El Twente gana su priemra Supercopa de Holanda

(Efe) Un gol del sueco Emir Bajrami, uno de los principales refuerzos, propició al Twente la victoria ante el Ajax y su primera Supercopa de Holanda, que añade al título de Liga conquista en el pasado curso.

El Ajax, con el español Oleguer Presas como titular, fue incapaz de neutralizar la ventaja adquirida por su rival y sobreponerse a la expulsión del delantero uruguayo Luis Suárez dos minutos antes del descanso.

El conjunto de Amsterdam, que entrena Martin Jol, desperdició una buena ocasión de igualar al PSV como el más laureado en la competición. Acumula siete Supercopas. Una menos que el conjunto de Eindhoven.

Para el Twente del belga Michel Preud'homme, que hereda la corona lograda el pasado año por el AZ Alkmaar, es el primer título de la competición.

Raúl Tamudo ficha por la Real Sociedad

(M) La Real Sociedad contará la próxima temporada con Raúl Tamudo en la delantera. El conjunto donostiarra se ha hecho con los servicios del veterano futbolista para una campaña con opción a otro más.

De esta forma, el ex espanyolista formará una interesante dupla atacante junto a Joseba Llorente, quienes asegurarán capacidad goleadora para el conjunto que entrena Martín Lasarte.

El punta catalán pasó reconocimiento médico con los Txuri Urdin este sábado tras aterrizar en la capital guipuzcoana.

Con todo esto, el conjunto que preside Jokin Aperribay afirmó en un comunicado que este domingo a mediodía será presentado el punta internacional en las instalaciones de Zubieta para viajar posteriormente al stage de Austria con el resto de sus compañeros.

Kettlebell Skills Workshop @ Central

I am excited to announce The kettlebell skill workshop! Kettlebells are mean and nasty and I love them!

The Kettlebell Skills Workshop is for kettlebell enthusiasts or new kettlebell practitioners and will be capped at only 20 students. 

Coaches Jeremy Thiel, Chris Hartwell and Randal Setzler will take participants through Complex movements such as Cleans, Snatches, Swings, Presses, and Jerks. They will also teach fun and challenging varied movements such as Turkish Get Up (TGU), Windmills, Dual kettlebell movements and hand to hand techniques. 

Saturday, August 7th from 8:30 to 11am at CrossFit Central 

Cost: $100.00. This workshop will exempt the participant from Kettlebell Elements if you join Crossfit Central Kettlebell Classes. $50.00 for current Crossfit Central Clients.

There is no joy in Mudville (well, maybe just a little)

Well, the ride is over for my son's Little League team.  They lost tonight and were eliminated from the state tournament.  It was sad, but they left with their heads held high as the third best team  in Northern California.  As we drove home, my son said, "I guess that's the end of Little League for me."  He's been playing since he was five, and I hadn't thought of this moment as the end of Little League.  It was such a bittersweet thing to stay, and it caught me off-guard.  We agreed this was a great way to end his career - third in the state and having gone farther than any other team in Half Moon Bay Little League history.  As we drove through the darkness, we reminisced about some of his favorite little league teams over the last ten years and counted up his accomplishments (two league championships; two All Star District Championships; one All Star Section Championship).  We remembered some of the great trips we've taken together and the time he hit a game winning RBI and was carried off the field when he was seven or eight.  After five days on the road and four baseball games, I think my favorite memory will be this - the two of us in the car, hurtling down Highway 80 on the way home, talking about this important chapter in his life. And hearing the happiness in his voice.  Happy because his life has included all these moments. And knowing that I helped make that happen.  And I felt joy, rather that sadness, because I thought, "This is my kid, and I love him so much."  Isn't that what being a parent is all about?

And then there were three . . .

There are three teams left in the Northern California Juniors Little League State Tournament, and my son's team (Half Moon Bay Little League) is one of them!  They won their game last night, 10-2.  Tonight, they play Hollister (the team they lost to in their first game).  Loser goes home; winner goes to the Championship game against Rocklin (and we would actually need to beat Rocklin twice to win the championship and advance to the Western Regional). We have one of our best pitchers available for tonight's game, and our bats seem to have woken up.  We plan to give Hollister a better game than last time.  Thanks again for all your good luck wishes!

