Poor Angie Harmon

Poor Angie Harmon has to "dress for a recession"

Harmon told Tarts at Thursday’s Los Angeles launch of the new eyelash-growing formula, Latisse. "But it has nothing to do with it, I don’t care what color he is. I’m just not crazy about what he's doing and I heard all about this, and he’s gonna do that and change and change, so okay … I'm still dressing for a recession over here buddy and we've got unemployment at an all-time high and that was his number one thing and that's the thing I really don't appreciate

The horror...the horror.

credit where credit isn't due

With astonishment I read this quote last week...

“We continue to invest a significant amount of resources into the support and development of both emerging and elite athletes,” said USA Cycling interim director of athletics Jim Miller. “Looking at Taylor’s recent accomplishments, as well as the many successes of American athletes on the track throughout the last several years, it’s obvious our efforts are yielding results.”

You see young Taylor Phinney won the gold medal in the individual pursuit at the World Championships, then followed that up with a silver in the Kilo time trial. What's even more amazing is that in doing so beat a long standing record that was set with an erstwhile illegal position and during the height of the EPO craze. Oh yeah, btw, he's just turned 18 years old.

Now Taylors success is not of a total surprise to those of us who have been following the sport since B.L. ( before Lance). Taylor's father Davis Phinney was the most successful American racer in terms of total wins, he medaled in the Olympics and he's won stages of the Tour De France include a stage into Bordeaux. And he's the second best of of Taylors two parents. His mother is Connie Carpenter who, in addition to winning the Tour De France Femine and Gold medal in the Olympic RR, participated in the Winter Olympics as a speed skater and upon retirement became an NCAA champion rower.

Despite the bru-haha and expressions to the contrary, what made people most upset about Jimmy the Greeks drunken banter is that its got some truth to it. If you want to be a professional athlete, pick your parents carefully. Back the 80's when Taylor's parents tied the knot we were all marking our calendar for 2012 not knowing what the Phinney kids would be doing in the Olympic games, but whatever it was they were likely to be doing it much better than everyone else.

That brings us to the quote from USA Cycling's Jim Miller about the successes of USA Cycling's developmental program. My main point is this, Taylor was never part of USA Cycling's developmental program. And every time that this country gets an athelte that's any good, this is exactly what USA Cycling does...they hand a kid a jersey, issue a press release, and glom on accepting all the credit.

Taylor was supported by his parents, developed my Jonathan Vaughters team, and then eventually poached by Lance Armstrong. USA Cycling's role has been asking, " What size do you wear Taylor" and maybe booking Davis and Connie the same hotel 20 years ago.

In fact, maybe USA Cycling and learn from their "successes" and limit their development program to open bar mixers and handing out extasy at NRC race hotels.

I've been through beauty pagent runner up Lisa Voight and her lap dog Evan Call running the organization into the ground. I've been through the the USCF/USA coup. I've listened to the staff at USA Cycling openly mock clean racers like the Carney brothers while giving Jim Ocavitz all the resources facilitate the development of Tyler and Floyd. I watched while they ignored the people on the ground calling for the support of collegate racing and cyclo-cross. I haven't forgotten that it was USA Cycling coaches that had to settle lawsuits for shoving needles into the arm of junior riders.

So USA Cycling, if you want to be an abusive or absentee father, fine. But when you get a kid who make it into the big game, don't show up in the stands yelling, "THAT'S MY BOY !"

Wed Worlds Report

Well it went better than last week. Then again if it went worse I'd probably be writing this in braille. Anyway we rode around as a group. I attacked 3 times between the third and fourth laps to no avail and then we sprinted at the end.

I have a loose cleat, no brake pads, and a chain and sprocket that skips because it has about 4500 miles on it. So when I said we sprinted at the end, I should really say everyone else sprinted. I pretended I was Capt. Kirk with Scotty yelling in my ear that I was going to blow the ship up.

Damn, that was a pretty nerdy reference.

