Ugh Tired

The Connecticut Sun lost, in an uglier game than Tuesday's win, to Detroit. Detroit was sharp - aggressive, quick, shot well. Despite a bunch of T's (Bill Laimbeer, plus two players), the Shock got under the Sun's skin. I kind of like the Shock - Ruth Riley plays hard and has talent (sort of like Rebecca Lobo, although maybe with a little more shadow self) and Katie Smith is just a grinder. Plus the Shock showed a lot of speed - down the lane, coming up court, on defense. Yowza. That's two losses at home to Detroit.

Heading to bed now - if the weather holds, I may be balloon chasing (or perhaps, riding) tomorrow morning. First time all year; between the weather, BB's jobs, and life busyness, I have not been near a hot air balloon all season.

Tell President Bush: Keep Girls Part of the Team

As a fan of women's sport, and a person who came to regular physical activity later in life, I kind of wish there had been more options besides the conventional team sports (baseball, football, basketball, and boys only) when I was growing up.

Recently, the Bush Administration made a major change to Title IX policy that threatens to reverse the enormous progress women and girls have made in sports. There's a great Flash movie to inspire you to join me, soccer star Julie Foudy, and others across the country in signing this petition!

Check out the Flash movie here

Watching the film and signing the petition takes just a minute or two of your time. I hope you'll join me in signing on!

www.savetitleix.com

Kate Callahan - WNPR @ 9:00 a.m.

I was leaning off the mat this morning; too much work to finish up by the end of the month (uhm, that's today), and taking off early this afternoon to get down to the game.

But, life provides a fix, Kate Callahan is on WNPR (90.5) at 9:00 a.m. - for an in-studio concert on John Dankosky's Where We Live show. WWUH (91.3) (Mixed Grille with Steve Theaker). Aural yoga, while I work.

Work Has Been Busy

It's just been whacked. I have two WNBA games this week, a site visit to Waterbury, and a slew of reports. A website client has dumped a pile of updates on me over the past few weeks (all taken care of), and there is an email newsletter to send to 10,000 of my closest friends, and a few other little projects. Things have been buzzing along.

Tomorrow, I'll sit and do reports for a while, and I bet I get sucked onto a yoga mat. Monday, I can crank out my June invoices and work on a report from my latest site visit.

Mid-summer already. Dang. Three weeks from now I will be sitting in a field in Hillsdale, NY, staring up at the stars, and thanking the universe for another year.....

I saw something today....

....that made me eternally grateful for the gifts that I have been given. And humbled me incredibly. Wisdom comes, sometimes in unexpected places, sometimes in wholly expected ones. And sometimes, in expected places but in unexpected ways.

Prayers and healing thoughts go out to an acquaintance - one of those persons who might be a close friend had life brought us into closer contact - we click when we are in earshot, but both of our lives are busy and our circles do not overlap too often. I've heard he had a series of strokes and is in the hospital, and it sounds like it will be a long recovery.

Toenail Compromise

OK, its summer. Lots of sandals and open toed shoes. And I've got my bare feet on a yoga mat 2-3 times a week. My toes should have something on 'em, if only because I am dristi'd in that direction fairly often.

But I am not to the point of justifying the time and cost of a pedicure, though I really love the pedicures I've had 'em in the past. Just something that keeps getting pushed off in my busy life.

Anyway, I've been a toenail polish DIY'er this summer. All that yoga means I have no problem getting at 'em, anyway.

Ugly Basketball

It's hard to know if the CT Sun were that good, the Houston Comets were that bad, or what. It was not a stellar game. Surprising to me that Nekesha had 19 (for some reason she did not look good during the game, but she still scored). I watched Erin Phillips shooting around, by herself, before the game (lots of 3's from the corners) and still she did not score. The Sun pulled ahead from the start and it was never close (Houston got to maybe 11 or 13 points a few times) - and towards the end it seemed like a pick-up game, with improbable passes, wild shots, and players driving down the lane into traffic just to do something.

The good thing is, not a lot of timeouts and dilly-dallying, and I was back on the highway by 9, and walking in the door before 10.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

We had a wonderful celebration of mom's 70th year yesterday, in north central MA. A few weeks late (and a surprise) - mom had been going around for the last two weeks being semi-punked out because none of us made a big thing of it. Heh heh.

It turned out to be wonderful - mom's friends, mom's old coworkers, family, and some distant friends from NJ. My niece put together a scrapbook - old photos, emailed memories, some of mom's favorite mangled sayings aphorisms:

"...smokes like a fish..."
"...doesn;t have two wooden nickels to rub together..."
"...made out like a banshee indian..."

All in all it was wonderful. Props to my dear sister for putting all this together.

While we were browsing the scrapbook, we found (in the work section) a photo of a woman that perked Zippy and I up. Sister? we wondered. My sister chimed in: Oh, she'll be here today, with her partner. We ended up making new friends, who happen to live in the same town as my sister. Shout out to L and K! Except, as Zippy and I discussed on the way home, its hard to meet successful folks (however nice) cause our crappy career paths and dubious financial standing is harder to ignore in comparison.

