Temporarily out of service

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My cable modem at home has been down the past couple of days, and getting the cable company to fix the service is no easier than getting them to fix cable TV service. So I haven't been touching my website for a few days. Never have time to blog from work, and I'm too impatient to log in with my work laptop from home. I've gotten used to having my home PC always on, and with a cable modem you're always connected to the net at high speeds. Logging in with a modem off a laptop is so 1999.
I would complain, but then you read a story about All Pro offensive lineman Korey Stringer dying from complications from heat stroke during training camp and you count yourself lucky to be alive and kicking. Go hug someone today.
I'll be back up with blogging and the website in a few days, hopefully, if the cable company gets their act together.

Super D

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D (Derek) is in town for a visit today and tomorrow. We tried to get tickets to the Mariners game tonight but it was sold out, and we couldn't find a single scalper with a pair of tix. The Mariners truly are a hot ticket this year. Unbelievable. Makes me think that it's going to be a madhouse this Saturday on Ichiro Bobblehead day. Sang and I may have to sleep out, which would not be pleasant.
We ended up grabbing dinner at Harvest Vine and just hanging out. It's too bad he can't stay longer. That summer he stayed with me in Seattle, I explored more of the Northwest than I have in the few years since. He's a catalyst.
Lance Armstrong generates enough power riding in the Tour de France for three weeks to power his entire hometown of Austin for two hours and eighteen minutes. The entire town.
Joannie, you'd better be studying hard for the bar!
Tomorrow I head off to Rainier in the evening to sleep out near the start line for RAMROD. And then, Thursday, I ride. I'm not as confident as I was last year going into STP. In part because I had more time to ride last year, perhaps because I don't have a large team surrounding me this year. But the challenge is exciting.

Epic racing, and Nate (i.e. Why I blog)

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If you've never watched cycling on TV before but were curious about whether or not it could be interesting, watch Stage 13 of this year's Tour. That's the most exciting stage of cycling I've ever seen. A little of everything. Frenchman Laurent Jalabert attempting a solo breakaway. Francois Simon trying desperately to keep the maillot jaune (yellow jersey). All the crazy race fans along the sides of the climbs. Ullrich's team isolating Armstrong and trying to put him in trouble. Kevin Livingston, once Lance's mountain lieutenant, now riding for his main rival Ullrich. Armstrong's teammates Heras and Rubiera somehow coming up with the effort to reach him at the bottom of the last climb to help launch him on his final attack. Ullrich falling off the side of a mountain on a descent. All the race leaders in a pack at the front. And of course, Armstrong's final attack to capture the stage, and his salute to the sky in memory of his fallen teammate Fabio Casartelli. Awesome stuff.
The highlight of my weekend was getting a totally unexpected guestbook signature and e-mail from Nate, my old high school buddy, debate partner, fellow New Order fan, minivan transporter, sometime tennis doubles partner, and the glue that brought some strange folks (including myself) together in high school back in Naperville. He found my website in Google, and that makes all this weblogging and website work worthwhile. I've had so many people just stumble across my website recently. It's very odd, very 21st century. But I now have many more e-mail penpals, and I'm glad to be suddenly plugged back in to all these people's lives, like Nate, Shanon, Cindy...
He filled me in on the high school reunion I missed. I guess they sent the invite home, but no one's there now to receive it. That's too bad. I was looking forward to attending my 10 year HS reunion and seeing what everyone was up to now. Fortunately, Nate's a journalist and thus a good storyteller and managed to fill me in on some folks I knew back then. A very long e-mail, I might add, which I enjoy receiving. Every since e-mail replaced paper, I've stopped receiving nice long letters. The long personal correspondence is a dying art form. They contain a personal touch that is missing in the 3-line e-mails or the one-line e-mail jokes and retorts that seem to indicate that the sender is too busy to bother with composing full sentences or punctuating or sharing anything else of substance.
Anyway, Nate, welcome back.

