Who do I still think I am??

This one's about a Dream House and a 1924 Olympic recap.

30DBC PROMPT: "You are the architect of your dream house - describe your creation in detail."

What's up people? It's an exciting day all around in the land of WDC...we've all got new toys to play with, new avenues to explore, and now, under the banner of the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" , fictional dream houses where all that fun stuff can originate from. So ladies and gentlemen, let's stop screwin' around and do this right on "Creation Saturday"...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhuVOce2EmU.

One thing you'll notice, from the minute you step inside, is that everything's mahogany. Floors, walls, furniture...if it can be made out of wood, that wood's straight mahogany. Even the toothpicks in my kitchen junk drawer (because no dream house would be complete without one) are hand-splintered from mahogany scraps. Why mahogany, and not cedar, you ask? I dunno...I just like the way the second syllable of "ma-hog-a-ny" gets stuck in the back of my throat when I say it, like I'm chokin' on a peanut.

And speaking of kitchens, I've got two: one's made almost entirely of stone and is used for cooking (note the state-of-the-art fire pits crafted from actual caveman caves); the other is chiseled out of ice to keep things cold and resembles this entertainment facility in Sweden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhjaw7D2Urs. You know you wanna chill there. Appropriate dress is recommended, but not mandatory.

Let's move into the living room, shall we? I know what you're thinking...that plain white wall must be where the large television projector displays all the sports, concerts, and episodes of groundbreaking '70's comedies like my homies http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7FISjhfpmc made that I can focus my poor eyesight on, right? Naw man, it's just a wall...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5f4Na2xTgU. Next to that wall you'll see my shelf, stocked with a collection of videos like that last one that have people wearing the same pair of Adidas sneakers as I do (http://www.adidas.com/us/product/mens-originals-superstar-20-shoes/EU021?cid=G17...). The opposite wall, the one that looks like it's stacked floor-to-ceiling with cds and records? It's stacked floor-to-ceiling with cds, records and tapes actually...you remember tapes, right?

Tapes had music on them, back when music had nothing to do with iTunes or mp3's or sucking. But I digress; you're here for the house, not my social commentary. Let's go to the bedroom...and no, I don't mean it like that, perverts!

If this bedroom looks exactly like a replica of the bedroom I had in my last apartment (known affectionately as 542), well, it is! I had it removed from that building and attached it to the side of this place, primarily because it's the biggest bedroom I've ever had. Three large dressers (one with a tv on top, and another with a stereo system and turntable), a recliner, a desk (complete with an old school typewriter), a double-door walk-in closet, and a super-single heated waterbed perfect for two that's been in the family for nearly thirty years. And all the floor space necessary to film the sequel to Breakin' 2; Electric Boogaloo http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086999/. And yet this still isn't the coolest room in the house...follow me downstairs.

It might be a basement, but it's more like a room with a lot of games in it. I'm thinking of callin' it a "game room", but I'm not sure if that's a strong enough description. Sure, there's air hockey and bubble hockey, a pool table, a dart board, and I even built in a little spot where people can sit down and have a few drinks. But I dunno if I'd call it a bar...we don't actually have a liquor license here; I only serve to my close friends who stop by from time to time. Oh, those large grey doors? Yeah, let's go see what's in there...it's a hallway leading to two full-sized locker rooms! I guess now you really could call this a full-fledged game room! The locker rooms lead back upstairs and outside, where I have an Olympic regulation ice rink in the winter, and an all-purpose field in the summer for baseball, football and track with a basketball/street hockey court on the side. It's pretty sweet. I pay for the entire fictional dream house by running adult recreational sports leagues year 'round.

Well, that's the grand tour! Thanks for stoppin' by! Now, if you'll excuse me, you don't have to go home but ya can't stay here.

BCF PROMPT: "On January 25th, 1924 the first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France. How many countries do you believe competed? What events were held? Did your favorite events exist back then?"

I'm gonna be a good sport and not Google any of this information...and I'm also, in lieu of admitting my lack of historical knowledge on a wide variety of subjects, gonna make a bunch of stuff up. It's still "Creation Saturday", no matter what day the "Blogging Circle of Friends "  prompt says it is.

So 90 years ago today was the first Winter Olympiad, and only four countries competed. This was because there was no internet and France was habitually late at sailing out invites to far-away lands. You had France (who was entered by default for hosting), East Germany, West Germany, and a little-known European republic which briefly formed after World War I that consisted of every nation over there that wasn't France, East Germany, or West Germany. A small thread of conspiracy theorists claim that their poor showing in the Olympics led to the start of WWII, but haters had all traces of their existence wiped from Wikipedia back during the ages of The Great Red Scare in the 1950's.

These proud nations competed in four events, some of which you can see today as derivatives of their original incarnations.

Ice Swimming: Swimmers swam the freezing waters of the English Channel; this event ceased in 1972 when it was bought out by BBC8 and merged with BBC9 to create BBC17, the world's first channel dedicated to all feats performed on frozen waters. It was only available to five percent of the local population though, and was later turned into a shopping network.

