AUGUST/LATE JULY


8/31/03-

Slept in until 8:30, which for me is an accomplishment.  Got an IM totally out of the blue - yes that was the song from B.G. ...

Ate breakfast and hung out for a while.  The smoke alarm kept beeping, so I got on a chair and took it out of the wires it was attached to.  It kept beeping.  On the label it says that a beep once a minute means the battery needs to be replaced.  So opened it up and took the battery out.  It STILL beeped, prompting me to say, "I think a hammer could accomplish what removing the battery could not."

Went swimming around 1:00 or so.  Only did about a mile and a half... was kind of dehydrated from not drinking enough water yesterday and then beer last night.  Stroke still felt solid though... I'm not worried about fitness at this point.

Did a little cleaning, goofed around a bit, and then grilled some London broil for dinner.  Also had the last of Uncle Charley's Sausages... very sad when we run out of those!  Lots of extra meat left since I was the only one who ate at home.  Finished off my BOO Olive Garden page... check it out.

First very strong hurricane of the year in the Atlantic: Fabien.  As of tonight it was up to 140 mph sustained winds and 940 mb, which isn't that much weaker than Andrew when it hit Florida.  Unfortunately it looks like it might just curve off and out to see, but let's hope not.  I WANT TO BE IN A HURRICANE!!!

We'll see about saying RABBIT when I wake up.  I did it this month, and things didn't turn out so good :-(  So maybe the good luck charm is wearing off.

Listened to the Crow soundtrack and some doors... feeling quite mellow and blue right now.  Good night all.


8/30/03-  football Saturday

Woke up too early ... again... what's wrong with me???

Did some odds and ends in the morning, and watched some college football preview stuff.  Robert, Jeff, Robert's sister and her boyfriend headed off to the game, leaving me home alone and bored.  Such is life, and such is the decision not to go home this weekend.  On the good side, I did save money.

Funny sign seen in the ESPN pregame show (they were on location at Ohio State):

(Front)
Every
Stupid
Person
Nos

(Back)
Ohio State is #1.

Nice education there guys.  Sorry Tony, but that's pretty pathetic.

Penn State looked pretty bad most of the game, but they won 23-10.  On the good side, their defense was OK (probably more a function of sucky Temple offense) and the freshmen RBs played well.  They'll probably have to play better next week against Boston College, which I won't be able to watch due to my 10K.

Speaking of which, today I took a much-needed day off from exercising... hopefully the arms will be recharged and ready to go tomorrow.

Cubs lost 9-5 today.  Shawn Testes started and got rocked -- again.  I swear if he starts any more there's going to be a revolt among Cub fans.

People came over after the game to hang out.  Watched one pretty good football game (Colorado-Colorado State) and three bad ones (Auburn-USC, Oklahoma-N. Texas, and Ohio State-Washington).  We played some Euchre (if that's how it's spelled), which I learned by watching some people play.  I think I did OK, although Jeff and I got pretty bad cards and were in an 8-3 hole before we knew what happened to us.  During the game Steve recited a number of local commercials
 And some others.  The new grad students who were in attendance were educated (warned?) about certain professors, including Evans, and got to hear the stories of everyone's favorite oddball, Jacob.  If they're lucky he'll actually defend his thesis.  As someone said, if Jacob DOES end up defending, "They should sell tickets at the door."  There's no doubt that it would be entertaining, if nothing else.


8/29/03-

Woke up before 7 for NO reason whatsoever.  Must be getting old.

Morning conversation:

Vicki:"It must be super-buddy or something."
Vicki:  Is that their new action hero... SuperBuddy... able to find Nascar on TV in 2.5 seconds
Bob:  Able to shoot a deer at the blink of an eye
Vicki:  It's a bird, It's a plane... ah... we have no idea what it is, but we'll shoot at it anyway

From www.televisionwithoutpity.com about an episode of "The Bachelor"...

Amber takes a few thoughtful bites of cuisine I now know she does not deserve (you can hear Bobby Flay in the background -- having personally prepared this meal for them, I'm sure -- inserting a steak knife between his eyes at what comes next) before putting down her fork and asking Andrew, "So, what's your favorite restaurant?" Which is a weird question (they're from different cities, and America is a bit of a restaurant-heavy place), but alas not what she asks if you (or, well, me) will just let her finish the question: "What's your favorite restaurant…chain?" 

Amber digs in: "I like the Olive Garden." Which, for a certain echelon of people, is more of a personality descriptor than "I'm from a decidedly suburban area" or "I'm a Nazi" or "I was born without a head and my head is a prosthetic head." I'm not saying that everyone who has ever gone to the Olive Garden is inherently trashy (stop looking at me like that. I'm not saying that. I'm not) and I'm also not comparing their patrons with the German political party responsible for the systematic annihilation of millions of innocent lives. I'm not even saying that there's anything wrong with being born without a head. But…the OLIVE GARDEN? That's awesome. Andrew immediately professes not to like the Olive Garden at all (and the thirty seconds of dead air in the following nine commercial breaks explain what happened here, I think), causing Amber to follow up, "You don't like Italian?" You know who just killed themselves? Italy. I'll bet Amber also really digs that exclusive Irish bistro known as "McDonald's," and the royal house of burgers and fries presided over by the benevolent monarch, The Burger King.


Absolutely hilarious...

Had a decent swim today... they left the ropes in long course for some of the time I was there.  I thought this was to be more friendly to the lap swimmers, since it's really not hard for people w/their kids to splash around in the large open lanes.  Oops, guess not.  They take the ropes out at ONE end of the pool, and then let them flop around for 10 minutes so that the lap swimmers have to swim in an S-shape to avoid them.  What a pain.  Anyway, my arms were beat from this week's exercise (see yesterday's note) so I'm taking tomorrow off.

This just in:  nobody's going home this weekend, so I'm not either.

Hung out at home tonight and did some cleaning.  Got a decent thunderstorm... actually having another one now (12:10 a.m.)  Boom... there goes some thunder.

Watched a college football game on ESPN, and found out that their halftime shows this year are sponsored by, of all places, the OLIVE GARDEN.  BOO!  I wonder if I'll be able to keep up all the booing that this requires.  It means I have to boo during the commercials (b/c they have lots of Olive Garden commercials) and then when they go to and come back from the commercials.  Hate that place.

Watched the completely unprofessional local news today.  Here's the ABC-23 news anchor said about security at the football game tomorrow:

"Any belongings left outside the gates will be removed of and disposed"  Nice job dude... and you wonder why you're doing Friday and Saturday late night news in a buddy market.

Another thing they screwed up:  the caption for the Johnstown Folk Fair story was "Celebrating out heritage".  Unless they mean out as in people knowing they are gay, I'm pretty sure they meant OUR.

I'm struck by all of this b/c if I go back home, people have good grammar on the news and there are no spelling mistakes in the captions.  Action News rules.  Another pathetic thing about the local news - on Friday nights they cut the news down to 15 minutes and spend the last 15 minutes talking about local HIGH SCHOOL football.  How lame can you get?  As Jeff noted, our news (Philly or Detroit) would just take out the 15 minutes of high school football and have crime instead. 

He asked why high school football is so big around here.  Jeff went to U. of Michigan and is a big Wolverine fan.  For a lot of buddies, their highest level of education is high school, so their strongest allegiance goes to their high school.  Also, many buddies spend their whole life in their home town, thus reinforcing the identifying with your high school.  Like I said to Jeff:  "You have to understand, people around here have different goals for life than us.  They hope to become manager at Sheetz."

Off to bed... probably will watch PSU-Temple tomorrow... maybe do some work or cleaning before it, and then we're having meteos over tomorrow night.  Have a good weekend everyone!


8/28/03-

Last truck day at work.  Boss was in an OK mood even though he was sick and throwing up all day.  I guess that's better than the time he spent the whole day on the can.

Guy came to the door today and said "Y'uns needed something measured?"  Y'uns???  I can handle y'all, which is just "you all", but what the crap is y'uns?  It must be super-buddy or something.  Hey pal - y'uns need taught better grammar.

Speaking of bad grammar, saw this note from a woman to my boss yesterday:  "You can find the profiles of the applicants in the top draw of your desk."  OK, it's NOT a DRAW.  It's a drawER. 

Had a good lift today... did max in one bicep and one back exercise, and was at or close to max in everything else.  Not bad for having swum an 8K yesterday afternoon.  That makes in the last 5 days:  1h20min swim, 1h swim, lift, 2h swim, lift.  Tomorrow I'm swimming and then hopefully I'll be OFF on Saturday for my last day of rest before the 10K.  9 days baby...

BOO all the people coming back into town.  BOO the mad traffic around Wal-mart.  And BOO how there are so many people at the gym now, and it's impossible to get the one short straight bar there.

Today's Mad Lib:  "When you go to the beach, you must take along a big blanket, a thermos bottle full of urine, lots of suntan vomit and a couple of folding beds.  Then you put on your socks so you can get a beautiful mango to last you all summer.  You should also have a big hat to keep the sun off your esophagus.  If you want exercise, you can find some sticks to play volleyball with.  Volleyball is America's favorite wavy game.  You can also bring a/an round lunch, such as hard-boiled sparkplugs, a few platypus sandwiches with mustard and some bottles of binky cola.  If you remember all of the above and get a place near a/an slutty lifeguard, you can sunbathe happily all day."

I like that last sentence.... sage advice, without a doubt.

