Friday, August 31, 2007

California, here I come

Greetings from California, where the temperature is moderately warm, my clothes are damp, and the view is nice [at left].

I managed to get here about an hour later than expected, due to a weather delay in Atlanta (where I stopped on the way over). The delay was due to thunderstorms in and around Hartsfield airport, which also caused my bag to get soaked. So, at the moment all my clothes are out of my bag, drying out (hopefully).

The delayed flight had me meeting my dad and sister in the San Diego baggage claim around 10 p.m., and as this was 1 a.m. Eastern time (where I started from), I was a wee bit tired. So, we just drove back to the house in Laguna Beach--about an hour away--and I went to bed.

Today, after sleeping in, Dad took me shopping for some clothes and I dragged my sister off to see the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie--which she'd yet to see. Oh, and I did manage to snap a picture of the back of my sister's head (she doesn't like her picture taken much... and has even swiped a picture of her out of my wallet so that I couldn't show it to others).


California, here I come
Right back where I started from...

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

And you say, I only hear what I want to... I'm only here in negative

Tomorrow I head to San Diego, California, for 10 days; mostly work stuff, with a short family visit at the start.

The only problem is that at the moment it's 11 o'clock and I've not started packing yet... guess I should get to it.


And you say, I only hear what I want to
I don't listen hard, don't pay attention
To the distance that you're runnin'
To anyone, anywhere, I
Don't understand if you really care
I'm only
hearing negative
No, no, no (bad)

So I, I turn the radio on, I turn the radio up
And this woman was singin' my song

Friday, August 24, 2007

Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away...


Scenes from Acapulco...
Thursday and Friday were spent in Acapulco, Mexico, with me in attendance at that Mexican Swimming Federation's annual meeting and convention. Pictures from the trip:


My trip down to southern Mexico (Acapulco is on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, basically due south of Mexico City), started with a flight to Houston, where (after some breakfast tacos) I hopped on the rather tiny plane at left (there were 3 seats per aisle) for the other flight. The flight attendant (only one) was in good spirits for the flight: she even lip-synced to the announcement at the beginning of the flight (seatbelt, oxygen mask, etc.).


Upon arrival at the Acapulco airport, there was about a 20-30 minute drive to the hotel. Rain in the area--from the dissipated Hurricane Dean--dropped a bunch of water on Thursday, apparently. On my way into town from the airport, the van I was in ran into a traffic jam caused by a pick-up truck (in the center of the shot) carrying dry cement under a tarp, getting stuck in a pot-hole hidden by a large puddle of water in the road.

The solution? A larger truck got in front of it (pictured) and repeatedly backed-up into the pick-up to push it out of the hole (which eventually happened): it looked like the large truck was ramming the smaller one. And the cement did seem to be falling off the back bed, and all the way traffic (like the large red bus) kept getting impatient and went around the pick-up being pushed.... (At one point, I thought the pick-up would get pushed into the bus.)

Upon arrival at the hotel [above right], I got checked in after some running around trying to determine who I needed to check-in with first: the hotel or the conference I was attending. It turned out to be the latter, and the conference people had actually picked up the key to my room already.

After heading up to my room, however, I was rewarded not only with some decent A.C. (which helped quell the sweating that hard started in the open-air lobby), but also a nice view of the bahía... [at right].

I even managed a brief swim in the bay--the water was warmer than I thought it would be.


Overall, my day-and-a-half here has been good. I even managed to see the local cliff divers [at left] tonight. They dive from 30-40 meters up the cliff, into an inlet of ocean water into the coastline. The width is about 10m wide, and the water's apparently 4m deep: not something I'm anywhere near wanting to try, but cool to see.

Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away
Just say the words and we'll beat the birds
Down to Acapulco Bay

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

And the whole world has to answer right now, just to tell you once again...

Random quotes, before I head to Acapulco tomorrow...

"Oh my gosh, I just read it... I'm not even kidding. I just read it."
-from the dinner conversation next to me tonight
(a clique-y trio of high school girls studying U.S. colonial history)

"I can't see the F in clock."
-from practice last night
(the sun was at the right angle so that there was no contrast
between the black background and red lights;
members of the team went on to explain how the letter "F" is not in the word "clock".


You know I'm bad (bad-bad), I'm bad
You know it, you know (really, really bad)

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

You oughta know

Hurricane Dean appears to have less of an effect on my trip to Acapulco later this week, than what I thought earlier this week. Rather than having to cross the middle of the storm on my flight from Houston to the Pacific coast town, it now appears that I'll be flying to the east of the system's remnants (which is good).

It's also good news that Dean didn't really directly hit Jamaica, nor Cayman.


In other news, however...

the International Olympic Committee has posted further information on the Youth Olympic Games: "YOG" is the acronym they're using--one letter shy of yoga or yogi.... Included in that information was the beginnings of the sport disciplines to be offered (swimming is one of them). Interesting, all the "sports" at the 2012 Olympics will be a part of the 2010 Youth Olympics, but not all the disciplines (e.g. volleyball will either be indoor or beach, but not both).

