Come on and we'll sing... like we were free... push the pedal down, watch the around, fly by us

"Takin' on the jellies"

Yesterday morning, that is; while swimming a 5K off Fort Lauderdale Beach. There was some red-flag surf as well (right), due to a strong wind blowing in from off-shore.

Surprisingly, conditions weren't too terrible. Sure, the rough waters were not exactly fun (I definitely kept them in mind throughout the race) and I did get 3-4 jelly fish stings during the race (two on my left forearm, one on my forehead, and one on my right wrist), but I felt good throughout the whole race. I even managed to do some body surfing into the finish, and got the random beat out of my head and replaced with the 3-4 lines I currently know of Mat Kearney's Nothing Left to Lose. I ended up 4^th overall, by the way--also not terrible.

Thankfully, my stings weren't as bad as others--no welts on mine, unlike 2 college swimmers present, one who had a welt line straight across his torso, the other who had a "C" pattern across his chest/stomach and a line continuing across his back. It looked painful--then again, we can't all be as talented as Nemo's Dad (Marlin) to earn Crush's praise.

Come on and we'll try... one last time...
I'm off the floor, one more time to find you
And here we go, there's nothing left to choose
And here we go, there's nothing left to lose

In the day, in the night, say it right, say it all

My brother-in-law sent me a mummy.

Well, actually, he sent the screen pictured at left--but it was entombed like a mummy. Thankfully, at least I was expecting the entombment. It came in this huge box, taller than my front door, conveniently with rope handles (which also somewhat prevented opening the box)--very like a sarcophagus.

Then--once the ropes had been cut, the box opened, and the insides removed--the screen was wrapped in some styrofoam sheeting which needed to be cut off (which wasn't so terrible).

Once that was gone, I just had two straps to remove and some plywood boards. Now the 6 boards proved to be a massive pain, thanks to their being wedged between the feet and screwed together. Granted, they did prevent the feet from breaking (which I'm grateful for), but it also took an hour to get them off: between cutting the plastic ties that held them together and unscrewing the 3-inch (I believe) bolts. (I had to take a calm-down break in the middle of unpacking, so that I wouldn't break it trying to unfold the screen.)

But, now it's unpacked, and in place, and looks great. I just need to get used to it being there :)

Thanks L+D

Oh, and I'm liking Nelly Furtado's new single: Say It Right (which, of course, because I like it, means I won't hear it on the radio... ;)

You either stand or you fall
When your will is broken
When it slips from your hand
When there's no time for joking
There's a hole in the plan

Don't pass up this chance, this time it's a true romance

Happy Boxing Day!
(no sparring please, other than the playful, verbal kind)

I hope folks had a good Christmas and/or end of Hanukkah. Part of me feels I should have I Got You (I Feel Good) for today, in honor of James Brown's death yesterday, but I'm compelled to go with Martha and the Vandellas instead.

Why? Well, other than doo-wop in the head, and seeing Volver yesterday (which is good; Hitchcockian, even. It doesn't really have anything with Brown vs. the Vandellas, though). So other than those, Florida's not exactly the coldest place around at the moment (it rained yesterday and today--rained! Not a white Christmas, a wet Christmas--can you imagine Bing Crosby singing about 'cars skidding on the road' instead of 'sleigh bells in the snow'? Nowhere near as appealing.).

But hey, it's Florida: it's warm here (ooh shocker). Added to the warmth, yesterday while I was eating at the Floridian (a nearby diner), on comes M+tV's Heatwave (or more properly (Love is Like a) Heat Wave). Now, the song has been on my mind of late, particularly during swim practice when the pool's been rather warm (and one of my coaches didn't love that I was singing it, but hey, the water was warm and at least they recognized the song). But the water's cooled back down and I've managed to not really hear Celine Dion's version of Feliz Navidad this year, so I feel alright... maybe even like sugar and spice.

So good, so good... ;)


Could it be the devil in me
Or is this the way love's supposed to be
Just like a heat wave, burning in my heart
I can't keep from crying
It's tearing me apart

Running to stand still

Wow, crazy week...

• Hung out with a friend who was in town most of Sunday, and then went to dinner with him (all after running to the mall for some shopping--I didn't arrive before the stores opened this weekend, unlike the weekend before when I was an hour early; apparently 10 a.m. on Sunday is too early even for Christmas shopping),
• Christmas presents wrapping and sending (wrapping at night on Sunday and Monday, mailings on Monday and Tuesday--all arrived yesterday, woo-hoo!),
• frantic card writing (still some more to do),
• a staff Christmas party (Wednesday night),
• a farewell party for a co-worker leaving to a new job in the new year (good luck with the new j.o.b.! Laura),
• old swim paddles re-made (finally) at a plastic shop (it's only taken me about 3 years to get them cut; I tested them out last night: they work well, and apparently are shaped like coffins--"death paddles, kill the competition"),

• a second Christmas present that I was supposed to open early ;) (prominently marked "perishable" on the box: a bonsai sago palm (at right), which is really a cycad and not a palm--it just looks like one; and of which I'm not entirely sure where to place),
• a full day of work today (on the solstice and with less than half the staff in, and much to my co-worker's Lynn's regret, I was not allowed to depart early),
• need to research ISPs...
• and apparently there's a picture of me in today's Sun-Sentinel (the local newspaper), which I should probably track down (it's from the Coral Springs meet that was a few weekend ago).

And now that winter has started (the winter solstice being the first "official" day of winter), I've got a party tomorrow and then some lounging around to do... and, hopefully, my CPR class will make on the 26^th, but I'm not holding my breath that it will (i.e. the Broward Red Cross will delay my taking it yet again).

Anyways, I should go track down a paper... hasta


And so she woke up
Woke up from where she was, lying still
She said, I, I gotta do something,
About where we're going
Step on a steam train
Step out of the driving rain, maybe
Run from the darkness in the night

Happiness, more or less, it's just a change in me, something in my liberty

Today was free cookie day at the Subway near work. :)

And I got my first Christmas present today: an iPod alarm clock.
(Thanks to my sister for introducing me to today's song.)

But how many corners do I have to turn
How many times do I have to learn
All the love I have is in my mind
But I'm a lucky man...
With fire in his hands

"The time has come," the Walrus said, to talk of many things...

