Improve Everywhere

Improv Everywhere, I love this site. People get together and perform 'spontaneous' acts of improv. I can get sucked in for hours reading about different things they've done like No Pants 2k8 (people riding the subway with no pants), Suicide Jumper (he was on a ledge 3 feet off the ground), Frozen Grand Central (207 people freezing in place for 5 min in Grand Central Station), Best Buy (loads of people dressed like Best Buy staff hanging out in Best Buy), and MP3 Experiment Four (hundreds of people downloaded an MP3 and followed the directions together in unison!). I was avoiding work for a few minutes and got sucked in briefly this afternoon. The reactions of the innocent bystanders are hilarious!

been a good week, but Gus doesn't think so

It's been a pretty good week. Late Monday night I received an email from Ross at Open Ocean Outriggers wishing me happy birthday. Once I moved beyond being a little weirded out (how did he know it was my birthday? ah, from a form I filled out on a demo day in December) we started chatting about the race last weekend, he'd raced OC2 and done much better than I did, for that matter everybody did much better than I did except for that one person behind me! Then I mentioned to him I was on the verge of getting and OC1, a dealer was willing to work out a payment deal for me. I decided to ask if he would consider such a deal, never hurts to ask, the worst they can do is say no, which is totally ok. You just never know how often they might say yes if you never ask. And from personal experience yes happens a whole lot more often than you'd expect! Anyway, Ross and I chatted, he spoke with his business partner, and came back with terms we were both happy with and much better than the other deal. I'm getting my new boat this Sunday, it's a Hypr Pahoa. I could wait until mid-April when Ross is planning to come down for a race and pick up a boat he's buying, but I am totally down with immediate gratification! I think it may have something to do with being an inaugural member of the MTV/80's generation! Anybody want to drive to Vancouver Canada with me Sunday?

Gus is having a bit of a rough time, though. Last May he got a slab fracture on an upper premolar from chewing on a cow knee cap bone. It took a few months for it be be painful to him. Last October it was effecting his chewing so in we go for extraction and while he was under had the remaining teeth cleaned. The crater left by the tooth removal took a good long while to heal up. This began our weekly vet visits because shortly thereafter Llelo had his infamous goose poop incident. Around New Year's both guys were finally feeling pretty fit. Then in mid-February I noticed Gus wasn't eating his chewy things I left for him when I went to work. Open up and sure enough there is another chipped tooth, same tooth other side. He went in for that extraction yesterday. It was otherwise a very healthy tooth because it took Dr Reeves 45 minutes to remove it and I hear he was sweating up a storm because he was working so hard. When I went to pick Gus up last night as soon as he saw me he started whining, really pathetic, prolonged whines, too. It was truly heartbreaking. The technician said while back in the kennel he was perfectly fine and this could just be a special for mom performance. Probably true, but still pulls at the heartstrings.

The whole ride home, whiiiiine, whiiiiinnnnne, wwwwhhhinnne! And he was still a bit woozy from the drugs, too. We get home, more whining. Llelo is thrilled to have his big bruddah home again, let's play now, ok, let's play! To his credit Gus didn't even snap at him, I did that! Supper was tough, I had soaked some kibble in hot water to soften it and added extra canned, not interested. Had to go to straight canned food and even that was hard. I got him up on the bed and he made all kinds of cute wookie sounds mixed with the occasional whine. This morning we skipped the softened dry food and went straight to canned only, gave him his pain meds and antibiotics. Watching him eat the canned food was so sad, even that was painful. Fran, misery loves company, when is your next dental appointment? Gus certainly can feel your pain. Llelo was hovering in the background, waiting for his turn to lick out the dish. Gus seems to be napping right now. Hopefully he will heal more quickly this time. We started the antibiotics straight away this time rather than waiting a week like last time. Poor Gus.

A quiet but good day

I cracked an eyelid open and saw 7:30 on the clock, then closed the eye again until the snooze alarm went off 10 minutes later. Llelo came up for some snuggles and settled in to wait until I showed true signs of life. Ultimately got up around 8, let the dogs out, fed the dogs, prepared my coffee, and settled in to get some work done. I got through quite a bit of work, more than I expected, even. I guess 42 really is the ultimate answer.

