Monday, December 31, 2007

At the closing of the year...

Happy New Year...

I'm ringing in the new year in San Antonio (I head back to Lauderdale tomorrow), watching the fireworks go off behind the Tower of the Americas in downtown SA and in the cold weather (I believe it's around 45...).


This is a time to be together
And the truth is somewhere here
Within our love of people

At the closing of the year

Thursday, December 27, 2007

What chain reaction, what cause and effect, makes you turn around, makes you try to explain

I was reading news from Mumbai this week, and was reminded of the recent renaming of places in India. Mumbai, previously known as Bombay, was renamed in the mid-90s to the more localized dialectical name, in much the same fashion that Constantinople's name was changed to Istanbul. (And a note: I really would've liked to use "Istanbul (not Constantinople)" for today's subject, but alas used it in June 2006.... Instead I'll just have to live with linking to a Tiny Toons video of Istanbul...)

Anyways, the name Bombay is no longer the city's official name--now left only to the realm of Bewitched's "Calling Dr. Bombay..."--and it's not the only well-known city in the country to experience a recent name change. Gone also is Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore is now more a reference to a city in Maine (the India city is Bengaluru), and Calcutta (Kolkata--at least it's similar).

They've even gone to the extent of renaming a Victorian train station from its original name of Victoria Terminus to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. Now, the city renaming seems alright... this train station, which was built by the British in a very British style, seems a bit bizarre to me...

If you knew that you would be alone,
Knowing right, being wrong,
Would you change?

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

I'll have a blue Christmas without you...

Merry Christmas!

This year's festivities have been a wee bit strange for me, though nice. Almost all my friends have gone home for the weekend/week, to exotic places like Costa Rica, Albuquerque, Pennsylvania and Ohio (yes, exotic, no?). And while this is basically the same thing that happened last year (I stayed, others went), I felt much more alone this year.

But in any case, yesterday I put up my tree (upper left), wrapped and mailed some gifts, and then later on in the day headed out to see Enchanted.

The strangeness continued through today, when I woke up my sister when I called her at 12:30 p.m. (it was 9:30 in California where she lives). This is strange, because typically she's up at the crack-of-dawn on Christmas morning, to open her presents... she even work me up last year. But after a good 20 minute chat, I believe I woke her enough so that she got up. I followed this with a trip this afternoon to my boss's house for Christmas dinner, which went well. All-in-all, not so terrible.

Now I just need to get ready to head back to work tomorrow... (and then start preparing to head to San Antonio on Friday--I'm going home for New Year's instead of Christmas this year ;)

Decorations of red, on a green Christmas tree
Won't be the same dear, if you're not here with me

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

Ah, the winter solstice is upon us (it's actually today), making today the shortest day of the year.

And marking the end of my week activities, yesterday morning I hung out at the bus stop sign at right for about 20 minutes (I walked a wee bit quicker to the stop that I thought I would) to catch bus 55 to work. The ride over wasn't too bad: I got a chapter in Middlesex read, and scored a seat before it got crowded (and it was crowded by the time I got off about 30 minutes later).

About an hour or so into work, and after shelling out $900 to pay for a new Transmission Harness, I got my car back. The good news is that it is working mostly normally again (and I don't need to get another car right away); the bad news: the pesky chiming when the driver's side door is open is back.

Oh well... just need to get my Christmas shopping done, now... and enjoy the 4-day weekend, even if all the days are short.

And in our world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

So I cynically, cynically say, the world is that way, surprise, suprise, suprise...

Well, I have survived my social week, but my car may have not.

I went to start my car at lunch on Monday, and it wouldn't: turning the ignition just lead to a rapid clicking. So I called a mechanic, had the car towed to their shop, and they set about working on it. By the end of the day, the car had a new starter, and another problem...

As I was picking up the car, the mechanic asked if I'd noticed a problem with the car shifting into gear. I told him I didn't think so, based off his description. I then got into the car and proceeded to drive to the pool. Almost from the start of that drive I noticed that my '97 Saturn SL1 had not been behaving normally. The car felt like it was starting in second gear, and consequently had no off-the-line acceleration (which here in FtL with the way one misses every light is not only highly noticeable, but it also makes trying to turn across streets problematic).

So on Tuesday, I took the car back into the shop to have this new problem looked at. After inspecting it yesterday, the cause wasn't tracked down (other than the electrical system had a notice that the car wasn't shifting properly into gear) so the mechanic schlepped my car to an electrical shop to be looked at and I hopped on a bus 55 to get home (the bus ride was kind of nice--I even got some reading in).

As I didn't hear anything from the mechanic today, I'm guessing that my car is still sitting at the electrical shop (oh the fun). Hopefully, the problem isn't the transmission, as the mechanic mentioned that he thought it could be that... and that therefor I should buy a new car (which I can't tell if he's trying to be helpful, or if he's just telling me to get a new car in a more and more noticeable area trend to just buy new items when a minor thing happens to them...). But at some point soon, I'll find out. Oh fun: I guess my car replacement plans are being bumped up a few months. And thankfully, I was able to bum a car off a friend who headed out of town today (thanks V ;).


And other than the car, it's been rather cold here at night, getting down into the 50s. Which is particularly cold when one is getting out of the pool, at night...

Crazy I know, places I go
Make me feel so tired
I can see how people look down
I'm on the outside

Here's, where the story ends

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad...

