The Flip Side

After posting about Josh, the jackass CS rep, I decided that it would probably be only fair if I would post about Coral, the very picture of all that is right in the CS world. I had called Coral prior to calling Josh. I needed Coral to help me get bits to some furniture that had been damaged in shipping. The problem was that I had already called the manufacturer and they had promised to send the parts along. I was worried that (1.) too much time had passed and (2.) that they would refuse to help based on the fact that I hadn't inspected the package upon receipt (FedEx had just dropped it at the door).

She said that none of this was a problem, asked me to send pictures of the damaged items (to her personal e-mail address), made sure she had accurate contact information, and even called back later to gather additional information. When I got back to her with the additional information, she knew who I was and remembered the problem. I was so very impressed.

Having had this fantastic experience, I was optimistic and gave Josh a call. Josh obviously didn't work out, but at least I know that there are Corals in the world.

Customer Service

I just got off the phone with a customer service rep. I was calling to ask if there was a replacement part for the battery compartment cover for my MP3 player. The phone call went like this:

Him: This is Josh. How can I help you?

Me (paraphrasing): Hi Josh. I have a MP3 player with a broken battery compartment and I was wondering if I could get a replacement part for that.

Him (direct quote): I don't have any. I never will have any.

(pregnant pause)

Me: I guess I'll just not worry about it then.

Him: Okay. Bye.

dial tone

Childhood Misconception

Walking around campus today, a few of us spotted this (apologies for the crappy resolution...camera phone):



It's green, about the size of a softball, hard, and bumpy.

One of the guys asked, "What's that?" The other responded, "Oh, it's a thing that comes from a tree...I don't know what it's called."

"What do you do with it?"

"Oh, throw them at people."

(insert pause for comic effect)

As he was saying that, I was starting to respond with, "You throw them in creeks and follow them as they float along," because that's what we used to do. I had to bite my tongue because the other response seemed to be more applicable for the current situation (no creek to be seen). Naturally, we looked around for targets, but no one walked by. The squirrels were oddly absent, too.

Here's the weird childhood misconception bit: there's a tree by the creek at Mom & Dad's that drops a bunch of these every year. For some reason, I concluded that this was the type of apple that Eve tricked Adam into eating. They looked like apples, but they didn't seem edible (I somehow got the impression that they were poisonous), and they were ugly, so it all made sense. Having put some thought into this more recently, I am curious about my "logic".

I mentioned this little story to the guys and they gave me the uncomfortable don't-know-what-the-hell-you're-talking-about look, the moment passed, then we took another glance around for a moving target.

Anyone know what this is and what it's about?

P.S. Bonus points for a Wiki link!

Superfun!

Jeremy and I went out with the triathlon club for a training/skills ride on Friday. Triathletes are notoriously bad at road etiquette, handling, dealing with crowded situations, and maintaining bikes (as compared to dedicated cyclists). We addressed the first three during the ride by heading out on the roads in Nashville during the busiest time of day at the beginning of Parent's Weekend at Vanderbilt, spending some time riding around the roads of Centennial Park, practicing track stands, and riding in the grass practicing leaning on and touching other bikes while riding.

Good idea? Sure!!

The good news is that no one crashed or got hit. The better news is that we all had fun. The best news is that we played bike tag in a park at dark in the grass with people milling around. It was 'sharks 'n minnows' style, starting with one it and adding its until one person is left who is not it. You had to physically touch other people on the bike for them to be it.

Bike tag ranks up there with the other fun, silly things that normal (read: smart) people wouldn't do, but I'd do again in a heartbeat (e.g. sledding on Slater at 2 am in -35 degree F. windchill).

I know, I know

You're all sick of me talking about this stupid baseball. I thought I would share that the voting has resulted in #756 being donated to the Baseball Hall of Fame with an asterisk branded on it. The article I read indicated that the BHoF is excited to be receiving it, but is actively not taking a stance on what that asterisk might mean.

"This ball wouldn't be coming to Cooperstown if Marc hadn't bought it from the fan who caught it and then let the fans have their say," Petroskey told The Associated Press. "We're delighted to have the ball. It's a historic piece of baseball history."

Personally, I don't care what they brand it with. I don't care if the record is "tainted". I wouldn't think much about the whole thing except for the following:


1. When time came for the record-breaking HR to be hit, the stadiums had security on hand to handle the situation.
2. Some asinine tax-goof with a big mouth made the guy who caught it think he would owe taxes on it if he kept it.
3. Some guy bought the ball at auction for around three-quarters of a million dollars.
4. That guy was smart enough to know what he had, that it was just a ball, and was willing to make a statement about it.


I would say that I'm done with this topic, but I expect that it will come up again.


I hope Mark Ecko videos the branding process, whatever that might be.

Up for air

This is a post for a week that seems to be trying to swallow me. I'm finishing up a take-home exam that's looking complete-able at the moment, then I get to start on two homeworks that are both due tomorrow (one, I just found out about yesterday--wishful thinking let me put off reality for a bit). The good news is that the rest of the week is less hectic than today and tomorrow.

That being said, I've been trying to find a sound clip from Babe (the talking pig movie). The scene changes had these adorable little mice announcing the "chapters". One is "The Way Things Are." As I am compiling lists of things that need to get done, I keep hearing those voices constantly reminding me that this is the way things are. Then I giggle a little and move on.

Okay. Back to work....

Timing!

It's all about timing. Here's a screen shot of the Chattanoogan web page this morning. It's been changed to the second screen shot now.

