I'm flying to WI later this week (roller derby Eastern Regionals, baby!), and—having recently started a new knitting project—was wondering what happens when you try to bring knitting needles through airport security. Even though you could do much more damage with a ballpoint pen than with a blunt knitting needle, I would hate to underestimate TSA's overzealousness in "protecting public safety" in a post-9/11 world.
So I found this useful list of what's allowed and prohibited on airplanes. It even breaks things out into what's allowed in carry-ons vs. what's allowed in checked luggage. According to the list, knitting needles and crochet hooks are allowed on the plane; however, this follow-up article isn't exactly confidence-inspiring ("In case a Security Officer does not allow your knitting tools through security it is recommended that you carry a self addressed envelope so that you can mail your tools back to yourself as opposed to surrendering them at the security checkpoint").
[ Edited 11/24/2010: Just looked at the knitting/needle-crafting-specific article and it now says unequivocally that knitting needles and tools are allowed in all luggage! No more "we may or may not take them away from you." ]
I was surprised to learn that disposable razors and scissors < 4" long are allowed in carry-on luggage. Happily, the list confirms that throwing stars, cattle prods, hand grenades and tear gas are not.
I feel safer already.
[Edit: Maybe I just need one of these. "Nothing to see here, folks!" (Hat tip to Nish.)]
Thanks to beatnikside, I just stumbled across a delightful video which combines two very delightful things: roller skating and Flight of the Conchords! If you're unacquainted with either one, I highly recommend both. :-)
Looks like it's that time of year again: Rat City held their mid-season tryouts this past weekend, and PFM rocked all rounds of the tryouts, ending up with nine members recruited onto Rat City:
I got a bee in my bonnet today to play around with Google Gadgets and Charts. The charts in Analytics are so beautiful that I wanted to play with sometihng similar on my own, so I decided to add a gadget to my iGoogle page showing my lap times from skate practice. Every month our coach times us skating 1 lap and 3 laps, so what better way to track my improvement than to throw it into a graph, right?
A word to the wise: although you'd think that gadgets would be an easy way to get started with Google Charts (whose Developer Guide is pages long and details dozens of URL parameters), I actually couldn't figure out how to make them work. The line graph gadget requires a field labeled "Data source URL", which means you need to encode the data you want to display using one of Google Charts' data encoding formats, which is non-trivial (especially for someone expecting the plug-and-play simplicity of most gadgets), and the gadget comes with no instructions whatsoever (do I need a full Charts URL? Just the data parameter? Can I add in additional chart parameters?). I spent long enough researching data encodings and chart URL parameters that I figured I might as well create my own charts from scratch rather than using the gadget.
Here's what I ended up with:
The left axis shows my 3-lap times, the right axis my 1-lap times. I was actually surprised by how closely the curves match each other. I only have 2 months of data (I missed January), so I'm looking forward to a few more months' worth to see how the charts grow over time.
Rat City held their annual tryouts this past weekend, and a bunch of my fellow skaters rocked the rink. Big shout-outs to these former PFMs and Rat City's newest fresh meat:
Just got back from Derby of the Dead: a doubleheader of Black vs. Blue (two mashup teams of Jet City rollergirls), and an invitational match between the Sacred City Derby Girls and Jet City's new travel team, the Jet City Bombers.
The Black vs. Blue bout was pretty evenly matched, and some decent derby. But the real action was in the invitational. Sacred City is all but undefeated (I heard they've only lost once—to Rat City), and this was the Bombers' first bout as a team, so perhaps a defeat was to be expected. But the match ended with nearly a hundred-point spread (ouch).
Sacred City pulled ahead right at the beginning; they had a few star blockers and some solid jammers. But I think what really won the game for them was their defensive coordination combined with Jet City's inability to learn from their mistakes. SCDG were great at controlling the front of the pack, so that every time their jammer made it halfway through the pack she had nothing but her own girls ahead, and they could just whip her through; whereas the Jet City jammers were constantly getting stuck behind a wall of two or three Sacred City blockers at the front of the pack, and the rest of their blockers hardly ever stepped up to try to break that wall or help their jammer through. On the few jams that they did make an effort to match Sacred City at the front of the pack, they did much better as a team, and held the score even for a few jams before falling to the back of the pack again (and sliding back down the scoreboard).
Sierra Fist did some really awesome jamming for Jet City, but unfortunately her best jam got discounted (the time got put back on the clock and the points taken off) because it was decided that Sacred City's jammer had been incorrectly sent to the penalty box, where she'd spent most of that jam. And Ta Ta Tina (who used to skate with my squad!) was getting in some really solid blocks [edit: apparently I'm an idiot; she was skating for the Blue team at this bout, not the Bombers; but she was still rockin']. But as a team JCRG's coordination and strategy just wasn't enough. They also weren't using the lead jammer position as strategically as they could have: every time a Jet City jammer broke out ahead of Sacred City's jammer, she'd just keep skating (probably trying to make up the point difference), but that usually just gave Sacred City a chance to catch up and match the points Jet City had just scored. Hopefully JCRG will be able to analyze this game after the fact and get some good takeaways and strategy from it.
