Jimmy misses Robin Mooers of the Happiness Team

http://superhappyfunthoughts.blogspot.com/2008/07/robin-misses-jimmy-budnik-from-ultimate.html

Greatest Moments in Sports this week

I've been living without cable for most of the past 4 years, and in the past 2 weeks I have seen some great moments in sports. I normally don't even like watching sports but these were so cool that I had to enjoy them.

First was a documentary on a High School wrestling team that had not lost a team head-to-head match in 34 years. The one year that they decide to make a documentary the team lost a match.

The other was just on TV. Every 4th of July there is a Nathan's Famous Hot dog Eating Championship. This is the event that made competitive eating famous. In order to make it a more safe and healthy event they reduced the time from 12 to 10 minutes. It was 6 time champion Kobayashi vs the American who upset him last year Chestnut. In 10 minutes they both ate 59 hot dogs... a tie! How can this be???

So it goes to a 5 dog eat off (thus negating the 10 minute health warning).

Chestnut wins by a dog and America keeps the mustard yellow belt!

Inflated Kangaroo Massage

Let me start off by saying:
"I could go for an inflated kangaroo massage right now".

So I haven't been doing an adequate job updating people on my whereabouts because when you drop everything and run away to Utah, you kinda have to find a job. Now finding a job these days isn't about a little kickback, a wink, and a smile. It involves digging through the cesspool, we also know as the internet, and trying to find something you like, will pay well, you can get hired at, is near you, etc... It just makes you sick of typing on computers.

Thus I have not been updating my blog.

I could write more about the whole process and what has come and gone, but like I said when I started this blog "I am not going to write about anything that might be important". Really I don't know who is reading this.

In the end, I wake up each morning with a dog lying in my bed, mountains on every horizon, and the knowledge that my wife is going to help sad sick kids be happy healthy kids. The rest is just a bunch of blank spaces in the game of hangman that is my life. (was that morbid to you, because I was imagining a happy kid playing hangman with her mom when I wrote it so it was happy to me?)

I do miss my friends in MN, my friends and family everywhere else, and my freedom when I'm applying for jobs.

Foods of Peru

I (and much of my family) have been criticized for not having a wide enough palet and willingness to try food. This is always mildly absurd to me, since I am constantly trying food and then not liking it. I do live in a world where eating food I don´t like should always be a last resort. For example if you drop me off in the middle of the Amazon with no food for four days, I will manage to eat fish.

This is the blog about the foods I found and tried in Peru.

The good

Alpaca Filet: sweet tasting filet mignon-like steak

Potatoes: I think Peru has like 80 different types of potatoes and they are wonderful

Rice and Pasta: when camping and all that is left is rice and pasta, why not mix them. This will be made in the future. This may not be all new but give me a break.

Coca Leaf Tea and Muña Tea: leafs thrown in some hot clean water and helps with altitude

Banana everything: fried banana, banana chips, raw banana, boiled banana, etc...

The bad

Pirranha: now this might not be fair, since I hate fish and it was not nearly as bad as other fish.

Fried catfish: same thing, but since I ate it the cooks thought I liked it at the Amazon Lodge

Firrungua: the name might be wrong but this is the Peruvian version of Hard-tac

Hamburgers: All I want is ground cow meat and white bread. Everywhere in Peru they try and improve with spices and herbs. This should be a crime.

The Ugly:

Guinnea Pig: more specifically half a guinne pig including the head and two legs. I could barely get through the skin to find the meat

Agguchi Soup: Agguichi are like 5 pound rats and ours was diced and served in soup. I did manage to eat all of what I was served.

Palm Nut Juice: not so bad unless you think you are just drinking brown river water

Aguchi

Guinea Pig

Alpaca

Flux

So my moments of change continue...

I am now on the tail end of a 6 week trip around Peru. It has been an amazing experience. I wish I could give some brief mind blowing explanation of life in Peru, but that would never be brief. In the end, I highly recommend coming here and seeing it for yourself. I'll try and come up with some comical blogs about it in the future, but the real meaning of the trip would have to be a face to face conversation.

One of my best friends is joining the army to become a helicopter pilot, which it is nice to see him pursue a dream and I hope everything works out for the best on this new course.

Jenny is now really a real doctor.

I will be moving to Salt Lake City in a couple weeks. I don't have a job or a real place to live, but I have possibilities.

