Final notes from the road
- The best bumper sticker combo from the other day - on one side a bumpersticker with Che Guevera and the word "Revolutionary" underneath. On the other side...a bumper sticker that says "TOOL". Perfect combo.
- Can we now remove the bumper stickers that refer to 2004? It is 2006 after all. Do ALL of you people work for Microsoft or something?
- We visited Trek of Columbus today. The Trek concept stores are cool in that you can get a feel for the entire Trek/Nike line. However, I have to give a huge thumbs down to the women's wear. Dude, colors! Please! I did like their very cool WSD waterbottles though. My only complaint overall is that the Trek concept stores don't seem to leave any room for local personalization. I always love checking to see if there's a pair of team socks or state socks in stock. That didn't exist there. So the marketing was awesome and slick and well done, but the store just felt impersonal to me.
- We passed a truck hauling an H2 that was white with pink polka dots. On the side it said "Victoria's Secret". "That's strange", I told Chris. "I think of those being manly, not delicate, romantic, and feminine." Chris said "Really? Because when I think of Victoria's Secret, I do think of Hummers".
Travel
Further Notes from a trip
- Is there any better name for a state park than Big Bone Lick?
- Fred likes cats. A lot. He's pretty sure they taste just like chicken. This evening we were at some friends' house. They are very much cat people, but have been very, very sweet to Fred. All was well until I put Fredly in the house while we were in the garage admiring a Harley. I didn't want Fred getting into anything in the garage. When we came back in, my husband and I looked at each other..."Where's Fred?". Right on cue, we heard the sound of dog nails scrabbling on hardware floor in pursuit of a cat. I dashed up the steps to make sure the cat was free, dragged Fred down the steps, and it wasn't until I got him to where we were all standing that we all noticed the cat fur on his nose. Sigh. Pets & Children, right? Thank heavens these are very understanding friends, and it appears that no cats were actually hurt in the making of this story.
- The aunt & uncle whose 50th anniversary we went to this weekend had a few kids. Who had a few kids. Who are now starting on a few kids. When they all got together at my aunt & uncle's place, there were 45 people in the house.
- My anniversary uncle was telling stories today of chasing bank robbers one time for the state highway patrol (he was normally a dispatcher), and also about his tour of duty during WWII. Hard to believe that I know someone living who was in that war. He's a living breathing piece of history.
- I got to hear my brother give a sermon for the first time today. Very, very cool. It took me a long time to adjust to his becoming a priest, but I think he'll do well. The only catch is production of the descendants now falls on Chris & I. EEKS.
Travel
Labels: Travel
Notes from our road trip thus far
- West Virginia's state slogan has changed from "Wild, Wonderful West Virginia" to "Open for Business". Er....why not just change it to "Bring us your tires, your drills, your strip mines longing to breathe free"?
- This is Illinois:
- My husband car dances like a white man, which has to be one of the funniest, most endearing things I've ever seen.
- Things we like about Louisville: Kizito Cookies, Day's Coffee, and Ramsi's. Oh and Cherokee Park is a Fred-dog favorite.
- Things we hate about Illinois for this particular trip: Construction
Travel
Labels: Travel
Phloyd
A-sample tested positive for
Testosterone.
B-sample to be tested next. Taken after the amazing ride on Stage 17.
I'm trying to think of something flip and light to say about this, but quite honestly, it tends to make me a bit weary and frustrated if I think about it too long.
Kudos to Angie, my friend who's really not interested in cycling, for being the first to let me know!
Mr Fred will be signing autographs now
This banner is from the local chamber of commerce's weekly newsletter. Recognize the dog in the picture second from the left? That's right, his modeling career is taking off nicely. His career would be even better but he objects to the term "catwalk".
Now if you'll excuse me, I only took this break because Fred sent me out to get a better latte. He didn't like the way the first one was made.
Labels: Dogs
Flick's Bra Post
So Flick asks:
Can you do your next post on bras ?Mainly I'm curious on why some women chose
front clasping over back clasping. There's got to be a reason/difference right?
To which my response is..uhhhhhhhhh….
I think I’ve owned 3 front close bras in my life. One was a sports bra, and another I bought just to give an ex-boyfriend a difficult time. Personally I’m not a big fan because it changes the shape of the front of the bra, and it doesn't fit me as well. Very un-sexy.