OK I have that whole post-ride-after-four-days-of being-sick thing going on, so its probably best if I don't write anything else until I get my wits back.

i told you this smelled funny

If you haven't read the AIG resignation letter you should.

click HERE to link to the full text.

My guess is that in October, when you learned of these retention contracts, you realized that the employees of the financial products unit needed some incentive to stay and that the contracts, being both ethical and useful, should be left to stand. That’s probably why A.I.G. management assured us on three occasions during that month that the company would “live up to its commitment” to honor the contract guarantees.

and


As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to surrender our earnings. We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised. None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house.

I'm so glad I'm not a single woman

I poached the following from this fantastic website

Psychotic Letters From Men

Please check it out as well as her sister site

Why Women Hate Men


This guy is a riot



This guy is scary



Demitri has a peppered past of losing his doctors license for inappropriate activity during house calls. He's also been spending some time in...whats the technical name being used these days ?...oh right, the loony bin.

I am so glad that I'm not a single woman.

If you'd like to read more about the wonderful Dimitri, you can find an article about him here on Gawker site Jezebel, and an article about him here from Eye Weekly.

lets talk baseball

First off, I'm sick. I haven't been able to train since Thursday so I've already convinced myself that 4 days off has completely ruined my season and that I've lost all my fitness. I think I'd have made a good crackhead.

I'm generally a part time baseball fan. I go to a few games a year, I follow the playoffs from a distance, and I'll catch a Yankees/RedSox game on a sleepy Sunday afternoon. But I've been glued to the set for this World Baseball Classic thing !

This tournament has been incredible. The games have been exciting and the players ( well the non-American players anyway) have been intense and passionate. This isn't just playoff baseball, this is single elimination playoff baseball. Last night's championship game saw the game tied in the bottom of the ninth and then won in extra innings. Amazing stuff.

I really can't understand how this thing hasn't been better covered or better promoted. I have a feeling that, like Olympic basketball, the WBC is going to continue to grow in worldwide significance and coincide with the decline in US dominance. It look like baseball will yet again be the great American metaphor.

In a related note, Curt Shilling announced his retirement yesterday. The news since has been a debate as to whether or not he should be in the hall of fame. Now I don't like Shilling. He's left a sour taste in my mouth ever since the nonsense he pulled with Mitch Williams back in '92. But despite my tendency to hold a 17 year old grudge, I think the conversation I've heard so far has been unfair.

What "they're" saying is that Shilling might not get in because a number of the baseball writers don't like him. Apparently, he's too outspoken and he challenged too many of the writers. And if there's one thing that baseball writers don't like, its anyone challenging their autho-i-tay.

Mind you, these are the same baseball writers who spend 30 years watching baseball players eat up amphetamines and steroids and didn't say anything, but now act SHOCKED that the game's integrity is being threatened. These are the same people who vilified Bonds because he wouldn't talk to them ( do their job for them), but now they're going to roast Shilling for giving them more column inches than Brittney Spears on a bender. Shilling might be brash, but he was news, and I can't believe the writers, even baseball writers would see past the obvious.

Somehow I think this has a much to do with his blogging being a threat to their profession as much as anything else. Adapt or die baseball writers, you aren't covering Connie Mack anymore.

MSR

If you have your speakers up, it sounds like the announcer climaxes at 2:15

I was a good finish, but it wasn't THAT good a finish.

Rip Van Winkle

Fridy night I ate a huge dinner and went to bed at 11pm. I woke at 11 am, ate 6 eggs, then fell back asleep till 2. I went to the pool with the kids and splashed around, then ate a steak, 2 beers, and a giant bowl of ice cream, then went back to bed and woke up now at 8 am sunday morning.

Thats like 22 hours of sleep and 10,000 calories in 48 hours and I still feel bad.

I either overcooked my chicken and/or I'm fighting off a cold.

