A friend’s mom is turning 85 today!
8am tennis: I played well but came up short. NJ, Graham, George: 5-0, 3-5, 3-5. It was a really nice game.
Did 200 swim / stretch after tennis. This morning was pretty cold, smell of autumn!
Milton; 65 degrees
Hurricane Milton: eggs and milk are out @ WalMart delivery since Helene. There was a brief time that had eggs and milk but ran out quickly as Milton approaching. They’re till out, as of today, Oct 15. I had an order coming on Saturday, Oct 12, from Weee (they’ve eggs and milk) but had to cancel on Friday – still no power. Once the power is restored on Saturday morning, I placed the order on Sunday with WalMart, the first available deliver date is Thursday, Oct 17th – normally it’s within a few hours, which is why I’ve been using it.
At pool today, Matt said he was fine during the hurricane and he didn’t even loss power – I don’t know where he lives, assume not too far. He corrected me that the heater stops working once the temp hit 65 degrees. I previously thought was 55°.
Hurricane Milton, per wiki, as of 2024.10.15:
- Formed October 5, 2024
- Extratropical October 10, 2024
- Dissipated October 12, 2024
- Fatalities ≥27
- Missing ≥6
- Damage >$30 billion (2024 USD)
Timeline:
- 10.15 Tue swim: 2,060 yards in 51 minutes
- 10.14 pool isn’t open
- 10.13 Sun 5 sets pickleball: 4-11, 4-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-2 Cathy Linda & Joyce. Cathy won all five set.
- 10.12 Sat power is back @ 7:23am
- 10.11 Fri lunch & bridge, pianist entertained; swim 360 in 13 min: the top of the pool is cleaned & the water temp is fantastic; tennis courts need clean up.
- 10.10 Thur waking up to a sunny day, last night’s howling was in the past. A drink in peace. Unboarding. The pool looks wild
- 10.09 Wed lanai; wind @ 7:08pm; lost power @ 8:38pm.
- 10.08 Tue ?
- 10.07 Mon boarding up, move plants to safety; swim 2,600 in 62 min; hot pot in the lanai; bridge.
… and the tennis courts need clean up, on 10.10
Bluey day
An all bleu day: the 2024 Atlantic hurricane that cancelled our Thursday game, had just passed. But the rains are keep coming. It rained today as we were finishing up the second match.
7-6 (7-3) Ivy/me, vs a mixed team
6-0 Jen/me vs Ivy/John
Jen is a really good younger player, with pleasant voice and mean back hand that travels low.
Tue I lost all three short set with 3 Gs: Gary, Greg and Greg.
Yesterday the pool was closed till 11am. The deck was cleared out but the bistro was open. However, the lunch for the tennis group was rather tasteless. Not a complain …
Half moon
A week after Mid-Autumn Festival – the fullest of the year, the moon reduced to half. It’s a pretty sight as I’m swimming -:)
Tennis: 3-5, 1-5, 1-5 … with two doubles in the 3rd set.
What was I doing out there?
- 9.30 did two 100 before leaving: back 2:41:32, free 1:41:58
Before Dawn 7:30am tennis
🎬 Before Dawn (2024) 关于一战的故事…
By September, the sun rises after 7am. 7:30 start is cutting close. But I really like early mornings: fresh and quiet. Watching the skies brighten up is wonderful. 为生活 俺也起早贪黑
7-5, 2-6
第一局从0-3, 1-4 追回来的
第二局 还没站稳 就输了
My string is rarely broken: multiple years for a restrung. This time, a neighbor Dave did it – it’s the most beautifully one I’ve had. All for $25 -:) 新线 🧵 所有过的中 数这个最漂亮 (照不出来)
好用吗 – 不知道 [捂脸]
Zheng Qiwen, Peng Shuai, Victor Gao
Zheng Qiwen (郑钦文, 2002-; 2018, $4,658,739; 4 singles titles) won the women singles gold medal in Paris, on August 3rd, which was very precious. I was happy for her, winning Olympic 2024 gold medal is definitely more prestigous than a grand slam: Olympic occurs only every four years, while grand slams happen four times each year.
I though about Peng Shuai (彭帅, 1986-; 2001-22, $9,617,653; 2 singles titles) rather immediately because of her conduct at 2014 US Open semi final match, when she refused to retire due to her prolong leg cramp. It was unethical and unsportsmanlike.
But I think people will remember her as a brave girl who came out, accusing a high ranking Chinese official of sexual assault. I believe her.
However, my motivation of writing this post, is due to Mehdi Hasan & Victor Gao interview on Al Jazeera’s Head to Head program six days ago. I googled Gao (高志凯, 1962-) who has both wiki and zh wiki pages. Among many coverages and interviews, the 60 Minutes Australia in 2022 caught my eyes, when he said Peng: “she can defend herself in front of whatever man or person in China.” Peng’s post was Nov 6, 2021. Victor was once considered by Foreign Policy as “a reputable interlocutor in U.S.-China relations.” After this interview with Mehdi, wondering if Foreign Policy would say the same now.
郑钦文的赢 彭帅的输 wenxue city
郑钦文(2002-; 2018 转职业, 赢得 4,658,739 美元; 4 个单打冠军) 于 8 月 3 日在巴黎获得女子单打金牌. 这非常珍贵. 我为她感到高兴, 赢得奥运会金牌绝对比大满贯更珍贵: 奥运会每四年才举办一次,而大满贯每年举办四次.
