Worlds Apart

A little over seven years ago I was a volunteer at the US Figure Skating championships at the Staples Center here in LA. I was legal counsel for the 2002 Championships which were run by the All Year Figure Skating Club, of which my daughter was a member. I did it largely to get my daughter a spot on the sweeper team. By the time the championships occurred, she was not really skating anymore. In fact, she had to borrow a pair of skates from her former coach because her old skates did not fit her. I had the pleasure of watching several events from the ice while I chaperoned the young skaters who picked up the stuffed Chevrolet logos that were the only thing people were allowed to throw on the ice in the immediately post 9/11 world. I got my own gray flannel jacket with the 2002 Championship logo--gray so that we faded into the background when the cameras were on us. The view was spectacular. I remember watching Michelle Kwan and in particularly Sasha Cohen who was incredibly fast and flexible.

At the time, the organizers of the event were planning to bid on getting the World Figure Skating championship in 2009. One of them told me to plan for it if my daughter kept skating. Fast forward to 2009 and I realized that I had to get tickets to Worlds since it was in LA and these people I worked with on the 2002 championship had planned it so long ago.

Unfortunately due to personal issues, I was unable to make to the first 2 events for which I had tickets. I particularly was unhappy about missing the Men's Free Skate where my favorite US men's skater, Evan Lysacek, won the gold. His performance can be seen here. My daughter reminded me today that she and her friend watched Evan a few months ago at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo practice his quad over and over. She told me he was a powerful and "scary" skater because of his strength but that he could not land the quad. He apparently did not attempt the quad due to injury but landed 8 clean triples. Congratulations to Evan!

Last night we saw the Women's Free Skate. Our seats were just above the "kiss and cry" so I also had a good view of the coaches "conducting" from the sidelines- particularly Brian Orser who was fun to watch. In the Women's Free Skate, my fave, US national champ Alyssa Czisny, had bombed the short program so she skated early in the second group of 4 (the best skaters come at the end). She had what appeared to me from the distance to be a beautiful skate but technically flawed I guess because she only got credit for 3 triples even though it looked like she did more. In any event, she did not get enough points to do more than pull her to 11th place. Yu-Na Kim won with a phenomenal long program to match her apparently phenomenal short program. I do not recall seeing anyone jump so high and effortlessly before making so many rotations. Here is a short and distant clip showing her first jump (a combination jump) of the long program:

Mao Asada landed her triple axel in front of the judges and then fell on her second triple axel a few seconds later. All in all an enjoyable 4 hours even including the women in the beginning who were ranked 19-24 in the short program. One of those young women slammed hard into the boards on one of her jumps and had to be escorted off the ice by the medics. But she came back after 3 minutes and finished her program to a round of enthusiastic applause for her courage. My friend Doug Williams was one of the presenters on the podium. He looked dapper holding the purple flowers that went to the top three skaters.

Today was the Exhibition of Champions, a two and a half hour showcase for the top skaters performing show pieces rather than competition pieces. Lots of spinning and footwork. Not too much jumping (except for Brian Joubert). They all looked exhausted but happy. Figure skating is a strange life. While we were on line to get in, my husband asked a young girl with her mother whether the girl skated. She said yes and the mom said she was a skating mom. I said I was a recovering skating mom but I still wake up sometimes at 5 am with the urge to drive someplace far away where I can sit in the freezing cold for hours. Here's to all the skating moms and dads of the champions and all the competitors at Worlds. You all deserve a medal.

Spring Has Sprung

I went for a walk on the Strand this morning to Manhattan Beach. Four miles round trip and with a stop at Starbucks (necessitated by the loss of my companion in coffee due to lap-band surgery) I was out for about 2 hours. I believe we can say that there is a definite turn in the weather. My face got a little sunburned from the walk. I took off my jacket within a few minutes of walking and even began to think that I need to wear shorts instead of long pants.

Several weeks ago I discovered that Los Angeles has a cherry blossom season. Apparently there are cherry blossoms in the Valley at Lake Balboa Park which I imagine is a bit more Urban than my local park. They bloomed early this year and continued to dazzle a week later. (see picture) I understand that cherry blossoms are in bloom in Washington DC, also earlier than usual, with the Cherry Blossom festival moved up to start today.

