Ladybug was right...

...chocolate does make my owwie better.

Sport Walking

I really need someone to defend sport walking as an event in the world track and field championships. The closest I can come is comparing it to the breast stroke in swimming. It can be looked at as a technique event, but it's really a stretch. Sure, I think they walk faster than I can run (or pretty close anyway), but that's not the point. Am I missing something?

First day of class: by the numbers

5 → Classes attended
4 → Minutes to decide that I was not going to take Probability
3 → Items expedited from amazon.com
2 → Professors making not-so-subtle references to illegal substances
1 → Tired girl heading to happy hour (I hope)

Darn!

I just logged in to Blogger and was hoping that the blog-bot had generated something clever for today. It seems that I am, yet again, on my own.

Today's the last day before classes start which means that I spent most of it reading papers that I meant to read last week and entering data that I collected in the last couple weeks into Excel. These activities fried my brain sufficiently that I thought the fencing this evening was a good idea. We had a group lesson that went something like this:

Coach: Parry four and make the person attacking you disengage.
I give it a shot. FAIL.
Coach: Sarah, all you have to do is parry four.
Me: Ok. I know.
I try again. FAIL.
Coach: Do it again. Slowly.

It went on like this, generally painful all around. I decided that an individual lesson wasn't in my best interest tonight. Decided to go swimming for a few minutes to clear my head. Pool closed at 8. I walked down at 8:01.

Sigh.

Now, it's time to find food and enter more data.

Banana-black Bean Empanadas

With the Bevis clan back in B-ton, my exposure to new, interesting food (even when in Nashville) has greatly increased. The banana-black bean empanadas were the main course in a fantastic dinner when I made it home this month and I had a bit of a craving for them tonight. I added a dusting of powdered sugar to the final product for a bit of a twist. Turned out pretty good. Should be tasty for lunch this week, too.

If it weren't so dumb, it'd be funny...

"You see powder connected by arrows and chalk, you never know..."

--New Haven, Conn. mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga

discussing the use of flour to mark a running trail for the Hash House Harriers.

Sportswoman of the Year

Rebecca Ward, a sabre fencer, has been nominated by the Women's Sports Foundation for Sportswoman of the Year. She's up against the likes of Lorena Ochoa and Justine Henin.

Go and support fencing and vote for Rebecca. It requires some information to be provided, but they didn't specify that the information had to be correct.

Thanks.

Dinner in DC

M.L. and I got together for dinner while I was out in DC. We wandered around King Street in Alexandria for a while. I had wanted to try a new Irish pub, but we walked in and there were so many people and it was so noisy that we decided to move on. After walking for a little longer, we happened upon Restaurant Eve, one of my favorite places to indulge and sat in the bar to eat (to get a table, we probably would have had to call two weeks ago). Fortunately, we were immediately seated and ordered our glasses of wine.

The bartender told us about a couple dishes that weren't on the menu including a lobster bisque that was tempting and a hogshead burger that made her face light up. I had no idea what a hogshead burger was and her reaction was so strong that I decided to give it a try. M.L. tried the gnocchi appetizer. What I got was a lovely meat patty that had delicate red meat crusted with a light breading seared to perfection. It was a joy to eat. Very rich and flavorful. Plus, it came with perfect fries.

At the end of the meal, I asked for specifics about the burger. It came from the meat from the skull of a hog. Very, very tasty. Very, very unique.

Weather

My Yahoo! homepage has a weather section that I use to monitor the outdoor conditions at various places such as Bloomington and Nashville (I also have the places I traveled frequently last year, but I haven't changed them because I'm too lazy). These also indicate if there's a severe weather alert. Since I'm a sucker, I usually go and read these regardless of my current location. The unusually hot/dry conditions in the Midwest have produced interesting alerts. Today, Bloomington and Nashville had heat advisory alerts. The difference in the tone is remarkable. Enjoy! Oh, and note the use of first person in the Nashville alert.

