LUNA-TICS TEAM ROOM: Year-round "Looney" fun.

[jayne_jayney]

Sarah (DAKOTA)

Way to go, Sarah! Congratulations on earning the Concept2 donation, and freeing your reindeer, Dakota (since you were originally from South Dakota !).

I'm so happy to have freed my reindeer! And such a perfect name; everyone who knows me in real life knows that I'm constantly spouting off South Dakota trivia. Congrats to everyone who has freed their reindeer and claimed lights, harnesses and tail wags.

And Jayne, I'm impressed with your half marathon! I attempted one on Friday, but didn't make it through.

Thanks Sarah. You'll get there soon, I have no doubt about that. I have to admit, I found it hard going from 16k to 19k, but once the finish was in sight it got easier again.

Congrats on freeing your reindeer, that's a big achievement in itself, hoping to claim mine in the next few days.

[Kona2]

Harold is another Canadian teammate who has met the Concept2 donation challenge and earned some good $$$ towards the charity of his choice. And he's claimed his reindeer! His reindeer is used to pretty cold weather, so we're going to call him Tundra.


Harold (TUNDRA)

[Kona2]

Woohoo! Rosi has claimed her reindeer by meeting the Concept2 donation (and then some!). Her reindeer is Bella !


Rosi (BELLA)

[Kona2]

And, one more reindeer (for the moment!) is trotting out of the reindeer stables. David A has met the Concept2 donation and freed up his reindeer, too. David has rowed more meters than the circumference of our planet, so I figure that's pretty close to making a single orbit around the globe....and his reindeer is Orbit. Well done !


David A (ORBIT)

[DGently]

Howard (TURBO)

Howard's red motorcycle looks like it could go far fast ! Some of the world's fastest motorcycles have some pretty fancy names - and you really need to be able to call your reindeer without consulting the dictionary, so I'm going for simple is best. We'll call his reindeer Turbo.

Thank you very much. I really like that name. Wish I did have a turbo too.

[Kona2]

Whoa - there were a lot of busy folks on this team yesterday night and this morning! Bunches of reindeer!


Marty (HANZ)

As we've noted before, Marty rides a Bike Friday folding bike. I love my Bike Friday bike. It's the kind of bike that puts a smile on your face when you ride down the street. I bet Marty gets a smile on his face, too. Last year, Marty's reindeer was Crusoe with the connection being that Robinson Crusoe had his man Friday to help him survive on the island. This year, Marty's reindeer is Hanz after one of the co-founders of the Bike Friday company. Two brothers, Alan and Hanz Scholz, founded Bike Friday in the late 1990s. Their store is in Eugene, Oregon and you can go online for a tour of their factory set up. As part of Cycle Oregon, there are often stops in Eugene, and I was able to test ride a couple of bikes before I ordered the one that I wanted. It's not easy making money by making and selling bikes - I don't think there's a lot of profit in it. But what you do see is a lot of people all over the world who write about their experiences with their Bike Friday bikes. So maybe it's a cult thing. There is definitely an appeal to those who like to travel the world -- and I always think that one of the best ways to see the world is on a bike. Of course, now that we are galactic, best to have the Concept2 rocketship, Luna.

Congratulations, Marty, on earning your Concept2 donation and freeing your reindeer. Thanks also for posting your profile picture with your Bike Friday. And Hanz is a better reindeer name than Alan. No offense to any Alans out there.

[Kona2]

I thought it was pretty cold here in Colorado, and I guess we're sharing that wealth with some neighboring states. Andrea definitely needed her ski jacket when she claimed her reindeer, Frost. Congratulations, Andrea, on achieving the Concept2 donation and claiming your reindeer. Btw, I don't think you got your reindeer last year, so way to go in getting it this year !


Andrea (FROST)

[Kona2]

Yep, it's reindeer games all right....we've been getting some complaints that the Flight School reindeer are buzzing the airport towers....who knew that we would need a naughty and nice list for our reindeer?!

Stuart says he uses rowing for when the weather's not good enough for running. About the only time I worry about being outside for sports is when there's Lightning in the area, so Stuart's reindeer is Lightning! Congratulations, Stuart, on earning the Concept2 donation and freeing up your reindeer.


Stuart (LIGHTNING)

[Kona2]

Woohoo! Anita's earned the Concept2 donation (plus a lot more!) and has claimed her reindeer also. Since we named her reindeer Zatopek last year (after the great CZE sportsman Emil Zatopek), I'm naming her reindeer Elke this year. Anita has two dogs: Elke and Emil, and I'll bet she tries to make sure things are fair for both of them. It's really pretty easy to treat our pets equally - they never know exactly what kind of treat the other dog or cat gets, but they know that a treat was given and they want one too. We name our reindeer in the interest of peace and fair play. Congratulations, Anita !



Anita (ELKE)

[Kona2]

Ron (DANCER) has eclipsed the 300,000 m Holiday Challenge milestone....and earned the flashing red harness of a lead reindeer! And, I see that he is definitely working on the swagger....

[Kona2]

Whoa....such a clatter of hooves....hard to hear anything that's going on around here with all those reindeer ! And I see that three more reindeer have been claimed (we'll get to those soon-ish).