I got sunburn on my lips again. Need to get better at stopping this.

I miss my puppy dog and love my wife and am forever amused by the antics of children.

And that is pretty much life as of now.

Peruvian Expeditions

Jenny and I will be writing a co-blog about our Peruvian Expeditions at http://pikatrails.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

The great Peruvian Expedition (Beta*)

*"Beta" either from computer programming meaning “in design mode” or from climbing meaning ”information about a route".

For those of you who have inquiring minds and would like to know the detailed itenarary for my and Jenny’s trip to Peru, this is not an ideal location. If you want a rough sketch of our trip, you are at the right spot.

We will begin on April 19 in the year of 2008. Our first flight will be with the MN born NWA airlines and will be taking us to Miami for an evening of relaxation. Now no South American adventure would be complete without a visit to Columbia and their fine airfields. We will be landing and departing Bogota without incident, no matter what anyone tries to say or do otherwise. Then we will continue on to Lime, Peru. From what I know about Lima, it is like Seattle without the pop culure and a lot of homeless people. Lima is wet and grey and surrounded by a giant shantie town. People often wonder why they are in Peru when they see Lima. We will spend a day in Lima and then will head off to Cuzco.

Cuzco was the center of the Incan Empire, and no matter what people say about the Spanish being evil for killing the Incans, just remember the Incans killed all the people there well before the Spanish came. We will then head out on the Incan Trail for a 4 day trek to Machu Pichu. The difference between trekking and backpacking is that trekking is what rich tourists do, when they have porters and pack animals carry all their gear. Machu Pichu is one of the most famous ancient ruins in the world and is beautifully perched atop the Andes. It is delicately speckled with thousands of tourists at any given point in time. We will then spend the night at the base of the ruins in a somewhat posh hotel before taking a train back to Cuzco the next day.

At this point the trip gets murky and dream like. I kinda remember going to Lake Titicaca, a huge lake high in the mountains. I believe people live on floating islands of reads with tiny read huts on the lake. I also think there was something to do with the deepest canyon on land on the planet earth. Was there something with rock climbing or rafting??? Man it’s just not clear to me. Wait, I think we went surfing somewhere.

Who knows?

When it all cleared up we are a week later and sitting in Lima again. Ahhhh, get out of Lima! Book a flight to the Amazon to stay safe. Spend 2 weeks in the Amazon looking for Tarzan. We will be staying at a place with cool treehouse type huts and lots of free tours and educational experiences. The place is famous for its Amazon survival course and jenny really wants to hunt down some poison arrow frogs. I think a monkey will steal my hat. I would like to camp out in the middle of the rain forest for some alone time in death’s grip. Ok we had our fun now back to Lima.

Somewhere along the way someone said something to us about some sort of thing that we should definitely do if we have the time. So now we are going to do that for a week.

Hop a plane from Peru to Bogota, run though airport in 65 minutes and hop a plane to the US. Get deloused by customs and spend 2 days relaxing in Miami by the pool.

Fly home June 2 of the year 2008.

The Rise and Fall of Exhilaration

So I haven’t written much in a while, so why not type a little update?

First off, congrats to dD for getting into pilot school. Good luck in boot camp.

I’ve been estimating that my life will be in some state of ecstasy or turmoil from March 20, 2008 to December 25, 2008. This could be way off, but who knows.

The basic outline thus far goes a little something like this:

March 20: Find out where we are moving (Salt Lake City)
March 21: Pack
March 22: Move stuff into storage in Rochester, MN
March 24: Hand in letter of resignation
March 24 to March 31: live on airmattress in empty abode.
March 31 – April 17: live with Dan and Kate (bro/sis-in-law)
March 24 – April 18: Determine living arrangement in SLC. Sell my car ): Send puppy to Rochester for 2 months.
April 19 – June 2: Travel around Peru. Exploring the Andes, Machu Pichu, the amazon, the coast, and Lake Titicaca to name a few.
June3 – June ?: Drive out to SLC and live in hotel. Look for a job and maybe a house and maybe a mode of transportation.
June ? – June ?+4: Go whitewater rafting with Jenny and all the other interns
July – December 25: Start a job, buy a house, buy a puppy?, buy a mode of transportation, start digging out of student loans, work on house, have friends visit mountains, teach jenny to like falling down snowy mountains, enjoy the view, and go Christmas shopping (:

“Through pleasure and pain, I embrace the unknown.” – me, just now 4/1/08

Wagons West!