I'm going back to work now. Really.

Coincidence?

According to My Yahoo! today is ADHD Awareness Day*. It's also International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Just throwing out those two tidbits of information.
I'd draw a conclusion, but I lost interest.

*When looking for a link for ADHD Awareness Day, I found that 9/20 is the actual date, which might make all this a little more appropriate.

Fencing Freak-out

At fencing tonight, I was in a bout with one of the girls at the club and had the tip of my weapon get stuck between the outer rim and the mesh of her mask. Needless to say, we were both really freaked out and she is going to be getting a new mask really soon. No one was hurt, just freaked out. Below is a picture of the approximate location of where my point got stuck, but it was under the solid rubber black thing. Eep!!!

Followup: #756

It turns out that Matt Murphy auctioned the Barry Bonds home run ball #756. I had posted earlier that I was disappointed, but something about taxes made the guy think he couldn't keep it. Well, as it happens, the ball was auctioned for around $750,000, much higher than originally anticipated and the name of the winner was not immediately released.

To my glee, Mark Ecko, a NY fashion designer and pop culture fan won the auction and has posted a website for the public to decide the fate of the ball. We can vote to donate the ball to the hall of fame, brand it with an asterisk and donate the branded ball to the hall of fame, or launch the ball into space.

Watch Mark's story on the Today show. He's evidently prepared to finance the launch of the ball, if voting goes that way. I'm fascinated. It's a lot of money to make a statement like this, but I'm all for it. Perhaps this is, aside from Mr. Murphy keeping it and playing catch with his grandkids, the best possible outcome.

Go vote. It's your right.

Smells of...

A study shows that people's perception of odors changes with genetic makeup.

Storytime!!!

A couple years ago, I was invited to a fancy-dancy wine dinner to taste some fabulous Bordeaux wines. I was a little self-conscious about the whole thing because these people were ostensibly connoisseurs and would know much more about tasting than I, still in my wine-snob infancy. Sometime during the meal, I noticed how everyone pretty much agreed with anyone that had an opinion. I managed to get my entire table to agree that the nose of one of the wines smelled like "Big League Chew", the old shredded bubble gum that lost its flavor in the first three minutes.

Cheers!

A Reminder...

...to the group that played that silly cooperative PS2 game for three days straight while we lived on Sare Road: y'all were lucky to have survived. Your danger wasn't just your spouses, it was also the extended hours in front of a monitor. Some aren't as lucky. Keep this in mind.

I'll take "Eye of Newt and a Dash of Space Dust" for a thousand, Alex.

NASA's going to send woodland critters into space.

'Nuf said.

Death Ray!!!

It's happened. Pop-pop would be proud.

Seen on Engadget:

Japanese scientists make breakthrough in space-based laser power

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Osaka University have been working together to develop a device which converts sunlight into laser-light with four times the efficiency of previous attempts. According to a report out of Tokyo, the team is working on Space-based solar power systems which can collect sunlight in space and convert it into laser light, which is then transmitted to Earth and used for electricity... or to power a massive Death-Ray. The project works by storing sunlight-based energy in plate made from a sintered powder of metals like chromium and neodymium. When weak laser light is shined onto the plate, the stored energy is transferred to the laser where its strength is amplified by a factor of four. In one test, a 0.5-watt laser was amplified to 180-watts by the plates. Scientists have thus far been able to garner 40-percent of the solar energy produced, and they hope to have a system ready for satellite mounting by the not-too-distant year 20 30. Huzzah!

Sideways

A few years ago, I decided that I was boycotting the movie "Sideways" because it had made Pinot Noir a very, very popular wine and it had become very difficult to find a good pinot because a bunch of people were putting out crap-Pinots to meet popular demand.

If something is popular, it's no longer interesting, right??

Probably so, but. Not too long ago, I (1.) decided to go ahead and watch the movie, (generally underwhelming, but I really like Sandra Oh) and (2.) decided to go back and try a few Pinot Noirs and found some success between Burgundy and nice California wines. It had seriously been five or six years between when I would even consider this as an option.

I came upon this article today about the state of the Pinot Noir and found it enlightening and encouraging. I really like the Pinot for the approachability and ease of drinking and I may go out and find some to try very soon.

My eyes are opened...

...and they're bleeding.

Today, while walking through the hospital, I saw a woman carrying a tote/purse/something made of John Deere fabric (similar fabric pictured below) with I-kid-you-not John Deere green colored fur trim. We're talking about playing dress-up feather boa type trim. I was *this* close to stopping her and seeing if she would let me take a picture, but chickened out. Maybe that'll be my goal for next week--stop at least one person and take a picture of an accessory.

I tried to find a picture of something similar and went to E-bay and discovered that there is a whole category of things devoted to John Deere, Handmade, Women's Handbags. There's even one that is almost similar. Same fur type, just picture green and the fabric above.

Running Men

Walking to class this morning, I saw, in addition to the normal fitness-types running in appropriate running gear, two running men that caught my attention. These are completely separate instances and would have simply been an entertaining part of the day if I had seen only one of them. It became bloggable with two.

First, as I was approaching the short-cut hospital, a man wearing shorts that resembled swim trunks, a t-shirt, and some sort of hiking shoes, carrying one of those flimsy string backpacks was running, seemingly consciously keeping his knees up as he trotted along. There didn't seem to be any urgency or direction to his path, so I can only assume he was out for a morning jog. What do you keep in a backpack like that when you're running? How long can you run with your knees nearly hitting your chest? I might not have noticed him if it wasn't for the running "form". I might not have noticed if it wasn't for the attire. The full picture was a little distracting. Oh, I didn't mention the shoulder-length mullet. But now I have and the picture is complete.

