Together on Tuesday takes the Gold!!

It is probably apparent from my title that this week we are writing about the Olympics.  Do we watch them?  What do we think about them? What Olympic sport would you do? 

Summer Olympics
Well, I'm going to probably start right off spoiling my entry this week...as I mentioned in a previous entry (ToT: Brain Download!) I just don't care for the summer Olympics...so in the spirit of being honest, I admit that I did not watch one single minute of the summer Olympics this year.  There.  I said it.  Go ahead, hate on me for a little bit...then come back finish reading.  I understand.  I just don't have a Summer Olympic event that I am attached to - it just isn't there.  I would have enjoyed the opening ceremonies, but I was on a plane from Germany back to the U.S. during that...I think...those few days are a little fuzzy because of all the travelling we were doing.  Although, I must say that from seeing some of the news coverage during the Olympics that I was completely shocked at how scandalous the sport of Badminton could be.  Who knew?  Until now, I thought that the only thing that could even remotely be controversial about Badminton was their use of the word 'shuttlecock'...

However, not having even watched the Olympics, and going only by news coverage I still managed, like the rest of the world, to just fall in love with Gabby Douglas.  Be sure you check out Tish's blog over at Just Gets Sweeter to read about her connection to Gabby! 

I actually much prefer the summer X Games over the summer Olympics.  I think the events in the summer X Games are more exciting.  Plus they have motorized sports, like moto-cross races and stunt competitions and things like that.  This year, X Games upped the excitement with the live Hot Wheels Double Loop Challenge.  My mom and I saw this live on TV the day they did it (poor Mark, he kept waiting to see it, then had to leave and missed seeing it live by less than five minutes).  They make it look so effortless, but can you imagine if one teeny little thing had gone wrong??  Whew...and no, I will NOT be trying that one in the Sentra, LOL!

I really had a moment of pride this summer when I realized that my mother who is in her 60's and I were sitting there watching the X Games BMX Bike competition - and we were BOTH really enjoying it.  My proudest moment was when my mother said, 'that kid is just trying to look like Shawn White'...OMG...my mom knows who Shawn White is...awesomeness points for MY Mom!!

Yes...this sweet lady holding her tiny dog in a basket:

really enjoyed watching this:

I was as surprised as the rest of you!

Winter Olympics
Okay...so here is my chance to redeem myself with you guys...I LOVE the winter Olympics...did you hear that??  I LOVE THE WINTER OLYMPICS!!  Everything from the skiing, snowboarding, speed skating, luge, to the curling...YES...the curling!  During the last winter Olympics I had a random day off, and me and Eli (we did not have Austin yet) were fixated on the winter Olympics.  As I mentioned in the Brain Download blog entry...would it be weird, or just wrong to take a day or two off just to watch the winter Olympics??  I think not.  Mark probably wouldn't take a vacation day for that (I get a lot more vacay days than he does), so it would be me and the dogs cuddled up on the couch with our blankets watching.  Can't wait! 

Most certainly if I were going to be an Olympic athlete, my sport would be would be from the winter Olympics.  I think figure skating would be fun and it is a little more artistic than some of the other winter Olympic sports, so I would probably pick that...minus Tonya Harding's bodyguard and his baseball bat, of course.

And yes, you probably figured that I also really enjoy the winter X Games as well!

What about you?  What do you love/hate about the Olympics?  Did you watch? 

Together on Tuesday - Nicknames...line up and get your nicknames - I hand them out daily!

Nicknames: did you have one growing up? How did you get it? Do people still call you that? Have you given your kids dogs nicknames?  Other people?

My Nicknames from Others

Growing up, I hated my name – however, my middle name is Lynn…one of those sort of ‘filler names’ so to speak…no offense to any Lynn’s out there who love their names…but to me some names just seem like filler names that, in my mind, exist to serve as middle names that easily compliment a longer or more difficult first name to match to a middle name. Point being that while growing up I hated my name – but I hated the idea of going by my middle name even more. No win. Especially when you are 7 or 8 and in those days, the only other Charlottes were peoples’ grandmothers, great aunts, or something like that (however, maybe now my name has taken a more trendy turn because it seems to have become a more popular name for baby girls in the last year or two). At any rate – leading us back to the topic at hand, nicknames, did I have one? Well…ish, maybe…I did not really have a solid nickname that everyone who knew me called me all/most the time over the long haul of the years of my childhood. Sure, there are several close friends or family who regularly (and still do) shorten my name to Char, which is fun - I like that they feel comfortable enough with me to do that, but its not like I had the teachers call me that in school. Any nicknames that I had were usually just names that certain people would call me at home. Which seems odd given the above discussion of how I felt about my name growing up.

