If you want me, you can find me, left of center off of the strip

"Nell," the Constable continued, indicating through his tone of voice that the lesson was concluding, "the difference between ignorant and educated people is that the latter know more facts. But that has nothing to do with whether they are stupid or intelligent. The difference between stupid and intelligent people--and this is true whether or not they are well-educated--is that intelligent people can handle subtlety. They are not baffled by ambiguous or even contradictory situations--in fact, they expect them and are apt to become suspicious when things seem overly straightforward.

-The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, p.283

And if you want me
You can find me
Left of center, wondering about you

Just slip out the back, Jack, make a new plan, Stan

Weekend went alright here in South Texas. Saturday started out a little foggy (the picture at left is from heading into the pool (below) for morning practice). The fog cleared by mid-day, not that it mattered too much: I spent most of the afternoon inside Northside's other pool watching the District meet (which went alright).

At the meet, I got to hang out and catch up with folks (old coaches, friends), as well as see how much my old District has slowed down... It was also good that I didn't swim a whole lot on Saturday morning, due to the double I did on Friday (not exactly sure why I did, but it worked out ok).

As for Sunday, I drove up to Austin and hung out with old rowing friends--didn't even freeze while waiting to get into the Salt Lick for dinner. It was good to catch up with folks... course, I was forced into sleeping-in this morning, so I haven't headed to the pool today (but will this afternoon). And as I must be heading out for that soon, I will bid you "hasta"...

[a Muppet version of today's song--with Animal on drums, even]

There must be 50 ways to leave your lover
Just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
Don't mean to be coy, Roy
Just listen to me

Are you ready to jump? Get ready to jump

Today in San Antonio included:

• a 7,600 yard practice (6:30~8:30)
• followed by breakfast tacos at Cabana
• a visit to the doctor (all is good--just over bending my elbow, repetitively)
• I saw We Are Marshall at my favorite movie theater (pictured)

And now, I must get off to bed: I'm waking up at 4:15 to head to the Cowboy Breakfast (one of the pre-events to the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo which is at the beginning of February).

Hasta...

There's only so much you can learn in one place
The more that you wait, the more time that you waste...

Was I out of my head, was I out of my mind, how could I have ever been so blind...

So I am once again sitting in the airport, awaiting a flight (and again it's way early--5:20 a.m.; I'm so sleeping all the way to Houston). I'm headed home to San Antonio for a week-long visit. Hopefully I will get in some Tex-Mex and cold weather (surprising that I'm missing the latter here in South Florida).

The surprising part of this morning, other than the fact that my taxi to the airport arrived early to my house (like 7 minutes... it was bizarre)--even better was that I actually saw that it was waiting. Anyways, the surprising thing this morning is that I'm not terribly sore from the 5500 yards I swam last night during practice for my 1-hour Postal Meet entry--you swim as far as you can during an hour, having someone record your 50 splits (so that they are both timing and counting your laps). Maybe it's just not been enough time for me to be sore... that's probably it. I'll get to San Antonio and not only be cold, but also be stiff--oh yeah.

Anyways, my flight boarding starts, so I must go. Hasta...

p.s. Today's song reminds me of SchoolHouse Rock! for some reason...

Doesn't matter what I say, only what I do
I never meant to do bad things to you
So quiet that I finally woke up
If you're sad, then it's time you spoke up too...

To the left, to the left, everything you own in the box to the left

The world's end is apparently nearing: I've got Beyoncé stuck in my head.

Not that this is terribly tragic, or the worse thing ever, really. I mean, there must be some reason people like her songs--I just am not one of the people who are "in the know" on this. Maybe Meredith--one of my Masters coaches--will explain her songs appeal to me one day.

But, in any case, Ms. Knowles Irreplaceable box-line lyric reminded me that I used to have a rather large box in my place (to the left-, err, right-hand side of the pic above, which I took a week/two ago, post a fit of tidying).


But, alas, said gigantic box (it was the coffin around which the screen from California was mailed) is now gone. The sideways pic at left (which Blogger seemingly refuses to display properly), demonstrates its absence now. And while I do miss its presence, I am glad to once again be able to close the door it was blocking.


And actually, I may now have to thank today's pesky song: it caused me to find out there's a LyricsWiki...



You must not know about me
You must not know about me

We'll have nothing to lose, we'll have nothing to gain, just to stay in this real-life situation

snarky, snarky, snarky...

So, I'm sitting at one of my usual hang-outs, grabbing some post practice breakfast (having snuck in just before they stopped serving it). At the booth next to mine is mom, dad, 2 young kids (a boy around 3 and a girl maybe 5), and grandma. The adults are seated on the outer part of the table, effectively trapping the kids in--one on each side of the table--and leaving them to fidget in place.

My attention is first dawn to the little boy as he enters the booth. While doing his cursory inquisitive review of his surroundings, he spots the cookie I've placed on my table. This, not unexpectedly, causes the boy to start ogling said cookie, and him making sure his parents know they have cookies here (and most of the neighboring tables, due to some increased volumes and a decidedly much more "outside voice"). The cookie occupies his attention for maybe 5 minutes, long after I stopped trying to pay attention to him.

