Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad...

Today, I was once again reminded of how wrong it seems for a French-Canadian chanteuse to have covered Feliz Navidad... (it should be left to José Feliciano to sing)

But Mother Goose & Grimm had a gnostic gnome visit earlier this week, so that helps... :)


Feliz Navidad
Prospero año y felicidad

Closing time, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end...

This is turning into my social week, leaving not much time for posting...

Last Saturday I spent helping out at a meet, and then followed it by going to see The Golden Compass and then went out to celebrate a friend of mine getting her visa. Sunday was spent watching The Polar Express and visiting IKEA.

Monday was fairly normal. Tuesday night I was at the Broward County Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner, where June Kraser was inducted. Last night I followed practice with dinner with some Masters friends. Tonight I did some last minute shopping for my staff Christmas party tomorrow. And then Saturday and Sunday nights I'm at events...

I guess it's the holiday time, although except for tomorrow night's fête, nothing's really directly relates to the holidays; it's just more coincidental. And all this social activity keeps my mind off the fact that I got bumped off all my committees for USA Swimming, that one of my co-workers resigned on Tuesday, that another co-worker's mother-in-law died last week, and that my Dad had cataract surgery last week... (although that bit does remind me that I should call and check on him). Oh, and then there's the step-dad's birthday that was this week, as well... and maybe I'll get to see Blade Runner this weekend in the theater...

Closing time, time for you to go out
To the places you will be from...

This is the rhythm of my life

A copy of the text of an email response (with my original email below it) below:
[note: I changed the name and mailing address below; if you can't figure it out]

Subject: RE: Your application has been validated -- Link to payment
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2007 08:11:18 -0500
From: "ParkingOnline"
To: "Fred E. Flintstone"

What address would like to have the card sent to.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Fred E. Flintstone
> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 1:20 PM
> To: ParkingOnline
> Subject: Re: Your application has been validated -- Link to payment
>
>
> I've heard that the permits are sent so that they require a
> signature upon delivery. Is there a way mine can be mailed
> to my work address so that some will be available to sign
> for it?
>
> My work address is:
> Fred Flintstone
> Slate Rock & Gravel
> 1234 NE Bedrock Ave, Lot 7
> Fort Lauderdale, FL 33333
>
> If someone could let me know, it would be appreciated. Thanks.
>
> -Fred

Now, should one missing "-one" (to make "someone") really have confused them? As a bonus, the follow-up email said they were mailing the card to the address on my application... which means the whole thing got ignored. Ah, fun.

This is the rhythm of the night, the night, oh yeah
The rhythm of the night
This is the rhythm of my life, my life, oh yeah
The rhythm of my life

You gotta keep 'em seperated...

This is not sent for discussion. If you agree, forward it. If you don't, delete it. I don't need to know one way or the other. Since I forwarded it, you know how I feel.

That was the preface to a forwarded email that I received earlier this week. Nice, no? Got me off to a great start...

The email, itself, referenced a (supposed) poll conducted by a U.S. t.v. network that reported 86% of responders said that the words "In God We Trust" and "God" should be kept in the Pledge of Allegiance, and 14% "against". Now this I found interesting, first and foremost because the words "In God We Trust" are not in the Pledge; and also because the phrase "under God" was actually added to the Pledge 60 years after its creation, and it's been around for 115 years or so (i.e. so less than half of its history)...

From this, the email then re-iterated that you should send it on if I agreed, or if I disagreed I should just delete it; and then jumped to the 86% of Americans believing in God. How the "responders" changed to "Americans" and from being ok with those words in the Pledge into believing in God, I don't quite follow. But that's where it went.

The email's discussion concludes with "Why is the world catering to 14%?" (followed by an "Amen").

Now, after expanding from "responders" to "Americans", it's now gone out to the whole world: really interesting--as if the poll percentages would remain the same independent of who actually responded to the survey--never mind questioning the accuracy of the original survey.

Topping it all off, is the repeated comments to delete the email if you disagree, and do nothing else. Don't protest the fact that 14% does matter, or that the US isn't the world, or tolerance/acceptance of others, or even, hey, I think you left a word out here... course that would would take the suppressiveness out of the email (which would be bad).

So, I deleted the email... but not until after I responded to the sender, but it was just before I finished crafting this post.

Hey man, you disrespecting me? (take him out)
You gotta keep 'em separated
Hey man, you talkin' back to me? (take him out)
You gotta keep 'em separated
Hey they don't pay no mind

Si voy a perderte ya...

Saturday night was big on me losing things. I lost the 2 remaining school records that I had at UT (in the 1000 and 1650 frees) in Austin, and in Atlanta I lost my status as "defending National Champion" in the 1650...

Of course I've held the latter since 1990 mostly due to a technicality: this is the first time since 1990 that there has been a yards U.S. Nationals (the applicable spring meet has been meters since then).

And as for the former (the school records), I've figured since last March they would probably be bettered this year. They both almost fell last year, and it was only due to a fluke of an illness that they weren't.

So, all-in-all, not terribly surprising... though still kinda sucky. I guess I'll just have to take solace in the fact that this year's winner at Nationals went around 25 seconds faster than what I went way back when... (if that's comforting?). Oh, and all of this happened between sessions of a leadership seminar for CCCAN ("say-say-can" is the Central American and Caribbean swimming confederation...).

Si voy a perderte ya
Que sea por vez final
Si voy a perderte ya
Es para siempre... ¿Entiendes?