P.H.D.'s

Another weekend is in the books and the fall season has definitely started to set in.  Leaves are changing and the farmers are harvesting their corn and soybean crops.  I can tell that winter is right around the corner and the weather people are predicting a winter as bad as or worse than last year.  Of course, I have learned that you can't always trust what the weather people predict.

Sunday was Karen's birthday and we celebrated it with her parents, who drove over from Virginia for the weekend.  She received some very nice gifts, we went out to eat, and we enjoyed an ice cream cake from the DQ.  What doesn't go well when there is ice cream cake involved?

My Monday night curling league started up last night; I've been looking forward to this for weeks.  Who would have thought that something like curling could be so addictive?  Seriously, it is a lot of fun.  Last year, the league was pretty informal and we only had 4 teams playing at one time.  We did several short sessions, but the ice center didn't officially kept track of who was winning.  This year, the ice center has a new manager and things have gotten a bit more serious.  To start, they reworked the layout of the lanes on the ice and we now have 4 lanes instead of 2.  That allowed the league size to double and, surprisingly, they were able to fill all 8 teams of 4.  Yes, there 31 other crazy curlers out there on the ice with me!  The manager also stepped up and created a 12 week schedule that has each team play all of the others over the first 7 weeks of the league.  After that, teams will be seeded (based on points) for the "playoffs."  
 
For those of you who aren't familiar with the sport (most people aren't) here is a quick summary of it:  Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy (44 pounds!), polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a circular target marked on the ice.  The sheet is around 150 feet long.

Each team has eight stones. The purpose is to accumulate the highest score for a game; points are scored for the stones resting closest to the center of the house at the conclusion of each end, which is completed when both teams have thrown all of their stones. A game may consist of eight or ten ends.  Only the team with the stone that is closest to the center gets points for that end and they get points for any stone in the house that is closer to the center than the opponent's closest stone to the center.  You might get 1 point, you could get 5 or more, it just depends on how the stones land.

The curler can induce a curved path by causing the stone to slowly spin as it slides, and the path of the rock may be further influenced by two sweepers with brooms who accompany it as it slides down the sheet, using the brooms to alter the state of the ice in front of the stone.  A great deal of strategy and teamwork goes into choosing the ideal path and placement of a stone for each situation, and the skills of the curlers determine how close to the desired result the stone will achieve. In our case, we are all still learning, so while our strategy is pretty strong, our stones don't always go where we want them to.  There are a lot of "oh well, not exactly what we wanted" statements during the game.  But when you throw a stone just right, it feels pretty good.

My team, composed entirely of husbands of college professors, adopted a new team name for this season.  We are the P.H.D.'s – Phenomenal Husbands of Doctors.  We should be proud that our wives are so well educated and, as husbands, we're really awesome.  Right?  Since I organized the team, I was the "Skip" of the team for our first game.  The Skip is responsible for calling the strategy for the team:  where they should aim to throw the stone, whether or not to sweep as the stone slides down the sheet, etc.  The Skip also has the final 2 stone throws for the team, which sometimes comes with additional pressure.  You might have to save the end by knocking out one of the opponent's stones or try to slide one in closer to the center of the house.  My aim/technique is improving and I actually had a few really nice throws last night. I am happy to report that we ended the night victorious, beating one of the strongest teams from last year with a finally score of 9 to 6.  Hopefully that is a sign that we are going to do well this year. 
 
Some of the players are just out there to have a good time, but as soon as we start playing my competitive side comes out (and the score keeping mentioned above is also fueling it).  I just can't stop it from happening.  Of couse, this would explain why I don't understand this new age that we live in when it comes to kids and sports.  It frustrates me when I hear that they don't keep score at games and all of the kids get trophys for participating.  What lesson does that teach the kids?  Life certainly isn't like that, we don't get trophys just for showing up.  Sometimes you are going to win, other times you are going to lose and sometimes it will end up in a tie: no winning, no losing, just another day.  Hopefully you will win (or tie) more than you lose, but you might not.  We have all hit a losing streak at some point in our lives, that is just how it is in life and love.  (I should go tell that to all the "Occupy" protesters that have been in the news recently, but that is an entirely different soap box and I try pretty hard not to include my polictical views in this blog [but couldn't help including this comment anyway!]).  Second place is, and will always be, the first loser.  Therefore, I want to win!  Go P.H.D.'s!!!


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Scott Douglas, RLA, ASLA, LEED AP