Olympic Doping Scandal – AGAIN – Can You Believe It?
Olympic doping scandal – Again! Well, I was forced to grab my soapbox from under the bed, dust it off, and take a stand. I’m not sure which infuriated me more, the fact that some of the 2022 Winter Olympic hard-working athletes will not get a medal ceremony moment, acknowledgment for their accomplishments or because Russia dopes (15-year-old skater) again and got away with it for now. WHY? Because the International Olympic Committee and a hastily assembled CAS panel will permit Kamila Valieva to compete on the ice. I don’t care that she is only 15 years old. SHE tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned heart medication. Does Valieva have a heart condition none of us was aware of? Odds are against that thought. Why would she take it? TMZ is thought to give endurance athletes a boost because it may help the heart work more efficiently, enhances the body’s ability to utilize oxygen under stress. In other words, the drug may give the athlete a performance enhancing edge making the difference between a gold over silver or bronze performance Or not placing at all.
Which brings up another question in my mind. Are Russia’s athletes so sub-par that they can’t compete on a level playing field and win medals without doping?
Changes are needed. According to the WADA doping code, athletes under the age of 16 years receive special consideration, because it’s probably the adults in the room who are to blame if something illicit winds up in their young bodies. This may be why Russia’s latest blatant violation of the doping rules involves a minor. They knew what they were doing and of the outcome.
However, the CAS committee in Beijing ruled Monday — Vaileva, as a “protected athlete” by virtue of her age, would suffer “irreparable harm” if she was not allowed to compete. What about the “Irreparable harm” to the other women skaters that played by the rules, passed their drug tests, and spent most of their lives chasing their Olympics dreams, yet, will not get to stand atop the podium because Russia chose to dope a 15-year-old “phenom” favored to add to their gold medal count. Knowing if they got caught AGAIN, she was a protected individual. If Valieva is such a “phenom” why did she need to dope? Food for thought.
All this may have been avoided if the Olympic Committee had taken a strong “no doping” stand back in 2014 at Sochi when dealing with a country that ran a massive doping scheme. If Russia had been kicked out of an Olympics or two, at the least, the country may have thought twice about trampling over the international doping rules like so much gum on their shoe. Maybe, just maybe they would have cleaned up their act before the 2022 Olympics. It’s a long shot, but now we will never know.
Immediately after the CAS decision was announced outrage sparked around the world including the United States. Not to mention ordinary citizens! An athlete testing positive for an illicit drug being allowed to compete then may eventually be stripped of any medals she wins (one can only hope) is ludicrous! I believe the irreparable harm is to those skaters who compete against her, win medals, and will go home without a ceremony or medals. Just my opinion. What’s yours? Tell me what you think in the comments.
Having got that off my chest (thanks for reading), I’m jumping down off my soapbox and shoving it under the bed again, for now.
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Posted in My Say What Blog and tagged Banned by Olympics heart medication, ice skating, Kamila Valieva, No Ceremony, No Medals, Olympic Doping Scandal 2022, Russia, trimetazidine by Tena Stetler with 10 comments.
Halloween Spirit Search – Forty Three Days Left
Halloween only Forty-Three days left! Can you believe it? Toil and Trouble continue their search for the Halloween Spirit. What do you think of the Halloween count down calendar?? I’ve something a bit different for you this year count down to Halloween with a quest for the Halloween Spirit.
No, it’s never to early for All Hallows Eve! Halloween is my favorite time of year. Cooler weather, sight and sound of colorful leaves falling or crunching under foot. The smell of fall in the air, pumpkins and pumpkin flavored everything!! Love it! Also Halloween is the only day you can be anyone or anything you want and no one will say a word. Don’t forget it’s the day the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest! What will you be this Halloween? Taco our parrot will be a witch and Mystic our chow dog will be Wonder Woman. Check back in the coming weeks to see them in their costumes!
Well, September continues to break heat records here in Colorado with a sweltering 90 degrees as we continue the annual Halloween countdown. I am confident things cool off soon. Keep the faith! To help me this year are skeletons, Toil (Unicorn) and Trouble (dragon) they are in search of the Halloween Spirit. This week they enlisted Wyoming dragon to help. They discovered the computer screen and on it was a picture of Mystic looking for the Halloween Spirit out the front door. Unfortunately, neither the computer nor Mystic had any clue to where the Halloween Spirit could be found. Darn it! So the search continues.
Their friend, Dave (Skeleton), from Texas (thank you Jessica) is unpacking the Halloween Village to get his friends Mort and Buster, his pup, to help in the search this week. They searched every box of Halloween items and came up empty. He has to get a correct calendar or learn to count better. Forty-three days Dave!
