New practice thread folks, titled in honour of my new part-time job

Glassy:The back edges REALLY came together today - just SMOKIN'! - strong, solid, FAST - both inside and outside. DAMN that felt good! Sure and comfortable to.

The Waltz jumps were also cookin' today - speed, height, and a good landing (most of the time) And the Waltz/Toe was getting better, though the Toe Loop part is still mostly rotated on the toe pick.

Rutted: Upright spins were luke warm - some were well centred and held together but others fell apart.

The ice for the 7 a.m. session is often CRAP! It is often littered with condensation mountains or rutted up from hockey. So last week I sent an email to the General Manager of the arena and volunteered to resurface the ice myself for the 7 a.m. session if they would check me out on the machine.

Glassy: Today I stopped for a chat with the GM and they are going to take me up on my offer! In a couple of weeks I will get training in operating the resurfacer and become a "part-time rink employee" (for liability reasons) so I can resurface the ice whenever it is needed for the 7 a.m. session - for which I will get paid - which will effectively make that day's ice FREE - DOUBLE BONUS!!! LOL!!!!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Congratulations! Don't know what you expect, but it takes about 16 hours to train a Zamboni driver. Shouldn't you get free ice all the time as an employee ?

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LOL! I am not going to push it - I will settle for GOOD ice I just hope they will let me take my time and make good figure skating ice (smooth!) and not be a Mario Andretti Zam driver!

16 hours is not a problem! Anything for good ice!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

There's a saying about this:

Question: How long does it take to cut the ice?
Answer: As long as it takes!

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Very cool! I've always wanted to drive the Zamboni

Glassy: My backspins were pretty nice yetserday and I did 10 loops in a row which was really cool. My sit-backsit is getting really good! The backsit is as low and centered as my foward one.

Rutted: I found out that with my IV antibiotics I might not be able to skate until I get it taken out which will be December or Januaryish. With any luck I'll still be able to do moves and maybe spins, but I definitely won't be able to attempt doubles. Eh. As long as I get better I guess it doesn't matter.

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Me too!!! VERY KEWL Rusty Blades!!! Congrats on your "new job."

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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!!!

Glassy: Peach Classic this weekend was awesome! I skated well, and am very pleased with my results. I also made several new friends.

Rutty: My rink won't be up and running for another couple of weeks, so I will continue to drive the extra distance to the alternate rink.

Glassy: At least I have a wonderful alternate rink to go to!!!!! Also, scratch spins were happening this morning!

Rutted:
My 5:50 am session started this morning, and I wasn't there
I emailed the person in charge of ice contracts about getting a credit. I hope she gets back to me soon.

Glassy:
Going to see the orthopedist this afternoon!
Also, not working today because of the leg, and got out of my second week of jury duty (although, I actually want to do jury duty since I just took the bar exam!).

Dream on, Jazzpants. I also volunteered to learn to drive the Zamboni and discovered that people of our height cannot see over the top to steer unless we stand the whole time. There are also sometimes other obstacles, such as heavy doors to open and close .

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LOL! I would rather SKATE than resurface but if I have to drive the Zam to get good ice, then so be it.

P.S. I am 5' 9" - taller than the regular Zam driver and can move ANYTHING with a good hip-check!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

We'll have to get you one of those T-shirts which says "When I grow up, I want to drive the Zamboni!"

As for me:

Rutted: I now have a job, so early-morning skates will be curtailed a bit. Coaches on holiday for 2 weeks, so no lessons, and no chance of rearranging my Wednesday lesson for a couple of weeks.

Glassy: Had a good practice session with Husband, but because it was so short, didn't feel like I'd done much!

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

I found a website where you can get lots of zamboni T-shirt type gear!

http://www.icesk8.com/access9.htm

But my favorite is this one - I bought it at the gift shop at the Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City but I guess you can get it online:

http://store.worldskatingmuseum.org/adultclothing.html

Enjoy - congrats on the job! Where I live, you would get free ice time with a job like that!!

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Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

I used to work at my rink in college and they gave one free freestyle per week and free public sessions all the time. At that time (almost 8 years ago) the public sessions weren't all that crowded, so it worked out well.

Short people drive the zam... they just stand up going around the corners mostly. I actually politely declined learning how to do that when I worked at the rink. At that time I had only been driving a car for about a year... and I was too scared of running into the walls with the zamboni!! I had visions of breaking straight through the wall, and not being able to stop and driving straight out the door and onto the sidewalk!

Like the guy put here who got charged by the police last year? He took the Zamboni out for a drive to the DRIVE-THROUGH! LOL!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Hmmm? Wouldn't sitting on top of a big telephone book help??? (And I don't mind standing myself, though I also have that same fear of running thru the doors as WeirFan06 has... even though I've been driving a car for, what, 20 years now? )

Can't say much for the heavy doors for the Zam though... haven't tried opening it myself...

If you had done that, I would have asked you to pick up some burgers and fries along the way too!

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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!!!

Hey don't forget the guy that was charged with a DUI while driving the zam. The charges were later dropped by the judge because the zam is not road drive-able (that was before the drive through incident)!!

glassy- turns out i have a really good broken leg spin! i was just messing around, giving it a try, and received several compliments! my flying camel was definitely on, i was getting such powerful back camels. decided to try some 2sal2toes, and they actually worked out!

rutted- eh double loops werent really workin for me. i only tried a few, but i was twisting in the air, and just decided to not work on em for the day. i was just really tired in general, so i didn't skate my best.

glutted (half glassy, half rutted)- butterflies. its great in the air, really, really big, and my legs kick super high, but i haven't learned how to focus the power into the landing yet lol. so all i get is an impressive looking, high flying fall. i should get one on video, i think it crack you guys up!

