They fixed it!
Debbie - Claudia did a great job - it was a beautiful performance!

Yup, I am the proud owner of the pink vertically striped jeans! I love those jeans.

And yes...Kim dressed up as the streaker from Worlds, and I thought it was hilarious, but she was very under-appreciated! I think that since ABC cut most of it out of television, surprisingly few people actually saw the streaker. So Kim's Interp got a lot of blank stares.

Manleywoman - Congratulations!!!

Ah yes, Manley woman. Nice to meet you on and off board.

DCDEN, aka Dennis, likewise it was very very cool meeting you. I wish we had had more time to chat and get to know one another. There was just so much going on, people and events to see, places to go, stuff to figure out. I'm really so happy that you skated well. I didn't get to see you skate. Honestly, I didn't know what was going on half the time I just knew where I had to be when. Maybe at one of the smaller local competitions we can catch up. Now that I've beaten the nervous demons I'd like to try a few more competitions to see if it's still fun.

I did see the Schwabs. Tim and I really liked them and overall I was very impressed by both pairs events. Everyone had a couple of special "wow" elements that were totally their own and I loved watching.

Will you be doing any adult summer camps or clinics? If not, I'll be sure to look for you again even if it's here on the board. Great job!

Careygram

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Careygram

January: Sure I'll compete, quick, send the application
April: I signed up to do WHAT??

Sorry flo! I didn't know that's not your program. (I'm glad USFSA has fixed it too.)

I'm pretty sure though that this is PattyP though:
http://www.usfsa.org/event_related_d...nats/pics2.htm

WAAAH!!! I missed out on Charlie skating too!!!
http://www.usfsa.org/event_related_d...nats/pics3.htm

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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!!!

That's ok! Charlie's program was great. He's been at quite a few of the Adult Nationals, and really supportive of us.

John and Lorna were incredible at the exhibition!! She was a bartender/waitress at our hotel and so we talked with her some (and showed her the video) John flew in on Monday and they worked some on Tuesday and Wednesday but otherwise hadn't skated together in 14 years!! They were amazing, but I also really appreciate that they feel strongly enough about adult skating to come and do our exhibition like that!

Hugs!
Danielle

You mean Lorna is now working as a bartender/waitress? Nothing against bartending/waitressing as a profession, but it doesn't seem right somehow for a former National skating champion to now be waiting on people.

I remember seeing them one year at Dick Button's World Professional Championship in Landover, MD. They were an attractive and fun couple to watch.

Careygram, no prob on not seeing my event... there was so much going on that while I spent a lot of time at the rink, I still missed many events that I was hoping to see. There's no way to see it all, or even a good portion of it. You just have to pick your events and hope for the best; plus, everyone has to eat, rest/practice for their own events, catch up with folks in the hallways, go shopping for clothes or videos at the vendor strip, etc.

I don't know what competitions I'm going to do for next season yet. I am still thinking about what's going to be my game plan regarding training habits and what areas to work on.

On another note, did anyone get the $10 ($15?) program this year? This was the first year I didn't purchase a program. Any thoughts on how it compared to previous years' programs?

Yes that is what Lorna is doing. We had a bunch of construction workers staying at our hotel (another long story, but suffice it to say, some get up even earlier than skaters and try to wake up those that don't). Anyway, several of these workers went to the Arena and watched her skate and pooled their money and bought her flowers. They were also her loudest audience when we showed her video in the lounge.

Was the goodie bag great again this year? I love my backpack from 2000 (was that the year?). Way cool compared to Ann Arbor's.

This year's goodie bag gift was a black scarf with the AN 2004 logo embroidered on it. I love it!

I would say it's the most expensive piece of kindling I've ever purchased. I'll sedn you mine, if you really want it!

What a waste of $15.

Cool on the gift!!! :-)

Manleywoman:
As for the program..............we put a sponsor ad in (for a lot of money). Can you PM me to let me know what it was we paid for? The program last time I was there was great. Ann Arbor gives us a free program every year. This year.......nothing.

Michigansk8er

Awwwwww....what a nice thing to say about a witch! You make me blush. It was a great group, and I feel privileged to have been among them (finally!) A certain fellow competitor and I are going to find a bigger house to drop next time! Right....sk8er1964?


Interestingly, he said he is still joining our club. Then he said he would probaby still do the Peach and our Wyandotte comp. and other open's just not AN....so one never knows! But he did himself and others proud with his skate! Of course, the garments he "wore" did make him look "classy" somehow. Only, Jay!


I met Ted for the first time this year. What a guy to skate with a broken leg....and that warmup story and how he skated (or barely) to qualify from Pacifics takes the cake!

I'm totally exhausted but had a great time. It's always great to see old friends, but there never seems to be enough time. You say hello, hopefully watch some of your friends (old and new), try to skate decently yourself, and then it's time to say goodbye.

