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| October 19, 2000 |
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| Danielle & Steve are training hard for the new season and are looking forward to their first competition, Nations Cup. According to coach Johnny Johns, he has never seen Danielle so motivated. From the few times we have seen them practice, they look very strong. They leave Friday for Boston, where they will perform both their short and long programs at evening with Champions. Steve and Dan Hollander have been practicing their throws! Guess Danielle doesn't need as much practice on that as Dan does. |
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| Last night Steve and Danielle took a much needed break for some fun. They went with their MOM and us on a polaroid Road Rally. We were given a list of photos to take with points assigned according to their difficulty. Ultimately we had to turn in 15 photos of our team members in various ridiculous situations. Steve said he would be willing to hold a live snake in order to get 200 points, so we went to a pet shop. No snakes there but we had a customer take our team (TEAM BOOTY was our name) picture. |
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| We spotted an open bridal shop. We need a picture of a man in a bridal gown. The proprietor had no problem with that so we got another 200 points (funny thing though. we seem to have lost that picture!) There was a restaurant next door so we ran over there and offered to do their dishes for another 75 points and we got a bonus for having the waiter in the photo holding the menu. |
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| We ran out into the parking lot and Steve found a vanity license plate for 75 points. We were rockin! |
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| We headed to k-mart for a ride on a children's carousel (100 points). We would show you the picture but my big butt hides the horse. |
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| Then Georgia ran into Krogers to buy a cherry pie which Steve and Arlene had to eat using no hands-200 points! |
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| Meanwhile out in the parking lot we found a bald man and had our photo taken kissing his head! Steve wanted no part of that so he was the photographer for that one. We dashed over to our nephew's house where we knew his wife was coloring someone's hair. So we got another 200 points for that. |
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| We all jumped on our little niece's & nephew's trampoline for 100 points and probably bent the thing. |
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| Steve, Danielle & Georgia stuffed themselves in a children's sleeping bag for 100 points. |
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| And a quick game of chess netted us 200 more points. We had to take a photo of our team at an outside digital clock at 8:22 & Danielle suggested a nearby bank. Another team was there waiting for 8:22 so we agreed to take one another's picture when the time came. Meanwhile, one of their team members spotted a taxi and chased it down for photos worth 100 points. |
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| We then went to Toys R Us to spin hula hoops. |
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| At that point my pants gave out and split at the seam. |
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| We had to find a cactus (in Michigan no less) and found one at Chi Chi's. |
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| We raced to our house to change clothes and rustle up some green eggs-150 points. |
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| Steve was casing the neighborhood for an address that added up to 27. He found one and we asked another neighbor to take our picture there. |
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| We were done so we went to the final meeting place. We came in 3rd and won $50!!! We decided it should go into the Harsells training fund. We had a lot of laughs and we're looking forward to going on another road rally together. |
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| Monday, September 11, 2000 |
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| This weekend was a busy one for the Hartsell family. On Saturday, Mrs. Hartsell's family got together for their family reunion. They gathered at Steve Danielle's Uncle Jack's house in New Boston, Michigan for a day of fun. Danielle had to leave early to go to work, but Steve stayed for the fun. He and his cousins, allie phyl had quite a bit of fun with water balloons and water sponges. He was drenched early in the game and took off his shirt and showed us his new improved physique that he has worked on this summer. Check out his picture below. |
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| On Sunday, we held our road rally in Westland, Michigan to raise funds for their training. The weather was really bad in the morning, with rain and dark clouds. About an hour before the rally started the sun was trying to peek through the clouds and at the start of the rally it started to drizzle. Then it started to pour! |
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| The first clue for the hunt began with the 6.0 Chevy sign that was given out at U.S. Nationals in Cleveland. Karen & David Druin from South Carolina were kind enough to send us theirs as we had left our own in France after Worlds. The 6.0 Chevy sign sent them to Mark Chevrolet, get it? |
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| After this they had 8 more clues to solve before finding the restaurant where we had pizza, salad and sodas for everyone, generously paid for by Charles Shafer, owner of the Ford-Wyoming Drive In Theatre here in the Detroit area. There, we had the silent auction where we had about 80 items up for bid donated by various local businesses. There was quite a bidding war going on over some items.; A hat autographed by Elvis Stojko for the auction was quite popular and my 6-year-old nephew William was trilled to have the high bid. Other popular items were foursome of golf, many restaurant gift certificates, an autographed photo of Kris Draper of the Detroit Red Wings, and grocery store gift certificates. There were about 50 people who joined in the hunt. Most said they had a really good time. Danielle Steve, with their friend Shannon, and Mom Dad with their Aunt Lisa had never been on this type of road rally before and really enjoyed themselves. Shannon drove for a while and apparently drove like she was in the Daytona 500. Danielle, Steve, Shannon and Mom want to go again . . . . . . . without Dad! |
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| September 4, 2000 |
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| We drove to the Chicago area this weekend to attend Extreme EXPO, where Danielle & Steve did an exhibition of their short program on Sunday night. We had a great time with the Hartsell family and got to tease Steve plenty about his new muscles. He wore a tight black t-shirt that i said he must have borrowed from Michael Weiss! I kept calling him Michael, uhh, Steve. He said he had gained 20 lbs in muscle over the summer and he wanted to show it off! Steve is really a lot of fun. He doesn't mind being teased and loves to tease right back. |
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| It was great to see the wonderful reception these two great kids got from the fans at the expo. They signed lots of autographs, not only at their autograph sessions, but anytime anyone would ask. A lot of people had their pictures taken with them, including us! We finally had a picture taken with them too. Maybe we'll post it one day if we don't look too bad. |