Having only just recovered from that, I get to the other side of the hospital complex and see a guy in a neon yellow t-shirt, work pants, and work shoes, wearing a hard hat running towards a truck. Then I noticed that the back of his shirt said "DEMO CREW". It made me a little nervous. Thought I might/should follow.

Global Warming a Problem?

A convincing argument from The Washington Post.

Don't mess with French wine.

Dessert and Wine

Jeremy and I opened a bottle of '99 Ormes de Pez. I hadn't tried the '99, but this makes (I think) the 5th vintage I've tried of this chateau and I still love it. It has that flavor that makes it so distinctly Ormes de Pez. I don't have a picture of the label because I'm lazy.

I do have a picture of dessert: Frozen chocolate dessert (or something clever like that). It's in the September issue of Real Simple (and unfortunately, the recipe isn't up on their web site yet). The ingredient list is semi-sweet chocolate, marshmallows, milk, and heavy cream (stuffed between the obvious graham crackers). It was super yummy, but has to be frozen--not something for the lunch pail.

I'll admit that it was a little rich. The look on Jeremy's face tells all. He wants so very much to finish that little bite of yummy chocolate goodness, but the bite looks so very big...

In the end, the little bit did get eaten and there were no melting issues to clean up.

100th Post!!

Yea! It's the 100th post! To celebrate, I'm posting some theme-related material, which may actually negate the theme, but that's not really the point.

• I've decided that smoking bans in restaurants and bars just make you all the more sensitive to smoke when you find a bar that allows smoking. We went to the Flying Saucer this evening and got to hear a bit from The Killdares and my eyes are killing me with smoke-related watering and burning.


• A really funny misquote in the lyrics "I like being left alone" by Robbie Fulks:

  I like chocolate pie, clear blue skies, and a glass of coke to roam...

  Insert "Côtes du Rhône" and you'll get the actual quote. I laughed for a while about that.


• Martina Hingis lost at the US Open today. I really want her to win another slam event. She's still in the women's doubles event, but it's not the same.

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

Surfing

Last blog said that I had gone surfing and had a great time. The guy that took pictures during the class and surf time, Joel Sadoy of Island Classic Shots, gave me permission to post some of the shots on my blog. He did some really great work and was really patient with all of us when deciding to get the pictures or not (Thanks, Joey!).

This is the second day, before the class, looking out over the huge (ha!) waves we're going to try to surf.

Waiting at the surf truck. We had to travel from the surf shop to the beach and fortunately didn't have to lug our own boards. I think mine was 10' on the first day and 9' on the second. No way would that fit in the Aveo that we rented.

This is my first wave ever! Note the dry hair and the stupid smile I have on my face.

This is sometime later in the first day. Still smiling.

Jeremy took the lesson with my re-do on Saturday. I think he had a good time, too. This was a picture of him heading out to give it a shot.

Trip Report--Midweek

Having taken a day to recover from the trip and let Jeremy get good and burnt in an odd way, we took Thursday and did our obligatory touristy duties. Jeremy went skydiving and I took a beginning surfing lesson.

A few snaps from the adventure so far:

Jeremy in his tandem jump get-up, ready to go.

I didn't get any worthwhile shots of him after. He looked much the same. The sun seemed to be in the wrong place to get a picture of him coming down, and when I figured out which one he was, he was on the ground. We went to Pacific Skydiving. They were really great people. Jeremy was hauled out of the plane at 14,000 feet and had a good, long free fall. They also didn't pressure me into trying it. For this, I was thankful.

At lunch we tried to figure out how far the Kresser initials reached.

This is me getting ready for my surf lesson from Surf n Sea. I thought the rash guard was a bad idea and would cramp my style, but now I am certain that it was a very, very good idea because it kept me from skinning my tummy and upper arms. Plus, it looked cute.

Out of the water...it seems that I was the last one out. There may have been some betting on how long the instructor would be willing to stay out with me. They had a photographer out in the water with us. I'm going to try to get permission to post them. We'll see.

These last couple are just views from our hotel room. It's a rough life.

Squirrels

The squirrels are out in force this summer. The students are gone, pathways are more clear, and it seems that the little furry ones are slowly organizing and taking over. The Ronald McDonald house nearby has a squirrel-sized soccer field set up, complete with small goals and a small ball. I'm growing concerned. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to adequately capture the image in a picture yet. The scale gets all thrown off and it looks like a bad photoshop job.

I saw a woman sitting on a bench the other day trying to feed one of the squirrels. A puffed chip of some sort was held out, the squirrel had already identified it as food (though I would have my doubts) and couldn't tear his little beady eyes off of it, but also couldn't force himself to break the instinct to stay away from people. This had evidently been going on for some time when I approached. I stood and watched, decided not to interrupt and took the long way around, all the time watching the squirrel as he watched me, having sensed a change in his surroundings. I tried to avoid making sudden moves, to keep their little game going. As I passed, the woman finally gave up and threw the chip thing on the path and the squirrel victoriously nabbed it and ran off.

Much like this post, it was oddly unsatisfying and anticlimactic.

Morning Trails

Heather and I went for a 6+ mile run in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest this morning. I haven't been able to find a map of the trails, but it's one that we have run several times. It's a really nicely maintained route (we did have one tree to climb around this morning, but that's unusual) with lots of interesting elevation change and it's really quiet and peaceful. We weren't fast, but it was a great run.