Hope everyone made it home safely and is unpacked and relaxing.

One more thing, Sk8er1964.....that is too cool that your dad threw you an Octopus. Only Michiganders!!!

You can have mine, too, if you want it. Last time I pre-purchase one.

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"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Hmmmm - there's some mansions going up about 2 miles from me (ones that could hold 6-7 of my house) -- think they're big enough? You skated great in champ gold! I also felt priviledged to skate in that group (and terrified....and nervous....and, well, you know ). I'm glad I didn't find out until later that we were televised ! OMG - I've never been televised at anything in my life!

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"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

So I take it there were no baby pictures or interesting quotes like last year's program. I'm sure the color pictures also increased the price; I wonder if the competitors would rather it just be black and white to save on costs.

On a related topic, I personally would not recommend the highlight video. What was Rod Stewart doing in that video???? Does he do a flying camel? I also thought the video was very much skewed towards the Bronze and Silver ladies. No offense, bronze and silver ladies, but we saw few clips of dance, pairs, or master level skaters. And hardly any men either!

When I was watching it, I thought they were going day-by-day (even though there was only one champ gold lady - I was assuming they'd put us in later). It seems like they taped the first few days, though, and that was it. I was also very shocked at the prices for taping the events. I didn't buy anything there, because I wasn't about to pay that much.

On a side note, I did enjoy the competitors party. The carnival games were silly, but fun .

Now, the threads are running together in my mind....someone asked somewhere if anyone else got visited by the underwear phantom. My stablemate, a silver III man, got underwear wrapped beach balls .

Also, I didn't realize PattyP was Miss Piggy - I thought that was one of the best perfromances in the exhibition!

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"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Well DCDEN, I'll just try to catch you when next you skate. Good luck with training and planning. My immediate plans are to SLEEP.

Anywho, luckily they let me peruse the program to see if I wanted to buy it. Needless to say, I didn't and I was also surprised to see that they had my profession and location completely WRONG. I do not work at St. Joseph's hospital in Lancaster, I was BORN there and I am a registered dietitian who works for Johnson and Johnson in New Jersey--I can see where they could confuse the two PLUS, there didn't seem to be much substance concerning the skaters themselves. Oh well, guess they can't get it right every time. Overall the volunteers were fantastic and helpful and totally understanding of nervous competitors. I went to check for my friend who was competing to see if her event was on time and I was kind of apologetic for bugging the monitors and they laughed and told me one competitor asked them that very same question--7--times. Glad they had a sense of humor.

Now, about that beer handed to us when we step off...........Maggie?

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Careygram

January: Sure I'll compete, quick, send the application
April: I signed up to do WHAT??

I watch the videos late last night when I got home and was quite disappointed in the quality after the amount of money they charged.

Thanks! Skating in the exhibition was the highlight of my week! What a treat that was. I will never forget it.

I was really tired by the time Silver II final round took place. Not an excuse for my mediocre performance, however. I just wish they had scheduled it earlier. I was really bummed I had to miss the Ch. Masters events. Oh well.

Overall, I had a really great week! It's going to take a few days to recover. Yesterday was a really long day after the 2 hour drive to Albany, the 2 hour flight to Chicago, the 2 hour delay in Chicago and then the 4 hour flight to Orange County. It was all worth it though! I can't wait until next year.

PattyP

ps. I'm all for the "beer when stepping of the ice" idea!

When Sk8ter1964 said she got an octopus, I thought it was for the Red Wings...

But just for the record, this true-blue Chicagoan (20 yrs as a Cub fan) would have loved an octopus! Go Red Wings!

Erin
who gets so teased by her hockey-playing, Blackhawk-fan cousins at family get togethers...I just say, "and who made it to the playoffs?

Did any of you see Davin Grindstaff's winning interpretive performance? I loved his Dorothy from Wizard of Oz last year, and the balloon number the year before. I'm curious as to what he came up with this year?

I forgot to add my thoughts on the "highlights" video. I saw NO pairs and only stuff from the first few days, barely any of the men's events and no Ch. gold stuff. Plus they showed a lot of the same people multiple times. Also, seeing Rod and Mick wasn't really what I was after. It was not worth what they were charging. Maybe I'm just being picky and truly I don't know just how difficult it is to put together a video like that. My preference would be to wait a little longer to have all events included and then maybe be able to view clips of it on-line to decide if I want to purchase (at less than $50 no matter how good it is).

Just my nickel (inflation you know)
Debbie

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Careygram

January: Sure I'll compete, quick, send the application
April: I signed up to do WHAT??

Hi,
I actually liked that the program was in color, and a change in format, although there were several mistakes.
I also thought the highlight video was far too expensive, also I didn't get to see it as they only played it once at the party! At the 10 year reception we watched the first Lake Placid video, and it was wonderful. The photos also had lots of missing feet and heads, but there were several to choose from.