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| Their exhibition went very well in spite of the fact that there was a problem with getting their music started. The first music played was not theirs. They started the correct music, and the cd skipped to the middle of their long program music! Finally, they got their correct music and everything went very well until the last element, the throw triple salchow, when Danielle fell. When we caught up with them after the exhibition the first thing Danielle said was What did I do wrong? I can't believe I fell on that! I thought I had it landed and the next thing I knew I was down. I thought, what the heck happened there! I gave her a Dick Button answer You didn't check your right arm like I would know! Steve said I'm 1-for-1. With a puzzled look, I asked For what? He said "Remember, I said I was going to land everything? I said That was supposed to be for competitions He Said I decided to make it for everything and put some pressure on myself (Like he needs more pressure!) |
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| July 12, 2000 |
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| We had an opportunity to go to Detroit Skating Club today to see Danielle and Steve and their mom Georgia. We stayed to watch them practice for about an hour and a half. It's so exciting to see how well they are doing and to see bits of their new programs. They have some wonderful new moves and seem to have a softer or more elegant line in these programs. We think these are going to be beautiful programs. |
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| July 2, 2000 |
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| Preparations for the new season are in full swing. Decisions have been made, music chosen, and practice has begun. For the short program, Steve & Danielle have chosen to skate to Toccata and Fugue In D Minor by Vanessa Mae. The long program will be skated to two selections from Lord of the Dance (Warrior & Victory) and a selection from Legends of the Fall. As soon as we have a hint of the costume selection, we will fill you in. |
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| We have been to a couple of practice sessions to watch Danielle & Steve and they are working on many interesting elements, among them at least three different death spiral entrances, a new twist on the hart-attack lift, other new lifts, carry lifts, and are hoping to perfect the throw triple axel! It is really exciting to see how innovative these elements are and how they will enhance the overall presentation. |
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| Here's a bit of information to pass on to you. We saw Steve and Danielle yesterday. They were Grand Marshals in the Westland, Michigan Independence Day Parade. Steve is growing a beard! (Or at least a goatee). Danielle isn't. She looks really great. Steve is busy playing the field. His cell phone rings constantly. |
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| MAY 21, 2000 |
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| The big news this week is that the team envelopes and grand prix assignments have been announced for the 2000/2001 Figure Skating season. Steve & Danielle have been put in Team B which means their funding has been reduced for the season. So, as concerned fans and web site mistresses we are planning several fund raisers to help them out. |
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| The Grand Prix assignments, (while not absolutely certain as there is another meeting in June to fine-tune the details) include Nations Cup in Germany and NHK Trophy in Japan. The USFSA wanted to give them as much time as possible to prepare. |
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| We went to DSC on Friday to watch them practice. They showed us three of their four new death spirals and a couple of their new lifts. We watched them do about 20 throw loops and salchows in a row! Then they practiced side-by-side axels. Danielle was landing them consistently. We think Steve was thrown off because he had quite a growth of beard going there! They then practiced other jumps for about 15 minutes. They did so much in the hour we were watching that a four minute program looks easy! |
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| Then we went with Danielle to her physical therapy session with Jody and she did about 45 minutes of exercises and had an ultrasound treatment on her knee. After that Danielle had some lessons to give. What a day! and we weren't even there for the earlier practice session. |
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| On Saturday Steve & Danielle's Mom and Dad renewed their wedding vows at their church in celebration of their 25th anniversary. Afterward there was a party for them with about 75 guests. Everyone looked so beautiful! After a delicious dinner there was dancing and we even sang to the Mom until the DJ got the sound system going. Everyone was glad he finally did so we would stop singing! We were struck by what a really really close, caring and exceptionally nice family they are. We finally got to meet their brother Scott. He is actually their half-brother but they never ever refer to him as other than their brother. Scott and Georgia are also very close and he is close to Georgia's mother too. |
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| Steve gave a toast to their parents that was so sweet. He said something to the effect that he was trying to find the words to describe how much they meant to them and he said there are no words to describe it. |
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| The whole day was all very touching and a picture of what all families are meant to be. |
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| April 9, 2000 |
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| Danielle & Steve were interviewed on Skate Radio tonight and talked a bit about their upcoming season. A new element they are working on for the new year is a throw triple axel. They told us they were working on it before the accident and were just about there. They have also been searching for their new music. With some other changes they are planning, they should have a great new season! |
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| March 17, 2000 |
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| This past week, Danielle was able to do all of her single jumps on the ice with no problems, except for some soreness after working too hard to return to form. They are practicing their lifts on the ice and have included split double twists and death spirals. Their coach, Johnny Johns says that Danielle should be back up to full speed be April! That is only one month away! |
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| Steve & Danielle returned from New York on Monday where they had a wonderful time. They were at Junior National's to give motivational speeches to the young skaters. They will not be attending world's as spectators because they are fully dedicated to returning to form in anticipation of next season. |
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| March 7, 2000 |
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| On Saturday, February 26, Steve & Danielle signed many autographs and visited with lots of their fans at the Southgate Civic Center. Here are a couple of pictures that we took that day and Steve says he will send me more. |
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| This past week, Danielle has been on the ice a lot and she and steve have been practicing death spirals. No jumping on the ice yet, but she is able to practice jumping off ice. She is also back to coaching and just getting back into the swing of things. |
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Tomorrow Steve and Danielle leave for New York to attend Junior Nationals where they will be giving motivational speeches. |
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