Went to a crowded daytime session today. The ice was kind of hard, which was a really bad combination with my skates which have gotten dull and needed sharpening a week or two ago. After about an hour of losing edges and doing really lousy spins, I got off the ice, dug my sharpening stone out of my bag, and sharpened the blades the best I could right then and there. Got back on the ice and it was like night and day. Suddenly could spin again - so easy! Edges were much, much better. It wasn't quite like a fresh professional sharpening, but it was quite tolerable. Felt good to be back on the ice. Can't wait until Monday when I get to go back to the regular rink.

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

OMG! That's sooooo funny!

I did that once-and he told me to get out of the driver's seat! He ended driving home.... I didn't challenge him again, but when he gets really bad with his nagging, I just turn the radio up (I can claim bad hearing most of the time anywho!)

He brings up my accidents....but I was hit by other people!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Perfect Gift:
Well, I took the day off from skating (I usually practice on Saturdays) and went to the holiday/winter show at one of the rinks where I skate. The theme was "Road to Excellence" and the skaters performed to numbers that had been used in previous Olympics. The kids were adorable and it was fun to watch - although it was freezing! My mom (who came with me) joked that the experience was preparing us for Nats in St. Louis in a few weeks; I reminded her that arenas have heat!

Store Return:
Literally - I got my Klingbeils yesterday (which was very fast, considering I'd only gone for a fitting 2 weeks ago) but there are problems. For starters, they made the heel too high - they measured the heels of my current skates (SP Teri) and said they would make the new ones the same height (1 3/4 ", although the SP Teris are actually 1 5/8 ") but the new heels are just about 2". I assume it'll be easy for them to shave off 1/4" or so, but then there's the larger problem: they're too big. I first thought it was both the length and the heel being too wide, but I think if there were less room in the toe area, my heel would probably stay put. I'm going to call them on Monday, and I hope they'll be at Nats so I can talk with them there, since I'm not up for another trip to NYC. I was really hoping to have the new skates broken in by NYI - grrr.

Adding to my frustration, my new dress arrived Thursday. I had ordered a custom dress from Del Arbour, based on a stock style but in a color they didn't offer in the stock version. To be sure of the sizing, I ordered the stock version of the dress before I ordered the custom, was satisfied that it fit, so I ordered my dress. Well, either I've gained weight over the past 3 weeks (which I don't think is likely b/c I really haven't been eating more than usual) or whoever cut the dress used slightly different dimensions b/c the dress feels a bit tight. I think it'll be OK (a larger size would be too big, I think) but the neckline is very uncomfortable. The dress has stretchy mesh fabric around the shoulder area and there is a piece of elastic that goes around the neckline (that goes from the collarbone area in the front to a V-line in back) - I had the dress on for 5 minutes and had red marks along my collarbone and shoulders.

I'm wondering if I could get them to change the elastic to make it less tight, or possibly get a dressmaker to fix it myself. Since I asked Del Arbour to make the sleeves a certain amount shorter than the standard sizing, the dress is non-returnable - I assumed after trying on the stock dress that the dress would fit. Maybe it's b/c the material is different - the stock is velvet, my dress is lycra. Grrr - why is it that nothing ever works out the way it's supposed to? Has anyone else had this problem with a dress? Any thoughts as to how I could make the neckline more bearable? I was thinking about getting someone to put stretch velvet in place of the elastic, but I have absolutely no design sense so I have no clue if it is even do-able.

Perfect Gift:
Showed up at freestyle today even though I had skated all week. Another adult skater, new to the area shows up as well! Turns out that I had met her a couple of years back at the New Years Invitational and she is also working on Bronze moves and had her first lesson today with my coach!!
Given that there are very few adult skaters in my area, this rocks!!

Store Return:
Looks like I'll be getting ready for Bronze Boot Camp here- as long as I pass my test when I do take it, it will be worth it!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Debbie, My Klingbeils felt the same when I got them. I found that I was not getting my heel all the way back into the pocket. Once I tapped it into place and snugged the laces over my instep/ankle area the fit was perfect. I also put a thin Dr Scholls insole in the front only to take up a little space in the toebox.

For the dress -- yes, the velvet generally feels more stretchy than the lycra & the lycra should be cut a bit larger. I've found this with FriedaB dresses too.

Oh, cool! I know her (YG), since she took lessons with my singles coach. I can attest that she is a hoot and a half!

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Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

Oh yes, I know who you mean. Gosh , it's been ages since I've seen her at the rink. So good to hear she is still skating!!

Call Del Arbour and explain the situation and the problem you are having with the dress-ask them to adjust it for you. There is no reason for it to fit like that (leaving red marks)! I would do that first. If they are unwilling to adjust it, then take it to a seamstress (but only as a last resort). It sounds like you can live with the snugness of the rest of the dress-can you move in it?

I have found dresses with mesh to be tighter than either stretch lycra or stretch velvet of which no mention is ever made when ordering these dresses! I have since stayed away from ready-made dresses with mesh!! (two bad experiences) I mean, come on, I don't have stick arms!!!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

NoVa, great to see you back on the boards!!!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

And wowie, T, I've not seen *you* in ages either!