Today, I was once again reminded of how wrong it seems for a French-Canadian chanteuse to have covered Feliz Navidad... (it should be left to José Feliciano to sing)

But Mother Goose & Grimm had a gnostic gnome visit earlier this week, so that helps... :)


Feliz Navidad
Prospero año y felicidad

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Closing time, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end...

This is turning into my social week, leaving not much time for posting...

Last Saturday I spent helping out at a meet, and then followed it by going to see The Golden Compass and then went out to celebrate a friend of mine getting her visa. Sunday was spent watching The Polar Express and visiting IKEA.

Monday was fairly normal. Tuesday night I was at the Broward County Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner, where June Kraser was inducted. Last night I followed practice with dinner with some Masters friends. Tonight I did some last minute shopping for my staff Christmas party tomorrow. And then Saturday and Sunday nights I'm at events...

I guess it's the holiday time, although except for tomorrow night's fête, nothing's really directly relates to the holidays; it's just more coincidental. And all this social activity keeps my mind off the fact that I got bumped off all my committees for USA Swimming, that one of my co-workers resigned on Tuesday, that another co-worker's mother-in-law died last week, and that my Dad had cataract surgery last week... (although that bit does remind me that I should call and check on him). Oh, and then there's the step-dad's birthday that was this week, as well... and maybe I'll get to see Blade Runner this weekend in the theater...

Closing time, time for you to go out
To the places you will be from...

Saturday, December 08, 2007

This is the rhythm of my life

A copy of the text of an email response (with my original email below it) below:
[note: I changed the name and mailing address below; if you can't figure it out]

Subject: RE: Your application has been validated -- Link to payment
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2007 08:11:18 -0500
From: "ParkingOnline"
To: "Fred E. Flintstone"

What address would like to have the card sent to.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Fred E. Flintstone
> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 1:20 PM
> To: ParkingOnline
> Subject: Re: Your application has been validated -- Link to payment
>
>
> I've heard that the permits are sent so that they require a
> signature upon delivery. Is there a way mine can be mailed
> to my work address so that some will be available to sign
> for it?
>
> My work address is:
> Fred Flintstone
> Slate Rock & Gravel
> 1234 NE Bedrock Ave, Lot 7
> Fort Lauderdale, FL 33333
>
> If someone could let me know, it would be appreciated. Thanks.
>
> -Fred

Now, should one missing "-one" (to make "someone") really have confused them? As a bonus, the follow-up email said they were mailing the card to the address on my application... which means the whole thing got ignored. Ah, fun.

This is the rhythm of the night, the night, oh yeah
The rhythm of the night
This is the rhythm of my life, my life, oh yeah
The rhythm of my life

Thursday, December 06, 2007

You gotta keep 'em seperated...

This is not sent for discussion. If you agree, forward it. If you don't, delete it. I don't need to know one way or the other. Since I forwarded it, you know how I feel.

That was the preface to a forwarded email that I received earlier this week. Nice, no? Got me off to a great start...

The email, itself, referenced a (supposed) poll conducted by a U.S. t.v. network that reported 86% of responders said that the words "In God We Trust" and "God" should be kept in the Pledge of Allegiance, and 14% "against". Now this I found interesting, first and foremost because the words "In God We Trust" are not in the Pledge; and also because the phrase "under God" was actually added to the Pledge 60 years after its creation, and it's been around for 115 years or so (i.e. so less than half of its history)...

From this, the email then re-iterated that you should send it on if I agreed, or if I disagreed I should just delete it; and then jumped to the 86% of Americans believing in God. How the "responders" changed to "Americans" and from being ok with those words in the Pledge into believing in God, I don't quite follow. But that's where it went.

The email's discussion concludes with "Why is the world catering to 14%?" (followed by an "Amen").

Now, after expanding from "responders" to "Americans", it's now gone out to the whole world: really interesting--as if the poll percentages would remain the same independent of who actually responded to the survey--never mind questioning the accuracy of the original survey.

Topping it all off, is the repeated comments to delete the email if you disagree, and do nothing else. Don't protest the fact that 14% does matter, or that the US isn't the world, or tolerance/acceptance of others, or even, hey, I think you left a word out here... course that would would take the suppressiveness out of the email (which would be bad).

So, I deleted the email... but not until after I responded to the sender, but it was just before I finished crafting this post.

Hey man, you disrespecting me? (take him out)
You gotta keep 'em separated
Hey man, you talkin' back to me? (take him out)
You gotta keep 'em separated
Hey they don't pay no mind

Monday, December 03, 2007

Si voy a perderte ya...

Saturday night was big on me losing things. I lost the 2 remaining school records that I had at UT (in the 1000 and 1650 frees) in Austin, and in Atlanta I lost my status as "defending National Champion" in the 1650...

Of course I've held the latter since 1990 mostly due to a technicality: this is the first time since 1990 that there has been a yards U.S. Nationals (the applicable spring meet has been meters since then).

And as for the former (the school records), I've figured since last March they would probably be bettered this year. They both almost fell last year, and it was only due to a fluke of an illness that they weren't.

So, all-in-all, not terribly surprising... though still kinda sucky. I guess I'll just have to take solace in the fact that this year's winner at Nationals went around 25 seconds faster than what I went way back when... (if that's comforting?). Oh, and all of this happened between sessions of a leadership seminar for CCCAN ("say-say-can" is the Central American and Caribbean swimming confederation...).

