Stinky pads

From lollergirls.blogspot.com

Very, very stinky pads. Like, hobo piss bad.

I'm lazy. I'm not going to deny it! So for the first couple of months, I just threw my bag in my trunk and forgot about it. And then it got to the point that even when I did use soap (dirty hippy, remember?) it was impossible to get the stench off my elbows. So I started dragging everything inside and laying it out in the basement in front of the dehumidifier. I even sprinkled it with my trusty baking soda, to no avail :(

So after some more handy dandy googling, I found many solutions:

Laundering them

Spraying them with 50/50 vodka and water

Aerating system I plan on eventually making

Sweat soaking satchels I also plan on making if I find out what they are filled with (baking soda and kitty litter or some other desiccant)

Get The Funk Out enzyme spray

Febreeze or perfume sprays. For the love of god, don't do this!!!

Laundry is bad. The heat and agitation will decompose the foam in your pads and mess up the elastic in the straps. Yes, it is a quick fix and sanitizing and crap, but you will just end up getting hurt and having to buy new pads very, very soon.

I know many people that claim to use vodka, but I haven't checked how effective it is. The reason it works is that when the vodka evaporates, it boils and kills the bacteria, after already having broken down its cellular wall. No bacteria, no stench. This is also a big part of what happens with the enzyme spray (it has a lot of isopropyl alcohol). I looked into getting the stuff that is specific for sports pads, but I already had a gallon of Nature's Miracle at home, due to the wonderful Herb, so why not? This stuff is wonderful! It really did make a huge difference in my elbows ^_^

Some day, I plan on buying some PVC and making the aerator system so I can just clamp everything on when I take it off, and pull it out of my bag and hang it as soon as I get home. But in the mean time, cat piss spray is awesome!

Bearings

Stolen from erikamaris.com. See? I have chemicals!

For those of you playing at home, I often pretend to be a grad student that works in a Materials Science and Engineering lab when I'm not skating. Of course, I spend all that time at work thinking about skating. After a few of hours swimming through the internet, I came to to the following conclusions:

• - It really doesn't matter what ABEC your bearings are. Unless you are a super pro speed skater, you aren't going to miraculously win every jam by spending $200 instead of $10. If anything, the more precise the bearings (higher ABEC rating [milled to more precise dimensions]) will be more liable to get stuck and damaged with the least amount of dirt. So just get the ABEC 5 or 7's and call it a day.
• 
  
• - Bearing cleaners are solvents, like acetone or orange oil (Goo Gone). Yes, you can buy specialty crap, or not. Whatever you do, make sure you dry them out very well before oiling. Some require rinsing with water, which can rust the bearings and tracks if not properly dried.
• 
  
• - Oil vs Grease. Well, most people are divided on this subject. Grease stays inside the bearing better, but will also be more viscous and cause drag. You only get a benefit from grease if you are going very fast for a long time, like an industrial machine that heats up. So just stick to mineral oils, available wherever they sell bearings for just a few bucks.

So what all did I do to ready up for the bout? Let me count the steps ^_^

1. Pull out the bearings from the wheels. I highly recommend a bearing pulling tool, seeing as how I crimped the shells on two of my bearings. If you have the ones with removable plastic sides, you can just push them out with your axle and a bit of determination (or a screw driver).
2. Wipe them down with a rag, preferably lint-less.
3. Stick them in a jar with industrial strength acetone. Swish it around until the liquid stops getting yellow/brown.
4. Pull them out, spin them while holding them in the rag, and blow out in fume hood.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 with toluene.
6. Stick in vacuum oven at 140˚ for half an hour until you are sure everything is dry.
7. Lay flat on towel and add three drops of oil on each bearing. Wait a few minutes, swivel, flip, add oil, wait, swivel and done.
8. Reinsert in wheels, making sure to keep any you completely fuck up for trophies.
9. Make sure you do this with at least one practice before a bout. You have no idea how dirty your bearings are until you see the difference!

