H2O

1 hour ago, mattie g said:

I think NVSL does a great job, in general, of putting teams in the right divisions. There are some bad choices (some teams have been absolutely mauled week-in and week-out this season), but overall they get it right.

I guess once you get high enough up in the league the prospect of moving can be something of a deterrent. It's easy for me to sit here and say I wouldn't want to be in a much higher division, but I think once that kind of momentum starts (see: certain teams who have rocketed up the league in the past few years) even I might find it hard to say "well...we used to be pretty bad but now that we're good I'd rather be bad again."

I think I didn’t explain myself well enough. I don’t want my team to be bad. I’m really proud of the climb we’ve made since my kids joined. What I mean is that the teams and parents and pools were much nicer and fun at D10 and thereabouts. 
 

I would much rather have THOSE teams and families and kids with us. Being up high just carry more arrogance and attitude and lower Ds were much more fun. that fun attitude is what I miss and wish would be up where we are now. Not the snootiness from some teams and people who just make it less fun. 
 

That’s what I fear the most about being moved up. We want to be a fun team and try to be. Some of how competitive these top teams are is rubbing off on a few of our kids/parents  and I hate seeing it infect our culture despite the best efforts of our coaches and team reps

@mattie g I agree that with a record like ours it will be a hard sell NOT to get moved up.  So I expect it.  I get that if we are strong(which we can be at times) to stay could mean a lot of unfair meets next year given that some will be dropped down who might still be struggling.  But other good teams will move up so it could be a wash.  

For me its just that it really does feel that in these upper Ds its gone from people wanting to have fun and parents be social and jovial to the exact opposite.  So far in the D we've been in for two years I've seen a LOT of snooty parents and some really poor sportsmanship by some swimmers.  Older kids talking trash more, slapping the water if they lose, throwing stuff.  And the parents just seem to think that they are supposed to win because of who they are and how long they've been in the upper Ds.  

And that feeds back in to comments I made and the very kind words @vastateofmind said about our pool.  He's being very generous  hahaha.  We aren't a total dumpster fire pool  Our pool itself is nice and we have lovely shade for the deck and the hill to one side gives an awesome view.  But our bathhouse is old and small, the grounds itself aren't super great to look at and our parking lot is tiny.  Inevitably when we host meets, unless a team is familiar with us and accepts our warts some of the reactions we get from visitors are "oh, this is.....nice."  Or "wow, what an unusual pool.  Its old."  The comments only have gotten worse with each move up in the standings.  When we visit other pools in McLean and Chantilly and so on its like we are a Howard Johnsons and they are the Ritz Carltons.  It really is that stark a difference.  I'm a Miller Lite guy having to be around Stella Artois drinkers.  Thats what it feels like.  And if we beat them they get extra salty McSaltface.  

It just my cautionary tale of how everyone's goals might be to move up in the standings every year but I would be happy as a pig in doodie back down in D10.  

.11”

14 hours ago, mattie g said:

It’s so cool that your boys found their way successfully in the local swimming world despite any other expectations! We have a set of identical twin boys (11s) who have turned it on this season (not having swam year-round), but whose parents aren’t particularly athletic.  I guess you just never know!

Fun final dual meet of the season today. Lost to our local friendly rivals, but it was a relatively close meet, despite our missing some significant swimmers. 3-2 after moving up a division for a team like ours is a damn good result. Now it’s up to the NVSL gods to determine if we move up again next year!

We won our last meet by a surprising margin. All week the numbers said it would be close. Like 5-10 points one way or the other. But they had a few kids missing for a big meet in stafford. By the start of breast we had a bigger lead than expected and it seemed like the other team just gave up. By relays half their team had left. Our coaches noticed it and commented after the meet. 
 

Our record and margin of victory will really make for a tough call if we stay where we are or get moved up. I REALLY don’t want to move up. We just aren’t a pool for that level of NVSL. Mainly due to how old our facility is. We just don’t have the niceties one would expect. 
 

Still a darn good season and we got payback against one team that drubbed us a couple years ago. Just divisionals left to go and then FREEDOM!!! Mel Gibson style 

58 minutes ago, Deck Pic said:

First time in a while that DC proper got totally nuked.  We always get split.

Same. Poured rain so much it made me think I had a blocked gutter when it was just rain rates. 
 

