Oh, I am laughing so hard right now. After looking through a soccer supply catalog, I came across the Hummel Squadra cleats in lots of colors. Look at them! They come in pink. PINK! Can you imagine seeing me flying down the ultimate field on the pull with pink cleats? Me, neither, but that's not the point. Pink! How about with a monster layout? Me and my pink cleats!

I'm so excited! I might have to buy a pair just for the entertainment value. My options are light blue, white, pink, lavender (lavender!), red, yellow, green, blue and black. My sides ache from laughing. Pink cleats!

I want.

When we feed the dogs, we give them their food, then a treat. Bella Greenies as her treat; Annie gets a knotted rawhide. Greenies are toothbrush-shaped, green chew treats that clean dogs' teeth and freshen their breath. From empirical evidence, they taste really, really good: Bella will howl until she gets her Greenie after dinner, which is our routine: dog food, then treat. She demands her Greenies. Now, now, now! if she doesn't get one immediately after she's finished her do-I-really-have-to-eat-it dog food.

It's so bad, we call Greenies by their real name: Doggie Crack®.

This Christmas, we're dog sitting Rossi. For those counting, that's one (Bella), two (Annie), three (Rossi) dogs. Their code names are The Little One (Bella at 29 pounds), The Big One (Rossi at ~90 pounds -/+) and The Bad One (of course, that's Annie, at 35 pounds).

The Bad One doesn't get Greenies, as she doesn't actually chew them. Instead, she bites them into three pieces and swallows the chunks without chewing. Kinda defeats the teeth-cleaning purpose of them. The chunks can be seen the next day out in the backyard in Annie's poop. Bella will later eat these tasty chunks of Doggie Crack®.

Before we started dog sitting, we were told that Rossi gets two cups of food a day. Normally it would just sit in a dish, but our dogs would eat it, so instead she gets one cup twice a day like our dogs do. Rossi has learned to eat it when she gets it, or go hungry until the next eating time. She also gets a treat when everyone leaves, because she has separation anxiety.

Well, as Ros is a bit overweight, we're giving her less food than the two cups. We did, however, start her on the after-dinner treat routine by giving her a doggie biscuit after dinner. We haven't been giving her adios-dog-we're-leaving-you-alone treats, because she hasn't seemed to need them.

After a few days of doggie biscuits, Rossi started getting rawhides. She didn't get a new one every day, as she never quite finished them. After a few more days of this, I thought I'd give Rossi a choice: a dog biscuit like she's been getting, a rawhide like The Bad One gets, or Doggie Crack® like The Little One gets.

When presented with the three options, Rossi sniffed each one in turn. Hmmmmm, I've had this biscuit before, it's dry. Hmmmm, yes, this rawhide takes me FOR-EV-VER to eat. Hmmmm, what's this? It's different. Now, what are these smells again? She sniffed each one in turn, then sniffed again. Then sniffed again. Finally, she put her mouth around the Greenie, er, Doggie Crack®, and waited. She didn't pull (Liza training, I think - you can't pull food out of a 2 year old's hand without some repercussion, so bite gently and wait). Instead, she just waited for me to say okay. Little did she know I was starting her on a path of no return: she loved her first one.

Now, when we try to feed her dinner in the evening, she doesn't want to eat. She wants her Doggie Crack®. She sniffs her food ("Bah. Dog Food."), then hurries over to me ("Where's my Crack? Where's my Crack?"). I have to tell her several times, and point, and command, "Eat! Food before Greenies!".

I think she's starting to understand the routine. Food first. Then Doggie Crack®. Food. Crack. Food. Crack. That's the way it works at Krikitt Downs.

We continued with the upperbody workouts, which was really cool, because I can see a physical difference in my upperbody, and I know others have also noticed. I have muscles! Amazing!

Kris and I did different programs because he's progressed farther than I have (he's a lot stronger than I am, let's say). We started out on the treadmill (I walking, Kris jogging), then used the punching bag to loosen up our shoulders.

Next, we did the band workouts, which works on core muscles and rotator fast twitch muscles. I showed Kris the workout. We did only two sets because we didn't get started until 6:50 (class was from 7-8 tonight, because G was scheduled for a batting practice at our usual 6-7 time).

elevated clappers
medicine ball cross with lift
swiss ball slap with pushup stance
T pushups 
close grip pull downs
tricep pushdowns
swiss ball slap with arms extended

Then we went to abs, working out pleasantly hard because Pat (not Frost) was working out with us, too.

bicycles
russian crunches
V ups normal
legs straight up, medicine ball in one hand, touch ball to opposite foot
on back, with weight held straight up, press up
regular situps with medicine ball thrown to chest
partner pushdowns (I did well)
6-12" vertical up & down
cross overs
6 - 12" leg holds for 60 sec with mental torment

I think I'm forgetting things. I'll fill in as I remember them.