"... but I'll eventually see sunshine again... and I look forward to that day."
Glad to hear it... that's better than we were feeling yesterday :-)


8/27/03-

First day of the rest of my life.  Got a laugh out of an away message today:  "Each day I break my own record for consecutive days lived"

The big swim today - things set up perfectly for it.  Pretty big "stroms" in the morning, which cut down on the attendance at the pool, so they left it in long course.  That's better (less monotonous, less turns = less cramping of legs) than short course.  The water had cooled down to 79 from the rain, which was also helpful.  Only problem - didn't eat enough before swimming, although I have begun to overload on bananas (potassium and water help keep away the leg cramps!)  Got in about two hours of swimming, with a three minute break to eat some chips.  The arms and calves were holding up pretty well, but my tummy was feeling not-so-hot at the end, so I tried to eat some chips and replace the sodium I had lost.  No dice, however.

Still, the result was encouraging.  I have no doubt that I'll finish the 10K (never really did), but I know that I can take it out not much slower than my 5K and still have energy left for the end.  Looking forward to the race and to cutting back on the training.

Dragged my aching shoulders to the G-man for the meteo new grad student dinner.  Had some chicken sandwich that was kinda good... there were these breaded spicy cheese wedges on top that were quite good too.  Headed over to Steve Greenberg's place at the "other" Copper Beech for dessert and beer.  Didn't have too much beer though... something about swimming 5 miles that makes one not in the mood to drink. 

C:  "See any prospects?"
B:  "I'm not looking"  -- seriously, since I've been at Penn State have you ever known me to take some initiative in looking for a future girlfriend?

"Ever heard the saying don't eat where you <poop>?"  - that's the one that basically means don't date co-workers.  It. Doesn't. Work.  I barely want to see someone at the end of my day, let alone the WHOLE day.  This is why things w/Jay didn't work out, Vick.  You don't poop, but he did.

Back home... watched Family Guy and went to bed.  Tonight's episode was about Peter being envious of Chris' (his son) penis size.  I guess with subjects like this, it's not surprising the show was cancelled.  Still, it was hilarious.


8/26/03-

Let’s start out with the not bad stuff.  There was a lot of stuff that was OK, but it’s all outweighed, unfortunately, by the bad.

Boss was much less of a prick than usual today.  Had a decent workout at the gym.  Saw a funny bumper sticker: “Keep the Earth clean – it’s not Uranus”.  Drove in rain for the first time since getting Rain-ex on my windshield, and I’m a believer.  It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread.  It was raining steadily at 2:00 when I was driving, and I didn’t use the wipers once.

Was the pool open this afternoon?  I understand that the weather was real bad most of the day, but it got nice at 4:00, so it should’ve opened for 3 hours.  I saw that it was set up as long-course, but never thought that it might have been closed.

Saw a guy wearing Trenton State College shorts at the gym… don’t see those too often any more. 

Got info on the 10K.  Start time at 3:00, which hasn’t changed.  Not a lot of people doing it – maybe just 30 or so.  Top 3 males win money… not that I’ll be anywhere close to top 3.  Just on the e-mail list, I saw two guys who beat me by about 40 minutes last year.  I’m better, but not THAT much better.  My ‘rents are going down to watch me swim, which is nice of them.  If I can keep any food down, we’re having a nice dinner with all of the swimmers afterwards.

Now on the bad side – can’t really pretend that today was the greatest day.  Things are going to be tough for a while… how long I really can’t say.  Today I feel like I lost a part of myself, and I’m afraid that in the long run I might lose a really big part of myself.  But I’m not the only one going through this, and I’ve made it through a really tough time where I lost a big part of myself in the past.  I’ve learned that no matter what – I’ll get by. 

Maybe what I’m most afraid of is knowing that things will never be the same as they have been.  No matter how it turns out – things will be different.  I knew things had to change, but I don’t want everything to change.  And I’m afraid that it will. 


"And as I walked on
Through troubled times
My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes”

“But still, the place you live in is that much more gray and empty that they're gone... I guess I just miss my friend”

“It’s hard to let go… what can I tell you?  That’s life.” 


At least I’ll be very busy until this weekend… have to take small blessings where I can.


8/25/03-

Took the bus in… nice job CATA.  You’ll be making my BOO page as soon as I can get working on that.  Went to the Corner Room for lunch… they’ve got quite the good deal there on Mondays.  Decent sized salad, breadsticks, and all-you-can-eat pasta for $4.95.  I’ll have to do that more often. Over lunch we talked about (among other things) how fat people have gotten.  Seriously, why can’t I buy a pair of pants anywhere?  I see pants that are 34 or 36 length, but it’s for some guy with a 40” waist.  Sorry that I work out… my bad.  I guess it’s “un-American” to be thin.

FINALLY felt pretty good swimming today.  My legs cramped up and this guy hopped in the pool and thrashed around about a foot away from me, sending tidal waves down my throat when I tried to breathe.  The good news was that my stroke felt much better than it has. Thanks for the ride home from the pool, Vick.

Overheard this evening:

Jeff:  “You can’t say Eat ‘n Park wasn’t good on Saturday.”
Robert:  “Diarrhea would have made better gravy than that $hit.  That was AWFUL.”

Junk e-mail of the day:

From:  heather
Subject:  walker meet someone online

Meeting someone online would be BETTER than meeting someone in Walker.  At least online she’d have a chance of being attractive.  (sorry)





8/24/03

Ran into Vicki over at the pool today.  She went aqua-jogging or water running - whatever you want to call it.  She takes "jogging" as an insult, so I'll humor her.  Anyway, I got in a 1 hour 20 minute swim, which went better than my recent swims, which isn't saying much at all.  I have no doubt that I'll finish the 10K, but I don't think I'll do very well, considering how poorly I've swam lately.  My shoulders are aching too much, and it's been kinda hard to breathe lately at the pool.  I think they're screwing with the chemicals or something.

Made chicken, spanish rice and peas for my roommates and Vicki (she came over since Tim was wakeboarding with Craig and others.)  Then played some Trivial Pursuit with Jeff and Vicki.  Jeff won, although I still say it was b/c he got lots of easy questions.  At least he got questions that I knew the answers to, which makes them easy.  Vicki really doesn't guess, which annoys me.  You can't get lucky if you don't guess.

Looking forward to one fun week - research, work, work/research, work, research and swim, lift, swim, swim, lift.  That's my Monday through Friday. 

Junk e-mails of the day-

From:  Cosmetic_Surgery
Subject:  Affordable - financing available

Sounds like just what I need right now.  I've been feeling a little low on self-confidence these days - I can't help that I'm so skinny, and I really want a C-cup.  I guess people can do what makes 'em happy, but I think we're made the way we are for a reason, and if there are people who will like you better or notice you b/c you get cosmetic surgery, you should save your money and instead try to find people who like you the way you are.

From:  David
Subject:  George, racing stuff

This one is a classic.  I opened it and it read:

Stock Car Racing Fans! Congratulations!!! You've been selected to receive a Free Gift! Choose your Favorite Driver!

Yes, that was the size of the font.  Hey it's not like they really needed to get my attention... any way I can get my mitts on some Nascar memorabilia, I'm all over that. 

The e-mail goes on to notify me that I am a preferred member at Free Gift Club (I guess to be a preferred member, one must be in that exclusive club of people who have e-mail) and can claim my free Stock Car Racing Gift.  It also lists the top 5 drivers in the Winston Cup standings - I don't know why they did that, since obviously I have those memorized.


8/23/03- First day of college football

Had to work this morning. 

<vent>

What a turd my boss is.  The reason nobody likes him is because he picks fights for no reason.  I'm supposed to work every other weekend.  I am working this weekend, so I'm supposed to have off next weekend.  I'm also supposed to be off Labor Day since I worked on New Year's day and 4th of July, but I actually am working that day.  On the schedule, for my space on Saturday, it says "refuses to work."  Yeah, pal, I do refuse to work.  He's just pissed off since he isn't supposed to work weekends, and he'll have to next weekend.  Well either I get screwed or he does, and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy than him.  I hope you're picking up the sarcasm there, because I'm laying it on pretty thick.

</vent>

Vicki said something today about choosing her battles.  I think she should teach my boss a lesson in this.

(By the way -- my "refusing to work" is because I'll be in New Jersey)

After work went over to Vicki's house to help her wax her (GMC) Jimmy.  That thing is unnecessarily large, but it did give us a couple of hours to hang out and chat.  Went swimming afterwards, with the usual result.  The Cubbies got spanked 13-2 today, behind the atrocious pitching of Shawn Estes, who now has the worst ERA of any starting pitcher in the major leagues.  Suffice it to say the Cubs are in the playoff race DESPITE you, Shawn.

People came over for college football.  The game was pretty boring - Kansas St was clearly better than Caliiiifornia, and won by 3 touchdowns, if I remember correctly.  I did a lot of barbequing - about 10 burgers, 1 chicken, and 4 Uncle Charley's Sausages.  Jeff said his Uncle Charley's Sausage went down especially easy.

Pretty wiped out... went to bed around midnight so I could get a good night's sleep.

8/22/03- Not exactly a new car - but still nice

Went to Vicki's today and did car stuff.  Washed both, cleaned the inside of mine, and then waxed mine.  It looks good as new (not really, but it does look real good).  Still have to do the leather, but that has to be when it's not hot and in the shade - and 4:00 on a 90 degree afternoon in my parking lot is not going to cut it.  Wish I could hang out w/friends all day every day - but unfortunately days like today are few and far between in my life.

Playing cards tonight at one of the new meteo students' houses.  Going there at about 7 or 7:30.

More wakeboarding pics as soon as I can get 'em up... patience, after all, IS a virtue.

Didn't end up playing cards too much tonight.  Played one game of hearts... I did great except for getting the queen of spades 4 times.  I can blame Jeff for that.