One thing I didn't like was that Sacred City seemed to have a bit of an attitude. Perhaps the standards for bout behavior are different in California than up here; but it seemed like their team was constantly arguing with and yelling at the refs, questioning every call, and their skaters were swearing and giving the finger when they were called out. I totally get that derby is an aggressive sport, but some of it seemed in bad taste to me (especially for a team that was so obviously winning). They even had some fans and statskeepers in the bleachers next to me who were laughing at and mocking the Jet City skaters. Sure, some friendly trash-talking is all part of the bargain, but making fun of people for falling? or for what they're wearing? I thought derby fans were better than that.
My final gripe was that the score whore this evening was pretty disappointing. She wasn't even on skates (!), and she looked completely disinterested in what was going on. She could've been walking on a treadmill instead of around a derby track, for all it registered on her face.
To end on a positive (if not entirely derby-related) note, check out this most excellent skating video I just came across. I think this beats even the Google ball pit:
When I get out of roller derby practice I tend to drive a little crazy. After two hours of racing, cutting other people off, and taking the corners as tight as you can, it's hard to get in a car and immediately turn all of that off. I'm usually still panting and full of adrenaline for the first part of my drive home. The funny part is, I've asked several girls in my squad and they all admitted to the same tendency. I'm not trying to make excuses, I'm just saying... this may give some context to any bizarre driving experiences you've had late at night near a roller rink.
Our rink is a ~40 min. drive from my house, so I spend > 2.5 hours/week on the road. When I don't have someone on the phone to chat with, it's quite nice to have that time to myself, just to listen to music or be quiet and think. I spent more of my youth than I care to remember road-tripping, so I find being on the highway pretty relaxing (as long as I don't slip into "Must race... must kill" mode). Sometimes I'm eager to go to practice, and sometimes I have to force myself out the door (in anticipation of the pain), but the drive is always a nice buffer to be by myself and get in the mood for skating.
On my way home from the last practice I was thinking about friends. Y'know how different friends are good for different things—maybe one's a great listener, another one is completely unreliable but really good for going out dancing? I love some of my friends because I can completely be myself around them—even if that means I'm angry or lazy or just plain uninteresting for awhile. But I also appreciate having friends who make me want to not be who I am: who make me want to be more than what I am, who inspire me to change myself for the better and to push the limits of how I see myself.
My derby girls are that kind of friend. I don't take easily to athleticism, but after a practice with them you could almost talk me into signing up for boot camp. They make me push myself way past my comfort zone, make me yearn to be strong and skilled and full of endurance. I don't always live up to the skater I want to be, but I love knowing a group of girls who constantly remind me of how I need to work to get there.
This weekend the eight best roller derby leagues in the nation have sent their all-stars down to Austin, TX for the 2007 WFTDA championship tournament. The contenders:
It's a big tournament for Rat City because Texas was the league that revived roller derby in the 00's, so they've been the dominant league for awhile (they've been skating and scheming for the longest), and they beat Rat City at the Bumberbout last year (on our home turf); but Rat City beat them in the 2007 Dust Devil regional tournament (earning the title 'Best of the West'), and again when Texas' Honky Tonk Heartbreakers played an invitational against our Derby Liberation Front here in Seattle in May. So Rat City has been showing strong and earning their reputation as one of the toughest, fastest leagues in the nation. Now the 2007 Nationals are on Texas' home turf, so we've all been biting our nails wondering what the outcome will be. Several girls from my skating squad have been texting us play-by-plays and news from rinkside.
I'm pleased to announce that, as of a few hours ago, Rat City beat Texas in a neck-and-neck bout, 89 to 79!!! Go Seattle! Lead Jammer has been live-blogging the bouts at Nationals and has a great play-by-play of the RCRG-TXRD bout here (click 'Archive' > 'Bout 6'). Sounds like it was an amazing game, especially since Texas was up by 11 points at halftime. If anyone finds video footage online, please let me know!