There will be a full something about this at an other more convenient point in time, but the results are in.

Jennifer Lynn Makosky, James Edward Budnik, and Skidaway Ellen Roo will be deconstructing their current existence in order to habitat Salt Lake City for at least the next five years. To all we are leaving, you will be missed and you are always welcome to visit. To those we are about to meet, why are you reading my blog and nice to meet you.

Love Always
jimmy

In response to the Robin's comment...

Robin Mooers

The One Story

This story has been told before, and it will be told again. It is my pulse check of story telling ability and my testimony to chaos or fate. This is the story of the night that changed my life and how little really happened. Intentions, actions, decisions all could have destroyed this series of events and I brought none of them to the table. I tell this story because of love and I tell this story because of hope.

I could start at the beginning but that would be cliche. It is now the end of winter 2008 and I am without my wife. She has gone off to see the world and to help the ill. She will be back and I will continue to love her. We have known each other for almost five years now and knowing each other was all it took.

Five years ago, I went on the road and into the wild as the literate might say. I took my liberty and set off for Savannah, Georgia in the spring of 2003. A year after college and a little too much time in Tulsa, I was ready for my future. I had been thinking about the Tao belief that there is a "way" that we should be following and I knew I was not on it. Maybe random luck or just doing what I wanted would help me find the "way". I took three days journey to Savannah, because if Easy Rider taught us anything, it was that all great American road trips should go to Mardi Gras.

Fade out and flash to a sunset wedding off the coast of Tybee Island. It was only right that we get married here. It was during the endless summer nights that we learned to trust each other, to sit quietly with each other, to smile at each other, and to listen to the world around each other. Without that beach we would have been busy, we would have been active, we would have just been friends who might like each other. The beach gave us time and two years after those nights we walked a sandy aisle on that sub-tropical isle.


In truth, it really was out of my hands, but it was out of hers too. We maybe left a little too much of our life up to our friends, but they seemed to be having such a good time, and we both truly love our friends having a good time. I was going to sit the festivities out that night. I had a long weekend playing some ultimate with a random coed team. My good friend was leaving Georgia and I just wanted to be with her to say good bye. Sure they were going to call. How could they not notice that we weren't there? I really was just going to relax. There is one great weakness to all wanderers out in the world and it was accidentally put before me. I had no money and barely had a job. What if someone called and offered me a free burrito? What if I told you I had never had a burrito before and didn't think I would even like it? What if the girl asking was such a sweetheart that I could never turn her down and wanderers have to eat? What if none of the girls in this paragraph were the girl I was destined to marry? So I accepted the offer and went to dinner. Fashionably late of course.

I've never been one for social interaction. Not that I don't like people. It is quite the opposite. I love people and I would hate to upset people. I would hate to have them think less of me. I would hate to find out that I might not like them. I have worried about being around new people since childhood. I always feared being teased, never wanted to look dumb, always tried not to be noticed, and often failed at all of these. I was self conscious and am still to this day, but I will strive to grow stronger as I ramble through life. So how could I ever make new friends, meet a girl, meet a girl and make her my friend? In all my attempts, the most successful path normally involves them not liking me for a long period of time and after enough exposure they get to see that I'm a sweetheart, who has no clue what he is doing a lot of the time.

I show up to team dinner and I am immediately assaulted with questions of my eye color. BLUE. I have a standing policy that if someone asks me a question I will answer without questioning the cause of the question. It is a part of me trying to force myself to be a more open honest person. So yes I have blue eyes and some would say if I put enough hair dye in, I have beautiful blond hair, but none of this matters or at least it shouldn't. But I guess it does.

There was one time in my youth when my aunt came to the door and asked if I was ready to go. This must have been during the summer while my parents were at work. I remember so vividly not having any clue what I was supposed to be ready for. I knew that by the looks of what I was wearing she thought I might be ready. So I ran upstairs and put on my bathing suit, because she had a pool at her house, and I then put my other clothes on over it. This way I looked just as ready as I was before and she wouldn't ask why I changed. I was horrified about asking where we were going and what was going on and I just went along for the ride. I like just going along for the ride when I am in doubt. We ended up at the dentist and that was no fun. Then I was taken home.

