You see I got a four-leaf clover

Greetings from snowy Columbus, Ohio. Things here are cold and white, as evident in the picture at right from just outside my hotel room. But, as luck would have it, I apparently arrived the day after the really bad weather, which was Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Columbus got around 2 feet of snow--the remnants are what is pictured. The weather was such that the Ohio State University, where I've been this weekend, canceled classes on Wednesday. It was the first time in 20 years that classes have been canceled due to weather.

Things on the whole go well, and I'm actually not too cold (other than a brief stint this morning when my hands got chilled through my gloves...). I'm chalking up my warmth to the lined, suede coat I brought with me (it's so heavy, it broke the hanger it was on). But otherwise, not much to report.

I will mention that while landing I noticed a novelty (for me, at least): there was a cloud layer in the area, blocking the view of the ground with its white fluffiness. As the plane went through the layer, I kept waiting to see a green/brown/colorful earth emerge below; only to be met with a snow-blanketed whiteness of the ground below. There was really no contrast between the clouds and the ground. Probably not such a big deal to those "in the snow", but it was novel for me.

See, I have been thinking it over
It's all just a little too much
You see I have got a four-leaf clover
It's gotta bring a little luck

I started on a journey, about a year ago; To a little town called Morrow in the State of Ohio

This morning again finds me in the Fort Lauderdale airport, awaiting a flight. Today, I am headed to Columbus, Ohio, for a clinic this weekend at the Ohio State University.

And due to yesterday's snow that fell on Ohio (and other parts of the Midwest), odds are I will not be making a random trek out to Morrow, Ohio: roughly 80 miles southwest of Columbus. (Morrow's actually closer to Cincinnati--only about 30 miles.)

Actually, I'm just hoping I don't freeze while in OH: the temperature range for this weekend is supposed to be 7° - 37°.... Fun, fun, fun. Course, I will be saved because I found my snow hat and remembered a (very) heavy coat that I have (and have yet to really get to wear--there being no real need for it here in South Florida).

But my flight boards: hasta...


"The train today to Morrow leaves today at 8:35
At half-past ten tomorrow is the time it should arrive
So if from here to Morrow is a fourteen hour jump
Can you go today to Morrow and get back today, you chump?"

Tonight the Super Trouper lights are gonna find me

The Year of the Ox returns!

It also happens to be Australia Day, as well... but the Chinese New Year is just so much cooler, this year at least, as I'm actually an Ox myself (appropriately enough, I'm a water ox, apparently).

Tonight the super trouper lights are gonna find me
Shining like the sun
Smiling, having fun
Feeling like a number one

You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself

So the Oscar nominations came out this week... and I've only seen 1 of the Best Picture nominees. One!

But now I feel compelled to see some of the other nominees:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (long... but Cate's in it, at least, and I liked Tender is the Night)
• Frost/Nixon (not sure if I'll get to this)
• Milk (wouldn't mind seeing it...)
• The Reader (Kate's in this, as is Ralph--2 of my faves--but I was wary when it was out and I don't know if it's now playing locally)
• Slumdog Millionaire (the one I've seen, twice--it was good)

Guess I really should check out Reader and Button: they're also up for cinematography (and I tend to be a cinematography junkie).


But it's all right now
I learned my lesson well
You see, ya can't please everyone
So ya got to please yourself

There must be some Toros in the atmosphere...

It has been rather cold of late the past two days. Yesterday morning, my car's temperature gauge let me know that it was colder (40°) than my (of-late) miles-per-gallon average (41.7). The cold weather has also caused the cancellation of morning practices for the team (40° air temperature for a wet swimmer to wander around in on deck of an outdoor pool isn't the best thing, not to mention it can be hard to keep the water warm).

But, I went to the musical/play version of Mamma Mia! tonight, which was not only very good (and highly entertaining), but also the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (where it's being staged) also was quite warm.

Otherwise, I'm just taking the weather in stride, particularly after talking to someone in Iowa mid-week where it was -16° (-30° with the wind chill), and they hadn't seen 0° in 5 days. It was so cold, that school was canceled because the district was worried about the buses breaking down and kids getting frostbite while waiting for the bus.

Oh, and I'm headed to Columbus, Ohio, next week, so I figure this week's cold is a sort of prelude for that trip... (or hope it is). Of course, to that I say: Bring it!


I said Brrr!
It's cold in here
There must be some Toros in the atmosphere

It's been a long... long time comin', but I know... A change is gonna come, woah yes it will

Today was Inauguration Day, and at noon today, I actually watched Barack Obama get sworn in and give his inaugural speech as President of the USA. Strangely enough, this "historic" event (aren't all Presidential elections/inaugurations historic?) is actually the first Inaugural Address I remember watching.

Today was also the first morning in 2 years where I did not feel guilty for deciding not to get up and swim at 5 a.m..... I'm not sure what's better: that I felt guilty for two years about missing it, or that I felt good about not.

So now I go to my brother
And I say, "Brother, help me please" (yeah)

Too much of nothing so why don't we give it a try; too much of something we're probably living a lie

Well the 2009 short-course yards Masters season started for me this weekend with a meet in nearby Plantation yesterday and Friday. The meet went alright: it was well run/done, and I did as I can expect, I guess. (And I say "I guess", as I'm not really evaluating how I did: I don't really have a way to directly compare at this point, so I'm opting to do so with more abstract, subjective, observations, like how I felt in the water... which was alright.)

