Today at lunch I played coworker Gyanendra Hyoju. He played very well today and smart. He won more matches than I did today. His placement of the ball today was very well selected and forced alot of errors as well as made very aggressive shots himself that were difficult to return. If he plays like this everyday, then I should improve much faster than I have been.
I haven't been schooled like that since Bala used to play. Hoping that it continues. I don't mind losing as long as it isn't due to crappy shots I make, but rather from smart and aggressive play from the opponent. Which was the case today.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
First Place at Chinese New Year Table Tennis Tournament
On Saturday, Feb 17th I took the family up to Evanston Wyoming for the 2007 Chinese New Year Table Tennis Tournament. I forgot how long it takes to get through the tournament. Cathi was exceptionally patient. We started out with Austin and I as a doubles team. Jacob found a partner, Braxton who was very patient and a good sport.
Austin and I played Paul and Javza. Paul is from Rock Springs, WY, and Javza a BYU student. Austin and I played quite well together and I think we shocked the two of them. We barely lost 2 - 3 with many of the games very close and the last game being a deuce game. The next game we played Aaron and Mike Pratt. We lost 0 - 3 and not so happy about those games. Aaron likes slow play with lots of spin and that messed with Austin a bit. And my friend and nemesis Mike Pratt played his typical game. So the doubles went quick for us. Jacob had a quick double loss too.
After that I played a guy in the qualifying round and lost 2-3 and then won another guy which put me in the B division. There were four divisions (C, B, A and Open)
In the B Division I played 4 people (8 people total in the bracket). The games of note were when I played Varghese Pallathu. I've seen him at the club many times and noticed his game. He is a good player, and I knew it would be tough to beat him. I lost the first two to him. I didn't enjoy the pace we were playing so I picked it up. I would set him up with a chop and come back with a forehand smash. This strategy worked fantastic with him and I was able to win the next three games for the match. Many of those points were "tickers" or net shots which are quite frustrating for the opponent. I've been in that situation and knew how frustrating it can be to be so close to victory and missing it. In that situation it is hard to not get violent.
I then played Justin and lost to him 0 - 3. That was puzzling because in the last tournament in SLC I beat him in the qualifying rounds 3-0. He has really improved. The next game I had to play Varghese again since he lost to somebody and we were both in the losers bracket. This time I played the same way I did the last few sets with him and won 3-0. That win put me at #2 in the division.
I had to play Justin again. This time if I beat him two matches in a row I could win the division. Worst case scenario is I take second. So the pressure was off a litle. I played hard and found that when Cathi watched, or Ryan Gubler watched our match I played better. I won the first match 3-0 and I heard Justin say "Times have changed!". So I had to simply beat him one more time for first place. The second match I won 3-1. Ended at @8:00 and it was a long day, but I felt very good about today's tournament and got a 1st place plaque.
I am grateful for the family being patient staying so long. I promised them we would go swimming but I forgot the pool closed at 4:30 so we missed the chance. I was especially impressed with the facility's staff. They were patient with the kids running everywhere and shared the tournament food with them. The tournament director's we well organized and kept things moving. Overall a fun experience and a great day although it was quite long.
Pictures (Sorry about the quality, the flash wasn't very energetic):
.jpg "Austin and I working both sides of the table")
.jpg "Austin doing his backhand chop serve.")
.jpg "I like watching Austin play. He serves again.")
.jpg "Chopping to Javza. Austin getting ready for the return")
.jpg "Gords serving. Austin preparing for return.")
.jpg "Setting up a shot for Austin.")
.jpg "Team Gridley, and Jonas after we played.")
.jpg "Jacob preparing for Varghese Pallathu's serve.")
.jpg "Jacob serving.")
.jpg "Jacob watching Braxton's serve.")
Austin and I played Paul and Javza. Paul is from Rock Springs, WY, and Javza a BYU student. Austin and I played quite well together and I think we shocked the two of them. We barely lost 2 - 3 with many of the games very close and the last game being a deuce game. The next game we played Aaron and Mike Pratt. We lost 0 - 3 and not so happy about those games. Aaron likes slow play with lots of spin and that messed with Austin a bit. And my friend and nemesis Mike Pratt played his typical game. So the doubles went quick for us. Jacob had a quick double loss too.
After that I played a guy in the qualifying round and lost 2-3 and then won another guy which put me in the B division. There were four divisions (C, B, A and Open)
In the B Division I played 4 people (8 people total in the bracket). The games of note were when I played Varghese Pallathu. I've seen him at the club many times and noticed his game. He is a good player, and I knew it would be tough to beat him. I lost the first two to him. I didn't enjoy the pace we were playing so I picked it up. I would set him up with a chop and come back with a forehand smash. This strategy worked fantastic with him and I was able to win the next three games for the match. Many of those points were "tickers" or net shots which are quite frustrating for the opponent. I've been in that situation and knew how frustrating it can be to be so close to victory and missing it. In that situation it is hard to not get violent.
I then played Justin and lost to him 0 - 3. That was puzzling because in the last tournament in SLC I beat him in the qualifying rounds 3-0. He has really improved. The next game I had to play Varghese again since he lost to somebody and we were both in the losers bracket. This time I played the same way I did the last few sets with him and won 3-0. That win put me at #2 in the division.
I had to play Justin again. This time if I beat him two matches in a row I could win the division. Worst case scenario is I take second. So the pressure was off a litle. I played hard and found that when Cathi watched, or Ryan Gubler watched our match I played better. I won the first match 3-0 and I heard Justin say "Times have changed!". So I had to simply beat him one more time for first place. The second match I won 3-1. Ended at @8:00 and it was a long day, but I felt very good about today's tournament and got a 1st place plaque.