Let's just say that this ride went a little smoother. People immediately started hollering that I was a perfect match for Ginny, well she seemed like a nice girl. A little quite and just as uncomfortable with this game as me. It seemed that we were supposed to sit next to each other and put on a show for the fans, but I was not going to play this silly game for this crowd. I grabbed an open chair somewhere else and started in on my free burrito. The conversations finally reveals the cause of the blue eyed question.

Moments before my arrival at the restaurant, Rachel the aforementioned nice girl with the aforementioned free burrito was being grilled on the topic of her availability in the dating world by one or two or a half dozen margarita drinking friends. They seemed to think she would be a perfect match for there short Asian friend, Swirve. In a moment of quick thinking Rachel deemed that only tall dark and handsome men were acceptable to her, AKA her friend Jaime. Oh well, crises averted. Except now the attention is drawn toward the girl called Ginny. Why wouldn't she go out with Swirve? What could her response be? Of course she would only be attracted to a blond hair blue eyed boy, AKA her friend Aaron.

Now I know you might be wondering who is this Ginny character that seems like it should be Jenny. Well that's what I wanted to know. Sure I met Ginny. I talked to her. I even gave her a back massage, but then one day after pick-up ultimate I finally got her phone number. Except there was no Ginny on the list. Yes, there was a Jenny and I am madly in love with her today, but back then I didn't even know her name. It came to me in a moment of panic that I had misinterpreted my southern dialect. You see they can't decipher between "in" and "en". This is why they will always ask for an "ink pen" or a "push pin". So now my Ginny had become my Jenny and will always be my Jenny til the day I die a happy man.

With a couple seats between us and a burrito in my belly, things are looking up for falling into the background. Until I get so comfortable that I stand up and leave the table to take care of some personal needs. Oh those pranksters. But of course, I come back to find the only open chair next to the beautiful new girl in my life, who clearly only likes blue eyed boys. So I sit and chat. I play into their game because I do really like people. I just want to fit in, and when they ask me to flirt more, I even offer to give her a back massage. A rare aside in this story, but I think fidgety people give better massages because they want to move their hands all the time anyway.

Nothing can really come from heckled forced flirtation. It takes one-on-one time, and that was not in the cards. I wasn't looking for a girlfriend. I was only in town for a couple months. I just wanted to have fun and would never toy with a girl's emotions like that. Sure I would like to have a girlfriend. Of course, I wanted to be close to someone, but that was not going to happen. I just sometimes wonder... If it's raining on Tybee Island does that mean practice is canceled 20 minutes away in Savannah? She did give me her number. Oh and if that practice is canceled, we might as well do something together. If she shows up after a spring shower and is bundled up in a warm blue hoody, what other choice do have but to let my heart skip a beat.

So the dinner ends and we head off to the bar for some more excitement. In the overcrowded over amplified bar scene the two of us can just blend back into our own world of people watching. Sure there was still some sideline support egging us on and sideways glances with little smirks from the bystanders, but nothing to really bring us together. Except for muppets.

Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a place where young artistic souls are set free amongst a historical city. Now if you were to be a talented performer and maybe had some skills of craftsmanship, what trouble would you cause? Hypothetically, would you make some muppets, take them to the bar, give them some beers, and then have them play a couple games of pool?

Jenny and I are children. Not in the derogatory term that is used to belittle intelligence and behavior; in the kind way of open souls looking for things to love. We can't help but to find children and talk to them, play with them, teach them, love them. We identify with a child's point of view of life and that is something that can bring people together, like muppets.

Two people getting to know each other for the first time come across muppets interacting with adults and they want the whole room to know, but so few care. This makes it even more special to be with those that do care. Yes this made her special to me.

Over the next two months, we laughed, played, talked, hugged, kissed, and fell in love. What was temporary became permanent. What was random became fate. I found the "way" and have been following it ever since.

Jenny I love you and will never forget our story as it grows with each passing day.

