But what I know now, it's not always a happy ending

The Horns, they put up a valiant effort and good fight; but, alas, twas not enough.

After leading for most of this weekend's NCAA Men's Division I Swimming & Diving Championships, the Texas men's swimming & diving team (those aforementioned "Horns") finished second at NCAAs on Saturday. Final team standings:
1. Auburn--526
2. Texas--487
3. Stanford--460.5
4. California--350 (the Cal women won the women's meet last weekend)
5. Florida--324

But, in relation to the meet I'm less perplexed/dismayed by the Horns finishing second, than I am by the relays. Texas set American Records in 4 of the 5 relays, with the only relay not broken being one held by the Texas club team that had 3 event World Record Holders on it at the time. The fact that 2 of these relays finished 4th (200 Free-1:15.90) and 5th (200 Medley-1:23.97) is what is baffling to me... (the 2nd place finishing 400 F.R.--2:47.02--less so, and the winning 800 F.R.--6:10.16--even less).

The records, themselves, don't phase me so much (thanks you suits); the places, however (which are due to at least one non-USA swimmer being on each relay ahead of them) do.


But hey, look at me, I don't feel like cryin', no-woah

And who said, love is a game?
And who said, love can be gambled, gambled away? Yeah

Saturday night's alright for fighting

Earth Hour is an initiative of the World Wildlife Fund to help raise awareness of global warming (but it also sees a good way to notice ambient light pollution, as well). You can do your part/participate simply by turning off unnecessary lights from 8:30-9:30 p.m. tonight (your local time).

An article on what's already happened today around the globe (e.g. since it's already been tonight in Sydney, Australia).

Saturday night's alright for fighting

Get a little action in

It's the pattern of my life

I will rant a bit....

One of my peeves are people who leave email signatures intact, when their purpose/function is not needed. For example, the co-worker (in the office down the hall) who lets you know (with every email) the address and phone number of the office you're both in. This I've learned to deal with. I tune it out (ignore it) in much the same way I tune out, say, the plethora of "important information" envelopes I receive from credit card companies (and on a side note, cc guys, you're at/near the point where I will stop paying attention to anything you send me, including bills, so if you want to get paid: quit sending junk mail to me!).

Anyways, back to the signatures. My co-workers do it, and I just try to make sure I stay aware of when I use my signature and what it says, in hopes that the delivery will be effective too.

The actual catalyst for today's post is related to this. Recently, I've been getting emails from an address that is supposed to be one of my neighbors (and given that two of my other neighbors may very shortly go into default on their condos, you might be able to imagine that I've gotten a few emails from my other neighbors). Anyways, the signature on one of the emails is a name I don't know. It may be her boyfriend/fiance/husband, or someone other rather person. I don't know.

The fun/scary part, is that she appears too... unable to remove the signature from the emails. Or maybe I've just been emailing the wrong person (who understands everything going on).

In any case, people, don't get so lazy that you can't delete a signature from an email for people that don't need to get it.


It's the pattern of my life
When you care and you cannot feel
And you know that it's for real

Too much is not enough

And now a definition from my trusty Mac Dictionary:

con•vo•lu•ted
adjective
(esp. of an argument, story or sentence) extremely complex and difficult to follow

As in: The 11-pages of instructions were so convoluted that it made it difficult to know what to actually do.


Don't check; just balance on the fence
Don't answer; don't ask
Don't try and make sense

Turn my head with talk of summertime

So, shortly after I got home last night from the Panthers hockey game, it started raining here in Fort Lauderdale (say around 11 p.m.). And it was not a light rain, in fact it was quite heavy.

Now an interesting aspect about the rain that I've experienced here in South Florida is that it has never really been consistent. Sure, during the summer it will rain daily for 30-60 minutes in the early-mid afternoon, and on occasion a day will have a few waves of rain. But those rains are usually fairly light, and pass through.