Bonk

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Tough day in the saddle, and out, today. Got up to meet Jesse and Tim, got in my bike gear, packed up all my stuff, got a few feet out of the driveway and my back tire was flat. The Lieberman curse had bitten me from long distance! I always get flats when I ride with Tim. So I had to drop everything and throw a new tire on. I quickly called Jesse on his cell phone and left a few messages...
"Jesse, I've got a flat!"
"Jesse, I'm fixing my flat, don't leave!"
"Jesse, I just finished fixing the flat, I'm on my way."
"Jesse, I'm on the bridge, I think you guys left."
Damn, I missed them. Like being isolated on a mountain stage in the Tour. I've had more flats this year already than I had all of last year. I'm not sure what the deal is. It's getting in my head, though. I keep looking down when I ride whenever I feel the slightest vibration through the frame.
It was a grey day out, so I took my rain jacket. Decided to do the Lake Washington Loop (I really need to learn some new rides). Started off great. Around to the top of the lake and then up the big hill, I was feeling strong. I went up the hill spinning at about 75 rpm, a lot faster than I've taken it before. A good sign. Ran into Sam Wheeler driving his kid around in Kirkland. Then, just into the South Lake Washington Loop, I flatted again. It broke my rhythm completely and just pissed me off. Had to change the tire again. What's worse, I was stuck by some swarm of mosquitoes, and they ate me alive. They were swarming me like gnats. I had to put on my rain cape just to prevent from losing too much blood.
I started up again, but I was still upset and couldn't find any rhythm on the bike. My heart rate was up, and I was paranoid about the rear tire. It took me until the other side of the lake to get into a rhythm again.
I wore the yellow jersey out today and everyone I passed would shout "Go Lance!" I don't think I'll wear it again. I'm not worthy. I can't decide if it's a tribute to him or just pompous, but I'm leaning towards leaving it in the closet.
Then onto Mercer Island, and on my way back around, my front tire flatted. @#*&$%!!
Then, about 10 miles or so from home, another big problem. Out of water, out of food, and I knew I was in trouble. Blood sugar was dropping. Maybe, just maybe, I could hold on until home.
I bonked.
For those who don't know what bonking is but have heard the term in Powerbar commercials, bonking is what happens, primarily to endurance athletes, when they burn through all the glycogen in their muscles, or something like that. Basically, you use up all your muscles energy stores because you haven't eaten enough. I had eaten three Clif bars, 3 Clif shots, and a few sports drinks and that was it.
Bonking is a horrible feeling. It's not a sharp pain. You just feel like you have no strength, and you start becoming light-headed. At first your stomach feels empty, and then it just falls asleep, like the rest of your body. Across I-90 I felt my left leg cramping up. I crawled up the last hill to my house in the penultimate gear (I always save the granny gear these days--one must maintain some source of pride).
Then I ate like a horse and lay on my sofa like a corpse for a few hours.
At night, I rallied for Lynn's birthday party out in Belltown, but devoid of food, a few large margarita's left me reeling and the oppressive heat in some dance club (Down Under?) drained me of my energy. It had been a while, but the night did conclude with a foggy cab ride home.

Hot stuff

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Traffic to my site ticked up in a big way last week. I'm not sure why. It got me to thinking. Most people probably hear more about me via the weblog than over the phone or in person. Not surprising, considering how many of them live far away or how little time I've been spending with folks here in Seattle. Very odd, this weblog thing. You can't really be totally honest--don't know who's reading, and I'm not really an exhibitionist like Madonna. It's like the neighborhood newsletter. Try and be positive, but if you're going to rant, beat up on no one you know.
You voyeurs!
It's okay, keep reading. Half the time I write in it because it's faster and easier than jotting down notes to myself on paper.
One of the most user-unfriendly reports of all time is the credit card bill. I got mine and noticed some random $4 to $8 charges from random places like "Brouhaha Venice Beach CA." What the heck is that? A restaurant? A newspaper stand in an airport? Some random porno site I stumbled across by mistake ("I swear, I though www.hotstuff.com was an online chili sauce e-tailer!")? In English please! Something like Brouhaha--Italian restaurant on Venice Beach? And then you call the credit card company and they put the burden of proof on you to challenge the charge or they stick it back on your card.