Today, not much going on. A typical Shankara hot class this morning, with a sneaky heat build up and lots of long poses. For whatever reason, other hot classes seem to be more directly challenging - with a lot of standing, lot of flow. Standing in front of a mountain, pointing to the top. Climb. Shankara's classes are just as challenging and just as hot, they just seem like they should be easier. You start off on a leisurely walk, you seem to meander and dally, but by the end, you are up on the same mountain, wondering how you got up there. He tends to be a stickler for form, and thats always good and challenging by itself. I am blessed to have a variety of classes and instructors to work with (is there an official word for that? sensei? yogi? task-masker?) - I seem to get a little something different from each, and the "surprise" of a slightly different session is always good for balance.

We're relaxing today - I've got laundry going. Picking up MYA in Manchester, taking her to Rainbow Room, then back home to Bristol. Later, Zippy and I are hitting the road - going to the Towne Crier in Pawling to see our friend Victoria play at an open mic.

Keep breathing.....

Back from El Paso, but life remains frenetic. I finally did get back into CT around 1:30 am Thursday morning; hit the mattress around 2:00 am. Ugh. I called and cancelled my 7:00 am breakfast appointment, slept in, and Thursday was spent on the mat, in the office, and then over at the WNBA game.

Today, I was planning not to do yoga, but 9:00 am rolled around, I had gotten a bit of work done, so I went anyway. John pretty much drove us into quivering pools of sweat. Good practice. Between all my travels, late hours, a class yesterday, and his heavier than usual class, I pulled back into child's pose a few times - just wiped. No yoga tomorrow (Jazzercise) and maybe not Sunday (ballooning) so I got it out of my system. Right.

Been catching up on work things - caught up on reports, a small El Paso trip report needs to be written, expenses tallied and invoiced. I have a bit website update pending, but got a few smaller site updates completed. Maybe over the weekend.

Meanwhile, my phone keeps ringing - an out of the blue call today might lead to a new client, another from El Paso (maybe ongoing work) and a day trip to Waterbury next week. I'm scrambling to stay ahead of it all. Nice place to be in, at least once the checks for all this hustling come through.....

Right now, rice simmering on the stove, fajita's (leftover chicken, some onion and peppers and mushrooms nearing the end time) staying warm, waiting for Zippy to get home. A mild thunderstorm blew through; the dogs are fretting a little. But the weekend is underway.

And back to O'Hare

Well, I made it as far as Chicago - and with delays rampant in the system, my flight from O'Hare to Hartford is also delayed. So a 7:45 departure has slipped to probably 9:30, and if I'm behind the wheel of my Saturn by 1:00 am, I'll consider it a blessing. I just called and cancelled my 7:00 am breakfast meeting; I am gonna need to sleep in....

Not much else to report. Maybe its time for me to sign on for a wireless subscription service - verizon or t-mobile or something. I think I've bought 3 "one day passes" on this trip with all the travel delays and long layovers, and that adds up fast.

Homeward Bound

Not quickly, I might add. Apparently there is weather in the mid-west, and as a result things are delayed. My 2:00 pm out of El Paso is slated for wheels up at 3:55 pm. My connection in O'Hare is already penciled in for a 45 minut edelay (not horrible, it means I will probably make it). So my 10:35 pm arrival back in Hartford is gonna be any time between now and whenever. Ick.

The work went as well as could be expected - I fulfilled my role (being reassuringly competant and consultational) and the fates of grounding smiled upon us (the MR in question was well behaved and showed no signs of errors or problems after the new UPS was connected - although I think most of us involved believe it was the grounding improvements that made things better.

Yesterday was a long one - I was ready to go to the site at 8:30 am - ended up over there at 10:30 am. Made some measurements, had lunch, hung out, then left for my hotel room around 3:00 pm, and returned back to the site at 7:00 pm, where we hung out until nearly 12:30 am. Ugh. Of course I was not able to nap during the day, and Monday and Tuesday nights were not restful or sleepish. So.....tired me.

Tomorrow, I have a 7:00 am breakfast meeting with a client, and a WNBA game in the evening. I am gonna be wiped....

Safe in El Paso

Arrived a bit before my scheduled flight - and hit the hotel around 11:00 pm local time, which is 1:00 am my time. YAWN! A little email and geekery to chill, then off to bed. It's been a long day - household stuff, work, yoga, errands, and travel.

Staying at a not so lovely La Quinta - there were two equally priced La Quinta choices and I think I chose poorly. I really *should* have stayed at the Holiday Inn (at about 2x the room rate) but I retain a certain self-employment miserliness that I really need to shed at some point. Especially since my youthful days of being a cowboy are behind me.....(or cowgirl, for that matter). From both a safety/security as well as a creature comfort standpoint, I need to treat myself better.

Oh well, at least the internet is free and reasonably high bandwidth.....

Travel Serendipity

En route to El Paso. I arrived to Bradley Airport a bit early; only to find my first flight to DFW was seriously delayed - fatal to get to El Paso this evening. But being htere early, I was able to hop on a flight to ORD - and from there to El Paso an hour early! Now sitting at ORD - the flight to El Paso is delayed but I'll still get in early - and I get to do some geekery.