The bizarre thing about today's rain is that it's now 10 p.m., and it's still raining and hasn't really stopped since last night at 11 when it started. It's also been fairly heavy all day. Adding to this is the fact that it's not really rained here since September/October sometime....


In other random-news, over the weekend, swimming federations in Chad and Djibouti became members of FINA. This prompted me to wonder if the latter is supposed to be pronounced "Did ya booty", as if one where asking about some cool new dance craze one might do. Strangely enough, Wikipedia's entry on the country (linked above) has pronunciations in Arabic and Somali, which while they may be the official languages of the country and therefore the official way to say the country name, doesn't really help me too much (given my grand lack of knowledge of the 2 languages).

So I looked the country up in my trusty dictionary, only to be dismayed to see that there, the "d" was not only not pronounced, but the "ji" apparently is really a ji sound (rather than ja), and so the country's name is "ji-boo-tee". Not nearly as fun--pesky silent d! Course it does help that the capital city is also named Djibouti, so one could be from or in Djibouti, Djibouti (Did ya booty, ji booty).

Promise me that all you say is true
That's all I ask of you

And all the roads we have to walk are winding

Work is keeping me a tad busy at the moment, so just a short note to say:

Happy
St. Patrick's
Day!

And to mention that I went to my 1st NHL game tonight, which was fine. I did not fallen in love with hockey, nor did the Panthers win against the Capitols. But I did have a good time. The fact that I went to the game with a visiting Canadian, who is a hockey fan, helped things out (as did his amazement that one could get 2 seats for $30--course, he lives in a town where the NHL team sells-out every night, so the half-empty seating for the game also was a surprise... but it does help explain the cheap ticket price).

Backbeat, the word is on the street
That the fire in your heart is out.
I'm sure you've heard it all before
But you never really had a doubt

Set adrift on memory bliss

I survived the meet this weekend, which for the most part went smoothly--I just ended up helping out for almost the entire weekend to help make sure it did. I don't mind so much that I did; it just would've been nice to hang out with people on my team more. The meet ended on 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday (after started at 9:30 a.m.), and ran at a fairly good pace.

The only semi-qualm I ended up having was that because I was helping with the timing, I didn't get to warm up for any of my events. But then again, as I seem to have been swimming better while not warming up (á la Meira, for those in the know), it wasn't too bad.

As for times, results for the meet have yet to been posted online. When they do, I'll update the items below, but until then, here's what I vaguely recollect that I did.


Friday (03/06/09) night
-200 free (r.l.o.): 1:58.38 (57.27/1:01.11)
(the other event on Friday was the mile, and as the meet started at 4 p.m., I would not have been able to make my heat for it)

Saturday
-400 IM--4:29.48 (1:00.40/1:09.02/1:17.68/1:02.38)
-50 free (r.s.)--23.86
-200 free--1:56.87 (56.97/59.90)
-100 fly--57.25 (27.09/30.16)
-100 back (r.l.o.)--57.55 (28.03/29.52)

Sunday
-50 fly (r.s.)--24.72
-100 free--53.38 (26.08/27.30)
-200 back--2:12.17 (1:06.10/1:06.67)
-100 free (r.s.)--51.93 (25.39/26.64)


Then you know I can't remember a damn thing
I think its one of those déjà vu things
Or a dream that's trying to tell me something
Or will I ever stop thinking about it
I don't know, I doubt it

Three is a magic number, yes it is

At work today I received an (unsolicited) email from a company that provides membership software. After a cursory glance at the content, I determined it as a copy of the same, exact email that I had received the day before from the same, unknown person.

As I thought this pattern indicative of a potential trend, and because I'm not in need of membership software at the moment, I responded to today's email with:

"If you are going to email me daily, please remove me from you distribution list. Thank you.
-Matt"

I thought this nice and to-the-point, and also allowed an opening to not only state that the emails wouldn't be daily but also to ask why I would comment as such. So I was somewhat surprised with the response I received:

"Matt
You had a spelling error below -- "please remove me from you distribution list" -- but I will remove you from our distribution list. Continued success to you in the future.
Regards,"
and the person's standard email signature.

