Rusty

So I just got done posting my first college football article of the season over at http://fatkidmusings.blogspot.com/ and I will admit, I feel rusty as heck. These things take a significant amount of time and thought. I have neither so I just fake it. But one terrible terrible pun aside I thought the article was ok, but not stellar. Hopefully someone will laugh, maybe someone will cry (me). The point being it's been a long time since I wrote one of those. They can be really fun to write but I just feel so out of touch with it. Hopefully it will pick up as I do it more often but if it's anything like my sex life, success will be short lived, rare, with long periods in between.

Another day another shirt

So I blew out the elbow of another shirt today. Today's shirt was a nice Joseph Banks white wrinkle free shirt. Awesome. That's only like another $70 bucks out the window. Luckily as my friend said, "The best place to go is Jos A Banks or a Brooks Brothers outlet store. JosABank has a sale every 30 seconds, that is an accurate number and not an exaggeration, so go check it out. " Funny story, there are no Brooks Brothers Stores out here, they closed the last one and a new one isn't opening till october. I like Brooks Brothers shirts more because they are longer. So I'll have to find a Joseph Banks. I have multiple white shirts this is just one of the wrinkle free nice ones. And While I was typing that sentence they had 3 sales. So hopefully I will walk into the store during one of their hundreds of thousands of sales a year.

Call me now and I'll tell you the futcha

This morning I woke up and while I was getting ready I had this obnoxious 'Alice in Chains' song in my head. I was thinking of it while shaving, thinking of it when I tied my tie, thinking of it when I ate my yogurt for breakfast (as a side note, yogurt might be my favorite kind of breakfast...fast). I was humming the stupid song when I limped out to my car and turned the key. And sure enough, what song came on the radio? Same one I'd been thinking about all morning, exactly in tune with my humming. Odd. I mean this is 5:45 in the morning so it's not like I heard somebody with the radio on previous to that.

I guess I would be less freaked out if the song in question was new and was consistently seeing radio play. But this song is over 10 years old, and you hear it on the radio every once in awhile but not terribly frequently. I'm not even sure why it was in my head, I don't think I've heard it for awhile. All I can think of is that I have some kind of clairvoyance or premonition ability that can only work in the most useless of situations. I mean how useful could knowing what song is going to be on the radio be? I guess I could win a couple dollars on bets or whatever but it just doesn't seem like the most efficient way of making money with a unique skill. I mean it's only slightly more useless then being a professional kitten fighter. Although to be fair I bet I could be the greatest kitten prize fighter of all time. And after I defeat each kitten I will have someone bring a radio into the ring, and I will predict what will be on the radio! We're talking dozens and dozens of dollars here that I could be raking in.

Not this crap again

So on Saturday I hurt my right knee playing beach volleyball. I am so disappointed. I'm not sure how badly it's hurt, hopefully it's just a sprain or something that will take a little while to get better. If it's not something simple it may require surgery, and that would suck royally. It's been about 7 1/2 years since I hurt my left knee, and as my friends have reminded me form time to time, I had a very bad time with that, and apparently was quite miserable. And why not? I spent most of my time in high school doing sports and being active. And I spent the majority of the spring in crutches, or in surgery, or rehabbing. It changed my life significantly and still affects me to this day, I still can't run like I used to with that left knee and I've never recovered a full range of motion. The thought of going through that whole mess again makes me pissed off and moody.

I was in great shape when I got hurt last time, this time I would not be in the best shape, not horrible but not great. There are certain things I enjoy in my life that I wouldn't be able to do for awhile and that would be a bummer. I love my bike ride to work, I love biking period. It is such a good way to start my day that I would be peeved to have to skip it for several months. I also wouldn't be able to work out like I want to, like I enjoy doing. Swimming to a large extent would be out and almost any kind of beach sport. Not to mention quite a bit of non-athletic activity, long walks, sightseeing etc. Most of that would be drastically cut down to what I would deem unacceptable levels. In the very near term I was supposed to go sailing this weekend and that is out for sure.