Each week, on Friday, there will be new pictures of where Toil and Trouble are searching and how Dave is helping. In the month of October beside their search for the Halloween Spirit, Toil, Trouble and Dave will help me list the most haunted cities in America. A visit to haunted places in Colorado, my own stomping ground, Spooktacular tips to keep your pet safe this Halloween season. Do you suffer from Samhainopobia? I’ll tell you later. These are just to name a few. Please check back!
Only forty-three days days until Halloween! Bwwwaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
Plus a Halloween themed book from my collection will be featured each week: You do know I write paranormal romance/mystery. Right? This week, we are talking about vampires! What’s Halloween without vampires and things that go bump in the night? A Vampire’s Unlikely Alliance is on sale for a limited time – only 99¢!. So hurry grab your copy and join the #fantasy #adventure! You won’t believe what happens at Glacier National Park, and Australia to induce a trip to Ireland.
A little about A Vampire’s Unlikely Alliance: On Sale for 99¢
Stefan is a Native American vampire, former assassin for the Vampire Council. In a twist of fate, he now DJ’s the midnight shift for a small radio station in Whitefish, Montana, on the edge of Glacier National Park where his secret is safe until…
Born in Ireland, Brandy now works as a park ranger and trail guide in the park. During a full moon, Stefan and Brandy’s paths cross in a near physical collision on a trail. Their attraction is immediate and undeniable, almost as if fate demanded it.
Their union was foretold long ago in Irish folk tales where vampires and gryphons, warlocks and demons, witches and faeries must work together for the good of man and magic kind. Is a trip to Ireland the key to unraveling secrets and returning the magic? And even more importantly, will their love survive the trip?
A sneak peek between the pages of A Vampire’s Unlikely Alliance!
Brandy slept in Stefan’s arms while he watched the lace curtains flutter as the ocean breeze, heavy with brine, wafted through the window, open just a crack. A white mist swirled into the quiet room through the opening. It grew thicker and began to take shape settling into the antique rocking chair in the far corner of their cozy room. A man with long flowing hair the color of straw, dressed in jeans and a shimmering multicolored sweater, now sat in the rocking chair, left boot propped over on his right knee, watching Stefan with genuine interest.
Stefan’s body stiffened, his fangs pierced his gums as he shifted Brandy to a more secure position, though he sensed no threat. Too many stories around the fire?
Undisturbed, the apparition’s lips twitched. “So you’re the súmair fala that stole our Brandy’s heart. An interesting turn of events this is.” He mused nodding his head toward the window and pointing his finger toward Stefan, then to the outside. As quickly as he’d appeared, he was gone, leaving only a light mist floating across the floor.
Blinking his eyes, Stefan slowly looked around the room. What the hell was that? I wasn’t asleep so it couldn’t be a dream. Stealthily, he slid out of bed without disturbing Brandy. He yanked on jeans, pulled an ivory cable knit sweater over his head, and grabbed his boots as he padded silently down the stairs out of the house. The storm had passed, leaving a light dusting of snow covering the ground. Behind the light mist, a nearly full moon hung among the twinkling stars across the frosty dark sky. For a moment, he stilled listening as the waves crashed against the shore off in the distance.
See you back here next Friday! You won’t believe where Toil and Trouble wound up. Dave with his friends are always searching, will they come up with leads? Until then enjoy the warm weather, fall is coming bringing with it Halloween Spirit! Yippee!! Now all we have to do is find it! While you’re here, check out my other paranormal romance mysteries.
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Posted in My Say What Blog and tagged A Vampire's Unlikely Alliance, Buster, Dave, fantasy, Halloween Spirit, Mort, Paranormal Romance/Mystery, Tena Stetler, Toil, Trouble, Vampire, Witches by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.
September 11, 2001, A Day that Everything Changed
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11, 2001: . (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Twenty years ago, a fiery blasts rocked the south tower of the World Trade Center as the hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston crashed into the building September 11, 2001 in New York City. Today, one day away from the anniversary of that horrible day I sat at my computer and debated whether or not to write about it. Funny how a great many things fade from memory as the years go by. However, this event is etched in my memory as clearly today, as it was twenty years ago. I hope you don’t mind my sharing with you my thoughts and feelings on that horrible day.
I was sitting at my computer at home paying a few bills before I headed off to work at a new job and career. I’d left my paralegal job and began a new less stressful job at an electronic contracting firm. A friend’s husband, Nigel, called me and asked what was I doing. I told him. There was silence on the other end. I quickly asked if something had happened to Patti, he said um no, but I better turn on the TV before I left for work. I said okay and we hung up. Yes, it was a strange conversation.