T-minus 6

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I saw this story in the AP newswire and couldn't help thinking that there's some wonderful story behind this, and we may never hear it. Who knows, it could be something like The Score.
"Warhol's portrait of Lenin stolen
BERLIN (AP) - A portrait by Andy Warhol of Vladimir Lenin has been stolen from a warehouse in the German city of Cologne. The blue portrait - one of series of Lenin portraits by the Pop Art pioneer dating from 1987 - was packed and ready for shipment at the warehouse, owned by an art transportation firm. Employees noticed last Friday that it was missing, police said Tuesday. It was unclear how the theft occurred. The work was valued at $652,000. It had been sold to a private collector by a gallery owner in Munich, Germany."
Such a small world. Phil, my old consulting bud, is now back in consulting in Chicago and happens to be in the same office as stepbrother James.
The Sopranos will now have a fifth season, as HBO showed David Chase the big bucks. Unfortunately, season four won't be here until June or possibly September of 2002. Sigh. It will be a long winter.
After the Indian Hills Cinerama theater in Omaha Nebraska is demolished, The Cinerama here in Seattle will be one of two remaining theaters in the U.S. capable of showing Cinerama format films. Too bad there aren't too many of those floating around anymore. I count myself lucky to have seen Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm there, but recently I've run into several audio problems there. Very surprising.
Last night we took Bill out for his birthday. Gathered a crew at Baccano's for a dinner. I didn't coordinate the surprise too well, as Bill showed up first and caught a bunch of folks trickling in. A good time was had by all, though the service was ridiculously slow. A true European dining experience.
Found out Jason's wife Jamie quite Drugstore and is hanging out now, taking tennis lessons, watching Oprah... I've gotta admit, it sounds pretty nice.
I'm getting a haircut today, flipping through Vanity Fair, and I read in an article about Marky Mark that he has a third nipple. I can't help wondering, I wonder where the hell it is. Do they put makeup on it if he has to take his shirt off for a scene? They're remaking Charade (the Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn flick) with Marky Mark and Thandie Newton in the lead roles. I'm not sure how I feel about that. No, I am. Mark is entertaining, but Cary Grant? I don't think so.
6 days until RAMROD. Alright, I tried avoiding the subject, but when Mount Rainier stands in the road before you, how do you ignore it? Gotta put in my 100 miles tomorrow. Almost as unpleasant as that is the thought of getting up at 6 in the morning on a Saturday. Gotta just hang on for one more week, and then reclaim my social life.

Lance wins at Alp D'Huez!

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All day he stayed at the back, looking almost like he was in trouble. And then, at the base of the Alp, he gave Ullrich a look back, turned it on, and just separated from everyone else. Unbelievable stuff. At the finish, he punched the air with his right fist with a defiant expression.
The premier endurance athlete in the world does it again, putting 2 minutes on Ullrich. Still not in yellow yet, but it's only a matter of time if he maintains this kind of form.

Genes

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The theme of the day is genes.
I read an excerpt from Richard Dawkin's The Selfish Gene and found the whole premise of the book fascinating. Organisms don't use genes to reproduce. Instead, genes use organisms to propagate themselves. I am being used by my genes for their dirty mission of propagation. I am a mere puppet of pollination.
Well, all I have to say is, my genes are doing a lousy job.
I think the uber tennis genes conspired to get Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi together. Now they're close to success--Graf is pregnant with Andre's baby. Whoa, now if there was ever a kid who was in risk of having oppressive tennis parents. Of course, with Andre's hand-eye coordination and Steffi's athleticism, the kid will be jump roping with the umbilical cord as soon he or she is out of the womb.
The amazing genetics in Lance Armstrong were lucky when, with the aid of some serious chemotherapy, he survived a bout with testicular cancer. And managed, with the help of modern medicine, to preserve some of his sperm before the intense treatment so that he could have a baby with his wife Kristin after he recovered. Well, tomorrow is the first mountain stage of the Tour, and it's time for Lance to go to work. Heras and the other boys of USPS have to launch him off the front, and the stage ends with the incomparable L'Alpe D'Huez. I'll be glued to my set. It's moving day. It's going to be fascinating to see if Lance can put everyone away like he's done in the past. He looks strong. We'll see.
If Napster had genes, they would be upset. The government has managed to take it down, amazingly. I now realize that any sites that want to replicate Napster's business model legally will have serious issues because the courts and the music labels will come down on them with tremendous resources. The only way Napster can be replaced is with something distributed across the citizens of the Net. The music is still out there in the form of CDs, and the software to turn music into MP3s is still available. All that's needed is the software to link people up, to present a front-end interface that allows for easy search and retrieval. Unfortunately, it will take a Robin Hood to create it, because there isn't much money in that direction now, what with the courts breathing down Napster's necks, and the music labels hogging all their music for themselves. The digital music efforts by the music labels right now are pathetic and will take years to perfect. Micropayments will help, but until then, I mourn the extinction of Napster. It's actually reduced my music purchases, though the labels would never believe me.
The genes for movies of the Final Fantasy genre are not in good shape. The film, which took $113 million to make, only pulled in $11.4 million this weekend, despite opening with $5 million on a Wednesday! Ouch. It finished in fourth place behind Legally Blonde, The Score, and Cats and Dogs. I was surprised Legally Blonde finished first, as I hadn't seen any trailers for it. I was not surprised Final Fantasy had a relatively weak opening:

