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Brooke Castile & Ben Okolski Retire

The announcement made its way onto the USFSA's website on the thirteenth, 2007 US National Pairs Champions Brooke Castile & Ben Okolski are moving on. Both say they will continue with skating as coaches, and Brooke wants to also work as a choreographer. Ben is focussing on school as he wants to get a degree in accounting.

Much luck to this amazingly beautiful pair. No doubt they will succeed in whatever they tackle in life! It's been a great ride!

Wildride!!

This weekend my schedule is jam packed. I am getting a cell phone in my name - and a new phone - I'm booking the dining reservations for Erin and my trip in November to Disney World... but the biggest excitement (and this may sound really pathetic) is that Wildride starts next week and my involvement starts on Saturday with rehearsals. To say I'm overly excited is an understatement.

It's so weird that I'm still so giddy over this time of year. By the end of the summer I'll be dragging, as it looks like I'll be working more this summer than last, but I still have so much fun and miss it when it's over. *sigh*

Cannot wait. Photos to come as soon as I can shoot some!

Date released for the 2010 Iditarod Race DVD

The documentary entitled "Chasing History" from Iditarod Insider is set to release June 1! SO EXCITING! Make sure to get your copy!

Mickey speaks @ Character Meet & Greets

not sure how I feel about this. thoughts?

Czisny's new, surprising, direction

With Summer coming on quickly, even here in Alaska, figure skating fans begin to look back on seasons past while waiting to hear the news that determines what to expect for the season ahead. Competitive skaters have been free for over a month to take vacations, finish school, and tour before deciding what's next.

However a few skaters have already given details into what lay ahead for them. The most surprising, to most, following the USFSA skaters is that of Alissa Czisny's announcement that she is not finished with us yet and that she's made the difficult decision to part with her longtime coach and begin taking lessons from 1994 World Champion Yuka Sato and her husband, US National Pairs Champion, Jason Dunjen.

The announcement was made earlier this week in an USFSA press release.

"Having enjoyed taking lessons from Yuka Sato in the past, I am looking forward to working with her and Jason Dungjen as my full-time coaches," Czisny said. "I'm very excited for them to teach me everything they know."

Czisny's skating is very similar in style to Yuka's, where Czisny needs to improve is her mental toughness during competition. Working with Brian Boitano - probably the steeliest competitor the US has ever had other than Michelle Kwan - has not helped the 2009 US Champion, and she faltered this past season, not even coming close to making the Olympic Team.

It's not certain, Czisny's coming season, but a summer alone will probably not show much improvement in the headcase department - not when you consider Jeremy Abbott winning his second National title only to, once again, bomb at the bigger international events following Spokane (aka Worlds and that little competition known as the Olympics). A coaching change may be what she needs to keep motivated, but she won't get the results she's desiring until she gets those nerves under control. Not sure Sato & Dunjen are the ones for the job... but then, who is?

In other coaching changes news, World and US National Champion Kimmie Meissner has announced her comeback and a coaching change. She will be coached by Chris Conte in Virginia.

Movie Review: He's Just Not That Into You

Just finished watching the Romantic Comedy: "He's Just Not That Into You". This was given great reviews, and had a star studded cast. Yay for them.

It's based on a best selling book on Romance and the modern woman's role within it. To me it makes no sense, as basically the moral of the story is - don't wait out for "Mr. Right" so much as "Mr. Right Now" and that anything goes. We have Scarlett (The Harlot) Johanson who is looked on with sympathy as she plays the knowingly "other woman" who helps destroy a marriage. And she gets upset after a while when she realizes the pig played by Bradley Cooper would rather have his cake and eat it too, why any 'other woman' feels this way is beyond me. The guy is a cheater, DUH! He cares for only himself!

Ben Afflec and Jennifer Aniston play a couple who've been together for seven years. Afflec's character does not believe in marriage and makes the argument that who needs a piece of paper to show love and committment. Aniston kicks him out because she needs a marriage. She goes through the rest of the movie feeling she made a mistake, that Afflec was right, and takes him back (he finally asks her to marry him, so it's somewhat positive).

All in all the movie forces morality out the window. At the end it seems those that don't follow God's laws are the ones that win teh most. The wife who's husband cheats on her, and lies about smoking, ends up in a small appartment but throughout the whole movie is the one to blame for why he's left the marriage. She is too strict, not fun, and sees all of this at the end of the movie. Cooper's character comes out looking like teh humorous champ.


This is probably the worst chick flick I've watched in a while. Definitely not one to pick up, IMO.