Si voy a perderte ya
Que sea por vez final
Si voy a perderte ya
Es para siempre...
¿Entiendes?

Friday, November 30, 2007

I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee, clouds in my coffee

I was reminded this week of the futility/vanity/lack-of-awareness of people regarding emails and using html formatting for them.

I received an email this week which was 2-3 sentences long, and 49K in size. When I responded to it with another few lines--doubling the content of the email--the size plummeted to 1K. Why the big drop (49 to 1)? Well, the big difference was that on responding, I removed an attached image file from the email; an image that was the company logo for below the signature (and that's all it was). The image didn't actually contribute anything to the email, other than to make it look "pretty"; and, in fact, it didn't show up in the email, probably due to my mail settings (ahhh, the beauty of not being trapped into MS Office).

But this incident reminded me of the emails I get, day-in and day-out, that are in html formatting and don't use any of the features of it (and even those that solely use a special font). A note: using the html formatting over plain text formatting automatically increases the size of your email significantly. Now that some/a lot of us/your friends are in this day of high-speed connections and unlimited storage, it doesn't seem like much of an issue. But not everyone is. Besides I don't think it's a bad thing to be conscious of when you're doing something more solely because it's more.

And maybe it'll stop me from getting image attachments that I don't need to download to open and view... :) (that's just an added benefit)

You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you
You're so vain, I bet you think this song is about you
Don't you, don't you

Monday, November 26, 2007

I tell you that it's alright with me

At the moment I'm recovering from a trip this past weekend to Orlando, which in addition to seeing a halo around the full moon (like at left, though the air on Friday was clearer) in the crisp night air on Friday also saw us hit DisneyWorld on Friday night, Universal Studios on Saturday and Islands of Adventure on Sunday.


And while those parks are not far apart, as the map at right shows, spending 6 hours at each and then driving home late on Sunday did take its toll. (It did help that there weren't a lot of people at the parks, though.) Riding Splash Mountain at dusk and getting wet didn't really make the next few hours on Friday night any warmer, either....

But, hopefully, I'll catch up on sleep this week. Oh, and I did see August Rush on Thanksgiving Day last Thursday... :)

Friends come and friends may go
My friend, you're real I know
True self you have shown
You're alright with me

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good night

As I was headed over to see Beowulf with some friends last night at the IMAX (in 3D! none-the-less), I remembered something I failed to mention in the last post: last week I noticed one of the local radio stations had already flipped over to its Christmas format. Last week! A full blown week before Thanksgiving!

I'm now boycotting the station through the holidays... hence the "so long, fare well" today (and so much for Holiday Cheer...)

I got so wrapped up in finishing Crime & Punishment on Monday that I forgot about that....
Beowulf, by the way, was interesting, though bloodier than my typical movie fare. Otherwise, not much else going on; just getting ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow. And work today neared painful slow pace (particularly since it was the last work day this week).

There's a sad sort of clanging
From the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple, too
And up in the nursery
An absurd little bird
Is popping out to say coo-coo
(coo-coo, coo-coo)

Monday, November 19, 2007

Now there goes the neighborhood

Wow, it's been a week since my last post... and I'll blame the space between postings on:

  • the craziness which apparently is the selection method for how the Olympic sailing classes get selected (in the news recently because a class is being cut for the 2012 Olympics, and it appears that the catamaran "Tornado" class is out--the only multi-hull in the Olympic regatta). This editorial on the class selection has some enjoyable quotes, such as:
    "If the IOC applied similar logic, Kickball and Hide-and-Seek would be Olympic sports."
    "Ahh, logic, that would be nice, wouldn't it?"
    "On the plus side, there's no need to have a sailing section at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. Just send people to the 2012 regatta..."

  • Regular tennis shoes (aka sneakers) apparently being banned from the swimming competition at next year's Olympics (FINA's "Apparel Guidelines" state that there can be "one identification of the manufacturer per shoe". When was the last time tennis shoes had only one company i.d. on them? I checked out my Reebox's today and each shoe has 5 references to the company: logos on both sides, name on the outside, logo on the heal and tongue.).

  • There was a clinic I attended/ran on Thursday and Friday (no catastrophic problems--yeah!!!!--but it did dominate a bunch of time of late).

  • Oh, and I'm now not only on page 700 of Crime & Punishment, but I've also gotten to the Epilogue (so I'm almost done; though I didn't really read all that much of it this past week...).

So, yeah, that's why I've not posted since last Monday... and I'll finish off for now and go read. hasta

Hey let's party, let's get down
Let's turn the radio on, this is the meltdown
Get out the camera, take a picture
Drag queens and the freaks are all out on the town

Sunday, November 11, 2007

And it's a long way down, it's a long way down...

Yesterday, I was in Clearwater, FL (just north of St. Pete), to watch one of my friends compete in the half-Ironman World Championships (or "Ironman 70.3" as it's apparently now officially called, after the total mileage: 1.2 swim, 56 bike, 13.1 run). And like the map, my day yesterday stretched from end-to-end... (and almost just out of sight).