  • The trailers did not impress me with any recognizable storyline or human characters I should care about. What is the story about, anyway?

  • Most of America was not familiar with the video game. Only gamers, but I think all of them watched it on Wednesday. That left the rest of the world, which mostly could care less about watching some teenage boy cartoon (at least that's what it was perceived to be.

  • The graphics in the trailers on TV looked okay but it's difficult to convey amazing graphics through TV or print

  • Yes, it's impressive that they fully animated a human character, but while that's technically impressive that doesn't really matter to the average moviegoer, who wants to see interesting, realistic characters, and the ones in Final Fantasy still can't compare to live actors

  • American adults are skeptical about the idea of serious animated films. The average American adult thinks of animated films as being for kids, or being comedies with adult sensibilities, like Shrek. I bet Final Fantasy performs much better in Japan, where anime and manga are highly respected as serious storytelling mediums.


Having said that, I will probably go see Final Fantasy because I do think animation can tell serious stories, and I find the technical achievement to be a milestone in film history.

Weekend with sprinkles

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I find it easier to remember than to forget. Is it always so?
Ralph Ellison said that all novels are about minorities. The minority of the individual. I think that's how I feel about my life.
Totally unexpected, a weekend for small reunions. Spent morning/early afternoon with old roommate Scott on Saturday. Had dim sum in the International District and caught a flick. Missed the movie we wanted to see so settled for the next one showing, Kiss of the Dragon, which turned out to be horrible. I'd seen everything else at Pacific Place. Poor Scott. Fortunately, he's a good person to see a bad movie with, as we spent the whole time cracking ourselves up over the painful dialogue and filler scenes.
Then, a surprise visit from Aunt Wan-Li and Uncle Tom and cousin Julius this weekend. So spent some time showing them the city this weekend, though they were very capable tourists, covering a lot of the city with a few tours. They hit probably ever major sight and probably know more about the city than I do. I certainly ate well, probably too well, in their company.
Audrey called and while my relatives were out on the underground tour I jumped out to watch The Score with her. A much better movie than KOTD, though it plays more like acting class than a seamless film. Everything around the three actors, the other supporting cast, the scenery, the storyline, seems to be secondary to watching the three of them act. I would have liked to see Marlon Brando play his character as flamboyantly gay, as he was rumored to want to do. I'm glad the camera stayed above the waist, though, as the other rumors about him....well, we'll just leave those alone. I reviewed both of those films, if you're curious.
The only negative of all these unexpected social calls this weekend was that I didn't get out on my bike except for a few hill repeats Saturday late afternoon. Will have to figure out some way to get out and put in a long ride this week somewhere around the business trip to L.A. Marathon bike riding is not an easy hobby to fit into a regular work week. Thankfully, today was a rainy day. I actually quite enjoy this type of weather--real rain sprinkling down in a steady rhythm. Days like this, I like to curl up on the sofa and read, listen to some music, write.
Airline frequent flier programs are so overrated. I have almost 200K miles on United and I tried in vain to book a flight, any flight, this weekend. Those miles are worthless unless you happen to have some amazingly flexible schedule and can just leave anyday over a huge window of time. The only benefit of mileage programs is that you get to board those metallic sardine cans before everyone else so you can suffer a little longer. I should cancel my darn Mileage Plus credit card, it's worthless.
