There’s a good all-purpose excuse!

Well, my horoscope for today has basically told me to quit slacking off and get to work on my creative projects. Guess that means I need to start writing more. And not use today’s excuse no matter how much I want to! LOL!

Now that the Olympics are over, I’m not quite sure how to act. Time to get back into the swing of other things. Tonight on TV, we have new episodes of Chuck and 24. I’ll be recording both so I can catch up on other things. Yes, I know it’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul but I don’t have enough hours in the day to do all I need to do today.

As promised from yesterday, here are a couple of pictures of the dishy Norwegian curler, Thomas Ulsrud. It’s not the dishiest pic but you can see the pants. *g* Here’s another shot of him.

Oh, and from the world of archaeology, the head from a “colossal” statue of Amenhotep III (King Tut’s granddaddy *g*) has been found in Egypt.

Reading: I’m not quite finished with Death at Bishop’s Keep yet, but I’m loving it and definitely plan to get the rest of the books in the series.

The only two events at today’s Olympics are the gold medal hockey game between the USA and Canada and the men’s 50km cross country skiing. So I’m watching the skiing and everybody’s going along nice as can be when all of a sudden five or six skiers get all tangled up in each other’s skis and every single one of them falls down. You just don’t expect a five car pile-up in cross country skiing! At least I don’t. *g*

Tonight is the closing ceremonies. Also tonight on Masterpiece, we have a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps which was based on the novel of the same name by John Buchan.

Reading: Finished up West of Bliss and barely started Death at Bishop’s Keep by Robin Paige which is the pseudonym of Susan Wittig Albert and her husband Bill Albert. This is the first book in their Victorian/Edwardian series featuring Kate Ardleigh Sheridan and Sir Charles Sheridan. I’ve been wanting to try this series for ages.

And now for my final Vancouver 2010 Olympics report!

Yesterday was pretty quiet overall. We had the men’s speed skating team pursuit medal round which is kind of fun to watch. Three skaters from each country skate together and their final time isn’t counted until the third skater crosses the finish line. The gold went to Canada, the silver to the USA, and bronze to the Netherlands. The women’s speed skating team pursuit went to Germany (gold), Japan (silver), and Poland (bronze).

In the men’s snowboard giant slalom event, gold went to Canada, silver to Austria, and bronze to France.

In men’s slalom skiing, the gold went to Italy, the silver to Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, and bronze to Sweden. If you’re wondering why I only mentioned Ivica it’s because he’s the only one I remember from previous Olympics games.

In men’s curling, the gold medal went to Canada which made everybody happy. The silver went to the Norwegians (and their pants). If you wonder what I mean about the pants, read this. Remind me to post a picture of Norwegian hottie Thomas Ulsrud tomorrow! The bronze went to Switzerland.

But the most exciting event yesterday was the men’s four-man bobsled finals. The bronze medal went to Canada’s sled 1. The silver went to Germany’s sled 1. And the gold medal went to USA sled 1!!! The reason this is doubly exciting is it’s the first time since 1948 we’ve won a gold medal in this event. So, congrats to Steve, Steve (there are two of them *g*), Curt and Justin!!!

…I can’t celebrate. (Okay, I admit I haven’t got a clue what this excuse is good for.)

I overslept badly this morning. I didn’t wake up until after noon!!! Guess I was tired. *g* But it’s got my day all screwed up.

Today is the last full day of Olympics coverage. This afternoon and tonight we have the men’s curling gold medal round, the figure skating gala, men’s snowboard slalom finals, men’s skiing slalom, four-man bobsled finals (USA! USA! USA!), and men’s & women’s speed skating pursuit.

Reading: Since I got loads of new & new-to-me books yesterday, I had lots to choose from last night. So now I’m reading West of Bliss by Suzann Ledbetter. The spine says it’s a romance but it’s also a mystery. And fun.

And now for the Olympics report!

The U.S. was shut out of the women’s skiing slalom. Nor did we medal in the women’s snowboard giant slalom.

In women’s curling, the gold medal went to Sweden, with the silver going to Canada. China won the bronze.

Then it was time for gymnastics…. er, I mean short track speed skating. *g* We had many spin outs, slips, and falls. And Apolo Anton Ohno’s stint on Dancing with the Stars stood him in good stead because he had to leap over fallen skaters twice.

