If I just breathe... let it fill the space between, I'll know everything is all right

Ahh, the fun. I have survived through the meet I swam in the weekend. All-in-all, not terrible, but not terribly good either. For example, my mile this year was roughly 40 seconds slower than what I went last year at the same meet. The only problem being that last year I swam the event after having come straight from the airport, as I'd been up since 4 a.m. that morning and flow back from Boston to Fort Lauderdale.... As I said, ahh the fun.

Anyways, times from the weekend:

Friday p.m.
-400 IM: 5:19.54
-200 Free (relay): 2:18.89

Saturday
-200 back: 2:26.22
-100 free: 1:01.25 (speedy--watch out)
-400 free: 4:41.48

Sunday
-200 fly: 2:21.75
-1500: 18:46.90

I guess the nice thing I can say, is that my times are consistent with my training... and hopefully I'll get some things straightened out before the next meet.


So you end up watchin' chances fade
And wonderin' what's real
And I... give it just a little time
I... wonder if you realize

When's it gonna stop, DJ?

I have survived yet another International Age Group meet here in Fort Lauderdale, which capped off a surprising short week last week (and helps account for the lack of post last week). Flying back from Cayman on Monday helped shorten things as well. But back to the "IAG"...

The meet is a 3.5 days beheamouth (Thursday afternoon on through Sunday), featuring over 1,000 swimmers who range in age from 10&unders all the way up to 17&overs. It draws an interesting mix of teams: local, out-of-state (e.g. Boston and Chicago), and out of the country (US Virgin Islands, Guatemala, Mexico City). And, as typical with South Florida this time of year, it rained for at least a portion of every day of the meet. Now, the thunder and lightning accompanying this rain caused the meet to be delayed and portions of it to be canceled/rescheduled to later times. It hung around the entire weekend, never completely over and done with but instead lurking off in the background (or rather waiting to emerge from the Glades).... Despite this, a fun atmosphere seemed to have prevailed.

The image sticking in my mind happened during the start of Saturday night's second warmup period (the first one had been truncated just as it was about to end by a thunderstorm, which delayed the meets start about 90 minutes). With the sun starting to come through the cloud-enshrouded sky in the backgroud, from the second story window near me I looked out across the width of the pool and saw a group of about 5-8 late-middle/early-high school aged boys, all wearing matching green team shirts (and various shorts), standing at the top of the still sparsely-populated grandstands and doing the Cha-Cha Slide (or rather attempting to do it: they didn't have enough dancing area atop the metal bleachers to really do the "2 hops this time", or the Charlie Brown).

It was a refreshing sight, to see the fun still being had. This despite the recent delay in the main reason of being there (the meet), and the hint of uncertainty still present that the storm might return (it did, actually, buy not before the session couldn't be snuck in). The Slide did reappear again before the end of the meet: the next evening (Sunday) during a time trial session--the's night finals fall victim to the weather (though 2 swimmers did qualify for next week's US Olympic Trials).

I don't wanna rock, DJ
But you're making me feel so nice
When's it gonna stop, DJ
'Cause you're keepin' me up all night

Having a good time, baby; wish you were here...

Greetings from Grand Cayman. At the moment, I'm recovering from yesterday's Flower's Sea Swim, which I and 635 other folks did yesterday along 7 Mile Beach (pictured at left and below right). The race was 1-mile, and started toward the southern end of the beach (left) and finished about mid-way up (in the right picture--the white tents on the sand are next to the in-water finish), next to the Governor's house.

Overall, the swim went well. The course was a straight line, paralleling the beach. Water temperature was nice: cool, but not cold (and not warm). Peskily, we swam into the current, which made for rough going but surprisingly flat conditions. I managed to come in second, just a hair behind first--which was nice. I also didn't win any of the cool door prizes (curses--and I was pulling for the trip to Rio), nor did any of my friends who came down from Fort Lauderdale with me (despite the fact that one of their numbers was "I 1", and we agreed that she should have one something, just because of her number).

As for today, my friend Alex took me on a driving tour of the eastern part of the island, around along the coast all the way to Cayman Kai on the island's north side. Was good too see, particularly as the western part of the island is considerably less developed than the western peninsula, but has some amazing looking water.

My trip here winds up tomorrow, when I head back to FtL in the afternoon. I may try to get out and about in the morning, but will see how things go. In any case, have a good Father's Day and hasta...