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Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

I'm still around, Nova. Keeping very busy out at Waldorf & Ashburn. I WILL see you at New Years, yes???

Waldorf *AND* Ashburn? That's quite a spread!

No, I won't be skating at the NY's Invitational. But you might see me there as a volunteer.

ETA: I actually might be at Ashburn on Monday to get a lesson and to get my blades sharpened (the best sharpener I've ever used, who's at Ashburn Pro Shop, is back in town for a few weeks!). Perhaps I will see you there ...

__________________
Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

We (hubby, son and I) went to the rink's celebration last night and had a blast! They limited the crowd a bit more, but there were more kids (mostly behaved). Didn't care too much for some of the music, but I didn't bring my cd's so I can't complain too much. Hubby wore his new skating pants that I made for him-stretch black gabardine with silver piping down the side-very flashy and nice, fit him better than his other pants and not as big in the leg.

Food was good! All finger food (I wish they would serve some of it during regular rink time).

They turned the lights down and had the rope lighting turned on-made it really nice! They zammed the ice every hour!

Only had one near-hit when one kid (teenager) almost hit me when I was spinning-it was weird cause I saw him coming and I yelled at him to stay away! He veered off at the last minute . When I saw him later I asked him about it-he said he didn't know what I was doing!?!?! Kids!

So, right after midnight, all the kids skated down and did a huge slide on the ice, then made ice angels! Then, all the figure skaters did all their jumps and spins for good luck!

I finally went to bed at 2 (of course, got up a little after 8).

The only downer was finding out that the adult skate is officially defunct! So that means no skating on Sunday afternoons at all. That's ok though, as show rehearsals will start up in 2 weeks so that will make up the hour.

And, we found out that the ice dance class is officially on!!!! Yay! So we told the director (who was there last night) that we are on!

It was fun! If anyone has thought about doing something like this (who's rink doesn't have this celebration) it is good fun! It was $10 per person if you are a couple, $12 for singles, $7.50 for kids under 12 which includes the food and skates. We had also thought about renting a room in the AmericInn hotel across the street so we could go swimming/hot tubbing, but scratched that idea (we only live 8 miles away). They limited it to 125 people, which made it nice-not too crowded!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Happy New Year, everybody!

We went up to the Somerset House ice rink last night to see the New Year in. I'm very glad we went - it was an experience - but I'm not totally sure I would do it again. We had paid quite a lot of money for what was basically an hour's skating on a very small, very crowded public session (yeah, well, what did you expect), and because it was dark, you couldn't really tell you were in the open air. But it was fun, especially at first when all the people who hardly ever skate were clinging to the boards - once they got their confidence up, it wasn't so good, although Husband enjoyed dodging them. We skated together a bit, and one or two other friends were there, too.

The ticket fee included free champagne and free hot chocolate, both of which we made the most of, and after watching British champions Sinead and John Kerr do an exhibition (which was fantastic), we went out to the river to count in the New Year (fun!) and see the fireworks (disappointing). The blurb said you'd get a great view of the fireworks, but in fact you didn't really, the river bends too much. All the same, the atmosphere was great.

Although not as good inside Somerset House as the TV presenter would have liked people to think - she was like "It's really buzzing here, aren't we having a great time?" and people very kindly called out "Yes", (actually, we called out "No", because we're Like That!), but it wasn't really the sort of atmosphere she'd have liked - probably because that kind of atmosphere does tend to be fuelled by booze, and they weren't letting people in who weren't sober!

But trying to walk across the bridge afterwards was an experience! It was jam-packed solid with people, and took us a long time to get across. And even longer to drive home - because so many roads were closed, traffic really was gridlocked.

All the same, I'm glad I did it. But another year, I think I'll stay home and watch it on television....

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Nope, my heel was definitely all the way back. Actually, I was supposed to have heel huggers put in and there is no mention on the work order that came with the boots that it was done. If not, that might explain the heel movement. The idea of putting something in the boots to take up space is a good one, but I would worry about it causing the width in the ball area to feel smaller. My last 2 skates were too narrow across the ball, so I now have some bunions (or the beginnings of them) - yuk! One of the reasons I went for customs was to try to get rid of them by having skates with the proper width. I'm calling Klingbeil tomorrow (or Tuesday, if they're not there) - whatever needs to be done, they're going to do it since it's their mistake.

Happy New Year everyone

Annabel I watched Somerset House on the telly last night and tried very hard to find you, I thought maybe you may have had your red covers on, but no I couldnt see you, I was obviously looking at the wrong time because all I could see was wobblies and you certainly don't come in that category.

I agree, Sinead and John were fabulous, I bet they were freezing before they got going.

Cheers
Grace

How is the freestyle schedule at Waldorf these days? I looked at their schedule last summer (in the hopes of combining a trip for sharpening with a freestyle session after), but there were not many sessions yet offered.

