So I'm going down into the subway, and this guy passes by me. He was kind of in a hurry and brushed past me. I glance at him, and he's wearing baggy pants, and big jacket, a bandana and baseball hat. First thing I think of is 'thug', just like a lot of guys that take my train. Nothing wrong with being one. I'm not surprised that he didn't say 'excuse me'. So I'm walking down the stairs, he passes by me, and ahead of me is this old blind man, taking his time going down the steps. 'Poor old guy, he's gonna get pushed over' I think. So thug is rushing down the stairs and gets to the old guy. And then he pauses. 'OK sir, I'm on your right side. You're almost there, you've got um, 7 steps more to go.' Thug then places his hand under the blind man's elbow and helps him the rest of the way down. After they get to the bottom, Thug pats the old guy on the back and says 'You have a nice day now', and rushes to the train.

You know, sometimes I love being wrong about people.

Well, Fred Rogers, the Mister Rogers of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, a PBS staple and loved by generations, passed away today. I remember growing up with him, I had a million and one fantastic adventures in his land of make believe. Goodbye my dear friend. Without you, I wouldn't be able to tie my sneakers.

Two more goodbyes for me today, to Jim Miller and James "Big Cat" Williams, from the Chicago Bears. I'm really sad to see them go, but for Jim, I'm so happy that he had the career he did. Even though last year wasn't the best for him, 2001 was a great year. When other quarterbacks would have given up being the third string, he hung in there and became the starting quarterback. And what can I say about Big Cat? No one has a bigger heart, worked harder, or had more love for the game. He gave his all for the game, even playing while injured - and he LOVED football, you could see it in his eyes. Sure, it was almost expected that they were going to let him go...he's been in the league for 11 years, but you can tell that it's going to be tough not having him around anymore. He's probably one of the most respected people on the team, and most beloved. He knows what it means to be a Chicago Bear. He's tough. Tough enough to play 144 consecutive regular season games, even while injured. *sigh* He will be missed.

I was in a pretty crappy mood in the morning because I had brought my laptop home to work and went to take a nap at around 10, and didn't wake up til 3am. Damn my alarm! So I had to get to work early to get the stuff done that I didn't do the night before. And today was still a packed day for me. Fortunately, it was waffle day. A couple people brought in waffle irons and brought in syrup, milk, etc. My contribution was Cool Whip and milk.

Dan got some free Blublocker sunglasses from a Wolves' game and brought them to work. Wearing them made me feel silly, and less stressed. So I wore them around for a while like the dork that I am. I was actually complimented when someone told me that I didn't look like a complete loser in them, and that I 'actually look kinda cool in them'. Yeah. I'm so cool, it passes on to my Blublockers.

And here's a little piece of the Blublocker rap to put you in the mood...

Wow. Smallville is such a fucking great show. MAN! They brought on Christopher Reeve today, the original Superman, and they could have had him in amazingly cheesey role, or part of a stupid plotline, but it was a great episode. And when they started playing the Superman theme song...WOWZA. Love this show!

And I admit, I got a little misty eyed during the Chloe/Lana part.

Work was MEGA stressful today. Probably the most stressful it's been in months. Yesterday was stressful enough (which was why I had the tiny post) and I was on the phone for almost 4 hours straight. But today, I had to deal with some clients that were having some MAJOR problems, as well as get my consultant reports in, and my expense reports in, and work on several customizations. Not only that, but one of our sales people needed a demo database customized ASAP. To me, that was a low priority, but to a lot of other people, it needed to be done yesterday. So i had to juggle my day around, and a lot of things were left undone. I even took my laptop home to work on it. *sigh* I was so stressed and busy, that they even gave me my own office for the day. I had an awesome view, but couldn't enjoy it because I was working. ACK! It's been so busy, I was going to take Thursday and Friday off, but just decided to take half days so I can get my stuff done before leaving for Portland next week. YUK!

Well, at least I'm going to Vegas for St. Patty's day! Yay! It's for work, but it's good to know that work has its perks every now and then.

Drove to work today, and I made this awesome CD that I was jammin' to all the way home. Missy Elliott's 'Gossip Folks', 112's 'Dance With Me', Faith Evans' 'Love Like This', 50 Cent's 'In da Club' are but a couple tunes on my master mix. I was getting my groove on in the car, and forgot myself and a couple people caught me shaking my thang.

Stopped by the comic book store. I always laugh inside whenever people I don't know are in the store (I'm a somewhat regular, I'd like to think) and are amazed that a GIRL comes into the store and reads comics. Either they'll curiously glance at what books of mine are being rung up, or they'l just come out and say 'I don't know any girls that are into comics. What kind do you like?' Well, let me tell ya, guy, I like a lot of 'em. And that's even AFTER I cut out 5 books from my list! Now the big challenge for me is to actually make some time to READ them. It's been 3 months, and I'm still reading 'The Corrections'! Sleep has taken over my free time during my commute to work. But I'm almost done, so I should be able to get to my comics by next month.

Wow. This is a long post.

Found a new daily thing, and I haven't done one for a while...this is pretty interesting...Here's the Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 Soundtracks for me -

5) Saturday Night Fever - I was a girl brought up on disco. I loved this soundtrack so much, I had a BeeGee's record player. The movie was ok, but it was the music that made it a hit!