But tonight was a different story . . .

My son's Juniors Little League baseball team won their game tonight, 15-1.  There are now only four teams left in the state tournament, and they are one of them.  They play tomorrow night at 5:00 p.m. Still loving the hipstamatic camera for night photos.  Thanks again for all your good-luck wishes!


To my art friends, I promise to return to real artwork after tournament play.  


In the meantime, let me add a little bit of the bigger picture to the baseball photos.  DS Henry and I are staying up in Sacramento about two and a half hours from home.  Many of his teammates are staying here, as well, and it's a lot of fun for them.  They spend time in the hotel pool, eating too much fast food, taking in a few movies and just hanging out.  I think he may remember that as much as anything else.  
One thing I'll remember is the last out of tonight's game.  We were very far ahead, and we just needed one more out to end the game.  Our coaches put in one the youngest players on the team to pitch the out.  He's a great kid and special to many of us in one very important way.  His dad was president of our local Little League for many years, and he passed away last year.  Far too early.  And when I saw Chet out there on the mound, I felt Dave's presence.  I could imagine him hanging out over by the outfield fence in right field, smoking a cigarette and watching the game.  And I knew he would have been so proud of his son.  And of all the boys.  Because he truly believed the game was for the kids.  But tonight, I felt like that out was for one very special man who we all miss.  That out was for you Dave.

La foto del día: El adiós de Raúl

"Amo el fútbol sobre casi todas las cosas y ser futbolista del Real Madrid es el mayor sueño que puedo imaginar. Me siento jugador y quiero seguir sintiéndome jugador hastra que mi cuerpo me lo permita", comenzó.

"En mi cabeza nunca ha existido la palabra rendición. Esto es para mí el Real Madrid. Hoy en un día de sentimientos poderosos y quiero dar las gracias a todos". Raúl se acordó de todos, desde los presidentes a los trabajadores del club, pasando por los rivales y la prensa, "con los que compartí las victorias y las derrotas".

"Espero que este año el Real Madrid consiga muchísimos títulos", añadió. "Y gracias a los millones de seguidores del equipo. Y especialmente al Santiago Bernabéu. Gracias a todos por todo y por tanto".

"El fútbol ha sido y es mi vida. Y el Real Madrid, mi casa. Hoy es el primer día de mi nueva vida, en la que intentaré la difícil tarea de ser tan feliz como en mi vida aquí. Gracias a todos y ¡hala Madrid!".

Crossfit OG's

Skip Chase, Doug Chapman, Dave Picardy

If you dont know this crew you should. Crossfit Affiliates are very young and these guys have been around for a long time in Crossfit History. Doug and Skip are huge influences on Crossfit Central and the creation of our affiliate. I highly recommend you visit their sites and see how they run their boxes.

I was able to run into them at the Crossfit Games in LA! Its always good to see old faces!

Not such a good night

Well, it was not such a good night at the ball park - from a baseball or photography standpoint.  Our boys lost and are now down in the loser's bracket - one more loss and we go home.  Also, after the sun went down, I really couldn't get very good pictures without too much blur.  It was good to experiment and research, though, and the real answer seems to be that I need a new lens. LOL!
On the up side, the hipstamatic iphone camera app took cool pix at night (like this one) and the loser bracket games are all at 5:00.  So, I should be able to use my regular bag of photo tricks.

Courage

"Here I stand, the future ahead of me the past behind me and only the present to engage. Desire, passion, hunger to be the best nothing more nothing less this is my test."

Last night I was able to relax and watch a movie Coco before Chanel (Trailer). During the part of the movie I mentioned how brave she was and Lisa T. said "she has nothing to lose". It took me back to a time when I lived that way. Oh how good it feels to be ALL IN. The movie was great and very inspiring!

What events in my life caused me to draw in and not live on the edge. Have you seen Rocky 3 Eye of the Tiger. To relate my life to movies I feel like I lost my eye of the tiger and I am going back to the old school to claim it.

