tingilinde

status of a friend

Sarah Pavan and teammate Melissa Humana-Paredes are doing very well in pool play.  They took both their first match against the Netherlands  and their second against Germany in straight sets.  If you're interested and have an NBC feed (cable tv, YouTube, or...) here's a link to the German match.  It was only 90°F with high humidity.  The earlier match was under more severe conditions.

Sarah is blocking here.  Her blocking is "best in the world" class.

 

 

 

my team

A friend is in Tokyo representing Canada in beach volleyball.  The team was doing extremely well before covid hit and have been in the process of regrouping   CBC conducted an interview a few days ago.  (Sarah's the one I know.. )

 

The Olympics are a mess.  I have a lot of respect for the athletes who are dealing with it.

beach volleyball in the mountains

Gstaad, Switzerland is one of the favorite stops on the professional beach volleyball tour.  It's also the last of only a few (thanks to Covid) tournaments before the Olympics and a time for tuning up.  I''m a fan of the Canadian team of Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes (Sarah is a friend and one cheers for their friends).  They're the current world champions, but only took bronze here in a very competitive field.   The video starts at the eight minute mark.  The first few minutes give a brief tour of Gstaad and a sense of what a beach volleyball court in the Swiss Alps is like.  The teams traded defeating each other for the first two sets.  The deciding set was very tightly fought and starts at about the fifty minute mark.  Both teams will be playing in the Olympics in a few weeks.

Here's the link to the video - it won't embed.

A feature of Gstaad is the trophy.  The medal trophies are real cow bells complete with collar. 

 

 

getting ready for the last tune-up

A Canadian team gets ready for the Olympics (Sarah Pavan is a friend and one boasts about friends)

working towards the olympics

CBC Sports dropped the first of four short pieces on Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes' path to the Olympics in a pandemic year. The first one just dropped (disclaimer: Sarah is a friend)

 

lillian

The Computer History Museum honors an old friend. 

snip

...

Schwartz’s experimental films of the early 1970s, some commissioned by AT&T itself, and incorporating computer-generated sequences, quickly won worldwide attention and invitations to exhibitions. For the computer-generated sequences, which Schwartz reworked for color and other effects, she was supported by Bell Labs computer graphics researcher, Ken Knowlton. These films remain important milestones, attracting recent historical scholarship and exhibition.

Schwartz’s artistic practice took her into video—incorporating analog and digital effects—and to using graphical workstations for animation, special effects, digital shorts, art analysis, and virtual reality.

...

a tip of the hat to Bjarne

 

when the whole is greater than the sum of the parts

Two outstanding but very different athletes come together to make a powerful team.  That's important in beach volleyball where two players have to manage their side of the court without substitutions.  The two positions require different skill sets.

 

 

 

happy birthday bjarne!

 

 

Happy Birthday Bjarne!

 

anything you eat doesn't count today, so eat well!

 

 

 

if you have a ball and a wall..

Sarah offers some volleyball setting drills, but it might be a way to burn off steam if you have a ball and a wall.

 

happy birthday sukie!!

 

Happy Birthday Sukie!!!

 

I'm so lucky you agreed to marry me and even the ferrets agree!