4) When Harry Met Sally - The first time I heard the magic, the man, the sex symbol known as Harry Connick Jr. This soundtrack made big bands cool again.

3) Grease - Sure, you can listen to the 'Grease Megamix' and get the whole soundtrack in 6 minutes, but this one is definitely a classic. Hand Jive anyone?

2) Purple Rain - For as weird as Prince is, (though quite normal compared to Jacko) this soundtrack was awesome. Ask me about the movie, and my opinion will be different. But as for the music here, absolute genius.

1) Pulp Fiction - Great movie, great soundtrack. Perfect for a roadtrip or to play when you're offing someone. I especially love the little soundbites from the movie. 'Bring out the gimp!'

Looks like my girl Norah Jones kicked some booty at the Grammys yesterday. That's so awesome! She's great! Dave doesn't know her that well, so he thought that her 'hogging up all the awards' was unfair. Oh well, too bad, the girl's da shit. Gotta get him a copy of the CD. He's just upset that Christina Aguilera didn't win anything.

Didn't get to watch the whole show (missed Norah) but the performances to me were just mediocre. Nothing to exciting. I wasn't even impressed too much with Eminem's performance. Come on Grammys, let's spice it up! Extra points to Ms. Jones for saying 'SHIT' in front of millions, and looking as sweet and shy as she is on her CD. A couple other points:

- Aretha Franklin - Who picked out the outfit? The Bride from Outer Space?
- Does Bruce Springsteen hurt when he sings? It hurts me to see the expression on his face. Did he always sing like that? That's ok, he ROCKED!
- What's up with JC's hair?
- I still find Eminem strangely attractive
- Was it me, or was the Nelly/Kelly ending really, really weird?
- I had a BeeGees record player. I admit to getting a bit teary eyed during the tribute.

That's all for now...gotta get home fast!

I don't know why, but lately I've been driving really fast. And I drive even faster when someone passes me. This little voice in my head says 'What, am I not going FAST enough for you?' and I speed up and pass them. I need to stop this habit! It could get pretty dangerous. But going fast feels so good! It's almost like a drug...

We rented 'The Rookie' today, and it was a great movie. I definitely recommend it. And it was great to watch it with Dave, because he used to be really good at pitching when he was young. I know there's a little part of him that wonders what would have happened if he stuck with it. What's great about this also is that it's a true story! Deep down inside, Dave's thinking 'Yeah...I can do that!' Sure, Dave, just as long as it's AFTER the wedding!

Well, I'm back home from Buffalo. Came home yesterday. I was so pooped I fell asleep at 11, which for me, is pretty damn early. It was a good trip, because I really like my clients out there. Yesterday was pretty hectic on the job, because I had to get so many things done at the last minute. It's hard to work at a site when everyone has different duties and people are in different locations. But I got my stuff done, and when I was saying goodbyes to my clients, I even got a hug and kiss on the cheak goodbye. Aww...how sweet!

So now I have a mission. Get all my crap done. After SLC and Buffalo there have been so many things that I have been putting off, and I really need to get my ass in gear. My room is in shambles, even for a messy packrat like me. I also need to find a florist for the wedding (are you happy Claudine?). And there are a million other things I have on my list of 'things to do'. Whoo! My head is spinning. Well, Dave's in town, so I'll take the night off from my extra curricular stuff.

Here's some pics I took on the airplane. There was a gorgeous sunset that I couldn't help taking pics of...

So I've finally finished my SLC review. It's only taken me 10 days to write them. I guess I'm a bit, um, verbose, because the whole thing is 21 pages long. And I didn't even write about EVERYTHING! But I'm done, finally. Thanks to all the proofreaders for going through it for me. I hope you all enjoy it! I'm not going to post it up here, because it's WAY too long, but feel free to comment on it - I'll put in the comment post at the bottom as a link. Also, if you don't have the 5 hours to read the story, there's a link to download a zipped version (about 600K zipped. YES, 600K). I'd really love to hear your opinions!

Here it is:
Memoirs of an Ex-Short Track Stalker

Day 2 in Buffalo. Headed out to an Outlet mall right by Niagra Falls. it's pretty dangerous for me to go to malls, since I'm a shopping addict and I need to save for the wedding, but I did a pretty good job at keeping my wallet closed.

However, I did stop by this little hole in the wall Chinese store. Inside was this old little Chinese lady and her even littler and older Chinese mother. I have always wanted a Chinese cheungsom (sp?) and I saw a sign in the window that everything in the store was 20% off. So I looked at their assortment of cheungsams and the little mother comes up to me and starts speaking Mandarin. Her daughter shouts across the store, 'Are you Chinese?' and I say no. Her mother is still speaking to me and is picking out dresses for me. I ask if there's a dressing room, and it ends up being a dressing corner - the corner of the store which is covered up by some blankets. I go in to try out the dresses. I kinda like a black dress with maroon embroidery. So I put my clothes back on and come out. The mother is out there waiting for me. The daughter came from the front and the mother starts talking to her. 'My mother says that you should have come out so we could see you!' I tell her I didn't know. So I go to the front to pay for the dress, and I hear the mother start talking behind me, and the daughter comes around behind me. "oh, she told me you have chopsticks in your hair! Is there elastic or something holding it together?" (My hair is up in a bun held up by two chipstick looking pins) I say "No, I just twisted it up" and the mother is standing behind me, poking and prodding my hair and laughing. "My mother says she's very impressed." Wow, I impressed an old Chinese woman by having my hair done in chopsticks - do I get a prize for that or something? The lady was so cute, she just kept on smiling at me and pointing to the dress and pointing to me and talking to her daughter. "She says that the color is very good for you. Very elegant." They were so cute I wanted hug them.