The whole idea is still a little bogus to me, particularly given the general craziness I currently see with parents of young athletes (and that's not even really taking into account the fact that in some sports, the same athletes could be at both the YOGs and the Olympics...). But, who knows, maybe they'll work, and help "revive" younger generations to sport. Guess I'll keep my fingers crossed.

On a lighter note, I'm liking the song Easy by Paula DeAnda at the moment. There's a list of 25 "strange" laws (e.g. #9: unmarried women who parachute on Sunday in Florida can be jailed--hear that Fry?). Oh, and the birthday week is upon me... even managed to track down some UT Croc sandals online today. :)

I want you to know
That I'm happy for both of you
I wish nothing but
The best for you both

Saturday, August 18, 2007

We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave

I apparently left Houston at the right time: just before it was inundated with rain from Tropic Storm Erin. Actually, it's probably good the meet was done, because it also allowed my mom to get back to San Antonio before the 6 inches of rain fell there. And my friend Erin, who lives in Austin, probably weathered a lot during the storm as well.

But not much happening this week, other than catching back up from being gone for the meet, a couple dinners out with friends, and wondering where Hurricane Dean will head (now that it's run past the Lesser Antilles: Saint Vincent, Guadeloupe and Martinique; it's going by Santo Domingo today).

It's headed straight for Jamaica at the moment, and then the Cayman Islands. I'm hoping the latter will be ok, particularly since they recently finished recovering from 2004's Hurricane Ivan.

On the up-side, the temperature here in Fort Lauderdale is cooler than it was/is in The Woodlands (90s vs. 100s) so it's not felt too hot since my return; the pool water's still at 86° though...

Saint Vincent--95
Guadeloupe--97
Santo Domingo--99
Martinique, a hundred-and-five?


We're having a heat wave...

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

And it all, begins where it ends

I have returned to Florida from the 2007 U.S. Masters Nationals in The Woodlands, Texas... after spending most of the weekend looking at people swimming down the pool [left], and occasionally hopping in the water, as well. Oh, and also being at the pool from basically 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday (Saturday had a 2-hour lunch break off-site, Sunday a 1-hour one), and it was 100°. Ahhh... The Woodlands: nothing quite like it.

Over all, the meet went ok for me. Times weren't as fast as I would've liked, but fit with the training I have (or haven't) been doing (in order):

-Friday
400 free -- 4:23.47
200 fly -- 2:16.07
50 free (relay) -- 26.73

-Saturday
200 back -- 2:20.64
50 back (relay) -- 30.52

-Sunday
400 IM -- 4:59.52
100 back -- 1:04.63
50 breast (relay) -- 35.02
50 free (relay) -- ??? (timing system issue)

-Monday
1500 free -- 17:40.99


Monday, my race wasn't swum until 6:30 p.m. or so (the 1500 started around 11:30 a.m.--after the 800 free--and I was in heat 15). Most of the distance swimmers bummed around the pool all day, picking up counting duties every now-and-then [above]. There was some excitement mid-day, as one of my teammates was inadvertently given a medal which she then was asked to give back when all the results where incorporated [at left]... no major problem, but did produce some animated play-struggling entertainment, near mid-day.


She says "Hello, you fool, I love you"
C'mon join the joyride...
Join the joyride

Friday, August 10, 2007

I wanna really really really wanna zig-a-zig ah

Greetings from The Woodlands... I got into Houston yesterday morning (in time for breakfast tacos at Taco Cabana), bummed around the hotel for a wee bit of the afternoon before heading over to the pool to swim. At the pool, they had an aerator [at left] assisting with cooling the pool: made me wish we had something similar in FtL (particularly since the pool water was 86° earlier this week).

And Masters Nationals got underway this morning. First up was the men's 400 free (I went a decent 4:23), which was followed by a 30-minute warm-up break for the folks who didn't want to get up for the 6:30-8:00 a.m. warm up.


And, per the norm, the second warm-up [pictured at bottom] was more crowded than the first [above]. Although not nearly as dramatic as I've seen before--imagine wall-to-wall swimmers, in each lane. Maybe it'll be better tomorrow...

Anyways, post the second warm-up, I swam the 200 fly (2:17), then had lunch and swam a 50 free on a mixed free relay. Time at the pool 7:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (and this is the short day). Ahh, the fun...




But then again, I wasn't the only one waiting around (and the picture of some of my teammates at right was taken fairly early in the morning, way before it started to get really hot).





Did I mention that the grocery store here had Nilla wafers?



If you really bug me then I'll say goodbye

Yo I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want
So tell me what you want, what you really really want
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna
I wanna really really really wanna zigazig ah

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Just walk away, just walk a-way...