*sob*

Trader Joe's "Two Buck Chuck" Chardonnay wins a gold medal at the 2007 California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition. The reviews I've heard of the brand are not as positive. At least they can put a sticker on 'em now.

Another benefit of drinking wine...

Hospitality first.

du Dragon

I opened a 2004 Domaine du Dragon on Sunday night and paired it with pan-fried pork chops, spicy corn salad, and roasted potatoes. Strawberry shortcake for dessert. The wine was very dark and had a very soft mouth feel. The flavor was very well-balanced and the tannins were surprisingly developed--it didn't taste or feel like a young wine. Overall, I was quite pleased, and I'm eager to taste this alongside the 2003 of which we're supposed to have a couple bottles stashed away somewhere.

From the website:

The deep colour with almost black hues is a feast for the eye. From the first nose on, the wine immediately opens up. The aromatic spectrum is powerfull: toasty notes; liquorice, candied bananas and pepper flavours; menthol and anise aromas harmoniously blend with subtle oaky notes. This aromatic complexity is then encountered in the mouth with peppery and liquorice dominant flavours. After a velvety mouth, the substance density remains a mystery, and the still young tannins are already melting. The nice lingering finish in the mouth reminds of liquorice.Percentage of alcohol per volume: 14.1 %

A Run (I survived)

I finally got the courage to track down the Nashville Striders group that runs at 5:30 on Wednesday night. The web page advertises that they run three miles, but they really run five, which turned out to be okay, but it was five miles on the road, which I haven't done for a really long time. I survived and had a good time. I'll go back and run with them when I get a chance. Rumor (and their web page) has it that they do a trail run on Saturday mornings. I'll have to check that out sometime.

The five mile route went through some really adorable neighborhoods. Almost made me want to look at the housing market around here. Then I realized that they all had really nice yards and that I have no interest in maintaining a really nice yard.

Library

So, I walk into the library and say to the librarian, "Tell me how this place with books works."

She was very helpful, but it had been a really long time since I had a need to actually use a library with hard copies of stuff and I pointed this out to her and she double-checked to make sure that I had checked online for the stuff that I was needing. I realized that it had been a really long time since I've used a library, especially for periodicals. Fortunately, it turned out that what I was looking for had been archived and I couldn't have, even with full working knowledge of how the library worked, walked to the journals and gotten the stuff I needed. I had to fill out a request for stuff to be retrieved from some dungeon and delivered to the library (also underground), which should happen tomorrow.

It was just a very strange realization, with the library and all...

Words to live by:

87. If the thought of something makes me giggle for longer than 15 seconds, I am to assume that I am not allowed to do it.

--Some Guy's Blog

"The 213 Things Skippy Is No Longer Allowed To Do In The U.S. Army"

A good idea?

We'll see.

Miami

We got back from Miami on Friday. We had a great time, including a couple days of "vacation", something we've not done for over six years. After Jeremy fenced on Saturday in Div. I (he placed 38/65), we had Sunday to Tuesday to relax. We spent some time by the pool Sunday and had a the steak dinner mentioned before.

Monday, we went to the Edison-Ford Winter Estate in Ft. Myers. My parents drug me there when I was a teen and entirely too cool for doing tourist-type things....until I got there and was fascinated with the grounds, especially the trees. It was still really cool. We walked the grounds, checked out the houses, and poked around in the lab and museum. This is the only place that I've been really impressed with the gardens, mostly because there's such a variety of plants and with an eye towards research. Other gardens are pretty, but they just don't fascinate me like this one. This all, once again, confirms my geekdom.

This is the Mysore Fig. Not the biggest one on the property, but still a large tree. The roots stick up for stability (and other reasons, I'm sure), but some on the larger tree are four feet tall.

Banyan Tree, yes, just one tree in this picture. It grows support branches as they're needed. Very cool. This particular tree takes up almost an acre and is the largest specimen in North America. It's theoretically a cutting from the largest one in the world.

We had P.F. Chang's carryout (with some drama-they got my order wrong two times!) and a bottle of wine for dinner. The wine was Ch. Lilian Ladouys, a 2003 St. Estephe, which had a really subtle fruity flavor, and a nice, soft mouth-feel. I would say that it's a typical 2003 Bordeaux, ready to drink now, but will be very good in a few years, too. I really enjoyed it. We actually let it sit for a couple days and it was still very nice rather than adopting that jammy flavor that develops when you let many other wines sit. It wasn't a particularly distinct wine, but would be a really nice table wine, a safe choice for most occasions and something I would be happy to have in my cellar.

The Lilian Ladouys label. Yum!

The Copa America is going on right now. We watched a bit of pool play while waiting for our carryout. On Tuesday, we found a little pizza joint called Archie's showing pool play for the tournament. They were also the only place open on the 4th, so we ended up going back. The atmosphere was great, with people cheering and excited about the games. They also had a convincing pizza rustico. I was pleased. I had a cheese calzone the second night and was surprised that they included a Gorgonzola, which sounded better than it actually was.

Jeremy fenced in Div. IA on Wednesday. We were done early enough that I was able to get to the pool for some more sun and reading.

I fenced in Div. IA on Thursday, I wasn't in as long as I would have liked, but was fairly pleased with my day. A group of us went out to dinner Thursday night at a little Cuban place, which left a little to be desired in the area of service. The company more than made up for the shortcomings of the restaurant.