Hands in my Pockets

I found myself walking down a hall all alone today with my hands in my pockets. Sometimes it’s nice to keep your fingers warm and toasty. Sometimes it’s just nice to not have your arms swinging all over the place. Sometimes it’s just fun to see what junk you’ve been putting in your pocket. As I walked, I had a flash of a memory…

I was in 6th grade and I hade just gone to the bathroom and I was walking back to my class room. Some adult, most likely a teacher, saw me walking . She was not at all concerned that I might be skipping class but was honestly interested in why I would choose to be using my pockets for the purpose of hiding my hands. I was abruptly asked why I had my hands in my pockets as if I was some scandalous trouble maker. I deftly replied with an utterly confused “nothing” and went back to my class. To this day I will never understand what kind of trouble I must have been causing there with my hands in my pockets.

(fade to Alanis Morrisette “Hand in My Pocket”)

The Wrath of Winter League

So every year I amazed by how well I can under achieve at winter league. Now I'm not talking about compared to how good an ultimate player could be, but compared to how good I can be on average. There have been days where I keep losing the disc in the white ceiling, days where the hard ground feels jarring to me, and days where the dry air makes me feel like I might just want to pass out, which is roughly where tonight falls. This isn't my excuse. My best excuse would be that I'm just there for fun and it isn't really all that important if we win by a lot or that we win by a little. I do not like losing.

Tonight we won. Tonight I got hand blocked twice and I got foot blocked once. I threw a couple incomplete passes and I probably got more D's than the number of turnovers I caused. It's all just ridiculous to me. I would much rather be useless than to play well and play bad.

So I might come up with excuses for things.....Interupt this story to also mention I dropped a disc on a new born baby's head... but really I think I'll be quite a bit more happy if I just go to winter league and try and kill the other team. It's my nature to try and win. I need to care about a game to not embarrass myself.

I will give my team credit for never holding my mistakes against me, and letting me play how I choose to play. I wish I could look at the team's goal of winning as the most important factor, but I guess I'm kind of ego-centric when it comes to sports and I expect more from myself than I would expect from the team.

kids, cookies, & puppies

I was driving back from Sunday pick-up today and I was happy. I don't know why this would be so important, except so many people are not. It's not that I don't have reasons to be miserable. It all just came clear to me when I got a slightly ridiculous parking ticket last night. I saw it this morning and I just didn't care about it. I know many people would go bouncing off the walls if they got a ticket for parking in an area that they can't park in overnight and is not posted. I'll try and take care of it, but it's not something that is going to make me mad. I'm also not all that excited about my job and over half the people in the department have quit in the past 6 months, but I am still doing honest good work to make a living wage. My wife is thousands of miles away and I won't see her for a month, but I have someone in my life for the rest of my life who I can and will always be completely in love with. My dog likes to try and bite other dogs, but she has been behaving so much better lately. I go years without seeing some of my closest friends, but I have managed to keep them close friends. It feels like -30 outside, but I don't even need a coat after playing ultimate for a couple hours.

I don't think it's a glass half full or half empty kinda thing. I think it's a " I have glass this is magnificent and it looks like there is something in it. I wonder what could be in this awe inspiring glass I have." None of this is new to me. I have been very content for many years with life in general. I just like when I realize how special and important that is. I really couldn't be this way without all my friends, family, Skidaway, Jenny, and my childish joy in life. So thanks.

"my nephew making cookies with me"

So I finished my drive home to find my nice sunny warm apartment with happy little dog smiling at me. I turned on some music, lied down, and took a nap.

Fate + Destiny + Jimmy = Chaos

I don't know where I will go with this one. Some information and specifics have been left out to protect the possibly innocent. What is known is that March 20, 2008 is "match day" for Jenny's med school class. This is the draft for doctors to-be. On this day we will sit in a big room and open an envelope that tells us our destiny in big bold letters most likely written in Helvetica font. In short, the wick will be lit and this little bottle rocket is going zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz boom and where we land nobody knows.

Let me get you caught up to my present location.

TIMELINE
1979-1985: Lived in New York.
1985-1993: Lived in New Jersey.
1994-1995: Lived in Florida.
1995-1998: Lived in Oklahoma.
1998-2002: Went to Purdue. Learned some stuff and had some fun. Played some ultimate frisbee.
2002: Graduated somehow. Ran away to Colorado to tempt disaster for a summer. Headed back to Tulsa to figure out what to do with life.
2003: Ran away to Georgia to have some fun. Fell in love. Ran away to Europe because it was there.
2003-2004: Working in Oklahoma not with my Jenny
2005-present: Working and playing with Jenny in Minneapolis, MN

So let's say I've been around the block and am overwhelmingly excited about what the fates have in store for me and my family (Jenny and Skidaway).

