Arthur Ashe on Tennis

Notes from the book:

Point your shoulder to the target for the double handed back hand. Fight th tendency to turn them paralel to the net before comppleting the stroke.

Timing on the serve - The strings should meet the ball, when the racquet head has maximum speed. Slow the swing at the start and let it accelerate naturally.

The not-so-fast serve does not have to be big disadvantge. Get control right. Get the opponent out of the court on your serve. Have him go for hard winners off your serve nad make mistakes.

Volleys -

Open racket face from start to finsh

Forward and down

Always hit with underspin

Sync breathing with hitting - Inhaling when getting ready, exhale audibly when hitting.

Squeeze racket to transfer opponent's power back into the shot

Half volley -

You are in trouble if you are having to play a half-volley.

Objective is to hit the ball deep and get into a better volleying position.

Bend the knees and have firm hands, and cover the ball and keep going forward. Use the racket as a wall not as a scoop.

The overhead

Get the racket behind you head early

Use the other hand to gauge the ball

Take skipping steps far enough so ball doesnt come behind you

Again get into hitting it at 1 o clock.

Keep your head high through the shot and follow through

The lob

If the opponent misses a lob, it is a good idea to lob again.

One tends to think too much about it and timing will be off.

This comes in streaks like the double fault.

The return of serve -

Most errors are made on the return of serve. Receivers try to do too much or are intimidated.

The first volley -

Good to put it cross court and deep - move forward into the side of the court that you hit it into and ou have a good open court to put it away on the second.

Hitting the ball on the rise

Refers to hitting the ball as it is rising, before it reaches its maximum bounce.

Short backswing.

Grip the racket tight.

Hood the racket over the ball (cover)

Follow through

St. Louis-Olathe-Kansas City-Manhattan

Movies, wine and dessert - a quiety weekend

This was a quiety weekend. 

With spring cleaning, one generally thinks of a house. For me though, it was my car - my car saw its first car wash in 5 months, relying on snow and rain since the dry deserts of the southwest.

With my own washer dryer, I was able to get two loads done. But this also meant, I am getting clothes out of the dryer only to wear them! Laziness finds a new high, or low however it makes more sense.

Getting a bottle of wine was quiet something though. Researching them took all morning, but priceless was the realisation on holding a 2007 wine that it wasn't the current year it was bottled in, and that the year now was 2009.

Most of it was the movies and I'm glad I love movies.

The Freedom Writers - An interesting movie with Hilary Swank in it. It about how an English teacher inspires a bunch of 'special' kids to get into literature/shool. What makes it interesting is that, its based on a true story. 

The Lucky Ones - Seeing Tim Robbins in the cast of a movie sets the expectations from the movie rather high and this one did live up. A mixed up and messed up story about 3 soldiers coming home for a month before returning to active duty. Isn't one of the spectacular ones, but is fairly grounded and makes for a decent watch.

The Cadillac Man - Robin Williams and Tim Robbins star in this comedy which of course is silly, but does have its moments.

Angels & Demons - I wasn't too sure about this one - I never did see the Da Vinci code. I read the book and thought it was pretty interesting, but that is where it sat for me. The concept/theme just didn't do much for me. I dragged my knee out to watch this one for lack of doing anything better. I remained disinterested for the most part and thought it got a little predictable, too predictable perhaps. I would not have missed this movie.

Sore knee, a sore thought

I have now been nursing a sore knee for a little over a week. A slight pain crops up when putting my weight on my right knee while bent, and that has kept me from doing the things I indulge myself with on a daily basis - tennis, cycling, running, rock climbing, swimming, racket ball and squash. Pain in not more than a square inch of my body has altered my lifestyle this week. All this is just a discomfort - I can walk about perfectly well and still do those things if I ignore the pain. This is still hard!

I was watching this show -think it was "I shouldn't be alive" on the Discovery - a wildlife ennthusiast spotting rhinos in an African desert crashed his plane, shattering his legs and his pelvis. His feet were swollen inside his boots and he struggled for two and half hours just to get them off; he believed that if he didn't his legs would need to be amputated; he said his life would be not be worth living if he survived. That didn't sit well with me though.

I can relate to the feeling of being so passionate about something that losing it makes life feel worthless. This past week comes close; admittedly though I have a good chance of bouncing back in a week or two. But still I asked myself this - if were to be that I could not do any of the things I so love and am accustomed to, would I want myself dead?

From this side of the shore, it sure is hard to tell how that would change the philosophy of things - but I hope there would be more to life - to keep going, with new purpose  and new meaning.

Geocaching!

My newest of things to do is Geocaching. This is a decent intro to geocaching for the uninitiated.

I think its a great way to get people outdoors, giving some purpose for those who need one. The first one was pretty simple, but the feeling of having found the log was special.

I am curious to see how many from this list of 31 places, I can knock down before November!

Also see: Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site

Trolley run

This was my first run!

California pizza kitchen - The vegetarian

Vegetarianism, which has been practiced since ancient times, is not a one‐faceted practice. Vegetarianism is becoming more common and may be based on a variety of personal principles, including religious, ethical, nutritional, and economic reasons. The three most common types of

vegetarians today are Vegans, Lacto Vegetarians and Lacto‐ovo Vegetarians. There are other vegetarians!! who will eat fish and poultry, but not other animal meats.

"Even classic movies can have product placements"!

Forrest Gump in a minute - Awesome!!!

Indoor rock climbing tuts

Equipment

Warm up

The knot

Belaying I

Belaying II

Belaying III

Falling Slowly - From the movie 'Once'

I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react
And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You've made it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can't go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I'm painted black
You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I'll sing along

KS, MO TODO

Wandering nearby places has come to become one on my morning past-times over lazy weekends when its too cold to venture out into the open; this feeds my wanderlust.

With spring not so far way, I think is about time I start creating a list of places I'd want to explore:

List of state parks:

Clinton State Park, Lawrence KS (Road biking, mountain biking, dirt trails, lake, camping)

Perry State Park

Elk City State Park, Independce, KS

Mount Sunflower, Karonado, KS (Colorado border) - Highest point. Mostly just a drive.

Table Mound National Recreation Trail at Elk City SP (Independence, KS)
-Trails

Clinton State Park, Lawrence, KS