Junk e-mails of the day:

From:  Beth blanche 
Subject:  Vicki meet someone nice

I'll have to pass this along to Vicki (they even spelled her name right!) ... apparently this e-mail is saying that I'm not nice enough for her :-(

From:  Lauren
Subject:  George, your kids will love that!  Free Barbie (TM) gift

I still want to know which Lauren this is.  Either way, whether it's the one I've been friends with since high school or the one I dated for 2 years, I would have thought she'd know that I don't have kids.  If I do have a kid somewhere who wants a Barbie, hopefully it's not a boy.

By the way, heard a funny joke recently involving Barbie.  A dad goes to a toy store and is looking for a Barbie doll for his daughter.  He asks how much they are.  Malibu Barbie, Beach Barbie, Shopping Barbie, Gym Barbie, etc are all $19.95.  The only Barbie that has a different price is Divorce Barbie, which is $300.00.  When the dad asks why Divorce Barbie is so expensive, the salesperson replies, "It's b/c she comes with Ken's house, car, furniture..."

8/21/03- Sad day for Vicki Sue Fritton

Had to work all day... boo.  Came home for lunch and Vicki wasn't at work and hadn't IM'ed like she usually does in the morning, and when I called to check on her "cankle", she wasn't at work.  Figured there was something wrong, so went over her place and she hobbled over to the door with a brace on her right ankle.  She woke up this morning not able to walk :-(

Anyway, she went to the doctor and nothing's broken, which is good news.  Unfortunately she can't run for at least two weeks, and might not get to do the mOUnTaiNBACK and the Philly marathon.  That would be like me injuring my shoulder and not being able to do the 10K... so hope you heal quickly and can start running again soon, Vick!  If you don't make the Philly marathon, wherever your first marathon is -- I'll be there.

Tonight was the finals of the Tussey wing challenge.  The finalists were Eutaw House, Damon's, Bonfatto's, Don Corleone's, and Duffy's Tavern.  Had Eutaw House's wings first... in my opinion these should have been the ones to beat.  The first flavor I tried was Sweet Habanero, which were very good.  It's not often that I lavish praise on wings that aren't particularly spicy, but the flavor was so unique that I give a big thumbs up to those.  Then I tried their "Down 'n Dirty" wings.... ouch!  These were so hot I could only have two of them.  To most people, that's a bad thing, but if you're going to claim your wings are hot -- MAKE THEM HOT!  Like I said in my R.T.'s after the previous wing challenge I attended - the wings should be offensively hot, and these were.  Thumbs up to you, Eutaw House.

Next tried Bonfatto's wings - all right, but nothing special here.  Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I brought my own bottle of bleu cheese.  I take my wing-tasting seriously.  Moved over to Duffy's Tavern next.  They were clearly trying to buy the title.  First, they had a girl w/huge boobs wearing a tank top that covered nothing (at least in the chest area), and a bikini top that seemed very strained to stay on.  She also had a rather large and unattractive tattoo on one of her boobs - yuck.  Anyway, I'm not some chump who's swayed by that kind of thing.  Their wings were humongous - but too big.  When they are too big, they don't crisp up enough.  They were all right, but definitely too chewy, and the flavor wasn't very original.

Don Corleone's next.  Again, why do pizza places even bother?  The size of the wings made it look like they raided a pigeon coop, and their flavors - hot, medium and BBQ - BORING.  I have no idea how they made it to the finals, but they didn't belong.  Thankfully, they didn't win.

I had Damon's last time, so I went back to Eutaw House for more Sweet Habaneros, but they were out.  I had one ticket left so I went over to Damon's and got some wings there.  They were called "Summer Glaze", and were pretty good.  At least they get points for a rather original flavor... I may have shortchanged them the first time by only trying the standard buffalo-flavored wings.  These were probably the second best in my opinion... although I didn't finish the last wing b/c I'd already had two dozen, and my stomach was saying "No More." 

Anyway, Damon's ended up winning, but Eutaw House was the best in my book.  Congratulations, you've won a visit by me in the near future.  I see on their website that 4 wings are normal $3.75 there, but on Thursday nights they have wings for a quarter.  Giddy'up.

The band playing (The Screaming Ducks) was much better than last time.  They played mostly Southern rock, like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers, CCR, etc.  I like most of that stuff, and all the buddies in attendance sure did. 

Came home, watched some Family Guy and went to bed before midnight.  A good night's sleep for the first time in who knows how long...


8/20/03-

Went wakeboarding early (at the lake by 7:20) w/Vicki, Tim and Craig.  Water is beautiful and calm in the early morning, although it can be quite cold.  I'll be bringing socks and sweats next time for sure.

Order was Vicki, Bob, Tim, Craig.  The first time through I did a lot better than last time (this WAS, after all, just my 3rd time).  I got out of the wake toeside first (meaning - when I ride, I face left, i.e., my right hand is holding the rope, my toes are pointed toward the left (if you're looking at the boat from where I am), and the heel is to the right).  Look at one of my photos, you'll understand.  That was more than I could do last time.... I even got back in without falling.  Had trouble getting out of the wake heelside on my first run.  Vicki "wrecked" real bad on her second run... had to put my high school lifeguarding to good use and jump in and be her prince valiant.  Just kidding... she sprained an ankle, and I had to unscrew her binding from the board to that we could get the board off her feet and then get her into the boat.  She's doing better now though, although hobbling to and fro.

Second run - did real well.  Crossed the wake heelside and got more comfortable over there.  Worked on zooming out to the side too by putting weight on the toes.  Even crossed both wakes in one fell swoop a couple of times.  The last run - got too ambitious and tried to go over the wake fast.  Horribly out of balance and landed hard on my face.  No harm done though - can't mess up what already ain't pretty! :-P

>Tim:  Make sure you take some videos
>Bob:  Why does he want you to do that?
>Vick:  Probably b/c he's going to bust out some moves.
>Bob:  What, like flips?
>Vick:  If he does a flip, I will swim this lake naked
>Craig:  Tim!  Do a flip!

Quick swim (way sore from wakeboarding), then cheap burgers.  Next up to Walker Building for barrels of laughs and typing in 530.  Gotta love it.

poolboybob (2:53:17 PM): maybe you'd actually lose some of that freshman 15
vsg248 (2:53:17 PM): and maybe they wouldn't gain the freshman 15!
(Great minds think alike)

Vicki:  Random - my ankle is gross.
Bob:  At least it matches your foot now.

8/19/03-

Blast and a half at work.  About the only good parts were putting in my 2 weeks notice, and this exchange:

Bob:  "Hey where should I stick this thing?"
Woman:  "Oh just anywhere you can find a hole."'

Another rough swim... don't want to talk about it.
Apparently there was a big car fire on Atherton or something.  I was going to stop at home before heading to Altoona, and Atherton was all backed up.  Somewhere down by the Blockbuster there was all sorts of smoke, 2 fire trucks, a cop, and an ambulance.  Hope everyone involved was OK.

Went to a ballgame in Altoona... mostly for Dave Groff's birthday.  $6 tickets, and I got a free Pirates (ugh) umbrella.  "I guess the Curve get the Pirates' sloppy seconds."  Other events from the night:

-- Guy taking money for parking had sungggglasses that said "Nascar" on the piece that joins the frame and the part that goes over the ear.  Pretty sweet shades there, buddy.
-- A guy in the crowd w/a shirt that saiiiid "This is your brain: (big Ford symbol) - This is your brain on drugs (big Chevy symbol)" and Jeff giggling about how buddy it was.  Then Jeff claimed that the guy's "NRA Millennium Life Member" hat was NOT buddy.  Jeff, I know you like the NRA since they elected a Republican president and the whole organization is like 98% Republican, but let's be realistic.  NRA hat + mullet + above shirt = buddy.  On a side note, I don't think ex-girlfriend Lauren would agree with the premise on the shirt.  Her Mustang had WAY more problems than a car that age should have.
-- Dave trying to catch water balloons wwwwith a bucket on his head, and virtually every one hit the front of the bucket.
-- Seemed like there was about one mascoooot at the stadium for every two fans
-- "Maybe Dave can do some bong hits froooom the Curve mascot"
-- After Steamer (the Curve mascot) finiiiished shooting free shirts out to the crowd:  "Oh it looks like Steamer shot his load... he's spent."

Looking forward to the wing challenge and then maybe even playing some BRIDGE on Friday night.  Now you know I'm getting old!


8/18/03-

Worked some more on the page today.  Almost everything is up now, except for the wakeboarding pics.  Seriously, people better start signing my guestbook.  Especially when they're IM'ing me about what I have on my page.  BOO on those who are doing that!

Know what annoys me?  When I hear some thing on the radio, like Leitzinger (we're driven to be the best!) Imports (local car place) has some radio station broadcasting from their dealership, and the person on the radio says "We want to thank Leitzinger for having us out here today."  This after the car place is plugging all their sales on the air.  They make it sound like the car dealership is just doing it out of the goodness of their heart... yeah like 93.7 would have their tent there if Leitzinger wasn't paying 'em for it.

B:  "Hey maybe when we're washing cars you can wear a bikini so it can be like 'Bikini Car Wash' ."
B:  "And then maybe your top could "accidentally" fall off while we're washing."

Swam today but felt awful ... again.  Ate too close to my swim, and also I think there's something mechanically wrong w/my stroke.  Gave up after about half an hour and went lifting instead.  Will give it another shot tomorrow afternoon.

Going to the Curve game tomorrow night w/a lot of meteos... later in the week, possibly wakeboarding on Wednesday and the finale of the Wing Challenge at Tussey on Thursday evening.  Yee-haw.

Junk e-mail of the day:

From:  Reeves
Subject:  Christina what went wrong with my erection?

Don't really have much to say about this one... just thought it was hilarious.  Who is Reeves?  Keanu?  Dan?  And why would this Christina person know why he can't get wood (actually, maybe he did, but then there was some "mishap" to his erection). 