Well, in addition to cooking dinner last night (left), yesterday I started to flesh out some swimming goals for the summer, which are going to require some changes in training structure. What changes, I'm not sure yet--things are still being ironed out. But I will probably be self-segregating myself to next to the rest of the Masters, so I can get some higher volume in (trying to get back to 16:30 is necessitating the increase in distance).

I believe things will start changing in January, so I've got a few weeks to hash things out. In the mean time, ironically, I didn't swim tonight because the water temp. was 84.9° (not quite boiling, but definitely hot).

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

Floating in the summer sky, 99 red balloons go by

For whatever reason, the opening of Nena's 99 Red Balloons popped into my head over the weekend, right after I finished potting my tree (at right). It was somewhat strange, in that I'd not heard the song, nor its German counterpart in a while. To suddenly have "you and I in a little toy shop..." going through my head randomly throughout the day seemed quirky. (My German's not good enough to have "Hast du etwas Zeit fur mich" going though my brain.)

And then tonight, while I was eating dinner, the song serendipitously came on--as I was wondering why the English version was being played, when the original German version was the one that was successful in the U.S. So I went to wiki, which led me to find out that the English lyric content differs from the German--there's no toy shop at all! It also helped explained what I knew of the lyrics--I had never pieced together what balloons had to do with a war starting.

Anyways, just thought it was interesting... but now I must go and water my fledgling tree. hasta


You and I in a little toy shop You have some time for me
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got Then I sing a song for you
Set them free at the break of dawn Of 99 balloons
Till one by one they all were gone On their way to the horizon

And the less I seek my source for some definitive...

• Why must people choose to sit at the messy table in a restaurant and then make someone come clean it?
• Why didn't my Netflix arrive today (About a Boy) like it was supposed to?
• Why is the imdb poster on the About a Boy record in French? (maybe it's just me?)

• Why'd it take 9 hours for the picture sent from my phone to arrive at my email? (And why did it arrive there right after I questioned where it was...)
  
• Why did people confuse the fact that when I said the City of FtL was giving out "free trees", they took that to mean Christmas trees? (I would've said "free Christmas trees")
  
• And why don't I know anyone named "Maintenance" so I can say hi to them...
  

In any case, today was mostly uneventful. I swam this morning, then went and picked up my 2 (non-Christmas) trees: a Silver Buttonwood (left in pic) and a Spanish Stopper (right; both natives--as were all 10 varieties that were options today--and free as part of a plan by the City to replant trees taken down by recent hurricanes). Afterwards, I read The Giver for most of the day. Now, I'm having dinner and trying to find out how KC did at her meet...

There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
And the less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine...

No style rookie, you better watch, don't mess with me

I'm not sure where the week went... between my swim team's holiday party last night, finishing Gilead, navigating through a slew of Australian email addresses, watching Happy, Texas (with Steve Zahn, Jeremy Northam, Ally Walker and William H. Macy), among other things, I'm not sure where.

I do know I've been delinquent about mailing my step-dad's birthday present, as well as preparing my Christmas cards to send--hopefully I'll take care of both this weekend. That, and pick up one of the free trees the city is handing out (urban forestry project). And I won't even get into how much stuff I've not put away this week...

We always hang in a buffalo stance
We do the dive every time we dance
I'll give you love baby not romance
I'll make a move nothing left to chance
So don't you get fresh with me

Hey (hey) you (you), get off of my cloud

Busy weekend: swim meet in Coral Springs, friend in Boca from Cayman, and the Rolling Stones stuck in my head...

The meet Saturday & Sunday went alright. It was short course meters and my freestyle felt kinda funky the entire meet, but I did mostly better than last year. 2:02 in the 2 free, 4:24 in the 4 free, 8:50 in the 800 (out in 4:19), 2:11 in 2 back, 2:13 in 2 fly, and 4:46 in the 4 im... not terrible, really.

After the meet on Saturday, I drove up to Boca Raton to meet up with a friend from the Cayman Islands (he's actually South African) in town for a meet this past weekend. After finding the pool where they were swimming vacant, I drove around the area for about 15 minutes before calling another friend to find out where their hotel was. Post call, I called the hotel and was able to find it, and hang out for the rest of the evening.

And through most of this I was singing Get Off My Cloud, which I'd heard on Friday--except for Sunday night when I watched Lucky Number Slevin...


I said, hey! (hey) you! (you) get off of my cloud
Hey! (hey) you! (you) get off of my cloud
Hey! (hey) you! (you) get off of my cloud
Don't hang around cause two's a crowd on my cloud, baby

Trying to remember where it all began...

A good song to hear in the morning, particularly while driving...

(I just wish traffic today moved as fast as it does in the video.)

Oh! and today is World AIDS Day...

For the call of thunder threatens everyone

I quit, I give up, nothing’s good enough for anybody else, it seems

Tonight just turned into one of those days where I wanted to give up; where hope was a dangerous thing. Where by the end of the day, I just needed a break from fighting/battling with things I ought to change (e.g. world peace). Some things maybe to give up on permanently, others to stave off until after a good night's sleep…

So I will quote from my Gilead lunch reading today, and quit until tomorrow...

“...I would advise you against defensiveness on principle. It precludes the best eventualities along with the worst. At the most basic level, it expresses a lack of faith. As I have said, the worst eventualities can have great value as experience. And often enough when we think we are protecting ourselves, we are struggling against our rescuer.” (p.154)

And being alone is the best way to be
When I’m by myself, it’s the best way to be
When I’m all alone it’s the best way to be
When I’m by myself, nobody else can say
Me, I’m a part of your circle of friends
And we notice you don’t come around...

Wear it out (the way a 3 year-old would do), melt it down (you're gonna have to eventually, anyways)

On the way back to work today at lunch, Alanis Morissette’s You Learn came on the radio, reminding me of how I was awakened on Saturday. Sometime just before 7 a.m.--possibly earlier--I was awoken by "you live, you learn, you love, you learn, you cry, you learn, you lose, you learn..." drifting descending down from above. Apparently my upstairs neighbor was awake.