I awoke yesterday morning at 2:45 a.m., and was on the road by 3:00 a.m. for the 270 mile drive from Lauderdale to Clearwater. After a few stops, I got to downtown Clearwater at 7:30 a.m., and then proceeded to sit on a shuttle bus for an hour waiting for it to be allowed to run again. (The race, itself, started at 7 a.m., and the shuttles to the starting/turning/finish area from where the advised parking areas were stopped for 90 minutes or so because they shared roads with the race route.)

After the hour of waiting, a few of us decided to just walk over to the starting area, and 40 minutes or so later (after crossing a causeway to Clearwater Beach, and seeing the shuttles start running about halfway through), I reached the start area around 9:30 a.m. This was about 90 minutes after my friend started (he was in the last wave to start the race, an hour after the first) and completely after the swim (which is the part of the race I most wanted to see--oh well).

I then proceeded to watch the transition area, trying to catch my friend as he came in (triathlon's not a very spectator friendly sport: wait for an hour to catch a glimpse of the person you know... assuming you know when they'll be coming in). In any case, I managed to meet-up with my friend after the race (he dropped I believe 20 minutes off his time, finishing in 4 hours and 14 minutes), as well as run into some fellow ex-Longhorn swimmers who were also in the race (whom I didn't know were there... including an old roommate of mine). I then hung out in Clearwater for the day, and drove back around 6 p.m.

I got into Lauderdale just after 10 p.m., went to hang out at a friend's house (watching the Florida Gator's game), and was in bed at 11:30 (I was greatly trying to avoid being up for 24 hours straight). And I'm doing much better today after sleeping in.

And it's a long way down
It's a long way down
It's a long way down to the place where we started from

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Nothing left for me to do but dance!

I wish I could report something terribly exciting today, but alas... I've pretty much got nada.

I've got a fairly standard week going on, though, which is fairly nice.

  • The weather's cooled a bit here, allowing me to open the windows and air out my place (but not so much that I don't want my a.c. on in the car on the drive home from work).
  • I'm dodging doing laundry (although it's all set to go).
  • I watched American Dreamz last night, and quite enjoyed it.
  • My upstairs neighbor is around, and I can hear her t.v. or radio through the ceiling at odd hours.
  • The results from the Masters Postal 5K came in the mail yesterday (I won my age group); USMS preliminary Top-10 lists have been posted as well (and my 100 back apparently should've been faster...).
  • I've made it to Part 6 of Crime and Punishment (now on page 580)--slowly making my way to the end.
  • Oh, and I'm probably headed over to Clearwater (in the Tampa area) this weekend to watch a friend do a half-Ironman triathlon.

So nothing terribly exciting, really... unless you count the fact that my floor is still clutter free from the weekend cleaning.

It's just an instant gut reaction, that I got
I know I never ever felt like this before
I don't know what to do
But then that's nothing new
Stuck between hell and high water
I need a cure to make it through

Monday, November 05, 2007

'Cause I knew that I was going to be, a legend in my living room

Remember, remember the 5th of November...


(and in other news, my living room is actually quite clean at the moment, after a random cleaning spree yesterday...)

(that, and I'm still listening to KT's rendition of I Want You Back...)


But everyday I told myself
Good things would happen soon
'Cause I knew that I was going to be
A legend in my living room

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Hold on, to what you've been given lately...

Apparently, a telemarketing firm is either duping Caller ID machines into thinking my cell phone is calling them, or they're calling from New Jersey and the people who have called me have transposed the NJ area code (201) and mine (210). In any case AT&T doesn't know particularly what's going on (based on my call last night), and I've gotten the 3 voicemails below for some reason....

Now, I can't really re-create the emotion, tone nor speed of the calls, and for that I'm sorry. But hopefully the message is relayed through their words...

Call #1: Wednesday, October 31 at 5:01 p.m. (all times are Central)
(Female caller, speaking briskly through her rant. And, yes, she really used "freaking".)

Hi Matt. This is awful funny that I just barely got through to you and asked you to put me through to a supervisor and you hung up on me. Um, this is Sherry C_______, my telephone number is area code (802) ###-####. I've left numerous messages, and spoke to 4 people at your company about taking my freaking telephone number off the list. Now I'm on the Do Not Call, so the next call I'm making is to give you guys a fine. Yum on the do-not-call, you've been notified more than freaking 4 times, and you still are calling my freaking house.

So I'm telling you, you better get through to a supervisor, you better take my name off, cause I will be calling tomorrow, and you will be getting a freaking fine.

You guys are a bunch of morons, and I'm sick of freaking ca-contacting you people and not having anything done. I just barely spoke to a Frank yesterday, and I'm sorry for yelling at you because you're probably nobody that does it but, I did get hung up on when I asked for a supervisor. And apparently that's your guys' policy, so you guys don't have to deal with people.

I've also done the do-not freaking dial #1 so I could get off your list 4 times, and I don't have any idea what the hell is wrong with you people if you're incompetent or not, but if I get this telephone on here one more time, you guys are going to get a fine. I have caller ID and I'm contacting the Do Not Call, tomorrow at work, and I'm listing your number. And I'm telling them how many times I've called, and how many times I've spoken to people and the names. I have it all written down. You better take me off the goddamn list.