3 hours till race time.

good beat, bad beat

Yesterday's game was pitching. After 15 pitches the boy and I were tied at 10 a piece, we went into overtime and I beat him 3-2. 25 cents in the kitty !

I then went and played poker for 5 hours and lets just say that I'm going to need to win a lot more quarters in the cookie jar. And I might need to add a few more sons. After five hours I had played 6 total hands to showdown. Two I won on bluffs, two I tied, and two I got my head kicked in. 6 hands in five hours and going bust is not normally a good time. The only bright spot was the company was enjoyable enough that I can write the whole thing off as admission to an entertaining floor show.

Today, hurting. Two races on Sunday, running intervals and swimming on Tuesday, race on Wednesday, swimming intervals yesterday, and then up all night playing cards. I think that I've success proven to myself that I'm not 24 anymore. If somehow I don't end up with a cold, I'll be spending the weekend resting and recovering.

Unless the boy wants to have a sitting still contest, I think I might have to conceed tonights game.

1 and 1

I've started a daily competition with the boy.

25 cents a day goes into a jar, he comes up with the game, the winner holds the jar. Whoever is holding the jar on his birthday gets the contents.

Day 1 was hitting golfballs. I had to hit the ball from across the yard between a street sign and a telephone pole ( about 4 feet across), he had to hit from the same distance and land it anywhere it the driveway. I can accept the fact that the weasel made the game inherantly unfair, I mean he IS 8. But I thought it was a littl much that he declared, after I pegged the pole from 40 yards, " sorry Dad, HITTING the telephone pole is not going BETWEEN the telephone pole". Stupid "no child left behind" legislation.

Day 2 I got my revenge. Two-bounce. The equlizer was that he shot foul shots from the scratch in the driveway, while I had to shoot from behind the first part or the sidewalk ( or as we've declared them, international rules). The boy underestimated the handicap and I easily schooled him 16 - 5...." quarter in the tip jar sucker !"

There intense level of competition is only exceeded by the quality of the smack talk.

I don't know what we have on tap tonight, but when I left this morning he was asking what time I'll be home so he's cooking up something.

race report

Race report from Wed worlds...

I sucked, i sucked, i got dropped, then I sucked for a little while in the second group, then I yelled at a guy, then I rode home.

I'm considering doping. Not for the performance benefit as much as the two year ban.

Do you think it makes him nuts...

....that after being the only one predicting all this was going to happen, that still nobody takes him seriously ?

If only he was a foot taller and a little more handsome I suppose.

Kimmage, Eustice, et al

Ever since his head to head with Armstrong Kimmage has gotten a lot of attention. He's used the opportunity to be his usual outspoken self about cycling, and not just about Lance.

Quite a bit of his ire is directed at the UCI and other major players within the cycling hierarchy. To me is seems apparent that he's right, but at the same time I've been trying to better understand the other side. I mean we're dealing with rational, successful people...people like Pat McQuaid or Steve Montgomery or even Jim Ochavitz....and I'm try to get a sense of their perspective on things.

I've had the most success in trying to garner that understanding by evaluating someone a little closer to home, John Eustice. Despite whatever I think about John as a TV announcer, I would be the first to heap praise in the work that he's done on behalf of the sport. His hard work, vision, and commitment to cycling has had played a significant positive impact on the sport in many direct and indirect ways.

To name just a few things, John put together composite teams and brought over foreign teams when Philly Week was just getting started that helped riders and helped the race. His efforts with Univest are obvious, but less obvious is the impact it had in raising the level of expectation and the quality of racing in the region as seen in Mt. Holly, Blue Bell, Turkey Hill, etc etc. John has worked behind the scenes promoting the sport and encouraging others to promote the sports and folks who have worked with him and for him have gone on to be accomplished promoters, team directors, and cycling journalists.