I have always loved change and adventure. I hope to love this one too. I'll go into more depth about this after match day. This was just a preemptive post.

I am also extremely proud of Jenny for having made it through this whole med school process.

10:48

It is 10:48 and it feels like it is -31° outside.

They have the internet on computers now

So every once in awhile I wish I knew more about cool things people are doing on the internet and every once in awhile I look on the internet and wonder why people are using these things. So here is my personal views on some popular or not so popular internet things.

First of all, the reason why I am writing this now is because of www.pandora.com. This website is awesome. Basically, you enter in some of your favorite musicians and it scans for radio stations on the internet playing those artists and looks for other artists who are in common between those stations and plays them for you. You can vote up or down on whether you like them. Pandora slowly learns about you and starts fine tuning the list to make the perfect station for you. I am not even an ideal person for this thing, because I don't really like most music the first time I hear it. I tend to need to hear a song a couple of times to really enjoy it. This would be great for people who really trying to find new artists and want to experiment but don't want to listen to stuff that is nothing like what they like. I'm thinking Shawn Walding would like this. The only people I could see not liking this are people who don't like to listen to random music or people who don't listen to music on computers.

The next website is www.shelfari.com. I think when I signed up for this I spammed everyone in my contact list with membership stuff. So I apologize. This website would be cool if it new what books you had read, but it's kind of a pain. This website allows you to list all the books you have read and rank them and make comments. You could also link to friends like a social community and share reading lists and make reccomendations. So far Brendan and I are the only ones willing to take the time to list over a hundred books on this thing. On a personal note, I like having a list of books I read and a place to make comments because I tend to forget these things. I would say this is a good personal program but not a great social website.

Facebook vs Myspace.

I don't really like either all that much. Jenny likes facebook and my family likes myspace. Myspace is like Vegas without the fun. It really just looks like a bunch of flashing lights and loud music. Everything is always loading and half the time people have fonts the same color as the background. Facebook is just bland. They keep offering fun downloads but they are never all that fun. Most of my friends use facebook so I check that one somewhat frequently but once I check it I get bored and leave. This probably has a lot to do with not having a ton of high school and grade school friends who I am dying to catch up with.

The next one on my list is youtube. I have heard so many great things about this and have been sent so many spam links to it and in the end have never been blown away by the comical genius of any of the links. I still have hope but it mostly just seems like 15 yr olds playing with their dad's video camera. The only amazing thing I have seen so far, not counting my brother killing people for money, is speed free soloing.

Finally, this website. I still don't think I need a blog and don't know why I have one, but I'll keep using it until it gets me in trouble.

Oh there are other websites to talk about but I'm sick of hyperlinking.
here are some quick 1-5 scores
straightdope.com (4)
urbandictionary(3)
picassa(4)
google anything(4)
rec.sport.disc(2)
farecast(4)
wiki(5)
sierra trading post(5)
craigslist(3)
angieslist(1)
minneapolis public library(3)

Jimmy Proof Camera

So I was not entrusted with my wifey's uber-futuristic camera for this adventure, so I went shopping. I have always wanted a jimmy-proof camera but not until now did I have sure fire reason for buying one.

I am now the proud owner of a water-proof, sand-proof, dust-proof, drop-proof, freeze-proof, jimmy-proof point and shoot digital camera.

Here are some of the pics from me trip to nationals:
(if you would like any embarrassing pictures removed from this file, please let me know)

Jimmy on _______:

So now for the real Nationals blog.

The previous one was just to clear my head and allow me to get some perspective.

Jimmy on VBB:

I really see our team goal as making nationals. We succeeded and that is awesome. Everyone except for Sockeye fell short of th best goal possible for the season, so I'll smile at making our own goal. I think we played a little poor in the Rhino game and really wish we had beat Pike. Most of all we didn't make fools of ourselves and get shutout by anyone. Finally, I just want to thank the guys one more time for letting me be a part of this team.

