benlog

The title refers to something I am drinking as I write this. Being a fan of egg nog, I was pleasantly surprised by this beverage-like incarnation of said flavor. Quite a bit healthier than the real stuff and much safer than an attempt at making the Real Stuff about a year ago in Oakland.

A while ago I read an article about how to write a good weblog, and one of the tips was to have a really good title to your post. That way your readers know what you are really going to be writing about, instead of when you just come up with some post title that at the time you think is clever or perhaps clever in a tongue-in-cheek way but really gives no clue about what’s going on. I’ve been wanting to write some kind of update about my curling, but just haven’t been able to come up with a good title for a post. With all the letters and cards I’ve been getting from readers requesting an update, though, I do believe it’s time to just jump in and do it, title or no title…

Michigan Man Curls More, Becomes Bespectacled, Has Breakfast

Ferndale, MI - The Detroit Curling Club has seen record numbers of new members this season, and one of those new members is Ypsilanti Township resident Benjamin Levy. Read the rest of this entry »

As I mentioned, last Wednesday I joined the Monday night curling league in addition to Wednesday. Monday has come and gone, and with it my first real curling game. The final score was 3 to 10, with my team on the losing side of that. Even so, it was a lot of fun and I think the real experience helped me out a lot. By the end I got a better feel for aiming, although getting the right weight (secret curling language for how much momentum you give the stone) is still a bit of a problem. I did get a few rocks in play, but sent many more all the way through the house (another secret curling term) and out at the back. Fortunately, I somewhat redeemed myself with my sweeping. I think I’ll make a good sweeper, which will work out well since I expect to be the lead (not-so secret curling term for the person who throws first and sweeps a lot) for a while.

The other good news is that this second day of curling hurt me much less than the first. There’s a lot of crouching down and putting weight on your knees in and quads in curling that just doesn’t happen in my day-to-day life. So far, though, it seems like I’m adjusting to that pretty quickly.

Why aren’t you curling right now?

Today was the first day of class and the Wednesday league, although for the first to league nights it’s going to be classes as well. After a slippery start, I think I pretty much got it down. I have to work on power, and everyone always has to work on targeting. I added a night to my schedule, so now I’m doing class and league Wednesdays and another league night on Mondays.

Also, in case it wasn’t clear in my last post, please do not buy me the referenced calendar. I mentioned it only because I have a fascination with unexpected combinations. Of course, a curling themed* toaster would make a great holiday gift for me.

* it turns out that themed is not a real word. Please accept my appologies.

It’s the eve before I start curling. Tomorrow evening I will take to the ice for the first time and try not to fall down too much. There has been a bit of curling news that I haven’t written about before - there will be TV coverage, although it seems like the majority is on the Canada-only network TSN. Last week I went to a welcome meeting for new members at the Detroit Curling Club and that was a very good introduction to the club and the facilities there. And this week it begins for real…

The motivation for writing anything today, though, comes not from my own excitement about getting ready to curl, but from this news piece about a 2006 curling-themed calendar. If you were to try and come up with some imagery for a curling calendar you might think of ice, brooms, rocks, maybe other winter type things like snow or ice. Perhaps some people would think of older imagery from some version of the history of the game. I myself might make it all about Scott Paper Towels. Here’s a quote from the article -

“I couldn’t, I’m too shy,” said Jennifer Jones, the defending Scott Tournament of Hearts champion from Winnipeg. “It’s very European.

“If the right people want to do it I think it’s kind of a fun idea and innovative and hopefully it will get curling some publicity.”