I'd love to do a trip to visit. I figure that in a week or so I'll start to get more into the rhythm of how life in DC will work. I work M-W from 9-6, and I have class Monday night, Thursday morning, and Friday morning. Not the easiest schedule, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it and even be able to play footbag regularly.
I took 3 days off from footbag in an attempt to heal up the knee, and while I'm not 100%, I've made enough progress that I was able to get in a session tonight with Chris Miller. The whole point of the session was to test out the knee, and hopefully build some stamina. I was good about staying away from tricks that would make the knee worse, and I felt like I played better than the previous session when the knee was really bad. It just felt really good to play at all. I started my internship this week, and while it's good, it's also a bit stressful. Probably cause I'm getting used to it. Anyway, it was definitely good to destress with footbag.
The big news is that tomorrow night we're gonna have a session with Pete Irish, Adrienne, Chris, and myself. Pete leaves DC for SF on Friday, so I'm glad I'm getting to sneak in a session with him before he leaves. It would have been nice if I weren't so out of shape/practice, but beggars can't be choosers. I'm looking forward to the session. Maybe I'll bring the camera and film a couple runs.
Fanzine
Sounds good Ken. In terms of timing, let's shoot for warmer weather so we can use the basketball hoop 
Maybe April.
Btw, I'm sure you wrote this someplace, but if you could recap, that would be interesting to me (and others I'm sure).
You are going to school for __________
Your internship is ___________
You hope to work as a _________ as soon as _________
Ultimate career goal is ______________
Maybe April.Btw, I'm sure you wrote this someplace, but if you could recap, that would be interesting to me (and others I'm sure).
You are going to school for __________
Your internship is ___________
You hope to work as a _________ as soon as _________
Ultimate career goal is ______________
Bob R.
1. the cute college chicks.Rieferman wrote:
You are going to school for __________
Your internship is ___________
You hope to work as a _________ as soon as _________
Ultimate career goal is ______________
2. surprisingly hard.
3. stripper.....the hair grows back.
4. world domination.
Really great shred tonight. I'm just really stoked that despite it being a Wednesday night, I got to shred with Pete Irish, Chris Miller, and Adrienne Dukes. We were all a bit out of practice, and none of us were really on fire, but there was a palpably good vibe in the air, and we all had an enjoyable time.
Playing with Pete is always a treat, and it was no different today. Pete hit a bunch of cool stuff, but my favorite moment of the session was seeing his reaction when he hit a new trick. He hit legbeater swirl for his first time, and it really made my day to see him punch the air with his fist and smile, the adrenaline rush visible on his face. I've observed in this blog how amazing it is that, after 10 years of playing, I can still hit new tricks and combos and get enjoyment out of it. Seeing Pete, somebody who's played even longer than me, get the same kind of rush from footbag after so many years affirmed my observation.
Pete hit a bunch of other cool stuff, like ripped warrior swirl and stepping ducking eclipse (a trick which I actually invented back in 99), but it was the reaction to legbeater swirl that stood out the most. Adrienne also played real well. She had a run with DLO, rev whirl, and PLO all in it. She had a few long runs that impressed me. Chris played pretty well, though I think he played better the night before. I'm hoping I can play with him at least twice a week, since he lives nearby.
I had a decent session myself. My knee wasn't as good as yesterday, but it was still feeling good enough that I could play, and that's what mattered. I hit WHAT?!? midstring, and it took Pete by surprise. "What the fuck was that?"
This was funny, because just the other day I was explaining to Age and Chris why I named the trick that way. Highlights:
*Sidewalk swirl bsos.
*Keeping an excellent mental game throughout
*Not hurting my knee
*9 unique fearless to close the session.
The combo was: ewalk-fog-darkwalk-bl. whirl-PSW-PSW-tomahawk-pdx torque-pdx blender.That's the second best fearless string I've ever done. I was happy too because it was pretty different from the string I hit when I got 10 unique, which was: alpine leg-bed-dark-fog-phx-tomahawk-bl. whirl-psw-pdx torque-pdx blender.
I think I could probably hit 10 or 11 unique if I skooled it, but I'm not that interested in it at the moment. Still, hitting 9 unique first try was a very nice unexpected surprise.
After the shred we went for sushi, and met up with Vince Bradley. I tried a white tuna sushi which blew my mind. It was lovely.
I wonder if I celebrated too soon about my knee. Today I don't feel any pain in the knee, but the area above it feels like somebody punched me there. It's a bit tender. I really want to play tomorrow, but I think it'd be prudent to take it easy. Maybe I'll just get my exercise vicariously by watching lots of NBA and footbag.
