Chinese think of everything

I was surfing the web for some interesting articles about the Beijing Olympics and came across the following article on CNN.com.

"BEIJING TO SHOOT DOWN OLYMPIC RAIN"

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Beijing will be shooting for the stars in a bid to stave off downpours when it hosts the Olympics Games in 2008.

Using an arsenal of rockets, artillery and aircraft, China will try to blast the clouds out of the sky, a meteorologist told a Beijing magazine, through a technique which falls under the umbrella of "cloud seeding."

"We can turn a cloudy day into a dry and sunny one by shooting the clouds less intensively than when we make rain," head meteorologist Mian Donglian for the Beijing municipal weather bureau told Time Out.

By shooting shells containing chemicals like silver iodide, or dry ice into the sky, scientists say they can create rain. China has gone so far as to set up a weather modification office that is in charge of such an endeavor.

click here to read the entire article.

Watch out clouds...the Chinese government is after you.

House Rules

I am home at last. I arrived into Rochester "International" airport at 11pm today - only about five hours late. That's the worst part of traveling to Rochester, you can never get a direct flight and there are never more than three flights a day here. So when you miss your flight you are out of luck. Ah, Rochester.

My father's first words to me were - "So, you are going to fence?" Yeah, I don't think he is too happy about my decision. My mother was nice and didn't say anything. Mama Zimmermann only hugged me and made me some amazing beef noodle soup. Yeah Mom!

It's sad but I think my parents are not too happy about their daughter moving back home. Both my parents were out of their homes/respective countries (China and Germany) by the time they were my age.

On the drive from the airport to our house I tried to calm my Dad's fears about my not being able to afford fencing and moving backwards in my career. I think I am going to have to make this speech several times to many people including my parents. However, the one moment during our conversation I thought he finally understood-he lowered his voice and with a real seriousness he said, "Zer (There with a thick German accent) are house rules. No loud music." Okay Dad. I suddenly feel 15 again.

So I am home for the next 24 or so hours before I leave for Nationals on Sunday morning. Have a great Holiday weekend everyone!

Say Goodbye

I just packed up my last few belongings. Um, more like I SHOVED my last shirt into one of the FIVE bags that I have going home with me tomorrow. Don't worry-just two of them are actually oversize.....

It's amazing how much we accumulate over time even when you aren't even trying to acquire things.

I remember when I first got to Stanford University in 1999. I think I only had one less bag with me. My father complained the whole time when he had to lug all those bags up three flights of stairs to the my room in the Burbank dormitory. Thanks, Dad.

My car is packed up and ready to be stored thanks to my friend Taualai. He basically treated the whole thing like a Tetris game- and here I thought I was good at Tetris but T-Lai can see space where no where else can. Thanks, T-Lai.

I can't believe I'm leaving California. I have left this place on and off for the past six years but this may or may not be the last time I live here.

I stopped out of Stanford for the first time after my freshman quarter in 1999 to train for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. I had a great time at the Olympics with Felicia and the rest of the USA team. I even had a chance to meet Ray Allen (NBA player who starred in my fav movie, He Got Game) and I think I offered Tommy LaSorta a twizzler. He was still on Slim Fast and was waiting to have his "sensible dinner" so he opted out of the twizzler treat.

I came back after the Olympics and decided I hated school. To be truly honest, I was depressed for a long time. How can I go from being a rock star in Sydney to being a nobody on that big Stanford campus? When you are 19 going on 20 you don't really know how to handle the stress of the Olympics followed by the stress of going to a university like Stanford. On top of that-I should talk about post-Olympic depression in another blog post. Not so much fun.

Anyways, because I was having such a bad time at school and because I couldn't wait to get back to my NYC-long distance-long term boyfriend (ex now), my second move in 2003 to train for the Olympics wasn't a problem for me. I left Stanford without regret and moved to NYC. The Big Apple was great and I have a lot of close friends there but training in a big city was nearly impossible for me. For one thing-my coach of 18 years had at some point given up on himself and in turn given up on me, on us, and on our ability to win. So-I didn't make the 2004 team to Athens, I broke up with my boyfriend, and I went back to Stanford in the fall of 2004.

Two years later and I have come to love Stanford. This is all thanks to Stanford in Moscow program and meeting a few fantastic friends and professors who have never ceased to inspire and encourage me. Spacebo, Professor Dakin!

Now it is with sadness in my heart that I leave this place behind me. The sun, the clear blue skies, the palm trees, Mexican food, Whole Foods, Jamba Juice, my hair salon, should I go on-I think I'm depressed.

BUT-even though I have packed up all my belongings and headed East, it doesn't mean that I won't be back. My fingers are crossed to come back for Stanford GSB (Graduate School of Business) program. We'll see....

So-back to that one extra bag I have. What's in it?

It's actually a pretty complex answer.

Everyone always says that home is where the heart is. It's true-I love my parents but I don't always love Rochester and no longer consider it my home.

So in my bag - I carry my friendships. They are my heart. I will build my home around them. Over the last six years I have come to develop some amazing relationships. These are the kind of people that you know you'll always be friends with throughout your entire life. You know the types, the ones that even when you get together after spending some time apart it's as if you never skipped a beat.

I have plans to live next to these people when I'm married with kids. NP and Mikey-you know you're going to be my kids' Godparents. T-Lai-you are going to run football and athletic drills for my children every morning. I see it now-"Wake up Iris Zimmermann Junior, it's time for sprints!".

To my closest friends-and you know who you are, I will never let go of our friendship even when I'm miles away. I am always there for you as you are there for me.

Shout out most especially to Nicole, Mikey, Taualai, Jamal, and Anjali. I love you guys. Buy your tickets to Beijing!