__________________
Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
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I was at a public skate the other day (the first 1/2 hr to hour is deserted enough to get some practice in). A woman got on the ice in rental skates, could barely stroke around, and was carrying her baby in her arms. Another skater I know immediately got off the ice to summon rink staff to ask the woman to not carry her baby on the ice.

This woman didn't even think for a moment of the disaster that could have happened if she had fallen and dropped her baby or worse, if she had fallen and landed on top of her baby.

(Skate@Delaware, sorry to hear about the loss of your adult session.)

__________________
Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

Still only 2 or 3 FS per week, but there are many light public sessions if you time it right. What time of day would you need?

Dumbass question, but are you sure you received the right shipment of boots?

MORE Store Returns:


Looks like the "Christmas Crud... eh Flu" is powerful stuff, man! Hit just about everybody on my husband's side of the family.

I was going to finally meet FrankR this afternoon and we were confirming a time.... NO GO!!! FrankR's got the Christmas Crud too!!! (Get well soon, dude!!! I still want to meet you but I understand if you have plans and stuff.) Hopefully it won't hit the Moves Guru too. (Edward, if you are reading this, PLEASE be careful!)

The last time I went skating was at least Tuesday's lesson with the coach at Chelsea Piers (also on the same day I skated at Prospect Park with dbny and had dim sum with her and her DD's and a friend too!) Was pretty depressed thru out the weekend not only trying to recover from my own Crud, but seems hubby is having a harder time getting over this bug and I had to take care of him too. Hubby suggests that since I'm leaving Tuesday afternoon that I try to sneak in an early morning session with the Chelsea Piers coach instead to cheer me up. (Hubby knows when I don't skate for long period of time that I get majorly grouchy and depressed.)

So I went and called up that coach up and politely asked for another lesson. He tentatively penciled me in for a time Tuesday morning and said that he might not make it on Tuesday but he will try to be there. Why "tentative?" Yup! You guessed it! He's got the same crud too!!! That explains the extra deep voice when he answered the phone too. (Awwww!!! Poor thing... And for all I know, I probably gave it to him too b/c I started getting sick around the last lesson too, though he assures me that he probably got it thru one of the kids too. But I still feel bad. ) I'll know tomorrow night whether or not I'll see him Tuesday morning. I do hope that he'll pull through though. I want to leave NYC and this year's Christmas trip on a very good note!

So hurry up and get well, Coach!!!! Taking a lesson with you Tuesday morning would be my perfect gift!!!

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Boy, people are stupid!

Thanks, Mika! I'll be able to make up for the loss of skating time--spring show is coming up, so rehearsals are starting in another week or so......I've already been told my part!

The director thought I'd be upset, but the part fits me to a "T"!! We are doing "Wizard of Oz" and I get to play Miss Gulch! Mean and nasty!!! How did she know?? I'm a little worried about the bicycle part, they are serious about bringing one onto the ice! My husband said he is glad my insurance is paid up!

I've also told her since I'm competing this season, I'm no-go on costumes. That will save me tons of time (I don't make any money on them-only do them at cost).

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Debbie, when I got my Klingbeils last summer they were too big when they arrived. I called the next day, explained the problem, and sent them back with a note in the box explaining it again. They fixed the boots immediately and sent them back in just a couple of days. I had expected that they'd be too big initially, since I'd heard that it typically happens if you have narrow feet, which I do.

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Where are those knives when I need them?
----------------------------------
I need a detachable left foot!

Actually, probably not, as they warmed up in the boot-taking-off room. The way they do it, you put your boots _on_ in one area (and if you have your own skates, they look after your skate bag for you, which is brilliant!), and take them _off_ in another, so the two sets of skaters don't mix. And Sinead & John were warming up in there, and then when they came on to the ice to warm up, they were wearing jackets.

Our session finished before the broadcast started - but we were all noticeable. I had my multicoloured boot-covers on and a rainbow hat and scarf, Husband had his blade flashers (mine don't fit any more since I got new blades ) and AliceM had a bright pink party hat!

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Perfect Gift:
A co- worker needs for me to work Friday and be off on Saturday, which is a perfect gift because then I can skate the Saturday morning freestyle and go to the gym in the afternoon. With being off on Friday and a test session at the rink, to do both would have been impossible.

Store Return:
You can take the following back to the store and keep it- FOR GOOD!!!
When the Janauary freestyle schedule came out last week, it stated that there would be both morning (8:30-11:30) and afternoon (2:00-5:50) sessions available.Which was going to work because of today being my first day back at work.
Well I drove a extra 15 minutes (because of a accident on the interstate) in pouring rain to walk into the rink, find a public session on one surface and hockey on the other!! It also ticked me off that I had checked the rink's website yesterday to make sure that there would be afternoon freestyle ice and there was no schedule online!!
.
So, I plan on sending a e-mail to rink management, asking who made this decision and more importantly who was responsible to communicate the change to their customers. Especially since one session was cut short last week, thanks to hockey!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"