Rather than turn on the TV, I searched the computer for the days events. I was dumbfounded when I saw the images flashing across the screen! My first thought was this wasn’t possible, not on the United States soil. This cant be happening. I closed my eyes then opened them again hoping….I don’t know what. But it was real. Then I continued to search the internet and finally turned on the TV. Reality began to sink in. Not only had we been attacked, panic rose up inside me, then turned to fear and finally anger. How could they. How could we let them. (I know irrational thought.) Next desire for retaliation. My heart was pounding out of my chest and as I write this the feeling washes over me again. So many lives lost over the last twenty years beginning with this horrific event. Yet, what have we learned? Not going there, here. Anyway, I headed off to work. We watched the events unfold on computers the first half of the day, then the boss sent us home, with pay. That’s one first day on the job I will never forget.
My thoughts, prayers, and thanks go out to the first responders at the scene on that fateful day and their families. Nothing had prepared them or us for this. Yet, they had a job to do and did it heroically. God bless them all. When I sat down here, I didn’t know what I was going to write, but the words tumbled out and somehow this has been therapeutic for me as I end my thoughts. For some reason this year the memories hit me the hardest. I can only hope that September 11th passes with profound remembrances and that’s all. NO violence. If you care to share your thoughts in the comments about where you were, how you felt, or your memories. I would be honored. God Bless America!
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Posted in My Say What Blog and tagged 2001, New York City, September 11, Twin Towers by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.
A Vampire’s Unlikely Alliance by Tena Stetler #MFRWHooks
Yippee!! #MFRWHooks presents a fall read A Vampire’s Unlikely Alliance, my paranormal romance/mystery. WooHoo! Not what you’ve come to expect from a Vampire Tale! Join Stefan and Brandy for an #exciting #romantic fantasy, #mystery where magic may save the day. But will it be too late? Join the #fantasy#adventure, download a copy today!
Pull up a chair and get comfy, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about A Vampire’s Unlikely Alliance. second book in A Demon’s Witch Series. All books can be read as stand alone.
What is A Vampire’s Unlikely Alliance all about?
Stefan is a Native American vampire, former assassin for the Vampire Council. In a twist of fate, he now DJ’s the midnight shift for a small radio station in Whitefish, Montana, on the edge of Glacier National Park where his secret is safe until…
Born in Ireland, Brandy now works as a park ranger and trail guide in the park. During a full moon, Stefan and Brandy’s paths cross in a near physical collision on a trail. Their attraction is immediate and undeniable, almost as if fate demanded it.
Their union was foretold long ago in Irish folk tales where vampires and gryphons, warlocks and demons, witches and faeries must work together for the good of man and magic kind. Is a trip to Ireland the key to unraveling secrets and returning the magic? And even more importantly, will their love survive the trip?
Sneak peek between the pages of A Vampire’s Unlikely Alliance:
The sun slid behind the mountains,
setting the azure sky ablaze in hues of red, orange, yellow, and pink. Then red shifted to purple and dusk faded to darkness as he jogged toward the trails. She stood leaning against the rock where he had started his run last night. He’d tried to convince himself to stay away, but in the end, the urge was too strong.
In a whisper of movement, he was at her side with his hand on the rock just above her shoulder. “Waiting for someone? Brandy, is it?” The scent of warm, perfumed female skin wafted over him as he leaned into her.
“It took you long enough, Mr. Talltree.” Her full lips formed a slight pout as she lifted her chin and tilted her face up to meet his. “Nice to see you again.”
There was no hesitation or apprehension in her lovely features as he moved closer, placing his other hand next to her left shoulder, effectively pinning her against the rock. He wanted to wrap his arms around her lithe, warm body and brush his lips over her sexy pout. But he thought better of it, not wanting to scare her off…not yet.
“Yes, it is.” He let his gaze wander leisurely up and down her luscious body. “Didn’t your mother warn you about the dangers of stalking a stranger at night in the park alone?”
Available from Universal Link, Amazon Amazon UK , Amazon AU, itunes, Walmart.com and Barnes & Noble
Pssst… While you’re here, don’t forget to check out my paranormal romance/mysteries click here.
This is a blog hop! Visit all the Book Hooks from #MFRWHooks – Your next GREAT read is waiting!
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Posted in My Say What Blog and tagged #MFRWHooks, A Vampire's Unlikely Alliance, fantasy, ghosts, Paranormal Romance/Mystery, Shapeshifters, Tena Stetler, Vampire by Tena Stetler with 4 comments.
