jawqore

well, it's a year ago today that i broke my jaw while racing bikes up in wisconsin.  yeah, traumatic to say the least - i was in the hospital on morphine for several days, and my mom had to come up there to help me back to san diego (thanks again, mom).  jaw was wired shut for 6 weeks while it mended - that meant a strictly liquid diet for me.  i experimented a lot - i ground up pop tarts, burritos, bratwurst, you name it.  anyway, in memory of that i went and had the 'breakfast of champions' today.  that was pretty much the first oddball creation i came up with - it tasted great back then, and it still tasted great today.  i don't think i'll go back to grinding up burritos, though - they weren't that enticing...

 

 

breakfast of champions (1420 calories)

 

2 chocolate chip pop tarts

2 chocolate boost plus bottles

2 cups 2% milk

2 tablespoons powdered fiber

 

blended down to a pure liquid - no particulate allowed

the achilles

so i was out riding today and i think i finally figured out how i injured my left achilles tendon while i was cycling back in october.  i was climbing a short steep hill today in a pretty heavy gear - so the rpm's were really low - and the 'pulling up' action in my left foot was - shall we say - less than comfortable when i was ripping as hard as i could.  doesn't help that i hadn't ridden in a week and a half, and then that was only 1 night of track racing (high rpm racing) and that i hadn't ridden for an additional week and a half before that.  so yeah, low rpm, high stress pulling up movements in my left achilles.  not so good...  you can think of the pulling up movement being the opposite of a calf raise exercise - instead of your calf working to push the weight down, you've got the calf/tendon working to pull the weight up.  and so back in october, i had just come off a lot of high rpm track training and went in to lower rpm road training - especially climbing hills in really low rpms - and in retrospect, i totally know the moment that i strained that tendon, too.  wow, such hindsight...  but hey, now i know - and knowing's half the battle.

catcher in the dfw

so i'm just sitting in DFW killing time waiting to go home.  my flight outta jackson was on time - even early getting in to dallas, and it looks like my final flight home will be a-ok.  truly, a minor miracle.

 

anyway, i finished reading 'the catcher in the rye' a couple days ago on my flight out to vicksburg.  not totally sure whether i liked that book or not...  i mean, i never really struggled to get through it - but i wasn't really dying to turn the pages either.  and then you're getting toward the end and the tension keeps on building, but then the book takes a right turn and just dumps you.  huh.  but i guess i can appreciate the theme of confusion throughout the book.  a longing for more.  or maybe just a longing for something different.  but sometimes a longing for more, sometimes a longing for different, sometimes a distaste for everything that surrounds me and the constraints of american society and human nature.  that's the story of my life.  huh.  maybe i liked that book after all.  not so much in the actual words written down on the page, but more so in retrospect of the overarching themes covered.  wow - i totally wasn't expecting that.

 

 

seriously, what happened to the airline industry?

flying out to jackson, ms acouple days ago for the reid visit.  7:25am flight, and the taxi was late getting to my apt - really, not my fault this time - so i was just pushing that 30 minute check-in time barrier.  just made it and got on the flight - american routed through dallas.  but the taxi ride sucked - chatty driver who drove slow - there were other taxis passsing us on the way to the airport.  hellooooo?  trying to get to my flight here....

 

taxi driver:  you ever watch 'to catch a predator?'

me:  yeah, i've seen it before

td:  i love it when they get to the place and get on camera.  what were you gonna do with that girl?'  'nothin.'  they always be saying 'nothing'!  cracks me up every time.

me:  yeah

td:  and they're good with that camera too, man.  usually on tv you just see trained actors, but this is real - you can see right in their eyes...

me:  yep

...

td:  well, i don't know if you're religious or anything...  but it's all about that s-e-x.  i'm saying if there's a sure thing out there then you're just gonna go for it.

me:  hmm

td:  most of the time it's 50-50 you're gonna get it or you're not, but if you've got a sure thing - woooeeee!  i don't care how old she is!

me:  huh

 

yeah, i think he's gonna be on a future episode.  wow.