I am grateful for the family being patient staying so long. I promised them we would go swimming but I forgot the pool closed at 4:30 so we missed the chance. I was especially impressed with the facility's staff. They were patient with the kids running everywhere and shared the tournament food with them. The tournament director's we well organized and kept things moving. Overall a fun experience and a great day although it was quite long.
Pictures (Sorry about the quality, the flash wasn't very energetic):
Friday, February 09, 2007
Bad luck
I was looking forward to a great day today with the virtual meet. I bought a newspaper, made sure I had new batteries, proper lifting attire etc...
I even bought a new HP Photosmart M425 a couple weeks ago knowing that I needed a digital video camera for the meet (since misplacing the one we had). I used the 1 GB SD card from my old mp3 player. I formated the card first and then used the camera the past couple of weeks to get used to it. Everything was falling into place and working great.
I started out videoing the newspaper, then the weights, then the first two Squat attempts. I reviewed both attempts immediately afterwards and they both looked good (275, 315). I went upstairs to fetch Cameron and Justin to spot me on my last squat attempt of 345. They had to help about halfway up on it. I was disappointed, but knew it would be extremely difficult to get considering I haven't worked legs at all in the past 3 months or so.
I reviewed the last attempt to see where the lift broke down. It started to play back on the camera. About 10 seconds into the video the screen went bright red and said something like "CARD HAS WRONG FORMAT Press OK to format card". I tried not to panic, but didn't feel good about that message. I ran upstairs and tried to see if I could recover what was on the SD card.
I kept getting: "The disk in Drive E is not formatted: Do you want to format it now?"
I hit NO and tried looking at the properties on the drive - nothing worked. I figured, OK well I'll just DQ my Squat and do the other lifts. I tried formatting the SD card and that wouldn't even work. I got "There is no disk in Drive E. Insert a disk, and then try again.". I tried phsyically tweaking the card to get any life out of it, but no go. The card is simply lifeless. So I was completely out of luck with this meet. The internal memory in the camera wouldn't even come close to being sufficient.
I figured I'd do the other lifts just for fun to see what I could do without the video and ended up with 345 on the bench and 315 on the DL (365 DL attempt failed).
I am very disappointed. I was hoping to at least submit something, but the only thing that could have made the day crappier I guess is that I could have seriously injured myself which I didn't do so I should count my blessings. Sorry fellow lifters. I hope your hardware works better than mine and that you have successful lifts. I'll be there next time with a new SD card and better prepared physically as well.
I even bought a new HP Photosmart M425 a couple weeks ago knowing that I needed a digital video camera for the meet (since misplacing the one we had). I used the 1 GB SD card from my old mp3 player. I formated the card first and then used the camera the past couple of weeks to get used to it. Everything was falling into place and working great.
I started out videoing the newspaper, then the weights, then the first two Squat attempts. I reviewed both attempts immediately afterwards and they both looked good (275, 315). I went upstairs to fetch Cameron and Justin to spot me on my last squat attempt of 345. They had to help about halfway up on it. I was disappointed, but knew it would be extremely difficult to get considering I haven't worked legs at all in the past 3 months or so.
I reviewed the last attempt to see where the lift broke down. It started to play back on the camera. About 10 seconds into the video the screen went bright red and said something like "CARD HAS WRONG FORMAT Press OK to format card". I tried not to panic, but didn't feel good about that message. I ran upstairs and tried to see if I could recover what was on the SD card.
I kept getting: "The disk in Drive E is not formatted: Do you want to format it now?"
I hit NO and tried looking at the properties on the drive - nothing worked. I figured, OK well I'll just DQ my Squat and do the other lifts. I tried formatting the SD card and that wouldn't even work. I got "There is no disk in Drive E. Insert a disk, and then try again.". I tried phsyically tweaking the card to get any life out of it, but no go. The card is simply lifeless. So I was completely out of luck with this meet. The internal memory in the camera wouldn't even come close to being sufficient.
I figured I'd do the other lifts just for fun to see what I could do without the video and ended up with 345 on the bench and 315 on the DL (365 DL attempt failed).
I am very disappointed. I was hoping to at least submit something, but the only thing that could have made the day crappier I guess is that I could have seriously injured myself which I didn't do so I should count my blessings. Sorry fellow lifters. I hope your hardware works better than mine and that you have successful lifts. I'll be there next time with a new SD card and better prepared physically as well.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Taking it easy
Just playing table tennis this week to allow my body to prepare for the virtual meet this Friday. Kris has really outdone himself on it and it looks great. If you haven't already checked it out, please do so at http://www.virtualmeet.net. This weekend I have had some major stiffness in my neck/upper shoulders on the right side. Still not 100% but hoping that the rest will do some good for it. I'm actually feeling extremely guilty taking the time this week off.
My attempts for the meet will be (unless I don't make a lift in which I'll change it of course):
Squat: 285, 315, 345
Bench: 350, 360, 370
Deadlift: 365, 375, 385
Total: 1000 (455 kg), 1050 (477 kg), 1100 (500 kg)
I will be totally surprised if I get the 1100, but will be happy with the 1050.
My attempts for the meet will be (unless I don't make a lift in which I'll change it of course):
Squat: 285, 315, 345
Bench: 350, 360, 370
Deadlift: 365, 375, 385
Total: 1000 (455 kg), 1050 (477 kg), 1100 (500 kg)
I will be totally surprised if I get the 1100, but will be happy with the 1050.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Deads and core
Deadlifts: 15 x 5 x 225
supersetted with:
Crunches: 15 x 25 = 375 total
Frustrating morning at work. Looking forward to the weekend.
supersetted with:
Crunches: 15 x 25 = 375 total
Frustrating morning at work. Looking forward to the weekend.
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