Stupid ideas I had that were corrected by experienced skaters:

• - Teflon spray will make everything awesome!
• Don't do it! It will make the bearings lock up.
• 
  
• - WD40 is cheap and available!
• Some girls love it, some say to stay away from it.
• "Aerosol lubricants such as WD-40 and '4-way' sprays do not have anti-friction properties. Squeaks are only temporarily stopped because the spray wets the surface and then quickly evaporates. These sprays are good for releasing frozen nuts and bolts, but not for lubricating."
  
• 
  
• - If I spend all the money in the world and switch out my equipment every month, I will be the bestest derby girl evar!
• Bitch, please! Just chill and check in with reality every once in a while. Pay a little bit of attention to upkeeping what you already have and you can be as good as the best. Dedication will get you so much farther than your credit card ever will.

Here are some people that I plagiarized and stuff:

www.smbbearings.com

www.skatelog.com

www.fastgirlskates.com

www.skatelogforum.com

Jingle Brawl

Ok, so this is the main reason I've been AWOL for the past four months, for those who haven't noticed. I'm the crazy chick dancing. I'm always the crazy chick dancing! This was so much fun/stress/insanity, that I am so glad it's over/can't wait for the next one/hope I never have to do this again.

Damn, it is so difficult to get back in to the swing of this blogging thing. I can't even remember what I've already talked about, though I'm guessing not much... So this might get a bit repetitive.

SCAR: Well, the league is really starting to pick up. But after a couple of months of hard work and three interventions, I'm taking a breather. I would have taken the month off, regardless, due to finals/christmas, but the drama really made it come early. I don't know if I'll go back in the new year or not. They are putting a lot of emphasis on a Do Not Compete/Exclusivity contract that I just can't get behind. It goes against everything I know derby to be. I have visited with so many teams in a four hour driving radius that are so friendly and eager to teach, that I don't see the point to forcing skaters to not practice with other leagues. It might make sense if the leagues are more established, are competing and don't want to let their supar, supar sekrit game plans out, but all of the girls that skate on leagues at that level tell me this is bullshit. So who knows.

SVDV: I can't love these girls enough! They are always so nice and accommodating. We had our first public scrimmage a week ago, made enough to cover our costs and then some, and got two huge boxes of toys to donate! I was so nervous leading up to it, but as soon as I was in that line to skate onto the floor, the world was at peace ^_^

We only had two 20 minute halves, with a 20 minute intermission where some of the girls played musical chairs, shopping cart races, and a little skit where two girls wore antlers and beat up a santa. It was such a blast, and it went by so fast! I really wish we could have waited a couple of more months, since there were so many of us that were so nervous. The date was a bit imposed on us due to availability, but it came out pretty good in the end.

Tonight is our christmas party, and then no skating until dec 30 :( I complained last night on FB and a couple of girls in Lancaster invited me down to their practices. It really sucks that they aren't having their regular sunday morning practice, since I'll be in Lancaster saturday night supporting my roommate in his family events. I'm going to try to convince people to drive down with me tuesday or wednesday. Which, beeteedubs, it sucks that I finally finished classes and can throw myself into lab work, and the lab will be closed 23-3.

One of the things I plan on doing this time off (hahahaha, plans!) is catching up here. I want to start compiling the shit I've learned about derby, mainly so I can remember how to clean my bearings next time! And, you know, all those swaps I've been in...

uuu... hi?

Not mine, but the same on Mojos ^_^

Holy shit, it's been over two months! Wow. I think bullet points might be useful here.

- My advisor/boss ran out of money, so he made me get a fellowship that requires being a student. So for the past two months, I've been taking three classes that I will put towards a teaching certificate. I hate homework, I am so far behind!

- The idea of my fellowship is awesome, but nothing really has happened all semester. I'm supposed to be paired up with a teacher in Harrisburg to help revamp their science curriculum. We're having our "speed dating" session with the teachers next wednesday.

- I swear I've been crafting! I finished a Zombie/apocalypse swap on Odd Ducks last month, and a Dia De Los Muertos this month, and I modded one over at the Buffy forum, but I'm the only lame ass that hasn't been able to send out her package because:

- I'm a derby addict. I was getting my fix on sunday, helping out in Harrisburg doing the lineup lists, and then my friend's engine exploded and I forgot my knitting in the car that got towed to Williamsport, while I live in State College.