I can think of two potential reasons
· Not having the juncture on the back show through the clothing. Sort of like wearing a thong to avoid panty lines.
· Not allowing teenage boys to snap your bra open.
So, ladies, I’m opening this one up. Feel free to reply anonymously, I’m willing to be edumecated – front or back close? What’s the difference?
Where the crack is free...
C4, a British TV station, has released a list of
50 Films to See Before You Die. Now I realize there's no such thing as a greatest film list that isn't controversial, but this one earns a big....C'mon. Any list that includes "Erin Brockovich" as one of the great all time movies immediately loses all credibility. The list:
2001 - A Space Odyssey
A Bout De Souffle
Aguirre, The Wrath of God
Alien
All About Eve
The Apartment
Apocalypse Now
Badlands
Black Narcissus
Boyz N the Hood
Brazil
Breakfast Club, The
Cabaret
Chinatown
City of God
Come and See
Dawn of the Dead
Donnie Darko
Erin Brockovich
Fanny and Alexander
Fight Club
Heavenly Creatures
Hero
The Ipcress File
King of Comedy, The
The Ladykillers
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India
Lost in Translation
Manhattan
Manhunter
Mulholland Drive
Night at the Opera
North by Northwest
Pink Flamingos
Player, The
Princess Mononoke
Pulp Fiction
Raising Arizona
The Royal Tenenbaums
Scarface
Searchers, the
Secrets and Lies
Sexy Beast
The Shawshank Redemption
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
This Sporting Life
Three Colours Trilogy
Touch of Evil
Trainspotting
Walkabout
Labels: Movies
The Calm Before the Storm
It's been a low key quiet week, with tonight having the twin moments of action (read the rest of the sentence, Bill) of an oil change and returning the cable box.
Let us have a moment of silence for the latter errand.
This weekend, we're off to St Louis to catch up with my familia and celebrate my Mom & Dad's 40th anniversary, and my Godmother and my uncle's 50th anniversary. And hopefully we'll get to catch up with our Louisville friends en route.
Good lord, this week we've been sitting in on the world's most boring training session. Thankfully it's been split into 2 hours a day this week, rather than having to do it all in two days. Unhappily, the instructors are calling in to several sites, which means they weren't able to see that 12 out of 35 people dozed off yesterday. Really, there just isn't enough caffeine in the world. It's been a tough slog, but now we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, only two more sessions, and I'll be on vacation for one. Of course at the current drop out rate of roughly 5 people a day, it's not like there will be anyone left on the last day anyhow.
Pahhhh-teee
A little groggy today… We had a Tour finale party last night for the guys from the shop. As expected, a decision was made in the P1 LEPers back contest (I’ll let them tell you the results…someday), we had burgers, mint juleps (Thanks, Soupy!), orzo salad (thanks Mrs Soupy!), and potato salad (thanks Skirt!), and watched Tour tapes. Then we introduced LEPers to “The Triplets of Belleville”, the greatest cartoon for adults ever.
What the party did not have:
Body shots
Co-workers sleeping together (probably good since the Skirt is the only woman at the shop – Brokeback Mountainbiker indeed!)
“Nail the neighbor kids with charcoal” contest - cancelled due to lack of targets
Fireworks
A visit from the police
Man, we’re old.
The Mean Streets
There's one piece of grafitti that I pass every day that makes me laugh. It says "Troop 232". How white bread is our neighborhood that the
boy scouts have to do the grafitti. I'm sure if you want to chill in our 'hood though, they're jiggy with it.
Finally caught my breath
Wow, so I'm finally calm enough to talk about yesterday's tour stage. But first,
this cyclingnews article is hysterical and
Patrick O'Grady rocksActually what can I say about yesterday's stage that hasn't already been said. It was amazing, and my hands were actually shaking as I listened to the end of the stage on
Eurosport. Watching the stage last night on tv, I was actually probably as excited for Floyd's wife Amber as I was for him. It sucks watching someone you love crash and burn (literally or figuratively), so I know that Floyd's bonk had to just be brutal for her. So yeah for her and for him!