我很快想到了彭帅 (1986-; 2001-22; 9,617,653 美元, 2 个单打冠军头衔), 因为她在 2014 年美国公开赛半决赛中的行为, 当时她腿抽筋 拖了十几分钟不肯退赛 (通常应该是三分钟 … 主办方也有责任-不公平. 现场直播的媒体有些炸锅了 公平是竞赛中最重要的 没有之一). 返回场地二次 就是赖着不肯认输. 这实在是太没有体育精神了. 那是她职业赛中最好的一次 所以她不肯轻易放弃. 相比之下 丹麦的卡洛琳·沃兹尼亚奇 Caroline Wozniacki (1990-; 2005-; $36,095,873, 30个单打冠军头衔) 就非常有风度 不仅没有催 还很关心的过来帮忙 (我不是她的粉).
但我认为人们会记得她是一个勇敢的女孩,站出来指控中国高级官员性侵犯. 我相信她.
然而, 我写这篇文章的动机, 是六天前高志凯在半岛电视台的 面对面 (Head to Head) 节目上的采访被Mehdi Hasan采访. 我在谷歌上搜索了高志凯 (1962-), 他有维基和中文维基页面. 在众多报道和采访中, 2022 年的《60 分钟澳大利亚》引起了我的注意, 当时他说彭: “她可以在中国任何男人或任何人面前为自己辩护.” 彭的帖子发表于 2021 年 11 月 6 日. 高志凯曾被《外交政策》视为 “中美关系中一位享有盛誉的对话者”. 在接受 Mehdi 的这次采访后,我想知道《外交政策》现在是否会说同样的话.
Today’s swim: 1,680 @ 46 all breaststroke; 100 free @ 1:57.74 at the end.
Updating my breaststroke
Another good swimming day!
340 yd in free in 7:7.5 (37’06” per mile), 1,400 in mixed free and mostly breaststroke in 35:36.3 (44’45” per mile). I made a small change to my breaststroke by drifting a little longer, and generally with 14 strokes in the 20 yard pool – a little dolphin kick at the push off. (25 swings for free …)
A good swim: 1,040 in 21; Paris Olympic
Watching Katie swam her 4th 800 meter to gold yesterday was inspiring: she led the entire way! I did 1,040 in 21 minutes (36’28” per mile): a pretty good record for me. Don’t know why the watch doesn’t show seconds any more, which is really annoying.
1. Katie Ledecky, United States, 8:11.04
2. Ariarne Titmus, Australia, 8:12.29
3. Paige Madden (1998-), US, 8:13.00
Katie’s four 800m results from 4 Olympics:
- 15 2012 @ London, 8:14.63; García 8:18.76
- 19 2016 @ Rio 8:04.79; Jazmin Carlin 8:16.17
- 24 2021 @ Tokyo, 8:12.79; Titmus 8:13.83
- 27 2024 @ Paris, 8:11.04; Titmus 8:12.29
The 2012 London game, Great Britain’s Rebecca Adlington, was the fave but came in 3rd, 8:20.32. Mireia Belmonte García was the second at 8:18.76
The swimming part of 2024 Paris Olympics is over today, with Bobby Finke (1999-) clinched 1,500 meter event, setting a world record.
Here is USA swimming gold, silver and bronze medals summary / count since 1960:
- 2024: 8, 13, 7 = 28
- 2020: 11, 10, 9 = 30
- 2016: 16, 8, 9 = 33
- 2012: 16, 9, 6 = 31
- 2008: 12, 9, 10 = 31
- 2004: 12, 9, 7 = 28
- 2000: 14, 8, 11 = 33
- 1996: 13, 11, 2 = 26
- 1992: 11, 9, 7 = 27
- 1988: 8, 6, 4 = 18 #2. (E Germany 11, 8, 9 = 28)
- 1984: 21, 13, 0 = 34
- 1980: US 66 nations boycotted (E Germany 12, 10, 8 = 30)
- 1976: 13, 14, 7 = 34
- 1972: 17, 14, 12 = 43
- 1968: 21, 15, 16 = 52
- 1964: 13, 8, 8 = 29
- 1960: 9, 3, 3 = 15
About East German drug scandal:
Case Study From 1968 to the late 1980s, the GDR doped some 9,000 athletes and gained many successes in international athletic competitions, particularly the Olympics. The GDR women’s swim team in the 1968 Olympics enjoyed the most amazing (and suspicious) success.
Not sure it’s a typo, GDR’s 1968 Olympics came in third with 2, 3, 1 that totally 6, behind second place Australia’s (3, 2, 3) 8, while US had (21, 15, 16) 52.
GDR did well in 1980 when US and 66 other nations didn’t participate; and 1988, beating US to the first place finish.
The new line sweeper
We’ve been struggling with the tennis court line sweepers ever since. Thanks lord we’ve a new one now that looks fancy or so Disney, and it works.
Playing in the evening has one disadvantage: wine and food are weighing me down – I could only play one set, and lost 2-6.
I swam in the morning 1,260 yards in 30 minutes. Did a little more after tennis – 140 in 3 minutes = 1,400 in 33 min.
My August log: 26,680 yd (15.16 miles: 45.72 min per mile) in 11:33 hr
- 1 1,160 in 30
- 2 1,400 in 36
- 4 1,280 in 27: 1,040 in 21 36’28” per mile
- 6 1,740 in 42
- 14 1,880: 100 free @ 1:57.74
- ..
Citrus Series: Rays def Marlins
There is Subway Series (Mets v Yankee) and down south, it’s the Citrus Series: Tampa Bay Rays v Miami Marlins.
Although the Marlins scored two runs in the first inning but Rays won 9-3.
Richie Palacios (1997-) is from Brooklyn, New York. A New Yorker in Florida -:)
The dinner at Bohemois is wonderful
