which lanes the skaters start. The kids also checked racing numbers and order at the starting line.

     I learned a lot from officiating. Some rules that were fuzzy in my mind are now crystal clear, which should assist my own skating, and we all had a great time.

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