In Nashville:
226 AM CDT THU AUG 23 2007
...REWRITING THE RECORD BOOK...YESTERDAYS HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 102 DEGREES SET YET ANOTHER DAILY HIGH RECORD IN NASHVILLE. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 100 DEGREES BACKIN 1983. NASHVILLE ALSO TIED THE HIGHEST DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR AUGUST 22ND WITH 76 DEGREES...WHICH OCCURRED BACK IN 1936.CROSSVILLE BROKE THE RECORD HIGH FOR AUGUST 22ND WITH 96 DEGREES. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 95 SET IN 1983. CLARKSVILLE HIT 102 DEGREES. NASHVILLE WILL LIKELY BREAK ANOTHER RECORD TODAY WITH A FORECAST HIGH OF 103 DEGREES. THE RECORD HIGH FOR AUGUST 23RD IS 100 DEGREES SET BACK IN 1983.
THE RECORD HIGH FOR AUGUST 23RD IN COLUMBIA IS 100 DEGREES...LEBANONIS 102 DEGREES...MCMINNVILLE IS 99 DEGREES...MURFREESBORO IS 102DEGREES. NEW RECORDS COULD BE SET IN THESE AREAS TODAY.I'M BEGINNING TO RUN OUT OF RED INK.
THIS MONTH...NASHVILLE HAS BROKEN THREE DAILY HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS...AND EITHER BROKEN OR TIED...SIX...HIGHEST DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURE RECORDS.YESTERDAY MARKED THE 13TH DAY OF 100 DEGREES OR ABOVE IN NASHVILLE THIS MONTH. THIS IS NEARLY TWICE AS MANY DAYS AS EVER RECORDED INTHE MONTH OF AUGUST. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 7 DAYS SET BACK IN 1954.
IT IS ALSO THE MOST EVER RECORDED IN ANY MONTH. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 11 DAYS BACK IN JUNE 1952.NASHVILLE HAS EXPERIENCED 13 DAYS OF TRIPLE DIGIT TEMPERATURES SOFAR THIS SUMMER...THIS IS THE MOST SINCE THE SUMMER OF 1954...WHICH HAD 20 DAYS OF TRIPLE DIGIT HEAT. 1952 HAD 19 DAYS OF TRIPLE DIGITHEAT.CURRENTLY...AUGUST 2007 IN NASHVILLE IS AVERAGING 9.2
ABOVE NORMAL. THIS IS 4.4 DEGREES HOTTER THAN THE HOTTEST AUGUST ON RECORD...WHICH WAS IN 1995. AUGUST 2007 COULD ALSO END UP BEING THE HOTTEST...OF ANY MONTH SINCE RECORD KEEPING BEGAN IN NASHVILLE...NEARLY 137 YEARS AGO.
THERE HAVE BEEN 21 CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF 95 DEGREES AND ABOVE IN NASHVILLE. THIS IS UNPRECEDENTED IN THE WEATHER RECORDS AT NASHVILLE. THE OLD RECORD WAS 19 DAYS BACK IN JUNE 1952. THIS STREAK WILL LIKELY CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT FIVE OR SIX DAYS. YESTERDAY WAS THE 28TH CONSECUTIVE DAY OF 90 DEGREES AND ABOVE IN NASHVILLE. A STRING THAT BEGAN BACK ON JULY 26TH. THIS IS THE MOST SINCE JUNE 1954...AND THE 3RD MOST ON RECORD. THE MOST EVER RECORDED IS 31 DAYS BACK IN JUNE OF 1952 AND AGAIN IN JUNE OF 1954. WE SHOULD BREAK THIS STRING. THE 106 DEGREES ON AUGUST 16TH NOT ONLY BROKE THE RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR THAT DATE...BUT ALSO BROKE THE ALL TIME RECORD HIGH FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST...WHICH HAD BEEN 105 DEGREES SET BACK IN AUGUST 1930. THIS ALSO WAS THE HOTTEST TEMPERATURE IN NASHVILLE IN THE LAST 55 YEARS...ONLY SURPASSED BY THE ALL TIME RECORD HEAT OF 107 DEGREES BACK ON JULY 27TH AND 28TH 1952.

