Lean

Lean is probably one of the most important aspects of short track speedskating. I was just browsing a the meet photo and my usual skate sites, I put three of them side by side. One is Ruri, the other is Sara, then Joey Mantia, and finally Ohno on ice. The difference from one to the other is incredible. There is a long way to go to get that kind of lean.

Merced meet

Ruri tasted defeat...in both case, she got passed at the end of the race for the long race and the open. I think this will be a very good thing so she can get more motivated and try to get it back. Look at her on the podium, she looks so small compared with the other two girls;-) Anyway, here is a short clip and the podium shot.

Genetic engineering

We don't need to be a genetic biologist to know how fragile yet amazing the biological world works. Mari planted some tiny decorative pumpkins (usually grow to the size of an apple), but she also planted some melon next to it. To our surprise, the cross-pollenization between the tiny pumpkin and melon gives rise to some giant pumpkin...or "Melonkin". We even tasted it, it definitely tastes something in between pumpkin and melon! The strangest thing of all, there was no seeds! So we won't be able to plant any of these Melonkins, and I'm wondering if we can repeat the feat next year.

New setup

Ruri is on a new setup (Liberty sports 3x100 or 110) with pink MPC wheels to match the boots. Don't they look cute? Ruri is on 3x100 now, but will get 110 wheels for outdoor and probably indoor also. She tried this on first time and I can see notable improvement in starts (6 wheels are a lot lighter than 8 wheels) and roll. She is working on cornering still room to improve.


I've also upgraded my setup to Bont Vaypor. They are so tight and firm, it's the difference between mountain bike and road bike between this and what I have. Now I only need to work on my techniques:-)

Chinese new year mean Jiaozi!

It's been a long time since we made this. I can still make the wrapper faster enough for three people to wrap them! It was yummy!