1. I'm getting a Master's in Public Administration at Cornell University.
2. I'm interning at the Sunlight Foundation, which is a non-profit dedicated to transparency in Congress. The main thing I work on is www.congresspedia.org which is a wiki that tracks everybody in Congress. We track voting records, donations, even daily schedules for some Congressmen. It's pretty cool.
3. I'm hoping to either work in city government, like a mayor's office, or possibly to go into a policy think tank.
4. Pretty much same goal as above. Or to put it more abstractly, I'm seeking to get a job where I can improve people's lives through policy.
OK fine.Rieferman wrote: You are going to school for __________
Your internship is ___________
You hope to work as a _________ as soon as _________
Ultimate career goal is ______________
1. I'm getting a Master's in Public Administration at Cornell University.
2. I'm interning at the Sunlight Foundation, which is a non-profit dedicated to transparency in Congress. The main thing I work on is www.congresspedia.org which is a wiki that tracks everybody in Congress. We track voting records, donations, even daily schedules for some Congressmen. It's pretty cool.
3. I'm hoping to either work in city government, like a mayor's office, or possibly to go into a policy think tank.
4. Pretty much same goal as above. Or to put it more abstractly, I'm seeking to get a job where I can improve people's lives through policy.
Haven't posted much lately, because my knees have been keeping me from playing. I can't recall ever having anything like this before. I think I'm getting better now, but it's taking a while. My best guess is that I may have had some fluid build up in my knee? Who knows. I'm trying not to work it too much. I got in a session yesterday during the 2nd half of the Superb Owl. That means I missed the epic comeback, but I really don't care that much. I think I'd like football better if the ball were round and orange. And they threw it in baskets. You get the idea.
During my time off footbag, I've amused myself by watching lots of NBA games on TV, playing Rummy, and very actively managing my fantasy NBA team. I pulled off a blockbuster deal this week: I traded T-Mac, Kenyon Martin, and Andray Blatche in exchange for Amare and Jason Richardson. If you understand fantasy basketball, you no doubt are as amazed as I am that I pulled that off. For those who don't follow fantasy basketball, I just did the equivalent of trading myself, Erik Chan, and the janitor who works the nightshift for Bevier and Lon Smith. Hm, that comparison works really well, especially the KMart-Chan comparison, what with all the knee problems... anyway, I'm happy with my trade, and can't wait til it goes into effect on Thursday.
I was also real amused by this page in my blog. Even before Bob pointed out the pattern, I was gonna change the title of my blog to: "Ken and Bob chat with each other." I was just waiting til I had a real post to add, but before I got a chance, Henry broke the pattern. At least he did it with a joke.
So yeah, as I mentioned before, I did get in a session yesterday. I played solo instead of calling Chris Miller, because I really didn't know if I'd be able to get past my warmup. As it turned out, I was able to play. I did VERY few 5 adds throughout the session, only one 6, and like 5 uptime tricks total. They were all strong side pixie tricks, and all by accident. But other than that, it was an entirely downtime session. I think from now on I'm gonna bring my laptop down so I can listen to music when I play. I brought down my iPod mini this time, but that got annoying. I even had a run where the ipod flew off of me and then I had to get rid of the earphones during the string, and then I dropped right after. So annoying.
Overall though it felt great to play, and today my legs felt pretty decent. If they feel good in the morning, I may get in another light downtime session.
Highlights:
*After reading Bob's blog, I realized that in recent sessions I had stopped doing my long BOP warmup. So I started the session off with 62 contact guiltless run. Very BOP-y, but that's kinda the point.
*PDLO-butterswirl repeat
*Dyno-pdx drifter repeat
*Ducking pdx torque
*GDLO to a nice, small run
*Run with some nice spins and a DSC.
*Toe dyno bsos
EDIT: I just re-read this, and realized it sounds like I'm comparing myself to Tracy McGrady. That's really not what I meant. If I had to compare myself to an NBA player, I'm probably closer to Rasheed Wallace than anybody. The point was that I traded a player that is decent but very well known (t-mac/me), a player who is famous and whose potential was sadly cut short by knee trouble (K-Mart/Erik), and a total nobody. I also want to clarify that a player's value in real life doesn't always correlate with their fantasy value. So while Marcus Camby and Jose Calderon may not be as famous as Dwight Howard and Jason Kidd, in fantasy NBA they are actually better players. So T-Mac is famous, but he's not nearly as good as Jason Richardson in terms of fantasy NBA, since JRich hits more 3 pointers and turns the ball over less.