I attempted to ignore it, and sleep until my alarm went off--I was getting up for morning practice at 8--but did not have much success. In some respects, it was strange, as generally music won't wake me up--the songs just become part of my dream.

Now, part of me was/still is upset, and wanted to go upstairs and tell her to turn her tunes down. The larger part, however, didn’t want to wake up that much, and so I resisted, and have let it fester inside. I’ve still not addressed it to her, yet; maybe I’m waiting for it to happen again. I will give my upstairs neighbor props, in that she did warn me she likes to listen to her music loud; I just didn’t realize it would be so early on a Saturday morning. Ironic, in some ways...

Swallow it down (what a jagged little pill)
It feels so good (swimming in your stomach)
What until the dust settles…
You live, you learn

It's just a little too late

Thanksgiving went well in Lauderdale. Swam in the morning, bummed around awhile before heading over to a friend's house for dinner, and after eating we played Upwards (like stackable Scrabble; a pic of the final board is at left). They were even nice enough to let me win--after messing up the board with "humid" (under "timid") and "bedeck". It was a good time.

Yesterday, I swam again and ran some errands while avoiding the after-T-Day "sale" craziness ("Black Friday" to me refers to a day the stock market crashed, by the way). I actually did venture out to Pier 1 and Target yesterday evening, though--no so much craziness then. Otherwise I just vegged, and saw the rainbow at right.

Oh, and the Horns, in the style I'm becoming accustomed to, lost 6-12 to A&M in football yesterday (National Champs last year, can't beat the in-state rival this year, and now it appears they won't play for the conference title...).

It's just too little too late
A little too long and I can't wait
But you know all the right things to say
(You know it's just too little too late)

Hear the sound of the falling rain, coming down like an armageddon flame...

A little Green Day for Thanksgiving; and for a lighter reading, a recap of some former IgNobel winners...

• The Effect of Country Music on Suicide (Medicine, 2004)
• the dynamics of hula-hooping (Physics, 2004)
• Daisuke Inoue for inventing karaoke (Peace, 2004--"an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other")
• the founders of Murphy's Law (Engineering, 2003)
• The effects of pre-existing, inappropriate highlighting on reading comprehension (Literature, 2001)

Otherwise, I can only report that the water at the pool is gradually warming again (it was 78 today), the air temperature is up a tad (particularly since I swam when the sun was out today), and brownies after practice are a good thing.

Have a good T-day--gobble, gobble...


I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday...

Now we are shivering, blue ice is glittering (cold, cold, cold)

Yesterday morning I was reminded of Guatemala...

My alarm went off at 5:35, I scampered out of bed to turn it off. I threw my suit and some clothes on, grabbed a bite to eat, and hopped in my car and drove to the pool. I didn't really feel the temperature until I was standing on deck--I'd mistakenly worn windpants, which weren't being very effect at block neither the wind nor the cold.

So after shivering on deck for a wee bit (5-10 minutes), I disrobed down to my suit and plunged into the water. Now, I probably actually woke up when I got in the water, which was not warm. Luckily, it was not the coldest I've ever been in, that current honor being held by Guatemala City's Zona 5 pool from early December 2002; but it was certainly reminiscent of that.

But after the initial chill upon getting in (and for the next 200/so), I got warm enough to keep going and stayed moving enough to keep comfortable for the whole hour I was in. I even managed to get 41 (long course) in, which was good... (that would be 4,100m); so all-in-all, not bad.

It was on my drive home from the pool (around 7:10) and to work that I heard the temperature: 52° (which probably meant it was in the high 40s when I got in). And it wasn't until yesterday afternoon that I heard they'd covered the pool I'd swam in to try to heat it back up: the water temperature was around 75° at noon... it's better to learn this after the fact.

Today wasn't much better, but we're were in the other pool where the water temp was up in the low 80s...

And I'll finish up this entry with a joke from Gilead:
Person 1: AB, CD goldfish
Person 2: L, MNO goldfish
(and online search produced further lines, but that's what's in the book).

hasta...


Now we are shivering, blue ice is glittering (cold, cold, cold)
Cold is the color of crystal
The snowlight that falls from the heavenly skies
Catch me and let me dive under
For I want to swim in the pools of your eyes

Fortunately you have someone who relies on you...

The weekend is a fairly quiet one, thankfully; although a bit cool. Maybe on some levels I'm still recovering from Thursday night's "meet" and team outing to Howl at the Moon (not that I stayed late: I left by 9:30 and Keith had time to corrupted me with only 1 tequila shot). As for Friday night, a cold front moved into town, brining the temperature down to a bone chilling 60 or so...

Not a ton to report really. I went to see Casino Royale yesterday afternoon with a group of ladies from the team--all the guys backed out for various reason. Casino is good, and I'll say that Daniel Craig (the new Bond) does a good job even though I'm not a good judge of acting (and I've been a tad biased toward him since his role in Tomb Raider seemed a good test for a secret agent gig... Layer Cake was an interesting turn, though). I also didn't know/realize that Casino was 2.5 hours.

Didn't really do anything else yesterday. I picked up a library card and put some stuff away (still not completely unpacked though). Read some more of Gilead, which is also good but it is reminding me of how much difficulty I have with stream-of-consciousness books--I'm muddling through it.

And now that the music here has gone from Frank Sinatra's Strangers in the Night to Green Day's Minority, I think I should be packing up and leaving. Maybe get some stuff done today--though I'm not sure what.


Time I'm sure will bring
Disappointments in so many things
It seems to be the way
When you're gambling cards on love you play

Pour some sugar on me... c'mon fire me up

For whatever reasons (maybe because I got 4 in this morning at practice), as I was driving into work today, Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar on Me came on the radio, and it was just the right time for it to be on.... I was even rocking along with the song in my car for about half of it until I recalled catching a driver one time singing along to the radio in the car in front of me, and I didn't want that to happen to me. I contained myself somewhat when I remembered that, and when I thought the Jeep behind me belonged to someone I know.

Anyways, the other items of note from this morning's drive is that apparently the Christmas radio stations begin today, or at least the local one. Which just means from now until Jan.6, I have one less radio station to which I'll be listening. It's just one of my peeves that the stations switch over before Thanksgiving, but what's even worse is they completely stop at 11:59 p.m. on 12/25. They don't ever make it to New Year's, let alone Little Christmas... makes it seem like the Christmas/holiday season just stops after the 25th--nothing more afterward. Just sad really.

