Cutie pie overload.

Seriously, this is how life should be everyday:

Photo finish.

Okay, a post full of pictures, watch out! I had a blast at the Swim Trials this week and here's some tidbits from it:

Morning Session warm-ups. It's a lot like a koi pond at feeding time.

Pool + effects for the evening session. Dramatic!

I went to four sessions for the Olympic Swim Trials in Omaha. They were held in the CenturyLink convention center. There were two sessions in the morning and two in the evening. The morning ones were less attended, less showy in the pyrotechnics and theatrics, and made up of preliminaries and semi-final heats. The morning crowd is mostly friends and family of the swimmers that day. I heard a lot of stories about the swimmers from the proud families. It was sweet. The only annoyance I had during the morning sessions was how much of it was spent by people playing on their ipads and phones. It was kind of ridiculous. Two parents who were sitting in front of me had traveled across the country to surprise their son who was swimming that morning. And they spent the entire time messaging people on facebook rather than watching this huge event that their son was taking part in. I mean, they watched his race (er, actually they recorded it on their ipad in-between facebook messages), but they didn't really pay any attention to anything else. It kind of made me sick. And I swore to myself that if I ever have a kid who is in some event that means a lot to them (or me), I refuse to be like these parents and spend the entire time engaging with some machine instead of watching the event/kid/kid's friends. I did get to take a lot of pictures of notable swimmers in the morning sessions, though.

Michael Phelps in the preliminaries for the 200m butterfly

Dana Vollmer in the prelims for the 200m freestyle

Jason Lezak (left, waving) and Ryan Lochte in the 100m freestyle semifinals. Lochte and Grevers both plan to scratch the final, so maybe Lezak will make the team at 36 years old. I'm rooting for him.

Cullen Jones! Yay!

Brendan Hanson! He swam against some Mizzou guys in the breaststroke heats.

   

Sam Tierney, a Mizzou sophomore, won his heat in the
prelims of the 200m breaststroke this morning!

MIZ! (This finish time wasn't good enough to get into the semifinals,  but another Mizzou guy named Jack Brown did end up sqeaking into the semi-finals due to other guys dropping out.) It was exciting to cheer on Mizzou for a few minutes this morning.

Ryan Lochte (blue cap) and Michael Phelps (white cap, flapping arms)
on the blocks for the 200 freestyle final

The evening sessions are way more theatrical with light shows, pyrotechnics, music, interviews, medal ceremonies, etc. It was exciting and the crowd gets super into it. All the swimmers tend to show up and I was in the overflow swimmers section tonight. There's over 1500 swimmers at the Trials and less than 50 will make the team, so it's a huge swimmers' section. I saw two American Records set and those were some of the most exciting races. The 200m freestyle final between Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps was probably the most exciting. I was sitting next to a coach who was schooling me on a lot of what I was seeing and telling me the back stories of some of the swimmers. His son trains with Ryan Lochte and Conor Dwyer, so when both made the 200m freestyle team, it was exciting up in the row. 

Lochte's shoes he wore for the medal ceremony. Snazzy, no?

He said that that race will run basically the same next month at the Olympics because Phelps and Lochte are the best in the world and that 200m freestyle final will be another race between the two for the gold medal. But, like I mentioned in the last post, I don't think those two are bitter rivals. They seem to be friendly and happy to be around each other, joking and laughing with each other. I think they're just competitive with each other in the pool, but I saw the two together quite a bit and didn't see anything that looked like they were uneasy around each other at all. Matt Grevers, who won a place on the team last night, did mention both in his post-medals interview. He said that he wasn't like Ryan or Michael who are just like, 'Yeah, I'm going to the Olympics.', he said he didn't think he'd make the team and that's why he was ecstatic about it, despite having been to Beijing in '08. Grevers was probably the funniest dude to chat after his medal ceremony. He was on such a high and was still so ecstatic after his win. He made everybody laugh and feel good because of how excited he was to be on the team.

Matt Grevers during his awards ceremony.

New American Record!
(Not far from the World Record, either.)

Plus, I did see a couple of new records get set. The women are fast! Both Missy Franklin and Allison Schmitt set new records while I was at the trials. It was exciting. Everyone got really amped when someone would get close to breaking a record, but more often than not, they would fall off the pace and end up a few seconds over the record. When they stayed on pace the whole time and then broke it? Pandemonium in the convention center, like whoa.

Missy Franklin getting her medal! I think she cried non-stop through everything from when she broke the record to her post-medal interview. Happy tears.

  

And, as a final note: I finally recognized an athlete today without having to wait for the mobs to begin to shout her name. I looked over at someone who looked exactly like my cousin and it turned out to be, not my cousin, but Dara Torres. I was proud of myself for finally seeing a swimmer that I recognized pre-swimfan mobfest. If you are stuck in an area with enough crazed teenybopperish fans, eventually, you will begin to recognize people too, eh? Even a blind pig finds a truffle now and again. I refuse to mob anybody, though. It's not my style. I don't like them at all. The terrified look on the faces of the athletes being mobbed does not make for a pleasant photo opp. I think if I were them, I'd try to find another way to get to and fro. Although, props to them for braving the crowds, when they know that they're going to get mobbed. They probably make those people's days by simply shaking their hand or signing their shirt. Not a bad way to make someone's day better, I guess.