 

 

so i got into dallas to make my connection to jackson.  get through the labrynth of dfw and get to the gate to find the flight is delayed by 10 minutes - no big deal.  then they announce that the flight is overloaded - with luggage?  they are going to have to bump 12 people from the flight in order to make the weight limit.  huh.  well, i'm not interested in the voucher - i just want to get back to see the reids.  a couple minutes later, they call several people up to the gate - including me - and tell us we've been bumped!  what!  pandemonium ensues.  it doesn't matter that we paid for our tickets - have assigned seats - etc - someone's gonna lose.  the flight wasn't even oversold - it was just too heavy...so there's like 7 of us haggling at the counter for a seat.  the agents are adamant that no one is getting on board.  i lose my cool and have to walk away to simmer down.  then i walk over to the next gate to talk to the supervisor.  standing in line, and then all of a sudden i see 3 of the guys that were waiting for seats walk on board the plane - WHAT?  i get back over to the gate and one of the agents says she's trying to find a seat for me and a seat for this lady.  and snap - i totally just missed out on the 3 seat free-for-all that just went down - wow.  well, the lady is starting to throw a fit, and then the gate agent finds her a seat and ushers her down the entry.  supposedly there's one last seat up for grabs but it's going to this other guy - not me.  huh?  whatever.  gate agent walks down the entry to the plane and comes back with a woman in tears!

 

pulled from plane woman:  but you don't understand - my daughter is in labor right now!  i've got to get on this flight!

me:  ...

agent:  [to the other guy]  ok sir, you're next in line

guy:  ok!

baby mama:  but you don't understand!

agent:  i'm so sorry...

guy:  what'll ya give me if i stay?

agent:  a voucher for $200 on american

baby mama:  i've got to get to jackson!

guy:  hmmm...  no, i'll get on the flight.

agent:  oh...  okay.

baby mama:  nooooooo!!!

agent:  i'm so sorry - we'll give you a voucher for $200.

baby mama:  there's no amount of money that can make up for what i'm missing.

agent:  ...

 

yeah, that was really something.  made me want to pay the guy myself to stay so that the mother could get back to see her daughter.  made me feel like dirt, even though there was nothing i could do.  but that was that.  the agent helped her out and got her a ticket on the next flight (3pm) out to jackson.  now it's my turn, and the agent is looking for a seat.  huh, nothing left on the 3 o'clock.  and nothing left on the remaining 2 later flights?  'oh, and it looks like we're going to have to bump another 12 people from the 3 o'clock...  are you serious?  oh, man...  but what about any other airlines?  delta?  full.  northwest?  full.  usair?  full.  yeah, nothing til tomorrow morning...  what?  no way - totally unsat.

 

so then i thought - well, i guess i could fly in to monroe, la...  that's not *too* much farther from vicksburg, but then i've got to rent a car, etc...  wow, waht a hassle...  'but we'll give you a $200 voucher..."  yeah, whatever, sign me up - let's go.

 

so i get the flight out to monroe - which was leaving in only 20 minutes - hit some serious turbulence on the flight over (thought we might crash for an instant) - then land around 4:30 central.  off the plane and there's 4 rental agencies to choose from - avis, budget, national, and hertz.

 

avis is out of cars.

budget doesn't do one-way rentals

national doesn't do one-way rentals

 

so that leaves hertz - luckily they do one-ways - but they don't have a location in vicksburg!  what?  yeah, the closest location is the jackson airport!  absolutely ridiculous!  but it's not like i've got any choices, so there you go.  i get the car, get on the road, and get to vicksburg by around 6:30.  not too bad in the end result (except that we had to make a jackson trip just to drop off the car), but the process of getting to mississippi totally sucked.

 

 

in summary:

taxi driver or pedaphile?  t.b.d.

airline industry?  whatever.

4th of jul

just purchased a ticket on American:

 

Jul 3

Arrive JAN at 2:30 PM on AA 3439

 

Jul 7

Depart JAN at 7:10 AM on AA 3560

 

Here we go V-burg

One of the reasons I love living in OB

SpongeBob on the balcony...

just hanging out in CLT for a 3 hour layover on my way to sarasota, fl.  last night's red-eye was pretty smooth - i shut my eyes before we lifted off in SD and didn't open them up again until i felt the brakes on the tarmac in charlotte.  still landed at like 3:30am pacific though, so i'm kind of beat.  no clever vegas thoughts on this layover - just simple coffee lovin and email checkin.