So to combat said practice, I boycott those stations for the duration of their switch. It probably doesn't do any direct good, but it makes me feel better.

Well, time to jet... hasta


Listen: red light, yellow light, green-a-light go
Crazy little woman in a one man show
Mirror queen, mannequin, rhythm of love
Sweet dream, saccharine, loosen up

Get shot down cause you're overzealous, play hard-to-get females get jealous...

Things I've discovered/found out/been reminded of so far this week...

• An article on the wisdom of bumper stickers.
• If you don't recognize him (like I didn't), that's a young Robert Duvall playing Boo Radley in the movie of To Kill a Mockingbird. Speaking of Mockingbird, in listening to it, I am continually reminded that "Jem and I" (which Scout keeps saying) sounds a lot like "Gemini"...
• An article on the naming of USC's basketball court after Jim Sterkel.
• Today's post would've referenced Lauryn Hill's Doo Wop (That Thing), if I hadn't already used it here. The song has been in my head of late, at least during practice, because a "Christian" has started swimming with the team (a guy with that name). His introduction yesterday caused me to sing the line used previously... and the reference was actually identified by someone in the lane next to me (amazingly). The identifier then proceeded to talk about how it was "old school" which made the adults in the water laugh--given that early 30s is actually young for the group. But the group quickly corrected what we perceived as a mistake. After all, if Ms. Hill's song is old school, what does that make the music it references???

And on that note, I will sign off so I can get some rest before tomorrow night's psuedo-meet... hasta

This here's a tale for all the fellas,
Tryin' to do what those ladies tell us,
Get shot down 'cause you're over-zealous.
Play hard to get females get jealous

It's a new world, it's a new start, it's alive with the beating of young hearts

To avoid a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, I'll chronicle here that last night I read Judy Blume's Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret (left). Yep, the entire thing in one sitting--I'm so proud of myself. (Jarret'll probably be in shock; maybe he'll even update his blog because of it.... I won't really mention that the book's just over 150 pages, nor that it's set in rather large type, nor that it's written for a teen reader so it's doesn't have monstrous words to get through. It is good though... I think I'll send it to my sister.)

And now that Margaret's read, I've moved on to Marilynne Robinson's Gilead (right)--which also, apparently, deals with religion and letters (although in this case, instead of a 11-year-old girl writing to God, you've got what appears to be a dying priest writing to his son--I'm only on page 9, so I'm not positive). Gilead has begun well, and it's cool cover helped it start off on the right foot.

And yet another reason why I like Wikipedia...



It's a new world, it's a new start
It's alive with the beating of young hearts
It's a new day, it's a new plan
I've been waiting for you...
Here I am

On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again

I'm in Orlando at the moment, in an ExtendedStay America on International Drive near the convention center. I drove back down here from Gainesville after the meet, to break up today's drive (and I didn't want to deal with football traffic there for today's game--yes, double entendre intended on "there").

Yesterday went well. The Texas men beat Florida in their swimming dual, and the drive up was good. I got caught in some accident-related traffic in West Palm Beach (a van flipped over on its side and closed 2 of 3 lanes of traffic), but otherwise, it was smooth sailing. I even arrived around 10 minutes before the meet started, so perfect timing. The drive was eased by me listening to To Kill a Mockingbird, also--which I'll hopefully finish up today...


Notes from the trip:

• Bumper sticker: I wish I was the person my dog thinks I am
• There are some pro-life billboards between Orlando and Ocala (stuff like life begins before birth, etc. which made me want to see a few pro-choice ones, as well).
• If one chooses to stay at ExtendStay here in O-Town (thanks Hotwire), be forewarned: there are two here on I-Drive, one right in front of the other and that look like their 2 buildings are the same, big hotel. You are most likely staying at the ES America which is in behind the ES Deluxe--and there's not really any signage to let one know that. Why they're set this way, and with what I would think is the wrong hotel in front (the one with a lower turnover rate), I don't know.
• My SunPass appears to be working (i.e. cops did not come causing after me last night when I used it).
• The snowbirds are coming! (Or at least a saw a few large, bus-sized RVs with cars being towed behind them.)
  

Well, check-out time approaches, and I should be getting back to driving...

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.

-spoken by Atticus Finch in Chapter 11, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again

Row, row, row your boat...

gentle down Town Lake (I wonder if crewÜ is out tonight...)

Ahhh, Thursday night; crewÜ sweeping night. And, alas, I'm not rowing. So instead, I'll post 2 recent articles I'm stumbled upon about rowing:

1) The end prize/purpose of a reality show currently on-air in China is to pick a male and a female cox for the China's crews for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

2) A paper in New Jersey recently ran this story about Rutger's rowing--the men's lightweight and heavyweight rowing are among 6 sports that Rutger's has announced that are cutting (men's swimming is another one, as well).


Yes, not a particularly gigantic post tonight, but I'm prep'ing to drive 300+ miles to Gainesville tomorrow to watch the Texas/Florida dual meet (and hightail it back outta Gatorland before the Florida/South Carolina football game on Saturday). So I off to get ready for that. Night.


Life is but a dream...

(crewÜ'rs, sorry for the lack of novelty, but check out the link on "life is but a dream", as well as what Wiki says on Rowing--maybe that'll make up for it, if not the wiki, then the addition lyrics of Row, Row, Row...)

C'mon, c'mon, no one can see you try...

After some initial difficulty this morning, I managed to track down my polling location and vote after work.

Now some people have wondered why more people vote for American Idol than in elections. Well, just for an example, I've watched Idol maybe once in my life, and in that show I knew exactly how and where I was supposed to vote--after just 1 viewing.

For today's election, I had to...

• investigate whether/not I needed my voter registration card to vote (I didn't--just a photo i.d.),
• find where to vote (which I didn't find on the State of Florida's website, nor on the Broward County website, but instead I found the link I needed to the page on the County site by going to the local newspaper's website--reminded me of how the most effective way to search Microsoft's site is to not use their search feature. And topping it off was the fact that the County website's mainpage, which had a news section, didn't even mention the election! There was a banner add about 3 things the County had on the ballot, but no link the the "Supervisor of Elections" plainly available, nor found in a search for "elections").
• once I got to the Supervisor of Elections site, I then managed to find my polling location based on my address, most helpful, as well as a copy of the ballot I was voting on, also helpful.