8/17/03-

Sorry I have been pretty lax on the random thoughts... I've been busy with a lot of other bidness the last few days (see below).  Today I slept in, which for me is 9:30.  That is with me going to bed after 2, of course. 

Went over to Vicki's for a while to scan pics and unload the photos I've taken in the last couple of months w/my camera.  You know, I could always scan the pics in Walker, which I'm fine with since I don't have a scanner.  What ticks me off is that I have a CD-ROM, but for some reason my computer doesn't realize that it has one.  So I can't install the CD needed to have the proper software to unload my camera.  Which means that I have to go elsewhere (home, Vicki's, etc) to do so.  Then I have to save the photos onto Geocities, then resave them onto my computer.  All of this equals one huge PITA (Pain In The Ass). 

Speaking of PITAs, I went over to the pool to get in a good swim today.  Lo and behold, there's a note up saying that the pool will be closing at 3:00 because the football team is having a pool party.  This eggs me on because the note was not there when I swam on Thursday.  So either (a) the football team just decided in the last couple of days to have a pool party, and it's clearly not enough to get to go to school for free and be somewhat of a celebrity while you're here, they also need free reign over the pool as well, or (b) this was decided well in advance, and they just figured that it wouldn't matter if they didn't tell people about it ahead of time.  I think (b) is more likely, but around here, who knows.  Football is king, so whatever they want, they get.  Still, it's probably just incompetence on the part of the pool management, which isn't so surprising (see 8/12).

So I came back and worked a lot on the website.  Yeah I know there are a lot of things that are half finished or not even begun, but there's a lot more on here than there was yesterday, so deal :-)

Made dinner -- chicken parm, pasta and salad - for the roommates and another meteo guy.  It turned out real good.  I had a basic chicken parm recipe, but wasn't too big on the pre-breaded chicken patties, so I bread my own chicken breasts now.  They're a lot better that way.

Came back and worked a lot more on my website.  I have a major beef with Netscape (although it's a lot easier to use Netscape than IE to maintain the page).  See, when I tried to save things from Geocities (basically online) onto my computer, things were fine - UNLESS I changed the name in the process.  That led to all sorts of problems, like the photo being saved in the wrong format.  Problem was, I only put 2 or 3 of the changed name photos onto my page today, so it wasn't obvious what was causing the trouble for a long time.  I got real pissed off at the computer... not to mention that it wouldn't reload my new pages for whatever reason. 

OK that was really boring I'm sure.  Hope everyone has a good week...

And since this is random:

What I'm listening to:  "Ecstasy", Rusted Root.

"I wouldn't want to be
Living in a world of ecstasy with you"

Good song.


8/16/03 -

Still bummed about events of yesterday.  Such is life.  Did a whole lot of nothing during the day, which actually felt really nice.  Planned on doing a long swim, but thunderstorms kept getting in the way.  Actually had three of 'em today:  first one from about 12-1, second one at about 5, and the last at 7:00.  Was going to swim at 4:30, but the radar wasn't looking very promising.  Finally went over to the pool around 6 and did a quick mile just before the pool closed (and the thunder began).  Time was OK... about 18 seconds faster than my mile earlier this week.  Not surprising since I was swimming in the evening, and I'm a lot better then.  The best part was that I took it out hard and felt quite tired at the 800 (halfway), but still negative split (second half faster than the first half).  If nothing else, I'm definitely in shape for the mile.

Relaxing night as well.  Fixed myself some noodles and Polish Sausage, and Vicki came over to hang out for a while.  We watched some show on the Travel Channel about the 10 best waterparks in the U.S.  Thank God that was on... Saturday nights are not much for TV watching, apparently.  According to the show, the best waterpark in the country is Schlitterbahn in, of all places, the middle of Texas.  Not Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio mind you... but New Braunfels, TX.  Basically, all that means is that I have to go to New Braunfels, TX at some point in my life.  I love waterparks, and the only one I'd been to on the top 10 was Water Country, USA in Williamsburg, VA.  It was cool but I'm still waiting for a slide that's 20 miles long and starts about 5 miles in the air.  Anyway, one cheesy part of the show was that for virtually every park, they said the "main attraction" was one of those slides that shoots you down real fast (the ones that give a big wedgie when you stop at the bottom).  If it's that big a deal, how come everyone has one?

I still say that the coolest waterpark I've ever seen is Wild Wadi.  Unfortunately, I saw it on the Travel Channel (this was a different time), and it's located in Dubai.  So it goes...


8/15/03-

Biked in today - it's a good bike.  Not too hot when I went in, although that didn't last.  Motivation to do work was at an all-time low this afternoon, so didn't get a whole lot done.  Found out that Vicki, me, and others would be going wakeboarding around 6 today, so I had to bike home around 4.  That was NOT pleasant.

Drove up to the lake b/c I wanted to make sure I could get there on my own if I ever had to.  There were about 3 turns the whole way.  Me driving was completely unnecessary.  I did OK - I'm definitely not as good as everyone else, but then again I've only gone twice.  It still sucks going with people who are a lot better, b/c I watch them stay up most of the time and get to do fun things, and all I do is putter around behind the boat and can't even get out of the wake.

I'd like to get better, b/c that's just the way I am, but I don't own a board, bindings, or a boat, so I can't really expect to do this more than once in a blue moon.  It's kind of like why I don't ski a lot (aside from lack of time and poverty) - I get a little better while I'm doing it, but then I don't do it for a long time and I suck when I come back.  It gets tiring taking two steps forward and then starting all over again.  Not really referring to wakeboarding there, since I've gone all of two times, but just in general that's how I feel. 

I also don't like to be the worst one at anything.  I know other people aren't getting pissed off at me, but when I bite it after staying up for 30 seconds (and taking 15 minutes to get the bindings on) I feel like I'm just wasting time that they could be spending doing jumps or other things that competent wakeboarders can do.  It'd be nice to go out and actually get to board for a long time, but I think I'm best served by sticking w/stuff I know I'm pretty good at - i.e., swimming and the odd game of volleyball.

Unfortunate incident on the way home - thanks for coming over for a little while after we got back Vick.

(Up shit creek w/o a paddle...)


8/14/03-

Had a real blast doing work in Walker today.  'Nuff said about Walker... let's move on to more palatable conversation.

Went over to the pool after finishing up my research.  Was determined to do a long swim today due to the setback on Tuesday.  Today wasn't Tuesday, however.  It was much warmer out, and the pool has heated up due to the hot weather.  So my arms were dying after about an hour of swimming (whereas on Tuesday night I felt fine after an hour).  My legs were cramping up since I could just feel myself sweating while I swam.  Still I made it through an hour and 45 minutes, which, even with my slow "speed" at the end of the swim, is close to 4.5 miles of swimming.  With warmup and warmdown, I was pushing 9000 yards.  So I'll be ready for the 10K.  No question.

This was like 4 days ago (I'm writing this on 8/17) so I can't remember much about what I did this evening.  I recall that my shoulders felt absolutely abused and I was pretty tired in general, so I'm thinking I just talked on the phone some after 9, and IM'ed with people too.  Who knows...

Junk e-mail of the day:

You know, it's getting harder and harder to come up with these.  I can only talk about porn  penis enlargement, weight loss, or refinancing e-mail so much.  Sadly, these subjects constitute about 95% of the e-mail I get.

From:  Lunar
Subject:  Get 1 acre of land on the moon for $29.99

I find this e-mail hilarious.  Supposedly, some guy or company more or less staked their claim to the moon.  They have a link to a CNN article that mentions their website.  I would think that they WOULDN'T want to link to an article that has experts interviewed as saying that the guy's ownership of the moon is complete b.s.  The Moon Treaty agreed that governments cannot stake claim to land on the moon.  This guy thinks he has a loophole in the treaty b/c it doesn't discuss corporations or individuals.  However, according to the expert they interviewed: "As soon as you go into private properties rights, you end up in national rule. The rights of private ownership depend on one national jurisdiction or another."  So the point is, this guy is full of it.

I don't think any government, space agency, etc., is too concerned about this guy.  Nobody's doing anything with the moon right now, and unless space shuttles get a lot cheaper in the near future, nobody WILL be doing anything.  Besides, are they really going to worry about what some person claiming to have a deed for one acre of land on the moon.

Now I don't have a problem with the thing where you name a star.  You're not staking claim to anything, really, and it's more just a symbolical thing.  In fact I named a star... if you want to know for who or why, ask.  This whole buying land on the moon thing just seems asinine though.

The e-mail concludes by saying Property on the Moon makes a great gift because:

(a)  A great gift - Thanks I'll keep that in mind if I start dating again.  What woman wouldn't want lunar land?
(b) Potential prudent investment - Yeah, prudent if you were planning on flushing your $29.99 down the toilet.  This might be slightly more beneficial... might be.
(c)  Interesting conversation piece - So if people are ever discussing what an idiot you are, you can throw in the little tidbit of the lunar land that you bought from somebody who doesn't own it, just to further the conversation.

8/13/03-

Saw Captain Ron (one of our SO athletes) on the bus again this morning.  Had a "conversation" w/him on the bus.  Understood very little.

Felt good during my swim this morning, but the time wasn't that fast.  This happens a lot in the morning - well actually I really don't feel good very often in the morning.  But even when I do, my time is 1-2 seconds slower per 100 than it usually would be, just b/c my shoulders are so tight.

Spent the day at Walker.  Not much fun over there.  Went to Sports Cafe for cheap (49 cent!) burgers and eat outside, as it was a nice day and we could do some buddy-watching.  Saw lots of mullets and numbers on cars, as usual.

I'm going to have to start writing stuff down during the day.  I know funny things happen, but I forget 'em all the time in the busy fog that is my life.

Lifted 5-6:30, then bused it back home.  Hung out w/roommates for most of the evening.