I got to the spa around 6:30, flashed my id and got free admittance. I did have to pay for the body scrub and body moisturizing, though. I got my robe, cap, and towels and headed back to the locker room. After I changed I went down to the little restaurant they have. I got the chicken bimbimbap (I know that's spelled incorrectly) and it was quite tasty. I avoided those things that looked like they had spicy sauce added, and the ginger tea was awesome.

After dinner I headed into the tub room, took my shower and hit the 97 degree tub. You have to soak for at least 30 minutes before your body scrub, softens things up. When they called my number I went behind the bamboo curtain to the brightly white tiled area where they have rows of massage style tables with heavy white vinyl covers, easier to keep clean. My technician was a petite Korean woman who's name tag read Angie. You start out face down and they pull on the scrubby gloves. I quickly realized she was putting a bit more umph into the scrub than the previous time I went, either that or I'd forgotten how scrubby it was last time. It was not unlike being gone over with a sanding block, not the 60 grit, more like the 200 or a little bit finer even. They sluice you down with hot water and then start scrubbing at one foot, working their way up the leg, up the back, the first arm, across the shoulders, the second arm, down the back and down the other leg. And repeat about 3-4 times. Then on to the right side, repeat 4-5 times, then to the left side, repeat 4-5 times, then onto the back and repeat 4-5 times. Having my tummy massaged like a blob of bread dough feels really good. After you have been completely exfoliated they use those odd scrunchy balls of mesh weave stuff and soap all over to wash away all the skin bits they've rubbed off. It all feels so good and relaxing. When Angie was finished she sent me to sit in the dry sauna for a few minutes while she prepped the table for the moisturizing phase.

Angie came and got me and took me over to the mugwort pool. She then poured mugwort water all over me, it feels and smells so good. Then back to the table. The moisturizing involves having honey, olive oil, and milk rubbed all over your body. Having these ingredients massaged into your body is just delightful. Again I started face down and Angie started the same pattern as with the scrub. Then I flipped over and repeated it all on the front side. When she got to my face it was then best thing ever. There was a part of it that reminded me of the brushes when you take your car through the car wash, fwappeta, fwappeta, fwappeta starting at one side and moving around to the other. When she was finished I had been transported to a nirvana-like place. I remember thinking that was totally worth what they charged, just for the face thing! Then she placed cucumber slices over my eyes and shredded cucumber over the rest of my face and neck. It was startlingly cool and dripped down the sides of my neck. It was very hard not to giggle when she did that. She also laid warm towels over the rest of me and left me to steep for a bit. Then she came back and wiped off all the honey and milk and olive oil, cleaned me all up, wished me happy birthday, and sent me on my way.

I made my way home in a warm fog, feeling relaxed with smooth and supple skin. I finished that last package of data and packed my bag for tomorrow. In all it's been a pretty good birthday. The only down side, didn't get any chocolate cake! I'd thought about going down to Whole Foods to get a single serving one, but never quite made it that far. Guess I'll have to get it Wednesday after work.

42 - The Ultimate Answer To Life The Universe And Everything

So, it's going to be a great year then, right! I'll be 42 on Tuesday. I don't have any huge plans for the day. I'll work validating data for most of the day, all those hours I have on my projections, you know. But I do plan to sleep a little late, 7:30 or so, and I'll knock off a little early and head up to Olympus Spa in Lynnwood. It's free on your birthday! In addition to the quality time in the various tubs and hot rooms I'm going to go for the Korean Body Scrub and follow that with the Korean Body Moisturizing.

We'll just see if 42 really is the ultimate answer to life the universe and everything! Here's hoping for a great year.

By The Hair Of My Chiney Chin Chin

I was up in Vancouver, BC at False Creek for the 5th in the winter race series. Diane and I loaded the boats Friday night, an OC1 for me and the OC2 for her and Minnie. She arrived a few minutes late to my place Saturday morning, then we were off to collect Ed who would paddle on an OC2 with Clem. When we were north of Bellingham we passed Minnie and Ernie. We took a chance and went through the Peace Arch crossing, bad idea. The last time we'd gone that way we crossed pretty quickly, figured our luck would hold, ya, not so much actually. Thankfully there was another racer who kindly let us pull in front of him, his line was moving considerably faster. As it turns out that was a saving grace in more ways than one, seems Diane had forgotten her passport, d'oh! The Canadian customs agent was a kindly fellow and accepted Ed and me saying we knew her well and could vouch for her! Off we go, with the fellow who let us in hot on our tail, I guess he was hoping I had good directions and would get us all there in a timely manner. I did and we did.