And I loved that fired up salute at the end of the stage. After 7 years of Lance's machine like perfection, it was awesome to see some raw grit and emotion.
FINALLY some excitement this year at the Tour.
And I refuse to make any statements on Floyd winning this year. If I made bets on all of my pronouncements for this Tour, I'd be frickin broke. I'll be watching in the AM with bated breath though. C'moooooon Floyd!
Feeling the pain
Well I was going to respond to
Vica’s post about turning lesbian because of the lack of men who loved her, but I have to admit that I’m in such a great mood after today’s stage of the Tour, that this may come across not as reflective as it was in my brain early this AM. It may even be downright merry.
I sympathize with that “Is there any male in the world for me?” kind of feeling sooo much that I have to admit to feeling a bit of survivor’s guilt. When I think of my hetero single girlfriends who very much want to meet Mr. Right, I have to wonder how the heck I got so lucky. These are women for whom I have a lot of love and respect, and really believe that they are just more fabulous people than I. But somehow, I met an awesome guy with whom I intend to spend the rest of my life, and they’re still looking. And I can’t even say that it was anything I did that helped me meet my husband. So that leaves me in the awkward position at times of wanting to tell them to hang in there, that not yet doesn’t mean not ever, without sounding like I’m preaching or being smug married. (see Bridge Jones’s Diary, the greatest book about being single in your 30s, ever.) And suddenly some of the things that I was told by my already married friends make sense. Not necessarily that they made sense, but they just that sense of wanting to give hope. Alas, not having either the gift of prophecy or even the smarts to get myself a date most of the time, I end up tripping over myself trying to reassure that the reason they haven’t met a man who loves them yet has nothing to do with their worth, and only with the fact that the right dude has not yet come along.
So that now explains to me my very sweet friend explaining to me that God wouldn’t have given me the desire in my heart to be married if it wasn’t going to be so. I sure hope she didn’t hear that mental thought I had of “And what am I supposed to do now, Glenda the good witch, click my heels together and say ‘There’s no place like a wedding, There’s no place like a wedding’?” (Then again, I also remember the little girl who was aghast at finding that I was 30 and unmarried “well, you better hurry up!!” Because, you know, I hadn’t settled down into the hunt properly yet and needed a 10 year old to set me right.) Then there were the friends who had been dating each other for a long time, and who were floored that I would even want to get married. “Why?” they asked. “Because being single suuuuuccckks” I said.
Anyway, Vica, hang in there. If I knew anything more profound to add, I really would. But for now, I’ll just stay quiet and hope for the best for you.
Labels: Other Blogs
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo!
Say it isn't so, Floyd. Say it isn't so....
It can always be worse
I read
this and remember that our mad scramble to get to Europe for our vacation this past April could have been much worse. We could have been stranded in Belgium while France declared war. Then again I have no doubt my husband could have fended off the French army with a pedal wrench and a hand full of zip ties.
It's true, I'm so not above the cheap shot on the French.
Bourg d'Oisans
The Tour is climbing Alpe D'Huez today, going through the little town at the base, Bourg d'Oisans. A few years ago I was there enroute to Deux Alpes. We stopped at the little grocery store to get some Tour watchin' chow - aka anything other than Jambon et Fromage, ham and cheese sandwiches which were sold on every frickin' climb in the Tour. Tammie and I ate a LOT of Jambon et Fromage. And it sounds sooo much better when you say it in French than the reality was. Dry ham and cheese is dry ham and cheese regardless of the country.
I like grocery shopping in Europe, because it's a small step away from the standard tourist thing. Being a good American, I'm usually cramming in all of the highlights of Europe because I may never come back. But sometimes in all of that Eiffel Tour-Arc-de-Triomphe-Louvre kind of sight seeing, I just crave a moment of reality - even if it isn't my normal day to day life. But what I will always remember about the grocery store is buying croissants in a small town in the southeast of France and preparing to watch the Tour while the store blared Eminem over those muzak speakers. Awesome.
Labels: Travel
Not Quite the Espys
Since the sultry days of summer have finally found our un-air-conditioned city, most of my weekend was spent lounging either in front of the tv watching the TdF, or in the air conditioned bedroom, reading. Which all makes for lousy blogging. So instead of anything real, I’ll just give quick thoughts on what’s going on in the Tour de France. As a supplement for the Espys, I present the Sunshine and Light Awards.
