Nova Scotia

We have team "water boy" Chris (Marissa's hubby) doing some blogs and updates on the Nova Scotia trip.  Check out all the new updates here: http://chrismarissanovascotia.blogspot.comhttp://chrismarissanovascotia.blogspot.com

So it is official...Bond Girls are active this curling season. I will try my best to add some additional updates as well.

Good curling everyone!

Come Together

This morning's game against Team Wiesen took us a little time to warm up.  We were still trying to get up to speed with hand signals and timing information as well as adjust to the ice. We started to gel together as a team after about the 4th end. By that time, we were down 5, and dug ourselves into a pretty deep hole.  Then, we started to crawl our way back. Granted, there were times where we got a little lucky, but we'll take what we can get.  It's all about the set-up, right? By the last end, we were only down by 1. Here's a screengrab of the results end by end:

Courtesy of http://www.bonspieler.com/

Two highlights of the game (that I remember):

1) A rock that ricocheted off of Jessica's takeout entered into the next sheet over, and would have messed up the current rocks in play.  I dived into the house (hoping they weren't in the middle of a delivery), and tried to prevent the renegade rock from hitting a red rock in the house. Granted the rocks could be put back, but I figure might as well give it the "Bond Girl all." So the house was safe, and I got a lot of nice comments from the observers. Hopefully, it all looked graceful in the kilt. 

2) Marissa also threw a sweet draw to the 4ft for 2 points. It was beautiful.  Granted there was a lot of sweeping to drag it there, but that's why curling is a team effort. Great job, Team! They should have a tank of oxygen at the end of the sheet for situations like these...come to think of it, a masseuse wouldn't be a bad idea as well.

It's really great to be back at the Crush. It always feels like a reunion, and I love seeing the familiar names and faces as well as meeting some new blood. I was talking to Matt Gamboa (@NoHoCurling) who has been to this bonspiel 5 times in a row so far, and even though I don't have the same track record, I agree with him and do feel that traveling to Wine Country is a tradition. I hope for many more Crush Bonspiels to come.

So our next game is actually tonight at midnight. I'm hoping that the baby Bond Girls will sleep nicely and soundly for my in-laws who I want to give a personal shout out to.  Thank you, Mom and Dad, for making it possible for me to curl this weekend.  I don't know what I would do without you guys! I think we had a pretty good warm up game, and I am hoping that we're settle into our routines as a team now and will kick some BG butt. We are playing against Team Kong so we'll see what happens. 

For all those who want to be updated on the schedule and the results. Here are the links: 

Draw Schedule: http://www.bonspieler.com/draw.php

Score: http://www.bonspieler.com/

Thanks for putting up with my horrible memory and bad jokes!  I'll probably write an update on our midnight game in the morning. For now, this is Domino signing off!

We made it!

We made it after 7 hours of driving, 2 babies, and a 1/2 of the Gamboas (Big thank you to Matt for driving up with all the chaos). It's time for another curling bonspiel up in Roseville, CA at the Crush, one of our favorites. We have Jessica Shultz (originally from Team Brown) and Regan Mizuno filling in for Cindy and Jen. It's going to be lots of fun with the new blood though we will miss our BG counterparts for sure!

Our first draw will be at 9:15 am (PDT) against Team Wiesen. I'll try to keep the blog updated, of course.

I'm keeping it short tonight to save up some strength for tomorrow. Wish us luck! I'll be dreaming of guards, draws, and an occasional take-out or two.

Signing off!

- Domino

Fort Wayne Was a Blast

So Team Zissou did not make it all the way in the Arena Championships, but it was great to watch them play and represent the Hollywood Curling Club. I am very proud of all of them. They each had a lot of great moments.  We also got to meet and hang out with a few awesome curlers from other areas. Hopefully, we'll see them again soon! 

As a parting blog for this event, I wanted to write about Fort Wayne, Indiana (since we had a little free time to explore the city).  It's not a very big town and to be honest, there's not a lot to do there. Fortunately, we came during an interesting time. There was a 3 River Festival going on (44th Annual). It's a 2 day event, and the 2nd largest fair in Indiana. It's like a mini version of the LA State Fair with rides, shopping, and fried food. You could even ride a helicopter around the city. It's a very short ride, but I can see how that would be cool. On the last day of the festival, the family and I stumbled upon an event at the Botanical Gardens.  There was a live jazz band in the outside gardens, and the whole building was open to explore which was great for Leianna. This entertainment lead up to the fireworks display which was set off on top of a nearby building. Surprisingly, I was actually quite impressed by the whole event and the fireworks.