We arrived, got registered, got rigged, got changed, and went to the pre-race meeting to learn the course. Then into the water for a bit of a warm up and get to the start. We're off, I tried to sprint at the start hoping to stick with the back of the pack, and I did, sort of. Minnie and Diane were even to slightly behind me. Darcy, my main competition was a ways ahead of me. I tried to settle into a good pace, but I wasn't feeling quite right. It was about 2 miles to the first turn, turn right down to the flag bouy, back to the first bouy, and then back in. The total distance was 6.2 miles. There was very little wind, but there was a fair amount of ground swell which gave me some difficulty. I was able to pull in front of Minnie and Diane, but not as far as I would have liked. I could here Diane calling the changes and giving Minnie steering advice, helping alter their course so the swells wouldn't cause them to huli. There were a number of instances where I was certain I was going over, hand waving, heart pounding moments. Afterwards Diane told me she saw a few of those moments and was on the ready to help me back onto my OC1. I guess they had some of those moments, too. After the second turn I saw there was another paddler behind Minnie and Diane! After the third turn I just didn't have much left in me, Minnie and Diane were able to pull ahead of me. Those last two miles were so hard, the swells, my feet were cramping up, sweat kept dripping into my eyes and burning, and I just didn't have the energy to keep up the pace. As I neared the finish I realized that other woman was gaining some ground on me, f@&k that, I'm not finishing last! I dug in a paddled for all I was worth, I was on the verge of vomiting, I was working so hard. They didn't have a horn so I couldn't be certain that I'd actually stayed in front of her. As I coasted along I could just feel my toes/feet cramping, I felt like I'd been put through the wringer.

Very slowly I carried the OC1 up to the car, I felt just nasty. Hungry, thirsty, crampy, sweaty, damp, generally not so good. First thing I did back at the car was change out of my nasty wet clothes and then started to take apart the boat and load up the car. Rather a bad idea, I was feeling yucky and not able to explain to the others how I wanted things loaded and tied down. I should have found some food before we loaded up. Once we got everything loaded we all wandered over to the registration to see how everyone finished and get some prizes. I took third in Master Women, Darcy took second. I was six seconds away from dfl (dead f@&king last) at 1:09:02, but I wasn't last! They had some nice, hot split pea soup in desperate need of some salt, with crusty rolls. It was good to get something into my tummy, the sodium from the salt would have helped my cramping issues, though.

Loaded up and ready to go Diane, Ed, and I headed out to Costco to get some antihistamines for me on our way home. Even though Zyrtec is now sold over the counter here, it's much cheaper in Canada, they have generic. Ed and I have an on-going banter regarding when we should stop for gas. I start getting nervous when it dips below 1/4 tank, Ed says, 'ah, we'll be fine!' We aim for the Costco at Smokey Point (exit 206). It goes below 1/4 mark and I poke him and point, he gives a p'shaw face, and we keep going. Yesterday we actually began to dip below the E line as we were on the exit ramp. I've never actually run this car out of gas before, so I don't really know how low I can go. If we ever do run out of gas Ed will have a load of ribbing to live down! I have AAA so I'm not too worried if we actually did run out of gas, it would just keep us from our showers and naps that much longer!

In all I had a not so good race. I realized I never had my protein shake in the morning and I didn't have quite enough to eat. I think I need to do a better electrolyte loading before a race as well. I'd run out of my Emergen-C packets, guess I'm off to go buy some today! However, I had excellent company for the travel, loads of laughter and good conversation. In all a good day!

Vampire Weekend & Other Stuff

I was on my way home today, listening to NPRs All Things Considered where they reviewed the debut album by Vampire Weekend. They've tagged themselves as 'Upper West Side Soweto'. I bought the album from iTunes shortly after I got home. It's fun, infectious, happy sounding music, makes your feet tap. Check them out.




It's been a crazy busy week at work, few weeks actually. I've got something like 230 hours worth of work that I need to complete by the end of the month. Crazy talk, you say, ya well, me too! Just going to try and do the best I can.