It was a really cool experience all around. I learned a lot about the sport, in general. Like, those flags on the pool are there to help backstrokers understand when they're getting close to the wall; the US Olympic Trials are tougher for US swimmers than the actual Olympics; those Michael Phelps arm flaps are really loud; and judging by the screams and loyalty of the swimmers and supporters of certain swim clubs, swimming is more of a team sport than I had realized. It's been a really good experience, all around. People were really nice and friendly to me. When they found out that I came alone to the trials because nobody else wanted to go or could get off work for it, they were excited to include me in their experiences and fill me in on their stories of why they were there. I got a lot of compliments too from older women who told me that they were really impressed by me and that they would never have had the courage to go on a vacation alone at my age. It was fun, and not lonely at all. I think traveling solo could be lonely if you let it, and I do like to travel with other people, but for my first time going on vacation by myself, I have to say that it was nice to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted without having to get a group consensus of an activity or wait around for other people to be ready to go. It was pretty sweet, actually. 

Happy spectator at the Olympic Swim Trials 2012!

Less than a month from the London Games! Bring it!

Greetings from Omaha!

Greetings from Omaha! This is not a city that I've spent any time in prior to this trip, but I tell ya: Omaha and I get along like a house afire! I haven't gotten lost once, all the people I've met have been super nice and friendly, the zoo here is awesome, and the Swim Trials have been pretty fantastic, too. I haven't been disappointed by anything thus far. I didn't have much in the way of expectations, so it's hard to disappoint, I guess. But Omaha? You're awesome.

I saw a little bit of color at the botanical garden. I'm not really into gardens, and the heat has taken much of the color out of the place. I found a few flowers to take pictures of, but mostly it was taking picture of non-planty things:

They have a model train garden with a number of trams and trains running through it. Coolest part of the whole place, I thought.

  

Some sort of Mt. Fuji replica? It was interesting.

One of the roses in the rose garden.

The zoo is really cool and full of babies!

  

 

 It was warm yesterday, but I knew it would be triple digit heat for today and tomorrow, so I visited the zoo and the botanical garden yesterday. The zoo was really great. The baby gorilla was especially adorable. He was very energetic and super excited to interact with the visitors. He'd run around and cheese it up for the people. He seriously enjoyed pounding on the glass when people's backs were turned. It was cute and made for a lot of laughs. The baby seal and the baby zebra were both busy most of the time with eating from their moms. The baby giraffe was pretty calm, just walking around. S/he eventually went over and laid down next to Mom in the shade. I haven't seen so many baby animals in one zoo before, I don't think. It was fun. Other animals?

They have a monkey island. The little one in front is a Peruvian monkey.

Babies aside, the gorillas are always the saddest animals to see in zoos, I think. They're too much like humans to really enjoy watching them stuck in glass boxes. This one would sit like this until you walked by one window and then he'd turn his head and look at you before going back to staring off into space again. It made me sad. But, I try to look like this when I do that one sitting pose in yoga. I'm going to remember how well he did it and try to emulate the gorilla next time I do yoga.

Young African Lion. I got several other pictures of this one, but there was a herd of young elementary kids looking through the glass and the cat couldn't stop licking its lips while looking at them.

I have more to tell. The Olympic Trials have been pretty neat so far, but I'll wait and do another post on it later in the week. I'm learning a lot about swimming, though. This is apparently a bigger swim meet for US swimmers than the Olympics because the majority of the best swimmers in the world are here in the USA and there are fewer than 26 slots on both the men and women's teams. So, inevitably, some of the best swimmers in the world are left off the team. I've gotten some good swim pictures in the pool. Not many photos outside of that, although, it turns out that I was standing near Ryan Lochte this evening, but I didn't recognize him. He looked like all the other male athletes walking around in over-sized headphones and track suits. I was kind of surprised when a flock of teenage girls suddenly formed and began rushing toward me screaming 'RYAN! RYAN!' The mob that engulfed the dude screaming for autographs and pictures tipped me off as to who this guy was. I didn't shove my camera in to get a photograph. I can't make myself become one of those people who are pushing and shoving for autographs and screaming at some poor athlete. I'm not able to tap into that part of me anymore. That girl died with my backstreet boys obsession over a decade ago. Here's one picture I'll share tonight from this evening's medal ceremonies when the four guys heading to London in the men's 200m freestyle were waiting in the pit. Of course, everybody getting medals are in a good mood. These guys were having a good time and I didn't see anything that looked like Phelps and Lochte aren't friendly toward each other. I think that's really just something the media want everyone to think to boost ratings. All four fellas seemed pretty cheerful to be together joking around during the wait:

(l-r): Ricky Berens, Coner Dwyer, Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte

More pictures to come later in the week! Ciao!