There was one person that had the special privilege of calling me something that no one else was/is allowed to – Charlie. It seems logical to shorten my name to Charlie, but that privilege was reserved for one very special lady – my Great Aunt Beverly. She called me that growing up – it was a special thing between her and I, and I would very get upset if anyone else tried to get in on that. So, when that wonderful lady passed away in December, 1989 with her went the privilege of being able to call me Charlie. My family knows not to, and if anyone I know or meet calls me that, I will usually correct them that I do not go by that – sometimes explaining why, but not always – depending on who it is.

Now, my Mom always has, and always will, call me her ‘Baby Girl’…I am her youngest, the baby of the family, so she calls me that a lot.

Now – in the college years…I had plenty nicknames, but I won’t go too much into that…most of them were born as a result of inside jokes with my college buddies and some would probably be offensive to those who don’t lend themselves to my particular brand of humor!

A few years ago, our friend Tom started calling me Soot Lady...I mention this one in particular because of the uniquely funny progression from which this name came.  It all started one evening...drinking involved?...Given.  We were all hanging out, and at some point, Tom told me I was being snotty to him...I am sure I WAS...LOL!  So, he decided to start calling me Snot Lady.  Got it.  Check.  We're good.  However, a short time later, I sent him a text, attempting to sign it as 'Snot Lady'...however...that handy-dandy T9 (oh, yeah, back in those days...remember T9 anyone??...crickets chirping...didn't think so!) auto-corrected, changing my signature to 'Soot Lady'.  Tom thought that was so epically funny that I instantly became Soot Lady as far as he was concerned!

Mark typically calls me Sweets.  Just a simple shortented version of Sweetie or Sweetie Pie.  I like that he calls me Sweets.  Neither of us are very super lovey dovey verbally, so this sort of fits us.  I think it is...well...sweet of him!

My Nicknames for Others

I don’t have any children, so as you saw above, I modified it for the dogs – which are my kids. I have no less than ten million and twelve nicknames for my dogs! At the rate I come up with them, Mark is usually a nickname or two behind! Here is a short sampling:

Eli (full name: Eli Robert): Eleey Bob, The Bobber, The Bob, Eli Roberto, Bugaboo, The Bug, Little Dog, Booty Dog (because he tries to sleep up against my booty!), Grumpy Old Man, and Shifty (sort of a word play on him acting a little shady sometimes...you know, those shifty eyes of his - this is a brand new one from yesterday).

Austin (full name: Austin Vega): Austie, Austie Vega, Big Dog, Tall Dog, Crazy Man, Crazy Pants, Stinky Gonzalez, and as of last night...Stilty (because he is just so...dang...tall).

Collectively, I refer to the dogs as ‘The Boys’...but as of last night, I'm also collectively referring to them as 'Shifty & Stilty'.

As far as people…yes, I give out LOTS of nicknames. The one that has really stuck is my sister’s…I have called her Sissy ever since I began speaking – I have friends who probably could not tell you her first name because all they’ve ever heard was ‘Sissy’ and subsequently just started calling her that themselves.

Mark, of course, has not escaped being nicknamed either. His has stuck pretty well too. I call him Bear. I'm not exacly sure of the origin of my calling him Bear, but I believe it started out as something more than just Bear and eventually getting shortened down to just that. He doesn't seem to mind it, at least he's said he doesn't, and he continues to answer to it so it has just stuck. I guess I'll find out for sure - as in whether he gets upset that I've told all of you that I call him Bear!

I also have given (and have helped in giving) other people I know nicknames as well. You just can't sit in an office all day five days a week observing the people around you and not give them nicknames, it just isn't possible - at least for me and my closest work pals...and that is all I will say about that! I also will not deny giving nicknames to complete strangers - which are typically based on stupid things I see them doing. 

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So, my fine readers...please do tell...all of your embarassing nicknames over the years??!!!