Course, I couldn't find hours for the polls, but I did manage to get there before they closed and made a semi-educated vote--not voting in some races simply because I knew nothing about who was running, and wary of just voting along party lines.

But all was better cause I got my "I Voted" sticker--so I'm happy. Now, I wanna find out how many of my friends voted today... work wasn't looking very good (only like 50% there).

This sugarcane, this lemonade, this hurricane
I'm not afraid
C'mon, c'mon no one can see you cry
This lightning storm, this tidal wave, this avalanche
I'm not afraid
C'mon, c'mon no one can see me cry

Remember, remember the 5th of November...

Nursery rhymes are an interesting thing. Most, if not all, are apparently based in historical truth, put into lyrical rhyme to help their lessons be more memorable. On some levels, they also vary by region, which would explain why I'd never heard of "Remember, remember" prior to its inclusion in V for Vendetta.

Remember's inclusion in Vendetta is rather fitting. The rhyme is the tale of Guy Fawkes's attempt to blow up British Parliament in 1605, while a plot element of the movie is to have people remember Guy Fawkes' act by recreating it.

Of course the content of Remember is rather gruesome, at least for a nursery rhyme. But, then again, aren't most nursery rhymes re-tellings of violent/disturbing things? They are retold to serve as warnings, in a lot of cases. Or to just help people remember...

(Speaking of remembering: a shout-out to the Fry...)

Remember, remember the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot

I broke a nail openin' the mail, I cursed out loud 'cause it hurt like hell...

After playing an elongated game of phone tag with UPS (and due to a non-applied shift key causing my address to have "32" instead of "#2), I managed to be at home when my new phone arrived! So it sits at home, plugged in through its adapter from its European plug, being fully charged. Hopefully I'll get it activated tomorrow, and there won't be any major issues.

Outside the phone realm, this week...

• I found out I'm probably not going home for Christmas (due mostly to the expensive plane ticket);
• the Florida high school state swimming meets are today through Saturday, causing there to be no Masters practice tonight, tomorrow evening, nor Saturday morning;
• I managed to shift some stuff around my place, so it looks cleaner (which will make my mom so happy to see, I'm sure);
• the use of non-Latin letters may "break" the Internet (letters used in Cyrillic or Arabic, for example);
• I may want to contemplate moving to Serbia;
  

and the big news:

• Bob Barker is retiring after 35 years on The Price is Right--he's been the host my entire life!
  (it might be sadder than the pink flamingo news from earlier this week...)
  

The car won't start--it's falling apart falling apart
I was late for work and the boss got smart
My pantyline shows, got a run in my hose
My hair went flat--man, I hate that (hate that)

If only I could turn back time...

Ahh, how I like Mother Goose & Grimm... Monday's comic for example:

In actuality, the recent Daylight Savings switch has gone ok (I fell back and didn't even get hurt!). Sure, I'm kinda bummed it's already dark when I leave work, but I have managed to get up and swim two mornings this week--and the sun was up during 6 a.m. practice. That's nice.

Now, if my replacement phone would get here (it should arrive Thursday and get to me maybe Friday or Monday--depending on when it's actually delivered). Oh, and it's All Saint's Day and Dia de los Muertos.

If only I could turn back time
If only I had said what I still hide
If only I could turn back time...

You could be my flamingo, cause pink is a new kinda lingo

Truly sad news today over the AP wire: the company that originated the lawn flamingo is going out-of-business...

Pink, it's my new obsession
Pink, it's not even a question,
Pink, on the lips of your lover,
'Cause pink is the love you discover

There's a restless feeling in my bones, and I know that at times it just won't go away

Family visits in some ways really suck... mostly in the leaving part (at the moment). My mom's and step-dad's visit ends today, and I'm left in the wake of their departure. Actually, my visit to my dad and sister is California is so crammed into this visit, that I'm now pretty much dealing with being away from all of them.

In a way, this is good: it means I enjoyed their visits. But mostly, it just sucks because now they're gone away again, and I have to get used to them not being around...

Not really such a terrible thing, just not really fun. Particularly when I've not really a clue of when I'll see them again, and my phone's out-of-commission whilst I await for the replacement's arrival.

On the plus side, I watched Thank You for Smoking last night, which was quite humorous--it's a satire about the main spokesman (Aaron Eckhart) for the Tobacco lobby in D.C.

I just can't stand being alone
I'm gonna have to change that someday
There's a restless feeling in my bones
And I know that at times it just won't go away

Those raindrops are fallin' on my head

Well, it's raining again in Fort Lauderdale, surprise, surprise.

But it's not been too bad. I'm hanging out with my mom and step-dad today, while also buying a new phone. The screen of my current phone went black yesterday, making it rather difficult to call people--I even inadvertently called someone at random, who I'm still trying to figure out who it was. So, with that, I spent 30 minutes sitting in a cingular store waiting to buy a phone and having to leave before being helped--a tad frustrating.

So instead, I've gone onto eBay, and bought a Motorola SLVR off there... which should arrive this week, hopefully. Until then, no phone, so it'll be a little quite. :)


Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed
Nothin' seems to fit
Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'

If we took a holiday, took some time to celebrate...

Mom and step-dad are in town for a visit, so just a brief post...

Just one day out of life
It would be, it would be so nice

Everybody spread the word
Were gonna have a celebration

It's six o'clock in the morning, you're the last to hear the warning, you've been trying to throw your arms around the world

Actually, it's more like 2...

Ever get the feeling you're the butt of the joke, and everyone is in on it? Or pondered whether you're being asked too much or if you just can't handle it?

What about being told to take pride in what you're doing, then encouraged to do it half-assed? Wanted to get advice from someone, but not known which "someone" was safe to get it from? Wondered if someone was trying to get rid of you, or maybe just been so paranoid that you read too much into everything?

Wanted to leave but felt you couldn't or shouldn't... perhaps even because maybe you should stay?

Ever miss yelling out that you're rowing #4?