Oh. Right. One more thing. We took advantage of the concierge services of the hotel and ate dessert in the lounge almost every night. Our good host, Edgar even saved me some chocolate goodness one night after hours. The desserts were amazing. Here we have from foreground to background, a flan, a chocolate mousse and Ganache mini-cake, a little chocolate tart thingie, and carrot cake. We also had, at some point, cheesecake, tiramisu cheesecake, and blueberries. Wow.

It rained.

Written on Sunday...posted significantly later so I could add the pictures:

Jeremy and I are in Miami for Fencing Summer Nationals. He fenced in Division I on Saturday and did a bang-up job. After his tournament, we went out to dinner...errr...lunch...errr...whatever meal falls at 4:30 on Saturday afternoon. The important part is that we went to a place around here called Novecento. It was really good. Started with a Caprese salad that had some (obviously) homemade mozz, which I really appreciated. I had the eggplant ravioli and a glass of non-descript pinot grigio. Towards the end of the meal, it started thundering. We decided to take advantage of the short, mid-afternoon-Florida rain to have another round, but ended up sitting for another two hours waiting for it to stop pouring. Jeremy and I started taking random pictures with our phones (yes, see below) and taunting the waiters while they were trying to poke the tents with the ends of brooms. Physics seemed to escape them. It was a lot of fun. It's been a really long time since I've sat outside, under the protection of a large umbrella watching it rain unrelentlessly. People looked miserable. I was delighted. No place to go, nothing to do. Heaven.

I don't think you can actually see the rain very well, but it was coming off the canvas in a steady pour.

Funny pic with the strange self-portrait function of the camera.

Walking back to the hotel after the rain. It evidently rained hard enough that the city drainage couldn't handle it.

Red Meat

Written Sunday night, about Sunday's meal....posted when I could:

Tonight, on Jeremy's request to have steak, we went out to dinner at Morton's Steakhouse. It's right across from our hotel (trans: within stumbling distance.) We started with cocktails, J with a bourbon, me with a vodka martini. We quickly progressed to dinner and wine. I chose the 1996 Faustino I, a Rioja that I've had before. I also chose the small rib eye. J chose the fillet Diane. Both our entrees went well with the wine. Before we were allowed to chose our dinners, our waitress wheeled out a cart, complete with cuts of beef and a live (!) lobster to explain the menu. She mentioned and described every dish on the menu from memory before handing a paper copy, and the wine list, over to us for perusal at our convenience. After seeing her wheel the lobster out for the dog-and-pony show a few times, we finally asked about its well-being. They had it sitting on a cart, facing the wall. We were assured that it would be dinner to someone very soon, but in the meantime, she would be happy to turn the critter so that it faced the crowd. This made me feel a little better, as it had more personality that way. I thought it was a dummy lobster until she had picked it up during her menu recitation. It took all I had to not break my interested-menu-driven-poker-face when she picked up the lobster while she was describing the menu...and its little legs went wheeling around!! I had actually looked at the little beastie and determined that it was *not* alive, but some plastic thing that was convenient for menu descriptions earlier. The waggling legs did not convince me to have lobster, but more convinced me that it's one, true skill was tap dancing. Unfortunately our hero-lobster didn't have a chance to practice his skills. We asked later. He was dinner for the people across the aisle from us. They hadn't requested him, specifically, but had ended up with him. Such a lively thing. C'est le vie. The wine was spectacular.

What would happen...

...if Ann Coulter, Nancy Grance, and Steven A. Smith had a show on CNN all together?

I thinks my head would asplode.

Jeremy thinks it would be righteously funny.

Step 1: Apply Fencing Logic to Softball

Step 2: Get robbed anyway.

I did my best saberist impression while running bases tonight during my softball game. My theory was that if I looked confident when I got on base, then regardless of how close it was, I'd be called safe. I think the theory would work if the ump was being impartial. I was called out on both close calls, one of which I was so sure of, I stood on base looking confused while everyone else was heading to the dugouts. Didn't work. Sigh.

I suppose it's all okay. People from the other team also mentioned (after the game) that I got robbed. I managed to mow over the third baseman, which was satisfying in its own way, too. My only regret is that I didn't drop my shoulder.

I went to fencing afterwards and fenced really well, I think. Next week should be interesting.

Think of the Twinkies!!

The Indiana State Fair is going trans-fat free. This will include all the vendors that sell elephant ears, fried veggies, funnel cakes, and *gasp* deep fried Twinkies.

Is eating deep fried food ever "healthy"? Will this switch make anyone "healthier"? Does deep frying Twinkies significantly change their nutritional value? If not, why does it matter what's used to deep fry them?

I suppose it's a good thought, but the big problem is that people eat the equivalent to this crap every day without regard to portion control. Switching oil type won't change that. It may actually make it worse. I can obviously eat more of this--it's trans-fat free!

Off rant.
I'm going to go eat ice cream.

Ups & Downs

It was one of those days that keeps you guessing about your karma.

Ups:

• I got my shoes! I ordered them Thursday and they showed up today. I would have had them Friday if I had ordered them earlier on Thursday. They're Clarks Carlenes and Thunders. Yea, Zappos and their free overnight shipping and free returns!!
• I had a good fencing practice and I managed to do some armoring tonight and I have 5 working weapons for next week.
• The dress I'm making is almost done.
• I made banana bread which smells wonderful in my apartment. I'll share with the class tomorrow. Maybe.
• Nice thunderstorms.
• A text message from my boy at a very good time.