In Bloomington:
349 AM EDT THU AUG 23 2007
...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM EDT /NOON CDT/ THISAFTERNOON TO 8 PM EDT /7 PM CDT/ THIS EVENING...A HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM EDT /NOON CDT/ THISAFTERNOON TO 8 PM EDT /7 PM CDT/ THIS EVENING. THE MERCURY WILL TOP OUT NEAR 100 TODAY...BUT HIGH HUMIDITIES WILL MAKE IT FEEL AS HOT AS 107 DURING THE WARMEST PART OF THE AFTERNOON.A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF HOT TEMPERATURES ISEXPECTED. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES AREPOSSIBLE. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS...STAY IN AN AIR-CONDITIONEDROOM...STAY OUT OF THE SUN...AND CHECK UP ON RELATIVES ANDNEIGHBORS.

Enterprise

It's not much in my nature to gush about customer service. I believe that good service should be expected and, well....blah, blah, blah...anyway, I'm going to gush a bit about the Enterprise Rent-a-Car associated with Regan National.

What I got from the time I stepped onto the Enterprise shuttle in DC:

• Good conversation with the shuttle driver
• Four open terminals with smiling CS representatives
• Brief appearance of my smiling, good natured rep in a David Hasselhoff jacket
• A funny Flintstones reference when discussing the car
• General good humor, patience, and a nice atmosphere from all involved

Unfortunately, the car itself is a nearly worthless POS, but it's getting me where I need to go, so I can't complain too much. The service far outweighs the fact that a Dodge Caliber drives like a cardboard box with an unmotivated hamster for a drivetrain. It doesn't keep the people that I dealt with from being pretty cool.

Quote of the day

During a discussion of wine color:

No. Absolutely not. We do not classify wine color by reds worn by football teams, collegiate or professional.

Followup: God is in Your Food

Your chocolate, this time. Better production quality on the video...there's evidently more production funding for chocolate than eggplant.

Joys of travel

Not traveling as much now as I was, this article isn't as useful, but gives me hope for those of us who have spent excessive times on the tarmac. We, as passengers, should organize.

Nearly everyone I know has a nightmare story about air travel. Some involve the plane, some involve the airport, some involve the personnel. It really shouldn't be that way. Where's the passenger's bill of rights? It's a nice thought, but no where on the page does it say what happens if you don't get what's outlined.

God Is in Your Food!

Your eggplant, to be exact.

Must.Watch.Video.

The article is optional, though the video probably doesn't make much sense otherwise.

Morning Run

Another equation:

Exercise - Common Sense = Pain

Having battled a cold for the last couple weeks and not having slept nearly enough, nor having worked out nearly enough, nor having hydrated nearly well enough yesterday, I decided that it would be a good idea to go out and run Pate Hollow Trail. All 6.6 miles of it. It's funny how my body decided that running that far under those particular circumstances wasn't such a good idea. We (my body and I) had long conversations about what the plan was, but the body won out today. I made it around the loop, just not nearly as quickly as I would have liked.

It's a great trail and I really like running there. I finally found a map. Turns out that I was calling it Hardin Ridge rather than Pate Hollow.

Update: Balls

Matt Murphy, the poor sap who caught the record-breaking home-run ball from Barry Bonds' bat, gave an interview to the Today Show and said that he may keep the ball (yea!). However, it seems, according to the article about the interview, that he would owe taxes on it if he did.

Am I to believe that they give tax forms to all people who catch baseballs at games?

I suppose it is a little like winning the lottery, but in the lottery, doesn't everyone who enters have an equal chance of winning?

The Golden Ticket

I don't think much about baseball. Most who know me know that my take on the sport is that it's the best three minutes of action jam-packed into three hours of time found in the world of sport. The only exceptions are going to watch a game at a professional ball park and playing the game yourself. In those two cases, it's fine. Otherwise, absently reading headlines will suffice for me to keep up with the goings on. However, as some of these stories progress, they transcend the world of baseball and the headlines catch the eyes of even the most skeptical headline skimmer.

In the past week, two milestones have been reached. Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th home run and Barry Bonds broke the all-time home run record, hitting his 756th career home run. Good for them. Now comes the news. There are two guys out there who happened to be in the right place at the right time who caught the balls hit by these players on these particular at-bats. Walter Kowalczyk and Matt Murphy perhaps had dreams of catching the milestone hits, but probably knew that the odds were against them. Nevertheless, they caught the balls. Good for them. The thing that fascinates me is the discussion around these prizes and the burden that comes with having such a possession.