It's 6:00 in the morning
You're the last to hear the warning
You've been trying to throw your arms around the world
You've been falling off the sidewalk
Your lips move but you can't talk
You're tryin to throw your arms around the world

Suddenly I see, this is what I want to be

Today I am on my way back from California, and I do mean the "day" part of it--I've got to remember those red-eyes from the West Coast, cause this whole leave at 11 a.m. get in at 11 p.m. thing sucks.

My few days with dad and sister went well. It was great to see them again, and who knows when I'll get back out there (probably in another year or three; course I don't know when I'll get back to a visit to San Antonio, either). It also appeared Dad had a good 80th birthday.

I, myself, managed to pack in a few movies while away, catching The Devil Wears Prada on the plane out and back, and seeing The Guardian and Little Children with my sister. The Guardian was cool because 2 former Texas swimmers where extras in the movie spending basically the middle portion of the movie on screen. So getting to seem them on the big screen was nice; one even got to sit next to Ashton Kutcher in class--I'm so jealous.

As for Children, it was interesting, particularly as the movie made me realize the childishness of some of the things I've been doing of late--which in some aspects seemed to be the point of the movie.

Anyways, I'm headed back to Florida, and to an annual organization work review beginning tomorrow. Following that, my mom and step-dad are down for a week's visit, and the craziness of the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show. Joyous.


Her face is a map of the world, is a map of the world
You can see she's a beautiful girl, she's a beautiful girl
And everything around her is a silver pool of light
The people who surround her feel the benefit of it
It makes you calm

Been saved again by the garbage truck, I've got something to say but nothing comes

About a month ago, I dropped my phone. Since then my display is slowly being taken over by black from the upper left corner and white from the lower right--kinda like I have a fade-to-black and fade-to-white battling on the tiny little screen. So tonight, I finally got to cingular and found out I need to buy a new phone. Kinda sucky, cause I like my current phone, not to mention the cost. Added to all this, is that during the rainstorm while I was swimming the 10K a few weeks ago, my phone got wet--which is preventing a cheaper replacement option. C'est ma vie.

Otherwise things go alright. Over the weekend I managed to get some more stuff put away, which has allowed me to move a chair from the entryway into the kitchen (now I don't have to climb over said chair to get into the kitchen--which is nice). I'm in the midst of a 2-week trial with NetFlix. I watched Friends with Money over the weekend, and now have Oklahoma! on the way (not sure why it ended up on the list so high... it's just what's on it's way here).

And I'm prep'ing to head to California this weekend (or will be in the next day/two) for my dad's 80^th birthday. All in all, doing alright. OH! and the exciting news: this morning, for the first time in 2 years or more, I filled my gas tank for under $20. :)

Well, I must be off to search for a phone.


Excuse me but can I be you for a while
My dog won't bite if you sit real still
I got the Antichrist in the kitchen yelling at me again
Yeah I can hear that

I'm not sure of what I see, cupid don't &@#! with me, are you telling me this is a sign?

The story of this year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize made me smile today...

about how a little can make a big difference.

(and, yes, it's Friday the 13th)

...ir muy lento, cada vez más lento

I have made it through Hell!

Well, more correctly (and less and more literally), I have finished reading Dante's Inferno; now I just need to decided whether I'm going to read through all the notes that accompany it (and aren't making a ton of sense since they relate to specific lines within the text and I'm not really keen on going back and reading the lines to know what's being talked about--presuming I understood it to begin with).

I'm also pondering whether/not to the read the rest of the Divine Comedy (i.e. Purgatorio and Paradiso)... though I'm not sure I'm ready for Purgatory and Paradise just yet.

So, instead, I did some more reading on the IgNobles. This one from 1995 sounds like something I could use:
"ECONOMICS: Gauri Nanda of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for inventing an alarm clock that runs away and hides, repeatedly, thus ensuring that people DO get out of bed, and thus theoretically adding many productive hours to the workday."


Y poco a poco olvidar,
el tiempo y su velocidad
Frenar el ritmo, ir muy lento,
Cada vez más lento

My yesterdays are all boxed up and neatly put away, but every now and then you come to mind

Today marked my 1-year anniversary at work: I started a year ago on October 10--last year it was Columbus Day, rather than the day after, though. All in all, nothing terribly exciting to report... I did get to test out my new parachute at practice. Nice, but not much on the exciting though.

The only other item of note from today was that I stumbled upon another article about James Madison University dropping its men's swimming team, and nine other sports, to come into compliance with Title IX. The most interesting thing about JMU's situation to me is that the school, itself, is way out of gender proportion: it's 61% female and 39% male. This is the parallel the JMU Athletics is aiming to match.

The U.S. population is 51% female, 49% male--according to the U.S. Census Bureau. As this is the case, why isn't Title IX (which is about gender equality in education) working to rectify the school's inequality? And couldn't men's sports teams be used to help address this trend?


Butterflies are free to fly and so they fly away
And I'm left to carry on and wonder why
Even through it all, I'm always on your side

Do you believe everything that you read, everything that you see on the set?

I went and saw The Illusionist today, which was quite good.

Going in, I was a tad worried that it would be too similar to The Prestige, which comes out later this month, but I was glad I went. Having now seen it, I believe Prestige will only be similar in the fact that the main characters are illusionists/magicians.

And this reminds me that Hollywood amazingly seems to have the same 2 movies come out at the same time (this also happened last month with The Black Dahlia and Hollywoodland). And that doesn't even get into things like last year's Capote and this year's Infamous (the latter which I'll probably end up seeing because Sandra Bullock's in it--among others).

Course, in addition to a good cast and story, The Illusionist also benefited by having a Rufus in it--a name which since Dogma makes me smile (the 13th apostle, you know).

And what you want, what you really need are two different things wouldn't you say
The line is thin between fun and sin, and were all clockin' in for the day
(And our only care is what to wear)

Every day is a getaway when all of it goes unsaid
I got a holiday, a paid holiday
I got a holiday in my head

"All I wanna do is have a little fun before I die" says the man next to me outta nowhere

So, this evening, while waiting iTunes to finish downloading Project Runway, this is what I found:

• -Last week's ep of PR was called "What the Elle?", which is almost enough for me to download it.

