Friday, February 26, 2010

Olympic Plush Challenge Submission




This is sandie the penguin. She kept seeing all of these visitors that were talking about the olympics. One day, she snuck out and found a keeper watching figure skating on tv. Sandie became entranced by it.

She wanted shoes of her own, but couldn't find any. She found some white children boots and jammed her webbed feet into them. Back in the penguin enclave, she pretends to glide around, with an occasional triple spin jump.

The visitors noticed sandie and her antics, and the penguin exhibit has become one of the most popular exhibits at our local zoo...

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Plush Olympic Challenge from Schmancy


What was I thinking when I signed up for this? I know, I know. I really wanted to participate, but I have almost zero free time this month. *sigh*

My task is to create a plush something or other in the category of figure skating. The due date is Feb 26th. Today is Feb 24th. Eek!

The reason why I'm so busy, is I've been busy trying to squeeze some practice in before I head off to the US Women's Curling Nationals in Kalamazoo, MI from March 6-14th. Between getting practice in, there are regular game days, paying attention to my hubby and my beagle, and getting in some housework and chores. I also have my regular day job as quality assurance (software tester). February is especially trying, because I have tickets to the Olympics. Last Saturday we saw the women's qualifiers (curling). This Saturday I get to see the men's gold match.

I originally wanted to make a plushie figure skating octopus. I had a whole story created for him too. I'm having to change it to a penguin. This is what has been created so far,and it has all been hand sewn. Crossing fingers that I get this completed before Friday.

Oh yeah, to all the plush people, here's a shameless plug for my curling team. We're trying to win a sponsorship from Prilosec OTC for $1000. Votes/popularity count in the final decision. You can login and vote every day. If you could just login and vote once, I'd really appreciate it. Team Hambley is listed in the sports section here : http://www.officialsponsor.com/applications/view/1501

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Trip to the Olympics!





I went with my husband to the Vancouver Centre to watch the Saturday 2 pm women's qualifiers draw. It was a pretty awesome draw to go to. There were two games with extra ends - USA Vs Great Britain and China Vs Germany. Both USA and China won.

It was very exciting to attend. Canada was not playing this draw so the crowd chanted loudly for USA.

If you can make it to Vancouver, I highly recommend it. I'll try and post a few photos when I get home. I managed to snag some photos of the teams during their practices.

Next Sarturday my husband and I will be headed to watch the Men's Gold.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Best hubby in the world



I have got the best hubby in the world. He recently got me a new battery for my MacBook Pro! I can go around without being beholden to a charger again!

Today I got a hair cut during lunch. I don't think Jer likes it. Its okay. I always forget how much I hate bangs until I get them. However, I haven't changed my hair in 3 years so needed something different. Back to the drawing board I guess.

By the way, thanks to everyone for voting for Team Hambley to win a Prilosec OTC sponsorship. We are in 2nd place on the sports page with 576 votes. We are 125 votes away from Old Guy Who Wants to Play His Favorite Sport. Keep voting! You can login and vote once a day!

http://www.officialsponsor.com/applications/view/1501

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Curling, curling everywhere!


It seems like everyone is getting into curling with the Olympics! On Saturday February 14th, the Simpsons had an episode where Homer and Marge were participating in the Olympics as a Mixed Doubles team (Mixed Doubles is currently not an Olympic event). Weeks before that, the Olympic men's team Shuster has appeared on various shows such as Jay Leno and one with Stephen Colbert.

This morning, as I went to Google, I discovered their image today is celebrating curling! Yay.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Agile NW Conference






Attending the Agile NW Conference, courtesy of the company that I work at.

In the morning they started off with breakfast and opening ceremonies. Breakfast was full of carb-o-licious food I had to avoid. Pastries galore and beverages full of sugar. There was also a big huge bowl of fruit and large containers of coffee and hot water.

Opening ceremonies explained how open spaces forum worked. People put the topic that they wanted to present or discuss on a piece of paper with their name (they would run it) and then go to the microphone to announce it. I'm used to being in a class of people where no one raises their hand. There was a rush to pen and paper and topics spilling to both Tuesday and Wednesday were posted.

My two favorite sessions were my first two sessions. Both of them were interactive. Diana L presented "Where's My Key", about learning languages. She taught sign language, a kind of pidgin english. Today I still remember the items she taught us: What's that?, a stick, a rock, a black pen, a red pen, and one dollar.

The second session was presented by Chris Sims. He had three different agile 'games'. One where we estimated how many invitations we could make, the second passing around baseballs, and the third estimating how long it would take to eat various pieces of fruit.

Today, headed towards Day Two.

Thank you for voting! We still need more votes!!

Thanks to everyone for taking the 2 minutes out of their day to vote for my curling team, Team Hambley, on the Prilosec OTC official sponsorship page.

We are currently sitting in 3rd place for the most votes in the sports section with 298 votes. 34 votes away from 2nd place.

You can login to vote every day. The first day of judging is Feb 22nd, and that date is closing in fast. If you can talk your significant other, your friends and coworkers to voting for us at least once, we appreciate every vote!

Thanks again!

http://www.officialsponsor.com/applications/view/1501

The video isn't working on our application page yet, but the tech folks at Prilosec OTC are working on fixing it.

You can also catch it here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyQxHn6ThOA

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Mixed Spiel done.




The 2010 Mixed Spiel is done. My team won the first two games, then lost with the last shot in the 8th end. My skip needed to hit and stick, and the rock over curled.

Today, my hubby took me to Mae's Cafe for breakfast. I had the Popeye omelet : Bacon, spinach, and some swiss cheese. I wasn't about to eat hashbrowns, so I agreed to grits on the side. I took one spoonful and decided that I don't like grits.

After breakfast we headed to the club for practice. The finals hadn't started yet. I ended up subbing on Charlie Smith's team, and we beat the opposing team 9 - 1 after 4 ends. The other team decided to shake.

Jeremy got a little practice in, working on his out turn. Then we stayed around to socialize and watch the final Scotties game, where Jennifer Jones took her 3rd championship in a row, beating out PEI.

Friday, February 05, 2010

2010 Mixed Spiel Game 1

Team Calcagno won game one of the mixed spiel. The beginning of the game was as little rocky, but we finally settled down in the last three ends to take control.

Our next game is at 11:30 am against Beth and Sara's mixed team.

Toast to the Senior Women's National Champions!



Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Prilosec OTC sponsorship : Please vote for Team Hambley!




I submitted an application to Prilosec OTC for a sponsorship for my curling team. They approved it the other day. Now its up to people voting and the judges review of my submission.

You need to register before you can vote. You can vote with the same email address once a day. Please vote!

http://www.officialsponsor.com/applications/view/1501

Thanks so much.