Conversely, John's efforts and passion for the sport have also, in my opinion, represented so much of what is wrong with cycling. In addition to the riders that he's given opportunity to, he was also instrumental in promoting the career of one of the main sources of drugs in US cycling in 80's and early 90's. For every Gannet ( winner of the race in 98) that won the race, there have been less than reputable riders that John has celebrated in victory despite him having to have had a suspicion that things were a little too good to be true. ((I should add the disclaimer that I acknowledge some bitterness that he accused me of undermining the sport's integrity when I brought a legal, publicly-traded gambling sponsor to the sport...while he was putting obvious dopers on his promotional material for upcoming races.)) More recently, Eustice has made a very public spectacle of supporting Floyd Landis when, as someone so close to the sport, he knows the prevalence of doping in the peleton.

For every two steps forward that John exhaustingly pushes the sport, he seems to so easily and inexplicably take one step back. Yes, I suppose it keeps things plodding along in the right direction, but I've really a hard time understanding the contradiction of it all.

So I've tried putting myself in his shoes. John puts on Univest which is good for the sport, it provides a showcase for cycling, and it provides opportunities for up and coming cyclists.

Its also and event that's under constant threat.

Houstatonic is gone, Philly week is back down to one day. The economy, and the banking industry that cycling has depended so heavily upon for 20 years is dead.

So here is a guy who has his income ( are at least a portion thereof) hanging in the balance, who has 10 years of hard work hanging in the balance, and who has to justify to existing sponsors and convince new sponsors, that the product that he's selling is the eyeball drawing, beautiful spectacle that he (we) have all fallen in love with.

The last thing that he needs when he's selling Oscar Pierro is Operation Puerto.

Add to the those pressures the moral justification ( highground ?) that the successes of the race benefit more of the clean majority than cheating minority and ends start to look like a heck of a justification for the means.

Sort of like same was that the smile on the face of a dozen cancer kids, or home to a guy just diagnosed with testicular cancer can help foot the bill for questioning the integrity of a journalist, ruining a former champion's career, of forcing a former friend out of the sport he loves.

I'm not sure that does it for me. I mean I'm not sure I see the sport as presented as an either or scenario. I think that Festina presented an opportunity missed. Then later Floyd's case presented another chance passed over. Maybe this most recent return of Armstrong presents one last chance for the sport to begin anew.

I don't know what the future holds, but in trying to better understand the forces and pressures at work, maybe the sport can continue to find better solutions. In the meantime, I'll look to celebrate the successes of the the Garmins of the world. And look at their successes as a reason to continue to hope.

enough toe dipping

I keep answer the question, "Are you going to race this year ?" with the answer, " I haven't looked that far ahead yet".

Well enough dipping my toe in the water. At some point you have to hold your nose and jump.

April
4 Fawn Grove - cat 4
19 Hempfield Triathlon
25/26 - Ephrata Stage Race, Cat 4

May
2 Turkey Hill - 5K run and cat 4 bike
17 Pinchot Triathlon
30 Fulton Road Race - 35+

June
7 Pinchot Triathlon 2
21 Cargas Crit - 35+
28 Millersville RR - 35+

July
25 Granview Crit - 35+

Aug
2 Patriots Triathlon

Sept
13 Diamondman Half Ironman
19 State TT

November
8 Harrisburg Marathon

The trap

I got 3rd in the D race and 7th in the C race today. At the finish of both races I though I could have done better, but the ride home gave me perspective. I pretty much got the exact spot I deserved in both races. Good legs = good luck. If you're strong and you're confident then you don't have to worry about positioning and you're able to overcome obstacles.

Which brings us to the title of this post, "the trap".

For years I played golf as an 18 hcp. About a year and a half ago I made a commitment to try and improve my game and after some hard work I got down to a 12. That satisfaction lasted about two weeks before I started shooting for 10. Every round after that wasn't measured against the 6 strokes a round improvement I had made, It was measure against breaking 80.