My attention is next drawn to the table when both the boy and his sister are playing with the window shades. My brief glance only really catches them lifting them up so they can see what's on the other side, so I don't know if they were doing anything else to the shades (like trying to pull them down).

My attention strays from their antics after a few seconds, and is not drawn back to the table until a minute or two later when I pick up the mother talking to grandma with veiled contempt (similar to here) about how at some other restaurant, the family had been asked to leave because the children were playing with some jello. Now, both parents felt that this behavior was not inappropriate for where they were, that the kids were "behaving". Of course, this discourse is occurring while both kids are standing on their seats, attempting to climb out of the table and onto the sill running next to the windows, and playing with the window shades...

Just another entertaining meal in Ft.L.... Anyways, I should be really psyched to go back to SA on Wednesday, but it's not yet really sunk in, just yet. And speaking of Psych... the show started back up last night (now if only it would makes it way to iTunes so I can download and watch it--ooh, but apparently I can watch it online which I'll do now... hasta).

(And now I really need to leave before I start providing commentary on the nearby mother broadcasting that her son didn't deserve the "F" he got in Algebra I: he went to school everyday and did his homework... More wisdom: he got a D in Spanish, which she's attributing to the fact that his class was in the afternoon--"you can't learn a language after noon: you're brain just doesn't function that way then". Her solution is to send him to Costa Rica this summer [where's a rolling-eyes smiley when I need it!]. And just in case you're wondering, he did well in his Web Design and History classes.)


As the day, hits the night
We will sit by candlelight
We will laugh, we will sing
"When the Saints Go Marching In"
And we will carry war no more

The whole shack shimmies when everybody's moving around, and around, and around, and around...

It's apparently cold in most of the country (as I told some friends in Colorado, that purple means it's damn cold there--as opposed to just plain old "cold"). Course I'm underneath that "75" in the lower, right corner, so it's not really cold here. It also means the local schools here are open, as are the roads; unlike in San Antonio--under the "34" in the lower center part of the map.

I spoke to my mom today (she's in San Antonio). 34's actually the warmest its been there for the past 2 days. My mom said it didn't get above 29° F at the house yesterday, and because of the freezing precipitation (ice, sleet, frozen rain; no snow in S.A. but some in the Hill Country), there were icicles on the house.

The weather, unfortunately, knocked out their power last night, around 8 p.m., so they missed what apparently was the best game of the whole NCAA basketball season to date: Texas's triple-overtime loss at Oklahoma State, 105-103. When I called mid-day today, it was still out and the temperature inside the house was down to 50. Luckily the power came back on in the early afternoon, though (so maybe they'll catch the re-airing of the UT/OSU game on ESPN Classic tomorrow).

Otherwise, not much going on here in S.Fl. I got cut in front of in line at the bank by a woman who decided she could bypass the line all together, and who flatly denied cutting. (Just because you're at the dais at the entrance to the line filling out the form, doesn't mean you're in line--even if you're preparing to leave the stand for the line just as someone gets into line before you. And it really doesn't mean you can skip going into line all together. But hey, maybe the universe really does revolve around you; I really wasn't in a massive hurry to get anywhere, so I just took pleasure in the fact that you apparently needed to get through their quicker. Too bad I managed to leave before you did--not sure why you dallied so long afterwards.)

Anyways, the teller, after helping with the woman who cut in line and then me (for whatever reason, only 2 tellers on duty during lunchtime, and the other was tied up with something), and after my brief trash talkin' to the teller about her cutting ways, the teller compared me to Clark Kent... I'm guessing from the dark hair and glasses, but am not sure if there's some other implication there.

Anyways, enough. It's late... hasta y buenos sueños

Bang, bang, bang on the door baby (knock a little louder baby)
Bang, bang, bang on the door baby (knock a little louder, sugar)
Bang bang bang on the door baby (I can't hear you)
Bang, bang! (On the door, baby)
Bang, bang! (On the door...)
Your what!?....
Tin roof... rusted

If there was a better way to go, then it would find me

So I received two bills this weekend which are prompting me to wonder two different things:

1. The first is from my currently mortgage-holding bank (Ohio Savings), informing me that beginning February 1, my mortgage will be with Wells Fargo. It's rather strange to me that after 6 months, I'll be on my second bank to hold my mortgage, but it happens... apparently. I'm now wondering if I'm going to be changing banks twice a year, and, if so, if there's a way for me to force one bank to hold it for term... or at least a few years.
2. The second, and more disturbing issue is related to my phone bill. I got an internet connection at home for Christmas (which I think I mentioned previously). In researching which option to choose here, I went price checking, and then went the DSL route with BellSouth (which, apparently is now "AT&T"--oooh, aahh). I got my first bill from them, which is for phone service only (I had to have a phone line in order to do the DSL option they had), and it appears that I literally will be paying more in "Charges" and "Fees" ($13.54) than I will for the actual phone service ($12.86). (And this doesn't include the $45 for installation nor the DSL part, which hasn't made it on the bill, yet.)
   