Others have done it better (of course!), but in no particular order:
The
Black Widow Spider Tactics award for getting what they want and then eating their hapless provider goes to T-Mobile for managing to drop Sergei Gonchar the minute they hit the hills. He had the yellow, but the team went to the front and drove the pace so high that they dropped him. Rather than protecting their yellow jersey, they put all of their eggs in the Andreas Kloden basket. So far Kloden hasn’t shown the chops to make that a brilliant strategic move.
The
Tyler Hamilton Riding through Pain award goes to
Stuart O’Grady with his cracked vertebrae. Hopefully Stuey doesn’t also end up with the Tyler Hamilton doping award.
The
Catches Bullets in his Teeth award goes to Matthias Kessler. After a long breakaway and then getting swept up in the final sprint on stage 2, he managed to come back in stage 3 and take the victory from the sprinters. Then after a nasty accident that took out two other riders, he actually got back on, with gravel still in his helmet, and finished. He still finished ahead of 30+ other riders on the stage.
The
Are You My Daddy? award goes to US Postal. It’s hard to believe this is the same (similar) team as the one that’s supported Lance for the last few years. With the exception of Popovych winning a stage, the team has pretty much just disappeared when the road tilted up. They obviously miss the strong leadership (dictatorship?) that Lance provided. I’m sure there’s a whole PhD in management paper waiting to be written there.
The
Where's Yoda when you need him? award goes to Tom Boonen. You can tell Tommy's REALLY frustrated with the lack of wins. But I think a few years of seasoning will have him kicking McEwen butt consistently. A little more experience might keep him out of the wind too early, or teach him the street-fighting kind of sprinting that McEwen excels at. Patience, young jedi.
And finally
The
Sweet Memories award goes to my husband. We met 5 years ago this month at a Tour de France party. To think his mom was worried that his cycling would get in the way of finding a wife. Instead it was the way we met.
Road Trip
We're back from a quick trip to the DC area. We had a chance to catch up with friends Lara & Eli, and their 15-month old daughter Alyssa. It was wonderful. I haven't seen them in over a year and a half, Chris hasn't seen them since last fall when he was in California for a race. I hadn't had a chance to meet Alyssa either.
Alyssa is a
doll. As Chris puts it, she's the baby girl version of Fred - happy, friendly, and fairly fearless. The baby for whom the phrase "sunny disposition" was invented.
We got to our hotel around 8:30 last night, got some mediocre Chinese food, and then Eli came over. Fred greeted him with a rare roll over so Eli could rub his belly. Fred is friendly, but usually not affectionate with other people the way he is with Chris and I. The German Shepherd aspect of him requires that he be constantly vigilant less some unknown terror attack the pack. So usually he's far too busy to do more than allow pats on the head.
Fred and Alyssa got along really well. She greeted him with "Woof Woof", and was absolutely fearless about walking up to a dog that weighed three times what she did.
After breakfast, we collected Fred from the hotel, checked out, and went to the park. It ended up being a Fred trip, a very rare occurence indeed. Usually he has to wait in the car during races, go all day without naps, and submit to several hour car drives with us nagging him to stop barking at passing semis. But this time we went to the park where he could run along a woodsy trail sniffing thousands of wonderful smells. Then it was to the dog park to play "chase" with Scout. Then it was running in and out of the lake to cool down before he had to go back to waiting in the car and a 4 hour drive home. But not a bad trip for the dog. Granted, nothing really holds up to the time we parked the car in a park where he could run around and we slept in a cabin. But not bad at all...
Labels: Travel
Would being German help?