good 'ole philly

wow, i picked up some hell of a kind of cold back in philly.  finally just shaking loose of it now - been battling it for days - even had to stay home from work some to just try sleeping it off.  that and pound the nyquil...  yikes.  training went right out the window - so no good.  but then at the same time my buddies jonathan and jacob were both in town - but at separate times - for work.  absolutely ridiculous.  they're in town, i'm under the weather, but the weather was nice and we got some sweet fish tacos, knocked some volleyball around, etc anyway.  wow.  and now i fly out tomorrow night to florida for the 2nd weekend in a row of family reunions!  this time my mom's side for my grandfather's 90th birthday.  nice!  and pretty soon i've got to start planning a trip for the 3rd family reunion - with the reid side - the closest non-family family that i've got - more to come on that later...

so i'm flying back from philly on usair, and we just got done watching 'the astronaut farmer'.  totally brought a tear to my eye when he finally lifted off.  just such a beautiful moment...  following your dreams and never giving up is everything to me.

 

speaking about moments, this weekend was - well, i won't say perfect - all of our flights were delayed at one point or another - but we all made it and it was 'right on time.'  i've never spent any amount of time with any of my extended family on my dad's side - just never really knew them.  i guess maybe when my brother and i were still young and living in pennsylvania maybe we saw our cousins every now and then - but nothing that i remember - and we left pa for ms before i was 6.  then my parents got divorced a couple years later and maybe that sealed the split from that side of the family.  anyway, the only time i remember meeting any of the cousins/aunt/uncle was when my granny mucha passed away back during my freshman year at tech (spring break 1996 - i was 18 years old).  we met them at the funeral parlor and then had a light dinner afterwards.  now of course, we were a bit pre-occupied - it was a funeral after all - but i just remember feeling awkward the entire time - just kind of like - who are these people?  i've never met you before - i don't really feel any attachment to you - i don't even know what to say to you.  we left that funeral and never stayed connected.  nothing.

 

fast forward a couple years and i'm done with grad school.  i decide to move up to philly to pursue rowing and (eventually) find an engineering job - that was from august 2001 to july 2002 - 24/25 years old.  a whole year in philly and i never ever tried to contact anyone who lived there.  why?  i don't know - i guess it just wasn't the right time - i guess i just didn't have the guts - i guess i just wasn't ready yet.

 

fast forward a couple more years and now i'm 30 years old.  out of the blue, my cousin leslie emails my brother and i and invites us to philly for a grand 70th surprise party for her mother - my aunt anna.  there was a small piece of trepidation in the back reaches of my mind, but jason and i jumped on it - of course we would come.  i flew in early, jason came in a bit later, but dad almost missed the whole thing due to cancelled/delayed flights.  we went from the airport straight to leslie's brownstone and got there a little bit late, but luckily aunt anna was just a little bit later.  AKA 'appointed timing'.

 

but what about that elusive moment?  we walked in to leslie's place, and that was it.  no tension in the air.  no awkwardness.  genuine gladness that we were all there together and that maybe we could start anew.  and that was it.  aunt anna came in moments later, and was genuinely surprised.  we and the cousins talked and talked and talked.  dinner was catered and was - of course - excellent.  afterwards, our cousins bobby and elissa went out for drinks with jason and i and just kept on going.  leslie was ready to burst with a baby and tara had child duties, so they couldn't join us.  but i can honestly say that we just cut through the bs and just started acting like family again.  man, it was really beautiful.

 

so now - of course - the responsibility is to keep it going.  keep in contact.  etc.  that won't be a problem...  not any more.

so we ended up getting here to philly only a little over an hour and a half late.  no worries.  time to get a breakfast cheese steak.

so this is just totally officially awesome time now.  flight was supposed to go at 11:59 pm, but there was a 'slight' delay.  were going to board at 12:45 am now.  yeah, then they come on the intercom - actually, didn't even use the intercom, it was broken - announcing that there would be an hour and a half delay til the flight went off.  broken plane.  man, this is starting to get ugly...  you know, sleeping on the red-eye was going to be one thing, but just being restless in the airport is totally not so good.  and if this flight gets all up in our faces and decides to break our noses, then the next one out isn't til 8:30 am getting in to phil town at 4:30 pm.  totally unsat.  so now i'm just posting blogs, uploading some myspace photos, blah, lah, crappity crap.  maybe i'll try a nap.

layover in vegas baby on the way to motown philly.

terminal looks like this:

slot city. lame. too bad it doesn't look more like this:

outside coyote ugly at new york, new york hotel/casino
a couple weeks ago.

catching a red-eye to philly tonight.  yep.

so it's a surprise 70th birthday thingy for an aunt on my dad's side - aunt anna.  dad and bro are flying in tomorrow afternoon, and then we'll all form up like voltron for the dinner party.  should be pretty cool - i haven't seen these relatives since my grandmother on my dad's side passed away - 11 years ago - freshman year in college.  yeah...