Suddenly, I can't print in IE. The error message?
An error has occurred in the script on this page.
Line: 539
Char: 2
Error: Invalid argument
Code: 0
Res: res://C:\WINNT\system32\shdoclc.dll/preview.dlg
Gee, thanks a lot. When computer programs screw up like this and serve up such cryptic error messages, usually I just uninstall and reinstall the application.
Lance showed great leadership the other day in the team time trial, choosing to wait for two of his teammates after their fall, and choosing to take nearly 1 km turns at the front of the pace line instead of just rotating through like everyone else. But today's stage has put him 35 minutes back of the leader, though none of the folks in today's massive breakaway is expected to be a GC contender. I think it will take him until Friday or Saturday in the Pyrenees to regain the jersey. He's going to have to work hard this year...it's much more competitive than last year, which is great for cycling.
I hung up my newly cramed Crouching Tiger posters today, and I also hung up the prints I purchased in Spain from the Musee Thyssen Bornemisza. Gives the room a bit of a new feel. I raked my arm across the edge of a frame while working and didn't realize until later I'd opened up a gash on my arm and now I have a streak of blood across my sheets. Damn. On a positive note, I like the way the art looks hanging up on my walls.
I realized today, I'm one of those types of folks who has a definite streak of mainstream taste in him. Most movies put out are junk, but damn it I can't keep myself away from a darkened theater.
Visiting our homepage today, I realized one of the weaknesses of Amazon's recommendations technology. Because I bought a travel guide for my trip to Spain, I've been recommended travel guides to other countries by that same publisher. Of course, it's not likely I'll travel to France and Italy anytime soon. Taking recommendations to the next level will require lots of work. I still never feel like any website out there truly takes into account all my diverse tastes. There are plenty of sites that can take three or four of my purchases and recommend a cluster of related products, but none that will take into account all my tastes.
I guess that's because I'm a minority of one.
[Note: Of course, at Amazon you can refine your recommendations by excluding items from the recommendations technology or changing your ratings, which is a step above most other sites. Those curious to try a site which is trying to take recommendations to the next level can try Media Unbound, which attempts to not pigeonhole you as an R.E.M. lover but to further distinguish among people who like one type of R.E.M. album but not another. Unfortunately, after completing a long but interesting demo, I was recommended a lot of songs off albums I already own. Still, it creates custom playlists which serve as useful radio stations when I'm doing long hours on the computer.]

Ichiro curse

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I am the kryptonite to Ichiro. I went to the Mariners-Giants game today, and once again I saw Ichiro go hitless. I haven't seen him get a hit all year, and that's probably only happened to him a few times. That's the third time I've jinxed him this year. Oh yeah, the Mariners have lost all 3 times I've visited Safeco, and that's pretty odd considering they've only lost 25 times all year.
Bill is unbelievable at that game where they show a picture from some famous player's youth. He always gets it right away. Today it was Jeff Kent and Bill nailed it without a clue.
Beijing won the 2008 summer Olympics today. Istanbul got shafted and came in last with only 9 votes as compared with Beijing's 56. Some folks think the Olympic committee should have denied Beijing again as punishment for their human rights abuses. I'm somewhat on the fence about it, but something tells me sending thousands of hungry reporters to China will force them to clean up their acts. Still, it's eight years away...a lot could happen in that time. Maybe it will be a non issue by then. Plus a boycott is still a possibility.