But alas, in the 500m race, Apolo was robbed. He was in fourth place and trying to pass the Canadian skater ahead of him. He barely touched him but because the other skater fell, Apolo ended up getting disqualified. But… (you knew there was a “but” coming, didn’t you?) another Canadian skater was in first place and he put his hand on the Korean skater who was in second place who also fell, but he wasn’t DQed. So, how fair was it that Apolo was? Not very, IMO. I mean, if they wanted to DQ Apolo for MAYBE causing that other skater to fall, that’s fine. But the same rules should have applied to the skater in first place too. But you know what? He didn’t whine about it like the Koreans have a tendency to do. Though maybe I’m making up for that on my own. *g* He did say he thought the call was somewhat biased but he also said, “That’s the nature of short track” and moved on.

Then we had the women’s 1000m short track final. Katherine Reutter of the U.S. won the silver medal! It was the first women’s individual medal in short track in 16 years.

The final event of the evening was the men’s 5000m relay in short track. I don’t like this event. It’s way too confusing to watch. Also way too chaotic. The gold went to Canada, the silver to Korea, and as everyone thought the bronze was going to go to China, if I recall correctly, because the U.S. just couldn’t get into medal contention. I can’t remember how Apolo edged into third place, but I’m so glad he did.

Not a real wall, I hope. Though now that I think about it, I do feel like I’ve hit a wall with my book. Hmm.

On this date in history:

• Actor William Frawley was born in 1887. He’s best known for portraying Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy.

• Actor Dub Taylor was born in 1907. He worked primarily in westerns.

• Comedian Jackie Gleason was born in 1916.

• In 1917, The Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York. (Yes, they used the term “jass” vs “jazz”, don’t ask me why.)

• Actor Tony Randall was born in 1920. He’s probably best known for his role as Felix Unger in The Odd Couple.

Tonight, we have yet more Olympics coverage. Women’s curling gold medal rounds, men’s 500m short track, women’s slalom, four-man bobsled, and other stuff, I think, but it’s hard to tell by the schedule.

Did some more tweaking last night. *g*

Reading: Finished up Reclaim My Life. Not sure what’s next. A bunch of new and new-to-me books arrived at my house today. Yay!!!

And now for the Olympics report!

The U.S. was completely shut out of the women’s giant slalom.

In another men’s Nordic combined event, the U.S. rocked! We may have waited 86 years to win any medals in this event, but we made up for that this year. Bill Demong won the gold and Johnny Spillane got himself another silver. So we medaled in every Nordic combined event in Vancouver.

In the women’s hockey gold medal game, Canada beat the U.S. 2 to 0. So we got the silver.

Then we had the men’s freestyle aerials. Alexei Grishin of Belarus won the gold. Speedy Peterson of the U.S. won the silver (with an amazing jump he calls the hurricane) and Liu Zhongqing of China won the bronze.

Then it was time for the women’s figure skating long program.

Rachael Flatt of the U.S. skated to Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. I thought she did a fabulous job. Performance of a lifetime. But the judges were super-picky. They downgraded a couple of her jumps which lost her several points. She ended up finishing in 7th place.

Miki Ando of Japan skated to Cleopatra. Her jumps were impressive but I thought the rest left something to be desired. Like the announcers said, it was as if she was just going through the motions. She finished in 5th place.

Mirai Nagasu of the U.S. skated to a selection of music from Carmen. Absolutely fabulous! And she was the only one whose music I actually liked. She finished in 4th.

Joannie Rochette of Canada skated to Samson and Delilah. She had some bobbles on three of her jumps, but otherwise a beautiful performance! She finished up with a bronze medal for which I was very well pleased.

Mao Asada of Japan skated to Bells of Moscow. She made history by being the first woman to do two triple axels in competition. But the judges downgraded one of her triple flips which lost her a little bit, but it still wouldn’t have been enough to win the gold. She ended up with a silver medal.

And then there was Kim Yu-Na of Korea. She skated to Concerto in F by George Gershwin. She was, in a word, spectacular and fully deserved to win the gold medal. Her scores blew the other skaters out of the water. She finished 23 POINTS ahead of Mao Asada!!!

This is sadly true. Which is why I got rid of my work clothes. I don’t work now, anyway, so why do I need work clothes?

On this date in history:

• Zeppo Marx (the sane, good-looking member of the Marx Brothers) was born in 1901.

• It’s also the birthday of Jim Backus (aka Thurston Howell III from Gilligans Island). He was born on this date in 1913.

Tonight, more Olympics and a new episode of Burn Notice. Tonight is the women’s medal round in figure skating. Nothing against the U.S. skaters but I really hope Canada’s Joannie Rochette wins a medal.

Managed a bit more revising on the Greek gods book.

Reading: Finished up If Books Could Kill which I loved. I can’t believe I have to wait an entire year to read the next in the series! Now I’m reading Reclaim My Life by Cheryl Norman. This is a romantic suspense about a woman in Witness Protection which has got me thinking about things I might use for a blog post one of these days.