For those of you who haven't seen Stage 10 of the Tour de France yet, and are watching it this evening, time to go surf elsewhere!! Spoilers ahead!I totally don't get T-Mobile in today's stage of the Tour de France. They put their whole team on the front of the peloton for the day...for what? They darn near shook off Honchar/Gonchar (however you want to say it), they let a break get well out of reach, and they lost the yellow. I know that they're riding for Kloden, but it seems to me they wasted a lot of energy today. Now I understand Cyril Dessel (who by the way is a former Jelly Belly...the US connection!) is not the most imposing rider in the Tour, but if you just don't care, maybe you should have sacrificed one or two guys and let the others wander around the pack with the rest of the riders rather than giving Phonak a magic carpet ride to the finish. I also like the part where Honchar/Gonchar was getting flogged at the end there, doing his pulls and delivering water bottles. I'm not buying that T-Mobile was on the front maintaining the glory of the yellow jersey. Not when the yellow jersey was busily doing domestique duties. It smacks of last year when they were chasing down Vinokourov. Maybe it doesn't pay to be non-German on T-Mobile.
Then again, my grasp of cycling strategy is simplistic, so maybe tomorrow, all will be made clear.
I do have to say that I like the part where AG2R was riding immediately behind T-Mobile, thus blocking other teams from coming forward. Had something like that happened in the local Wed night crit world championships, there would have been a meltdown of epic proportions. I'm sure the USAC would have been called in to mediate. So it amuses me to no end to watch it occur in the pros.
By the way, a good source of TdF stuff is the aptly named
www.tdfblog.com
Random Thoughts of the Week
Fred has a new fan. We were at the track (aka Fred’s backyard) and ran into a little girl (10-ish) and her Dad who was keeping an eye on her while we headed home. We all ended up walking the same way, and she confided that she really wanted a dog, but her parents said not until she had her own back yard. Then she reached her house and she and her dad turned in. This morning while on our morning walk, the Mom happened to walk out of the house, and immediately said “Oh! Is that Fred?” Amazing that the little girl could describe Fred so well that the Mom recognized him immediately.
La Vida Vica’s take on the lack of hair…um…anywhere is hysterical
Woohoo! Ate my first tomatoes off of the little potted vine last night. Straight from the plant into my mouth. It doesn’t get any fresher than that.
We’re off to DC tonight for a quick trip to visit our Best Man, his wife and baby. Can’t wait!
The first entry is in for the P1 LEPers Back contest. Don't miss out! Only one more week!
Maybe my Houston friends can answer Flick’s question: "What sort of sick shit is going on at the parties in Texas ?" Er, I don't know, Flick, I never did sick shit at parties in Houston. Ahem. Never. Must be out of Dallas.
The Best Obit Ever is here
Apathy
Ah the desultory days of summer. It's not terribly hot here, but I still find myself lying on the floor going "Why, God? Why? Why does there have to be a rest day in the Tour de France when all I want to do is watch people strenuously exercising while I stare blankly at the screen?"
We have a front porch which doesn't have steps out to the yard. This works well for us because it allows us to let Fred sit outside and watch the parade of humanity when we're not enthusiastic enough to actually walk him. Unfortunately he also takes a territorial stand on EVERY dog that walks past on our side of the street and certain dogs who he has taken offense to who appear on any side of the street. We're slowly working him into a few short barks and inside for a treat. But around 9:30, we close the door and Fred loses porch privileges. I don't want to keep neighbors awake. Unfortunately, of late, the neighbor across the street has started kicking a soccer ball against the curb. Bop...Bop....Bop.... Poor kid is bored, it's not like our neighborhood has a surfeit of places to play. Bop...Bop....Bop.... But he starts around 9:30, and plays all frickin' night. Bop...Bop....Bop.... Including hearing him at 2:30 in the morning. Bop...Bop....Bop.... Which is turning into Chinese water torture. Bop...Bop....Bop.... Chris had a run in with him the other night. Bop...Bop....Bop.... And has now taken to standing on the porch right about the time I'm trying to herd the dog in for the night. Bop...Bop....Bop.... I'm finally getting one of my guys to calm down and another is revving up. Bop...Bop....Bop....
No, really, I'm just not in the mood to deal with this. If anyone needs me, I'll be in Acupulco drinking Margaritas.
Heaven & Hell
Dog Heaven: When the deer that he likes to chase is delicately destroying a bush next to the train he likes to chase.
Dog Hell: I didn't let him off the leash to chase either.
Labels: Dogs
A Contest
Ok, my hubby's shop has a contest. One of their employees (AKA LEPers) has a scar on her back that they're thinking of P1-ing. For those who are not Trek geeks, that means they want to give it a custom paint job - a tattoo. For the
back story there's an interview with LEPers. For the contest,
go here. Riches await! Fame! Fortune! Enter now!