If you would have asked me last night what would have been a successful day today, I would have said " placing in the D race, and finishing the C race". But no sooner were those things realized than I was already looking forward to next week. I could have, should have, picked up at least three places in the C race. I shouldn't have even been in the D race, and I left during the B race already looking over the guys I'll be racing next week.

So the trick in all athletics is that fine balancing act between satisfaction and expectations. There's an inherent drive in all athletes thats needed in order to keep progressing...a focus forward. At the same time there needs to be some recognition of the ground covered. Too much satisfaction and the athlete goes static. Too little appreciation and the sport becomes an endless source of disappointment and misery.

Its been 5 years since I've done any real racing, and I have to say that I've been humbled by the friendship and support that I've seen the last month. Cycling has a reputation ( well earned) of being a selfish and adversarial sport, but I've seen none of that. People have been very welcoming, very encouraging, and incredibly supportive. Its been a real treat to see folks that I haven't really seen much of in the last few years. And I have really appreciated the encouragement of the better riders who have taken the time to take note of my return. All of that has been helpful in trying to keep everything in perspective.

I'm going to stop now. This is all a little too introspective and rambling for a blog about beer farts.

Equal time

I've been meaning to mention this guy for a while.

Maybe the greatest stage racer you never heard of, Gilles Delion. He had the misfortune of coming into prominence at exactly the same time that EPO hit the peleton.

I love this quote from Verbruggen, who was always SHOCKED !!! that anyone would suggest riders were taking EPO. Anyone claiming that was just sour graped (take note Lemond haters)

In the Team of the 1/17/1997 , Hein Verbruggen, then President of UCI, said in connection with declarations of Gilles Delion implying that many runners are doped with EPO:
" I am not impressed at all by testimonys of runners like Delion or (Graham) Obree which are people in end of a career, who cannot follow the group any more. I find that release, I do not have an other mot."

Other guys who were nutso losers whos careers ended because they were making up stuff about drug use:

Chirstophe Bassons

Jesus Manzono

Filippo Simeoni - His career didn't end, he just went into anonymity until a certain other rider retired and the sport cleaned up a bit. Then he won a National Championship in Italy.

Eddy Planckaert

Eddy Planckaert was one of a family of bicycle racers who, after the death of their father, were racing to put food on the family table.

Since retiring from cycling Eddy Plankaert has lead a tulmuluous existance. He's been broke, homeless, and suicidal. I read an interview where he talked seriously about lashing himself to a pier at low tide then throwing the key into the ocean. The quote was , " After you threw the key away and the tide started coming in...then you'd really know something." For some reason that quote always stuck with me.

In recent years, Plankaert and his family have become "The Obornes" ( remember them) of Belgium. For 4-5 seasons a television crew has followed them as they've lived in a teepee and set out on a variety of adventures. Eddy's son is an aspiring race car driver, his other son is an actor and race three years as a profession cyclist, and his daughter Stephanie is a pop star. Eddy gets himself drunk and causes trouble across Flandia.

The Plankaerts continue to stay involved in the world of cycling. Eddy's brothers were great racers and now Walter won Flanders, Willy won the Tour's green jersey. Their sons have seen some success with the aforementioned Francesco having a brief carreer and Jo Plankaert winning Kerne-Brussle-Kerne and getting second in Paris-Roubix. The newest to try his hand is Baptiste Plankaert who has been realizing some success in the amateur ranks.

I was inspired by the Swashbuckler jersey.

I rode the last two laps off the front last night, part of the way by myself and then with some scragly dude in a 1980s performance jersey he bought from craigslist, who bridged up to me.

The kid was friggin hammering...just killing me. Just before the last corner, with the group breathing down our necks, I told him that to settle down and that if we got to the line, that he could have the win. Instead of calming him down it got him all excited and the kid just busted a move after I took a pull.

We went through the final corner with him 50 yards ahead of me and turned right into a block headwind. I sat up and waited for the group. Three guys caught me and I latched onto the back. First guy pulled and died, second guy pulled and died, Third guy sprinted and caught the kid 50 yards from the finish line. They were both pretty much standing still when I started to sprint.