And now for last night’s Olympics!

First up, women’s giant slalom. The weather was pretty bad during the first run. In fact, at some points on the course you couldn’t even see the skiers! About halfway down the mountain, the U.S.’s Lindsay Vonn caught the tip of one ski on the gate and slid off course and into the retaining fence. She ended up with a broken finger. But because of the weather, the officials had decreased the interval time between skiers, so our Julia Mancuso was making her run right behind Lindsay and she was forced to stop before she got to the bottom. Then she had to get back to the top of the hill and make her first run again (being tired from the first time around) which ruined her timing. Her first run had her looking to be in 6th position. Now she’s sitting in 18th. Thankfully, the weather got even worse, so they postponed the second runs until further notice.

We had several crashes in the final two runs of the women’s 2-man bobsled races. Scary stuff! One of them was a German team who were expected to medal. Theirs was especially frightening because the brakeman ejected from the bobsled (while it was going 90mph!!!), but luckily, both women were okay. Happily, two of the Canadian teams won gold and silver and one of the U.S. teams won the bronze!

Then we had women’s short track relay. What a confusing race to watch! It’s total chaos!!! Even more chaotic than regular short track racing. It was pretty exciting, though! Korea quickly moved into first place with China on their heels. Canada hung back in third place and the U.S. team fell further and further behind back in fourth. Then in the final lap, the Korean skater bumped into the Chinese skater. Neither fell but the judges looked at it from every angle under the sun and subsequently disqualified Korea!!! Boy, were they pissed!!! But happily for the U.S. they moved into bronze medal position. *g* It was a sweet way to end the evening’s events. Even if it will add fuel to the fire of Korea’s whiny attitude.

So I’m not doing it. *g* No matter what “it” is.

On this date in history:

• In 1942, we had the Battle of Los Angeles. Never heard of it? Neither had I. And it’s fascinating! Wonder if anyone else has ever used it in a book besides the one mentioned?

Tonight on TV, we have more fun times from the Olympics, but also new episodes of Solving History with Olly Steeds and Psych.

Did a bit more tweaking. And had fun on Facebook coming up with crazy ideas for a series of murders at the Olympics. Could make a fun book if I ever get around to it.

Reading: Finished up Town in a Blueberry Jam which I enjoyed a lot. Now I’m reading If Books Could Kill by Kate Carlisle which is a lot of fun too.

Yesterday from Vancouver:

In the men’s 10,000m speed skating event, it was first thought Sven Kramer of the Netherlands had won the gold, then officials realized he’d made an illegal lane change during the race and he was disqualified. The thing is, he made the change because one of his coaches yelled at him to make it! Bet that coach is persona non grata now.

In the men’s giant slalom, Bode Miller missed a gate halfway down the hill and was out of the race. His teammate Ted Ligety finished in 9th place.

In the men’s team Nordic combined (ski jumping plus cross country skiing), the U.S. team came very close to winning the gold but had to settle for silver. They were happy with that because, if you’ll recall, this was an event no American had ever medaled in for 86 years until this year.

Then we had the debut of women’s ski cross which was just as insane as the men’s. No Americans made it to the medal round, so I cheered for Canada’s Ashleigh McIvor who won the gold.

And then we had the women’s figure skating short program.

The first and only figure skater from Turkey, Tugba Karademir, did a nice job. She knew she wasn’t in medal contention. She, like so many others, was just there for the Olympic experience. Her program may not have been as spectacular as the later skaters but it was enjoyable. And her parents who gave up everything to move to Canada so she could train looked so proud. She finished in 21st place.

Mirai Nagasu from the U.S. skated to music from Pirates of the Caribbean. I thought she did a bang-up job. And the judges agreed. She’s sitting in 6th place going into tomorrow’s free skate.

The other American, Rachel Flatt sits in 5th place. She lost a full point on her triple lutz, otherwise, I think she might have finished a bit higher. She skated to Sing Sing Sing.

Miki Ando of Japan is sitting in 4th place. Nothing against her but I don’t really remember much about her performance.

In 3rd place is Canada’s Joannie Rochette. In my opinion she is the bravest person at the games. Her mother passed away from a heart attack over this past weekend. She decided to stay in the competition because her mother would have wanted it. She skated brilliantly to La Cumparsita. But she broke down crying as soon as she finished. I just wanted to reach through the TV and give her a hug.

Mao Asada of Japan is in 2nd place. She also skated brilliantly. She blew everyone away with her triple axel/double toe loop combination. I believe the announcers said she is the only one who does a triple axel in competition.