Oh, and about that *tink!* G told the story of how he had a 16 year old girl who was (according to her parents who may have oversold her enthusiasm to the ASA instructors) working out in the weight room (for the third time in her life) with G. She was doing wide grip pullups (of which Kris can do one unaided, I can do one with 60% of my weight assisted) with G supporting most of her weight. He told her she had to do 3 sets of 10. After seven in the first set, she gave up mentally, and wanted down. G refused, trying to get her to continue, help her out mentally. She broke down and fell forward into the lifting apparatus and *tink!*ed her face on the pulley cord of the weight machine. G felt bad, but made it a good story.

I started my Freecycle module for drupal. You can see an example of it working on my site, though it's in a state of flux and may not be working at any given point.

Freecycle is a growing, grassroots movement that reduces landfill trash by promoting the free exchange of used yet still useable goods. In other words, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

The basic concept is that some used goods can be used by other people. Rather than throwing out usable goods, an owner can post the item to a list, offering it to others. If another person has need of the goods, s/he can respond requesting the used goods.

Part of the problem I have with the process is the difficulty with selecting one person to give the item to, or asking for an item (oooo! pick me! I want it! I need it. I hate sob-story emails from strangers.). When I post items (and I've posted a lot to my local group), I often get a flood of emails. I then have to figure out which person I should give the item to, arrange for pickup, wait to see if they pickup (no shows are a big deal), and reoffer if the items aren't picked up. I think the "Sorry, already taken." emails after the first n emails are received (where n varies on how much I think someone really wants the items and will be likely to pick them up) suck the most.

This Freecycle module will alleviate some of those issues, by having people sign up online. I'll be able to configure how many emails I accept before automatically terminating the list, provide a giveaway/pickup status for unclaimed items, limit how many items someone can pick up (by email address, IP address, etc.) and provide feedback (ala ebay) about no-shows.

Nothing like scratching an itch for the common good.

All the applicants received this email yesterday from the UPA:

Date:     Mon, 20 Dec 2004 09:04:41 -0700
From:  	  Sandie Hammerly 
To:  	  World Game Applicants
Subject:  World Games Selection process

Everyone:

Thank you so much for submitting an application for consideration for
selection to the 2005 US World Games team. From the applications
submitted, we are confident that the Selection Committee will be able to
develop an outstanding squad to train and compete in Duisburg in 2005.

As you may know, the 2001 team strongly recommended that a coach was
needed to increase the chances for success of the US squad - and the UPA
has responded to this request and selected Ted Munter from the pool of
coaching applicants. For more information on Ted, please visit the web
site.

Because we were a bit delayed in selecting the coach, the rest of the
selection timeline has also been delayed. The Selection Committee is
just beginning its review of applications...and has determined that it
will not be feasible to conduct a tryout camp due...therefore the team
will be selected based on information contained in the applications
submitted.

The World Flying Disc Federation has set a deadline of February 1 for
the six participating countries to report their players. Therefore, you
can expect to hear more regarding the selections by the end of January.

If you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact.

Our best to you for a terrific holiday season.

Sandie Hammerly
Executive Director
Ultimate Players Association

Heidi Pomfret
Member 2001 US World Games Team and
Chair, World Games 2005 - Team USA

I now have 0% chance of making the team. With tryouts, I would have had a chance. With the insane workouts I've been doing, I would have had a chance. The chance would have been small, but it would have been non-zero.

Without the tryouts, I have no chance because I am completely unknown to the selectors. For any reason I can think of that would make me more desirable than any of the other female players, I can think of an equally valid reason that negates the first reason, or another player who, based on name-recognition, reputation and connections, would fill the role better than I.

I want to say I've been realistic with this. I want to say I never expected anything but 0%. I want to say I didn't get my hopes up, that I didn't feverishly wish I'd get a chance at the team, that I'd be able to give it my all at those tryouts and know that I wasn't selected because another player outplayed me, not because I play for an unknown mixed team in the hardest section and region in the country.

But I can't say that. I did get my hopes up. And I cried when I read that email.