I feel a hunger inside of me rising up bigger badder then before a ferocious lion that will not surrender. When I first started out on my life mission I was out to prove my self. This weak place of desperation is dead and gone. 

I am on a Ruthless and Relentless mission to take a stand for all people!

Albert Riera ficha por el Olympiacos

(M) El Olympiacos ha presentado al centrocampista español Albert Riera, procedente del Liverpool, como jugador del club griego para las cuatro próximas temporadas en las que espera "ganar títulos", después de haber pasado este viernes por la mañana las pertinentes pruebas médicas.

"Durante los últimos dos años en el Liverpool no he ganado ningún título y por eso tomé la decisión de venir al Olympiacos para ganar títulos. Ha querido venir a Olympiacos en todo momento y espero ayudar para que el equipo sea uno de los diez mejores de Europa", ha declarado el español durante su presentación.

El fichaje de Riera se ha cerrado en torno a los 5 millones de euros, más otros cuatro por objetivos, mientras que el jugador cobrará unos 2,7 millones por temporada. El Liverpool pagó al Espanyol 12 millones de euros hace dos temporadas por su traspaso.

El Manchester City ficha al serbio Alekxander Kolarov

(EP) El Manchester City ha confirmado el fichaje del lateral izquierdo del Lazio Alekxander Kolarov, en el que estaba interesado el Real Madrid y otros equipos de primer nivel europeo, que jugará las próximas cinco temporadas en el club inglés por unos 20 millones de euros aproximadamente.

El defensa serbio ha pasado el reconocimiento médico, pero de momento no se incorporará a la pretemporada de su nuevo equipo, que está de gira por Estados Unidos.

El entrenador del Manchester City, Roberto Mancini, declaró al confirmarse la noticia del fichaje que llevaba siguiendo al serbio desde hace varios años y destacó que tiene una capacidad de ataque es "muy buena", y que, además, "es rápido y tiene un disparo potente y colocado".

"Tiene la capacidad de jugar en varias posiciones y es muy bueno en el medio campo. Esto es beneficioso para el equipo", declaró Mancini a la web del conjunto inglés. Además, dijo que Kolarov "tiene una fantástica carrera internacional" y que estaba "deseando" trabajar con el serbio.

El lateral izquierdo, que militó en el Lazio desde 2007, se une a los fichajes de David Silva, Yaya Toure y Jerome Boateng por los que el Manchester City desembolsó 75 millones de libras.

I need tips for shooting night photos under lights

My son will be playing in a baseball tournament this weekend, as many of you already know (LOL!).  All the games are in the evening (8:00 pm starts) under the lights at a local college.  He hasn't played under the lights very often, and I would love to get some tips for how to take effective photos under lights at night.  These were taken in sports mode.  Now that I know more about photography, I'm open to taking photos in program, aperture priority or shutter priority mode; but shooting in manual is still beyond me.  So, within those parameters, what advice do you have?

Edited to add:  I did a little searching, and I'm thinking I should shoot in aperture priority mode and
*put my aperture as low as I can (to open the lens as much as possible)
*set my ISO as high as I can stand (say 400 or 800)
*check the different white balance settings to get the one that works best
and let the camera choose the shutter speed.
Does that sound right?

Promos de Locura!!!

Asi es, en Octattoo se nos safo un tornillo y tenemos promos de manera indefinida, la primera tiene que ver con los tatuajes y consiste en que puedes venir con nosotros y hacerte un tatuaje del tamaño y diseño que tu quieras (podemos hacer el diseño que tu quieras) y ese te lo cobramos de manera normal, y sin costo alguno te tatuamos otro de la mitad del tamaño del primero. Esto solo los lunes y martes.

Y la segunda promo es de perforaciones, todas las perforaciones básicas (ceja, labios, orejas, nariz, lengua) estan al 3x2, con pieza de acero quirúrgico. Esta promo todos los dias (Lunes a Sabado).

Asi que aca los esperamos, citas y consultas : octattostudio@gmail.com

04455-2972-6395

We're going to State!