Oh I dropped a dinner plate on my face tonight.  Yes, a dinner plate.  On... my... FACE.  I think I'm a guy w/pretty good coordination, but I really have not been too impressive in that department the last couple of days.  How'd tonight's mishap occur?  Well, my dinner plate was sitting on top of a stool.  I was laying on the ground below the stool and didn't realize the plate was still on top of it.  Tilted said stool over and... well, said plate falls and hits me just below the left eye.  Fortunately it didn't get my eye and didn't break, but I have a nice raised welt under my eye that might just turn black & blue in the near future, if I'm lucky.  So if you see me and wonder what happened... now you know.

(And yes, I AM going to see Vicki Sue Fritton run in the Philly marathon the Sunday after Thanksgiving!!!)

NL CENTRAL

Astros  --
Cards  1.0 games behind
Cubs    1.5 games behind

Woo-hoo, Cubbies beat the Ass-strokes today!  Should be a great race the rest of the way.

Junk e-mail of the day:

From:  NoLonger Ladies
Subject:  h0w about some naked girls on my computer?

Which computer are you referring to?  My computer here at home?  Or the one over at school?  I hope you mean the one at school... I think they would really appreciate if I put some pics of naked girls on the computer over there.  Wouldn't it be the first time an attractive girl was in Walker? (sorry meteo ladies)


8/12/03-  Penn State imploding

Seriously, what is happening on campus these days???  Office of Physical Plant (OPP) seems to get particular joy out of blowing stuff up.  No sooner had they finished construction between Shortlidge and Bigler than they shut down between Shortlidge and the "Art Museum" (probably less impressive than the Louvre in there), so that they could blow up the road/sidewalk there.  Also being blown up is the parking lot next to Deike, even though it seemed like a perfectly good parking lot, and it's already being repaved.  I know that summer is the time that these things get done, but there are only 2 1/2 weeks until the beginning of the semester.  You might want to finish up soon!  By the way - Labor Day weekend up here will be an ABSOLUTE BITCH.  First football game (it's a home game), which happens to be the same day as move-in day for the on-campus people!  I doubt there will be any traffic problems...

Spent most of the day at school today.  Got some e-mail from my parents... they made it to Rio but my mom's luggage did not.  Apparently it's in transit, however.  Also got a VERY important e-mail from the department... at least it's important to me in terms of my research.

The department brought in potential professor candidates at the end of spring and over the summer.  There was one guy who visited whose research basically mirrors what I'm doing.  He'd be perfect for me to work with, along with my current advisor.  Anyway, it looked like someone else was going to get the job, and that fell through, so Mark Roulston got the job!  He'll be here in January and I'll probably know him very well by the time my M.S. is complete.  He's a young guy, very friendly, very smart, and very into meteorology and economics, and most notably ensembles.  For those of you who know what I'm researching... that's it.

Two days in a row with good news from the department.... who knew???

Went over to the pool at 5:30 for a long swim.  Started what was supposed to be a 1 hour 45 minute swim at 5:55... a long while later, I noticed them taking out the lane lines (it's a 50 meter long, 25 yard wide pool... the lines were set up for people to swim 25 yard lengths.)  When they were doing this, I was happy b/c I prefer to swim "long-course" (50-meter lengths), and I thought they were switching over to this.  Well they were - b/c they were CLOSING at 7 PM.  I swam for an hour, and felt pretty good and would've made the full 1:45.  Why are they closing at 7 PM until after Labor Day?  "Lack of staffing"!  Gee, last summer I recall training for my 10K and swimming late evenings, and it wasn't a problem.  Also, last summer the indoor pool was open, and that requires more lifeguards.  This year it's CLOSED.  So there's actually LESS staffing needed than last year.  I think Penn State's just cheap.  Lifeguards make about $6 an hour.  They need 3 on from 7-9, so that's 6 hours worked, or $36.  There's 20 days between the end of summer session and Labor Day.  So they'd have to dole out an astounding $720 to pay lifeguards to keep the place open til 9 PM.  Meanwhile, ONE out of state tuition credit for a grad student costs $845.  So for less than ONE of my credits, they could keep it open.  Thanks guys.  But where's the extra money going?  A few guesses:

       (1)  To OPP - more funding needed to blow up more stuff that is already fine as is
       (2)  To satisfy Graham Spanier's addition to male prostitutes
       (3)  Rental fee for the Jaws of Life - to be used to extract Mr. Spanier's head and/or thumb from his rear                 end.
       (4)  To the secretaries of various departments on campus so that they may play more computer solitaire,                 Instant Message more frequently and chat w/each other endlessly and meaninglessly.
       (5)  Gold plating for a toilet in the football building

These are just suggestions.  Anyway, the lifeguard kindly notified me that "I could still swim in the White Building" this summer.  According to the description of the pool on PSU's White Building website:
 
The pool is a 25 yard, 5-lane lap pool, accompanied by a spa and sauna area. The pool area also offers water 
basketball, water volleyball, and a large poolside lounge area for relaxation or study space for those interested. 
                  Stop by and check us out!

Oh I've stopped by and checked it out, all right.  It sucks... royally.  First of all, why would you build a pool that is 5 lanes wide?  And why would you make it as deep as a puddle, so that swimmers scrape their hands at the shallow end?  Not that swimmers would actually want to swim there, b/c the water is about 115 degrees and wears you out in no time. 

Unfortunately, I was annoyed about the pool closing at 7 instead of 9, so I replied to the lifeguard who told me I could swim in the White Building pool:

"If I wanted to swim in piss, I'd just hop in my toilet."

Sometimes I really should keep these things to myself :-)

Before bed, was replacing a bulb above the sink in my bathroom and dropped the glass light cover.  Crash.  Took 20 minutes to clean up... I'm glad the broken glass didn't get in my toothbrush though.


8/11/03-

A real blast of a day.  Slept in until 9:00 or so due to the late night last night, and watched some SportsCenter.  Stupid White Building doesn't open until 11 AM now (for your convenience, Penn State!) so I took the 11:17 CATA (the crappy local bus service).  Then went lifting... then over to Walker for the day.  Got some good news in that I'll get some funding this semester, so I'll be able to focus a lot more on my research.  Came home on Boo CATA around 8:00... getting off the bus, saw Chris Brooks, who is a local Special Olympian.  He was wearing headphones and singing, if that's what you want to call his weird moaning, quite loudly.  He seemed, without question, special.

Hey, you know who the best Thundercats character was?  Snarf!!  My favorite T'cats episode was the one below (as described by the above website):
Snarf Takes up the Challenge

The Thundercats, fooled by Mumm-Ra and the mutants, manage to get caught. All except Snarf. Being the only Thundercat left, Snarf goes off to save them. His abilities to talk to the wild animals of third earth were his aid on his rescue. Mumm-Ra and the mutants underestimated Snarf’s capabilities, and suffered when Snarf was able to free the Thundercats.

Seriously, that one kicked ass.  It was nice that they all screwed up except for Snarf, and he bailed them out, even when he was up against the powerful Mumm-Ra and his band of mutants.  Me and Andy used to have plastic Thundercat toys, and Snarf was my favorite one.   For some reason at the flat base of Snarf there was a hole just large enough so that one of our marbles stuck in there, so it seemed like our toy Snarf had a marble up his butt.

Another busy one tomorrow - swim at some point (still haven't decided if it'll be morning or evening), and Walker for the rest of the day.  Time to watch a little "Family Guy" and Leno headlines, and then hit the sack.  No post- 3 AM bedtimes for me tonight!

Note:  Futurama on, not Family Guy :-(
             Two headlines tonight: "Health official:  Pools, Diarrhea Not a Good Mix"
                               Also, a story about a woman who wants a "Deer Xing" sign removed from the road in front of her house b/c too many deer are crossing and getting hit there.  Dumbass.

Junk e-mail of the day

From:  Why workout
Subject:  You don't need to

This e-mail tells me, "Lose fat and gain muscle with no excercise (sic)" ... maybe I could get famous with MY diet plan.  It's called "The Bob Tarr Put Down the Twinkies and Walk Around the Block Weight Loss Plan."  See, when I weighed about 225, I was gross so I ate less, especially late at night, replaced ice cream, cookies and chips with sherbet, Nilla Wafers and pretzels, and cooked for myself more than eating out.  I also started swimming a lot, and this year began working out too.  Now I weigh about 180 lbs.  I guarantee this weight loss plan can work for you!

Also, wouldn't that raise some red flags, if a product will help you lose weight w/o you exercising or changing your diet.  Like maybe it's a LITTLE unnatural???  I dunno, I suppose some people are just desperate to lose weight but too lazy to actually do it right.


8/10/03-

Rather uneventful day for me.  Went swimming, but b/c of the last two days (weather and poor PSU website maintenance) of no arm workouts, I felt real sluggish and only swam two miles.  Will have to make up for that this week, as well as lift three times this week since I only lifted once last week.  Boo White Building.  Aside from that -- lots of Walker Building, and very little playtime.  Boo on that.

Made London Broil for dinner, which was a nice treat.  The Simpsons was pretty funny, especially when Homer was trying to scare Lisa.  The new college football video game has been getting quite a workout over the past week.  I tried my hand at it and lost when Oklahoma cheated and made my defensive back miss a pass with about 15 seconds left in the game.  I punished them by becoming their coach and replacing all their starters with people at other positions.  I also gave them a horrible recruiting class.  The result the next year, for their 12 games, was:  16 points for, and 752 points against.  Bye bye Sooners!

Got to bed really late (sometime a little after three) -- writing e-mails I owed to people, and working on some other things.  Should be a fun day tomorrow.