Welcome back to two returning really young rowers: Adian and Akira ! Never too early to get them started!

29 OUTSTANDING !! ! Day 12 or 13 of 27 !

Season meters as of /365 = 73,354,552 m

Total meters on the day = 643,119 m

Oars in space (participation) = 38 percent

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

2.3 MM Jay
1.15 MM Dan W
1.1 MM Peter G
750 K Zander - a cool three-quarters of a million !
750 K Stuart - also a cool three quarters of a million !
550 K Diana
500 K Ross - a cool half million
450 K Greg C
400 K Bernie
350 K Tim K
250 K Andrea
200 K Steven
150 K Terry
150 K James G
150 K Karyn

Thanks, everyone, for rowing and ski-erging with us!

Akira 170 m
Adian 220 m
K2 m
Lily 3,000 m
Tristan 3,000 m
Mike M 3,011 m
Gene m a double double
Nataliya 3,500 m
Jim 4,000 m
Sorin 4,587 m
Lynne 5,000 m
Rivka 5,000 m
Sam 5,000 m
Paul S 5,003 m
Zander 6,000 m
Ross 6,371 m
Marty m
Tony m ...I was sure that there was some obscure math fact I was supposed to see...but then I realized that like Minnie says "sometimes a number is just a number" ... especially when it gets you to a Holiday Challenge total of m (you're a clever reindeer...)
Cathie 7,500 m
Rosi 7,800 m
Diana 7,890 m
Marie 8,000 m
Melissa 8,000 m
Ronnie 8,100 m
Bobbie m ...the stars are aligned!
Terry B 9,622 m ... workin' for that reindeer!
David W (AZ) 10,000 m
Harold 10,000 m
Greg C 10,332 m
bg 10,516 m
Minnie m hula hula
Stephen m
Howard 11,216 m
Andrea 11,246 m
Anita m
Norma m
Mike G 11,750 m
Christa 12,287 m
Stuart m .. a palindrome to capture a reindeer!
David T 14,000 m
Sarah 14,086 m
Bernie 16,051 m
Jay 17,090 m
Jayne 21,097 m
Karyn 21,097 m
Ron 21,097 m
Peter G 21,531 m
Dan W m for day 222...
David A 23,638 m
Steven 24,178 m
Ed 25,000 m
Richard T 36,266 m
Tim K 40,000 m
James G 43,327 m

[Kona2]

Congratulations, Marie, on earning your Concept2 donation (and then some!). You've freed up your reindeer - and oh the dilemma of naming yours! There are so MANY cool things about Madison and Wisconsin in general that there were almost too many choices (say it isn't so!). The top contenders for cool things were the 52K Birkebeiner Cross-Country Ski Race that goes between Cable and Hayward, and The House on The Rock with its infinity room. The Birkie is an 88 mile trail system, so the American Birkebeiner ski race has grown from a single race to what is now a destination, and some say a lifestyle where you can ski, run and bike along the various trail systems year round. Pretty sure we've talked about the Birkebeiner before, but here's the write up from Wiki: The late Tony Wise who looked to his Norwegian heritage and patterned the ski marathon after the Birkebeiner Rennet, which had been held in Norway since 1932, founded the American Birkebeiner in 1973. Both events honor and re-create a historic Norwegian event when in 1206, two warrior soldiers, called "Birkebeiners" because of the birch-bark leggings they wore, skied infant Prince Haakon to safety during the Norwegian civil war. Prince Haakon subsequently became King of Norway, and the Birkebeiner soldiers became a Norwegian symbol of courage, perseverance and character in the face of adversity. Good stuff.

The House on the Rock is something that sure isn't on the radar of those outside of Wisconsin, but wowzer...it's a major tourist attraction. The house is an architectural wonder that is built on a spire of rock, and currently has 14 rambling rooms filled with unusual collections. The Infinity Room juts out into airspace somewhat like the Grand Canyon's new Skywalk platform. There are over 3000 windows in the infinity room.

Infinity Room..just don't go beyond....



Marie (BIRKIE)

[Kona2]

Mikkel's kind of been flying under the radar, quietly zipping along and getting close to that million meter mark. Mikkel is from Sarasota, and hooboy....lots of history there. Still, I am turning to the televised show MASH, and calling his reindeer....Radar.


Mikkel (RADAR)

[Kona2]

Hooboy....Teresa's successful completion of enough meters to satisfy the Concept2 donation not only freed up her reindeer, it unleashed the Trojan Rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It is a true bunny trail episode...and here's how it happened.

Teresa is from Olympia, WA and while I have not been there just yet, my godson's sister is a cake artist there at Wagner's European Bakery and Cafe. She makes some of the best designs, and good snowman cookies.
Olympia looks to be an eclectic and fun place to live. They've recently upgraded a waterfront park called Percival's Landing. Once I saw the name Percival, I was headed back to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table....except I took a mental turn at Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I'm going to have to watch Monty Python all over again...just to see the Trojan Rabbit scene.


Teresa (MONTY) because it's really hard to call a reindeer Percival...

[brotherjim]

Congratultions to all the new reindeer! Wow, that is great that so many earned reindeer names yesterday.