Finally, victory

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Damn, I just lost another post. I hate when that happens. Blogger needs an autosave function for me.
We finally won our first softball game of the season tonight. We're like 1 and 9 or something like that. We finally had nearly our full team out, and a guy or two here or there made a huge difference in our pitching, defense, offense. We're actually not all that bad. Our best players just haven't showed up all at once this season. I hate losing. We celebrated with beers and burgers at the pub on Mercer and engaged in the type of conversation that only happens in the company of other men. The kind that would get us fired from work in a different setting.
My arms are tiny from all that cycling. The softball bat felt heavy in my hands. I will have to hit the gym after RAMROD is over.
My knee is still a bit sore but I think I'll give it a spin tomorrow. I realized that I haven't been getting enough sleep with all the miles I've been logging. When you ride a lot, you need more sleep, and I've been getting less sleep. I was so exhausted this morning after the trip to L.A. yesterday I was tempted to drink coffee. I'm going to make sure to get my ZZZ's these next two weeks leading up to RAMROD. I can't believe it's just around the corner. I admit, I'm intimidated.
Lance is in decent shape in the Tour, but Ullrich looks very strong this year. Jan probably has more talent than Lance, but Lance has the iron will. Should be a great battle in the mountains. Team time trial tomorrow...if you have OLN, watch it! Beautiful stuff.
Lyle Lovett tomorrow. Think, before Benjamin Bratt (and I believe after Kiefer Sutherland) there was Lyle. Julia, why so fickle?
Our CEO Jeff shared the love with two purchases of sci-fi books by Frederik Pohl the other day. It sent me back to fifth grade(?). I won our class fiction contest and the reward was spending a day with other class winners in the company of Mr. Pohl, a resident of the Chicago suburbs. He read the last paragraph from my story to the group. I remember it was a horror story, about these creatures that escape from a meteorite that crashes in the countryside, eating a few farmers and animals along the way. Why did I write a horror story? I never showed any interest in horror before or after that. Very odd. I must have been disturbed by something. It's buried there in my psyche somewhere. Like my memory of Frederik Pohl. Odd, to have these submerged memories dregged up from the bottom of the lake like that, still blinking. If Jeff hadn't bought those books, would I have ever remembered that incident again?
Summer's in Seattle are always so busy. Barbeque's, concerts on the Pier (three already...I can't keep it up!), basball games, softball, volleyball at Greenlake, cycling, running....and, um, weddings. I have a wedding every weekend in September now. That's nuts! Five weddings to go this year still. Unbelievable. People are getting engaged and then married just a few months later. Polly just sent me the link to their marriage website today.
Bill is going to score us some tix to New Order at the Gorge...yee-ha!
Mark is going to business school next year and is cruising all over Europe right now. I'm jealous that he's going to get a break from the work world, but I don't think I could go to business school. I don't think I could seriously study business at this point in my life.
Read a hundred or so pages of Killing Pablo on the plane yesterday. Pretty quick read, though not as much of a pure page-turner as Black Hawk Down.
Karen's European tour is almost over. I'm really glad she went over there and toured those cities. She's seen more of Europe than I have already.
I look at pictures of kids before the age of like three, and they all look the same to me.
Ken and Derek both might come out and visit in the next month. That would be fun. Haven't had visitors out here in Seattle in a long time.
All sorts of people from my past have just recently dropped me e-mail. It's very odd.
I can't write a full paragraph. My mind can't string coherent sets of thoughts together right now. Stop.

Breakable

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Rode this morning, and my knee acted up big time. Doc says I have some fluid buildup in the knee. It's stiff, sore. Ramrod is going to hurt. Doc things I can make it if I stop pushing big gears up the hills. I didn't tell him I'm already pushing some pretty low gears.
Medication he gave me was powerful. I took some, passed out briefly, and had some crazy visions.
Did a 70 mile ride Saturday with Gilia and her husband Aaron. I've logged over 300 miles since returning from Spain, and it might just be a case of too much, too fast. Still, mortality is humbling.
One oldie that made good: Goran in Wimbledon. Wow. Saw him lose to Andre in the Finals at my uncle's place in Taipei, a long time ago. His win makes me young, in a way.
Off to L.A. tomorrow for a business trip. I hate flying.

