Snow Driving with Hawaiian Shoes

Watch out, Wisconsin! The Hawaiian girl is behind the wheel with her fancy mini-van. Not only is she short, but she is Asian. To make things worse, IT'S SNOWING. What were the Bond Girls' thinking?!

There was only one bump in Domino's driving record so far. As Joel was leading our minivan to the club, he made a left turn at the stoplight when there was a yellow light. Since this was Wisconsin and not Los Angeles, Domino did not do some evasive driving to scare the locals and beat the light. Therefore, we lost Joel. He slowed down his speed and gave us directions via cell phone for us to catch up. We sped down the highway trying to find him again, and we ended up passing Joel behind. Domino said she didn't spot him behind the big rig that was blocking her way. In the end, both Bond Girls and Joel made it to the club in once piece.

Here's driving advice from Cindy who was Vice/Navigator for the car ride and our veteran of the cold weather: "Don't tramp it! You'll spin out in the snow."

So far so good. Buckle up your seat belts, everyone. Enjoy the ride!

We're Here!

We arrived in Madison at 9 am via way of Cincinnati. It was a very smooth trip with a little turbulence. We ate Chick-Fil-A for breakfast, and it was very yummy. MMM, chicken and biscuits. We were greeted by Joel, our coach, at the airport, and made our way to the hotel. The Crown Plaza is a very cool hotel with an indoor pool and jacuzzi and a 5 million dollar renovation. We are sharing it with weight-lifters, wrestlers, and junior basketball players; so it should be interesting. We were so happy to see some familiar faces from Club Nationals last year, Mary and Stephanie. Can't believe it has been almost been 1 year since we last saw them!

Practice was at 12:00 pm, and we saw the Madison Curling Club for the first time. It was amazing! There are 6 sheets. All dedicated ice. Big lockers in the locker rooms. For practice, we spent 12 minutes per sheet from sheets 2 - 6 throwing stones of both colors back and forth. We had a good feel for our deliveries, and made fast adjustments. Coach Joel gave me a few things to adjust, and it worked like a charm.

After a quick bite at KFC, we're chilling at the hotel. "The Prince and Me" is on.

5:30 pm is a meeting and reception at the club.

Will keep you updated!

-Domino

Injury Report

Domino did it again! Her left middle finger has been sliced and diced with a 1/8 inch cut from trying to prepare broccoli for dinner on Thursday night. Luckily, no blood was shed on the food. Given her track record she should stay away from sharp objects and explosive devices for the duration of the competition. With the help of "crack care," her recovery has been fast. There seems to be no hindrance on her practice today. Looks like this is only a minor injury that should not affect the rest of the competition.

5 Days to Go!

With the start of the Olympics, I am starting to get jitters. I was able to watch the opening ceremony and various events. I saw Hannah Kearney on the Moguls pull off her almost flawless performance to get her gold. I felt the adrenaline rush as she completed each of her jumps. I waited in anxiousness to see her scores. I yelled and screamed and shared in her victory. It was amazing! I listened to stories of athletes' hardships and heartbreaks. J.R. Celski (a fellow Filipino) could have severed a major artery, and here he is in his Olympic debut with a Bronze medal in Short Track Speedskating. One could not write a better story.

I love what the Olympics stands for, individuals come together to represent their country and show what they've accomplished. I saw a quote on one of the news packages: "The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." And I know that each one of these athletes started with an interest, and they built upon it. Perhaps they started competing in tournaments such as the one we'll be going to this weekend. They took their interest to each next level, learned from their experiences, strove for perfection. I can understand why people look up to these athletes as heroes. They've accomplished something that only a small percentage of the world get to do. They push limits of the body and imagination. I am truly awestruck.

So for this Club National Competition, I'd like to think that we are participating in our own Mini-Winter Olympics. It's kind of appropriate to feel this way, seeing that our tournament is happening at the same time as the 2010 Olympics. The whole world might not be watching. We might not have huge sponsors or cool montages. What we do have is a lot of heart and PINK! We'll take each day and each game one step at a time. We know that the competition is steep, but we've learned so much within these 2 years. We're not coming to Madison to do just enough. We're coming to Madison to do the best we could do, and I believe the only way to do that is to strive for a medal. Who knows where this could take us? One stone at a time...

