Thursday, September 28, 2006

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

Saturday, September 23, 2006

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

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

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

Sunday, September 17, 2006

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

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

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

Sunday, September 10, 2006

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...

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Out of the frying pan and into the fire...

I'm going from Neverland to Hell... literally-speaking: I finished reading Peter Pan this morning, and began Dante's Inferno at lunch today while at the airport (headed out to D.C.).

Such fun... hopefully Inferno won't take me as long to read as The Republic did. We shall see.



Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.
Conjunction Junction, how's that function?
I got three favorite cars
That get most of my job done.
Conjunction Junction, what's their function?
I got "and", "but", and "or",
They'll get you pretty far.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Suicide blonde was the colour of her hair, like a cheap distraction for a new affair

Well, Ernesto has come and gone... and nothing really happened, other than I got sick. In some strange twist, Fort Lauderdale managed to not really get any rain from Ernesto, and just some mild wind. When I managed to check out the radar, we always seemed to be between storm bands. So, the prep work et al done for it, kinda seemed pointless--guess it was just a test run.

And the funny part is that Lauderdale managed to get a worse rain last night that any other time during the week. It was like Ernesto kicked back a storm just because he felt we missed out. Course, the bummer of it all was that it meant no swimming last night.

As for the weekend, I'm spending it getting some more stuff unpacked and getting ready to head to Washington D.C. for the week for work. I'll be gone Sunday to Sunday, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to post while away... we shall see.

Have a good week, all... and now I'm off to do some laundry. Oh, and I have yet to watch Muriel's Wedding, tho I did see Ms. Collette in Little Miss Sunshine last night (which is good/funny), and watched Gattaca, The Incredibles, and Contact...


Got some revelation, put into your hands
Save you from your misery, like rain across the land
But don't you see the colour of deception
Turning your world around again