Friday, August 25, 2006



I don't know why everyone thinks Jean Schmidt doctored her 1993 Columbus marathon photo. Marie ran 3:19 at age 40.

Oh, here's our friend Stacy winning IM HI.

Monday, August 21, 2006

I guess I was out of the loop when the healthcare workers in NO were charged in late July. It is completely disgusting that those who risked their own lives, not to mention comfort or health to take care of the infirmed, (whom everyone else had abandonned) would be charged with a criminal offense. PLEASE, if I am 70 years old and a DNR, the hospital is flooded, no fresh water, no electricity, it's over 100 degrees inside PLEASE give me morphine and midazolam. Where was the law enforcement after the levees broke? Shooting at people trying to leave, already left themselves. We should all be so fortunate to have truly selfless people to take care of us during a disaster if we could not take care of ourselves. Ugh, it is digusting!!!!
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-na-katrina21jul21,0,6607636.story?coll=la-home-headlines
LA Times article from July 21.

In non-news, I got my diss survey up and running online. Still waiting on person #5 and now, September to roll around. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to get it done BEFORE classes started, like when I emailed all of them in early August. Oh, well. Obviously it's the tiniest blip on the radar of importance.

Johnny was a naughty boy, but Johnny is no more, for what he thought was H20 was H2SO4. HS chemistry. Apparently, the new airplane bombers would have died from sulfuric acid inhalation while assembling the bomb inside the airplane bathroom before the over an hour it would have taken to assemble the bomb with the chemicals they brought. So, apparently, it is not necessary that we have trashed all the creme de la mer and evian water before boarding. But, doesn't it make the Republicans look herioc to stop the terrorists before they get us again.
I suppose I am susceptible to the culture of fear just as much as anyone else, but it is disgusting to try to manipulate us into believing that what we are doing in Iraq is OK because we are preemptively stopping war or being attacked.
I can't believe the world has allowed the US to preemptively stop war essentially since we declared independence.
I know I said it wouldn't be so bad to be a tea sipper, but apparently the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree as Blair and W are bff's.

Well, some news is we saw Andy Roddick at Austin Java. Did I already tell you that? He is tall.
He won his first big tournament of the year today. The UT swim alums are breaking their own WR's left and right. Texas invite is this fall. It's pretty neat. Although, I don't know many of the current collegiate swimmers.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

ready to move

bh and I had a great vacation. met up with th in santa fe. hiked up santa fe baldy. it was not TOO tough, except the last mile was 1000 ft ascent. the net ascent was only 2000 feet - from 10 to 12, but the round trip was 14 miles. except that bh and th are part mountain goat, and have hearts the size of grapefruits, and mine is the size of a tangerine, I think. then we drove up to leadville. it was pretty awesome. we hiked up mount elbert - the easiest route was a 5000 foot ascent over a little over 5 miles up. from 10 to 14.5. round trip was around 11 miles, I think. the footing was easier, though. we were above tree line for a long time. the views from the top were pretty spectacular. leadville, itself was awesome. they have a 12 mile asphalt trail that circumnavigates the town, coffee shop with soy lattés, and a lap pool. the houses are cheap and unbelievably cute. most built in the late 1800's. we ate at tim's high mountain pies 3x. 2x pizza, and once an amazing sub sandwich. stayed at the historic delaware hotel. it was historic, but not too historic - running water in the room, etc. drove back in one day. not our plan, but it worked out. really enjoying each others' company. that has been wonderful.

back on the bureaucracy train trying to get 6 adults in a room together to listen to my proposal. I can see why people quit this thing before it is over. I have been able to see at many stages why people quit. I suppose it is not an intellectual feat at all, but a feat in perseverance and stubbornnes. thank goodness I am unbelievably stubborn. I had always viewed that as a defect.

felt emotional today during spin class when U2's "one" came on. kind of goofball, but I was overcome with sadness. still very unhappy with what all the goverments and militaries involved are doing in the middle east. I don't know what I can do about it. brad told me the san marcos convenience store owner, who is pakistani, gets harassed by the san marcos pd, a professor from texas state, and various patrons. I am so increduluous that these things happen in 2006???!!! I suggested we call the ACLU, but she would be run out of town, I suppose. she is unbelievably nice. it is irrelevant, but she is a non-practicing muslim. how inoccuous is that? her phone is tapped. rest assured your tax dollars are being spent listening to her talk about her family, their medical problems, and the store for hours on end. good job, w!

marion jones suspected of taking EPO. if these pro athletes really are taking drugs, would someone PLEASE tell them which drugs will actually enhance their performances. jones and landis should switch docs if they are guilty. maybe I am naive, but I think landis is innocent. I have no idea why a sprinter would take EPO, so I think Jones must be innocent, also.

bff neil walker was on the relay team who set the new WR in the 4x100 free at the commonwealth games. pretty cool!!!
saw other bff shaun jordan for the second time in a row while I was wearing my shaun jordan swim camp tshirt. guess we are cosmically tied... I really don't wear that tshirt very often!

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

better

look at a picture of floyd landis. then, look at a picture of barry bonds. one of these things is not like the other.
I was going to post some, but don't feel like going thru the trouble. but, do you get my point?
floyd's 2nd test comes back saturday. I will be shocked if it's true that he took steroids. if he did, he really needs to get a new doc. that would not help his cycling performance.

lana is here visiting. we are having a nice time. we took brad's computer to the mall today. we spent longer at the mall than we have in years and bought nothing. weird.
we have walked at the lake after I exercise every day so far.

48 hour cease fire that lasts 12 hours. huh.

despite the state of the earth, I am feeling better. I guess individuals have to do well to make any change, so I am not going to feel guilty about it. brad got a letter back from kay bailey yesterday. he had pointed out that she opposed clinton's going to somalia, and supported bush's going to iraq. she said that conflicts without an end date needlessly endanger our soldiers' lives. hm. she didn't respond to her contradictory statements in the letter. at least someone from her office wrote back. I believe if enough of us write to them and tell them what we think, surely they will listen. or VOTE. I realize this is probably unrealistic. but, otherwise, I go back into existential meltdown.