The daughter asked me if I went to 'BC'. I said I was from Chicago. "Oh, where the people died in that bar?" Yuppers. THAT Chicago. So I paid for my stuff and we chitchatted a little more, and little mother keeps smiling and nodding at me. I turn to leave and say goodbye, and the daughter says "Have a good night and don't go to that bar!" Heh heh, they're closing it down. NO one is going to that bar. And as I leave, one last look back, and yup, there's little mother, smiling and waving goodbye. Cute!

added 02/21/03 21:49
Since people asked, here's a cheungsam, a traditional Chinese dress...

worked out...

Yes. Pigs are flying. I was so bored I went to the fitness center of the hotel and worked out. I always bring gym shoes when I travel thinking that I'll work out, but I never do, but today, I did. A whole half hour while watching the Rockets/Lakers game. I'm proud.

And what's up with having the Golf channel and not the WB? I didn't get to have my Smallville dosage today! Dammit! Well, at least there's a free continental breakfast tomorrow.

Watching Pulp Fiction right now. I was gonna sleep but this is one of my favorite movies...I guess no sleep for me tonight!

OK, there aren't any adventures here. It's SO BORING HERE!

Yesterday was totally hectic. I didn't know that I had a flight out yesterday, so I came into work without my luggage. So I had to leave early to go home and pack.

Buffalo was snowy when I came in, but not as bad as southern New York. But for as much snow as I know that Buffalo gets, they're HORRIBLE at plowing the roads around here.

I added one more mall to my 'Yano's Mall Tour USA' today. Bought Missy Elliot's CD because there's NO good stations around here. It's AWESOME. This CD is HOT. I love Gossip Folk. That's some good dancing music right dere!

OK...on to finishing my SLC memoirs! Nothing else to do!

Real quick. So I find out I'm leaving for Buffalo TODAY!

So I had a user focus group I had to attend in the morning, then I had to run home and pack. And I had so many things planned to do today! FUCK!

Later! Gotta pack and head out in 1/2 an hour!

Yesterday was a pretty good time. I spent a buttload on cover for me and Fatima, but there was a really great set of music that they played, and I got some really good dancing in. I really miss dancing and going out. But me and Dave realized yesterday that we're getting old, maybe too old to go out like we used to. I mean, Fatima was seeing people that she knew that were making her feel old. Man, if they make her feel old, I'm a freaking fossil. The hip hop on the 2nd floor was really good, but it was inconsistent. It would be one good song, then a bad song, etc. That's not fun to dance to! And on the first floor, they were playing some really old school shit, like 'Perculator', 'Fat Boy' and others. Hell yeah, my booty was having a good time.

Today was a do nothing day for me. I spent most of it online chatting and watching Chicoutimi races online. Why? I dunno. I feel sick. I've been feeling sick for a while, and today was the first day since SLC that I've been able to slow down and relax. The next couple weeks are gonna be CRAZY for me...here's a rundown of my schedule, as I know it.

This week: Buffalo?
Next week: Bay City
Week of March 2nd: Portland
Week of March 16th: Las Vegas

I feel like I'm going on tour. Anyone wanna be a roadie?

OK, so we're one step closer to getting married - we picked out the invitations today. The invitation lady (I don't know what else to call her) came to my house with about 8 HUGE books of different invitations. Me and Dave went through each one, looking for the right invitation. It looked like it was going to take us forever to go through them, but it only took us two hours to decide. I say 'only' because she said she had one client that took 7 hours to decide. Sorry, I don't have that much time to waste. Anyway, we had narrowed it down to 4 favorites and went with our choice because it was different, elegant, and affordable. The lettering will be in script in slate gray, and the invites have a soft silver border. It's pretty nice. I had wanted something periwinkle to match my colors, but I found the periwinkle invites tacky.

And who knew invites could be so EXPENSIVE!?!?

Yesterday we watched 'Daredevil', which was pretty entertaining. I'm not going to 'Spiderman' rave about it, but it was pretty good. And to my surprise, it stayed pretty true to the comic. Ben did a good job. Colin did a good job. Jennifer Garner KICKS ASS.

Watched short track on TV today. Surprising how NBC can fit 3 days of competition into 1 hour of programming. And they didn't even show the relay, which is the most exciting event. Hmph! But hey, I'm not going to complain....at least their SHOWING it on TV. Dude, if they show curling on network TV, they have GOTTA show short track.

Tonight I'm heading out to Transit, and for some reason I've never been before, but it seems like everyone I know goes there. It's been forever since I've gone out (well, except for last week) and I need to dance! dance! dance! I haven't danced in so long. I think I may have forgotten how. Luckily, Fatima's coming, so she can teach me all the hip and cool new moves kids nowadays are doing. *wink*

Well, I've just found out that DAVE'S COMING HOME FOR VALENTINE'S DAY! It was up in the air for a bit there, but now he's coming home. Yay!