Junk e-mail of the day:

From:  H&H Bagels
Subject:  NYC residents - H&H Bagels coupon offer

OK at least I used to live in Worcester.  I never lived in New York.  Currently, I don't live in New York.  I never WILL live in New York.  So why am I getting this e-mail???


8/9/03-

Carpet people showed up bright and early!  7:40 or so... it's a good thing for them I had to get up and was already arising from my slumber, because otherwise they might have been standing out there knocking for a while.  I swear a couple of them looked like they were in high school.  Joe Camel already had 'em hooked, though.  Anyway, when I came back home a little after noon, there it was, my nice new carpet!  WOO-HOO!!!!  Spent most of the day moving back in, while taking breaks here and there to watch TV, goof around, etc. 

Wanted to swim around 5, but it was pretty obvious that the weather wouldn't allow me to be in the water for more than about 30 minutes before the thunder would begin.  Didn't want to be a sloth and go two days w/o exercising, so I borrowed Jeff's bike and rode out to Toftrees.  Right about when I got to the Ale House it started absolutely pouring.  Couldn't see much and was soaked, but I didn't mind that.  I did mind the lightning (was going to write thunder, but sound can't kill you).  By the time it started thundering I was pedaling up towards campus, so I took shelter under the 322 overpass for about 15-20 minutes.  The storm was about over with, so I went back thru campus, out past White Course, and then up Corl and home.  Not as good a workout as swimming, but at least it was something.

Tonight - almost done setting up.  Back to work on that...



8/8/03-

As much as I wrote about yesterday, today will probably be that short.  Pretty uneventful day.  Worked at home, some buddy maintanence guy from Copper Bitch stopped in and sprayed my room with something to make it smell better... still no carpet people here.  Robert and Jeff went to dinner and then movies (don't worry, they went w/other people too!).  I didn't go b/c I was planning on lifting from 8-10.  I formed this plan after checking the White Bldg website, which CLEARLY said that the hours 7 AM-11 PM on Fridays... that's the summer schedule.  It didn't say anything about that schedule changing once summer classes ended.  So it turned out that the gym was only open til 7 PM, and then closed all weekend.  Ergo, only got to lift once this week :-(  Thanks guys... you know, some people actually DO use the internet to get information.  It's true.  I swear.

Junk e-mails of the day:

From:  Rosie
Subject:  Two strippers working their magic

I hope the strippers aren't Rosie O'Donnell and Rosie Perez.  The first is repulsive, and if the other one spoke more than 5 words with that horrible voice, I wouldn't be responsible for my actions.

From:  Felice Justine
Subject:  George, 30 year rates at record lows in Worcester!

Um... hate to tell you Felice, but I haven't lived in Worcester for over three years now.  And I don't give a crap if you've got record rates for me - I'm not going back to that dump of a city.

From: Lauren
Subject: Houses for sale from 10,000 dollars - Foreclosures, HUD, VAs

Is this ex-girlfriend Lauren or friend Lauren that's trying to sell me a house?  Either way, thanks ladies, but I'm not in position to buy a house right now.  What is a VA, anyway?

8/7/03-

Whew... it's been a busy few days.  Worked most of the day, then back here to my makeshift room.  Vick stopped by very briefly to show me how to get pictures to show up properly... thanks babe :-)  Hope you have a good trip to Massachusetts/New York.  Steve, have a good trip to San Francisco.  Enjoy the single women but remember the first rule out there -- keep your butt covered!  Also, even though this is a few days away, have a good trip to Brazil, Mom and Dad.  Yes, I'm jealous of all of you.

Talked John (Masters swim coach) into making a distance practice, which was not a good idea.  5x500s on the 6:30, which were quite a bitch (held between 6:05 and 6:12 - still not a lot of rest).  A very good workout though...

Went to the  Wing Challenge at Tussey Mountain with John and Jeffo.  By the way, note on the website that they say that BOB DYLAN performed there.  Yeah, I'm sure that was what, just the other day?  I guess you can reference that, but don't do it if you're trying to fool people into thinking that real bands play at Tussey.

Challenge contestants for week 4 were Mad Mex, PA Roadhouse & Tavern, Angelo's (a pizza place in Boalsburg), and Damon's.  Damon's had the best location, i.e., closest to the entrance.  I had their wings first - good but not great.  Bonus points for having celery and blue cheese however - went back there twice more, but only to steal blue cheese into which I dipped the other wings.  Angelo's was second - very blah.  Why do pizza places even bother making wings?  It seems like all pizza places can do is make boring wings w/just the standard sauces.  PA Roadhouse's wings were next ... these were actually quite good.  Definitely the best of the four - I had the normal ones, but went back to try the "Surface of the Sun" wings.  My only complaint w/PA Roadhouse wings was that the Sun wings weren't nearly hot enough.  If you're going to advertise 'em w/that kind of name, they should be offensively hot.  Last was Mad Mex, which had weird flavors that were pretty mediocre, in my opinion. 

(Damon's won by the way - #2 in my book, but oh well)

Lots of buddies in attendance.... saw way too many hats and T-shirts with NASCAR numbers on them.  Very high mulletude on a few of them. 

Also saw a girl who looked exactly like (ex-girlfriend) Lauren.  I stared for a long time ... if she'd seen me she would've thought I was weird.  Unless it had actualy been Lauren, in which case I hope she wouldn't have been offended.

Beer was overpriced - $6 for 32 ounces!  I suppose this paid for the band that played, since there was no
cover.  The band was named "Body and Soul", and was a group made up of 4 guys and then a big girl who was the lead singer.  They looked like they were in their late 40s or early 50s... probably going thru some kind of midlife crisis or something.  The woman was wearing a long jean skirt and paisley top - kind of looked hippyish, so I figured, based on her attire, the age of the band members, and the name of the group that they'd probably be doing soul/folk music, something along the lines of Peter Paul & Mary, Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell, etc.  Fine by me.  WRONG!  First song - SKATER BOY by AVRIL LAVIGNE.  BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.  There's something really sad about a 45-50 year old woman singing a song by a girl almost a third of her age.  She went on to sing other timeless classics by Pink, Gwen Stefani, that overplayed Daredevil song, and basically anything else that has come out in the past two years that is on pop stations but has a tiny element of pop.  They also played God-awful versions of "Paradise City" and "Back in Black."  I suppose the woman had a pretty good voice, and adjusted it well to the singer she was imitating, but there was a certain lack of dignity about the whole thing.  Having two broads from the PA Roadhouse come up to dance from time to time didn't do much for the show.  I can't help but wonder if THEY felt like they lost some dignity up there.  Then again, some girls just like to dance no matter who is watching or how sad the situation is.


8/6/03-

Is anyone else amused by the new T-A-C-O Taco Taco Taco Bell promotion where you can win gas?  It seems to me like that's just a monologue joke waiting to happen.  One of the possibilities is winning a year's worth of gas... I think the only way to get gas for a year is to eat TB every day.

Most bizarre dream last night - basically paralleled the end of John Grisham's "The Firm", which I finished reading last night.  I was running away from people who had extensive resources and manpower.  I don't know why they wanted to kill me, but they definitely weren't happy about something.  Steve was in the early part of the dream, which I do not remember too well.  Made my way up from the southern part of the U.S. to New Haven, CT (the ultimate destination was Boston, MA).   I got to New Haven thru the air, but didn't take the conventional route.  Instead, I flew holding a hand-held rotor (like the top of a helicopter).  Two people, Homey and this girl behind the jewelry counter, checked into a hotel w/me, but they gave their real names despite my repeated requests that we use aliases.  The bad guys found me and were coming to kill me, but I jumped out of the third story ledge, landed flat on my belly and then got up and ran away.  The thugs didn't stop me b/c they all thought I was still in the hotel.

Now things get really bizarre - went back to get the "helicopter", but Tommy Beer (why was he in my dream???  I think it's b/c he looks like Mike Mussina) got it stolen from us.  He met up w/the annoying red-haired lady from "Suddenly Susan" (she was in the dream b/c they made fun of her last night on "Family Guy"), and they stashed me in the back seat of their car.  Jump ahead, where all of a sudden I am in the trunk of the pink car of HOMER SIMPSON.  Somehow, the bad guys start ramming the back of the car, and the trunk part starts separating from the rest of it.  I guess I got out of that predicament, b/c the last part of my escape involved me competing in a 20 mile swim/run in Boston.  The swim was about 12 miles and the run 8.  Somehow, Vicki caught me and passed me 4 miles into the run... I'm not sure how this would've happened since I should've been way ahead of her after the swim.  Even more strange, she passed me on this part of the run where you had to climb up a wall.  No offense, Vick, but you shouldn't be beating me in things involving upper body strength.  Anyway, right after the wall I was sitting down the basement of my parents house... apparently that was the last 4 miles of the race, sitting in the basement.  They got home, and asked what I was doing there, but I knew the house was bugged and that they were tipping off the bad guys.  I turned up the radio and whispered w/my mom so that they couldn't hear.  Right around then I woke up.

No real reason for telling that story... just a window into my dementia.  It was those once-in-a-blue-moon dreams where everything is very vivid and I remember most of it.  Not saying it made sense... just that I remember what happened.

Solid swim tonight... hour and a half at a good solid pace, and the shoulders and arms still felt plenty fresh.  Unfortunately, my calves were cramping up by the end, and I had to catch the 7:10 bus home. 

No Doug by the way... he was too tired to drive today.
 
Junk e-mail of the day:

From:  free xxx
Subject:  stop paying for pr0n

Yeah it sucks that I always am paying for my pron.  I think I might have a pron addiction.