During my time off footbag, I've amused myself by watching lots of NBA games on TV, playing Rummy, and very actively managing my fantasy NBA team. I pulled off a blockbuster deal this week: I traded T-Mac, Kenyon Martin, and Andray Blatche in exchange for Amare and Jason Richardson. If you understand fantasy basketball, you no doubt are as amazed as I am that I pulled that off. For those who don't follow fantasy basketball, I just did the equivalent of trading myself, Erik Chan, and the janitor who works the nightshift for Bevier and Lon Smith. Hm, that comparison works really well, especially the KMart-Chan comparison, what with all the knee problems... anyway, I'm happy with my trade, and can't wait til it goes into effect on Thursday.
I was also real amused by this page in my blog. Even before Bob pointed out the pattern, I was gonna change the title of my blog to: "Ken and Bob chat with each other." I was just waiting til I had a real post to add, but before I got a chance, Henry broke the pattern. At least he did it with a joke.
So yeah, as I mentioned before, I did get in a session yesterday. I played solo instead of calling Chris Miller, because I really didn't know if I'd be able to get past my warmup. As it turned out, I was able to play. I did VERY few 5 adds throughout the session, only one 6, and like 5 uptime tricks total. They were all strong side pixie tricks, and all by accident. But other than that, it was an entirely downtime session. I think from now on I'm gonna bring my laptop down so I can listen to music when I play. I brought down my iPod mini this time, but that got annoying. I even had a run where the ipod flew off of me and then I had to get rid of the earphones during the string, and then I dropped right after. So annoying.
Overall though it felt great to play, and today my legs felt pretty decent. If they feel good in the morning, I may get in another light downtime session.
Highlights:
*After reading Bob's blog, I realized that in recent sessions I had stopped doing my long BOP warmup. So I started the session off with 62 contact guiltless run. Very BOP-y, but that's kinda the point.
*PDLO-butterswirl repeat
*Dyno-pdx drifter repeat
*Ducking pdx torque
*GDLO to a nice, small run
*Run with some nice spins and a DSC.
*Toe dyno bsos
EDIT: I just re-read this, and realized it sounds like I'm comparing myself to Tracy McGrady. That's really not what I meant. If I had to compare myself to an NBA player, I'm probably closer to Rasheed Wallace than anybody. The point was that I traded a player that is decent but very well known (t-mac/me), a player who is famous and whose potential was sadly cut short by knee trouble (K-Mart/Erik), and a total nobody. I also want to clarify that a player's value in real life doesn't always correlate with their fantasy value. So while Marcus Camby and Jose Calderon may not be as famous as Dwight Howard and Jason Kidd, in fantasy NBA they are actually better players. So T-Mac is famous, but he's not nearly as good as Jason Richardson in terms of fantasy NBA, since JRich hits more 3 pointers and turns the ball over less.
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Sporatical_Distractions
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mosher
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Ken, as a newbie basketball fan (a thing I REALLY didn't see coming) I can appreciate these comparisons you're making. Are fantasy players based off the numbers they put up in the games? If so, I understand what you're saying about Calderon, he's really stepped up in TJ Ford's absence and I am sure that shows up in the fantasy numbers.
It looks like you have a really sweet place to play there, jealous!
Keep having fun, though I doubt that will be any trouble.
It looks like you have a really sweet place to play there, jealous!
Keep having fun, though I doubt that will be any trouble.
Tom Mosher
hate is a waste of passion!
hate is a waste of passion!
I'm assuming we're talking Marcus Camby. If not, disregard my story.
In high school back in CT, I was quite the basketball player if I do say so myself.
Each summer we played in a summer league in New Britain, not the greatest area, but a very difficult league.
One night, we travel there for our game against Hartford Public. They were quite literally doing 360 dunks for warmups. Yeah, we got killed.
Anyhow, about half way through the game, I look over to realize that Marcus Camby is hanging out in the stands watching. He was a Hartford Public alum and was watching his buddies beat up on us.
I'm not sure if it was cool to see him there, or if it just made the whupping more embarassing.
Edit: Ken, I'm not sure what it is about your blog that makes me carry on so much conversation in here. I will do my best to keep out of here for a little while so you can again own your blog.
In high school back in CT, I was quite the basketball player if I do say so myself.
Each summer we played in a summer league in New Britain, not the greatest area, but a very difficult league.
One night, we travel there for our game against Hartford Public. They were quite literally doing 360 dunks for warmups. Yeah, we got killed.
