Continuing the Job Hunt

I just finished applying for a position with the Department of Health and Services: Public Assistance office in Kenai. The offices are in the same building as my dad's office (VA Clinic) so that would be cool. Plus I'd be back down home where more of my lifelong friends are. So I'm hopeful, but at the same time I am still looking for stuff here in Anchorage as well.

One thing that I would have to give up that I am not looking forward to if I were to move back to Kenai is giving up my job at Wildride. Even though it's already starting to drag me down (which is funny since I haven't really worked that much this summer) ha ha I will definitely miss it. I'd also not get to work as much with the Iditarod (probably would just go back to being a trail guard and nothing more). So there's a lot for me to consider.

In other news I walking down memory lane as I continue to put my skating tapes on DVD. Watching stuff from the 2002-2003 season at the moment. How I miss Jenny Kirk, Angela Nikodinov, Scott & Dulebohn and Orscher & Lucash... among others.

Sale & Pelletier Call It Quits

After months of speculation and rumor, the truth is finally out: the love story is over, Jamie Sale & David Pelletier's marriage is at an end. The duo have been seperated for eighteen months, according to their statement to the press earlier this week, and the announcement seems to be no more than a formality. This was the first marriage for Sale, and Pelletier's second (his first ended in divorce and it was soon public knowledge that he had entered a relationship with Sale).

The partnership was magic on the ice, but at times rocky off. Depending on if you are team Sale or team Pelletier it seems the story changes as to who is the one most to blame. Still, the pair is splitting amicably enough that they will continue skating together as well as sharing custody of their son Jesse (born in 2007).

As a fan of this pair I am deeply saddened by the turn of events. Having had to endure the long wait for the rumors to be proved true or denied, on one hand I'm relieved, but I was hoping for a better outcome. Now rumors abound as to who strayed from the marriage and with what other skaters. I say leave them be! Who cares! Me, personally, I'm hoping that through skating together they rekindle something, for the sake of their family. I'm one of those diehard dreamers who believes the fairytale.

It's another reminder that the era is over, I suppose.

Photo (C) Associated Press, 2002.

It's Oh So Quiet

I have a few ideas for blog posts, with very little time to get them done, so as you can imagine it's been very quiet on here but that's not what I want it to be.

Work is going well, still hard at work for the US Census Bureau. I was off for a week due to a horrible head cold/sinus infection thing. Had no voice, can't man the phones if I can't talk. Went back - finally - this Tuesday. Missed out on all of the fun summer weather we've been having along with the Memorial Day Weekend festivities. I did a ton of scrapbooking and am almost done with the family trip to disney in 2007 album. After that I will begin working on the album for my trip with Erin in 2009.

Wildride opened on May 20th. I was there for opening. There are a few minor cast changes (to be expected as Jen Seavey is pregnant so she is not the host this year, and since Fridge past away at teh end of the season last year the lead dog training is back to square one and Kosher is barely where Fridge was when we brought the scene to the show in 2008.), but basically it's all the same. They've added kennel tours in place of the morning show. I haven't gotten to work much, and that's in part to the fact that they haven't had as much interest so far. Hopefully that picks up as the summer kicks it into high gear this month.


so that's all for now. Hopefully I will be more active on the blog soon.

formspring.me

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/tonichelle

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.