So far, VDay has been all right...had a Valentine lunch with the guys from work, which was a lot of laughs, but didn't taste good at all. And we had lots of food here, like Krispy Kremes, chocolates and other kinds of candies. Bryan brought in this tupperware bowl full of Sweetarts, Gobstoppers and Nerds. Sam and Tony got sick of trying to pick out the Nerds, so they got straws and just sucked them up. It was hilarious, because of course, when you suck up Nerds througha straw, you're gonna choke. We were waiting for them to divide the nerds into lines and snort them. But alas, they didn't. A nerd up the nose it not something that they find appealing. Although we would laugh REALLY hard.

So I don't know what's on the agenda tonight. I'm just happy that Dave's coming home. YAY!

Well, I've got a little break here, and rather than continue my SLC novel, I thought I'd break it up with a top 5 list. So my first SLC top 5 list is my 5 favorite interviews.

1) Caroline Hallisey. I think she's one of the few people who actually emailed us back saying that they would do an interview, and who actually came up to us to do it. She was really great, and I would have to say that she was a lot prettier in person. Those helmets just don't do a lady any justice. She's known Rusty for a whie, and she was such a sweetheart to talk to. She definitely got a lot of cheers from me when she was racing.

2) Noelle and Todd. For once, Dorothy and the Wizard of OZ are on the receiving end of the interview. It was great to talk to them and hear their views on how the internet has kept short track and its stars in the public eyes since the Olympics.

3) Andy Gabel. He's the president of US Speedskating and a legend of short track in his own right. He's been in 3 Olympic games, and competed in his last one when he was in his 30's, something you wouldn't really see much of in short track. He's a hero to most of the skaters, and he's got a lot of ideas for the future of skating. I have to admit I was a bit intimidated to interview him at first, but he was very easygoing during our talk and he really put me at ease.

4) Steven Bradbury. I wasn't prepared for him to be there. I had no questions ready. I had heard he was doing the commentary for NBC, and I thought it was a great idea. He was really open with doing a one on one interview (he had actually joined in on an interview I was doing with Jack Mortell). So with him, I really just made up questions as I went along. And he was SO cool and really laid back. Rod had told me that I was acting very much like a fan during this interview, probably because I was gushing a bit. Seriously, I don't even remember what I asked him. But this guy is cool. Can't wait to hear his comments on NBC.

5) Alex Izykowski. I had seen Alex off and on all weekend, largely due to the fact that he was Rusty's roommate. He was pretty shy. And for the first couple days, he probably said about 10 words out loud. But the last day, we were getting ready for the interview and the mic was broken, I had a chance to do an off camera mock interview, (you could almost call it a conversation, but I was the one asking him all the questions) and it was a lot of fun. He answered most of my questions, and he was pretty open and candid. And he's a funny guy, too. Girls, make sure to give this guy a lot of attention - ask him for an autograph, ask him for a hug. He likes that.

For those of you wondering about the video, we'll probably be promoting it through Rusty's website. It will probably take a while to edit, but it'll probably be available on DVD when it does come out. Thanks for all the interest, and I'm glad you all are enjoying my story!

And the blog goes on, even after SLC. I've been working at a client site, and I swear, the place is as quiet as a tomb. It's in this big room with just the netilation pipes and tubing and stuff as the ceiling. I don't hear anyone talking. Just the white noise of the air being pumped into the room. It's so lonely and quiet I want to scream. I can't work in a place where it's this quiet. I would crack. I need noise. I need distractions. It keeps me awake!

I went to Walgreens to go shopping for a Valentine's card (Dave is coming in tomorrow - YAY!) and there's a herd of people looking for cards. I wanted to yell out 'SLACKERS! PROCRASTINATORS!' but then I thought, hey, that's why I'm here, too! Heh heh....

Hmm....I know I already did a daily report of my adventures in Salt Lake, but I just want to get the whole thing in one place. I'll probably be reiterating a lot of the same things, but hopefully I'll hit on some things that I didn't talk about. My time there went by so quickly, it's just a blur of taking pictures, running around with the mike, meeting people, trying to remember names, trying to be cool when I'm really in awe of the people I'm interviewing and trying to catch a couple hours of sleep a night. So this is gonna be a REALLY long post, I can feel it already! So let's start from the very beginning, a very good place to start...

Prologue: What the Hell Am I Doing Out There?

Well, I guess it all started with the Olympics. Sports Illustrated and NBC did a great job of promoting a little known sport called short track, and crowned Apolo Anton Ohno as the posterboy for the SLC games. For those of you that watched, he certainly lived up to the hype, producing some of the most memorable moments of the games. That, and the guy is pretty easy on the eyes. So yeah, I was intrigued by the guy. Maybe just a tiny bit obsessed - if you call sitting in Dave and Busters with a homemade Apolo pin on, making friends with the bartender so he could switch the big screen from hockey to short track obsessed, then so be it. Note: I didn't make the pin. It was a great sport to watch. Apolo didn't win 4 medals like people had wanted him to, but he did win a lot of hearts. And Apolo wasn't the only one to take home a medal, his teammate Rusty Smith also took home a bronze.

Time goes by. I meet Rusty at the Milwaukee Worlds, we become friends. I meet Rod online, the guy who works on his website, we become even better friends. Rod and Rusty come to Chicago, we have a dinner, we hang out, we keep in touch. I'm on the Rusty forums all the time. I become an assistant webmaster on Rusty's site. Etc. Etc. Etc. Sorry, that's the super short version...

