spacemonk

for pre-race inspiration i went to the library and got touch the top of the world by erik weihenmayer - a blind climber who summitted everest. also amazon extreme about 3 relatively ordinary guys who went down the amazon on raft. kinda makes a 12 mile skate and any "hills" i might face tomorrow seem less intimidating

i also got thomas dolby's greatest hits - lordy, i'm cheesy!

major juice spill in our house (a common problem with the vertically challeneged). so i wipe it up. the floor, of course, is sticky, so i go to mop the section. as i'm reading the back of the mr. clean bottle i notice an ominous warning which says:
it is a violation of federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling

oh my, you are supposed to put in a 1/4 cup per gallon. i only needed to mop a small area so i used much less water and mr. clean (which is inconsistent with the labeling) PLEASE don't arrest me, i'm just trying to be a good dad...
sob, sniffle

i should be studying for my educational research class, but am i?
shucks, i intended to, but didn't all day yesterday either...

my daughter lost a tooth last night and the tooth fairy nearly forgot to visit - made the visit at 8am. good thing my daughter slept in this morning. the tooth fairy needs to get on the ball!

joke

q: what's brown and sticky?
a: a stick

i think i read that here a while back and i can't stop giggling about it.

i have a 12 miles skate race sunday. i'm a bit apprehensive. i have skated up to 15 miles more or less continuously, so i'm not too concerned about the distance, although i'm sure it'll be kinda tough. i'm more apprehensive about not knowing the course. i know it is all downhill, but depending on the size of the hills this might not be good...also not sure of other details about it as well

i'll go and pick up my packet later today...perhaps i can ask some questions to become more familiar with the route, etc...

projector problems today...arghh!
when things like this happen it often blows my concentration. i mean teaching about computers without a computer isn't really easy. i started to lose focus, but it think i pulled it together. since i have a small class, we just sat around the machine and i reviewed the examples that way. i actually didn't follow my notes at all, but think i was better off. think i ended up with a good lecture...

bbc6 has a feature/contest called the "beer nut biography" (apparently beer nut sponsors it), where they describe a band's history and you have to guess who it is.

well, i've heard this feature for months now, but today when i heard the presenter say it, i immediately remembered my dad, who used to bring me homw beer nuts as a snack when he'd go out when i was a kid - i felt real odd...

i mercifully deleted a couple of spin off blogs i created. my apologies to anyone who is bothered by this...

if you ever wondered what the music of pioneering german electronic band, kraftwerk would sound like played by a latin band, wonder no further. check out senor coconut

you're welcome...

new link: herdis
i will make it a point to read this blog more frequently as there are some great adventures described here...

against my better judgment i went to yoga class tonight. my knee held up pretty well - but a couple poses had us kneeling on the mat. i should have passed on them, but it didn't feel too bad at the time. now it's sore. will take it easy next few days - got a 12 mile skate on sunday...

i read nick hornby's ABOUT A BOY over the weekend. it was a very engaging book, as shown by how quickly i read it. title was a clever twist. wonder how badly the movie butchered the book, although HIGH FIDELITY (the movie) stayed pretty true to the book. even though ABOUT A BOY was good, i think both HIGH FIDELITY and FEVER PITCH are better. i think i will re-read one or both. for me, proof of how good a writer hornby is, is that he made a soccer book interesting. i think he has one more book i haven't read HOW TO BE GOOD, or something like that, will have to check it out...

my wife has commented that the bump on my knee from today's earlier fall is of the size and shape that it resembles a small head - kinda like the mike's hard lemonade commercial. if this turns out to be the case, i hope it at least has a pleasant disposition. in any case, it might be cool to have a drinking buddy.

ok - i need to update videogame systems from the dreamcast i currently own (which i love, but unfortunately lost in the videogame wars)...so, please post your opinions here on ps2 vs xbox vs gamecube

i am travis pastrana

went for a trail run today. my goal was to do 1/2 hr uninterrupted. usually i go for a half hour total running, but stretch it out by going for 10 minutes then a break, etc...so it adds up to 1/2 hr, but might take an hour to do. today i wanted to go 30 min without stopping which i pretty much did. the main stoppage came from my first real trailrunning fall. i tend to shuffle my feet, even when i walk. a co-worker once said he could hear me coming based on my walk. i'm ok, was a direct impact of knee on dirt, not the twisting kind which usually are worse for me. ended up with some road, er, trailrash, though not as bad as when i left half my ass on the pavement when i took a deliberate slide while skating to avoid hitting a wooden bridge at the bottom of the hill. anyhow, when i finished it looked worse then i though, blood kinda spread around - once i got it cleaned up wasn't too bad. put antibiotic on it and will ice it. i was commenting just yesterday how my right knee always looks swollen compared to my left, now, at least, they are even.

another slowdown came when i saw a beautiful long necked, long legged brownish bird. i have no idea what it was, any amateur ornithologists have any ideas?

my new hero is kathy youngren. i admit to knowing little about her other than she is a trail runner and her nickname is "quadzilla" because of her big quadriceps. isn't that a sweet nickname? wish i had one that cool. again, any suggestions (whether they accurately describe me or not) are welcome.

someone asked a while back for me to post cat photos. here is a photo of the 1 out of our 3 cats that i like...

question of the day: do i like the corrs because of their catchy, little, tuney pop ditties or because i find 3/4 of them REAL cute (esp. andrea)? hint: i think we are kidding ourselves if we think that anyone is immune to extra-musical influences (appearance, fashion, "attitude") re:pop music

related corrs note: perhaps this thought is solely based on my perspective as a heterosexual male, but is there something about the corrs genes (not jeans, but maybe that too!) that works better for females rather than males - i.e. why are the 3 sisters cute and the brother dorky?

ps...maybe he is there to make them look better by contrast - the same effect served by bono in their newest video - i mean when the camera pans from andrea to bono, it's like "WHOA"

here are the results of the race i skated in. the winning time of 14:44 is absurd (approx 22mph). under normal traffic conditions, it would be tough to drive the course that quickly. of course for the race, the roads are closed to traffic and you don't have to stop for red lights (although a red light at, say, the 5 mile mark to give me a bit of a breather might have been nice.) my time of 27min 48 sec (approx) (around 12mph) would have earned me a 2nd place spot in the women 60 and over division - mainly perhaps because there was only one competitor in that division.

for people who are not aware of how these kinds of races work, winning and losing really isn't the point for many (perhaps most) contestants. there certainly are some really serious racers who train hard and really are there to excel and do great. they care about winning. they are easy to spot. they are loaded for bear - wearing racing suits, 5 wheel skates that cost the better part of a year's car payment on my chevy tracker and they have their game face on. most everyone else is there for fun, the t-shirt, the post-race massage, free fruit and powerade, some camraderie, etc... each of these racers may have goals: finishing, personal best time, or achieving some time - but for most the main goal is having fun. after all, this isn't my job, this is my hobby - why do it if it isn't fun? i see some people at the finish line disappointed - usually the more serious types described above. well, who am i to judge, but i think some perspective is in order.

somewhat related topic: i made a new year's resolution a few years back not to do anything if it wasn't fun. that doesn't mean that i skip boring meetings or don't attend to any other less-than-fun responsibilities - it means whatever i do, regardless of how serious or boring, i am going to try to put into it a sense of fun and play and excitement - to make it interesting - without being disrespectful. if i'm sitting thru a horrible presentation, i try to analyze WHY i find it bad, and how i can be sure not to do the same things...so far i think it's been working out well