But sitting in 1st place is Korea’s Kim Yu-Na who I have to agree deserves to be in first place. She rocked the house to music from the James Bond movies. She may not do a triple axel, but she did a triple lutz/triple toe loop which scored even higher than Mao Asada’s triple/double combo.

Tomorrow night’s medal round is going to be a lot of fun!

And I ain’t working for free. *g*

The sun is shining today. But it’s turned off cold again. Oh well, it IS still February.

This day in history:

• In 1889, director Victor Fleming was born. He’s best known for the movies The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind.

Tonight on TV, we have a new episode of Lost and three new interesting things on NatGeo: The Truth Behind Crop Circles, a new series called Paranatural and on Explorer, an episode about vampire forensics. Yes, you read that right. Vampire Forensics. Plus on tonight’s Olympics, ladies’ figure skating short program, women’s bobsled, women’s ski cross medal round and Nordic skiing team event.

Did a bit of tweaking but while the Olympics are going on, I’m just not feeling the love for writing.

Reading: Finished up Vampire Sunrise which was great! Hope we get more! Now I’m reading Town in a Blueberry Jam by B. B. Haywood. This is Haywood’s debut mystery and it’s very good.

And here’s the Olympics report!

The main thing that happened last night was the ice dancing free dance programs. So that’s all I’m going to discuss today.

The first U.S. team to skate was Emily Samuelson & Evan Bates. It was their first Olympics and they skated an amazing program. Scored their personal best. They’ll be a force to be reckoned with in 2014, I think. This year they finished in 11th place.

Great Britain’s brother/sister team of Sinead & John Kerr skated to Linkin Park‘s Krwlng which I thought was an odd choice of music. But their program was actually pretty good even if I didn’t like the music. They ended up in 8th place.

From France, Isabelle Delobel & Olivier Schoenfelder (and how weird is it that I could spell his last name and not hers???) knew they were out of medal contention, but they skated their hearts out with their beautiful farewell performance. They’re retiring now. They finished in 6th place.

The Italians, Federica Faiella & Massimo Scali were…. frankly, I don’t even remember their performance. They finished in 5th place, however.

Meryl Davis & Charlie White of the U.S., my personal favorites, skated their beautiful, breathtaking program to Phantom of the Opera. They were the first of the final five pairs to skate (and this was also their first Olympics) and they threw down the gauntlet. They also scored their personal best.

The U.S.’s Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto had a gorgeous performance, too. Though I found their choice of music odd. They skated to Ave Maria and Amen.

Canada’s Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir’s performance was stunning. They skated to Symphony No 5 by Mahler. Being the hometown team, as it were, they brought down the house. They were also first-time Olympians and scored a personal best.

The final skaters of the evening were Russia’s Oksana Domnina & Maxim Shabalin. They skated to some freaky weird music called The Double Life of Veronique. And their costumes were controversial, having ropes tied around their bodies which they used in their lifts. To me, that smacks of cheating. And NBC’s expert announcer, Tracy Wilson, said she fully expected the rules would change starting next season not allowing anything like that. As well they should. I did not like their performance. It was just too weird.

And now for how the final four finished. I was hoping against hope that we’d have a North American sweep. Unfortunately, the judges scored the Russians slightly higher than Belbin & Agosto to give them the bronze medal.

On the plus side, that means two North American couples won top honors. Davis & White won the silver and Canada’s Virtue & Moir won the gold!!! In the entire history of ice dancing, only Europeans have won gold. Usually the Russians, although Britain’s Torvill & Dean won in the 1984 Olympics.

So, while I was hoping Davis & White would win the gold, I’m very okay with Canada winning. I even hummed along when O Canada was played during the medal ceremony.

“Family crisis.” I didn’t want to freak anybody out by putting that in the subject of the post.

On this date in history:

• In 1907, Sheldon Leonard was born. He was a pioneering American film and television producer, director, writer, and actor.

• Also in 1907, actor Robert Young was born. He’s best known from the TV shows Father Knows Best and Marcus Welby, M.D.

• In 1924, Calvin Coolidge became the first President to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.

• In 1929, actor James Hong was born.

Not a lot going on here. It’s overcast and kind of gloomy. Bleah.

I’m still all about the Olympics, although I’ll be glad when they’re over so I can catch up on all my shows that didn’t go on hiatus during the games. Those would be ABC and Fox programming, plus the shows on USA that didn’t get pre-empted by Olympics coverage.

Tonight, of course, is more Olympics coverage. It’s the finals in the ice dancing, freestyle skiing (men’s aerials), and ski jumping.

Reading: Still reading Vampire Sunrise which is most excellent!