I felt bad for the kid, he was pretty bummed out, but effem...all bets were off when he dropped me.

Anyway I know its a B race, but I'm pretty happy. Its one thing to ride around and then out snooker those guys. But being able to ride off tells me that I'm finally starting to get a little bit of fitness.

weird

Last year the World Series of Poker made an annoucement that they were going to double the number of chips that you got to start any of their tournaments.So if you paid $3000 to enter, you were going to get $6000 in starting chips.

This was supposed to provide a bigger incentive to get people to attend.

The thing is, they also doubled the blinds. To the uninitiated what that means is that they doubled the ammt you needed in order to play each hand. This is like telling someone that you're going to charge them half price for a 4 slice pizza. BFD.

Beyond the transparent stupidity of it all, I didn't understand it from a marketing perspective. There are two types of poker players...math nuts and degenerate gamblers. Creating a illogical system like this was only going to annoy the math guys. And the degen guys don't care how many chips they get to start, they're shoving them in the middle anyway. I just didn't get it and in the end it didn't have an effect on how many people participated.

Yesterday the WSOP announced that they're doing it again. The announcement read that they're TRIPPLING! what you get for your buy-in this year. So a $1000 buy-in gets $3000 in chips. BUT...

From Cardplayer.com:

With 150,000 in starting chips in 2009, the blinds will start at 400-800, as opposed to 300-600 from last year.

The other obvious effect of all of this are all the zeros. 400-800 with 150,000 ??!?! Why not 40-80 with 15,000 ? I mean the way they have it, at the end of the tourney guys are saying, " I raise you eleventy-billion.....re-raise".

Its absurd. But somewhere I hear someone saying, " These go to eleven "

awareness test

The big trip

Saturday night I was schedule to go to my niece's birthday party in Philly. The family was excited and wanted to stay overnight. I agreed under the condition that everyone needed to get up in the morning as I had a bike race on Sunday.

Saturday night everyone is up and having a good time, including yours truly, who at some point in the last few weeks fell off the wagon, and was taking advantage of my sisters tequila mixing skills. At around 11:30 I decided to hit the hay as I knew that 6:00 am, and the ensuing 2 hour drive home was going to come fast. Then I was reminded about daylight saving time and realized it was going to come faster.

My alarm went off and I was groggily awake, " time to get up".

Mrs. Flick went right on the offensive, " are you SUUUURE you want to race ?"

"yes we have to get up."

" Can't we just lay here a minute...just a minute...here hold me.", and she grabbed my arm and pulled me close.

I snuggled in next to her and started to drift off asleep again when I sudden thought bolted me awake... " HOLD ME ?!" We've been married almost 14 years and have 3 kids. The last time I got solicited into bed without protest or an exchange of funds was when the twin towers were standing.

" HEY ! YOU'RE TRICKING ME !", I jumped out of bed.

"Come back to bed", she purred.

Knowing what a weak man I am I grabbed my pants and ran out of the room. Literally, I bottomed out the van jumping the curb and sped out of town as fast as I could, leaving my family there.

I was a little hung over and facing a long drive so I stopped at Starbucks and grabbed a breakfast sandwich as a big black coffee. With about 10 miles to go in the trip I started peculating. 3 miles to go I was sweating and driving with cheeks clenched. 1 mile to go I was considering where I could best throw away my pants to save myself the embarrassment if I couldn't hold it anymore. Finally I pulled into my driveway and started running for the door with me key out. The Sunday paper was no the stoop. " How fortuitous !", I thought...impressing myself with my big word. I was just about home free when I bent over to scoop up the paper.

Note to self: When you are in defcon dump mode level 5, do not bed down for anything...esp note a 4 lb newspaper.

For the record, I made it to the can....but it was not, shall we say, without incident.

So then I cleaned up. Got my stuff on and rode over to the bike race.

