Saturday, February 28, 2009

Recap of the Last Week

Last Friday evening, I went out to get some dinner. As I walked into the local pizza place where I often get a meal, I saw that my regular waitress wasn't there and that the tables in the dining room were set up as one very long table. At first, I was unsure of what was going on, but one of the guys said it was OK for me to eat in the dining room. Over the next few minutes, the room got more crowded, then eventually filled up pretty completely. It turned out that the high school swim team was having dinner together after a meet, along with many of their parents. It made for an interesting meal. Twice, I was offered some wine or beer by parents of the group. I declined, as I was going to be driving. Also, one parent saw what I was eating, a plate of linguini putanesca, and commented, "You must really like olives." I don't know if he didn't pick out the anchovies and the capers, two of the other big flavor adders, but I just said that I did. One of these times, especially if I have my son with me, I have to order aglio olio (I hope I spelled that right). We were talking about different sauces a few weeks back, and since he likes butter on spaghetti, it's something of a connection.
I did get a job application in to another school district to substitute, but need to get a couple more submitted. I was asked to get up there early next week to complete paperwork. So, things look good on that front.
Last night, I worked a birthday party, and one girl froze on the wall and wanted to come down. I brought her down and talked to her about how scary I found it the first couple of times I was up on the wall. She seemed to listen and take it in. The thing that made my night was seeing her on the wall later in the party. I guess the talk helped.

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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Less Driving

I'm finding that the economic downturn has impacted the amount that I am able to drive for the limo service. Since I have a substitute teacher's certificate, I am going to visit a couple of local school districts and try to get added to their substitute lists. Meantime, I had put on a half pound over the last two weeks. I need to get out more, and get in more - to the gym.

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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Of Michael Phelps and A-Rod

A photo of Michael Phelps taking a bong hit was published recently. The leaking of a supposedly secret test result revealed that Alex Rodriguez had used performance enhancing drugs (PED's) in 2003.
Upon publication of the photo, Phelps immediately acknowledged his improper behavior. A-Rod acknowledged his used of the PED's after the test results were leaked. Rodriguez had stated in prior interviews that he'd never used PED's. While there are some similarities, there are some very profound differences.
Marijuana is a banned drug, and may be classed as performance enhancing because it can reduce pain, but its performance enhancing effects, if any, are only in the immediate aftermath of its ingestion.
Steroids are used to build muscle, and have long-term effects on performance due to the added muscle, ability to absorb more training, etc. Simply put, the only reason to take steroids is to increase performance.
Significantly, Phelps might have denied that it was him in the photo. (I don't know if there was anything uniquely recognizable about him in the photo.) He chose instead to acknowledge his misbehavior, and suffer the consequences. I believe he had two endorsement contracts pulled as a result.
A-Rod had lied in the past about his use of steroids. It seems he only came clean when it was clear that the evidence was solid and was out in public. It's not as if A-Rod didn't know about the inherent impropriety of steroid use, even if they were not specifically prohibited by Major League Baseball. He chose to use a drug that had no use aside from enhancing performance, and then chose to lie about it.
As I see it, both made bad choices, but Phelps chose to be a stand-up guy and acknowledge his error immediately, and his bad choice was not made in the interest in giving him a performance edge. A-Rod deceived the public by using drugs specifically to improve his performance and he compounded his crime by lying about it. While neither man's behavior is laudable, Phelps immediately tried to do the right thing, while A-Rod persisted in doing wrong. The really unfortunate thing is that Phelps likely has to face proportionately greater consequences than A-Rod.
(in the interest of full disclosure, I should reveal that I am and have always been a Red Sox fan, though I have great respect for the New York Yankees as a team. Similarly, as a long-time runner, I have great love for the Olympic Games, especially in the traditional summer sports. Still, I think these facts had virtually no impact on this essay.)

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Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Scared $&!+less!

On Sunday, I found myself having to rehang a climbing rope on the rock wall at my YMCA. In order to do that, I needed to get out a man lift, crank myself up twice (OK, I had help the second time), to a height of about 25 feet. That put my head at 30+ feet up. Then I needed to pass a piece of parachute cord through first a pulley, then an eye.
Having an acrophobe do this may not be the best thing. I'd done this about 8 weeks ago, and got through it OK, but this time, I was really struggling with the height issue. I don't know if it was little tics as the beam on the man-lift rose, its springiness, or what, but on Sunday, it was frightening.
I got the job done, but had to look my fear square in the eyes.

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