Potato Pushing: Teams of men used sticks to push a frozen potato across an area marked off with wooden boards into a tiny spot roped off with twine, while blind men flailed their arms and attempted to chase after them in an effort to get in the way of the players and disrupt their flow. It is said that these blind men are the inspiration for the Special Olympics.

Schnitzelling: A true test for the heartiest of individuals, each nation seated a representative at a long table and gave then a plate stacked with sausages. The contestant who ate the most between the hours of sun-up and sun-down was the winner. In 1988 this event was moved to the Summer Olympics to take advantage of Independence Day and The Clean Air Act of 1986 (which was administered by France's Parliament and overseen by their Medical Sub-division of Officers in Flatulence Compliance).

Pole Vaulting: Credited with its creation (among many other things), Dr. Lozlo Pronowski's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Harmonial_Value) first foray into organized sporting events happened by accident when he was attempting to avoid a large member of the Polish National Army by awkwardly leaping over him as the soldier was stretching in preparation for the Ice Swimming finals. Having later been found guilty of fraud, Dr. Pronowski avoided jail time when he led Poland on a boycott of the 1967 Winter Olympics to be held in his home city of Warsaw amidst allegations that Pole Vaulting was considered "racist" and "demeaning". He died in late December of 1966, shortly before anyone in Warsaw realized that the Olympics were held every four years and that 1967 was also the same year as not the Olympics.

I hope you enjoyed this little encapsulated look back at the Olympics as they once were...further proof that things sometimes can be greater than they were before we (well, most of us) were born.

MUSICAL BREAK!!

This song was actually used in promotional campaigns for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, believe it or not. It was a bit of a controversial decision for this band...http://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/jul/10/advertising1.

http://www.greenplastic.com/

THE DAILY BOX SCORE:

9:30pm (EST): I have extra incentive to finish up tonight's entry as early as I can...the NHL has another outdoor game scheduled for this evening in, of all places, Los Angeles, CA. As a fan of the sport, I'm interested to see how this plays out between two good teams in less-than-ideal hockey weather. Grantland ran a nice article this week about the rest of this year's outdoor games the NHL has scheduled, and it's a tad bit of overkill in my opinion...but just as the NFL has taken pains to ensure each team gets at least one prime time, nationally televised game a year, it wouldn't shock me if down the road eventually the NHL sets up something where all of its teams get one outdoor game a year. http://grantland.com/features/go-outside-and-play/

I'm not gonna lie...once I get started on Grantland I have a hard time stopping. I spent way too much time this afternoon reading about one of the most criminally underrated movies from the 1990's (and also one of my favorites)...http://grantland.com/features/an-oral-history-swingers/

So the big news today...if you're on WDC, how much did you love your newsfeed and notifications blowin' up via the frenzy associated with this post: "Note: *Clock2* 36-HOUR "Find a Favorite!" ..."? Not to be all Debbie Downer about it, because I think being able to "favorite" and "fan" people is fun and awesome, but we've been able to do that for quite a long time on WDC, and in reality today people have been scramblin' around (myself included ) like it's new and fresh and full of promise (which it is, I suppose). I'm really not trying to talk bad about it. I like the real-time notifications and all the cool stuff that was released in the biggest set of updates to WDC since the 2013 Birthday Celebration. But the new Community Newsfeed is now more of a "Facebook for authors". I hope it all works out to be as good (or better) than expected.

Speaking of "better than expected", there's this image that I forgot I had:

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Only, you can change the dates to read as last week's instead...because I've been named "Blogger Of The Week" again, for the second time this month. That's pretty exciting, right? I'm sure it's been done before, and it'll happen again, but to beat out a solid list of accomplished writers two weeks in a row is kinda mind-blowing. And I hope this doesn't come off as sour grapes or anything, because it's the furthest thing from that, but I've said this tons of times...I don't write for awards or accolades, but for the fun of it first and foremost. BOTW is kinda like a cherry on top. I'm more encouraged by doing things that haven't exactly been done and seeing how far I can go beyond likes and recognition, and I enjoy seeing those more deserving than myself do well. It's when we're all working together that we learn how valuable this community made by and for bloggers really is. So thanks to all that voted, and read, and liked, and commented, and blogged, along the way.

Another round is pretty much complete in "Invalid Item" ...and it's only gonna get harder to judge from here on out. The four semi-finalists have turned out some impressive entries so far, and I know it's gonna be a challenge for lazymarionette, Lyn's a sly fox and myself to declare in a couple more days that any of the remaining bloggers has better entries than the others. I will say this...I've had my eyes opened to a few WDC bloggers I may not have followed in the past because of The Great Blog Off.

Well, I'm nearing the point in my evening where I'd rather be an overly peanut butter contented soul watching hockey (or old sitcoms) than try to think anymore tonight...all this favorite-ing and fanning has me a little worn out! But hey, if it's all for the greater good and we're all better for it, than who am I to complain, right? I know...right. Peace, never look back, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!