• -I found this article about the people who ask the questions not normally asked, which lead to...
• -"Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems With Using Long Words Needlessly" (an actual article in Applied Cognitive Psychology, March 2006), leading to...
• -the Ig Nobel Prizes (ig-no-Bell, apparently), leading to...
• -the 5-second rule (which I've always thought of as the 10-second rule), and
• -the Nobel Prizes, which lead to...
• -the fact that this year's Nobel Peace Prize is being announced on Friday the 13th.

And all the time waiting also has led to a depleted battery, so I must go... buenas noches.


"All I wanna do is have a little fun before I die,"
says the man next to me outta nowhere
It's apropos of nothing, and he's says his name is Will
But I'm sure it's "Bill" or "Billy" or "Mack" or "Buddy"...

As I'm stumblin', tumblin', wonderin', as I'm travelin' on

A year ago this week was my 4-day drive to Florida, up and around the various mess along the Gulf Coast caused by Katrina and Rita. Kinda strange. I hadn't completely realized my year was upon me, until it had started.

Exactly a year ago today I was on day 3, driving from Atlanta, Georgia, to Leesburg, Florida--just under 400 miles, and probably the most uneventful leg of the whole trip.

This week has been going ok. Tuesday evening, the city deferred to decided on whether or not the team I'm training with will get to stay in the pool we're in. At lunch that day, I walked into a woman hollerin' at the staff to get her food prepared correctly--wreaking havoc on the staff's ability to actually prepare the food. After the woman left--completely ignoring that she'd made 7 other people wait longer for their food--and I'd made my order, the woman behind me in line proceeded to steal my food from the pick-up area and then brazenly ate it in the restaurant in front of everyone--as if she hadn't really taken it. It was even in a to-go bag, which she turned upside-down to get all the stuff out. And, man, did she scarf down that--I've never seen food disappear so fast.

But dinner last night helped balance things out... now if only I could get to unpacking. That, and if I could get iTunes to download faster, ahh...

Oh, and I watched TransAmerica last week--which I quite liked and recommend.


Well I can't tell you where I'm going, I'm not sure of where I've been
But I know I must keep travelin' till my road comes to an end
I'm out here on my journey, trying to make the most of it
I'm a puzzle, I must figure out where all my pieces fit

Is it any wonder I'm tired? Is it any wonder I'm uptight?

I survived yesterday's 10K, and am not feeling too terribly today. My time was 2:21:27 (and no, that second colon is not a mistake--that's 2 hours, 21 minutes and 27 seconds), which placed me 6th overall, 21 minutes behind the winner (who's an Olympian from Venezuela, by the way). Full results are here--the last finisher was in the water 4.5 hours.

After the races, awards (I won my age group!), and lunch, I arrived home to find my new upstairs neighbor (and 6-10 of her closest friends/family) moving into her apartment (along with 6 cars, taking up all the spaces at our small complex). So, I wasn't really able to get a nap, which was fine.

Rest of the day was uneventful. Oh, I should mention that the swim was staged from the Miami Rowing boathouse, and in their rowing venue (there's was a bunch of shells about... made me miss rowing, more). Regretfully, Virginia Key, where the house is, a ways away, and there's a pesky causeway toll (which, amazing, I guess correctly would exist, so I had money to pay for it). Ft. Lauderdale Rowing, however, should be way closer...

Oh, and the coolest part of the weekend: I found $40 in my wallet this morning--love that.


Sometimes, it's hard to know where I stand
It's hard to know where I am
Or maybe it's a puzzle I don't understand
Sometimes, I get the feeling that I'm
Stranded in the wrong time
Where love is just a lyric in children's rhyme...

It was just, one of those things; just one of those crazy flings

For reasons of which I'm not quite sure, yesterday afternoon I entered a 10K swim on Saturday morning down off Virginia Key (between South Beach and Key Biscayne just off Miami). I'm not exactly sure why I've signed up for that distance, particularly since there was a much more plausible 5K option, or the mental stop-gap that allowed me to do so, or the fact that I've not ducked out of it yet. In any case, I didn't have any terrible qualms about entering it when I did so, it just seemed like another viable option.

It wasn't until about 30 minutes later that I began to wonder about it. And I figure I'll still be wondering come Saturday morning. Course, given that the race starts at like 7:30 a.m., I may not really be awake yet. Maybe I wasn't really when I signed up?

In any case, I hope to just have fun and be done in about 2.5 hours... we'll see.

At least I've already hit my 100 post to the blog since within its first year. This is actually post 101, which probably should have a Depeche Mode song in the subject, but doesn't. Instead, I went with Just One of Those Things, good Cole Porter tune (which I believe you can hear him sing if you click on the link), to continue the carry on the traditional song trend from last time (although no Sleepless in Seattle/Las Vegas connection this time, unlike Stardust). No, today's choice had more to do with the words "crazy" (the aforemention entrance into a 10,000m swim) and "gossamer" (below--I just like that it's include in the song)...

Anyways, I should jet off, fabulous flight to attend to, et al.

It was just one of those nights
Just one of those fabulous flights
A trip to the moon on gossamer wings
Just one of those things

And now the purple dusk of twilight time, steals across the meadow of my heart...

Greetings from the Pacific Northwest.... At the moment, I sit in SeaTac, at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, awaiting my flight back to Fort Lauderdale. I’m headed on an overnight flight back, so that my flight eats up the whole night time, instead of all day tomorrow (I leave just before 8 p.m. Pacific, and get in to Laudy at just after 6 a.m. Eastern).

I went with the overnight flight, because when I flew back to Florida from here before, I ended up spending all day on the plane: I left at 7 a.m. and landed at 7 p.m.--not a terribly fun way to spend a Sunday.


Anyways, I was on the West Coast this weekend to teach a course at a clinic here in Tacoma, as well as man a sales booth. Overall things went well. The course I taught yesterday afternoon/evening went smoothly, with about 20 people in it and a volleyball game just outside the room for only the last hour/so. Weather was nice and cool (like 70s, I believe). And I even managed to find an open UPS Store without too much driving around, and just a few blocks from UPS (the University of Puget Sound--the Loggers were the ones playing volleyball). All in the biggest compact car I ever recall renting, a Hyundai Tucson (above left).