And now for last night’s Olympics report!

First up was the men’s Super Combined skiing. Bode Miller from the U.S. won the gold medal! Then we had the debut of a new Winter Games event, ski cross. It is INSANE!!! None of the U.S. skiers made it into the medal round, so I was rooting for the lone Canadian, but he wiped out near the end of the race. Oh well. To everyone’s shock, even though it wasn’t a medal round, the U.S. hockey team beat the Canadians, 5 to 3. Shockwaves went through the hockey world!

But my favorite thing last was the ice dancing original dance. There was a theme (apparently planned, though I don’t recall that being the case in the past) of country/folk dances.

The U.S. team that seems to get the most press is Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto. I really didn’t care for their Moldavian folk dance routine. But they ended up in 4th place going into tonight’s medal round.

In 3rd place is Oksana Domnina & Maxim Shabalin. I hated their program. They did what they called an aboriginal dance (supposedly based on the aborigines of Australia). The aborigines were highly offended the first time this pair did this dance. And I can’t say I blame them. They toned it down for the Olympics, as well they should. But I still didn’t like it.

Then the U.S.’s Meryl Davis & Charlie White, my personal favorites, did their Indian (as in Bollywood not Native American) dance and they rocked the house! They currently sit in 2nd place.

And in 1st place is Canada’s Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir. They are deservedly in 1st place at the moment. Their program was awesome! So, last night, North America ruled the ice!!!

Yes, maybe I am gloating just a tad over the Europeans, but, hey, they’ve had a stranglehold on ice dancing for decades. It’s time to let another group have some fun. So looking forward to tonight’s gold medal round!!!

I’ll explain today’s subject at the end of this post.

It’s another sunny day here. Got up to 59 yesterday. Today is supposed to be the same. But it supposed to get cold again starting tomorrow. Oh well. I knew it was too good to be true that Spring had sprung. Well, I spoke too soon. It’s suddenly clouded over. Oh well.

On this date in history:

• In 1878, the New Haven, Connecticut telephone company published the first phone directory. It had 50 people in it.

• In 1948, NASCAR was incorporated. Stock car racing got its start during Prohibition when bootleggers would load their cars up with illegal alcohol and outrun the Revenuers.

Tonight, of course, it’s more Olympics! Tonight we have ice dancing original dance, speed skating, freestyle skiing, and bobsled.

Did a bit of writing/revising last night.

Reading: Finished up Goodbye Ms. Chips and now I’m reading Vampire Sunrise by Carole Nelson Douglas. This is the third in her Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator series. Great fun!

And now for yesterday’s Olympics report!

First, we had the women’s Super G (which stands for super giant slalom) skiing event. Lindsay Vonn from the U.S. won bronze. In the men’s 1500m speed skating the U.S.’s Shani Davis won the silver.

Then it was time for the men’s 1000m short track skating. No rules were broken, but that doesn’t lessen the fact that I find the Koreans really, really annoying. They won the gold and silver and our Apolo Anton Ohno won the bronze, making him the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian ever. So even without the gold he made history. Which is more than the whiny Koreans can say. The best race, however, was Apolo’s semi-final race. He managed an amazing end run around the Korean in his group and then the Korean and the Canadian fought it out for the second qualifying spot. In retrospect, the Canadians were almost as bad as the Koreans with the pushing and shoving on the track. But somehow I still don’t find them as annoying as the Koreans. But maybe that’s because you don’t hear them whining about how Apolo is a horrible person and should be disqualified every time he sets foot on the ice.

LOL! Now there’s an excuse that can cover a lot of ground!

Not a lot going on here today. The sun is shining. And it’s supposed to get up to 50 today. Nice!

Tonight on TV, we have more Olympics (men’s short track, men’s speed skating, two man bobsled, and women’s Super G skiing) and the new BBC America show Survivors.

Did a very small amount of writing last night.

Reading: Still reading Goodbye Ms. Chips. I might have gotten further along with it if I hadn’t fallen asleep while reading. Slept for five hours! Then woke up at 6:00 this morning. Went back to sleep and slept for another 4 hours. I can’t remember the last time I’ve slept anywhere near that long! I think maybe I was tired. *g*

And now for the Olympics report.

In the men’s Super G (one of the skiing events), the U.S.’s Bode Miller won silver and Andrew Weibrecht won bronze. Canada’s Jon Montgomery won them another gold medal in men’s skeleton (one of the sledding events for those who don’t follow the Olympics *g*).

We also had the compulsory dance in ice dancing. Meryl Davis & Charlie White (my absolute favorites) are currently sitting in 3rd place after the compulsories. Our other team, Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto are in 4th.