Tennis shoes, aliens and Wimbledon on Independence Day
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The Oregon State University Nutrition and Exercise Sciences office is collecting old shoes this month to benefit kids in the local area through the Congressional Reuse-A-Shoe Drive. The goal of the drive is to collect as many worn-out athletic shoes as possible, which will then be recycled and turned into donated sports and play surfaces around the world.
Below are six pairs of tennis shoes I donated this week. I tend to destroy about one pair of shoes per year, especially from playing tennis every summer. I guess I was waiting for a chance to make these old, holey shoes useful somehow. Lily the 12-week-old kitten was interested. She had to investigate each shoe:
My first tennis tournament of the year is this weekend, in Monmouth/Independence. Wimbledon is also finishing this weekend. I am anxious to see Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the men’s singles final and Venus and Serena Williams in the women’s singles final. But what about the faceless aliens roaming about at Wimbledon?
Someone besides Serena and Maria Sharapova is becoming famous for her bizarre/skimpy tennis outfits: American Bethanie Mattek. Though the fashion sense of this one may be lacking. The Daily Mail says her outfits “have a bit too much bounce even for a tennis player.” Read/see more: “Tennis star serves up a treat that mesmerises ballboy.” The new, trashier Anna Kournikova?
Below is the second half of the 20 lb. watermelon from last weekend. He’s a bit angrier, but equally delicious. This guy has apricot halves and dried cranberries for eyes and sugar snap peas for eyebrows. I wasn’t planning on making another goofy watermelon face, but it just happened. I was eating it with a spoon and suddenly realized that I had made an evil mouth. So I foraged in the refrigerator for suitable face bits and quickly came up with this:
This parody video series is funny: David Blaine Street Magic Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.
Have a Happy Fourth of July tomorrow!