I guess the most frustrating part of this is how careful I've been over the last 8 months to take care of myself and not get hurt. I've been especially cautious because of my ankle and I've taken considerable care to try and strengthen my joints and other areas. This cycle just gets boring, hurt, recovery, period of unhurtness, hurt again. It's tedious and that's why I've spent so much time trying to fix myself in multiple ways. It just plain sucks and I wish it wouldn't happen. It makes me envision a very possible future where I'm just a broken old lonely man. I'm sure the old and lonely part will happen on it's own, the broken part needs to be fixed as soon as possible. As my co-worker just said, "Well now you don't have to wake up so early to go workout" (and thus I will be able to take her to the airport on Saturday morning early but that's no big deal). Great, wonderful, now my whole schedule is going to be shot for a bit. It's ok hopefully it will just be a sprain, and you can't tell anyway until the swelling goes down.

Originally I thought it was the MCL, but now it feels like it could be the ACL MCL or PCL. I originally thought it was the outside of the knee but today the entire front and outside of the knee hurt. It did not hurt nearly as bad this time when I hurt it as it did when I hurt my left knee, that was agonizing. But again it's all conjecture until the swelling goes down. I can't bike at the moment so it's going to at least be a week. Just annoying that the first time I try to go out and do something my knee gets hurt. Very frustrating. My ankle seems to be doing alright though. The knee has definitely tightened up since I've been sitting at my desk today. The fact that it is so hard to treat my knee will probably keep the swelling up for at least an extra week. Sigh.

Ascend my back and I shall carry thee

I was biking home from work the other day and I saw something that absolutely blew my mind. I saw a tow truck setting up to tow another tow truck. I nearly fell off my bike. I guess for some reason it never occurred to me that when a tow truck would break down another truck would need to tow it. It's like a broken down tug boat needed another tug boat to tow it, or a locomotive pulling a broken locomotive. All these things happen, but for some reason my simple mind had never wrapped around this necessity. To take it a step further, what if one wheelchair bound person had to pull another wheelchair bound person, would you stop to help them?

It's kinda like who will help the helpers but in this case it would be much more humorous if the tow truck had to call another tow company to tow them and they other company charged them a ton of money. Do people who insure tow trucks have roadside towing available in their coverage plan? What if one tow truck broke down while towing a car, then you might have a tow truck towing a tow truck towing a car...which leaves another question, would the person who's car it is have to pay twice for being towed? Could the tow truck that broke down rightfully charge them for towing their car? I think what I'm trying to get at here is the fact that tow trucks are people too, and they are fallible just like all of us.

Disrespect

"A Swedish wrestler was disqualified and stripped of his bronze medal Saturday for dropping his medal in protest after a disputed loss at the Beijing Olympics.

Ara Abrahamian was punished by the International Olympic Committee for violating the spirit of fair play during the medal ceremony, becoming the fourth athlete kicked out of the games and bringing the number of medals removed so far to three.

Abrahamian became incensed when a disputed penalty call decided his semifinal match against Italian Andrea Minguzzi, who went on to win the gold medal in the Greco-Roman 84-kilogram division on Thursday. During the medal ceremony, Abrahamian — who also lost a 2004 Olympic semifinal match on a disputed call — took the bronze from around his neck and angrily dropped it on the mat as he walked away. He did not take part in the rest of the medal ceremony.

The IOC executive board ruled that Abrahamian's actions amounted to a political demonstration and a mark of disrespect to his fellow athletes.

"It was felt that his behavior on the medal podium and during the medal ceremony was not appropriate," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. "His behavior was not in the Olympic spirit of respect for his fellow athletes. Whatever grievances you may have, this was not the way to go about it." - AP"

When I was doing my laundry at the bar on saturday I got into a discussion about the above story. One guy was telling me how he thought that Abarahamian acted correctly in his behaviour and that because he disagreed with the judges decisions he was justified in acting the way he did. I couldn't agree less.