If a "normal" home run is caught, the catcher proudly takes it home and re-lives the day with their grandchildren (who will some day yawn and ask what "baseball" is). The individuals on these historic nights have bigger decisions to make. From the first, the procedure is different.

Mr. Kowalczyk:

"used his roughly 250-pound frame to protect his prize from a scrum of crazed fans Saturday.

He was retrieved by stadium security guards who took him to a suite to watch the rest of the game and then drove him home."

Mr. Murphy:

"emerged from a scrum of bloodied and bruised fans in the bleachers with the historic ball, which some memorabilia experts predict could fetch up to one million dollars.

The 22-year-old was hustled out of the outfield section, flanked by a squad of San Francisco policemen."

Ummm. OK.

To me, this sounds like the scenes in "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" where the kids would find the golden tickets and would be accosted by the surrounding people, then have secrets whispered in their ears by "Mr. Slugworth". I'm sure now that these men have made it to the relative safety of their homes, they're being offered the world by people they never imagined would care about such things. I'm sure they have more friends than they ever knew.

While it's noble that the fans on these nights were able to give the TV audience a little more action during the telecast, it's a little frightening that grown people were "scrumming" for the ball. Granted, these men can directly profit from their labors by selling the ball to collectors. They could donate the ball to the Hall of Fame. They could give the ball back to the player. Or, best yet (and most unlikely), they could keep the ball, go out and play catch with their kids and grandkids for years to come, tell the story, show the video of their grand catch, and bask in the glory with family and friends. After all, before that particular ball was hit by that particular player at that particular time in history, it was just another ball.

Shrimp Truck

Okay. I think this is the last Hawaii post. No promises, but I think this is it.

We discovered shrimp trucks. These are little mobile (or formerly mobile) vans, RVs, trucks that have been converted to shrimp-cookin' businesses. Some are hit-and-miss with their cooking, but others are amazing. I think my final count for the week was three different trucks. I took a picture of the last one. Behind it is a shrimp farm. You could (as the sign advertises) get live shrimp to take home or just let them cook it there. It's messy (you usually have to peel your own), but definitely worth it.

Rooms with views

I promise that this will be one of the last, if not the last post about the recent trip. We switched hotels halfway through the week. The first hotel was a Marriott property and financed through the benefits of all the travel I did last year. The second was the conference hotel, which was also very nice, but there was a lot of construction in the area and I was a little disappointed in the view (they said they upgraded us to "partial ocean view"--I say they couldn't find people that wanted the rooms.) It turns out that everything went really smoothly and other than the disappointing view, the hotel was fabulous.

Let's compare the views from the rooms:


...and the nearby lagoons.


Needless to say, it was a little difficult to adjust to the second view. Actually, for random information, the lagoon on the left (from the first week) is associated with Paradise Cove, the location that the conference took us for our luau. It was really cool and it seemed that the performers were so happy to be there. It was so much more than I expected.

Sternum Dress

I decided to make a dress for a dinner at the conference I attend every year, you know, with all the free time on my hands. Jenn decided that it should be called the sternum dress because, while it was supposed to show cleavage, I apparently have none. It had been a long time since I had sewn and even longer since I had done something for myself. Popular demand necessitated the posting of pictures. The only problem with the dress was getting in and out of vehicles and staying appropriately covered. I think I was successful. If I wasn't, at least the spectators were polite enough to not say anything.

I first had a chance to wear the dress when Jeremy took me out for dinner during the first week in Hawaii--it was an amazing meal at La Mer (and yes, the table looked just like the picture in the link).

The second is for the conference dinner/party. I wore a little more bling for this one (thanks Mom!)

Jeremy's favorite month?

It's National Sandwich Month. Who, aside from Jeremy, cares?

The squirrels, sir, they're organizing.

They're forming an army of toys found in Finnish chocolates. One by one.

I'm afraid I'm developing a new tag.

Equation

Jet Lag + Head Cold = Disaster