8/5/03-

Stopped by the Copper Bitch office today and spoke w/them.  I don't understand why they don't get messages when I call their office and the phone is busy, thus transferring me to their answering machine.  Why have one if it either doesn't work, or you don't check it?  Anyway, they told me that I should get stuff out as soon as possible (meaning everything, even the really heavy crap like the bookcase and dresser) so they can come in and take care of the carpet.  Boy, no problem!  Special thanks to Vicki for coming over during my long lunch and helping me clear out into the game room, which now looks like a bomb has hit it.  However, I came home to find the carpet completely gone from my room, part of the padding from underneath the carpet removed, and a heavy-duty fan trying to dry things out.  So at least CB is making an effort.  While in the office, by the way, I overheard them talking about 19 other people who had reported flooding just at this CB alone.  Some others got it way worse apparently... at the new CB there were reports of 3 feet of flooding in peoples' basements.

Swimming just wasn't meant to be today.  Got in and warmed up, and started the main set, when thunder was heard.  Got out, and sat out for a half hour.  After 20 minutes w/o thunder, we were able to get in, swim a 300, and then get back out due to new thunder.  At that point, it was time to call it a day.  Will save the long swim for tomorrow.

In news involving friends who have moved out of State College, Doug is coming to visit tomorrow thru Friday, and I talked to Katie on the phone for the first time in forever tonight!

Junk e-mail of the day:

From:  Rose
Subject:  Tired of spoiled Western women?

This e-mail tells me I can "be happy for a lifetime with [my] unspoiled wife."  I am also notified, "Gorgeous women will do just about anything to marry YOU!"  Yeah, that has really been my experience so far.  Anyway, those people that say that good communication is the key to a solid marriage -- they don't know what they're talking about!  A good marriage involves plucking a woman out of Russia based purely on her looks.  It's also a good idea if she doesn't speak a word of English, and the only Russian you know is that "Da" means "yes" and that Anna Kournikova is hot.  Congratulations, you've found the formula to success.


8/4/03-

Updates to come for the preceding 4 days... right now I'm trying to deal w/research, work, swimming/lifting, and a fun new crisis in my bedroom.  Over the weekend while I was home it rained a lot, and apparently some of that water decided to make its way thru the floor into my carpet.  The room smells like absolute ass, and lighting the two fruity-smelling candles in my room has only created a smell combining fruitiness and musty men's locker room, which might even be more disturbing than the original smell.  After lifting tonight, moved almost everything out of the room b/c Copper Beech had BETTER be doing something about this soon.  So now I'm temporarily displaced into the game room.

Rest of the day - did some work here, played the last game of the season w/Raytheon's team (it was the first playoff game, and winning 2 in a row was a little too much to ask - for that team, winning a game in 2 seasons in a row would be progress); the usual Monday night dinner fare of 3 large one-topping Mike & Dave's pizzas for $12.69, then a tough workout. 

Junk e-mail of the day:

From:  Center for Progressive Healing
Subject:  "Come in a Smoker and Leave a Non-Smoker"
                   "Weight Release with Ease"

Well, I think I have the "leaving a non-smoker" part achieved for that first one... will have to work on going in as a smoker.

As for the second one... I think if I "release" any more weight, I'll be in the hospital.  Tell me, how exactly does someone who is 6'4" and weighs just 180 lbs lose weight with ease???

8/3/03-

Happy b-day Katie!

Woke Vick up ... twice ... the second time she went running while I putzed around the house.  We had some luckfest (I see why they call it brunch now), and then went to chip and putt.  Vick played pretty well except she fell apart at the end.  I played much better on the back nine once I realized that I could swing harder and the ball WOULDN'T necessarily go over the green.

Stopped at Diane's for yet more water ice (I even had two helpings - can't remember what I had first, but watermelon was second).  Then Vick drove us over to Riverside to give me the grand tour of her hometown.  It's an interesting place.  Still, no need for Moorestown people to look down on it.

Back to my parents' place for yummy orange chicken, then drove back to State College.  That drive is getting SO unbelievably boring... I wish a cow would wander onto 322 or something, just b/c it would be something new happening.  Anyway, it was nice to swim so well and spend a whole weekend w/a friend.  Hope I get to see some more of my Jersey friends the next time I'm there!

8/2/03- RACE DAY

5K today... 9th out of 67!  1 hour, 11 minutes, 36 seconds (29 seconds slower than last year, but the race was about 500 m longer, so actually dropped about 6-7 minutes to last  year!)

Thanks to Vicki for coming to watch, my parents for getting up to make me chicken and pasta, and everyone else who wished me good luck! :-)

Results to be posted soon on a new page w/the 5K story and photos from the race.  Stay tuned...

After the race - beach w/Vicki.  Ocean water was quite cold.... brrrrrrrr.  Air temperature was great, though.  Vick passed out and I read some book about the end of WWII.  At the end of the beach day we headed over to Johnson's for some delicious caramel popcorn, then stopped at Diane's gourmet water ice for some X-tra delicious red raspberry water ice.  For my money, Diane's is the best water ice around... just a shade ahead of Patt's in Pennsauken, which we went to 3 hours after eating at Diane's.  Did I mention I love water ice?

Went to Christian's house and played some fighting game.  I think it was some Mortal Kombat or Final Fantasy, or something along those lines.  Vick played against the other girl there, and of course they had to be female characters to make it a true catfight.  I stuck with my usual technique of pressing lots of buttons as fast as I can (note:  this technique only works in fighting games, and sometimes not even then.)  Highlight of the games was when Steve was playing Christian and was almost done for.  All of a sudden, his character gets going in some special move, and Steve starts flipping out and jumping around the room.  He is jumping and facing away from the screen as his guy kicks the ass of Christian's character, and wins the battle.  Steve puts down the controller after that ... he's spent.

Home for a quick but nice nap, then up to bed :-)

8/1/03-

Stopped at the sports store downtown.  Fortunately, I don't have the same problems there that Vicki does b/c I'm buying a suit, goggles, or lifting gloves, none of which requires a whole lot of customer assistance or salesperson knowledge on their part.  Today the purchase was a new pair of goggles for my swim tomorrow... so that hopefully I'll do a decent job of staying on course and swimming in a straight line.

Vicki and I set out for Jersey at about quarter to 4... had a great trip thru the Schuylkill, especially considering it was about 6:30 on a Friday when we were passing through.  Ate dinner at Passariello's in Moorestown, which is really a good place.  They've got Italian dishes in a cafeteria style... a little more expensive than someplace like McDonalds, but almost just as fast, and definitely quicker and cheaper than a regular restaurant.  Beats the Olive Garden any day.  Passariello's is run by fresh-off-the-boat Italians, which makes me think again that immigrants are some of the best businesspeople.  For a long time there were a string of failed businesses in that spot, but these guys came along, had something they were good at, saw a need in the community for what they could offer, and created a thriving business.  I hope that place sticks around for a long time.

Crappy, rainy night, so we just stayed in and watched some TV.  Dropped Vick off for the night at her best friend Tracy's house.  Watched some TV show there about some detective w/OCD, and read a couple of stupid sex quizzes in Cosmo and GlamoUr.  Asked Vick what Kegel exercises are, but I have to wait until there's a more appropriate place for the explanation.

Went home and hung out w/parents and aunt and uncle visiting from Virginia.  Lots of cute pictures of their first grandson, who is nearly a year old now.  Hit the sack around 12:30 in the COLD, COLD basement.


7/31/03-

Time to play a little catchup here.  Yesterday, boss gave me crap for showing up 7 minutes late and told me to be at work at "6 a.m., not 6:10" today.  Boss is supposed to arrive at 6 today and gets there at 7:30.  Simply hilarious...  I guess when you spend a lot of your life being a prick, sometimes it's gonna come around and bite you in the ass.

Had a pretty solid swim today... cruised a couple of miles, but felt more tired than I should have.  Made it a late swim, and was rewarded with the lifeguards changing the lanelines to long-course meters.  It's SO much better swimming that way.

Not much else going on... idea kicked around w/Vicki of doing a triathlon together, but here's my beef:  the "big" triathlon, like the Ironman, is 2.4 miles swimming (would take me about an hour), 112 miles biking (over 5 hours), and then run a 26.2 mile marathon (between 3 and 4 hours).  Why the hell is the swim only 2.4 miles???  I guess if I were doing the whole thing, I really wouldn't want to swim something like a 10K and then have a marathon staring me in the face after a nice long bike ride.  Still, I don't want to do something where I swim for an hour and then wait for the biker and runner on my team to finish.  If I'm going to do it, I'll do the biking part too.  Six hours biking can't be too bad, can it??

Happy b-day Nitro!!!  Hope to talk to you sometime soon!

Junk e-mail of the day:

From: "Daniel"
Subject:  "Goes down on her man"

What?  Is there something I'm missing here?  Since when did the name Daniel become associated with a she?  I guess since this is some odd porn site e-mailing me, maybe this Daniel used to be a Danielle, or something along those lines.

P.S.- Meg don't go back to the boy!  You'll be fine w/o him!


7/30/03-

Skunk update... it's now been ~2.5 days since the skunk was run over, and the smell, while it has faded some, is still present.  I pray to God that I never get sprayed, and that none of my future pets get sprayed either.

Went to Big Lots today and got a bookcase.  If you don't know what Big Lots is... it's kind of like K-mart, except much smaller and more ghetto.  If the Pennsauken Mart were in the format of K-mart... it would be Big Lots.  Anyway, I put the bookcase together all by myself, which really isn't much to be proud of since a dimwitted chimpanzee could've figured it out w/o the directions.

Everybody's favorite buddy Jeff Gordon was on the radio this morning.  They asked him about his relationship w/Dale Earnhart and he said, "We weren't the big rivals that people made us out to be.  I mean, we weren't the best of friends... we didn't go fishing together..."  HEY BUDDY

Passed up on some good stuff today due to my swim on Saturday.  Some meteos went to Shitsburgh to see the Butt Pirates play the Padres -- mainly b/c they wanted the golf umbreeeeellaa giveaway.  Vicki and some others were going caving late tonight.  Unfortunately, either option would've kept me up until at least 1 AM, and I gotta get up quite early tomorrow, so I decided that a night at home was a good idea.