Also in the serendipitous category; I intended to pick up some magazines to while away the flights (too harried to burn something onto the MP3 player) - nothing worthwhile on the newstand (my usual fare is Harper's, Atlantic Monthly, and/or New Yorker) but instead - a paperback copy of John Irving's new one "Until I Find You". Irving is one of those authors I buy / read everything they have written, eventually (the others are John Updike and Tracy Kidder), and this one has been on the back burner for a while.

We find magic everywhere....

AMAZONS

Scrabble tonight (me and zippy and a young visitor)

My first word, AMAZONS, with a double word score, off the opening PIE, got me 42 plus a 50 point bonus. Pretty much game over. Bittersweet, kind of fun to make a good word, but disheartening to the other players.

Father's Day

Been over 25 years since I've had a father; my dad died in 1979. It is symptomatic of my father, the role of father's in this culture, and my own journey that my father's death, and the subsequent years, was a mixed thing. Dad was kind, loving, and thoughtful, but distant, and he did not touch my life so directly as I passed through adolescence. When he died, I was angry, I was sad, I was relieved in some ways. The fact that his death was not devastating is perhaps the saddest aspect of the story.

Happy Father's Day, Dad. I wish that you were still around; I'm a lot different person today than I was in 1979. Not sure if our relationship would have survived all of my ups and downs, but sitting here, in 2006, I miss you, a lot.

You died way too young, and I suspect that you had a lot of things in your life that were left unsaid, were unexplored. Thanks for the good start, for making my youth a time of safety and sustenance. I've had so many opportunities, and such a solid foundation; my life is truly wonderful in 2006. You did well. If you are out there, and can let me know, I'll be listening.

Gemini Part Post-mortem

All in all a good party.

Picking up MYA et al, and taking them back in the evening, put a few speed bumps in my day, but they seemed to have a good time. I think MYA's mom is not able to get out among adults all that often, so she really enjoyed it.

We had a good crowd, mixture of people, the last guests left around 11 pm. Our friend Victoria stayed over and left this morning. We have lots of beer and food left over.....

This morning I did a bit of cleaning, did a load of laundry, and caught the hot class. Came home, hung out with Zippy and Victoria, and then bid Victoria a farewell. Zippy and I went to brunch at friends in WH (yummy!) - not relaxing and trying to stay cool.

Tomorrow - work, hit the mat, work, pack - and head out to the airport for a 6 pm flight to El Paso.

Prep Work One

Gazpacho assembled and chilling in the fridge - check
Vegan Chili in the crock pot - check
Grill bound protein in a cooler on ice to make room in the fridge - check

Gemini Party

So tomorrow is the (in)famous Gemini Party, wherein our smallish house with too much art, too many dogs, and too many catholic saint candles is overrun by a few score of our family and friends to celebrate the birth of all Gemini's, not the least of which is my girlfried the Zipster. Should be a fun day. The weather bodes well, food has been purchased, a small stock of beer and hard lemonade set in along with a bunch of soda and bottled water. We've run around cleaning like madwomen.

Might try to get to Jazzercise tomorrow, along with:

a) Making vegetarian chili (mostly a mix, so not a big deal)
b) Making Gazpacho (pretty much gonna wing it)
c) Getting ice for the beverages.

Addicted to Yoga

It's Friday morning, and yoga does not make a lot of sense today. I've already been to two power classes this week, I have a bunch of reports to get out, I have to pick up Finch at the airport at 1:15. We have lots of cleaning and organizing and shopping and preparing to do pre-Gemini party. I can probably sneak in Jazzercise tomorrow, and hot classes Sunday and Monday.

So, no, Friday yoga does not make sense.

But DAMMIT I AM SITTING HERE AT 9:38 AM and I WANT TO BE ON THE MAT.

Countdown

We are T-minus 56 hours from the social event of the summer. It's crunch time. Everything will get done, although I am not 100% sure how at the moment. We still have a bunch of cleaning to do, I need to clean the grill and refill the propane, I need to shop for soda, some token alcohol, supplies, and food.

As in most cases, its pretty much of a free-for-all in terms of attendance. I think there are 40 or 50 people who have been invited, odds are many will not show, but enough will to make it interesting. Family heavy (Zippy's mom and dad, my mom, various sibs). Musicians. Co-workers. MYA is coming (expected) and so is her mom and brothers (not expected) which should be interesting. (Also, means I need to go get them and take them home, slightly awkward being thats it our party and all)

The good part is that we are getting a lot of things done that have piled up; our annual spring cleaning. I went through the back porch like a whirlwind, tossing, organizing, processing. Five boxes of kitchen stuff got compacted onto two shelves. A box of books got sent to Los Angeles to Zippy's niece. Two other boxes got moved to the basement. New curtains got bought for the bathroom. Stuff like that.

Meanwhile, work has gotten busy, with a bunch of reports in queue. And I am still gonna sneak out today to hit the mat and to go to a movie with MYA. Or maybe I should blow off the movie and drag her along to do party errands......hmm.....