Pain and suffering

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Rode 103 miles yesterday with Tim. The horror, the horror! Key mistake? Forgot to put on sunblock before leaving home. Thank god I at least had a long sleeve shirt on under my jersey so my arms, which were already mildy burned from Spain, didn't get any worse. I might be in the hospital today. As it is, I woke up this morning and my legs were bright red and stinging badly. I hate sunburns, not so much because they hurt but more because of the idea of damage from the sun, skin cancer, all that.
My legs hurt inside, too. Hadn't ridden anywhere close to that all season, and I'd ridden 30 pretty hard miles Saturday, so I was in some serious pain yesterday. In fact, with the exception of cramping, I think that's the most fatigued I've ever been on a bike. Many times during that last 25 miles I just wanted to be home. I had two flats. My back tire is hosed, I think that's the same tire I rode in STP last year, and it's covered with cracks.
My legs really hurt inside today, too. It's more of a dull, throbbing soreness.
I have a love hate thing going on with road riding. It can be slow suffering. Climbing up a mountain with your cadence at 40, slogging along at 6mph, unable to lift your head up because you're straining so hard, your legs as heavy as sand, it's somewhat sadistic. Maybe I just need to ride in more events, which tend to be fun. On the other hand, it was a beautiful day and it's a great way to see the countryside. I think having people to ride with of comparable or slightly better ability definitely helps.
I don't know how I'm going to finish RAMROD at 156 miles. Well, it wouldn't be nearly as interesting or good for me if it was easy, and I still have 3 weeks of hard core training to prepare for it. Tim is in good shape, he's put in the miles, he'll be ready.
We got lost a few times on the way back from Enumclaw, and some road closures around Sammammish threw us for a loop, literally. We spent way too much time in Issaquah, we decided.
The Tour de France starts Saturday. Can't wait. That may motivate me in my training a bit. Did you know that the Tour is the third most watched sporting event in the world, behind World Cup and the Super Bowl? Few people in the U.S. watch cycling. It's like soccer. But I recommend some of you catch a stage or two this year. The first stage, an individual time trial, is a good one. Or try and catch the team trial, which is one of the most beautiful things to watch in sports, in my opinion.
Saw Ottmar Liebert at the pier yesterday, kicking off Robert and my summer pier concert series. Beautiful night to sit by the water's edge and watch the sunset while listening to some Spanish music. Music was great, and we topped it off with a fat meal at Wild Ginger. I was dying by the time we reached the restaurant, as I'd had just a bowl of cereal and Clif bars and a 6-inch sub all day while riding. Oh, one more good thing about riding: you can eat basically whatever you want because you burn thousands of calories when you're out for six to eight hours on your saddle. I need to shed lots of pounds for RAMROD, it will be a high burn, high consumption month.

A dream

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While it's fresh in my mind, a recap of a dream I just had:
I'm wandering around these gothic towns. Everything silent. Not sure why. Examining these rooms. For a reason. Not sure what. But some reason related to art.
Then, Howie and Mark have sent me a blind date to some event. Not sure what. No, maybe I am in SF? Anyway, I meet her. Quiet, somewhat pretty Asian girl. I shake her hand and start showing her around this mansion Mark lives in. Point out all the fancy appliances in the kitchen (hey, sort of like Sang's kitchen!). Then the huge living room with vaulted ceiling (like home in Naperville). The yard out back. The giant swimming pool. Room with a chess (Chinese chess? Go?) board. Then basement, which is not finished, just a storage room (again, this is my experience from the past). Howie wants me to wear this strange type of suit with a short with no buttons or collar. Then I ask Mark to borrow the phone b/c I'm going to call my mom, who I've forgotten to call for several days while I've been away from home.
Then I'm in a high school, wandering around a gym area, around the halls. Then a teacher approaches me, asks me what I'm doing here. I'm about to enroll, I'm just checking out the facilities. But, she says, what year are you. I admit I've got a few year's of college under my belt. I say two. Wait, as we walk towards an escalator (??), a huge escalator, and ride down from this gym locker area, I realize I've finished college. Maybe I can teach. She says great, that would take a huge burden off of her so that she could work more with crafts.
Now we're at the bottom of this huge long escalator (am I riding down from the sky? It's like a mall, Pacific Place, with shops off to the right. Now I'm at the bottom, and Joannie and maybe Karen and maybe an uncle are there in a room. They're in this room, and I see these crazy creatures inside. They're robotic pets, small dinosaurs, but they're crazy. I know this about these types of pets, they attack people and chew up clothes, slobber, jump all over you. They're miniature and insane. The teacher opens the door to this room they're in and all the animals run out. The dog is at my leg immediately, slobbering all over me. I'm holding something, and one of the dinosaur robots starts eating it and runs off with the item halfway down its throat. Some lady at a desk fends one of these creatures off. Ugh, I hate these things. Why don't people get ride of them.
Joannie and them were watching a movie. They've just finished watching it. Joannie says it was very good, they just watched Alibi /ah luh bee/. I say, "It's Alibi /a leh by/." No, she says, the theme song was Alibi /ah luh bee/ . I'm thinking of that movie, Her Alibi? Starring that model, what was her name, I'm sounding it out, and Joannie says something like Corretja, some Spanish model? No, I'm thinking Stephanie... (after waking up just now, I realize I knew her face, and it's Paulina Porizkova). Hmm, but maybe it was some other movie. Alibi. Sounds like a murder mystery?
I wake up, realize I've been exhausted ever since my trip to Spain. I fell asleep again this morn after my alarm went off. Rush to computer to jot down this vivid dream, which I know will be gone from my mind shortly. Not an easy to understand dream.