And the SLC World Cup looms in the distance. Tons of fans are planning to go. Short track is still amazingly popular, even one year after the Olympics. Rod gets an idea to make a documentary on what happens behind the scenes at a competition like that. Everyone SEES what happens on the ice, but what happens off the ice? What kind of preparations do they go through? What do they do with their free time? Who are the people behind the scenes? What are these skaters really like? Have they been affected by the sports new found popularity? So he gets started on the project. I get asked to do the interviewing, thanks to some great on the spot interviewing I did to some American Idol fans outside of the Kodak Theater after one too many Jack and Cokes. Rusty's cool with being followed around with the camera. Emails are sent out to various people within US Speedskating, the Utah Oval and NBC. Interviews are scheduled. Production meetings are planned. Lists and schedules are being made. What seemed like a simple easy project turned out to be a production. But I was excited. And I knew the Rod and Rick (the silent webmaster for the site) were a little stressed, having to find out and rent all the equipment that would be needed. And we only had one chance to get it right.

Chapter 1: The Arrival and THE Interview

So I pack all my things and head out to Salt Lake. My plane comes in at noon, and my friend Denise comes to pick me up. We haven't really met in person before, so of course there's that weirdness when you meet for the first time. But it didn't last long. We've been writing so many marathon emails that I feel like I know her, and we got along instantly. I call up Rod and Rick to tell them I'm in town. The US Team practice started at 10 that morning, so I wasn't with the guys while they were filming. Of course, I was a bit sad that I couldn't make it to practice, but there was nothing I could do. Me and Denise headed over the Homestead, which would be my home for the next 6 days.

Upon arrival, I notice that there was no free shampoo sample, giving the Homestead a very low score on my hotel rating scale. What can I say? I travel all the time, I've become a hotel snob. I also realize that the room isn't that huge. Rod had informed me that they had a LOT of equipment, and I was hoping that the closet space would be adequate enough. I called up the guys, and they said they'd meet me at the hotel. I sat and watched TV in anticipation.

So finally the guys come in, and they weren't kidding about how much stuff they had. There were 2 high quality cameras, lighting, mikes, tripods, tapes, batteries, a laptop and a lot of clothes. They brought more clothes than I did! They were exhausted from their ride in (they drove 10 hours from Long Beach) and from covering practice. But as soon as they came in, Rod says, 'We've got gold'. I didn't understand him at first, but then he explained to me that they were able to get access to a lot of things during practice, and they got some great footage. Rod gave me a brief view of the footage he got, and I was excited. It was just practice, but they got a lot of footage of everyone interacting. Rusty wore a wireless mike so you could hear their conversations. There was one point where Apolo was stretching, and Rusty came up behind him and was helping him out, and then, I got confused...'Rod? What are they doing? Are they wrestling?' Rod nods his head. My jaw drops. Here's Rusty and Apolo, just behaving like normal guys, messing around during team practice. It's nothing, but when you think about it, WOW! Yes, this is gonna be GOOD!

We all settle in for a little and grab some food. We call up Rusty to see what he's up to and he mentions that he's going to go for a jog. We head over to their hotel and go up to his room. Rod suggests that Rusty runs over the the Delta Center, which is a couple blocks away, so we can do a quick interview with Rusty at the place where he won his bronze. Rusty then gets a call and asks the caller if he wants to go for a run. He gets off the phone and says, 'That was Chunks, he's coming with'. I feel a little twinge of nervousness. Yeah, in a way, I'm here on business, but there's still that little fan inside of me that's like 'Whoa!' So we go to Apolo's floor and Rusty gets him from his room. I'm a little nervous because I'm wondering if Apolo will recognize me from when I saw him in Chicago. I see him, we make brief eye contact and I walk into the elevator. I get a feeling that he just might recognize me as his one-time stalker from Chicago. But hey, I'm not a fan right now. I'm a filmaker.

So we follow them with cameras as they start jogging, and we run to the car to catch up. They're quick little buggers, because once we got into the car we didn't pick up on Rusty's wireless mike. We drove around downtown trying to get the telltale static that notified us that we were getting closer to Rusty. We were pretending that we were crocodile hunters looking for our prey. Then Rick heard the static and we drove closer to where we thought he would be, but didn't see him. So we just decided to go to the Delta Center to wait for them. Rick heard Rusty coming and we finally got them in our sights, jogging around the building. They came by the car and laughed when they realized we were there waiting and filming. They stopped for a bit and talked about what happened to them at the Delta Center last year, then they were off again jogging. Me and Rod were joking around in the car as we were driving back, pretending to be crazed fans, screaming at the top of our lungs, 'WE SAW APOLO! OH MY GOD! WE SAW HIM! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! *girlish squeal of joy*' Of course, we were just kidding. Well, at least I was. We had a great laugh over it.