Not much to say tonight, except that this boy's team won the Section 3 Championship game tonight for Juniors Little League! They start playing the state tournament on Saturday night in Sacramento, California.  I am so happy for them! And excited!

A big thank-you to all of you who sent good-luck wishes.  They were definitely appreciated and obviously paid off.

I'll try to load up my blog with some non-sports photos and art before I take off on Saturday.

Thanks again, and congratulations boys!

A Great Time to Quit

The 2010 Crossfit Games have come and gone and life is back to normal. Lindsay Smith got 12th place over all and Carey Kepler placed 16th Jen Cardella 26th and Jessica Sharratt came in 31st great showing from all the Central Athletes! Team Crossfit Central was 7th out of 66 teams from around the world Andy Lewis Alex Janss Web Smith Lisa Thiel Crystal Nelson Travis Holly.

I have attended all Crossfit Games as a participant up until this year. Year One 2007 I showed up and was not ready for what I was about to do. I got Rhabdo and could not straighten my arms for 7 days after the competition. My pull ups went to zero for 3 months. Year Two 2008 I was ready and trained up to meet the competition I remembered from the year before OPT, Speal, Josh Everett, AFT and others. I was able to step it up on the last workout and place 3rd over all. It was a great day for me but the following 6th months I faced a severe lack of desire to train and had a constant wet towel on me so it felt like. I figured I had adrenal fatigue syndrome but was never diagnosed. Year Three 2009 I had a great training partner with me Lance Cantu. In 2009 Crossfit HQ implemented regional qualifiers I was able to opt out do to finishing in the top 5. The 2009 Crossfit Games where the toughest event I had competed in in my entire life. We did 8 workouts in two days it was brutal. I made it into the final 16 and got injured on the last day. I was unable to do pull ups for 4 months after the Games.

Coming into the 2010 Crossfit Games I was very hesitant to pushing my self to unknown limits. The previous years had taken a toll on my mind and how far I could push my body. I believed that doing Crossfit to fast to hard could really take a toll on your body and system. I ended up finishing 21st in the competition almost to my delight I didnt think I could manage the wear and tear of another games.

In the last two months I have been able to come into great insight. I have learned a lot about my self and many beliefs about my abilities that were holding me back.

2011 is the best year for me to hang it up and throw in the towel and say my day has come and gone the Crossfit Games are no longer in my possibilities.

This is the day I live for the momentum has stopped the odds are stacked up against me. What will I do?

1. The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;	5
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,	10
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.	15
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.	20

In and Out of my photography comfort zone

Shimelle's last two prompts in "Love your pictures, love your pages" have been about finding your personal comfort zone in taking photographs  and then in stepping outside it.  I have thought (and blogged) a lot about photography and my style, so I won't bore you with all that again! But I did try to apply her lessons when I went to DS' sectional semifinal baseball game the other night and thought I'd share some of the results.  The picture above is safely within my comfort zone:  sports action photography.  I love this picture of DS Henry applying a tag.
I also tried to move around and take pictures from a few different angles.  I don't think this one worked very well:

But I did like this one, taken from the back, of the coach and baserunners watching a new pitcher warm up.  I turned it to sepia and liked that effect:

It may surprise you (or not) to learn that I have very limited computer knowledge about working with my photographs.  I don't have photoshop or photoshop elements or even any photo editing software, other than the free disk which came with my camera.  I think a goal for next year will be to start learning about that side of photography.  In the meantime, here's  one more "out of my zone" picture that I liked.  I turned it to black and white:

This is the huddle taking place when our starting pitcher left the game with one and a half innings left to play.  He had thrown a brilliant game (allowing just two hits), but the rules only allow the boys to throw a certain number of pitches, in order to protect them from injury.  In this picture, I imagine that the coach is telling Henry that, as short stop, it will be his responsibility to lead the defense and support the relief pitcher.  And Henry did.  Brilliantly as a matter of fact.  The boys won 8-2 and play in the championship game on Thursday night.  If they can win at least one of their next two games, they will qualify for the state tournament starting on Saturday in Sacramento.  They've never gotten that far before, and it would be a dream come true for many of them.  Keep sending those good luck vibes, and I'll let you know how it works out.