These days, every time I sit down to write all I can think about is roller derby. I just got back from one of those practices where I really feel like I'm improving; the kind that keep me craving more (as opposed to the practices where I feel like I'm plateauing and my endurance is nil). I still can't believe I've found a way to exercise that I actually enjoy! My form felt good tonight, my endurance was up; now I just have to figure out how to stop getting foot cramps!! (grrrr)
Tonight we had to do push-ups until I literally couldn't lift myself off the ground anymore (I don't think I'm gonna be able to raise my arms above my head tomorrow). Thumper started singing a call-and-response song while we were doing it and it totally made my night. We also timed each skater doing 1 lap around the rink; my time was 14.8 seconds (thank you, freshly-cleaned bearings). Here's to being able to beat that a month from now.
Rat City Rollergirls tryouts are in 9 days. I'm so curious to see what they're going to be like, and who's going to get picked. I hope all the PFM can be supportive of each other and happy for whichever ones of us make it, rather than catty and jealous. We're planning to go out for drinks afterward to celebrate the new Fresh Meat. Cross your fingers for me...
Warning: Some of the pictures linked below are pretty gross, so if you click at work or in front of your toddlers, don't say I didn't warn you.
I think most rollergirls are kind of perversely proud of the myriad injuries they get from this crazy sport. Not that we seek them out... but you'll find an Injury Gallery on almost every roller derby team website. I was tickled pink when I got my first fishnet-patterned rink rash the other week (though it wasn't dramatic enough to warrant a photo, so you'll have to look at the Rat City Rollergirls' butts instead).
This week I'm trying to figure out what to do about bloody knuckles. In roller derby, you have to learn to fall with your fingers tucked in, because if they're splayed out there's a pretty good likelihood that someone will roll over them (I even know a girl who rolled over her own fingers... don't ask). But fingers-tucked-in means I'm catching myself with my knuckles instead, which don't have a lot of padding to absorb the force of my fall. I was just recovering from some nice bloody knuckles after biting it on the gravel trail a few weeks ago; and then this Sunday I took some hard hits during our scrimmage in the morning, and now I've got three knuckles that are turning brown and various degrees of sore (betcha didn't know that a hand bruise looks more brown than blue, eh?).
So has anyone ever heard of knuckle-padding solutions? I asked the internet, but the best it had to offer me (aside from the fact that knuckle pads is a medical condition) was motorcycle gloves. And I'm not sure how well those would work with my wrist guards (aside from looking totally ridiculous). Suggestions, anyone?
Occasionally—on an off-practice night—I go to the local skating rink for a change of pace. It's a very different scene from a roller derby practice: most of the skaters are dance skaters (skate dancers?), so they're all jamming and swizzling erratically all over the place. Not that they're out of control (far from it); it's just that I'm used to skating around a huge rink with only ~10 other girls on it, all of which are skating more or less straight ahead; whereas at Skate King there are dozens of people on a small rink, and they're all swooping in and out of each other and twirling around and stuff. It's unnerving at first, but one girl pointed out to me that it's actually really good practice in balance and control. If you can learn to stop on a dime or swerve quickly to avoid running into the dancers, it'll help you when you're in a derby pack (swerving to avoid people who fall in front of you).
The thing that I find most interesting about Skate King is the people who skate there. More specifically, that there is absolutely no way to categorize them (or to describe the "average skater"). These are people who you'd never imagine seeing together in one place: the clean-cut skate dancer pirouetting in her flouncy skirt; the white trash girls in their tight jeans and hoop earrings; the guy who looks like my grandpa (big coke-bottle lenses, baseball cap, hands in his pockets); the ghetto guys with their oversized jerseys and sagging pants; the autistic boy who talks to no one but skates like a lightning bolt; the super-queer dancer showing off his perfectly sculpted thighs in Lycra; the fast-talking guys showing off their moves to the high school girlies. It's like a casting call for a giant diversity poster, only everyone's made the cut. And they're all perfectly happy skating together, exchanging words as they pass each other, racing each other for a lap or line-dancing together in the middle of the rink.
Who'd've though that roller skating—something most of my contemporaries seem to view as an elementary school fad—could be such a great equalizer?
Last night—on his birthday, no less—I dragged Nick out to his second-ever roller derby bout: Rat City Rollergirls, Season 3, Bout 3.
It was one helluva show. This season the league is trying something new: instead of having their four teams play each other at every bout (there are two games per event, A vs. B and C vs. D), they're inviting a visiting team to each bout; so you'll see two Rat City teams play each other, and then a third Rat City team playing the visiting team. At Bout 2 the visiting team was the Muñecas Muertas of Duke City Derby (Albuquerque, NM). They were good, but it was pretty clear from the beginning of the game that the Sockit Wenches were going to slowly crush them (which they eventually did).
Last night's visitors were the Bay Area Derby Girls' travel team. And they were good. They had a couple amazing jammers and really, really solid defense. The game was pretty close all the way through, but in the end they beat Grave Danger (I can't remember the score... I should start writing these down if I'm gonna blog them). I think the final point spread was < 10, which makes for a great edge-of-your-seat game all the way through.