Once we were back at the hotel, Rusty and Apolo did some stretches outside of Apolo's room. Rusty then suggested that we do the Rusty/Apolo interview then. I was a little taken aback, because I was expecting that to be one of my last interviews to do. I told Rusty that I wasn't ready and that I didn't even have my questions on me. Apolo then said that he didn't know if he'd have time the rest of the week to do it, so that moment would be the best time. So Rod and Rick set up the cameras and started rolling. I was a bit unprepared, so Rod started asking the questions first. After a while, I got into it and asked my own questions. It was really an incredible interview. The chemistry and the friendship between Rusty and Apolo was so incredible to see. These are two guys that have known each other for most of their lives. It was so fascinating to witness the two of them interacting, talking, and joking around. And of all the interviews I've seen of Apolo, this is the most comfortable I've seen him. I think it helped that Rusty was there, and that we were friends of Rusty, and that we were all just chillin' on the floor of the hotel hallway while we were doing it. But they were so at ease, Rusty calling Apolo 'Chunks' and Apolo calling Rusty 'Smitty', and we had a couple good laughs. And even though this was the professional Christine on the floor leaning against the wall, Yano, the fan inside was screaming with delight. I can't wait to share this interview with everyone! I did have one slip-up though. We talk talking about celebrities and going to celebrity parties when Rick asked Apolo, 'Have you ever gone to the Playboy mansion?' and the Yano fan inside immediately said 'Yes' about a second before Apolo did. He had his head down, but as soon as he realized that I answered for him, his head popped up and he had a look on his face that was like 'WTF?'. And here comes Rusty to the rescue, who busts out laughing and embarrasses me more by saying, 'Christine knows EVERYTHING that goes on!' or something to that effect. Unfortunately, there was no hole for me to crawl into, so I just quipped, 'It was on the internet...' Or maybe I didn't say anything. I kinda blanked out for a second there. Yeah. Major cool points there. Not.

But it was a great interview. It seriously lasted about 45 minutes or so, but a lot of it was just talking about whatever and chilling out. But it was definitely mindblowing. My head was reeling. The lasting impression I got from Apolo was that he reminded me of some of the guys I work with, by the words that he used and his slang and his body language. I could definitely tell that he was a shy guy, but pretty playful and outgoing with people he knows. He was really cool, and I loved watching the two of them interact together. It was a good time. Definitely!

OK...this is taking longer than I expected. Stay tuned for more later. I'm not even done with day 1 yet! I've got to go to a client site now. Work! These people expect me to work!!!

I was thinking of making a post about the last day of competition, but as I'm writing it, I'm thinking I'm just going to repost the story of the whole trip, with some added details. Don't know how long it's going to take, but trust me, it'll be long and I'm going to babble away, because hey, this is my page. I can say whatever the hell I wanna say. *wink* I'm still trippin' from everything that happened out there, and a little sad that it's all over. But it was a good time. Definitely memorable!

So it looks like my hits are up. I'm getting about twice as many people coming to my page than normal. It's kinda weird, kinda crazy. You all are just using me for my SLC pics! But welcome to all you new people out there. I'll be adding to that gallery periodically.

Yesterday it snowed on the drive home. It was pretty hard to see, but the drive home wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Talked to Dave about my adventures in SLC and he was amused. He's moved to Michigan for the next two months doing a rotation out in Detroit. It really sucks, because we have a lot of planning to do before the wedding, and, well, I didn't think he'd be going away again. It really sucks. And what sucks even more is that he doesn't know if he's going to be home for Valentine's day. SUCKS!!! Oh well. There will be other Valentine's days in our future. One isn't going to matter.

All right, I'm off to write my Memoirs of a Short Track Stalker.

Well, I'm still trying to get together a recap of the whole weekend, but until then, I've posted up all of my pictures from the competition on the pictures page. Enjoy! Comment or something if any of the links are broken. I haven't had a chance to test them all yet!

note: 5:45pm CST - i have some broken links in there, should be fixed by 9pm CST. --the management

another note: make that 10pm CST. i'm a bit slow

Well, I'm home now.

I'm tired.

But it was a great weekend, even though it was fast paced, stressing and I didn't get to hang out with as many people as I would have liked.

More on that later. I've got pictures to process!

Just a short one for now. Wanted to post up some pics...We're late for the comp!

OK, while I'm waiting, we were hanging out at the hotel yesterday and we had two celebrity encounters. The first one was Pat O'Brien, from access Hollywood. We saw him several times, and the last time we took a picture with him. My pic didn't turn out well, though, but I'll get it from my cousin. The other one was Wynona Judd. As to why she's here, I have no idea, but that lady definitely has a presence about here. We didn't take a pic. We were too in awe. But we DID get roses from the bellhop that she gave her flowers to.

Well, we started off the day pretty early. The races started at noon, so we had to be there at 10am. We got there, and I sat in the press area for a while, but I felt kinda weird cheering for everyone from there (no one else was really cheering) so I just moved out to the bleachers with the rest of the fans. The races were OK. Today was the 500 meter races, which is Rusty's strongest distance. But he got reall screwed when he got impeded (well, I feel he did) and it wasn't called. So he lost the race. We were really bummed out. Apolo made it to the final, but he just ran out of room and he didn't medal either. SUCKS! The Canadians sweeped the race.

The relay was pretty good though. It was the US vs. team China (their B team). It was close for a while, but our guys managed to get a great lead and win the race. At least one good thing came out of today!!!