FINALLY felt pretty good swimming tonight... did the first mile of my swim in about 22:12, and then was tired for the second mile.  That tends to happen when I count laps and get my mile split.  Still, it was good to feel my distance stroke getting back in order.  Didn't feel as good as the weekend of the mile ocean swim, but still, if I feel like I did tonight on Saturday, I won't be upset.   Note to self -- it would be a REAL bad idea to take the 5K out the way I did my first mile today... let's just say the last 2 miles would be VERY painful.

Off to eat a Christian Cantwell special (Stouffer's lasagne) and some garlic bread, then off to dreamland...

7/29/03-

Well a skunk got run over at some point before 4 p.m. yesterday around the intersection of Martin and Aaron Streets, and that area still reeks today.  The smell has diminished from overpowering to merely offensive now, but still that skunk must have had a lot of spray saved up.

Shoulder is hurting again today... the damned left one as well.  I guess I'll just deal w/it, since it's not like I haven't swam thru pain before, or swam with a shoulder injury before.  If it gets real bad, I can find out what's wrong after September 6 (the 10K). 

So I have this theory about overplayed music... I mean seriously abused by radio stations.  I think the most overplayed music, at least in my life experience, is rock music that is not too "heavy" for the pop music stations.  I started thinking about this when I heard that Evanescence Daredevil song for about the 40th time this week.  Like for example (you Philly area folks will understand), songs like that can be played on WMMR and WYSP, but also will get air time on stuff like Y100 (cause it has some sort of "alternative" edge to it, whatever that means), WPST and Q102.  In State College, it means that 97.1 (rock) will play it, but also "alternative" stations like 101 and 105.9, and pop stations like 100.1 and BEAVER 103.   A few examples of this phenomenon include:

"Lightning Crashes", Live - proof that the phenomenon can affect, and even destroy, songs I like, even if only for a short time.  This was one of the "Meadowbrook songs", b/c it was during the summer of '95 when I worked w/Steve at Meadowbrook Swim Club (what a dump, by the way).  Heard this a record 10 times in one day, between work and travelling to and from work.

"Shine", Collective Soul - Didn't even like this song originally.  Still don't.  Another Meadowbrook classic.

"Outside", Staind - Much more recent.  Like these guys too, but enough is enough.

Let me know if y'all have any more for this short list.

10:30 p.m. update - drove past said skunk and yes, the smell is still blowing up that surrounding area.

Played against some team that was shorthanded (couldn't field a 4th outfielder and supposedly were missing  a number of their best players tonight) -- but Raytheon's team WON!!!  From what I hear, that's the first time since sometime last summer that this particular team had a win.  I'm so proud :)

This week is DRAGGING ALONG... for a litany of reasons I can't wait until Friday afternoon...

Junk e-mails of the day:

"They will think it's a third leg" -- add 2-3 inches
"That monster will be in your shorts" -- exact same e-mail content as "Third Leg" and "Scare her..."

I clicked on a link at the bottom called "RMV" thinking this was remove.  Unfortunately it was just a ruse, and I was taken to the website to find that the product is called "Max-Girth".  That's right, adding 2-3 inches of GIRTH.  I didn't realize so many girls wanted to have sex w/a soda can. 


"Men have theirs... now women have their turn"

Amazing discovery -- he has a blue pill what about you?  This product offers me, a woman, Easier Orgasms, Multiple Orgasms, Orgasms through Intercourse, Increased Desire, and Unbelievable Sex.  OK, so apparently I am inadequate in bed as both a male AND a female.

7/28/03-

You know you're getting old when you sleep until 8:15 and it feels like you slept in REAL late.

Conversations today w/Vicki:

V: you can't really trust anything he says anyway... he'd hump a door
B: only if the door had big tits, probably

V: but they try to tell you that it's about sharing feelings and stuff
V: anyway... but then WHILE telling you it's about sharing...they make sure to tell you it's about making babies too
B: he's sharing his sperm w/your vagina

V: communicate out the ass
B: maybe that's a problem... the fact that you have no ass out of which to communicate

Also learned today that Laura Vogel is going to be getting tan by mid-August ... sure Laura, we ALL believe you there!

Doing work from home today, taking Jeff to look at a bike, lifting, and then playing a little softball with Raytheon's sad-sack team.  Swimming is out of the equation due to time constraints and sore left shoulder... booooooo.

On the way back from Jeffo getting a bike... drove up behind DAVE GARIS, who hit 30 mph on Aaron Drive (speed limit 25).  For those of you who don't know, Dave is one of our SO (from now on SO = Special Olympics) softball players who drives... SLOWLY.  He's legendary for going 20 mph on Atherton (speed limit 35), so to see him actually exceeding the speed limit was quite a shock.  Of course, once he started going up the hill he got back down to his usual 20 mph.

Not a bad workout today... then went to softball and lost 26-6.  And to think that Vicki was offended when I referred to Raytheon's team as "sad-sack."  Apparently I am very good on the infield, but can't judge a fly ball to save my life while in the outfield.  Hey, I never said I had decent depth perception.

Quite tired tonight... hopefully will make it up for Family Guy and headlines on Leno, then off to bed.

7/27/03-

Wow what a terrible swim!  As good as I felt last weekend, that's how bad I felt today.  Stopped after 45 minutes b/c I just didn't feel like suffering thru another crappy 45 minutes.  A number of factors contributed to the debacle:

(1)  hot & humid - harder to breathe... felt like I had a hairball in my throat
(2)  upper body still tight from lifting on Friday
(3)  took two days off from swimming before today - stroke mechanics felt out of whack
(4)  windy - pool was very choppy
(5)  didn't get to eat until an hour before swimming - I'm realizing this one is a lot more important than I thought.  Like last Saturday, I ate a big chicken parm meal at about 3:00, and then swam at 6:30.  I think it takes 2-3 hours for the food to really digest and the body to get much sustenance from the meal.

This isn't too big a deal though... I'll add a two mile swim tomorrow.  Today was more to train for the 10K, which will take at least 2.5 hours, than for this weekend's swim.

I got a 13 piece knife set for $11 today.  That way when somebody tries to steal Jeff's NEW Playstation (the old one having been successfully stolen), I can use my cutlery on them.

Special Olympics softball practice at 5:00 today.  It actually IS hot and humid today, so I'm praying that Amanda and her 27 temper tantrums decide not to show up.

Another observation from earlier in the week:  I got an e-mail in my hotmail junk box w/the subject "Scare her with your humongous d*ck".  Is this really the best idea?  I'm not the biggest ladies man in the world, but I really don't think that a man should hope to inspire fear in the opposite sex w/the size of his genitalia.  Chances are, if a girl's initial reaction upon seeing it is "Dear God, what is that?", things aren't going so well.

Well softball was about as fun as a fart in church.  I spent the first 15 minutes batting, which was fine.  Amanda wasn't there, which was DEFINITELY fine.  Then Glenn banished me to the outfield, where I encountered about three balls in an hour and a half.  By the end I just let a ball go past me b/c I was so bored, at least jogging after it would be something to do.  Now I don't volunteer for that to have fun, but when more than half of the batters have no hope of even getting the ball into the outfield, it's hard to stay interested.  Not to mention that I volunteer to help the athletes, and it's hard to give advice to a batter, baserunner or infielder when you're exiled in the outfield.  Maybe I should've just stuck to swimming :-(

Matt P. was there.  He was angry at himself, this time b/c he wanted to break Cal Ripken's record.  I had no idea that Cal Ripken was a Special Olympian, or that he had a record for number of consecutive practices attended.

Last note of the day -- no apologies

7/26/03 -

Well today was kind of a slow day... not that that's necessarily a bad thing.  Sometimes I just need to recover, and today was one of those days.  I got some work done, but not as much as I'd planned.  There's always this week, I suppose...

Today somebody said to me, "I think the upstairs needs swept."  WTF??  Who talks like this???  "The trash can needs emptied", "Light bulbs need changed", etc.  Seriously, is it really that hard to say "The upstairs needs TO BE swept", or "The upstairs needs SWEEPING"???  I swear, the famous Hamlet soliloquy "To be or not to be", in Central Pennsylvania would simply be "         or not            ." 

Tomorrow is a big swim... hopefully around an hour and a half straight swim.  If I can keep holding 1:18s per 100 (if you swim, you get it), this should be about 4 miles.  Then it's time to start coming down in yardage to rest up for the big 5K next Saturday.

I guess this'll have some other musings from this week, when my website was not so well established.

The other day I was lifting, and this guy was doing a certain exercise.  He was using one of the handles and pulling across his body, away from the machine.  It's actually pretty good shoulder exercise.  The question I had:  was it really necessary for him to be holding his johnson with the other hand?  Maybe he wasn't holding it, but he sure had a firm grip on the front of his short, right around the crotch area.  If that's part of the exercise, maybe you should find somewhere else to do that one, buddy.

Thursday I wasn't having the best day, but I didn't feel so bad about it after seeing what happened to the dude at the gas station on my street.  He drove up in an older blue beamer (not beaver) and stopped his car.  Upon getting out he realized that he'd pulled up to pump w/the gas tank on the other side.  This was more of an annoyance than a problem.  The problem came when he tried to start his car, it made a sound like a dying (and suffering) quail, and then smoke started pouring out from underneath the hood.  I didn't stick around to find out what happened to the guy, but he tried multiple times to start the car, and then gave up and walked to a pay phone at Advance Auto Parts.  I hope if he was stuck there for long, he had some money to go bowling or go eat at Hoss's.
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