Inconvenient Wordplay

Sunday, July 30 (Angels are currently beating the Red Sox 10-4 after 5-1/2 innings)

Back is feeling better. Not well by any means, but healing is finally happening. Felt well enough to go see two matinees this weekend. Saw An Inconvenient Truth on Saturday, and Wordplay today.

Wordplay was pretty fun; if you're a fan of crossword puzzles, I would think that you'd like it. Pretty damn amazing how fast they can solve some really tough crossword puzzles. It sort of reminded me of "Best in Show" in the sense that there's a very serious subculture around just about everything (though this was not a fake documentary making fun of something, and I don't actually mean to belittle or demean it by the comparison... really!).

An Inconvenient Truth was not pretty fun. And I would think that if you're a fan of the planet, you should see it. If you'd rather have gold bars than the earth, then don't bother (see the movie; it'll make more sense). You know, I knew that it would be a bit depressing to see it, but I'm glad I did, anyway. It gave some interesting facts, and showed some interesting comparisons. Don't want to say too much. See the movie. And if you know anyone that doesn't think pollution is a problem, make sure that they see the movie, too. Kids should see it, though not young kids... kids about, oh 15-18 ish (if you know any). They should have to write a report on it, to show that they were paying attention. And then non-kids should grade those reports to make sure that THEY were paying attention. (or the other way around... it doesn't matter. Just make sure that everyone's paying attention) Well, okay, maybe you should just see the movie, and try to get others to see it. Particularly those that aren't necessarily on the "environmentalist" side of the fence. 'Nuff said. Here's their website:

http://www.climatecrisis.net/


Had lunch with Marc, Suzanne, and Lynne yesterday. I actually walked across the street to the cafe over by the Farmer's Exchange. Course my back hurt when I got there, so I had to sit down right away, but that's more than I've been able to do. A veritable action-packed weekend, I tell ya.

Here's Marc:


I think I caught him a little unawares, so had a kinda easy-going smile happening. Unfortunately slightly out of focus, so I may not make millions from it.









And here's the inchworm that joined us at the table:


Though I think that centimeterworm might be more appropriate. It was about a centimeter long when stretched out all the way. Unfortunately, though his feet(?) are in focus, his head isn't, so I'm not sure I'll quit my day job with this one, either.

Keeping with the theme of housekeeping haikus:



He plays with his cars
He swims and he rides his bike...
He washes dishes

Laundry haiku

I returned from work;
My underwear was folded.
When was the last time?

Thanks momluv.

July 27 (well, it started on the 27th). Still sitting at home...

Oh Floyd, say it ain't so.

Landis had his A sample from the 17th stage test positive for "unusual" levels of testosterone. That's the stage that he made his comeback after having such a horrible stage 16. Now they are going to test his B sample to see if it matches. If it does... he's stripped of his win, and cycling gets another black eye. (How many eyes does cycling have, anyway?)

I don't even know what to think about this right now. Floyd has always been touted as being a clean rider. If he actually was doping, how did he think he'd get away with it? If he wasn't, how did his test come out positive?

July 28. Friday.
Yeah, Mom, you're right that the day was soured by the TdF news. I wrote that stuff above, but didn't know where to go with it... so I just stopped.

Even if Floyd didn't do anything, and he can prove it (not sure that's possible), he'll always have that following him. And cycling will continue to have that stigma.

I really want to believe that he didn't. And if I don't read another word about it ever, I can hold on to that hope (I'll just crawl under that rock, now). I tell you, it really makes me want to give up on cycling. I don't want to follow it at all any more if everyone is doping. On the other hand, the guys that win (and are doping) are still faster than the guys that lose (and are doping). Now there's a great way to look at it.

As Lynne said, "Can't we have a hero?"

Very discouraging...

And how many other sports are like this? At the beginning of the Tour, a bunch of riders were thrown out for being associated with a particular doctor. They said that the doctor was also associated with other athletes in other sports (though no one was named). Are there any clean athletes in any sports? (I mean besides David Eckstein of the Cardinals). Soccer? Baseball? (Ha! Just kidding, baseball, right...) Basketball? Does cycling have such a bad name when it comes to drug use only because they test more thoroughly than any other sports? Wouldn't that be ironic: cycling is actually the cleanest sport out there, but since they actually happen to have a strict testing policy, they look dirty? I know, not likely.

Okay, enough already. Staying home from work again today. Got all dressed and ready to go to in today, but the back is still pretty sore, and it just seems like a bad idea to go in and potentially undo some of the healing that has been happening. And then I've got the weekend to really just sit around. Again. Some more. Oh boy.

Guess I should explain the "sitting" comments in the previous posts...

I hurt my back last week (Thursday afternoon). Went to work Friday, but took it easy. Saturday, it was really bad, and I stayed home all day (that's how this blog started). Same for Sunday. And Monday. And Tuesday (today).

Don't know what I did; it (my back) just decided that it wanted to stay in bed for a few days. Feeling a little better today, but I'm not really sure how much is the meds, and how much is actually my back feeling better. TBD.

Well, just took some more, so I'll be napping shortly. (Go ahead, Mom, say it... I do everything "short"ly.)

July 25. Tuesday.

Day four of sitting around... At least I've got some drugs (Rx) to ease the pain and make me feel loopy.... and ready for (another) nap. Here are some pics of things I'd rather be doing (and yes, this is just a cheesy lead-in to sharing some photos):

Playing volleyball with Steve... This was actually last January. Ah, the brutal Santa Cruz winters...


Mountain biking with Craig. This was June 24th: the day before Dad's birthday party.



Playing with Athens and Craig... (Christmas 2005)



Partying with Dad. (Hmmm, gettin' a little saggy there, Dad; guess that's age for you.)



And just a good picture of Dad and me. Figgered it needed sharing.



Biking with Lynne, her new bike (Bella), and Aaron. Okay, perhaps not the best picture of Aaron, but he's back there. Hmmm, maybe it is the best picture of Aaron... (Sorry Aaron!)



Or maybe biking with Mom, Athens, and Craig.


Though Athens will no longer be on the trailer-bike since he rides his own two-wheeler so well.

July 23. Marc's birthday. Day two of couch-sitting.

Landis wins the Tour... Unbelievable comeback after that horrendous stage 16 collapse. But that collapse led to perhaps the most memorable stage (17) in recent history. What a ride. He certainly deserves a photo today. Here he is in yellow with l'Arc de Triomphe in the background.

Photo credit: PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/Getty Images

Landis doing the impossible by coming back like that reminds me of when Craig and I were following the Tour in newspapers while on our own bike tour: seeing LeMond do the impossible by beating Fignon in the final time trial to win it all. Where were we when we saw that...? Do you remember, Craig?

Photo du jour.
(That's the photo of the day, sir)

Dad came to visit a couple weekends ago. But if you'd seen my sink, you'd probably already know that...

Hey All!

Just thought I'd start something to see if it goes... Feel free to comment if you've got somethin' to say. I probably won't be updating daily, but I will occaisionally. This may end up being a photo of the day kind of thing. Or it may not.