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Mandarich admits steroid use in TV interview - NYTimes.com
I used to see him in the training room, and he was disturbingly and freakishly big.

You heard it here first

Mike would make a brilliant political strategist. We were talking about how there was an initial Sarah Palin love in, but things are not looking too hot anymore. I have held back on my politics here :)

If she proves to be too much of a liability, Mike thinks she will "resign" for family reasons close to the election. Then the republicans will bring in somebody else close to the election. Then at election time the new candidate will have a lot of love and excitement. There will not be the time to pick them apart. My replacement pick is Bobby Jindahl from Louisiana. So you heard it here first!

PC

Last night, we went to see Paula Cole at a little theater in Mamaroneck. The place was really tiny, and we were about 10 feet from the stage. She was as amazing as I remembered. I guess she has been out of the biz for about 8 years, so it is a comeback of sorts. It was an acoustic show which was really fun too. We got to watch the guitarist do his thing. It is funny that I love her live, but her albums are not among my favorites. She is still one angry chick! I forgot that she can beat-box.

I just love shows at tiny venues!

Pixillate This!

This morning, Mike and I were watching a Dirty Jobs (Best of Animals). Most of the animal jobs involved artificial insemination. One of the other random jobs was a dog groomer. When they were grooming the dogs, they blurred the genitals (including the anus). Like how offensive is it to see a dog's anus? I am sure everyone has seen them and can handle it without calling the FCC. Then they moved on to the horses. They blurred the horse penis, but they provided a clear shot of the mare's equipment. Why was it OK to see the mare's equipment, but the stud's stuff was blurred? I think she was exploited!

The sky is falling!!!

This financial crisis has meant long days in the office for Mike.

The situation is scary enough that we moved a large amount of cash out of a money market account with a good rating. If the money market blows up, it is not insured by the FDIC, so we decided to move it into our bank account (It is a substantial part of our down payment for our house. He figures if there is a run on the bank, he wants to be the first in line! Good ratings are just not enough anymore with all of the big firms jumping into the real estate debacle. I just do not know what to think about it.

On the one hand, the companies went wild with risky and sketchy investments. Why should we have to bail them out for their indiscretion?
On the other hand, it would be catastrophic for the US economy.

So I do not know what the answer really is, but hopefully it can work itself out.

Now for something completely different!
I dreamed that I went back to the old house on Beverly, and the people living there let me in. It was partially renovated, so some original stuff that we had was there (kitchen), but other parts were different. The house had sections with cathedral ceilings (family room), and the upstairs was huge. I was suprised that they kept it partially the way we had it.

TV Party Tonight!

Mike and I decided all we are going to do this week is lie around and watch TV. I can not believe Heroes went on for 2 hours last night. The jury is out if the show is back to original form.
1. Is future Peter evil and present Peter good?
2. Mohinder is still a dumbass.
3. So is Hiro
4. How come Mr. Bennett walked out of Elle's power surge if it got Siler?
5. Is it me or is every dead character back? I thought the crying girl was offed.

For the community

This weekend, Mike and I volunteered at a local triathlon. We put in a couple of hours on Sat, and yesterday we put in about 51/2 hours. Mike was on the bike transition, and I was assigned to the finish line. The event had 1,100 people entered, so it was not trivial. We both did not want to do body marking. My only concern about the finish line is that the crew often removes the timing chips from people's ankles. Before I bought my own soft strap, the velcro would always leave me bleeding. I packed some latex gloves with me in case I ended up with that duty. I think they reuse the straps, and that is pretty gross.

It is funny when you are wearing a crew T shirt. People assume you have all the magical answers. Mike got a lot of requests for directions to the city. Some of these questions are not a problem. Many others were not answerable. Here are some samples:
1. What is the average run time?
2. Has number 1288 finished?
3. How many people have finished so far?
4. (A woman who arrived to the bikes 20 minutes after race start)Where is body marking?

I reported to my station, and I was assigned to be the backup timer. I was stressed about that, because it was a ton of responsibility. I just wanted light responsibility. I suppose it may be that I was one of the only adults on the finish line team. So my job was to write numbers and the time as finishers came in case the champion chips did not work. While waiting for the pros to finish, so uptight dude ran through the finish gates and told me, "There is some gravel when you are running up to the town park. It may be a safety issue." To be honest, I did not see any bloodied finishers so I think it was fine. What did he want me to do honestly? All I have to say is that thankfully they did not need many of my back up times. Many finishers were wearing their numbers backwards, or the numbers would flip up and you can not read them. Another lady helped me by calling numbers so I could write them without having to look up too much. There would be big groups of people finishing simultaneously, and that is pretty impossible to get them all down. Then they gave us 2 numbers to look out for since the competitors lost their chips. Somehow I manage to see them both and give them times. I only saw the one man since his kids ran the last 100 feet with him and had his number written on their shirts too. So it was fun despite the stress!

Near New York Harbor, the Song of Whales - NYTimes.com

Near New York Harbor, the Song of Whales - NYTimes.com
I think I will get alarmed when something really large bumps into me at Jones Beach! This may also explain Mike's reluctance to do swims or triathlons in that area (besides sharks).

Serenity Now

For all of you having a busy or stressful week!

Dream analysis

Last night, I had 2 weird dreams that I remembered. One was a an early dream where I was a member of the US basketball team. We were playing in a game for the Olympics, and I was running an offensive pattern with the team. I was wide open, but nobody would pass the ball to me. It really bothered me.

This AM before I woke up, I had another dream that I was in Manhattan. I was looking out the window at my friend's apt, and I saw somebody setting up their tent on the side of a hill (the people were backpacking). I commented that it could not be legal to camping in the city, and somebody else told me that a lot of people camp in Manhattan and started telling me about where the good places to go were. What do I know?