Here are a few photos:

A shot of one of the flowers in the gardens

Leianna Playing Tea Party with Dada in the New Orleans themed garden

View of the stage in the outside gardens

Jazz Band playing amongst the crowd

Fireworks #1

Fireworks #2

Fireworks #3  -  I thought this was really pretty

Fireworks #4

This was a very nice surprise end to our trip in Indiana. Special Note: Yes, there was more curling drunkenness going on with the other half of the team...maybe I can convince Matt/Jen or someone to complete their version of the trip because I've only got the family friendly version.

One more thing...advice for those visiting Amish Country: Don't go on a Sunday, and don't start in Elkhard County especially if you are driving from the east. It is the least Amish town ever!

Okies, this travel guide to North/East/Central Indiana was brought to you by Domino and Team Mendoza signing off.

The Art of Tweeting Curling

Since I had the live Tweeting during today's game (@TeamZissouCurl) I will make the update short and sweet:

Team Zissou Wins!

Now, onto to the real subject of this blog, the art of Tweeting Curling. So I actually have about 3 Twitter accounts, one personal, one business, and one for the pets (which I have completely abandoned). Out of all my social media avenues, I use Twitter the least. (I only really post on the business Twitter since that actually makes sense to me, and that's maybe once every few weeks when I get inspired.) I have never really joined the tweeting band wagon, and here I find myself live tweeting the games for about 2 hours straight. It's hard work!

Maybe I am getting old, but I have to say it was challenging to get up to speed on everything. First of all, I am unfamiliar with the platform. Thank goodness Jen was there so she could explain to me how to edit my posts. Otherwise, I would have wasted a lot of time clicking around on my own.

In the past, I have attended various seminars on social media, search engine optimization, etc. I still don't truly understand the # and @ signs that everyone litters their posts with. All I know is that if I write something, I have to leave enough room to include #ArenaNats which can be kind of annoying when I start running out of space.

I am not really good at abbreviating things especially from the very beginning. I like to just dump out the thoughts and then edit them shorter later. It becomes a problem when I fall behind with the descriptions and the curlers are moving onto the next shots. So I've learned to just keep an eye on the number of characters I have left. When I get close, I start making adjustments or just hit "Post" if it is too much of a hassle. I still find myself rewiting lots of things...

Tweeting and watching curling at the same time is not advisable. I sometimes miss what is being called as I am finishing up on a post. Again, Jen is my life saver when I have to confirm information or if I had questions about what really happened with a shot. I've learned that it is easier to post the result of the shot rather than interpret what was being called and if the shot was successful or not. Thus, I avoid most of the misinterpretations when reading calls on the ice.  (Learned that lesson from day one when I guess a curl around a guard what not a great shot after all...LOL)

Lastly, it is even more so challenging tweeting with a toddler and a 3 month baby. I knew it would be hard, but it is actually insane.  What was I thinking?  Overall, the babies have been pretty good. Halia slept all throughout game three so my only challenge was keeping Leianna occupied. Behind the scenes, I'm changing diapers in between shots, cleaning up spilled water over my keyboard, scrambling to find new and interesting toys (4 plastic cups) for Leianna, feeding Leianna, making sure she doesn't touch anything with her dirty fingers... Jen was a BIG help with being a 2nd pair of eyes and playing with her when things got a little busy. Thank you, Auntie Jen!

Overall, tweeting went better than I expected, and it kept me very involved with the curling game which I love watching. It does require a different way of thinking and writing...my life has benefited from this experience though I am not sure how yet. Live tweeting kind of reminds me when we live webstreamed our games (which I think was a way easier). I think we should do that again...

Hope you enjoyed some behind the tweet information. I figured I should change some things up with the blog.

Tomorrow is a very early game, so the girls and I will not be there.  We will continue to tweet during normal hour. Until then, this is Domino signing off.

Curling Continues: Arena Curling Championships

We didn't have enough curling in Cape Cod; so I am going to continue the fun doing some extra blogging for our "husband team" (Team Zissou) who are competing in the 1st Arena Curling Championships in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Yesterday, from all sorts of different routes and travel times, we converged together in time for the tournament.  Richard Cruz is the Lead, Matt Gamboa will play 2nd, Ryan Berdan as Vice, and Paul as Skip. Jen, me, and the kids are their biggest fans. I even donned my light blue Zissou shirt.

They had 2 games, 8 AM and 5:30 PM (EDT). The boys did very well adjusting to this new arena ice. They won their first game against South Carolina. Team Zissou, in true Hollywood fashion, liked to keep things a little dramatic, and it ended up being a very close game.  The 2nd game started off really well, but the other team from Long Island kept doing some fancy angle take outs that made it a little hard for Team Zissou to defend against. And so the boys will now have a long route back to the top. 