And so, as people grow up and travel to far away places they always pick up a few extra things along the way. The question for tomorrow-will they charge me for the extra baggage if I tell them that it's not just clothes inside-my close friends are in there too???? Maybe not...

Bye California. Hi snow...I mean Rochester.

Generosity

Altruism and generosity are defined by wikipedia as the practice of placing others before oneself. In Buddhism it is considered a fundamental property of human nature. Altruism can be distinguished from a feeling of loyalty and duty. Pure altrusim is giving without regard to reward or the benefits of recognition.


So why is this the topic of today's blog?

Today a friend of mine (who shall remain nameless at this point) sat down, pulled out his checkbook, and wrote me a check for $1,000 towards my training.

Although I have been trying to put together a 501(c)(3) for people to easily donate to me, and although I knew I needed to ask for sponsorships/donations/grants I was still shocked when I receieved the check.

I can't stress enough that behind every athlete out on the field, the track, the mat, the fencing strip, there is a large group of people that stand behind them. Support comes in many different forms but sometimes an encouraging word or even a donation of money can make the difference between medalling or being just another competitor.

At this moment I am overwhelmed with gratitude and only hope to be able to repay the generosity that has been shown to me.

Summer Olympic Blog

I found a Summer Olympic News Blog where you can vote for your favorite sport. There was no surprise that gymnastics was in the lead however, I was surprised to find fencing and even more surprised that fencing was not too far behind volleyball. Way to find two sports that are almost opposites in fashion-in one sport you wear little shorts and a sports bra and in the other you cover every part of your body for safety.

Click here if you want to take the survey for yourself.

The Friendly Fencer

Meet "The Friendlies", The Official Mascots of the Olympic Games

Beibei (in blue) represents the Fish, JingJing (in black) represent the Panda, HuanHuan (in red) represents the Olympic Flame, YingYing (in orange) represents a Tibetan Antelope, and Nini (in green) represents a Swallow. The colors are drawn from the Olympic Rings.

To read the full explanations click here.

Team Point Standings for World Championships

Just wanted to give the latest update on my standing to make this year's World Championship Team.

I received an email this morning with the latest rankings and as of right now I'm fourth going into National Championships. This puts me on the team since there are four spots for World Championships. However, I still need to make sure that I have a solid result at Nationals to keep me in fourth place.

Nationals Championships are on July 3rd in Atlanta Georgia.

Theoretically the results should be posted soon after the competition on the US Fencing website.

More updates to come.

I better get off this blog and start packing since I leave on Wednesday night on the red eye.

--Iris

And so it begins

The journey begins.

I have decided to try out for the Olympic Team one more time-Beijing 2008 will be the third attempt, I competed on the Sydney team in 2000 and missed the Athens team in 2004 by two points.

Wait, rewind...what I've been doing since I graduated from Stanford in December, a quick recap:

I was a scheduler on the Westly for Governor campaign in California and that all ended on June 6th when the Democrats in California made a bad decision and elected the other guy (he's going to lose to the Governator in the fall).

Okay on with the blog, now I'm headed back home to Rochester this week.

First of all, I can't believe that I'm going home. I NEVER thought I would do that. In some ways I felt like returning to Rochester would be a failure or a big step back in my plans to become an American success story. In many ways I still think it is - Rochester is a dead town with dwindling amounts of my peers who decide to stick around and pursue their futures.

But here I am-returning home to do just that.

Today my mother and I spoke about my goals and she mentioned to me how she felt (not in so many words but in her own way) that spending the next year and a half trying out for the Olympic team one more time is a risky gamble on my future and ultimately a waste of my time.

She may be right, at least on paper:

1. I'm 25 and should be in hot pursuit of a career if not already finished with some masters or other type of graduate degree. I am a Stanford grad after all - shouldn't my degree translate into dollars soon?

2. I'm 25 and living with my parents. Yes, I agree that this isn't the best option for someone my age.

3. I'm 25 and should be looking into finding a husband. I think that's less of a concern at the moment but a legitimate one at that. Training and traveling+relationships=imminent disaster.

4. I'm 25 and choosing to spend a year and a half scrounging for money since I won't be able to work. Granted that most people my age are still destitute and rely on their parents for money, however, it's a year and a half I could be working as a paralegal or something of the sort and making enough money to start saving away for retirement or those 2.5 kids I want. This is definitely a legitimate concern especially since I only have $15 dollars in my pocket/bank account at the moment.

5. I'm 25. Aren't I too old for this and three surgeries too many?

So, given all those reasons I choose to take my Stanford degree and train again anyways. This time it's not for anyone but myself.

A wise man who invented the apple computer once said at my commencement:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. " read Steve Job's entire commencement speech here

And so, there will always be nay sayers and sometimes those people will be the closest ones to you, but I'm 25 and it's about time that I follow my intuition in order to chart my own course in life.

It is with all my heart that I begin the long days of sweat, tears, and pain to pursue something that I started long ago as a six year old kid. This blog will be a dailogue of that pursuit and who knows, maybe two years from now I'll be writing a blog entitled, "GOLD is the new blog". (Check out pink is the new blog, it's amazing.)

My hope is that this blog serves as a point of reference for my friends to know where I am and how I'm doing even if I'm at a world cup in Tokyo or training in Moscow. I also hope that in some way my daring to dream will inspire you to take some risks and follow your heart.

Cituis Altius Fortius

The Olympic motto is "Citius, Altius, Fortius." These three Latin words mean "Swifter, Higher, Stronger." Baron de Coubertin borrowed the motto from Father Henri Martin Dideon, the headmaster of Arcueil College in Paris. Father Dideon used the motto to describe the great achievements of the athletes at his school. Coubertin felt it could be used to describe the goals of great athletes all over the World. source