Anyhow, about half way through the game, I look over to realize that Marcus Camby is hanging out in the stands watching. He was a Hartford Public alum and was watching his buddies beat up on us.
I'm not sure if it was cool to see him there, or if it just made the whupping more embarassing.
Edit: Ken, I'm not sure what it is about your blog that makes me carry on so much conversation in here. I will do my best to keep out of here for a little while so you can again own your blog.
Bob R.
Mosher: You're right, fantasy basketball is based on players' statistics. In most fantasy leagues, you get 10 friends together and conduct a mock draft, where you select your teams. Then, every week you "compete" against a different member of your league. You track the stats (there are usually 10 categories of stats) of your team every night, and at the end of the week your score is based on how many of the statistical categories you won compared to your opponent. The 10 categories in my league are: points, free throws, three pointers, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, total rebounds, assists, blocks, steals, and turnovers (whoever has more turnovers loses). Based on these criteria, Calderon is great, because he fills a difficult category (assists) without adding much at all to turnovers (most PGs add to both categories).
Zac: You may have "blech," but my friends can vouch that I have, and have long had, "belch."
Bob: I loved the Camby story. And please don't worry about posting in here. If there is a lack of posts in here by me, it's because I haven't been playing much.
I actually got in another solo session yesterday. I didn't call Chris Miller, because I was still testing out the leg. Based on how it feels today, I think I should probably rest it some more, but we'll see. My legs still don't feel 100%. Still, I feel like I played really well last session, and that put me in a good mood.
I started the session by doing long warmups. After reading Bob's blog, I realized that long tiltless strings would be good warmup for me. This was my favorite. I threw in some 3s in there for variety, but I was mostly just happy to see that I could play for 2 minutes without dropping. Then I thought about Erik saying he did a ton of ducking clippers, and then I remembered that Griese said he hit 95. I couldn't remember what my record was, so I figured I'd go for my record as part of my warmup regimen. I ended up hitting around 62. By this point I felt like I was decently warmed up. I decided to stick to my safe plan, and only play downtime for the whole session. Not just downtime, but actively avoiding tricks which might hurt my knee. I ended up having a lot of fun this way. My downtime game isn't that bad, but I tend not to use it as much as shuffle for some reason. It was fun to rediscover my downtime game. It also gave me an excuse to work on my spins, which have never been very good. Over the course of the session though, I ended up hitting a bunch of gyro and inspinning tricks, which made me happy. Another good aspect of the session was I brought my laptop down with me, so I could listen to music without having to worry about my ipod flying off of me midstring.
Highlights:
*Drifter drill
*pdx whirl-GDLO, and in the same run I hit toe GDLO using the other DLO
*pdx whirl-GDLO on the other side.
*pdx torque x2
*gyro whirl-pdx torque, with inspin clipper bsos in the seal.
*Tomahawk-mobius
*My first ever in-mobius
That last one gave me the "footbag high" that I've come to love so much. Overall it was a very rewarding session for me. Today my legs felt a bit funny, but I don't feel like yesterday made it worse. I think if I play every other day, limit my sessions to 1 hour max, and am diligent about warming up properly, I can probably continue to heal while still getting in some playing time. At least that's the plan.
Zac: You may have "blech," but my friends can vouch that I have, and have long had, "belch."
Bob: I loved the Camby story. And please don't worry about posting in here. If there is a lack of posts in here by me, it's because I haven't been playing much.
I actually got in another solo session yesterday. I didn't call Chris Miller, because I was still testing out the leg. Based on how it feels today, I think I should probably rest it some more, but we'll see. My legs still don't feel 100%. Still, I feel like I played really well last session, and that put me in a good mood.
I started the session by doing long warmups. After reading Bob's blog, I realized that long tiltless strings would be good warmup for me. This was my favorite. I threw in some 3s in there for variety, but I was mostly just happy to see that I could play for 2 minutes without dropping. Then I thought about Erik saying he did a ton of ducking clippers, and then I remembered that Griese said he hit 95. I couldn't remember what my record was, so I figured I'd go for my record as part of my warmup regimen. I ended up hitting around 62. By this point I felt like I was decently warmed up. I decided to stick to my safe plan, and only play downtime for the whole session. Not just downtime, but actively avoiding tricks which might hurt my knee. I ended up having a lot of fun this way. My downtime game isn't that bad, but I tend not to use it as much as shuffle for some reason. It was fun to rediscover my downtime game. It also gave me an excuse to work on my spins, which have never been very good. Over the course of the session though, I ended up hitting a bunch of gyro and inspinning tricks, which made me happy. Another good aspect of the session was I brought my laptop down with me, so I could listen to music without having to worry about my ipod flying off of me midstring.