This is my 'sporty' post.

I'm keeping tiny tabs on the NBA game between the Heat and the Celtics this evening. I don't really care who wins. I was really happy to have the Oklahoma City Thunder win the Western Division and head to the NBA Finals. That's the team I'm rooting for, (if I happen to catch any of the games) and I don't know enough about the Heat or the Celtics to know which would be the better opponent for the Thunder.

Lots of sporty things are happening this weekend, apparently. I decided not to watch the Belmont Stakes after I'll Have Another was scratched yesterday. I heard it was a good race, though, with Union Rags winning by a nose. Good job. I didn't think I'll Have Another was exactly a super-horse, but I do admit that I would have watched the Belmont only if that horse had been in the race. Mostly because my sports-watching energy has shifted to soccer, as it usually does in June. I watched the two Euro Cup games that were on today. Denmark beat Netherlands, which was a surprise. Germany beat Portugal, which was not, although it was a tough game. Tomorrow morning my Azzurri take the field against Spain. The Italian national team is yet again in trouble with a betting scandal. It's part of the drama of Italian soccer, I think. Wondering exactly how many laws are being broken each time they play. They are scandalicious, but I love them anyway. It's cool that the Euro Cup is being played in Ukraine and Poland. Today they were playing one game in Lviv, but the commentators were saying the city's name a number of different ways. I finally decided that perhaps the British commentator could be saying it correctly in his own way and forgave him his kind of wonky-way of pronunciation, but the American commentator was so terribly off the mark that you could hardly recognize the name of the the city at all. I wouldn't normally be worked up about the pronunciation of a city I've never been to, except that I've heard all about Lviv for years and years and feel that it deserves respect! My roomie in college (and still my good buddy) was from Lviv. She came to Columbia for graduate school and we were apartment roommates for three years until I graduated. She is from Lviv and she pronounces it "Luh-veev". The commentators today were doing all sorts of things to words, but the worst was the American who kept pronouncing it "El-vivvy". I mean, what the hell? Who failed in their job of making sure the talking heads can pronounce the host cities correctly, ESPN? Get on the ball. I hope tomorrow will be better, but I won't count on it.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've come to be amazed by the number of people I know who don't know how to swim. Adults, that is. I don't know why, but I am completely taken aback when I meet an adult who doesn't know how to swim. It's one thing to simply not like being in the water, but to not know how to swim seems really impractical to me. It's a survival skill and I'm kind of surprised at how many people I know that would probably drown if they fell into a lake. I don't always have the ability to hide my emotions on my face and I am pretty sure I've looked at folks like they suddenly grew another head after learning this about them. They may as well have told me they were born on Saturn. It's unthinkable. I almost feel like parents have somehow failed in their upbringing of a kid if the kid reaches adulthood without being able to tread water if they have to...or if they reach adulthood without ever having tasted macaroni and cheese. It just seems very odd to me. I can't imagine having a kid and not making sure they know how to swim. I don't remember learning to swim. My parents put me in a water babies class that had parents in the pool with their infants, teaching the babies how to hold their breath underwater, etc. I obviously don't remember it, and don't remember learning any of it, but I think that's one of the best things my parents could have ever done. And I don't really believe that if your parents don't like the water, you won't learn to swim. My mom was never all that fond of water, but she didn't let that stop her from getting in the pool and making sure I knew how to swim. I admire her for that. And also for not passing on her fear of the water to me. I never found out why she didn't like the water, but I have very few memories of her + water. A few stand out, like when she fell out of a raft during a white water trip down the Colorado River. If you don't like water, the last place you want to be is out of a raft going through rapids, but she did amazingly well and didn't panic at all unlike another rafter who fell out as well and nearly killed himself and others in his panic-stricken state. My mom was very calm on the outside and I would imagine she was worried while being whisked down the roaring river away from those of us still in the raft. That was the most extreme situation I can ever remember her being involved in where water played a big role. Mostly, when I was really little, she would hop waves with me in the ocean and then go back and read a book in her beach chair. My dad was always the one that would go swimming out in the deeper water, and probably that's another reason the fear didn't get passed on to me. My dad would scuba dive, so I had the example of one parent who preferred to sit on the shore (or boat) and the other who preferred to dive under the water and not surface for an hour or so. I did a middle-of-the-road kind of scenario and tended to snorkle and splash about between the two extremes. As a result, I was never afraid of the water itself. I don't like to go out swimming in the ocean as much anymore, but that's due more to a bad experience I had later in childhood during one of those 'middle of the road' scenarios in the Florida Keys. One bad experience shouldn't put you off something altogether. I'm not afraid of water now, just uneasy about certain animals that live in it. I love pools and water parks and things like that. I can't imagine growing up without going swimming. I imagine I'd look something like this sad little elephant, sitting in the super-shallow end while my playmates swim in the deeper sections of the pool. Sad little elephant.  So, if you happen to not know how to swim, why not learn now? It's never too late to learn something new.