Downs:

• Nomadshan's bad news from camp.
• Everything in Nashville closes at 6. I couldn't get the last bit of stuff I need for the dress tonight.
• The morning just "wasn't right" and I was off my schedule and routine.
• I found out that there's a show on MTV called Engaged & Underage, which isn't quite what it sounds like, but almost.
• What seemed like a host of really bad drivers following me around, never mind some poor driving direction choices on my part.

Neutral:

• The afternoon fire alarm. Evidently power glitches are triggering alarms. This would normally not be a problem, but the previously mentioned storms were near, which would have put a serious damper on the engineers-getting-fresh-air feeling. We all figured that the stairs down, standing outside, then stairs up was probably to be the best exercise we got and theorized that it was really a ploy by our advisers to make sure we went outside. We figured that we could sue for distress.

Anyway. I'm just glad it's over. I'm ready for a fresh start tomorrow.

Season's Firsts

This weekend, I went for a riding on the trace twice. Saturday marked my season's first road ride, today marked my first brick of the year.

Saturday, I started out at around mile 440 and ended at the Leipers Fork station. It was really bloody hot by the time I got going, around 10 am. The temperatures were in the upper 80s and humidity was such that only Middle Tennessee can provide. I was fairly miserable. I had planned to ride to Garrison Creek, but the hill between LF and GC was too much to stomach at the time.

Today, I started and ended at the Tennessee Valley Divide with Leipers Fork as the midpoint. If you look at the map, you can see that the previously mentioned hill is on this route, but didn't look nearly as bad at the half-way point with temperatures in the mid-70s. It really pays to get up early. After the ride, I ran a horse trail (indicated as a hiking trail, but there was plenty of evidence otherwise) from TVD to almost Burns Branch. The trail was all through the woods (at least the part I was on) and had lots of fun creek crossings and altitude change.

My foot at one of the multiple creek crossings.

The Trace

Having finished the rough draft of my paper, having finished the week of school and the office, having already decided that today was a day off from workouts, and having no better sense than to drive out of Nashville at rush hour, I took off after work this afternoon to scope out Natchez Trace, a 444-mile "scenic byway" that, according to the website, "commemorates an ancient trail that connected southern portions of the Mississippi River, through Alabama, to salt licks in today's central Tennessee." The Trace is a popular biking route--a well-maintained road with a low speed limit through beautiful scenery.

I ended up driving about 50 miles, only 5 of which were on the actual trace, because I had a hard time finding the access points. But, I got a good feel for where I can park my car and what the road feel is and I can imagine the tremendous quads and glutes I could develop from riding the hills. I'm hoping to get out for a ride sometime this weekend.

Then, having no better sense, I went to the grocery when hungry.

Car? Check.
Gas in the car? Check.
Navbitch? Check.
Common sense? Che--umm...

More swimming

Yeah, yeah. It seems that the only workouts that I really post about are the swimming ones. I'll give a little blurb about the muddy softball from yesterday after I post today's swim workout.

• 200 SKPS
• 2 x 50 kick hard
• 4 x 100 @ 1:40
• 3 x 100 @ 1:30
• 2 x 100 @ 1:25
• 1 x 100 @ 1:20
• 100 cool down

2000 yards total. I didn't quite make the 2nd on 1:25 and I had aimed for 1:15 for the single, but it was a good workout anyway.

Muddy softball was...muddy softball. You couldn't see second base. A good time was had by all, though my team lost 5-4 (I think). My batting could have improved, but it was probably better than last time, and my fielding was definitely better than last time. A few more games and, well, the season will be over, but maybe next season. It's been a great time, as little as I've played.

Workouts

I finally decided to buckle down and start with workouts again. It seems that a fencing tournament is coming up and I need to be in better shape. In the last couple weeks, I've managed:

• Swimming
• Fencing
• Salsa dancing
• Softball
• Power workout
• Running (trail, road, and speed work)
• Mountain Biking

Not so bad. Just hope I can keep it up.

Fast Food

Driving home last weekend, I needed a quick stop for supper. I chose to drive through a Wendy's. While waiting to pull up to the first window, I looked in my rear view mirror at the SUV behind me. I watched the guy, while pulling up to the speaker, shift the small, white bag he had on his lap to roll down the window, reach into the bag, grab a sandwich and take a bite before placing his order. I watched him struggle to finish another bite as the attendant asked a question the man hadn't anticipated. I watched him grab a quick drink from a not-quite-finished soda as he pulled forward to collect his order.

Were there other people in the car that he was trying to appease by making multiple fast food stops?

Was he stocking up for later so he wouldn't have to make another stop?

Is there a good explanation for this?

What's Wendy's thinking trying to make us think that Vanilla Frosties are a good idea???

Swim Lessons

While I've disappeared from the blogging for a while, I've not been completely idle. I finally managed to get back in the water this week. I got a quick swim while I was in DC for two weeks, but hadn't been in the water since mid-May. There's some sort of "camp" activity going on in the VU SRC, where every child in the Greater Nashville area descends on the SRC to learn to swim. Even with this, I didn't have to share a lane (yea!). My workout was pretty straight forward:

• 200 SKPS


• 500 Swim


• 10 x 50 Swim (2 of each stroke, then finished with kicks)

Turns out to be 1800 yards, which was respectable.

With all the kids running about, the other activities scheduled for the pool at that time were a little more cramped than usual. About halfway through my workout, I was asked to move over a lane to make room for the water polo club. I moved and was appreciating the added wave action as an addition to my workout--more like open water, right? I was fine until I started thinking about the potential of stray water polo balls flying into my lane...and swimming backstroke. Naturally, as I was thinking about this, a ball landed at my hands. I decided to avoid backstroke for the rest of the workout.