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Youtube Videos

Glassy I really really am enjoying my freestyle group lessons. Last night the main things we worked on were scratch spins and half-loops. The half loop is the first half jump where I didn't feel like it was a stupid jump. That might just be because I'm working on half flip split jumps, so for the first time in a half jump I'm willing to actually jump (unlike my half lutz step). Spins are getting a lot faster, as I'm able to cross my leg- but now with my leg crossed I'm not centering anymore I need to hold the entrance longer, but I don't know how to not start turning...

Also worked on edges and the group lesson coach wants to hold the back edges in a very knee bent leg position the entire time- for consecutive edges, this is opposite what my coach asked, but since my test is over, I think now I can work both ways just to try and get stronger edges. (He wanted bent on the push, but almost straight on the lobe)

Rutted My tuesday night practice session has been ruined. It used to be almost empty ice and they changed it to a 1 hour (was 2) $5 cheapskate- including rentals. AND the other hour of the session went to hockey. So the hockey parents have a meeting at 7 and their kids run a-muck on the ice, and it was SCARY. Because you have the little tots who just finished their LTS lesson toddling along trying to stand up, the figure skaters trying to practice (I got slammed into, while just kind of skating forward slowly, by a girl doing some sort of back crossover MITF who at no point ever looked over her shoulder- even after she hit me, she aplogized and went back to not looking- ah, to not have any sense of danger!), and then the hockey kids who are skating in absolutely no discernable pattern at all. Now- it's a public session, and we have no guards and no direction- so they have a "right" to do it- but at least with the toddlers you know where they are going (either straight across the rink, or around the wall) and the figure skaters you know where they are going (on pattern, in routine, etc), but the hockey skaters- I have no idea. So I gave up after 15 minutes and went home. I'll have to start practicing on Sundays again.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Glassy: The Zam driver actually showed up in time to do a flood for the 7 a.m. session! I wonder if that means I don't get trained as a Zamboni operator? I'd rather skate than flood so whatever it takes ....

Glassy: Upright spins and Waltz jump continue to progress and Waltz/Toe made miniscule progress. I am really getting comfortable with the Waltz jump and throwing that free leg into the air. I think I go into them faster than my coach is used to but they seem to work better with speed.

Rutted: Coach asked about Sit Spins - oops! Haven't been practicing those so we did them in lesson.

Glassy: I actually got a couple of them centred and HOLY SH*T do they ever accelerate when I get them "tucked in"!

Rutted: Back edges weren't as strong as yesterday.

Glassy: Sharing the ice with World Junior Dance contenders is a little intimidating but beautiful to watch! I want to grow up to skate like that!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

You're taller than one of the women who drives ours, and she manages just fine.

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

Rutted: Working on my spin entry today. OWWWW!!! It really is torture right now to get myself to turn my foot and my hip a certain way. But what I'm finding right now is that COMFORT level is one of the key component. I am just not comfortable turning out my foot on the spin entry so that I can go straight into the FO edge in a t-position.

The spin entry torture continues!

Glassy: Entries for Skate SF is starting to come in already. (At least that's what I've heard anyway.) If you guys are thinking of going to San Francisco first weekend of November, please consider doing this event! It might not be an "Adults Only" event, but I can tell 'ya that Adult events are HUGE here. (No, it's not just a few events where everyone in the same test level gets combined. It can be as large as Peach and Halloween Classic, in fact.)

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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!!!

Glassy: Got to the rink for 7:00 am! And was able to skate for nearly an hour. Did some lovely edges with Husband - and some awful ones.

Rutted: Which the ice was, rather. Back chassés in waltz hold - why do they always scrape? I was up on my toes like a ruddy ballerina again - yet absolutely fine when we did chassé swings, absolutely fine when we did plain swings and absolutely fine when we did plain vanilla edges. So what am I doing differently with the chassés? I don't know, and nor does Husband!

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

I haven't skated for a week - I skated from 5:45 to 6:45 then played ice monitor for an hour and then skated just a little more than a half hour.

Had a moves lesson in the third hour. Backward perimiters....gotta keep my back straight, head up. Make that inside edge more obvious...

crossovers to back edges....so coach says "well I'm glad to see you are thinking about keeping your head up but it's bobbing up and down - so if you can't keep it up all the time, at least try not to be so obvious about jerking it up. Hehehe...I get tired, start looking at the ice, then I remember "head up" and jerk it back up. Also I wasn't smooth, I'd be ...crossover, head up, then leg out, then arms would follow. By the end I had it all it one smooth move. Still could use some more power.

Rutted - do you know what is the hardest thing for me with these moves??? the entry!! I just can't do a smooth 3 turn and then I need to put in an extra push which if I'm not careful will put me over my seven steps.

Glassy Forward perimeter stroking - this is where power class is paying off...I was flying on these. Real deep inside edges, head up, straight back, so much power I was almost running into the wall on the end pattern. These should get me an extra point if I ever get around to testing.

j

Oooh, envy! I actually bailed on the 6am session this morning and got a refund because the ice hadn't been surfaced after the previous night's hockey. Made me entirely grumpy, although I did get to work an hour early and got caught up on my backlog.

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It's all about the dress!