Back in the saddle

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First day back at work today. Around 1100 e-mail messages. Took me most the day just to get through it all. Whew!
Woke up at like 4:30 in the morning after passing out cold the night before. Haven't been that tired in a long time. Went for a 26 mile bike ride before heading into work. Damn, I am slow now. Felt so heavy. Very frustrating. RAMROD is a month away, and I am not close to ready. But the vacation was necessary, and I will just have to ride my ass off this month. Tim wants to meet at 6am on the bridge tomorrow for a ride. That guy's an animal on two wheels! He may be the type of gung-ho bike marine I need to beat me into shape.
It's tough to get motivated for riding this year. Fewer folks to ride with as most folks I rode with last year aren't doing the biking thing again. Lonely and boring to go on long rides alone. Todd and Rachael have dropped out of RAMROD this year, so I think it's down to Jessie, Tim, and myself. I'm not even sure I can keep up with those two, so July 26 might be a long day of hanging out with myself.
Traveling alone in Madrid after splitting off from Toni and Erin and John, I was reminded of Hannibal Lecter, living alone in Italy. Goody goody.
Back on the subject of aesthetic sensibilities, I'm going to change the art hanging up in my room. Bought a few prints out in Spain, and an original painting. Also just got most of my framed German Crouching Tiger posters back and they look great in their frames. My whole room is going to undergo some simplification, just like my life.
So many phone calls today from folks. Derek might swing through Seattle early August. I have to decide if I'm going to make Peter's wedding in Prague. Really would like to go, but Derek's visit would overlap. I don't have that Prague ticket yet, and it will be pricey. But would love to see Peter get married, and have wanted to see Prague for many years.
So much more to write, but I gotta get up early to ride with Tim. Can't lose discipline just one day back from vacation.

The Pugilist at Rest

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I'm off to Spain. Well, actually, first to Vancouver, then to Portugal, and then to Spain. But it's like saying you're from Chicago when you're actually from Naperville. Broad brushstrokes we're painting here.
Up all night packing and finishing up stuff for work. Vacations are always like this for me. Up all night, half coherent by the time I'm in the air, and somewhat nervous that I've forgotten to bring something important--underwear, passport, plane ticket. Frantic phone calls from well-wishers that you field while folding laundry in the other hand. Wishing you had left more time to call other people.
It's a true getaway. I really need one, and now that it's here, I feel so relieved. My hope is to come back stronger, more in control, and ready to go. But also, more relaxed, more at peace. The pugilist at rest.
If I find a computer over there, I'll try and post some updates here. But if not, I'll try and snap lots of photos and post both those and my shots from Africa when I return. And I'll have time to do so, because I'll have achieved that work/life balance again.
Ironically, I ordered some Spanish software from Amazon and it just arrived today. A lot of good it will do me sitting on my desk these next two weeks.
See you soon, folks.