The thing that really irks me about the BellSouth bill is that I specifically attempted to find out what the total monthly cost would be prior to signing up, and couldn't find it! Not terribly surprising, given phone (and cable) companies general reputation in the U.S. for pulling this type of shenanigans.

But, I am hopeful that one day, hopefully way before AT&T re-takes control of U.S. phone service (and reforms Bell Telephone), that they'll start being upfront and honest about their damn charges. I can somewhat tolerate having to pay more for the crap associated with the service, than the service itself. What makes it hard to stomach is that the company is deceptive about what they're going to charge you to lure you into using them, and then they spring the boondoggle.

If AT&T changes one thing in 2007, it should be to make it so that their billing is clear, concise, and easy to understand... and not the multi-paged monstrosities they've become. Hell, the bill I received this weekend which was printed after 2 days of service, is 9-pages long. For 2 days, 2! OVERKILL. And cingular (which is also switching over to become "AT&T" eventhough they absorbed "AT&T Wireless" a year ago) is just a bad (I got that one in the mail as well).

And I'll stop the rant there.... Have a good week and hasta.

I still only travel by foot,
And by foot it's a slow climb
But I'm good at being uncomfortable
So I can't stop changing all the time

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an airplane...

But I have been playing on YouTube tonight, and found some good stuff, like...

• 2 rather good live performances by Fiona Apple (from the Today show, last year) of Extraordinary Machine and Paper Bag (they also have the original video/version of the latter);
• REM's Pop Song '89 (censored apparently--which I didn't realize at the time: I thought the black bars were meant to be there--well, in some ways they are...) and their Unplugged version of It's the End of the World As We Know It--which is rather good (i.e. check it out! it's today's song, btw--which I'm not exactly sure I should link to lyrics of, since--given the amount of words in the song--most transcriptions of it are probably wrong...);
• a jazzy (& long) version of Papa Was A Rolling Stone, sung by Lee Ritenour, and with trumpeter Chris Botti and guitarist Dave Grusin (Botti was how I stumbled upon that); and
• Gwen Stefani's Wind It Up, which samples The Lonely Goatherd from The Sound of Music (which this goat sings apparently too).

A terribly exciting night, I know, but then again, work has been rather hectic--but we should be back to full staffing by the end of the month :)--so I'm needing some winding down time at night this week.

Hasta... (but check out the REM Unplugged version)

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an airplane
Lenny Bruce is not afraid.
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn
World serves its own needs--dummy serve your own needs
Feed it off an aux speak, grunt, no, strength,
The ladder starts to clatter with fear, fight down height.
Wire in a fire, representing seven games,
A government for hire and a combat site
Left of west and coming in a hurry
With the furies breathing down your neck.

You're driving all over town; in your big car, windows down

Traffic seems to have picked up here in Ft.L--I'm presuming because of the snowbirds. As I was driving today, the roads were more crowded than they have been of late; rather peskily so.

So I'm sitting at a u-turn light (I'd not known they existed until arriving here) on Federal (that's a street here, aka "U.S. 1"), patiently awaiting an opening to turn. A little into my wait, a guy on a motorcycle comes up on my outside, and proceeds to pull up next to me. As he does so, he comes to a stop right in my line-of-sight to oncoming traffic.

At this, I make a noise, and--since my windows were down and he reacted to it--I believe he heard me. The biker waves me on, like he's going to let me go and that he wasn't really trying to cut ahead of me--the jerk not realizing/caring that he's blocking my view of oncoming traffic. As I'd left my x-ray vision in my other car and couldn't see what was coming, I waved him on--not without some less-than-polite words (which hopefully he heard; and though I was tempted to say he made a better door than a window, I only thought it).

A few seconds later, he pulled into traffic, and a few after that I found my opening. Course, I do wonder if I could've saved a whole 20-30 seconds if he'd just waited.... Florida drivers are such fun.

What you do and what you say
Do you know the difference anyway?

(You can hear another good INXS song, also off X, here...)

You took your coat off, and stood in the rain; you're always crazy like that

Ahhh, 2006 is over; and 2007 is here... and with it a 'net connect at my place, which, strangely enough has not caused me to post more frequently (at least, as of yet).

But I have found a couple more reasons why Amazon.com is cool:

• I got free shipping on the rowing machine coming my way...
• They now sell stand-up, arcade versions of Ms. Pac Man (pictured)

Tempting... but will need to await a later date

Happy New Year--I hope it is off to a good start. Mine's doing alright--work's a bit weird, but otherwise things are good. I'd detail my New Year's night activities, but I really just chilled. I did watch Scoop, which I liked--which is abnormal for me and Woody Allen movies. Anyways, I'm rambling... hasta


You're always the mysterious one
With dark eyes and careless hair,
You were fashionably sensitive
But too cool to care