We also watched the relighting of the Olympic torch today (it's the anniversary of the Olympics) and we stood out in the freezing cold to watch everyone make speeches. But the fireworks show they had was worth the frostbitten toes. After the fireworks, we had the rustysmith.com dinner, where all the fans that were in SLC from the site got together for dinner. They were hoping that Rusty himself would be coming for dinner, but he had a charity gala to go to. So they were kinda bummed that he wasn't going to be there. Luckily, though, RUsty got out of the dinner early and stopped by our dinner. The group was so happy to have him there. He was really great, taking pictures and letting people wear his medal. Today wasn't a good day for him (not to mention a very LONG day) and it was great that he took the time out to say hello to his fans. Most people in the same position wouldn't do such a thing.

Since dinner let out a bit early, we decided to go out dancing and play pool. We were debating on which bar to go to when we saw Joey Cheek, and he told us where he was going (which was one of our choices) and we went along with him. Now the thing about SLC is that to go into a bar, you need to either be a member, or have a member sponsor you. Since none of us were members, Joey sponsored us, which was really cool. I owe that guy a drink. He rocks! The bar was OK. NOt the type of music that I like dancing to, but it was OK. The pool tables were so busy there were stacks of quarters on the edges and a million people waiting to play. We did manage to get one game of pool in at the very end of the night. GOod times!

And now, it's time to download the 120MB of pictures I took today. That's about 250 pictures I took!

Well, the races started today, but not until 6pm. We got up bright and early to video the team breakfast. Lanie, Rick's wife, is here with us now so she came along. Since neither of us were taping (it was just Rod and Rick) me and Lanie kinda felt a little out of place there. I tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. I was almost gonna leave. But hey, there was a buffet there, and who am I to say no to a buffet? After that, we had a good talk with Paul Marchese, who makes the skates for a lot of the skaters - not just in the US, but internationally. He's a really cool guy.

Once breakfast was done, we hung out in Rusty's room and did some more filming, like his daily diary and him packing up his stuff for the competition. Then we gott suckered into watching this B-movie on HBO called 'Cheats'. It sucked, but it's one of those things that when you start it, you can't stop. Two hours in Salt Lake lost in the black hole known as 'Cheats'.

Once we were done at Rusty's, we went to pick up my cousin Karen from the airport. It's great to have her along. She's definitely an Apolo fan. Lanie, Rick and Rod are pretty much immune to the fannish-ness of it all, and every now and then I get flashbacks, but Karen's a fan. This is her first competition and she's never seen Apolo in person before. It's cool to see the competition through her eyes.

We got to the Oval at around 4:00, and there were already a lot of people there. Luckily, I have a press pass, so I coould go to the press area. At first I thought I was really cool that I got my own section, but I ended up sitting by Lanie and Karen as the races progressed.

The competition was awesome. Unfortunately, Apolo got DQ'd on his semifinal heat. Rusty, however, had a great preliminary heat when for most of the race he sat in the back, but within the last lap or two, passed up the other 4 people in his heat. It was a blast to watch. He made the finals, too, but unfortunately, he got fourth place. But that's cool, though - there's still races tomorrow! And every final he makes counts towards his overall score. The relays were breathless. The crowd was TOTALLY into it, and it was so fun to watch with eveyone.

Afterwards, we went to dinner with some other people that Rusty knows (Rusty had to get some rest - the races were done at 10pm, and racing starts tomorrow at 12pm). Dinner kicked ass. I mean, I've only met Lanie 4 times, and by the afternoon we were saying the same sentences. And we had just met Rusty's friends that night. But at dinner we all just got along so well that we were laughing the whole time. I swear I didn't laugh that hard since I did my dorky dance for Fata and accidentally drooled. But we had a lot of good laughs, and there were even times where we laughed so hard we cried. I'm proud to say that we closed out Chili's. The staff had their coats on already by the time we left.

Ahh....it was a good day. And I'm pooped. Goodnight!

oh, and here's more pictures!

Went to the Olympic Oval and took some exterior shots. The place is pretty big. Anyway, since the guys did some filming yesterday already, they knew a lot of the people. It was a little weird for me. I also got to meet a lot of the other fans from the different websites and such. It was really cool to put a face to a name. I did some more interviews yesterday, which went a lot better than the impromptu Rusty/Apolo interview yesterday. I think I'm getting a lot better coming up with questions and using the handheld mike. I got to talk to Jack Mortell, the team leader, and he was great. He's really enthusiastic about the sport and he had a lot to say. I also got to meet and interview Stephen Bradbury, the Australian that won the gold when Apolo fell. He's a really cool guy (and he's got that awesome Australian accent, too) and I had a fun time interviewing him. Also got a chance to do an interview with Joey Cheek, a long tracker who won a medal in the Olympics also. He was really easy to talk to. And he's kinda cute, too. And I adore Caroline Hallisey, and she was SUCH a sweetheart. I like her a lot. I will definitely be rooting for her while she's racing.

After practice, there was a fan presentation. Some of the fans got together and made t-shirts for the skaters. Jack Mortell was such a great guy to get everything together and give them a chance to present the t-shirts to the skaters.

After that, I went to a press conference (my very first) and just watched. It was pretty neat to watch, but not as crazy and hectic as I had anticipated.

So, it looks like we got a of good footage today. Hopefully we'll get a chance to get more interviews in tomorrow. Tonight, I'm having dinner with a whole bunch of the fans. It's gonna be REALLY interesting.

Whoo hoo! I'm having a ball!