Call #2: Friday, November 2 at 6:29 p.m.
(Male caller, with passive-aggressive restraint.)
Hey listen f#!%head, this is Brad H_____. You called my f#!%ing house here about 7 different times. I don't want you to ever call here again. Now the number you called is area code (320) ###-####. Now if you ever call here again, I'm gonna come out to New Jersey and I'm gonna hunt your f#!%ing ass down. You got that you little co!%sucker. Don't call here again!

Call #3: Friday, November 2 at 11:29 p.m.
(Female caller, calm throughout and possibly with minor confusion. e.g. Despite the late hour of the call, there was no references to it being late, other than the time, which she says as if it were noon-time and not midnight.)
Hello, it's 12:27, on November 3rd. I don't know if you're trying to reach Regina Manning, this is Charlene. Ahh, if you're trying to reach Regina, this is no longer her phone number. I have no credit card, so it's not me you're calling. [A slight pause, and then she hung up.]

(This feels a little bit like "Let's Make a Deal" with Monty Hall and his 3 door options....)

(And I partially wanted to have today's subject be " 'Ring, ring, ring' goes the telephone, the lights are on but there's no one home" from Madonna's Hung Up, but I've used that already, and I'm not feeling that snarky to these people. Besides, I'm liking KT Tunstall's new song Hold On at the moment, anyways, so I've used it instead.)


Hold on, to what you've
Been given lately
Hold on, to what you
Know you got
Hold on, to what you've
Been given lately
Hold on
Cause the world will turn if you're ready or not

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Sometimes vocabulary runs through my head, the alphabet goes right from A to Zed...

My scary story for Halloween--now that it's All Saints Day:

So, earlier this week, I'm driving around after night practice, and the d.j. on the radio comes on to introduce the next song. The introduction is along the lines of "Now, despite what you might think, this song did not come out like a year or two ago... but actually back in the 90s." The song? Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-A-Lot. (ahhh, kids today...)


As for last night--at the risk of exposure to Erin's wrath (or maybe it's just jealousy?)--the Annie Lennox concert was great. Annie sounded wonderful, and sang an amazing amount of stuff (though not Wonderful). She opened with No More 'I Love You's and closed with Why, and in between sang (grouped by album, not concert order):

  • off "Diva": Little Bird, Walking on Broken Glass, Cold
  • off "Medusa": Waiting in Vain (excellent guitar work, btw)
  • off "Bare": Pavement Cracks, A Thousand Beautiful Things
  • off "Songs of Mass Destruction": Dark Road, Smithereens, Ghost in My Machine, Sing, and I think Love is Blind
  • Eurythmics era: Sweet Dreams, Here Comes the Rain Again, There Must be an Angel (she nailed the intro), Sisters are Doing It for Themselves, Thorn in My Side
I think that was it... did I mention there were concert-goers in costume? There was even a man in the front row in a penguin costume... and if that doesn't distract Erin, maybe this nice version of the Jackson 5's I Want You Back by KT Tunstall will or the All Saints song today...

Flexing vocabulary runs right through me
The alphabet runs right from A to Z
Conversations, hesitations in my mind
You got my conscience asking questions that I can't find

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Twenty-twenty twenty-four hours to go...

Ahhh, just under 24 hours until I'll be at the Annie Lennox concert at the Carnival Center down in Miami, and today I had the...

  • mundane
    (Post work traffic was frustrating, as normal. And at lunch today, the KFC i went to was running on emergency power for some reason.)
  • insane
    (Outer-band winds from Tropical Storm Noel were blowing all day, and there is still a strong wind here which will probably be stronger tomorrow. But good news for the school kids here, apparently: if the winds go above 40 mph, there won't be school tomorrow because the buses don't drive in those winds.)
  • inane
    (A coworker answered the phone after (!) work hours, and then transfered it to me... it took 12 minutes. 12!)
  • deranged
    (A father at dinner tonight literally had a conniption after his son touched his food. He stormed up to get some napkins, then came back to the table and started throwing the "contaminated" food across the table, then proceeded to go purchase a replacement, all the while berating his soon about how rude it was to touch another person's plate--and completely missing how rude it was to scold you child from 5-10 minutes in a public place...)

Added to this is that the person that's been handling the finances for our (tiny) condo association is selling his place and moving (coming about a 2 weeks after one of the other 5 owners announced she was going to move out and lease her place); and I randomly figured out yesterday that I'm semi broke at the moment. So fun all around: yeah!!! (But not so terrible, actually: I realized I'm way more than halfway through Crime & Punishment, maybe even 3/4th of the way through--woo-hoo!)

Oh, and today's song randomly got stuck in my head today: I've not even seen an episode of My So-Called Life recently... maybe it's cause Halloween's tomorrow?

Twenty, twenty, twenty-four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothing to do, nowhere to go...

I wanna be sedated

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Valley girl, she's a Valley girl...

I went to the bank earlier this week for work, and the sign above was on the door... which caused me to like totally start thinking in valley-girl-esque speech. Dude, it was like, totally, unstoppable.


In other news, today I'm recovering from a day-trip yesterday to Orlando with 3 of my Masters teammates, where we swam in a dual meet against Rollins College with some other Masters swimmers from the Orlando area. It was interesting, as the four of us haven't really swum this week, but all-in-all not too terrible. (I went a 1:51 200 free and 4:58 500 free, for those interested.)