Hey Homies

I am coming to town October 9-13. Let me know if you are around and want to do somethin!

Ghetto Fabulous

For the second time, some a-hole dinged my car and did not leave me a note. All I know is that the car was white as evidenced by the white paint left behind. I do not have collision, so this one's coming out of my pocket. I may actually have to fix this one. The funny thing is that I would feel much better if I did something stupid and dinged the car. I know which car is officially the city car now!

Evolutionists Flock To Darwin-Shaped Wall Stain | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Evolutionists Flock To Darwin-Shaped Wall Stain | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

New Diagnosis

Mike decided that he has "swim splints".
He used flippers for a lot of his swim yesterday since the pool chemicals were really bad at the Y this weekend, and his eyeballs swell up. He is now sore on his shins where you would have shin splints, but he is sure it is from the fins. Oh, maybe he should call them "fin splints".

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Cattle shown to align north-south

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Cattle shown to align north-south

For the Brain, Remembering Is Like Reliving - NYTimes.com

For the Brain, Remembering Is Like Reliving - NYTimes.com
Mike always tells me when I am remembering something from a long time ago, I tend to get as angry or happy as if it just happened. This may be why.

Western Wrap UP

Mike and I crashed after our hike and hiked out with our packs to the trailhead the next morning. Thank God it was a moderate hike out! It still felt pretty bad and our packs still felt pretty heavy even though we ate most of the food. The forest out was so nice and it smelled really good.

We headed back to Portland. East of the Cascades, it is desert and it resembles Jackson. There is a lot of brown grass and scrub. It was really hot too. Mike kept asking when we were going to be back in Oregon. We stopped by Mt Hood and watched some snowboarders on the way. It was really nice to get a shower since I was offending myself.

Sat was our last day. We took Shua to the park and swam with the family. It was fun and we needed to move a little bit. Pat, Mike, and I decided to try the diving platforms. I have not been on a 10 meter since college, but I used to do it all of the time. The 5 and 7 meter were open, so Mike and Pat headed up there immediately. Pat went right off which suprised me since he is not a fan of heights. I ran up to the 5, and it suprised me that the 5 seemed so high. I got a mental block on the 7 meter. I finally got so annoyed about it that I sucked it up and went off. It was not bad and I am glad I was not a total chicken in my old age. Mike and Pat were suggesting that I sing the fight song first like I used to in the old days to get me going! It was also fun to catch the Spartans with another fan since there are none near us!

McCain Speechwriter Trying To Write Lines That Don't Lead To Creepy Smile | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

McCain Speechwriter Trying To Write Lines That Don't Lead To Creepy Smile | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Oh my achin' legs

We conquered South Sister. We knew it would be a painful day. We hiked 9 miles round trip which is not so bad, but we ended up climbing 4,000 feet to do it. To add insult to injury, the majority of the climbing was at the end. There is a false summit, and it was a little disheartening to see the real summit looming above. The summit push took an hour, and it was straight up a steep ridge that cut across closer to the top. I noticed coming down when I was low that you can see the trail to the top from camp, and I would not have believed you if you told me that is where I would be climbing! The climbing was also tough, because the trail was soft with lava rock. It ended up being forgiving coming down, almost like sliding down sand.

We had perfect weather on the top, warm and calm winds. We were up there for almost 2 hours. You end up on the volcano's rim on the top which is filled with snow. The view was amazing at 10,300 something feet. It took a while to capture the other sisters without clouds covering their tops. It was the best lunch spot ever. It was a long day and totally worth it. We were happy that we camped at the lake and did not have to pack out after the climb.

What a Moraine!

Mike and I headed off to the Cascades near Bend, and we went backcountry camping and mountain climbing. We camped at a lake called Moraine Lake which is at the base of South Sister. There are three volcanoes right next to eachother called the sisters. South is inactive, and you are able to hike up it without any technical climbing. So we committed to the world of hurt and used Moraine Lake as a base camp. Many of the other people camping at the lake did the same.

The ascent into Moraine Lake was easy and beautiful. Most of the hike was in Lodgepole forest and you walked along about 7 waterfalls. It smelled so good in there! As we were walking, we encountered a massive section of lava rock which is weird when you are hiking in a magical forest. We got a spot that overlooked the lake and it was picture perfect.

A moraine is a pile of rock that glaciers push when they advance, and the large ridge across from our campsite was the moraine. I have never seen such a large moraine before. The mountain with the red top is South Siser by the way.

Oregon part 2

We hung out with the family until Monday afternoon, and then we set off. Mike and I did not have a set plan so we found ourselves wandering to the coast. We figured the weather was clear so we should take advantage of that. We drove along the coast south and just made scenic stops. The beaches were beautiful and we watched the pelicans, seals, and whales. I actually was able to spot whales while we were driving on Monday which is a new one. The ocean was fairly flat with light winds so that aided my spotting ability. There are state parks lining the coast one after the other.

On Tues we headed off to try 2 hikes we found in a book we borrowed from Pat. One hike was in the Cape Arago State Park in Coos Bay. The trail skirted cliffs high above the dramatic coastline. There is a section across from a rocky outcropping that hosts hundreds of seals and sea lions. They are about 1/2 mile away, but you can smell them and hear them barking. You look at the rocks, and they are totally covered with marine mammals.

Our other hike was in the Oregon Dunes Nat'l Recreation Area. The area is along the coast for 50 miles. We found a hike that is in a section closed to dune buggys. It was pretty dramatic and amazing. I had Tea in the Sahara stuck in my mind when we were walking there. You had to pay attention to the route on this hike! The trail led to an empty beach. It was beautiful, but we did have to make it back before night. There were these forests that we crossed to get into the beach that were very tight like jungle (it reminded me of Costa Rica). Mike was overcome at one point, but I was able to get him out.