Jimmy on Jimmy:

I was pleased overall with my play at Nationals. The bad points would be looking off Joe B in the Goat game because I didn't want to turn it over. This is then followed with throwing it away to Joe B in the JAM game when he was wide open. There was also the point of doom as described in the previous blog. On the good side, my knee wasn't hurting to bad. The lack of training between sectionals and nationals was noticable, but a healthy knee was even more noticable. I was able to catch a macked score against JAM. I threw a bomb to Ellsworth for a score at the end of the JAM game. I also had a good throw to Ellsworth in the Rhino game when his man tried to poach off him deep. I got a couple D's but mostly on bad throws. I felt like I did a good job of covering my man. I would have like to run a more team-oriented man D with switches and poaches. I think this could have gotten us more turns.

Notice the ability to jump without bending my knee,

and yes he did catch this disc as it fell to the ground.

Jimmy on Beaches:

I love the beach. This has nothing to do with this trip. I have always loved the beach. I fell in love with Jenny on the beach, got married on the beach, and now went to the beach at nationals. Outside of this, I had an awesome time hanging out, partying, and talking with everyone on the team one last time for the season.

Jimmy on Nationals:

I have been to many tournaments big and small. I once went to 32 tournaments in one year. I have been to tournaments on the east coast, in the south, on the west coast, in the midwest, in Europe, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere. Nationals above all else is what I am looking for in a tournament. Every team there is completely in love with this sport. Nobody would dedicate so much to a sport with so little to gain unless they loved it. Everyone there is trying to win every game they play. There are no teams just rollling over and BS'ing on the sidelines. It was beautiful even under gray skies. It was fun even if we were losing. It was happy even if Jenny couldn't come.

Playing the Greatest

So there have been sweeping summaries, and dramatic cliff-hangers posted so far. Let me add to the blogosphere with just one play. I will openly admit at the beginning of this that I did indeed make the wrong choice, but that having made the right choice may have lead to a worse outcome.

A brief warning that previously in this point I had dropped a 15 yard pass, and that is just humiliating. Then after this play I am so unfocused that I throw a 20 yard turnover to a covered man. In short, this was my worst point at nationals and the one that most sticks in my mind. It was the one time I felt like I let my team down.

So the play, as it happened:

I am covering my man pretty hard on the incut somewhere near mid-field. We are playing Machine and the game is close enough to be taken seriously. My man sees an opening to go deep down the center of the field. I pursue and have the force side covered and am gaining ground on his deep cut. I see the pass immediately and it is level and out of bounds. The wind is coming from the break side and will continue to push the disc more out of bounds. I am getting closer to my defender as he veers towards the sideline to play the disc. As the disc comes into both of our playing area, I lay off of it because I know it cannot be caught in bounds. My man makes the bid and catches it at lest 4-5’ out of bounds. I get yelled at a bit for laying off the D and then disc is brought in at the cone, which I now realize is the wrong location since the disc was OB the whole time.

Side discussion:

In one of our previous game, a disc was thrown high and OB. 3 of our guys went for the D and since the disc could not possibly be caught in bounds the other team threw a greatest and scored a goal. Should one of our 3 guys read the disc as OB and stayed off to play the greatest attempt? If you see someone jumping to catch a disc a little out of the endzone, you might be willing to not play it and drop off and play man. Should greatests be treated the same way? As someone who is not much for battling in the air, I would be willing to lay off the high and floaty disc, and instead cover the man who would catch the greatest.

So back to the play.

Choice 1: I go for the D as soon as possible and tip the disc. It could then either be a D or it could be a mac for a score. It would also make the disc check in further downfield.
Choice 2: I wait to get closer and layout and catch the D. It is checked in further down field, but no chance of a score!
Choice 3: I wait to get as close as possible and catch the D but make contact with the other guy. It could be a solid D, it could be a contested foul.
Choice 4: I wait too long and completely miss the D. The guy catches it and calls himself “out” or calls himself “in”. In reality he did ask me if he was “in” after the catch and I told him he was “out” because I stood there and made sure he was “out”. If he had called himself “in”, I would have gone to the observer saying that I thought he was “out”. This could be a turn, a completion, or sent back to the thrower.
Choice 5: I wait too long and completely miss the D and he does a layout greatest. They keep the disc and everyone tells me I tried my best.
Choice 6: I don’t play the disc and he catches it OB. I call him out and he agrees or he could argue and refuse to admit he was way out. Go to observer.
Choice 7: I don’t play the disc and he attempts a greatest. I see this happening and D it easily or maybe I miss it.
Choice 8: I don’t play the disc and I misread it. He catches it for a score. I cry like a baby for not know how to read.
Choice 9: I layout and get injured. Ummm, I don’t think this is ever one of my concerns.