The temptation of course is to give you a race report outlining all of the wickedly exciting things that happened from my perspective...but that's about as fun as a bad beat poker story...only interesting to the teller, never interesting to the listener/reader. The long and short is we rode around in circles. I took me about 3 laps to remember everything about bike racing, and about 4 laps to realize that I'm not fit enough yet to be able to compete. So I did what I could, got some good training in, did two races, and tried to have as much fun as possible. I rode home and got a good 65 mile day in.

Oh, yeah..then I had to drive back to Philly and pick up my family. Total count...4 hours on the bike, 4 hours in the car, 3 fast food meals. A good day all around.

( I almost made it through the weekend having lost another pound or two...but 4 tequilas, cheese puffs, an ice cream cone, and a few beers later, I think I killed those chances...damn nothing good ever happens past 10 pm)

forget all the heavy stuff

starting tomorrow I should have some good poop stories as well as the results of my riding around in a circle comeback.

Ah, seems like old times.

overly simple

I literally had to draw a diagram on a piece of paper but I think i'm starting to get it.

So

Person A has 10,000 in cash..they go to a bank and hand it over into their checking acct.

Builder B builds a house

Person C want to buy the house.

Based on the 10,000 in despoits the bank lends Person C 100,000

Person C give the money to Builder B

The Builder B puts "the money" in the bank.

So the Bank now has $110,000 in desposits....BUT really has $10,000 in actual money

So there's a real house, and there's a real $10,000 in cash.

But the other $100,000 doesn't really exist...its a promise from Person C for future labor.

The loan is actually between the BuilderB and PersonC, with the bank acting as the enforcing or insurance agency at a ridiculous ( IMO) fee of like a 200% mark-up.

So if circumstances lead us to the point where person C can't pay the debt. Then the bank has a house and $10,000, but owes out $110,000. So if the reaction is well fuck the bank that its problem for writing a stupid loan....then what happens to the BuilderB and PersonA both of whom are owed a total of $110,000 ?

The first thing that comes to mind is "WTF doesn't the builder just sell ( or rent) the house directly to the person and forget the bank ?"

And I can see how in this model, something needs to be done to prevent total catastrophy...but what is going to be done to prevent this from happening again ? Shouldn't we be looking at what's wrong with this model and take the steps necessary to make sure it doesn't happen again ?

And finally, the role of the bank really seems to be to help people get shit they want RIGHT NOW in exchange for paying for it later. But they're doing that with no more security ( actually you could contend less security) than the person promising to pay them ! If the bank has actual money to loan out, that sounds reasonable, but it doesn't appear that's the case. Its a promise on a promise....and sadly backed up by a promise from the government. Thats bullshit obviously.

What should happen is that we should take our lumps, get through this, and learn as a country to only buy those things that we can afford and to only lend out resources that only exist in the here and now. That will be a difficult transitition until people are able to accumulate that wealth. But such a system should also force a decrease in prices or at least an increase in purchasing power as the banks cut of the action decreases. I suspect all of that will mean a static economy, but really, don't recent events this prove there no sustainable alternative ?

Fathers and Sons

I took the boy out fishing last night and when we got home my wife asked how it went.

It went like everything else we do.

Golf - We walk around with me yelling at him to stop walking across the sandtraps or stop dragging his bag across the green.

Baseball - We have batting practice until I start yelling at him for letting go of the bat.

Video games - We play until I start yelling at him for having his fingers up his nose and then sticking them into the bag of chips.

and now fishing - which constitutes me yelling at him to stop throwing his bait into the only tree within three miles of where we're fishing.

I'd characterize it as him having his head up his ass, but I suspect that he doesn't have enough of an attention span to get any further than bending over before he either got distracted by something else or tripped over his own gigantic feet.

I love the boy to death, but he's doing a hell of a job at making me understand what my father was pissed off about all the time when I was a kid.

Watts Up ?