El Bere "OZOMBIE"-Fenix tattoo

Victor- Clave de Sol tattoo

El Bere "OZOMBIE"-Tatuaje Helado

El Bere "OZOMBIE"-Tatuaje Pentagrama

Hanibal Korpse-tribal

Hanibal Korpse- Tlaloc

El Inter de Milán ficha al defensa Andrea Ranocchia

(M) El Inter de Milán ha cerrado el fichaje del defensa Andrea Ranocchia, que firmará un contrato por las próximas cinco temporada, aunque la próxima campaña jugará en el Génova.

El zaguero, de 22 años, fichó por el cuadro genovés en 2008, pero las dos últimas temporadas estuvo cedido en el Bari, y ahora el equipo 'neroazzurro' lo ficha en co-propiedad.

El futbolista formó la temporada pasada una sólida pareja de centrales junto a Leonardo Bonucci, pero sufrió una lesión en la rodilla que acabó con sus opciones de acudir al Mundial de Sudáfrica.

"El defensa ha firmado un acuerdo por cinco años con el Inter, pero seguirá en el Génova durante la temporada 2010/11", señaló el club lombardo, que, al mismo tiempo cede al delantero Mattia Destro al equipo de Liguria.

Scrapbooking with Tim Holtz

This week's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge over at the Studio L3 blog is Multi-Medium Collage. Since I'm on a scrapbooking binge, I used the technique to make these embellishments for a snow play layout (you can click on the layout to see it larger):

I used the snowman and snowflakes from Tim's seasonal grungeboard package.  All the paper for the layout and the embellishments is from Club Scrap's Gratitude collection.  I had a bit of difficulty with the little pointy parts of the snowflakes, but I think they turned out okay.  Inking the edges was also key!  I also think patience is important to this technique and using thinner paper would have been easier.  All good lessons learned, and I'll definitely return to this technique again.
Thanks for the challenge Linda!

Scrapbook Tuesday

I got a lot of scrapbooking done on Saturday.  Most of the layouts are pretty routine, but I thought you might like to see this one, which used Shimelle's idea of a panoramic photo with embellished borders.  It's from the photo shoot I was asked to do for the local Little League program for kids with special needs.  You can read more about that photo shoot and see more pictures from it in this post.  And here's what the two page spread looks like:

All paper from Club Scrap's "Expressions" collection.
ETA:  Thanks for all the good luck wishes yesterday - they worked! The boys won 8-2, and they advance to the championship game (scheduled for Thursday night, I think).  If they win, then they go to the state tournament in Sacramento!  Even if they lose, they get to play again for the championship because it's a double-elimination tournament, and they don't have any losses yet. We'd love to keep getting those good luck vibes!

La foto del día: El "bañador" de Iniesta

Ahí está Andrés Iniesta disfrutando de sus más que merecidas vacaciones en Cerdeña, en compañía de su novia y con un "bañador" de lo más variopinto. Todo sea por coger un poquito de color...

El Liverpool ficha a Joe Cole

(Efe) El internacional inglés Joe Cole ha llegado a un acuerdo para las próximas cuatro temporadas con el Liverpool, según informó el club en su página web.

Su fichaje constituye la segunda incorporación en la actual pretemporada del club de Anfield, que iniciará una nueva etapa bajo la dirección técnica de Roy Hodgson, tras la contratación del serbio Milan Jovanovic.

Cole abandonó el Chelsea, último ganador de la Premier, al final de la pasada temporada al no llegar a acuerdo alguno con el club de Standford Bridge para la renovación de su contrato.

El jugador, que ganó con el Chelsea la Premier en tres ocasiones y la FA Cup en dos, será sometido a revisión médica en las próximas 48 horas.

El centrocampista inglés había estado negociando con otros equipos de la primera división inglesa, como el Arsenal o el Tottenham, con los que podría haber jugado la Liga de Campeones, pero finalmente ha optado por trasladarse al Liverpool de Roy Hodgson, con los que sólo podrá jugar la Liga Europa.