-Domino

Oh Girls Just Want to Have Fun

This blog post is to get you reacquainted with Team Bond Girls 2010, the inside scoop. There's more to us than just 5 girls with goofy pictures and pink kilts. Let's start with the skip.

Marissa Messier...Skip
Don't let this blond bombshell, softball player, Disney producer fool you. She holds a plethora of musical information. Now, I am not talking strings and percussion. I'm talking about the kind of musicals that has jazz hands and chorus lines, swearing puppets, and stage blood. Marissa is our go to person for all that is wickedly performed in front of a live audience. She holds a poster and autograph collection that fans would die for, and knows show tunes by heart. I dare you to test her skills not only on the ice, but on obscure trivia that only the true thespian of the song and dance would know and appreciate. Break a leg, Marissa!

Cindy Wood...Third
Cindy is who we call our "ringer" from Nova Scotia. She has over 20 years of curling under her belt, outside of curling she is our architecture master. She left Canada studying snow affects on building structures to sunny California with our earthquake reinforcements. One day, she will design our Southern California dedicated curling facility. Plus, Cindy's an expert with the needle, on the sewing machine that is. She creates anything from bags to pillowcases to iPod covers and even our beautifully coordinated kilt and broom bag. She'll always be there if you need her for a stitch.

Jennifer Gamboa...Second
Gamboa has a plethora of hidden talents. She can do your taxes, design a cake, knit you a hat, and curl right handed (she's a lefty). There's nothing that Jen can't teach herself to do. If you have any doubts, just ask to see her hot dog cake. Yes, you read that correctly. With her chic hair style and pink streaks, you better watch out, curling world. This spunky renaissance woman has put curling at the top of her list to master.

Donna Umali Mendoza...First
Donna does not fit the image of a traditional curler. She's too short, too thin blooded (being born and raised in a tropical environment), too busy...yet curling does not discriminate and has somehow found it's way into her life. Donna has spent the passed few years of her life trying to "make it" in the entertainment industry, and now that passion is shared with trying to "make it" in the curling world. Look out competitors, she's got her eyes set on the gleam of medals.

Joel Danger Dietz...Coach
For the first time, Team Bond Girls have registered an official coach. The Bond Girls met Joel at last year's Club National Tournament in Utica, NY. Joel showed his dangerous side when him and his team from Wisconsin took first place. Joel works as a Lab Technician, but he has also served his country with a tour in Iraq for the National Guard. Joel, Team Bond Girls is very honored to have some of that "danger" rub off on them.

Jennifer Lindsay...Fifth
Lindsay will not be able to join Team Bond Girls in person at the competition this time around because of scheduling conflicts, but she will be there in spirit. Jen is a GPS Cryptologic Systems Engineer by day and a talented musician by night. She pursues her passion by being a member of the youtube orchestra and is promoting her new cd. You're looking at the next American Idol perhaps...or Supreme Commander of the Satellite Armada.

Additional Bond Girls Support Team:
Jon Wilson "M" - Every Bond needs a superior.
Fred Maxie - Behind the scenes strategist and motivator.
Paul Mendoza - Donna's Husband, also a member of Team Zissou.
Matt G - Graphics whiz, logo designer, Jen G's Husband, also a member of Team Zissou.
Justin Roussie - Cindy's fella and #1 fan
Nick Kitinski - President of Hollywood Curling Club and die-hard Bond Girls supporter
Ryan Berdan - Hot tub provider, loyal friend and fan, Team Zissou Vice
Liz Nolan - Adoptive Mom of Team Bond Girls, Owner of www.sewwhatnow.com
Joe Cosentino - Adoptive Dad of Team Bond Girls

All of our amazing friends and family who give us tons of love and support. We love you all!

Yoga-tastic!

Skip Messier and Second Jen did Nicole's Mixed Level yoga class tonight. It was a super sweaty, great work out. We made it one step closer to becoming yoga masters and are ready to wow the other teams at Nationals with our crow poses and backbend, walking hands up the wall move.

And watch out for our handstands!