What are the key points to take out of this?
-I should not initiate contact that would cause them to maintain possession.
-Someone needs to make sure that he is OB, but we had observers to do that.
-Playing a disc that never came in bounds causes us to lose a lot of yardage.
-Passing up a layout D opens the door for a lot of possible bad outcomes.
-Sometimes a greatest is the other teams only choice and you should try to stop that.

I do admit that I should have just sped up and caught the disc, because that is the most fundamental play that would have the best chance of us keeping the disc, but when I saw the disc flying past me, I knew that it was already a turnover and that was my goal.

I would say that everyone should have said nothing while we were on O, since I did get the turnover. Then if there was an other turnover, someone could have yelled at me that I better layout the next time I see a disc go by me and not just watch my man catch it.

I would really like to hear some more opinions on how to play this disc.

Continuous Improvement

Making Nationals has been a signature goal in my life over the past half-decade. Now I guess I need a new goal. Actually, this is more a goal to accomplish within the next year. Outside of ultimate, I spend a great deal of my free time rock climbing with Jenny.

On wall climbs, in the US, we use the Yosemite Decimal System to rate climbs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_Decimal_System

Don't worry, I will get to my goal eventually. Most new climbers can start climbing at 5.6-5.8 range. At this time, getting your forearms and your grip strong enough to hold you on the wall is the biggest challenge. Once you get the basic muscles to learn to climb, you can easily cross into the 5.9 range. Now you hit the first big wall (a bit of pun intended). Climbing a 5.10 takes much more than just the strength to hold unto the wall. At this phase, you must learn to keep a lot of weight on your feet to save your arms. To do this you must line up your body to place the weight very intentionally. This will at times place your body into new positions that require a great deal of flexibility and thought. You will also need to learn to remember what you have passed and where you are going so you can find hand and footholds with ease. Moving your body into the correct position to make long reaches is also very important. Your grip will need to evolve from being able to hold you on the wall to being able to lock into one shape and not break under a great deal of force. Climbing your first 5.10 is a big step in any climbers life.

Now that you have cleared that level, most people would consider you a pretty serious climber and this is more than just a hobby. The area from 5.10a-5.11d is a long grueling journey. You have to be able to grip onto smaller and smaller holds. The walls start to become more and more overhung. You have to be able to pull yourself up with your upper body a lot more. Moving slightly out of balance will easily pop you off the wall. Now I bring you to my goal. If you start to ignore one skill you will get stuck very quickly at a given level.

"In the sport of rock climbing, 5.12 is a magical grade. Looked upon as the “door” to the elite levels of difficulty, 5.12 is believed by many intermediate climbers to be out of their reach." Eric Hurst from How to Climb a 5.12

I want to climb a 5.12 outside on a well recognized climb. Sometimes new climbs are not ranked very well and indoor climbing rankings can never be completely trusted. 5.12 is normally the line in the sand, at least for male climber, between those who really like climbing and want to be good, and those who train for climbing and really care about being good. The truth is I don't train for climbing. I don't practice my 2-finger pull ups, I don't lift weights, don't do yoga, or hang out in the bouldering cave burning my forearms into ashes. I hope to take my light weight, flexibility, and focus up a 5.12. The tricks to climbing a 5.12 as best I can tell include, being able to hold on to smaller holds with only a couple of your fingers, being able to push your hand into the rock to create friction, using your feet to push and pull your entire body, not letting your forearms get pumped, having the upper body strength to pull yourself through big overhangs, and maybe being really tall might help some people. More than anything it comes down to focus and understanding. You have to know the result of each move of your body in order to stay in balance and you need to anticipate the upcoming moves.

Currently, I am hovering around a 5.11b-c indoors. I did all of the parts of a 5.12b outside, but took breaks between many moves. I know Jenny and I will be spending a lot of time climbing over the winter, and I just need to keep pushing myself to improve not only physically but mentally. I also hope to watch Jenny clear the 5.11 barrier. She took awhile on the 5.10 goal and has been doing awesome ever since breaking that goal.

For those of you who are interested, I am not sure where the next big break is, but I would just guess around 5.14. This is about the ranking where you are climbing for a living and the 5.15b is just sitting there taunting you as the hardest climb in the world.