I understand being upset at the judges, and it really sucks when the biggest moment of your sporting life is decided not by how you compete but by a panel of judges. I get that he was angry and upset and if I were him I would be upset too. But if you don't agree with the decision or you think that you were cheated then don't accept the medal. Don't show up to a ceremony to honor you and the other place winners and then act like a child. That's disrespectful to far more then just the judges who wronged you, that's disrespectful to your fellow competitors, the people who organized the event, and its even disrespectful to your coaches and countrymen who are supporting you. Like it or not all of those people either stood behind you or against you as a equal competitor and if you decide to accept the accolades that they want you to have then accept them, don't take them and then throw it back in their face.

You can say what you want about the Olympics being about professional athletes and all that mess but at the end of the day in the spirit of competition you should respect those around you. if you have a problem with how you were wronged then don't accept it. Do what the U.S. basketball team at 1972 Olympics did when they felt they were cheated by the refs against the Soviet Union, don't show up to take the medals. That way you are showing you don't accept their decision, you don't accept their accolade and you live with that. But you don't throw it back in their face because you don't like it. It's like your time card, if you don't like what you are doing and you don't think that it accurately reflects what really happened then don't approve it.

I think some people wouldn't see the difference between not accepting the medal and acting like this guy did. But I see it, and the International Olympic Committee saw the difference as well. There's a difference between feeling like you've been disrespected and wronged, and acting out and disrespecting others. In this case the difference was that at the premiere world sporting event a man's name was scratched from the records for his disrespect.

Girl you know I got that fo sure

Great picture of me looking at somebodies ass right? Wrong. That's me checking out that cake. I'd been scoping that cake for like 15 minutes and I deciced it was time for me to go over and grab me a piece of that. Look at you cake, just sitting there asking for it, you know you want to be inside me. Sitting there all scandelous with it's buttercream icing, you know that no amount of willpower was going to prevent me from checking that cake out. Girl you look so damn fine with your straberry filling in between layers of white cake. I ate the hell out of that cake and it was godamn fantastic, I was immediately ready for round two with no downtime or rest on my part. I could eat that cake all night long.

I'm really not sure what's sadder, the fact that I got photographed looking at that cake, or the fact that I was checking out the cake and not any of the women nearby. Oh god what has my life become.

Shark in the water

I just got done watching a British gal break the 19 year old world record in the 800 M freestyle to win the gold in the Olympics. When they showed her get out of the water all I could think of was, "What the hell, she's a cheater. Do you see the nose on that? Christ that's a hell of a schnoz. She's like a dolphin with that thing, no wonder she could break that record, she's 75% hydrodynamic nose 25% human. My god will you look at the size of that, it's like someone glued a metal wedge to the front of her face. It's like Gonzo from the Muppet's but with a triangle instead of a dong. Barbara Streisand has nothing on her."

It sounds awful I know, and it's pretty bad of me to belittle a Olympic gold medalist but really she's should be lauded for being a trend setter. Everybody is either going to get prothestetic noses or have surgery. You know it's going to happen, that shit can shave 4 100ths off your 400 time. I'm a terrible person sometimes, not often but sometimes, this is definitely one of those times. Why I decided to share it with anyone is beyond me.

On a more positive note, Michael Phelps just "won" his 7th gold, he's a pretty good swimmer, no big deal.

Someone help

I have started having to wear goggles on my bikerides into work in the morning. It's frustrating because without them my eyes dry out and it's very painful. But with them my vision is semi impared while riding and almost completely impared when I stop at a stoplight or something because they fog up so badly. I wish I had mini windshield wipers or a defogger on my goggles, because when I stop they completely fog up and I look like I'm in a cartoon or something. It's really funny/annoying. However not wearing goggles is just far too painful and my eyes are red all day, which sucks.