"This scares me politically. There is no anger that comes close to the anger of an American that cannot get television."
-Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

The quote above was from a discussion about how U.S. t.v. is preparing to go all digital, which means that the older, traditional, antennas will no longer work...

Other news items from the past few days...
  • Americans think text messaging should be banned while driving (I may need to start carpooling/riding the bus). Course I'm not really sure that it will make U.S. drivers better... people holding their phone up to their ear or watching a movie in their car seem more dangerous to me (and that's not even mentioning the people who like to stop in the middle of three lanes of traffic, or the people who drive like they're on a NASCAR track, instead of the street...)
  • Apparently the name of the lyrics-guessing t.v. show I mentioned the other day is actually "The Singing Bee" (which would explain why I couldn't find anything about a "Music Bee" online). I found the name, along with a Lyrics IQ test, here (I got 11 of 12 ;-).
  • One of my old teammates (Caitlin) got named to the USA team that will swim in Japan later this month--it's her first international trip (congrats!!!).
  • And the 2008 Olympics start exactly a year from today, at 8:08 p.m. local-Beijing time (NBC didn't get them to move that) on August 8: 08/08/08. (Eight's a lucky number in Chinese culture, I believe.)

Otherwise, I leave for Masters Nationals in The Woodlands, TX tomorrow morning, and as of this afternoon my boss is sending me to Acapulco the Thursday and Friday before my birthday (oh the heartbreak of it all...).

I'm looking for attention, not another question
Should you stay or should you go?
Well if you don't have the answer
Why you still standing here?
Hey, hey, hey, hey...

Monday, August 06, 2007

Underneath your clothes, there's an endless story

After a random urge to do wash yesterday...

all my Laundry is done!

Marking the first time this year / since I've been in my condo / actually, probably since I've been in Flordia, all of my laundry is clean at the same time. Which is great.

And this in between seeing The Bourne Ultimatum on Friday night, Hairspray on Saturday, Bourne again on Sunday afternoon (in Boca with a group of friends).... I really enjoyed Bourne; Hairspray was good, as well, although I'm still not really over John Travolta's make-up (the drag, I'm handling ok, but the facial add-ons where just a tad overboard).

As for the laundry, the only minor problem now is that I don't know where it all will go (which is part of the reason why it all hasn't been done prior to now--the other reason being a lack of time/general laziness). But I've started putting it away, so at least that's a start.

When the friends are gone, when the party's over
We will still belong to each other

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Ooh, it's kinda crazy, I’ve been thinking maybe

According to my listening to CNN at work this week, the only thing that happened in the world was that a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. Or, at least, that was what CNN chose to cover, solely, Wednesday through Friday. While it is definitely tragic, it also seems tragic to me that with 24-hours of airtime to fill, the only thing deemed worthy was that bridge. Did we, America, really need to know every 30-60 minutes how the flow of the Mississippi River was changing? I think not...

It might have been pertinent to know why the U.S. Cabinet meeting was called, rather than that they also talked about the bridge (a late-add to the agenda). Or another story: cyclone headed to Southeast Asia, Bush signing a new Homeland Security bill, that Eddie Murphy got Scary Spice pregnant, that lightning killed 141 people in China last month, or how the disappearance of Pakistan's Indus River delta seems a lot like the Mississippi River delta... anything. Call me crazy.

Actually, it's just kinda sad to me that with all the expanded news coverage now available, the diversity of stories seemingly has decreased: we're not getting news about more things going on in the world, but rather more details about the stories we already had.

And to think: I drove across that very Minnesota bridge back in April. Maybe I could be interviewed by the local news here: about how I safely traversed the bridge and the ones I go over everyday...

(please note, I'm not trying to belittle the deaths that occurred, but I do think the coverage has gone overboard, to the point that I'm wondering if they are purposely covering it instead of something else...)


Ooh, it's kinda crazy
I've been thinking maybe
Gotta get you out of my mind

Thursday, August 02, 2007

In an mmmbop they're gone, in a mmmbop they're not there...

As I was on my way into work yesterday, the morning radio show played a variant of t.v.'s "Music Bee", ending with Hanson's Mmmbop. This proceeded to get it stuck in my head for the rest of the day. It also made me think I might be a good contestant for the t.v. show....

(In all honesty, though, Mmmbop really isn't a very fair song to use: even to people who care what lyrics are, the song is a rather difficult one to know what's being said. This is mostly due to whichever Hanson it is semi-mumbling the lyric.)


So, I had Hanson driving me crazy, and then swim practice in the evening kinda just pushed me out of my mind completely, to the point where I left a half hour early and was seriously contemplating not going to Nationals (for which I leave a week from today). But things are better now. Mmmbop's still stuck in my head, but I've remembered that my condo ownership turned a year old on Tuesday. :)

(And just for Erin: "We're tiny, we're toony... we're all a little loony ;-)

So hold on to the ones who really care
In the end they'll be the only ones there
When you get old and start losing you hair
Can you tell me who will still care