And you can't do a thing to stop me
(Can't do a thing to stop me, now)

Everybody knows, a little place like Kokomo

Friday the 13^th, and I am once again hanging out at the airport, awaiting my flight to:

Well, actually, I'm headed to Grand Cayman (where the words "Cayman Islands" are in the picture above). A better view of where I'm going is below right, though I do like the open vastness of one above...

Notes from so far today:

• wonders of wonders, Laura Ingoldsby was on-time and ready-to-go, when her pick up happened ;
• the check-in line for Spirit, and security was not terrible (it was barely long); and
• Heather and I realized about an hour before our flight that we were both seated in the same seat (8A). When we approached a Spirit employee at a nearby gate to assist us (the wasn't one at our gate), and let him know, he responded with "Welcome to Spirit", and then got things solved.

And now, Laura, Heather, Jami and I are hanging out in the terminal, await our boarding (nice 3 hour check-in for international flights)...

Aruba, Jamaica...
Bermuda, Bahama...
Key Largo, Montego...

Daylight licked me into shape, I must've been asleep for days

I continue making my way through The Blind Assassin, and as such,

• and because I stayed up way to late last night (I went to bed around 2 a.m.)
• and because I head off to Grand Cayman on Friday and have prep work to do (I did find my passport)
• and because I'm going to miss the Cure in concert on Friday night (so I won't get to hear if they play today's song)
• and because, more importantly, I'll be missing Eddie Izzard performing Friday and Saturday in Miami (dagnabit!)

I will be brief today, and leave you with a quote from my book. Enjoy...
(I also have Meet the Spartans to watch, as well as some more stuff to do on Wikipedia...)

"Now he's on the windowsill outside, now he's in the room. The flowers of the chestnut tree flare up: by their white light she can see his face, the skin greyish, half-toned; two-dimensional, like a photograph, but smudged. There's a smell of burning bacon. He isn't looking at her, not at her exactly; it's as if she is her own shadow and he's looking at that. At where her eyes would be if her shadow could see."

-The Blind Assassin, p.468

"Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick
The one that makes me scream," she said
"The one that makes me laugh," she said
And threw her arms around my neck

Remember: listen as your day unfolds

Today was a day where Des'ree's You Gotta Be seems an apt description. I just kinda did today (which seems a good thing for 06-07-08).

I swam (early!) this morning, then hung out at the pool for a wee bit through the later workout (there's 2 practices--7 and 9--on Saturday morning). Then, after grabbing some breakfast, I took a nap and read The Blind Assassin, instead of watching Volver--I've actually been attempting to watch the film for most of the week, and haven't gotten to it (maybe tomorrow?). Toward the end of the afternoon, I went to see Kung Fu Panda with a friend, and then had dinner and read some more. Terribly exciting, I know.

It's probably for the best that this weekend not be too eventful, as the next 3 are occupied: next weekend I'm off to Grand Cayman for a 1-mile swim (assuming I find where I've inadvertently misplaced stashed my passport), then helping at a swim meet, and then swimming in a meet (which I need to enter...). On the plus side, last night at practice, I got to do some long course 100s on 1:20, which was cathartic as well as a good place on which to build on.


Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try to keep your head up to the sky...

A man makes a car, and builds a road to run them on

Well, I am back from California. The trip went fairly well, other than a wee bit hectic.

My week since returning on Monday afternoon has been a little crazy, as well. And today my new car is now 2 weeks old: I've gone about 370 miles, and haven't gotten gas yet (though I will probably get some tomorrow--the tank is a bit low).

Oh, and in honor of my car being 2 weeks old, I had my first official South Florida driver experience: a car behind me decided I was apparently missing too many chances to cross 3 lanes of busy traffic from a side street, just to hover out in the middle waiting for traffic to open in the other direction. So what did she do? (yes, emphasis on the "she" part for today) Why, she decided to pull up next to me, into the lane for the other direction of traffic and go at the same time as me (actually trying to go before me). Wasn't that nice? (Black Nissan Altima owners, she was making you look bad.)

Even better: she stayed with me for the next 5-10 minutes, as traffic and further lights didn't allow her to get anywhere away from me. That made me feel better.


And these are the days when our work has come asunder
And these are the days when we look for something other