Month: February 2006

Snow’s all but gone – leaving this yucky muck on the sidewalks of NY.

How about those Chinese figure skating pairs? One pair, the bronze winners of 2002, earning a bronze again in 2006 – but a well-earned one, considering how Zhao had that horrible Achilles tendon injury and then his partner, Shen, had those slips in their programs during the Olympics 2006. The silver medalists – Zhang and Zhang (not related) – well, when the female Zhang had her fall, one wondered if they’d medal, but they had their courage and got out there. Quite something.

American skier Toby Dawson wins a bronze in moguls (the hilly ski course, with the acrobatic elements). Dawson is an Korean-American adoptee, who grew up in the ski country of Vail, Colorado. NBC has an interesting profile on him.

NY Times’ Lee Jenkins tells Dawson’s story poignantly (poignant: a classic Olympic style, no doubt):

Toby Dawson arrived in the United States with no name and no birthday.

He was adoptee K81-2879, found on the streets of Seoul, South Korea. Workers at the South Korean orphanage where he lived called him Kim Soo Chul. They listed his date of birth as Nov. 30, 1978, because it seemed like a reasonable guess.

On Wednesday night, adoptee K81-2879 became an Olympic medalist. When he won the bronze in the men’s moguls competition, his adoptive mother, Deborah Dawson, flashed back to the first time she saw him, on a spring day at a Denver airport 24 years ago.

“It felt,” she said, “a lot like it feels right now.” [….]

Dawson came to the United States when he was about 3 years old, adopted by a husband and wife who were ski instructors in Vail, Colo. One of the first toys Dawson received in the United States was a trampoline. As he jumped up and down in the backyard, Deborah Dawson watched from her kitchen window, recognizing his passion for physical activity and a determination to stay on his feet.

Sitting in the stands Wednesday in Sauze d’Oulx, Deborah Dawson wore a gold jacket and a cowbell around her neck. She saw her son choose a path down the mountain that no one else wanted. It was on the right side of the hill, covered with enough excess snow and pine needles to halt even the most accomplished skier.

“We tried to get him to move more to the right, but he stuck to his guns,” said Jeff Wintersteen, the United States coach. “Toby’s an individualist. He liked that line and he was going to go for it.”

The line was difficult. It was undesirable. It was filled with unnecessary obstacles.

For skier K81-2879, it was perfect.

The men’s figure skating — well, wasn’t that much of a surprise,was it? Plushenko, gold. After that, was the fight for the two other medals. Lambiel of Switzerland, silver. Canada’s Jeffrey Buttle – a chemical engineering student in U of Toronto – a bronze – lucky him (earning something, despite tripping on an attempted quad). US men? Evan Lysacek – coming back from the poor short program, but not winning the bronze with 4th place, so close! – and Matt Savoie – well, I liked his short program, so I think he came close, too. He ended at 7th. He’s an aspiring lawyer, about to go to Cornell Law. And, the US Champion, Johnny Weir – hmm. He was 5th place, with a pretty long program, but no quad. You need a quad, man! You don’t get a medal unless you try risks.

And the new point system for skating? I just don’t understand it, even when the pairs tried it out (and they were the ones who caused the old scoring system to be ditched) – but, I guess it’s a work in progress. Maybe it’ll make more sense to me once I see the ice dancers and the women skaters.
Well, I’m not behind on “Grey’s Anatomy” for once. Man, that part 2 of the Super Bowl episode was really something. Explosive (pun intended). Too bad for Bomb Squad Guy, played by Kyle Chandler. I thought he had a moment with Meredith Grey, who, in reality, is still stuck on Dr. McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey). And, really, Meredith needs a dynamic kind of guy, to offset what she went through with McDreamy. But, next week’s “Grey” will be interesting – Mark, the ex-best friend of Dr. McDreamy (sorry, Dr. Shepherd) and the guy who had an affair with Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd, Shepherd’s wife, will visit (for how long?) Seattle Grace Hospital – and, gee, sparks will fly, but whose sparks? (Meredith’s, or Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd’s?). Hmm…

Due to the Olympics, I’m behind on “House.” Will catch up some time this week.

Sometimes, I think my workplace is something out of ER. The interminal meetings were punctuated by: medical drama, a guy from Nepal gets asylum, job interviews, a (three time put-offed) yearbook picture, lost and found email, network outages, arguments with subordinates over email, and figuring out what’s for lunch. This was all true.

P and I had dinner at Bar Tabac on Smith Street, passing on Sur because it was completely empty, which we took to be a bad sign on Valentines. We had a little intermission at One Girl Cookies to make up for getting doused by a car speeding through slush.

It was kind of busy at Bar Tabac, but we were seated immediately without reservations. We ordered all of the specials, plus an onion soup for myself, and we were well satisfied. They had their live band playing several pieces, including “Blue Skies”. Absolutely wonderful!

Watched the tail-end of the Westminster Dog Show on USA network. Rufus is pretty darn cute!