Highlights:
*Drifter drill
*pdx whirl-GDLO, and in the same run I hit toe GDLO using the other DLO
*pdx whirl-GDLO on the other side.
*pdx torque x2
*gyro whirl-pdx torque, with inspin clipper bsos in the seal.
*Tomahawk-mobius
*My first ever in-mobius
That last one gave me the "footbag high" that I've come to love so much. Overall it was a very rewarding session for me. Today my legs felt a bit funny, but I don't feel like yesterday made it worse. I think if I play every other day, limit my sessions to 1 hour max, and am diligent about warming up properly, I can probably continue to heal while still getting in some playing time. At least that's the plan.
solid stuff ken. Your blog is the BEST in modified history. in between good stories and conversation, there are posts with video of everything you mention. Incredible. Must take a lot of effort.
JSACK wrote:alright well me and obara'bars, shredded our dicks off, since we are both in high school, obviously there is some sort of talent show
Kicking off this new page feeling strange soreness in my legs, but a lot of love in my heart. Not a bad place to be.
Today Kyle posted a very touching note in his blog which meant a lot to me. It reminded me yet again how incredible it is that footbag is such a close community, and how many cool people you meet in it. I often think about the people in the community who welcomed me when I was a fresh-faced teenager on the scene, and how their kindness made footbag more than just a hobby for me. If I've had that sort of impact on others, I view it as an honor to continue the tradition.
My legs are still feeling a bit off. I bought calcium/magnesium/zinc pills today, as well as bananas. Maybe part of my leg-woes are related to my diet. Who knows.
Based on the success of my last 2 sessions, I called Chris Miller to play tonight. I stuck to my gameplan; I warmed up slowly, and I played entirely downtime for the whole session. I used the laptop for music again, but I didn't film any runs. Chris is still building his game to where it was before he took a break, but already I see lots of progress. It was a bit tough though to see him do uptime tricks, because it made me miss doing them myself. That said, I am enjoying working my downtime game. Overall I was happy with how I was playing tonight, but more than anything I was just happy to play. Classes and work were done for the week, and I handed in a big paper that day, so footbag was like the official start of my weekend. Dig it. The only highlights that I can remember were DSO-DLO repeat, and spinning pdx egg on my first try.
The plan is to go to Maryland tomorrow to play basketball and footbag with Adrienne, and then go to a Maryland basketball game. Very excited for that.
Today Kyle posted a very touching note in his blog which meant a lot to me. It reminded me yet again how incredible it is that footbag is such a close community, and how many cool people you meet in it. I often think about the people in the community who welcomed me when I was a fresh-faced teenager on the scene, and how their kindness made footbag more than just a hobby for me. If I've had that sort of impact on others, I view it as an honor to continue the tradition.
This also put me in a good mood. My blog is my baby, and while I write in it for my own sake more than anything, I think its cool that it allows me to share my thoughts and game with my friends who live far away. Uploading the vids to YouTube takes a long time, but I think it really brings the highlights to life. Filming also helps me realize when my game is sloppy or needs work.HG wrote:solid stuff ken. Your blog is the BEST in modified history. in between good stories and conversation, there are posts with video of everything you mention. Incredible. Must take a lot of effort.
My legs are still feeling a bit off. I bought calcium/magnesium/zinc pills today, as well as bananas. Maybe part of my leg-woes are related to my diet. Who knows.
Based on the success of my last 2 sessions, I called Chris Miller to play tonight. I stuck to my gameplan; I warmed up slowly, and I played entirely downtime for the whole session. I used the laptop for music again, but I didn't film any runs. Chris is still building his game to where it was before he took a break, but already I see lots of progress. It was a bit tough though to see him do uptime tricks, because it made me miss doing them myself. That said, I am enjoying working my downtime game. Overall I was happy with how I was playing tonight, but more than anything I was just happy to play. Classes and work were done for the week, and I handed in a big paper that day, so footbag was like the official start of my weekend. Dig it. The only highlights that I can remember were DSO-DLO repeat, and spinning pdx egg on my first try.
The plan is to go to Maryland tomorrow to play basketball and footbag with Adrienne, and then go to a Maryland basketball game. Very excited for that.
Last edited by C-Fan on 08 Feb 2008 23:21, edited 1 time in total.