Now, granted, in a given day I tend to make a lot of these typos, which I blame on the current work pace I attempt to keep in-office (thought it's not to say I am not trying to get not have them). However, I was quite surprised that this "Account Executive" (aka salesman) responded as he did.... Call me crazy.

But then again, today I also sat through two cycles of the stoplight nearest my office without it turning green, before I turned right to u-turn my way through the intersection, so maybe it was just today.

In other news, a Masters meet kicked off today and which ended rather late tonight (9:40). It continues tomorrow and Sunday, and hopefully will run smoothly... we shall see.


3-6-9
Twelve, fifteen, eighteen
Twenty-one, twenty-four, twenty-seven
Thirty

It's a comedy of errors you see

So... last week a rare and wondrous thing happened: I paid off one of my credit cards. (woo-hoo!!!!)

Today, I got a notice from said card that my new statement was ready. I logged into my account, and I owe $1.48--a bank fee.

Now, it's not a lot, and I don't mind paying it so much. What I do mind is that I paid the freaking card off! And I even attempted to overpay the card, so I could cover what I thought would be the charge that would come (this is not the first time that this has happened to me). But I couldn't overpay: it wouldn't let me.

Anyways, before I went to pay tonight, I called the card company to make sure that I wouldn't get another statement again next month, this time saying I owed $0.01. I ended up speaking to a gentleman with an Indian accent, who was apparently in a room with a compatriot nearby (who was on the phone with someone else). I then went on good behavior and did not ask if he'd seen Slumdog Millionaire.

Instead, I inadvertantly got a credit on my account for the fee... almost right after I'd authorized the payment from my bank of the funds. So, I will probably now have a credit on the account. Ahh the fun.


Do you miss me, Miss Misery
Like you say you do

It winds, from Chicago to L.A. Over 2 thousand miles all the way

I did not get my kicks on Route 66 this weekend, as I was not 'motoring' to the West. Rather, I was on Route 49 and Route 61 (and apparently went through the rather famous intersection of the two). Route 49 traversed me across Eastern Arkansas and Old Man River (i.e. the Mississippi River) into Mississippi and to US-61. Route 61 took me down through Mississippi Delta country--the birthplace of Blues music--and to Cleveland, MS where the wedding I was headed to occurred. Oh, and I did get to the church on time [from yesterday's post], just not without working batteries in my camera (so, alas, no pictures of the ceremony nor reception).

So a timeline of yesterday:

Saturday 2/28.
6 a.m. (Eastern) : My flight departs Fort Lauderdale and I proceed to sleep all the way to Memphis.

7:50 a.m. (Central): Arrive Memphis airport. Grab some breakfast, and proceed to watch an episode of Torchwood (Season 2) in the hour before my flight boards.

9:30 a.m.: Board flight to Little Rock. Schedule departure time: 10:00 a.m.

10:50 a.m.: Flight actually leaves for Little Rock (50 minutes late), following a paperwork delay that kept us from departing (and also had me bemoaning the fact that I hadn't gotten my laptop out to watch a second episode of Torchwood...).

11:20 a.m.: Arrive Little Rock, only 20 minutes late (apparently there was a lot of "buffer" time for the flight--scheduled to take 53 minutes, with a flight time of 29 minutes).

11:40 a.m.: Given a bright yellow Chevy Cobalt coupe [pictured at right] from the rental car people, and get on the road for my projected 3-hour drive to Cleveland.