The other game was between the Sockit Wenches and the DLF. DLF completely clobbered the Sockit Wenches; they pulled out ahead early in the first half and just kept growing their lead for the rest of the game. They won by almost 100 points. Along with some sexy jamming and all-around good skating, they pulled—twice—the most amazing thing I've ever seen on skates: a leg whip.
For those of you not in the know, a "whip" (or an "assist") is when one skater reaches out for another skater behind her and then pulls/propels that skater in front of her. It's a great way to help your jammer get some extra speed or shoot ahead of an enemy blocker. Not a terribly difficult move, but it does take some balance to stay on your feet and keep skating while whipping someone ahead of you.
But now, imagine doing that with your leg instead of with your hand. I had never even heard of this until I saw it last night... Check out the clip below (pilfered from Frenzy Lohan), or watch this video of it from last year's Bumberbout to see it in context (the leg whip happens ~45 seconds in).
This morning PFM (the squad I skate with) was lucky enough to get to share some rink time with the Rat City boys who are preparing for the Boy Bout (May 6 @ Bellevue Skate King) and some B.A.D.Girls who came out to scrimmage with us. Almost everyone was hung over from last night's post-bout after-party, but we got some hard skating in and had a good time. I've gotta say, there's nothing like skating w/ real rollergirls to teach you how much you've still got to learn about derby...
Wow, I didn't really believe people when they said it was a lot of work to organize a wedding, but... well... it's a lot of work!
Kathy came to visit for 4 days this past week, I took Friday off, and we hauled ass around the East Side getting some wedding ducks in a row. Most importantly, we picked out my wedding dress (I don't know how I would have done it on my own, it's definitely helpful to have someone there with you, if only to strap you into the darn things! I don't think I tried on a single dress that I could have gotten into by myself). For the record, I highly recommend Knar's Bridal and Amanda's Bridal Boutique to anyone in the area looking for a reasonably-priced dress.
We also settled on wedding colors, ordered the flowers, contracted the DJ and the photographer (who sounds really cool, by the way; she's going to come out to photograph my roller derby squad sometime soon!), and planned out most of the ceremony and the music. Now Nick and I just have to decide on the cake (mmmmm, cake...) and write some vows, and we'll be done with the big stuff, I think. Oh yeah, and set up a registry. And get him a tux. Then we can get on to the little stuff. :-) Organizing this hullabaloo is like being an admin all over again! But I think it's going to be an awesome party... (I know I'm looking forward to it!)
Other action-packed weekend events included yoga class on Friday, a Rat City roller derby bout on Saturday (Best in the West, baby!), derby practice on Sunday evening, and me driving to and from the airport (~30 miles) 6 times (yuck).
Stay low on the corners At roller derby practice the coaches (and the other skaters) are always telling me to bend my knees and skate low to the ground. Conceptually I get it—low center of gravity, less likely to fall, less distance to fall, these are all good things—but yesterday it really hit home when I was racing some other girls and started taking the corners super-crouched down. Man, it makes you zoom!
Even a mouthguard can give you blisters These frickin' mouthguards are huge. They fill places in my mouth I didn't even know I had. Maybe if I knocked a few teeth out first I'd have more room to fit the mouthguard in...
How to launch a successful blog Have (lots of) good content that you're passionate about; get involved in your blogging community; syndicate with RSS feeds. I guess it sounds obvious when someone spells it all out, but, well, I found it interesting (as I ponder the hypothetical launch of my own professional blog at some point... maybe).
Googlers are (awesome) geeks I think we all suspected this one already, but it was totally confirmed today in one of my meetings. One of my teams uses this ad hoc spreadsheet to track the amount of development and QA work needed for certain tasks, e.g. "'implement service X' requires 5 units of dev time and 2 units of QA time to be completed". We were updating these numbers today in our meeting and this one new guy said "Yeah, I'm halfway done with this task, so bump me down from an 8 to a 4" and everyone else sort of hesitated, and one guy said, "Actually, you can't have a 4, you have to choose a 5 or a 3. Somehow it's become convention that you're only allowed to use numbers that are in the Fibonacci sequence." And indeed, as I looked over the 100+ cells in the spreadsheet, they were all filled with either 0, 1, 2, 3, 5 or 8. Weirdos!
Running in the morning can actually feel good Okay, so we didn't actually run today, we brisk walked. But we woke up at 6:30a to do it. And it felt good. Which for us is a big step in the right direction!
To quote a fellow Wisconsinite: All opinions expressed on this, our personal blog, are well-reasoned and insightful. Needless to say, they are not those of our employers. (...Whose opinions may also be well-reasoned and insightful; but, well, you know how it is.)