But now my flight awaits... headed to Vegas again. Hopefully I’ll have more than 30 minutes between flights, and might be able to get some food this time--but I’m not gonna hold my breath. On my way out here on Thursday, my layover got shortened due to a delayed arrival (second time in a row for that to happen on US Airways...), and then all the food lines were long. Plenty of spaces at the airport slot machines, just not at any of the restaurants. Maybe my later-in-the-day layover time will make things better. Guess I’ll see.

Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely night dreaming of a song
The melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
Now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song

With a big black horse & a cherry tree...

Tomorrow I head out of town again, this time all the way 'cross the country to Tacoma (basically the other corner). I'll be there through Saturday afternoon (for work) before I catch an overnight flight back, through Vegas, so that the return doesn't eat all of Sunday (I get in at 6:30 a.m., I believe).

But before I jet off tomorrow morning, I've got some packing to do, some files to get off-line, a grand opening to miss (sorry Jarret) and a swim practice to not do (there's rain so they're clouds, therefore the guards have called practice...).

Anyways, if I'm lucky I'll get caught up on Project Runway this week, but am not too sure about that either (and downloading the past episodes is taking a way long time, regretfully).

What else? Not much, I guess... I met the father of my new upstairs neighbor (she was at work while he was scoping out the place for remodeling--he's a contractor). I picked up a new pair of navy blue, Arizona Birks yesterday (rather quickly while at lunch). I got a whole whopping 600 in last night before we got pulled out of the water because of weather. I'm still trying to get caught up at work (2 weeks away from the office can do that, sometimes).

Terrible excitement, I know, but hey, I've got packing to do, so later.


But I said no... no, no... no-no-no
I said no... no, you're not the one for me
No... no, no... no-no-no
I said no... no, you're not the one for me

Tell me why you're lookin' so confused, when I'm the one who didn't know the truth

My new doormat... whatcha think?
[a delayed birthday present]

Get out (leave), right now
That's the end of you and me
It's too late (now) and I can't wait
For you to be gone

I bet you wonder how I knew, about your plans to make me blue...

I returned from Dearborn (Michigan) early this afternoon to a flat tire on my car. Not a terrible surprise, given that I know there's a screw in the tire (from the re-roofing that just finished up at my place last week) and that I had to put air into in when I last drove it--2 weeks ago. But it still sucked to have to put the spare on today. And it also means that I'll be headed to get my tires replace (which they need, due to basically non-existent tread) sometime this week before I head out to Tacoma, Washington, Thursday morning.

The week in Michigan went well: weather was nice, got to hang out/see some old friends, woke up just before 5 a.m. each morning, ate of Fuddruckers (which have closed here in Ft.L that I'm aware of), and saw The Black Dahlia (which is good, if a bit strange--the film noire motif lends itself to that; and also independent of Josh Hartnett's gratuitous butt-shot).

Sadly, my hotel, once again!, did not have Bravo, and I consequently missed getting to celebrate Vicent's auf'ing with Erin during the show (via text)... I even missed the reruns earlier today (so at the moment I'm trying to download them from iTunes, so I can watch them later). I also didn't really read much of Inferno (Dante's was stuck with the greedy and lustful of Circle 4 most of the week).

And the big question: will I get my tires replaced tomorrow or Thursday... hmmm. Will find out tomorrow, I guess.


Don't you know that I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine,
And I'm just about to lose my mind,
Honey, honey yeah

I don't wanna wait in vain...

So, the current recommendation, I believe, is to get to the airport 3 hours ahead of your flight to begin the check-in process. I'm ok with that. Ususally, this just means bumming around the airport for a few hours.

What I tend to have problems with is things like what's happening now: I'm here just over 2 hours before my flight, and the ticket counter isn't open yet. Thanks to the wonderss of self check-in, I'm checked in for my flight and now await someone to hand me my baggage tag so that I can drop off my checked bag at security. Ah, such fun...

Why do they make these pesky recommendations of showing up early, and then don't have/force the airlines to actually make accommodations to be prepared for us people who actually do what they say!

(Oh, and I'm on my way to Dearborn, Michigan, for the USA Swimming Convention.)


So dont treat me like a puppet on a string
Because I know how to do my thing
Dont talk to me as if you think Im dumb
I wanna know when youre gotta come,you see

I dont wanna wait in a vain for your love

And the daffodils look lovely today...

So I have survived a week in D.C. for work, all within the confines of a mid-renovation Hyatt Crystal City. Nothing really too shocking happened, really. Actually, probably the most unexpected part of the week was the water dripping down through the shower light fixture (presumable from the shower above) earlier this morning. That, and other indicators, lead me to believe that Hyatt might not be getting the renovation they are hoping for...

As for the rest of the morning, the class I taught well, other than running over 40 minutes. The week was good too in that I got to see a lot of old friends and acquaintances and catch-up a bit with them. I also found out that one of my favorite pools--in The Woodlands (Texas)--is scheduled to be demolished in 2008. I was bummed to find that out, but I also makes we want to go to next summer’s Master’s Nationals (which are there) even more so. Hopefully things will work out to allow me to be there.

Otherwise, I can really only report a few things:

• my flight from Pittsburg to Fort Lauderdale (yes, Pittsburg is in in-route from D.C. to Ft.L), that I’m on at the moment, has enough Steelers fans on it to make me think they’re playing the Dolphins tomorrow.
• the Horns lost (badly) to Ohio State yesterday
• I don’t understand why airlines section passengers off into zones, and put seemingly 50% of the cabin in the last of 12 “zones” so that tons of people are still boarding at the same time—I guess the purpose really isn’t to get passengers on the plane any faster (Why would they want to do that? I only left D.C. 25 minutes late after all...)

And now, time to prepare to catch up with Mom (she’s visiting for a day/so), and get set for Dearborn, Michigan, which I leave for on Tuesday...

Oh, and in Inferno, I'm currently in Circle 3 of Hell (it's actually much easier to read than Paradise Lost)

p.s. KC--lament is a good word to know...

I have decided to leave you forever
I have decided to start things from here
Thunder and lightning won't change what I'm feeling
And the daffodils look lovely today...