I am trying my best to juggle the kiddos and live Tweeting @teamzissoucurl The next game is tomorrow at 5:15 PM EDT. I apologize ahead of time...I am not good at tweeting or commentating especially when I get distracted by the kids, but I will try my best. Anyway, will keep you updated!

Good looking men from Hollywood & South Carolina ;)

- Domino

Cape Cod reCap

We wanted to share some of our favorite moments during the Cape Cod Bonspiel. Here are a few highlights:

Going on the Bourne Bridge to Falmouth

Private Beach

Gingerbread houses on Martha's Vineyard

Our new dos on the Ferry to Martha's Vineyard.

Clams from the Clam Bake

Yum, Yum! Lobsters from the Clambake

Action in the tent at the Clam Bake

Leianna having a whale of a time

Crazy costumes

With Capt. Steve

BIG FISH

 

 

Beach Themed Banquet

Cape Cod, we miss you already!!

- Domino

Cape Cod Bonspiel Game 4: Finals (Thistlettes)

 

In the last game against the Thistlettes, Team Bond Girls played with a lot of guts. There were a couple of ends that were set-up for some big points but the ice was a little trickier, and in the end, we could not pull it off. The ice would sometimes fall and the rocks seemed curlier at times. It needed the perfect weight, line, and a little bit of luck to get the curling gods to listen.

Overall, the Cape Cod Bonspiel was an amazing bonspiel, and Team Bond Girls were so honored to participate this summer.  We met such wonderful people, had a couple reunions with fellow club nationals alumni, and created some great memories. I'm sure Team Bond Girls will want to return to Cape Cod soon.

Here's a photo of our beautiful prize, 2nd place in the consolation event. (4th in the spiel, which is not bad)

Go Team Bond Girls!!!

- Domino

Cape Cod Curling Bonspiel Game 3: Canadian Club of Boston

It was a rough game 3 for Team Bond Girls. There's something about the semi-finals that makes us lose our momentum.  We gave up some points early on in the first and second end. Towards the middle we started to come back hanging on one point at a time. We gave up 2 3-point ends which killed us. By the eighth end, we were 5 stones behind which is possible to come back from but of course proved very difficult. We struggled a lot with the weight and had a few overcompensation with the adjustments. Maybe it's sore muscles or maybe it's nerves. Maybe we didn't rub the magic pink curling tattoo for good luck. Whatever it is, it just wasn't our game this afternoon, and the opposing team did very well keeping us from getting more points.

Well, we're going to shake it off, and tomorrow is a new day. I think we've played enough on Cape Cod's ice to get it dialed in for the final game. The main thing is for us to have fun and stay loose. Plus, best thing about the finals here is that win or lose, we'll get a prize. There's just a size difference, and yes it does matter. Here's a pic of the whale bone pin:

It's been an amazing bonspiel, and hopefully we can pull out the good old "Hollywood ending" in the last game at 8 AM EDT. Wish us luck!

- Domino

Cape Cod Bonspiel Game 2: Nutmeg Curling Club

Pink and black between the rainbow spouts.

It was fun times playing with the ladies from the Nutmeg Curling Club. We played on the middle sheet for the first time, and there were a few rough spots literally. The shot of the game in the 4th end which was Marissa's double take out for 3 was almost ruined by a Donna's double take down by the ice. Here's the play by play:

Bond girls were kind of in trouble. Blue had 2 scoring stones in the house, and Red (Team Bond Girls) had a few stones only on the edges. It was Marissa's last stone. Unfazed, Marissa executed a very beautiful take out. Jen yelled, "Hard!" Katie and Donna tried to sweep to hold the line. Halfway down the ice, Donna suddenly goes down and down goes the broom flying straight out in front of her. Katie brushes the broom away (Curling is a team sport...) while Donna continues to slide forward, collapsed on one knee.  Paul from behind the glass watched the whole thing and saw that, unbeknownst to her, Donna was very close to burning the stone with her right hand that was extended outward for some reason. At the last minute, Donna moves her hand out of the way, and the stone's path was clear to complete the take out. This made it an 8 - 1 game instead of a 5 - 3 game.

Everyone was really nice making sure that Donna was okay. It was only a small fall, and there were no injuries.  Jen also had a couple of small "stalls" on the ice prior to Donna's big spill. Sometimes there's patches of frost that forms on the outside in the path where one might be running, and it can be a little dangerous if you are not careful.  I give credit to the super kilts (made by Cindy Wood - Cinsational).  It always makes falls look so graceful even though it sure didn't feel graceful. So get one today if you want to look good: http://www.cinsationalshop.com/curling-gear.html

Bond Girls are having a great time at the spiel.  Now, looks like we have to go all the way. The next game is at 12:00 noon EDT in the semi-finals. Good curling, Everyone!

Signing off,
Domino