Anyways, my times from the meet:

Friday
-1,000 free: 10:45.77 (5:26/5:19)
-400 IM: 4:37.30 (I felt I could push my backstroke some, which was nice.)

Saturday
-200 free: 1:58.51 (58.33/1:00.18)
-200 back: 2:06.11 (1:01.78/1:04.33)
-200 fly: 2:11.94 (1:04.71/1:07.23)
-500 free: 5:10.60 (It seemed like I was able to come back well on the back half of the race: a good.)

Gears are still missing, but they aren't going to have appeared in the 2 weeks since I last mentioned they were missing (they've been gone for awhile... and will need some time to reappear).

Full results from the meet are available here (and in some cases, things were better than last year's meet at this time...)


Road to nowhere, twist and turns but will this never end
Well my dear you know that he pleases me (pleases me)
But short-term solution ain't no resolution
There ain't no release for me...

Now say it isn't so, (it isn't so-oh-woah)

I know your first reaction you slide away, hide away, goodbye
But if there's a doubt, maybe I can give out a thousand reasons why
You have to say it isn't so

I'm on a ride and I want to get off, But they won't slow down the roundabout

Since I returned from Texas two weeks ago, I've noticed something: the bad driver quotient has increased in Fort Lauderdale. Which I'm mostly attributing to the snowbirds that have apparently arrived (increasing traffic volume as well as their non-familiarity with the local roads and their non-local driving habits).

Two examples from this week:

• Upon turning right at a red light into the first of two lanes of traffic with a car approaching in the second lane, a woman in the back seat of said car yelled at me. Basically: "Hey, where are you going? Do you even see us? Watch where you're driving." (I may have even been called an idiot.) As my window was open and I was in the middle of navigating said turn and aware of where I was and was going (and didn't have the time nor the inclination to really pay her any heed), I answered back to the first question (in a normal-volume voice) that I was headed into the lane I was in. The car then seemed to be hovering toward the line between our cars, and as they were not moving too quickly and I did actually (eventually) want to get into the lane they were in, I moved past them and once safely clear moved into their lane (with my signal on). Once I was past, the other car then moved into the first lane (my old lane), and pulled into a parking lot beside the road--all without a single turn signal (which would have been incredibly helpful in letting people in other cars around them or entering traffic with them--say like me--know that was their intention).
• I was in a 1-lane roundabout; one that is not very big (its size is small enough that I wonder why it's there in lieu of a 4-way stop). As I was going through, a car approached on the right-turn street from my starting point. As I was already in the roundabout and there are yield signs on all the lead-in streets to the roundabout, I felt I had the right-of-way. However, I was also wary that the approaching car wouldn't yield and would hit me. So I slowed down enough to delay my traversing around to make sure the other car slowed/stopped. After the car braked, I continued forward. The car then honked at me! As if I was in the wrong for continuing on ahead of them; as if I was supposed to yield for their yield sign.

Anyways, just 2 examples. They don't really cover the slow moving cars nor the random cut-offs that happen (it's gotten to the point where I'm wary of leaving an appropriate space between my car and the one in front of me--when in moderate to heavy traffic--for fear that a car will move into the space), but they're there as well...

I'm trying to take it all in-stride, and not let it get to me.


And watching over lucky clover
Isn't that bizarre
Every little thing the reflex does
Leaves you answered with a question mark

Have yourself a merry Little Christmas

The 12 days of Christmas are now up and Little Christmas is here! (Epiphany, even)
(And continuing in a rather strange way, I'm now listening to my Christmas CDs....)

Here were are as in olden days
Happy golden days, of yore

Grandma got run over by a reindeer

This weekend, I am recovering from swimming a 5K at yesterday morning's International Swimming Hall of Fame Roughwater swim. The conditions for this year's race were much calmer then when I swam it 2 years ago (I missed last year due to being sick the weekend of the swim), but had similar results: I again finished 4^th (this year in a time of 1 hour and 9 minutes).

The swim, itself, went alright, though I couldn't really change gears at all during the race (a problem for me of late)--will need to work on that. Along with that was that both my calves cramped right as I attempted to exit the water and run to the finish. It took about 10 seconds or so to get my ankles bent again to where I could stand and walk to the finish (and I'm not entirely sure why they cramped, given I didn't really kick during the race...).

Anyways, in recovery mode, and enjoying the long weekend (work was--nicely--closed Thursday and Friday for the New Year's).

Grandma got run over by a reindeer,
Walking home from our house Christmas Eve,
You can say there's no such thing as Santa,
But as for me and Grampa, we believe

Rockin' around the Christmas tree, at the Christmas party hop

Happy New Year!
welcome 2009

(Does it even feel like the Holidays anymore? To me it feels like they died right at 12:01 a.m. on December 26.... Just think: if radio stations played Holiday music for as long after Christmas as they did before--making Christmas the center of the season, instead of its termination--they would be playing it to around Valentine's Day... or, if you prefer to mark it by holidays, the format switch happens the week before Thanksgiving--give or take--so a week after the next major holiday post-Christmas (New Year's) would put it right around January 6th....)

You will get a sentimental feeling
When you hear
Voices singing let's be jolly
Deck the halls with boughs of holly