.84”

.84” from a nice storm with clouds I did NOT yell at @Kmlwx

I-66 south screw zone

12 minutes ago, Kmlwx said:

I went from being concerned about not enough southerly trajectory for the Romney cells to now being concerned about too much. Typical. 

That said - I also do not hate the radar - it's a bit less "gappy" than before but still some gaps in there. @H2O - I swear if you go outside and yell at the cloud again I'm going to be pissed. 

Venmo me money 

or Zelle 

or western union 

or pony express

17 minutes ago, WxUSAF said:

I don’t hate the current radar

I do.  Scars from splitsville last week are still visible.  Too many gappy gappies

its too hot, mattie g  

pool water is too warm.  Its the worst.  Make it stop.  Pray for yellowstone and winter.  Wont someone think of the children and deodorant?

32 minutes ago, mattie g said:

True...especially the final one of the season.

We swam the biggest team in our B Meet group last night. They're the f*cking worst, which made the meet all that much more annoying. They showed up at our pool with a cocky-as-hell attitude, and even their Reps did nothing about it after we mentioned it multiple times. My (female) co-Rep was ready to throw down

They acted that way for a B meet?  Weird.  

Ours was against @vastateofmind former team.  The combo of their team size and ours meant that it took over 2 hours to get thru free and back.  When you hear that 8&Us have 5 heats and 9-10s too you are in for a long evening.  My only complaint was clerks not stacking lanes to fill all the way.  Just combo the shit out of events and if they are mixed boy/girl then just do it.  Fill 6 lanes as much as possible.  

So between team size and wanting to do IMs as well it meant a long night.  My knees and back were tapping out after 2.5 hours.  But my data people are so fricken awesome.  They knew I was hungry and they got me some pizza.  Then I had to figure out how to yell "timers clear" with a mouth full of za.  

I swear that snack bars need to have concession sellers walking around like sporting events.  Cold beer!, donuts!, ice cream!

One last A meet saturday then I have one more B meet to go.  We do a B meet for kids that won't do divisionals and also they hold an IM invite at another.  So for this next monday I will make up some "special" water for my timers to say thanks for all the help.  It might get sloppy but who cares.  Last B meet and it will be fun.  

3.5 hour B meets are a grind

20 minutes ago, mappy said:

Lost power for a little bit, weather station has incorrect precip total now but radar says ~2.8” 

Lol. I’ve only had 2.02 for the month

.08”

4 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said:

WPC meso: https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/metwatch/metwatch_mpd_multi.php?md=679&yr=2023

Fringed but even south near Fredericksburg to RIC is cashing in

10 minutes ago, NorthArlington101 said:

Here comes the split

I’m in the same boat. At best it might rain for 5 min

Really amazing how it just won’t develop and split along the same path

Looking at radar it seems like DC split forming. Beltway N in MD and Stafford S in Va best spots

Won our swim meet today to get to 3-1.  Next week will be the super tough meet that could make us 3-2(I'm fine with that) or 4-1(scary where that might put us for next year).

But honestly the best part of the meet was my oldest daughter swimming breast.  She wasn't going to get points due to other fast swimmers and came in 6th.  But here's the thing.  A couple years ago there was a meet where timers messed up her time and she got a ridiculously low time than what reality was.  Even though it was a bogus time(it was official) she had never been able to match it in the meets and years since.

Until today.  She dropped her real personal best time(like legit time per 3 good stopwatches) to finally get under a time she had wanted to break for well over 2 years.  The pure joy and happiness she had was just awesome.  Just fricken awesome.  I don't give a shit about the final score of the meet or that she was 6th.  Her.  Time.  Dropped.  And she was more proud of that than anything.  #prouddad

8 hours ago, mappy said:

Ooof I’m battered and bruised this am. Took a line drive to the face at second last night, tipped my glove at the last moment before hitting my jaw area, thankfully deflected the worst of the smack. Then made a diving play to win us the game. 

Taking one for the team!!  And just say you were in a bar fight and the other person looks a lot worse.

Water rescues in Arlington 

Keep being fringed by storms to my north and east. But have .38” for the day

Just had a cell try to pop right over me but now is to my ENE

It’s really hard to see how these numbers hit. It’s so quiet now and not sure when it will get favorable. 

Just got a quick .23” from a pop up. Was kinda cool how it just blew up after two outflows smashed into each other

Missed the storm that MN got. Plenty of thunder while is was mowing but fizzled out