- Saturday before that, I went to Black Eyed Susan's Skate Shop outside of Baltimore. Marzipain is beyond amazing, and she sold me the most wonderful pair of slightly-too-small Riedell 195's. My toes haven't fallen off yet!

- Why am I skating in size 7.5 skates, instead of my size 9 R3's? Because those fuckers started giving me the worst pain on my ankle, where the right boot meets the bone on the inside. Luckily, I found someone else with big feet on the team to buy them off of me :D

- A couple of weeks before that, I went to Lancaster to watch the Dutchland Rollers, crash on the wonderful Ms. K-T Period's floor, and then attend their sunday morning practice. I love skating with other girls and on other floors, because I really need to refine my technique and make sure I'm not taking things for granted (like how wheels stick when you drag them on any floor that isn't ours).

- Give or take a weekend, I went down to Philly to their pre-tryout beginner skater training extravaganza. Mind you, I'd also gone to this the previous month.

For now, I'm "studying", "doing lab work", and traveling 2-4 times a week for derby. You might say I'm a bit occupied. One of these days I'll actually post pictures of the girls skating (including me!) so you guys don't think I'm all skates, no skater. And I'll post pictures of all the swaps I've gotten, and hopefully of any that I took before sending -_-;;

Also, I'm in charge of organizing our first bout/scrimmage in a month. Anybody want to come watch/help?

Back to school

So I decided to re-enroll in the PhD program so I could accept the NSF fellowship, and am now taking three Education classes. They aren't bad, and are even interesting, but I am so out of practice when it comes to being a student. I keep on forgetting I need to do that whole "homework" thing. But I'm trying. Now, if only I could shake this horrible headache I've had for two days. I mean, I never get headaches, but I have a feeling I have a sinus infection coming on, pressing on my eyeball.

On the good side of life, I went to RD practice monday and thursday, and will be going again on saturday. Some girls from Pittsburgh are coming to coach us. The new skates are really nice, and make such a difference compared to the rentals! Though I think I need to tighten the right one, since we were doing this thing where you skate on one foot, and raise the other one and your arms out like you're flying. I could do this ok with the left foot, but not the right, and that's my dominant foot, so I should have better balance and shit. But anyway. Really awesome.

I ran the 25/5 on monday and managed 20 laps! And then I did a couple of scrimmages yesterday that I am very proud of. The first two I was blocking, and managed to throw out a really good jammer once. But the best thing was when I jammed, and had two spindly little blockers try to stop me, and then just bounced off ^_^ Hooray for mass! Now, I know they were pulling their punches, me having scrimmaged a total of five times, but I love that I'm not afraid, and that I just want to keep on testing myself and pushing my limits. I really think I can be good at this! There were at least two laps that I managed to get through without any trouble, and their team was all experienced, while ours had I think three new ones.

I use the term "experienced" lightly. The Williamsport group was barely formed in June. But if they have been able to get that much better (than me currently) in two months, I feel quite confidant. The two teams are the Little Skull Crushers (pink and black. blej.) and the Trauma Queens (pink and yellow, currently under revision). There was some talk after practice yesterday that LSC seems to be pulling in all the new, experienced skaters, while TQ kind of has all the Fresh Meat. I originally thought that this was on purpose and that they were forming an A team and a B team, but apparently not. They want to have two A teams, and a spill over B team for FM. It sounds like a good goal. My only concern is that I don't want to be FM.

I mean, yeah, I still need to really improve my speed and form, but I'm a Dive In Head First kind of gal. I want to be out there, showing them that I am a force to be reckoned with! And one of the main things I want to work on is feeling comfortable with the contact of the pack. There were a couple of times a girl tried giving me a boost that just completely confused me until after. But the more I skate packed in, the less afraid I am of tripping, so I want to do this more! And it is totally different from when you are just doing laps; I just can't bring myself close to someone that isn't expecting to get bumped.

On other, slightly related news, Dory and Quentin gave me a late birthday present. The new Bullet for my Valentine CD (which I'm about half way through), a BfmV tee shirt, and two pairs of derby socks ^_^