Pink seems to be a very popular color in flowers this spring. At the studio, we have many bushes with pink blossoms outside my building and in the main executive parking lot (where I finally got an assigned parking spot late last year). I do not remember seeing those bushes in the past so I suspect that they are new or I am particularly unobservant. I took pictures on my studio issue phone but unfortunately have not been able to figure out how to download them to my computer. I suspect that there is an iTunes cable somewhere in this overcrowded bedroom which may allow me to get the pictures off the phone. I have tried emailing them but that never works.

As my friend Sharon used to say in college "Spring has sprung. The grass is riz. I wonder where my owner is?"

The Old West

Yesterday we had lunch at an old hotel in Flagstaff--the Hotel Weatherford.  Zane Grey and William Randolph Hearst stayed there. One of my colleagues from work suggested it for a particular soup (albondigas I believe) which they did not have.  I had french onion soup which was good.  The atmosphere was very late 1800s remodeled of course.  I did not get any pictures so you will have to be satisfied with the website. 

Flagstaff has the feel of an old western town with a mixture of college town (Northern Arizona University is there) and economically depressed small city.  The view is fantastic from the center of town of two mountains peaks (San Francisco Peaks)which are the homing zone for the kachinas of Hopi beliefs.  A train still runs regularly through the middle of Flagstaff--apparently so regularly that some hotels advertise that they do not have train noise.  The train, of course, was the raison d'etre for Flagstaff, which set up a sawmill for railroad ties once the depot in Flagstaff opened.  Logging was big in the area.

We go to Flagstaff to visit Barnes and Noble, the closest bookstore of any real size to Sedona.   Sedona has a small independent bookstore but after about 5 minutes you have seen all you want to see.  We also go to Flagstaff to go to Josephine's, a lovely restaurant with fresh, high quality cuisine in an old Flagstaff house which is part of the National Historical Register (craftsmen's bungalow architecture).  Flagstaff is about 7000 feet above sea level so we saw snow on the ground even though it was in the 60s there.  The drive from Sedona to Flagstaff on Route 89A tracks the Oak Creek through Oak Creek Canyon up hills and  through forests that may have been the victim of fires given their appearance.  

Flagstaff is also fairly close to the Grand Canyon but even though we have been to Sedona and Flagstaff perhaps a half dozen times I have only been to the Grand Canyon once.  It is a little too far for a day trip from Sedona when Sedona itself has so many pleasures that I am still uncovering.  For example today we went up Schlebly Hill to the end of the paved road.  There were magnificent views of Sedona and the surrounding red rock hills. We took pictures even though there were gale winds but I will have to upload them later because we do not have the connector for Paul's new camera to download to a computer.  

Tomorrow we are heading back to LA.  This week will be a tough one.  Paul is having surgery and work just seems to be getting busier and busier.  I guess that is good in this economy.  One bright light is the World Figure Skating Championships.  I have tickets to four events but most of my companions have bailed on me.  I hope I get to go notwithstanding all the other demands on my life this week. 

Good Karma

View of Boynton Canyon in Enchantment Resort

We love Sedona, allergies notwithstanding.(And they can be bad this time of year--headaches, achy eyes, runny nose, congestion at night) We always stay at the Enchantment Resort in Boynton Canyon. The drive into the canyon to get the resort is always so beautiful.  I feel like I have come home when I see the red rocks.  Both my husband and I relax so much more quickly here than other places that you wonder if the effects of vortexes are real.  Enchantment supposedly has several vortexes.  Once we climbed up the side of the canyon to get between the masculine and feminine energy sources.  Mii Amo, the spa, also is surrounded by vortexes or so they tell you at the very expensive treatments.

There are wild animals around here too, not like the opossum and the neighborhood skunk at home.  We saw a roadrunner and a  fox running across the road on our way into the canyon yesterday. Years ago one sorry bunny rabbit met its demise in the front grill of our rental car late one night coming back from town. We drive our own car now rather than fly and rent. Luckily no more road kill since that one sad encounter.