Noon: Get on to Interstate 40 and start heading back toward Memphis. (4 hours until the wedding)


1 p.m.: Leave I-40 for Route 49 at Brinkley, AR. In town, see a Magnolia tree in full bloom in a house yard off on the side of the road. Note to try to snap a picture of it on the way back (today) when I have time. Unfortunately, due to either overnight snow/cold or the time of day, the buds are closed and less of a spectacle than the day before (but I still grabbed the shot anyways). (3 hours until the wedding)

1:30 p.m.: Pass through Marvell, AR, and have a surprisingly strong cell signal which continues the rest of way. Made further strange by the lack of cell signal I had while on the "big" road (I-40). Ponder whether I'll really be in Cleveland by 3 in order to make the 4 p.m. wedding.

2:00 p.m.: An obnoxious bright yellow arc is formed, as the Cobalt and I traverse The River, entering the State of Mississippi. Approximately 60 miles to Cleveland. (2 hours until the wedding)

2:20(ish) p.m.: Pass a sign reading "Alligator Right Lane" (sister of the one pictured above), and think it strange that there's a sign to let people know there's an animal in the right lane.... (Alligator, MS is a town in the Delta region.)

3:01 p.m.: Arrive Cleveland, MS! Check into Econolodge. (1 hour until the wedding)

3:15 p.m.: Emerge from shower and start to get dress for the wedding. Bummed (slightly) that no iron is present in room, but given the time remaining figure I don't really have time to iron my clothes (which aren't really wrinkled) let alone wait whilst one is brought to my room.

3:30 p.m.: Leave hotel for church. Follow most-excellent directions provided by the bride, and go straight to the church (passing Delta State University in the process, and not inadvertantly driving to the wrong church which neighbors where I'm supposed to head). (3o minutes until the wedding)

3:45 p.m.: Arrive at church, say hello to mother-of-the-bride and get introduced to the bride's father. Sit down in the chapel, and begin to see if I can find anyone I know. A few minutes later, "Mama" finds me and escorts me to see the bride (at the bride's request--she looks great).

4:00 p.m.: Wedding starts, exactly on time. Church is completely full, including people standing in the back. The wedding includes my discovery that the batteries in my camera are dead (I bought a replacement pair this morning before leaving town), and an Irish (Catholic) Priest, who says "y'all" at one point during the ceremony. (Yes, that's right: an Irish Catholic priest, saying a colloquial "y'all" in his Irish-accented English).

4:50 p.m. (or so): Ceremony ends. A mad-dash/drive to the nearby Cleveland Country Club ensues as people move on to the reception.

5:20 p.m.: First dance happens, with the band's volume equaled by the din created by 200+ people chatting all around. It is right around this point that I realize I know 2 people there: the bride and her mom (and possibly 1 other person).

5:40 p.m. (or so): Cakes (wedding and groom's) have been cut (and notice Vanessa--this is way, way, way, way, way before midnight ;-). Enjoying myself and viewing the Southern spectacle going on around me. Southern hospitality shines as some "swimming" people come up and introduce themselves to me: I begin to suspect the bride's family has asked them to come say hello so that I might be able to talk to some folks (though I am having a good time just "observing", and don't mind just hanging out and watching).

7:00 p.m.: I head out from the reception, and back to the hotel to prep for today's return (but not before the bride and her sorority sisters have done some sorority chant thing on the dancefloor). Reception continues until 9 p.m. I leave wake-up call for 9 a.m.



As for this morning, I ended up waking up and getting on the road early (and, regretfully missing a brunch with the newlyweds later in the morning). But it was a good thing I did get on the road early, as there was a light snow overnight (maybe an inch) and it also gave me time to grab some photos on the way (like the one at right of one of the bright green fields I passed on the way back).

The drive back went smoothly and was quite nice. The only troublesome thing that occurred happened on the back third of the drive, on I-40, when accumulated snow kept falling off of semi-trucks and into the road in front of me.

I ended up arriving at the airport around 12:40 p.m., way early for my 4:30 flight. But then I had time to write this, another post from an airport (as well as grab some lunch). And now my flight has been delayed to 6 p.m... hopefully, I'll make my connection back to Fort Lauderdale.


If you, ever plan to motor West
Travel my way, take the highway that's the best
Get your kicks, on Route 66