Here's the pics:

Well, I got into Salt Lake about 12:30 yesterday. A friend of mine picked me up and took me to the hotel. It's weird meeting people who you know from the internet. You never know what to expect. I mean, you've seen pics oft hem and everything, but still, it's still a weird feeling. But we got a long just fine. The weirdness was minimal.

So I checked into the hotel. It's OK, but since I've been traveling so much for work, I've become of hotel, and this hotel a) has no hairdryer and b) no free shampoo. Sorry, it's low on my scale of 'Hotels I Would Come to Again'. But hey, it's a place to sleep.

Waited around for Rod and Rick to come by, then grabbed some food and hung out for a bit. Then we went off to the hotel to get Rusty and get some footage. We followed him and Apolo around when they were jogging. It was a little weird to see him again. I was wondering if he recognized him as his sometime stalker from Chicago. I think I caught a hint of recognition in his eyes. But luckily, I was somewhat able to almost keep my cool. We interviewed him and Rusty for a good while, and I'd have to say, it was an AWESOME interview. They were pretty candid about a lot of things, and the were really relaxed. The fan inside of me (I was in 'business mode' at the time) was screaming and giggling the whole time. I would never have thought that I would be doing this, but it's ending up to be a lot of fun. This video is gonna totally kick ass. I'm really excited about it!

So today is US team practice, a press conference, the fan dinner and hopefully out for some dancing. It should be a very INTERESTING day.

Well, I'm off to Salt Lake! It should be a lot of work, a lot of stress, and, I hope, a lot of fun!

If you're going to be there, be sure to say HI! Look for me in the herd of brown people with videocameras. And if you're nice, I'll interview you!

I'll try to check in as much as I can!

Quick update, because I'm so bogged down today with things to do.

I bought 'THE DRESS'!!! Yes, I took me mom, Mel and her mom to the bridal boutique, showed them the dress, and brought out the plastic to pay for my dream wedding dress. It's a nice chunk of change, but I feel wonderful wearing it. I could never forgive myself if I didn't buy it.

I'm really excited. I haven't talked much about it here, but I'm going to Salt Lake City to see the Short Track World Cup. Yes, Emer, that Apolo guy will be there and there will be many pictures of him and Rusty on here. Next time I see you I'll take many pics of you and post them up here.

Anyway, I'm leaving on Wednesday, and I'm really excited. I think I'm more excited to see and meet the other fans than I am to see the competition and the skaters. Of course, once I'm there, it's a whole different story. I love watching short track. It's a ton of fun. And SLC is going to be crazy. There are going to be a ton of rabid, crazy fans and it's even going to be televised on NBC. (watch out for me!)

Another reason I'm excited is because I get to work on a behind the scenes video. I can't divulge too much information about it just yet, but I'm going to get a chance to meet and talk to a lot of people that I would normally never be in contact with. We're making a sort of 'Diary of...' backstage documentary on Rusty, following him around and interviewing different people at the competition. It'll be a lot of work, it'll be a lot of stress, but I also think it's going to be a lot of fun. I'm glad to be included as part of the team that's putting this together. Caspian Blue rocks, baby! I love you guys! (Bugs, Rick and Rod) It's going to be a crazy week. I'll try to come back and update it as much as I can!

Whoo hoo!

I'd like to end this with a quote from long ago...

Well, the newest addition to our family (and our first cousin offspring) was baptized today. The Filipinos rocked the church in huge numbers, there were a TON of us there to watch. Afterwards, we had a reception and I gorged myself with food because I hadn't eaten breakfast. I'm still full. Also so a LOT of old friends there. Looks like everyone's been having babies lately. I need to catch up!

Here's some pics from the big day. Enjoy!

Well, the last couple days have been pretty busy for me!

Friday night, we went to the banquet hall where we're having our wedding to do a tasting of the food we were going to pick. We were pretty happy with how it tasted (it was DELICIOUS!) and the serving size. We love the place where we're having the reception, because the woman that owns it has been so terrific and honest with us. We went over a lot of minor little details, and over the room where we're holding the reception. It hasn't been built yet, be we saw pictures of what it's going to look like and we're really impressed. We really feel that we can trust her. If she screws us over, I'll say bad things about her all over the internet. *wink*

Today, we went to finalize the photographer. She, too, is such a sweet and nice person. We get her and her assistant all day with unlimited pictures (color and black and white) for a great price. We went over a lot of the types of pictures that we want, like i KNOW that our families are going to want to take family pictures. I'm talking about a 40 person family picture. I just wanted her to be aware of the madness my family gets when they see a camera about.

After that, we went to look at tuxes. Didn't make any final decisions, but we're already registered at Gingiss so Dave wanted to check out what styles they have right now.

Once that was over, I drove back home (I've been driving EVERYWHERE lately. I've been to the gas station so much lately, they know my name!) and tried to get some of my other work done. Life right now is a circus, and I'm a juggler, trying not to drop the ball.

We then headed out to go see 'Stars on Ice'. My cousin works for one of the sponsors, so she was able to score some free tickets. Here's a coupe pictures. Can I tell you how much I love the zoom lens on my camera?

Tragedy strikes with the Space Shuttle Columbia. It seems like the space shuttle disintegrated over Texas right before it was scheduled to land in Florida. 6 Americans and Israel's first astronaut were on board.

Please keep the the astronauts and their families in your prayers.

Things like this really put all of my own stresses and personal dramas into perspective. There's a much bigger world out there.