It's like grody
Grody to the max
I'm sure
It's like really nauseating

Thursday, October 25, 2007

The rain is fallin' on my window pane

SuperPoke (on Facebook) has added festive Halloween actions (like throwing candy corn or a vampire at someone). They've even spiffied up they're normal action with costumes ("use the force" and "waving" here--the fact that it's a Super Chicken is just bonus). Ahhh... the fun. (And have I mentioned that the creators of SP went to my high school--or so I've been told?)

Speaking of fun, with the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show decimating evening practice this week, tonight a group from the team headed to Dave & Buster's for dinner. A good day to go, and we seemed to have fun... although I completly suck at those dancing games--or maybe it was poor music selection.

Oh! and yesterday (October 24) was United Nations Day....

It starts in my toes
And I crinkle my nose
Wherever it goes, I always know

That you make me smile

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Oops, I, did it again...

Pictures from today's Men's 10K race at the USA 2008 Open Water World Trials.

Pre-race, women's 10K winner Micha Burden awaits getting on a boat. Micha was the feeder for 3 of her teammates who swam today. (There's a feeding station on course, so that swimmers can get food/liquids during the race. The catch is that the swimmers can't touch the boat where the stuff is, so someone needs to hand it to them. Hence Micha hanging out on a boat for the 2 hour race, as well as her having the stick in her hand.)

The men's pre-race meeting. During the meeting, the referee goes over general course layout/race plan (4 laps around the 2.5K course, there's the feeding boats, finish is over there...) and rule reminders ("I'll blow my whistle to let you know to move apart--which he did a whole lot during the race--or to indicate someone getting a yellow card--one guy did get one).

After the meeting, the swimmers headed to the starting area, either via land or water. Here, Scott Kaufmann straightens out his cap as he gets used to the water and before swimming over to the starting line. (Scott's the one in the the blue jacket in the pic above).


Here, the guys have started lining up for the start, which is about 5-6 minutes away. A few guys are still swimming over as well (they are above the line, in center frame). In this shot you can also see that the water is not smooth (due to the wind). This chop caused half the race to be into the wind (going down) and half the race to be with the wind (coming back).

And they're off!
Unlike the women's race, the referee didn't watch the start from the dock today, but rather stayed in a boat (the starter was in a boat both days). I also was a wee bit later snapping the pic, so the guys are a bit farther off the line here than the girls are... the interesting thing to me is how clear the arms in the far side of the line are (and through the splash as well).




A few more differences between the guys and girls races, which this picture shows. The guys field stayed together through most of the race; no one broke away early. So when they got to the turns, 15 guys went around them together, bunched up (like here). Also, there were more local swimmers spectating today, so the dock in the background was crowded (and sinking somewhat)--so I moved from it (also because they were talking over the announcer and not about the race...).

The staying-together of the men's field also led to their race being more physical, to the point where many of the guys emerged from the water with cuts or scrapes, and in the case of Chip Peterson, a rip in the leg of his suit...

Can't you see I am fool, in so many ways
But to lose all my senses
That is just so typically me

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Dad is great, give us chocolate cake

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Fort Myers at the moment, watching Bill Cosby's Himself--hence today's chocolate cake reference. Actually, my mom watched this the other day... and coincidently, my dad's birthday is next week (I hope he gets some chocolate cake...).


I'm on the Gulf Coast of Florida this weekend, attending the USA 2008 Open Water Worlds 10K Trials (the pictures are from today's women's 10K race...).

Above:
The lake where this weekend's events are being held, looking down the 1.25K length of the course (the 3 orange buoys are the turn).

at left: Start of the women's race.


Shortly after the start of the women's race, 4 swimmers broke away to form the lead pack; they stayed together for the remainder of the race.
Here 3 of them (in order front to back: Chloe Sutton, Kirsten Groome and Micha Burden head out of the first lap (2.5K), with the fourth (Kalyn Keller) just out of frame to the left. In the background of this photo is the finish line area (the white & blue rectangle just above the hat of the guy standing in the boat).

By the end of the race, with about 300m to go, the 4 ladies had split up.
In this picture are all 4 (look closely). Just in front of the boat is Burden, pulling into the lead with a more directly line to the finish. To the right of the boat, the big splash is Groome (blue cap) and Sutton (yellow), who veered a bit wide. And the splash behind this pair is Keller.


And lastly, here are Groome and Sutton finishing in second and third (Groome is on the other side of the person in the black shirt, Sutton is on the right side of the frame). After 2 hours, they're just that far apart.

Final times for the top-4:
1) Burden--2:00:47
(2 hours and 47 seconds)
2) Groome--2:01:05
3) Sutton--2:01:09
4) Keller--2:01:42

A good--more detailed--write up of the race, with a full results can be found here, if you're interested (although I don't believe it mentions the dislocated shoulder that happened...).


Eggs; eggs are in chocolate cake.
And milk! Oh, goodie!
And wheat: that's nutrition....
Now need something to drink with chocolate cake, something breakfast.
Grapefruit juice! (groan from the audience)
This is not your child.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Better the devil you know

Sometimes slow is just slow (not safer).

Sometimes more is just more (not bettah).

And sometimes you get a funky Halloween cat [at right] in the mail from your mom... (thanks ;).


I'll forgive and forget
If you say you'll never go
'Cause it's true, what they say
It's (better the devil you know) better the devil you know
(better the devil you know)

Monday, October 15, 2007

How can you stop, the sun from shining? What makes the world go 'round

Well, my weekend was fairly uneventful. Other than...