So I need some kind of solution that doesn't fog but still provides protection for my eyes and I don't think contacts will do the trick. Maybe if I was less sweaty and fat it wouldn't be an issue but sadly I refuse to change that part of myself. So for now I'll remain a sweaty fat guy on a bike who doesn't wear all that spandex nonsense. Although being a sweaty fatguy on a bike wearing spandex with fogged up goggles is a pretty fantastic look, I may have to do it just for the picture.

A brief couple of days in Cali

This week Brian Greer came to town. Wed we went out and had a few beers at a bar that was packed and I met some girl from Lehigh who was out here visitingm sometimes the world is such a small place. I had to retire early because of work the next day.

Thursday I worked out and got myself ready for Friday, Brian went out and partied. Friday I went to work in the morning and in the afternoon we went to a mexican restaurant by the famous hotel Del Coronado then walked on the beach and walked around the hotel. Then we went to Mt. Soledad where you could see everything for 40 miles. Then we went cruising through La Jolla (which is gorgeous). At night we went to a club downtown where the beats were so fresh even the most stonefooted had to dance. Brian was making out with one while I talked to her friend waiting for everyone to leave so I could drive people home. Then Brian's other friend got beat up by the dj and I spent all night talking to police and club owners and such because I was sober. He had gone up to buy a mixtape from the DJ and the guy beat his ass for some unknown reason. Apparently something he said necessitated the DJ hitting him with the metal bar on the front of the DJ booth and then running around and hitting him a couple of times. It's a shame really because it had been a pretty fun night till then and that kinda put a bad feeling on the night especially given how badly he got beat up and how many stitches he needed. Let it be a lesson to all of you about trying to buy stuff from a DJ.

Saturday I woke up and went to the gym, then we went and got lunch (burritos) while watching the olympics. Then Brian and I rode bikes up to the boardwalk and stopped at a bar full of women in bikini's and had a couple beers there. It was fantastic, and Brian was amazed that everyone was just kinda partying at this beach bar at 3 in the afternoon. Then we rode our bikes up and down the boardwalk and eventually home, riding down the boardwalk is a fun but hazerdous job. We went to the bar near my house for happy hour and I did laundry (yes I do laundry while at the bar, and yes it is amazing as it sounds). Then we rode with my roomate to my friend's house and watched the UFC fights. Afterwards we all walked to a bar right on the beach called "Fire House" and were out on the roof. This place was extremely nice and had another good dj but for as nice as it was it was extremely cheap. We then went to Moondoggie's where brian proceeded to try and hit on everything, with no success. Then he talked me into going to denny's after the bar closed and we were sitting outside on the patio and invited the two girls sitting next to us to come over and sit with us, they did and we had a bunch of fun.

Sunday more of the same.

Monday I went to work and got home, we went to the beach had dinner at a mexican place near the beach that is also really nice but not expensive and we sat there looking at women. Then we went home got showered and went to a bar that on a monday night was so full of attractive people I just don't know if you out of towners can handle it. Needless to say I was a little tired at work today.

The moral of the story here is that this happens every weekend out here, all the time. Brian marvelled at how many attractive people there were but frankly my dear friend,s I've become jaded at seeing all these beautiful people all the time. Now if only I was one of them.

I have met some cool people out here, and I hope to meet more because I really don't know many at all. I insist that you all come visit me for a time of no less than 5 whole days.

On a personal note, work is definitely challenging and fun but I do far to much of it because of the nature of my position (not because I like going in all the time). I really need to meet more people but that is happening slowly but surely. I really really enjoy riding my bike 6 miles to work most days and I even bought a used road bike to make the trip faster. There are so many cool things about this place, I really do hope you will come visit.

Oh god how long I've waited.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/fashion/31shorts.html?ex=1375243200&en=43254ddc642b1ac8&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink


Business shorts, the answer to all my prayers. I've wanted to wear shorts into the office for years and now I can in a stylish way. More on this later, I need to go celebrate.