El internacional inglés Joe Cole se había convertido en uno de los objetivos principales del Liverpool, que habría llegado a ofrecerle un sueldo semanal de 110.000 euros, según informa el diario británico The Guardian.

Cat-ching Up

So, Shimelle had this wacky idea that we should put our cameras on the ground and use the earth or floor as a tripod.  While I was considering that idea, my cat JJ started rolling around begging to be photographed! I was really pleased with this portrait of her.  When I went downstairs to take some other ground-level photography, she followed and I took a few more nice portraits while I was laying on the ground, actually looking up at her:

I think the purpose of the assignment was to capture something interesting in the foreground (like the carpet in the picture above), but I also found it a good reminder to change levels and perspective when shooting pictures.  I hope to repeat this assignment outside - I'm thinking a baseball game would be an interesting place to do so.  I'll add those photos after I take them.


I thought this would be a good opportunity to catch up on some questions posed recently:
1.  What type of camera do you use?  I have a DSLR - Nikon D50. It's a fairly rare camera that Nikon only made for about a year.  The rumor is that someone had a brain fart at Nikon and actually let a camera design (the D50) into production that would accept other types of lenses, not just Nikon lenses. Nikon stopped making the D50 and replaced it with the ubiquitous D40.  I love my camera, but it is probably over half way through it lifespan, so I'm thinking about moving up to a D90 at Christmas.  Other suggestions welcome!  How do I know it's halfway through its lifetime?  Check out this database for more information.

2.  How can you make a bookmark out of plaster?  Well, the plaster I use are cloth strips infused with plaster. They're sold as Rigid Wrap by Activa here in the states.  They're used in paper mache and mask making, but they're similar to the wraps used to make medical casts.  I reconstitute the plaster by adding water, and I can make it more or less pliable depending upon the number of sheets I use together and how much water I use.  I first learned about plaster in a class I took with Judy Wise, and you can read more about my various plaster creations by clicking on the plaster tag on the left.


P.S. Anyone want to come and wash my windows? There's some pretty obvious nose prints on them!


*****************************
Meanwhile, I spent Saturday and Sunday watching DS Henry's Juniors All Star team compete in the Sectional Tournament.  They're currently 2-0 and play Monday night in the semi-final game.  The competition has been pretty tough; they've won both of their games by just one run, but they're hanging in there.  Even though Henry's not having his best tournament, it's a good team and they're moving forward.  Here's Henry on the mound:

Thoughts of good luck gratefully accepted!

Let's Talk Markers (Motherhood Art Journal Page)

I made this art journal page to capture some of the feelings about motherhood I mentioned in my post yesterday.  The journaling includes the quote from yesterday, as well as two others:
* “When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.” – Sophia Loren and
*“She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along.” Margaret Culkin Banning.  I found these and other great motherhood quotes at this website.

The Gingersnap Supply Challenge for this month is "markers."  When I first started scrapbooking, I bought about a dozen pigma thin point markers to use for journaling and doodling.  As I got into stamping, I bought another couple dozen brush markers (mostly zig and close to my heart) to make multi-colored stamped images and to color-in images.  Over time, I realized that I don't really like coloring things in.  It's just really not for me. So, I don't do it very often.  When I do, I tend to use a water brush and either twinkling H2O's or radiant pearls.  I love the look that people like Jacky achieve with markers on their cards, but I just don't have the patience for it.  So, I have steadfastly refused to invest in more markers or enter the world of "copic" markers, which seem to be the latest and greatest marker on the market. 
I did want to make a marker creation, though, so I thought I would try using markers for a background technique called "not-quite-white" that I love but find a bit tedious to do with paint.  The markers worked great!  The background technique is one favored by the impressionists and which I used in an art journal page I posted here.  You basically add small dashes of pastel paint onto a white background to make it not-quite-white.  I will definitely use markers instead of paints for this background in the future.  I also used markers to color my stamped images and to doodle around the edge.  All-in-all, I ended up really happy with this page and glad I broke out my markers.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on markers!

La foto del día: Las vacaciones de Piqué en Ibiza

La foto del día: La boda de Sneijder