  • seeing a guy driving a Vespa sending a text message,
  • having the Bee Gees' How Can You Mend a Broken Heart stuck in my head, (which led me to...)
  • editing the Bee Gees record on LyricWiki (actually reformatting most of it),
  • getting my oil change and having it only cost $130 (yes, it's a lot, but it wasn't just an oil change and given that at least two of the last "oil changes" I've gotten have led to around $1,000 in repairs, it was a relief),
  • getting caught up on some work, and
  • attempting to get some of my friends to go see Elizabeth: The Golden Age on both Saturday and Sunday, and eventually going by myself.

So I guess it was uneventful--nor "fairly" about it--but restful.... Topping it off, I've not yet mailed my mom her birthday card/present, and her birthday is tomorrow (bad son that I am... course I can't mail part of it--not sure how/when that will get to her :-/ ). Oh, but I am now, officially, halfway through C&P: hopefully the second half will go by faster... hasta


And...
How can you mend a broken heart?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How can you stop, the sun from shining?
What makes the world go 'round?

Thursday, October 11, 2007

And even though it's hard to see the glass as full and, not half empty (a thousand beautiful things)

Today was really a half-empty/half-full day; which apparently matches the three-star astrology day I was having (and I only mention that, as some of my fellow Virgos had a not-so-fun day as well)....

I awoke in a blasé mood, not really caring exactly what was to happen, or for that matter if I would swim tonight. I wasn't even compelled to listen to the new Annie Lennox CD Songs of Mass Destruction [at right] that I got earlier this week--unlike the previous few days. But I've got a few more weeks before I see Annie on Halloween night down in Miami to get familiar with the songs...

Anyways, so work today went fairly well--somewhat surprisingly--but not well enough to shake my funk. Nope, that distinction--and my switched over from empty to full (half-wise)--occurred during practice tonight, thanks to a challenging set (and to think I almost didn't go) and some joking around with my fellow Masters (and the hanging out post-practice didn't hurt, particularly the quote about how Nashville isn't know for Country music ;).

So the evening ended better... now I just need to get to sleep before tomorrow's here. So hasta...


The world was meant for you and me
To figure out our destiny (All the world is meant for you and me)
(Ooh, remember)

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Tomorrow will be too late, it's now or never

It is late, Elvis is still stuck in my head (It's Now Or Never, today), I've got The Matador to watch, and the Horns lost to OU yesterday, so... I'll be brief.

On Friday, I saw on Yahoo that the "Canyon Lake Gorge" is set to open to the public for the first time since its formation in 2002 (The AP item even ran the Joe Mitchell picture at right).

The gorge was formed in the matter of a few weeks, due to an overflow of Canyon Lake cause by heavy rains/flooding in the South Texas that year (the "Great Flood of 2002", I believe is how the local news posted it at the time--to over-stress the importance of it). This was during a time when the rest of the country was having a drought and/or heat way, so the national news was dominated with all this talk about a lack of water, meanwhile, down in San Antonio/Austin way, we were dealing with a lake overflowing around the dam (luckily, the dam didn't break, the water just went around it).

Anyways, pretty cool. More information on the Gorge is available here.

It's now or never, come hold me tight
Kiss me my darling, be mine tonight
Tomorrow will be too late
It's now or never, my love won't wait

Thursday, October 04, 2007

I'm falling in love with the right-now poster girl

Well... I'm still partially on Pacific time, even though I returned on Monday. So I'll be brief...

Today on the drive into work, one of the cars in front of me had this bumper sticker on it:







Which made me laugh. After pondering a bit, trying to figure out who of my friends would get the Deliverance reference, I remembered another--funnier--bumper sticker I saw while out in California:








The Voldemort one is apparently based off this comic strip from a few years ago. Course, the sticker still makes me laugh.

That the consequences of your actions really are just a game
That your life is just a chain reaction taking you day by day
She says nothing's forever in this crazy world

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Viva Las Vegas turnin' day into night time

Well, I am currently on a 3 hour lay-over in the Las Vegas Airport, awaiting my red-eye flight back to Fort Lauderdale (the pic at left is actually of the Strip as my flight from Orange County taxied to the terminal tonight). And so ends my week in California.

My meeting (that I was in Garden Grove for) went well, and even provided some entertainment (although I only drove past and did not actually go to Disneyland which was 3 blocks away; same with the Crystal Cathedral). The funniest moments of the week both occurred yesterday. The first occurred during the main meeting of the week, which had over 400 people in it and can be rather long and tedious (yesterday consisted of 3.5 hours--which is short). In an (unofficial) effort to cause randomly selected individuals to pay better attention (i.e. it was somewhat created out of boredom), a game called "Lingo Bingo" was developed. The game is a variation of Bingo, where the squares have words/phrases (i.e. "lingo") in them. Players can mark a square if the word is spoken in the meeting by one of the speakers. Sample phrases from this year's cards: "flagship", "initiative", "game plan", "war chest" and "nailing jello to a tree". It is this last one that caused the first funny moment...

Now, it has happened in the past that a speaker at the meeting has purposely stated words/phrases on the cards; and been fairly blatant that they were doing so. In fact, I was even semi-chastised for speaking at the meeting and not "utilizing" some words (which I felt might be cheating in some respects, as at the time, I needed only "utilize" to win). Typically, though, most things on the cards are just highly likely to be said, and come up naturally during the course of the meeting.