Off My Lawn!

I had one of those moments this week where I realized that what I was doing was uncool. It happened in slow motion but I couldn't help myself. A little after midnight, I had settled in for a good night's rest around 11:30 and had dozed off once or twice only to be roused by the sound of an elephant (or a gangly teen) running down my hallway or a different teen (less elephant like) sneaking up on a female teen and making her scream. It's really not pleasant being awakened by the shriek of a bubbly teen girl, especially when you have to be up early.

So, I called the front desk. I was evidently not the only one to have done so. The noise stopped immediately, but as I hung up, I realized that I may be the first person to have been carded and to have called the front desk of a hotel to make the kids go to bed in the same week. And yes, the carding was legit. I wouldn't fess up if it was an "we're supposed to card anyone who looks under fifty" thing.

Feeling unhip.

Recent Wine Reviews

I haven't managed to keep up with my recent wine tastings, so I'm combining a few tasting notes. It's been a mixed bag, but I've mostly forgotten the really bad ones, so the good stuff is below:

2003 Chateau Lagrange, Les Fiefs de Lagrange
Reviewed by Wine Spectator in March '06 (Rated: 88):

Some good berry and chocolate character, with just a
hint of fresh herbs. Full-bodied, with fine tannins and a medium finish.
Very good indeed. Second wine of Lagrange. Best after 2007.

I completely agree with the review. I had this at a birthday dinner at Mambu. It was a bottle I had picked up at Grand Cru (can't find the website). I stuck with my usual tuna, but the wine stood out. It's a very smooth and refined wine. It's certainly ready to drink now. I'm working on getting more.

◊ ◊ ◊

Next, while on vacation, I took my hosts my standard table wines (Clos du Bois Cabernet and Montes), and I selected a 2003 Chateau Cruzeau for a first tasting. We had the Montes on the second night with some fantastic ribs--good reviews all around. Before fishing on the last night, I opened the Cruzeau and a 2000 Ormes de Pez. My instructions when I bought the Cruzeau was to open it, let it sit for a few hours, then drink it. I'm pretty sure that heaven is coming in from a evening fishing trip to open bottles of wine. These two wines did not disappoint.

The Cruzeau has very bipolar reviews online--the most varied response I've seen. My wine guys all seem to like it and I was quite impressed. It started out much smoother than the Ormes, but ended up without the oomph. I went back and bought all that Grand Cru had left (unfortunately, they had only three).

The 2000 Ormes was definitely an Ormes de Pez. This is still one of my favorite chateaus of all time. I found a couple wine reviews (below) and I'm a little baffled by the "shoe polish" reference, but I was really happy to have a chance to have this. I've now had the 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, and 2004. I have a couple bottles of the 1999 that I'm eager to have at some point. The thing that I like most about all Ormes I've had is the nose. There's something very distinct that really strikes me every time I drink this wine. Maybe it's the shoe polish, but I don't think so.

By Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wines, Apr 03 Rated: 87--Cru Grand Bourgeois. Cast in the tighter, firmer, more austere style that is the norm for the wines of St. Estephe, this bottling is among the least approachable of the wines tasted and is a touch light on the fruity extract shown by its more highly-ranked neighbors. Still a very solid effort, it requires a good deal of patience, but it is likely to remain more stiff than succulent despite long-term cellaring.

By Stephen Tanzer Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, May/Jun 03 Rated: 88Deep red-ruby. Medicinal black cherry, shoe polish and mint on the nose. Fairly intense but cool flavors of cassis, mint and shoe polish are supported by a firm spine. Finishes with broad, dusty tannins. Showing well today. Very St. Estephe.

◊ ◊ ◊

1975 Clos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon

I managed to taste a wine older than me. This was one of my goals for the next few years. A fellow wine geek had bought a case of the stuff in the early '80s. He gave away the last bottle in '85, but came across a bottle recently and decided it was time to have it opened. I was very much in the right place at the right time. The wine was very dark and earthy. The mouth-feel was like velvet. The finish was beautiful. Amazing.

◊ ◊ ◊

Finally, my birthday buddy and I (from above) went to Tayst to celebrate the successful defense of his proposal. We had the chef's-choice meal, which changes based on the available ingredients. This week's treat involved fresh salmon. First course was salmon tartare, beet and radish Napoleon, and apricot preserves, served with a French white (I didn't catch a name on any of the wines with the meal and I hesitate to guess from the wine list). Second course was a pumpernickel escolar, served with a French rose. Main course was a salmon fillet with risotto-stuffed morels, served with a Spanish red (I think it was a Tempranillo). Finally, the desert...a flour-less chocolate torte with a chocolate mousse topping, served with stout beer(!) and a creme brulee served with a Sauternes. Overall, a delicious inner. Additionally, the staff was amazing. One of the co-owners came out--almost chasing us as we walked out the door--thanking us for coming in and wishing us a good evening. A very good evening, it was.

Redundancy

From a listing for a wine dinner:
"Young rack of veal"

Lock 4

Jeremy and I went to Lock 4 mountain bike park today. We rode for about an hour and I think we covered a good chunk of the South side of the park, but came nowhere near hitting all the trails. There's an off road triathlon at the park in July that I am considering. Some of the trails were a bit muddy, but I think that's expected with the rain/storms we got yesterday. For the most part, the it was appropriate for me technically (not like Wapahani in B-ton!) and I had a good time. As I got more tired, I lost a little confidence and was ready to call it, but I'll going back soon, I think.