10 days and counting....

Injury Report

Donna's got a little sprain on her right foot. It doesn't seem to be a very serious injury, and it's not on the balancing foot (left) which is essential for curling. She has been resting it for the passed couple of days and will have to stay off her feet as much as possible. Donna will just have to focus more of her training on other areas such as arms and core.

No other injuries to report.

2 Weeks & Counting

So it is exactly 2 weeks before we arrive in Madison, WI. Already preparations have been made. Airline tickets have been purchased, hotel room reserved, contact has been made to the local Wisconsinites, bake sales galore, etc. At the same time, there's been a lot of press for curling in general for the Olympics. Hollywood Curling is trying to ride the wave, bring in more curlers, and help build up our club. This year is definitely like no other.

Seeing that time is flying by really fast, I thought it appropriate to begin the countdown. 13 days to go.

So there's still lots more to do. Cindy's compiling our mixed cd. All the gals contribute a couple of songs, and we'd play it everyday, pretty much all day. It gets us ready for the tournament. I need to get on that car rental...We still have a handful of fundraising events to complete. Pack! Plus, there's a few open houses and practice sessions that we need to participate in. Oh, and in the meantime, we have a very handy dandy workout log that needs to be filled in periodically...I think so far we're doing a pretty good job. Keep up the good work, Bond Girls!

-Domino

Some pix of the Bond Girls with John Shuster

John Shuster - Up Close & Personal

So I wasn't sure what to expect when we were told that John Shuster was going to be in town, and that he was going to visit our curling club during the Open House which was held on January 31st. John Shuster, for all those new to the curling world, is the Captain (which in curling terms would be called the "Skip") of the US Olympic Men's Team at this year's Olympic Games held in Vancouver. He was actually scheduled to be on the Jay Leno show on Monday, but he did a short stop at the club since the timing was perfect.

Well, we had a mad rush of people at the Open House. We had the largest turnout ever which is 142 people. The largest we had to date was 80. I think a lot of that was generated because of John. We were frantically trying to accommodate all these people, and then standing in the back of the room was Jen and right next to her was this stranger. I meant to look up his photo on the internet earlier...anyway, something clicked. I was frantically waving hi to John Shuster like he was a long lost friend. I had to put myself in check because I didn't want to scare him since has no idea who we are, but at the same time, I wanted to make sure he felt welcome.

Anyway, John seemed really quiet and shy which surprised me....you see the Olympic Trials were really intense, and John had one of the loudest yells. I was kind of expecting a really angry guy. He was shuffled into the area, visited every open curling group, was happy to take pictures, and was open to modeling out our Hollywood Curling shirts. Team Bond Girls, of course, had a group photo with him. We monopolized about 3 hours of his time, and afterward we went out for drinks at Barney's Beanery. We had a ton of fun.

The next day was his interview with Jay Leno. A few curlers, including the Bond Girls in pink kilt form, were able to attend. We had access to the green room which was fun, and we screamed our hearts out whenever we could. I'm sure Nick, TJ, and Ryan did most of the screaming. (One of the other gals should be writing a blog about this experience; so I won't go into too much detail.) Well, I was listening to the interview, and one thing that Leno was trying to articulate was that John and his team was not like highly endorsed superstars who would scoff at participating in the Olympics because they wouldn't get paid enough. John was just an ordinary American guy who happen to have mad curling skills, and he was going to get a chance to represent America not once but twice, plus he was really humble about it. I thought, if I ever had that opportunity, I would like to follow John's example.

That night, I met up with John and the curling crew at a bar in Los Feliz and just hung out. He's about our age; so it was easy. There were a lot of laughs and a few memorable moments. At the end of the night, it was hugs and handshakes for everyone. I feel really honored to have had the opportunities that curling has given me...a place to exercise, to spend time with the husband and kick his butt, a chance to travel and compete in competitions, an opportunity to rub elbows and talk face to face with an Olympian, and open other avenues of dreams and aspirations that I never would have thought of before.

John, thank you so much for spending so much time with us. You are a great representative for the the US. We are all very proud of you and your accomplishments. We wish you love, luck, and great ice in Vancouver.

-Domino