Coffee Pot Rock

We tend to have some habits about where we eat.  This morning we went to the Coffee Pot Restaurant, home of 101 omelettes.  The menu asks you to order them by number which of course we never do.  One of the 101 is made with peanut butter. Not a big omelette fan,  I got 1/2 order of french toast, an egg and a slice of bacon instead.  The Cafe is on the corner of Coffeepot Drive which leads more or less to the Coffee Pot red rock formation which looks like an old fashioned you guessed it.

Yesterday we ate twice at the Wildflower Bread Company--lunch and dinner.  I had two different types of soup and treated myself to a loaf of raisin walnut bread to bring back to the room so I could eat something in the morning when I walked to the lobby to get our complimentary coffee. This year we are very close to the lobby so the walk is very short.  One of my favorite things about the morning is the walk to the lobby to get coffee before most people are up.  I love the canyon in the crisp morning air and the light on the red rocks is awe inspiring.  Since my walk is short this year I am not getting that experience and since it is a bit chilly in the morning I am not getting the opportunity to sit on our balcony with the hot coffee looking at the rock formations.  Nonetheless it is still wonderful to be here.

One of my favorite things about Enchantment is that there is no BB or cell phone reception at the resort.  I really cannot be reached easily here and forced to get on yet another conference call or review yet another document.  I have discovered that there is wireless in this particular room so I can be on my computer and touch iPod at all hours.  Last time we were here I could only get wireless reception in the lobby and not in the room which was a ways away from the lobby.  I am not sure which situation I prefer.  Hmmm.

End Impunity!

We attended the Center for Justice and Accountability 10th anniversary dinner the other night in San Francisco. Paul Farmer was the keynote speaker and discussed legal issues rather than health issues. He is a very interesting and engaging speaker. Here is a clip from the speech:

There were also two honorees that evening, One was a doctor from El Salvador who was tortured 25 years ago for giving health support to the "wrong people" according to the then government of El Salvador. He filed and prevailed in a lawsuit in the U.S. and collected on a multimillion dollar judgment which he returned to the people of his country.

The other honoree was a homegrown lawyer from Haiti who runs a human rights law practice in Haiti. Here is more info on that award from the CJA website:

Bureau Des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) has helped victims prosecute human rights cases, trained Haitian lawyers and spoken out on justice issues since 1995. BAI's Raboteau Massacre Case was one of the most significant human rights cases ever in the Western Hemisphere and was a springboard for CJA's U.S. case against Haitian human rights abuser Colonel Carl Dorélien. Leading human rights attorney and BAI founder and director Mario Joseph will accept the award.

The event took place at the City Club of San Francisco where there is a famous mural by Diego Rivera. Here is a picture of the mural that we passed on our way to the room where the speeches took place:

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Last year on this day, I warned my young'un not to drink and drive. She did not heed by warning and got a dui. They hauled her off to an unsavory jail and I got a call at 6 a.m. from her. We left her there until the afternoon to sober up. She lost her driver's license and thankfully no one got hurt from her driving while intoxicated. She moved to SF where there is better public transportation and after working for several months decided to go back to school.

This year, we are going to SF to take the young'un and her new beau to see Paul Farmer speak at CJA, an event where I got as drunk as I have ever been two years ago. I do not plan to drink tonight. I typically do not drink. I expect the young'un will, though, as she continues to figure out what her healthy relationship with alcohol should be. Right now she still flirts with it and sometimes yields to it. But that is her issue just like her new relationship with the "fella".

I am not fond of holidays that glamorize drinking. We have many of them in this beach town where I live- New Years, Cinqo de Mayo, 4th of July, Labor Day to mention a few in addition to today. So I am glad we are off to see Paul Farmer who I hope will inspire and entertain. I feel so cosmopolitan jumping on an airplane to go to a dinner!

Bonding with Baby Lelina

GIRLFRIEND: WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BE ABLE TO GO TO STARBUCKS WITH ME?

YOUR GRANDMA