Yeah, it's been a while

In case you are wondering, I did sort of fall off the world.  At least the cyber-world.  We had a computer virus at our house that took one computer out of commission.  Since the other three people in my house were writing lesson plans, entering grades, etc., it seemed that my blog should take a back seat.

I haven't done much skating.  Even though Carl's hours have picked up and he's done with classes, we've had family commitments with the holidays.  I've had more hours at work, too, which means fewer hours for skating.  Carl will be student teaching this spring, so I want to wait on skating until I know how that will effect his tutoring job. 

So, instead of skating, I've been visiting massage therapy schools.  I'm seriously considering going to massage therapy school once Carl is under contract with a school district. 

My dream job would be to get hired by a luxury hotel chain and get free rooms whenever I travel for skating competitions. I'd like to focus on sports massage and build relationships with coaches who would refer their skaters to me.  And I'd like to work with skating rinks to provide chair massages to mom's during learn-to-skate classes.   

This seems like a good step to me since I don't really don't know what I want to do.  I need a lot of autonomy at my job.  I'd like to be active and social.  All of that fits massage therapy.  And if I find later that it's not what I want, it's not a huge investment in time or money. 

It's been so long

The last month has been, well, very disappointing.  I've gotten in a practice here or there, but nothing like I got used to in the spring and summer.  Club ice was supposed to save me during the down time, but between family obligations and judging, I've only gone once since mid-October.

IceHubby is working more hours now, so I made sure I got in some skating lessons.  The first lesson just frustrated me because Coach just basically said, "It'll be fine once you start practicing again." 

Yesterday was the first club ice in ages.  I got to see friends I've missed.  I broke one of my rules about lessons and threw in another lesson, even though there hadn't been a practice in between this one and the last one.

It was worth it.  After 6 or 8 weeks of sluggishness, couch potato after work, and generally just being grumpy, I finally got motivated enough to exercise, stretch, and practice my jumps tonight.  Yes, I got Prospero, the greyhound, to help me. 

Fantasy Figure Skating Update

Last week, I rose a little bit in the USFSA Fantasy Figure Skating rankings, but not enough to brag about.  Here are my picks this week - my strategy stayed the same - choose the highest ranked skaters possible and guess on the rest.

Ladies A Miki Ando, JPN

Ladies B Kristine Musademba, USA

Ladies C Joshi Helgesson, SWE

Men's A Tomas Verner, CZE

Men's B Samuel Contesti, ITA

Men's C Jialiang Wu, CHN

Pairs A Lubov Iliushechkina/Nodari Maisuradze, RUS

Pairs B Caitlin Yankowskas/John Coughlin, USA

Pairs C Huibo Dong/Yiming Wu, CHN

Ice Dancing A Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali, ITA

Ice Dancing B Madison Hubbell/Keiffer Hubbell, USA

Ice Dancing C Xiaoyang Yu/Xun Zheng, CHN

How do you practice off the ice?

The other day, I was using my aerobic step to practice my jumps on the living room floor.  It's not terribly challenging because we only have one set of risers.

After a few minutes, I noticed that Prospero, our greyhound, was lying down near the kitchen, waiting not-so-patiently for any scraps that might come his way.

I looked at him, then I looked at the step. I looked again to double check.  Even lying down, Prospero was taller than the step.

"Prospero, stay."  Then I very tentatively waltz-jumped over him and cleared him easily.  If he noticed that he had become a training aid, he didn't show it.  He never took his eyes off the kitchen.  So, I did about 5 more jumps over him.

Yesterday, at my practice, I imagined him lying on the ice and worked hard to make sure I didn't hurt the imaginary dog.  I'm pretty sure that improved the height on my jumps. 

So, what do you do to practice at home?  Do you practice spins in your socks on the kitchen floor?  Have you found a way to practice Salchow's without twisting your ankle?  Let's hear what you do.

Music to my ears: I am overweight

I will admit that the biggest challenge of not having weekly skating lessons has been motivating myself to keep working out off-ice.

I know it's taking a toll.  Last time at the Galleria, I did a lap of power stroking . . . pant . . . pant . . . gasp . . .

I've also been worried about the toll it's taking on my weight.  In January, the week before we moved to Houston, I weighed 201 pounds.  We got a Wii for Christmas, so Carl got me a Wii Fit to help me exercise.

Every time I check my weight, it starts by checking my BMI.  The little slider used to go to the very top of the bar, and Wii Fit would tell me, "That's obese."

As I lost weight, the slider would only go to mid way in the top of the graph.  But the Wii Fit would still tell me, "That's obese!"

I asked my friend, Annie, about that.  "How long is it going to say that?"

"Every time until you aren't obese."

Yesterday, I stepped on the Wii Fit.  I braced myself for the hated phrase.  I watched the slider.  It went to the bottom of the obese portion of the chart.  Wait for it, wait for it . . . and . . . nothing.  I blinked a couple of times to make sure I was reading it correctly.

I am no longer obese.  I am now officially only overweight.

Happy Halloween

Last night, we went to a Halloween party.  Of course, I intended to go as Dorothy Hamill.  But, when reality set in, the costume had to be scaled back to "generic figure skater".  I even ran out of time to make myself a gold medal. 

Fortunately, The Devil showed up at the party, and by gum, he had a medal around his neck.  It didn't take long for us to strike a deal:  my soul for Olympic gold.  Soon, I was trotting around with my medal. 

But deals with the devil have a way of not going as planned.  "Gold in 2014, right?"  I asked him the next time I saw him.

"No, 2012 Summer Games."

Ice Pact: Fantasy Meets Reality

Ice Pact: Fantasy Meets Reality: "It turns out my fantasy figure skating is worse than my real figure skating. If that's even possible. After NHK Trophy, I'm ranked 506 out o..."

I didn't fare much better. 374 out of 574. My strategy this week: use Ice Network's skater rankings and just choose the highest ranked skater for each category. With the exception of the C team - that's just guess work.

2010 Skate Canada International Event
Ladies A Alissa Czisny, USA	Ladies B Sarah Meier, SUI	Ladies C Alexe Gilles, USA
Men's A Nobunari Oda, JPN	Men's B Alban Preaubert, FRA	Men's C Jeremy Ten, CAN
Pairs A Lubov Iliushechkina/Nodari Maisuradze, RUS	Pairs B Huibo Dong/Yiming Wu, CHN	Pairs C Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch, CAN
Ice Dancing A Sinead Kerr/John Kerr, GBR	Ice Dancing B Madison Chock/Greg Zuerlein, USA	Ice Dancing C Stefanie Frohberg/Tim Geisen, GER