Afterwards, because of the mud, the bikes and our legs were nicely coated, so we found a car wash and pressure washed the mud off the bikes. Legs had to wait for a shower.

It was great to get out on the bike. I borrowed a bike last week in Florida and remembered how much fun it was. It was doubly nice to have a bike that fit today. I think I made it without major falls or bruises. I think Jeremy came out unharmed, too.

So, yea!! Mountain biking.

How to Eat an Elephant...

During a motivational discussion of how I was going to manage to get through all the stuff that I needed to do around finals time, it was suggested that I view it like eating an elephant--one bite a time and before you know, it your plate is clear. This is a nice idea, but it got me thinking about the elephant that I was preparing to devour:

1. As you're looking at the elephant on your plate, it's sometimes difficult to start eating because you know that it'll be a long process and once you start, there's really no turning back.
2. Shouldn't I share the elephant with the other villagers? They need to
   eat too.
3. Then again, there could be an excess of elephants and all the villagers are
   busy with their own elephants.
4. I asked for a baby elephant, thanks.
5. Elephant veal?? Eww.
6. Do elephants come with barbecue sauce?

Having devoured my elephant, I can say that while it was a challenge, it was quite tasty and I'll be having several more in the next few years.

It's Contagious

Sent to me today:

From glumbert.com (yet another video server), http://www.glumbert.com/media/laugh

Starts slow, ends slow, the middle is classic. You have permission and recommendation to stop watching when the music starts.

Enjoy!

My Tarot Card

Webhamstress had a survey posted on Free Cletus designed to find your tarot card. I was completely creeped out when I did this because it came up with the same card that I deemed "mine" in the short, dark period of Jr. High. Cue creepy music...

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Step away from the laptop

It's 1:30 am. I need to go to sleep, but I was catching up on some reading, winding down from the day (yes, all, I did finish my math assignment) and stumbled upon this and I thought, "UNpossible".

Then, I found myself following directions and walking 6 steps away from my computer and when I looked back, I thought, "woooah, poahsssible". Weird.

Then I decided to get some sleep.

Well, blog about it first, then sleep.

g'night.

P.S. Having already talked about the daily life of an octopus this week, I thought I might share that there's definitely an elephant post to come, and I think someone mentioned llamas, but I haven't figured out the relevance yet.

Stop and smell...or listen...

...but it has to do with the Metro, so be careful which you choose.

A social experiment with the disappointing, but expected, outcome.
Watch the videos.

Vanderbilt's Dean Richard Memorial Open

Jeremy and I fenced in Vanderbilt's Dean Richard Memorial Open tournament this weekend. He won, but had to go through me first (the first time we've faced each other in a tournament in years). Yes, the Nation vs. Nation joke was pulled out again. It was a nice tournament and has been growing for the last several years. I hope that they'll start springing for grounded strips and directors soon. It could turn into a really nice tournament with those added touches (no pun intended).

Who wants a new pet??

I do! I do! It seems like the octopus could be the new cat. Play, play, play...now leave me alone. Okay, I saw the headline, "Learning octopus can open bottles, squirt keeper. Next up: Finding Sarah Codder" on Fark today. The comments linked to this video (clickie if no luck with the built-in):

Octopuses have an amazing ability to squeeze through tiny crevices, cracks and holes. My fall BIOS independent studies student, Raymond Deckel is investigating just how small a hole Octopus macropus can fit through as well as how long it takes them to squeeze through different sizes of holes. CAABS intern Rowena Day, NSF-REU intern Jared Kibele as well as teaching assistant Abel Valdivia help wrangle the 232 g octopus, Ray times it’s escape through a 1 inch hole while I shot video clips for later analysis. Location: Whalebone Bay, St. George’s, Bermuda. Dr. James B. Wood - BIOS The Cephalopod Page

Trogdor vs. Baby Monster

I got to see, hold, and cuddle with Baby Monster this weekend. He's perfect and quite handsome (except, perhaps, when he's purging after his meal--an impressive sight). I think he's not quite up for slaying dragons, though.

Prêt? Flesche.

My fencing coach didn't mince words tonight. After my warm-up bout, he said, "Your flesche is terrible." For the next 45 minutes, I did nothing but flesche. Flesche to the right, to the left, hearing, "keep your hand up" and "don't stand up before you go". My legs are toast, my shoulder is toast, my brain is fried. I suppose the good news is that I managed to get in a few coach-approved flesches during my closing bout. I am definitely going to feel the workout for a few days.

Finding Directions

While reading on the infoweb sometime last week, I came across a thread about Google Maps. I was completely entertained that someone had found driving directions from Chicago, IL to London, England. Please note the method of crossing the pond.

/Everyone begs for Sarah's classes to become unbearable again so she will stop posting crap like this...

Swimming in Soup

Tonight's swim was one of those where I was sure they replaced the water in the pool with Jell-O or some sort of thickened broth. The latter is probably a more accurate description because on top of the water being a touch too warm, I felt like I had a sack of potatoes tied to my toes. The good news is that I completed 2000 yards. The bad news is that I planned 3000. The good news is that the yards I put in were strength/sprint yards. I'm going to hurt later.

• 200 SKPS
• 4 x 4 x 25 (Each set different stroke)
• 200 kick (butterfly)
• 5 x 100 IM
• 100 Cool Down

So, yeah, that adds up to 2000.