Saturday, February 21, 2009

Fly, Breast & Free, IM & Relay and Shaving Seconds

A year ago swimming was a foreign language to me. I grew up in Florida... as an ice skater. My son, here in Wisconsin, is a swimmer. I spend many weekends in the fall & winter at a pool. It's usually a balmy 80 degrees (which in Feb. it *is* balmy). The summer you will find us at various locations in Madison from Hawks Landing to Ridgewood & Shorewood. It is looking like this is my future for the next several years.

Last year, my son did swim lessons and that was it in terms of sports. Once a week, 30 mins a lesson. Now, I spend Tues, Wed & Thurs at the pool and if there's a meet, I work it. It's not bad and it's great to see him getting some positive self esteem.

Today was the last meet until the summer. Honestly, I need the break. I know he'll miss the meets, but out of the 10 or so meets he participated in, I think 7 were hosted by BAC which meant we had to work them. Today was the worst since I believe I have a sinus infection and my head was pretty darn close to exploding.

Today was a good day. The boy got 4th place in his backstroke (tied for 4th and 3rd was just .07 seconds away), 7th in 50Y free (out of 24 kids!), he improved his 50 y breast stroke by a lot!

The next big step will be summer teams. He will be 9 which will be a a huge difference. He's been competeing in 8 & under for the last 9 months. The 9-10 yr old division will be different. It will be faster and harder. The boy realizes this and doesn't expect to get 1st or 2nd or 3rd. He just doesn't want to be last, which I think won't be any problem at all.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

In Memoriam


This is not a post about a person that died, but a car that we lost.



On Saturday, January 31st, 2009, we said goodbye to the dear beloved, run down, green Jetta (Sequoia green if I remember correctly). She was a good car and only failed us once in Atlanta when the battery died after only a short time leaving us stranded at a restaurant. We got her before we were married so she was even at our wedding in Kennesaw. She drove me to MindSpring faithfully everyday in Atlanta. Green Jetta even made the trip to Wisconsin in luxury - being put on the moving van and not having to drive one of those pesky miles between here and there. However, after 11 1/2 years, it was finally time to say good bye. We didn't really want to. We didn't owe a thing on her, however, she was looking rough. The mirror was broken (and not something that could easily be replaced, it was imbeded in the body of the car), the muffler needed replacing, she was leaking collant - and those were just the things we knew of. It would have cost more to fix her than she was worth. So, after all those long years and experiences we said good bye.



Who would replace such a good faithful car??? Who else but another Jetta. Meet Red Jetta. Spicy Red, I beleive. Red Jetta is a 2004, so she's newer but not brand new. She's also a lot cleaner and has a clean bill of health. Will we keep red Jetta 11 1/2 years. Who knows. Perhaps if we take a little bit better care of her she will last 11 1/2 years!!

Oh, and look at this fun little fact. Our cars now match the house (which, no we did not paint green & red and still have yet to change it)
 

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