On an early inspection of my card, I noticed that the jello phrase was there, and felt I was doomed to have to avoid the square. But, low and behold, towards the end of voting on changes to the rules, the chair of the Rules & Regulations committee (who runs this portion of the meeting) manages to incorporate "nailing jello to a tree" into his description of how the committee's prepares rule proposals for the voting. I almost fell out of my seat when he said it (fire code preventing me from sitting on the floor--my normal spot--this year), and had to keep my laughter quiet. I was highly entertained, particularly when other athlete members seated nearby started asking/questioning whether or not I had prompted the phrase to be said (I didn't).


The second funny moment occurred last night:

A d.j. was brought to the hotel for a dance to occupy the athlete representatives at the meeting (well, mostly the younger/high-school aged reps). The d.j. was playing house music, to which I, for one, couldn't help but start dancing. Apparently, however, it was not what the group wanted to hear, as about 45 minutes into the d.j.'s spinning, as all of them had left the dance floor and the room and were hovering in the hall outside.

At this point, one of the high school girls returned from grabbing her iPod from her room and got it hooked into the d.j.'s system. Within 3 notes of some hip-hop song starting to play, the approximately 30-45 athletes out in the hall picked themselves up off the floor and rushed back into the room and onto the dance floor. And then proceeded to bounce around in sync with one another (but not necessarily with the music) for the remaining hour. The mass influx was almost a stampede.

My take on the whole thing: the house music was too foreign for them--they'd never heard it and therefore didn't know what to do (maybe they didn't know if it was cool?). I was surprised, however, that it didn't make them dance somewhat...


Viva Las Vegas
Viva Las Vegas

Sunday, September 23, 2007

And on a clear day... you can see forever

Or at least to Catalina [at right].

On Saturday when I arrived in Southern California, the air was clear enough to see "Santa Catalina" and San Clemente, two of California's Channel Islands, which doesn't usually happen.

Actually, clarity to see Catalina was good through most of the weekend. I even managed to get a few shots at sunset [below]...

All this, and I got to hang out with my Dad and sister for the weekend.



.

And on a clear day
On that clear day
You can see forever...

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Nothing's gonna change my world, nothing's gonna change my world...


I'm headed back out to California this morning... ahh the fun of early morning flights.



I grabbed a cab to the airport this morning, and in my semi-paranoia about arriving on time, I managed to get to the airport 2 hours before my flight. Things weren't helped by the taxi arriving around 10-15 minutes early (at 5:50 a.m. instead of 6), so I will blame it all on that.

As for the funky picture above, it's of Eddie Izzard and his (small) role in the movie Across the Universe, which I saw last night (helping procrastinate my packing).

In the movie, Izzard plays Mr. Kite, which given how it's presented in the film I thought the song was from the Beatles Yellow Submarine album (it's really from Sgt. Pepper's... though). The movie was nice: I didn't really want/intend to see it, but did enjoy the Beatles-song laden musical (that it is). That Bono has a brief cameo--singing "I am the Walrus"--didn't really hurt either, nor the fact that it reminded me of Fiona Apple's cover of Across....

But anyways, as I mentioned earlier, I'm headed back across the country to California, for the second time this month. And this trip will wind up the month for me (I get back to Florida on October 1; again, really early in the morning--red-eye flights have that tendency). This trip is to attend USA Swimming's annual meeting in Anaheim--well, actually Garden Grove. The meeting is next week, and who knows: given the general low amount of sleep I've gotten at the meeting in the past, I may be dreaming like that Izzard picture above before my return... (jai guru Deva, om)


Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

I remember when rock was young, me and Susie had so much fun...

Well, actually, I wasn't really around when rock was young. But I do remember earlier this week when I was driving down Federal (a street here in FtL) and Elton John's Crocodile Rock came on the radio. And, thanks to this episode of The Muppet Show, every time I hear the song, I am reminded of the muppet crocodiles in the sketch (video of it here). Ahh... nostalgia.

Speaking of nostalgia, another song that's been stuck in my head of late, L'Accordéoniste by Edith Piaf, led me to find this clip of Piaf singing on the Ed Sullivan Show (a second song called Milord, which I also like). And all this because I saw a movie about Piaf's life this summer...


La... la-la-la-la-la...
La-la-la-la-la... la-la-la-la-la...

Saturday, September 15, 2007

All this aggravation ain't satisfaction in me

At the moment, listening to Elvis is distracting me from crafting a more creative entry (and minus the fact that I completely missed that the Horns football game today is actually in Orlando--against Central Florida). So, instead, a quote for y'all:

“We Americans believe that there’s a solution mystique, that for every problem there’s a solution, and it just ain’t so.... Risk is there. Contingency is a part of human life, and there’s nothing we can do to get rid of all contingency and all risk. What we have to have is the courage to live with a certain degree of uncertainty.”
-John Silber
from "John Silber Gets the Last Word" by Avrel Seale in The Alcalde (the Texas Exes's magazine).
Silber offers further explanation of this idea in this op-ed from the Boston Globe earlier this year.



A little less conversation, a little more action, please
All this aggravation ain't satisfaction in me
A little more bite and a little less bark
A little less fight and a little more spark
Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me