Awesome
UFOs or Blue Angels? You make the call
Did I get the photo where the 4 Blue Angels go by my window with the belly of the plane facing me?
No
How about the plane that came over the building next door and pulled straight up?
Not that one either
How about the shot of the two that were so close that I could see the NAVY on their wings.
Not a chance. Try to imagine these pictures as showing F-18s. Sorry, nothing compares to the real thing anyway.
Good, Better, Best
Good: The local air show is this weekend. I particularly am excited because I'm the child of a retired Air Force Captain and a current McDonnell Douglass/Boeing employee. The summer I worked there in college was one of the coolest work experiences I've had. I.LOVE.JETS. As a big bonus, my workplace is across the street from the base where it's being held, so for the next two days we'll get to watch the Blue Angels doing air show practice. I know what we're doing on Sunday.
Better: My friend Eva called last night to let us know she's pregnant. SWEET! We're going to go visit for the Greek festival. Which should be fun given her hubby's grandpa was one of that particular Greek Orthodox Church's founding fathers.
Best: Chris got a big thumbs up from the doc on his collarbone. Not a bad break this time (unlike the last go-around), so he's cleared to ride on the trainer (within reason), and he should heal quickly. It's been a really good 24 hours!
Out, Damn Spot!
Photo from Prodir Saunier-Duval team site Since Chris's wreck last week, I've been a little twitchy watching bike races. I can't even imagine what I'd be like if I'd actually seen the wreck. Anyway, the Prodir-Saunier Duval jerseys are
driving me nuts.
The red blotches on these jerseys when seen from a distance look to me like blotches of blood. I'm starting to feel a bit Lady Macbeth-ish. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the bathroom trying to clean the blood off of my hands.
End of Days
Fred is, for the most part, a very calm beasty. Small children hugging him and shrieking in his ear? No problem. Thunderstorms? No problem. Walk up and down a ladder for a slide? No problem.
Fireworks? BIG problem. And of course it's that time of year. We've been super lucky in that there hasn't been much firework activity. Until last night when someone set a few off between 9 and 11:30. And that's when, as my husband phrases it, Fred lost his shit. I tried to take him with me on a gauze pad run to Eckerd, thinking at least it would remove him from scary fireworks. When I got back to the car, he was sitting in the front seat (something he never does), and when I opened the front door of the car, he ran into Eckerds. When we got home I tried to build him a bunker in a closet, but ultimately he ended up doing this for the next hour or two:
Which looked like some bizarre re-enactment of the Blair Witch Project.
It's going to be a long day.
Reason 2,192,481 to love my mother
From a call I got this evening:
Hi sweetie, what's the name of the guy who got hurt in the Tour de France today?Thor Hushovd?
Yeah, I was just thinking that he was trying to be like Chris?Probably, but the good news is essentially he's got the world's deepest paper cut. He's probable to ride tomorrow though.
That's good - I wasn't sure precisely what happened to himNo, really, how many of YOUR moms are watching the tour every day? It wasn't something she ever did until Bill and I got hooked in the late 90s. Then she and Dad started following the tour also. They don't really follow the rest of the year, but Bill & I fill them in.
Got to talk to my brother on the phone today for the first time since he started working at the parish. He's thrilled, he just figured out they had cable and for the first time since he started the road to being a priest, he'll get to see all of the tour. He hadn't heard about Operation Puerto though, so I had a good time giving him the update....
Hey, I come from a long line of Tour junkies....
Things that made me laugh this week
Flick
sees the future, and it's looking a bit scary....
Vica's
Superman movie review is, as always, both informative and probably more entertaining than the actual movie
Daily Mumps - "That went well then"
And the Waiter deals with "
Sounding Gay"
It ads up
Man, watching the Tour de France is starting to bring back memories of the same ads from last year. Enzyte! It's been far too long since we saw your perky hero and his happy missus! And Focus Factor with the lady who says "Free? It must be good!" (er, yeah, lady - all good things are given away free first. You know like, crack, heroin, meth...) Usually I do try to support companies that sponsor cycling, but... thanks but no thanks!
What we're doing with our summer vacation