Intervals at the gym last night. I could sustain 265 watts at threshold for 5, five minute intervals. Given the fact that I'm 200 lbs...and given the fact that anyone who publishes on their blog that they sustained 265 probably really only sustained 250 watts but is too embarassed to say it....puts me sqaurely in the middle of the range of people who actively play Wii FIT at their local nursin home.

To put it in perspective, Lance needs both Olsen twins in bed with him at the same time to even think needing to put out 265 watts and at that point only Mary Kate and Ashley are the ones breathing hard.

OMG I think I'm channeling Andrew Dice Clay. Is he even dead or was that just his career ? Booya !

Training week

For the first time in 4-5 years I've started a regular regimen of training. Training for "what" hasn't really been determined, but I've been consistently riding 3x, running 2x, and swimming 2x, for a total of about 8 hours a week since October. I've lost some weight, I've seen some improvement in all areas, and I'm generally encouraged.

What I had somehow forgotten over those 4+ years was the other parts of the training week that goes along with figuring out time to ride or run...the obsessive compulsive part, the pain part, and the " this isn't any fun" part, among others. Now that I've into a regular routine, I thought I'd share with your the other routine.

Monday - I was up feeling pretty decent. Usually I've done two long hard days over the weekend and I wake up Monday feeling fresher than I expect. Go down stairs, make coffee and start trying to talk myself into not getting on the scale,

" Do NOT get on the scale....you're going to be swollen from the weekend and the number is gong to be high. Do NOT get on the scale"

Then I have a cup of coffee. Watch a little bit of Mike and Mike on ESPN2, then I go upstairs and get on the scale.

The rest of the day is being depressed about how much I weigh.

Tuesday - Wake up a little melancholy because I made it 14 hours yesterday on nothing but coffee and one slice of toast, but woke up in the middle of the night starving and ate half a tub ( the other half left over from the previous Monday) of Turkey Hill ice cream.

By 2 pm, I'm totally sore and exhausted, the weekend is finally starting to catch up to me. I respond to this by doing 1.5 hours of really hard intervals, eating 6 ibuprofen, and staring at the ceiling all night.

Wednesday - The urinating starts. A weekends worth of swelling and an absurd ammt of coffee come together in what I like to refer to as Whizzin Wednesday. I pee every 20 mins all day long and try to convince my co-workers that I'm really not a coke fiend.

Thursday - Wake up and put hand cream on the hands which are now chapped from washing them every 20 minutes the day before. Get on scale and see that I've lost 3.5 lbs in 4 days. Elated, I celebrate my good dieting that evening by eating 8 extra slices of pizza then consider the the merits and social stigma of bulimics.

Friday - Friday is mostly spent telling myself that I'm so exhausted that I really do deserve a day off and that I shouldn't feel guilty about it. In the end I compromise by doing a light workout, then feeling half guilty about it.

Saturday and Sunday - Coffeekidstuffworkouteatvegrinserepeat.

Fundamental breakdown

This past weekend marked another disappointing experience in the world of retail.

I make a conscious effort, where practical to support those businesses that make an effort to do a good job and provide a good service. I'll do so even where that service or product costs more than the alternative.

Sadly, I'm finding that regardless of cost, my options are increasingly limited.

Rather than continue to focus in the negative ( which seems all too easy these days in a world of supposed economic turmoil) , I've decided to use this post as an opportunity to talk about my positive experiences in retail.

< cue the crickets >

The last time I can remember....actually the last two times I can remember being stopped in my tracks by high quality customer service with a smile happened about an hour apart. Once getting one and then getting off the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Yeah I know...right ?! But its true, of all the places, but I've noticed that for the most part the Turnpike Toll Takers ( or whatever their official title is...maybe Revenue Accepting Associate) ..anyway...whatever they're called, they always are pleasant, friendly, and knowledgeable.

So here's a tip of the coffee mug to toll takers...the last bastion of civility in the modern world.


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