Had a great paddle last night. We went out with 5, Minnie, Nancy, me, Judy, and Neil steering. We did a couple of pyramids, one minute fast, one minute easy, 2 fast, 1 easy, and on up to 5 fast and worked our way back to one. Then we did a second one up to 4 fast. We could feel a huge surge whenever Neil started paddling, it was pretty cool. We only went 6 miles, but they were hard miles. We all felt like we'd had an excellent workout.

Saturday I'm heading up to Vancouver, BC for the 5th race in the winter series. It should be pretty fun. I'm hoping it will be less harsh than the last race I paddled in Vancouver. Be sure I'll let you know about it soon.

What I Won't Do for My Dogs

This afternoon I was meeting a friend at Magnuson dog park so we could let our dogs have a nice run around. It was a nice spring feeling afternoon, clear and sunny. I arrived a little early so the boys and I went into the small and shy dog area, I know they aren't shy, by any means, but they are on the smaller side. Llelo has a ball in there, it doesn't take long for him to start racing around and having half the dogs in there racing after him, he loves it.

After my friend and his border collie/lab mix arrived we started walking towards the beach for some swimming and fetching action. Along the way to the beach there was plenty of sniffing and peeing. Down at the beach Gus was doing his happy dance, you'd know it if you've seen it, eager for me to throw the toy into the water. Arm back and off it goes, with a huge hulking yellow lab racing after it rather than his own ball. Gus has never challenged any dog for his toys; he veered off as soon as the lab nearly trampled him and refused to go back out for the toy. Nothing I did would convince him to go out after the toy. Now this toy has particularly high value, it's an Air Kong stick, the tennis ball material but in the shape of a stick. It's even higher value since the only kind you can buy now include the stupid squeaker, they fill up with water and sink.

I'd tried getting other dogs to bring the toy back in to no avail. Grr. I began to unload my pockets, extra poop bags, cell phone, digital camera, chapstick, and car keys, everything goes into my jacket pockets. Jacket handed to friend, fleece handed off, and I had to start psyching myself up for the cold water. My friend very generously did offer to go get the toy, but since I live only 10 minutes from the park and was wearing my Crocs, I couldn't let him do it. I did appreciate the offer, though. Bhoo ya! Here we go! I stepped into the water, it remained quite shallow for a long time, mid-calf, knee deep, I might be able to pull this off with only a little bit of suffering. Ya right! The water is now mid-thigh and creeping higher, thankfully we've had those spring-like warm days, the water wasn't nearly as cold as years past. Now I'm in crotch deep water, waist deep, belly button, I'm holding my hands up out of the water. For some reason keeping my hands dry gives the illusion of being warm and/or dry. The water is now chest deep and getting a little deeper, finally I can reach that damn toy. The whole way out I'm hearing the people on the beach laughing in disbelief that someone would be crazy enough to walk out into high chest deep water to retrieve a stupid dog toy. I grabbed the damn toy and hollered "I love my dogs!" as I started the long trek back in to the beach. The tops of my shoulders were still dry! Back on the beach I pulled on my dry fleece and jacket. My feet felt cold but the rest of me wasn't as cold as I expected. Time to head back to the car where I have plenty of towels, ostensibly for drying dogs off. A couple of large beach towels around my waist and the soaking, cold jeans were off and into the plastic tub in the back of the car. Hop into the car, crank up the heat and make haste for home, dry clothes and hot tea.

The saddest part of this sorry tale is the fact that this isn't the first time I've done such a thing. A few years ago, when Gus was much younger, it was about this time of year, first weekend in March, Gus had been fetching for quite a while. It was very early morning, a cold and rainy day, and we were the only ones on the beach. I knew he was getting tired so I tossed it out with the intention of one last time. Gus took three steps towards the toy and stopped, absolutely refused to go get it. This was an even higher value toy, I could not let it float away. I took my shoes off, emptied my pockets and headed out. The water was so cold I had an ice cream head-ache when I was only in ankle deep water and I had to go deep enough that I had to swim to get the toy. I spent the next month being really sick with a subsequent sinus infection. If I had to choose between a day like today and that Sunday morning those years ago, I would totally go out again today, in a heartbeat. My dogs love their toys and I love my dogs, there's nothing I wouldn't do for them. Stoopid dawgs!