 

the only bummer is that one of my best buddies - jonathan snow - is actually in san diego this weekend for work.  absolutely ridiculous!  i'm always flying out to dc for this or that, but the one time he actually comes out here, and i'm out of town.  it's all good though - he doesn't fly out til tuesday morning, so we'll have to tear it up a lil bit on sunday and monday.  yeh!

so i raced bikes this past sunday up at. ontario. just a standard flat, 4-corner, 90 minute crit in the hot summer sun. nothing special, except that it was pretty much the first crit i've done since i crashed really badly last year and broke my jaw. sure, i jumped right back on the track bike after i healed up last year, but i didn't do any road racing - it just wasn't in the plan for that time of the year. anyway, did the race and you know there was a crash, and you know it happened just about 4 bike lengths right in front of me, and you know i had to lock up my brakes and avoid people sprawled out on the pavement and bikes flying everywhere. just ridiculous - it was like a 7 or 8 guy pile-up. no one was seriously injured - just road rash - but man was i freaked out. when you're racing bikes, that fear section is just a part of the brain that you have to switch off because you can't ride scared - that just makes it worse.

so a teammate of mine actually had a helmet cam on during the race, and he got a tiny bit of the crash (before it became a pile-up) on video. most of the vid is somewhat boring - just look at the last 1 minute - that's where the crash occurs...

on the plus side of the race, my teammates dana and daggs got 9th and 11th and so we took home some cash - enough to pay for the gas for the car ride to the race - awesome...

so i just created a myspace page, and i can already tell that's gonna be a total time suck.  yeah, gotta turn it out, bling it out, etc...

http://www.myspace.com/hardqore

so i got a check for $16.24 in the mail from State Farm - my auto insurance company.  they mailed a refund due to a "change in length of driving experience."  so i guess i traded in my 20's for my 30's and 16 dollars and 24 cents.  awesome.

you know, there's pretty much never a dull moment around here.  i mean, if it's not one thing, it's another.

 

ok, so this past sunday - the 27th - some of my friends were having a pub crawl here in ocean beach.  the newly minted doctors - audiologists, to be exact.  anyway, pub crawl and everyone wears a goofy sign on his/her back, etc.  like 10 bars on the agenda with 45 minutes at each bar and a minimum of a drink at each bar - you know, a pub crawl.  anyway, everybody had a goofy sign on their back and it was ear related - mine said "can you hear me now, bitch?" and had a little clip-on ear on it.  ha-ha , funny, people loved it.

 

so we're about halfway through the crawl and we're at a bar called 'the sunshine company'.  a pretty cool bar with a rooftop patio.  anyway, we're hanging out up there having a good time and what not, and are almost getting ready to get off to the next bar.  only like 5 more minutes til leaving time.  i'm off to the side looking over the balcony onto the street and the sunset.  another nice san diego day - a bit cloudy, but still a nice one.  can't complain about the 70 degrees.

 

so i'm just looking at the sunset and around at the scene, etc.  a guy is sitting over at a table nearby and the waitress stops by him to pick up or deliver a drink.  i halfway hear him say to the waitress, "so, is his shirt basically calling all of us bitches?"  i glance his direction and he says, "hey, are you calling all of us bitches?"  the waitress looks kind of perplexed, and i just say, "uhhh, i don't know...  i guess so?"  i turn back to looking at the street, and i guess that's when he throws a pint glass at me - i turn back to look at him - and all i see is a fist right in my face.

 

yeah, the guy jumped over his table and totally clocked me right in the face, breaking my nose and putting a gash in it.

 

totally didn't see that one coming at all.

 

my friends immediately restrain the guy, and he just yells out, "HE CALLED ME A BITCH!!!"  the bar is in pure shock.  meanwhile, i'm like a geyser just spurting blood out of my nose.  ridiculous.  a friend gets me some napkins and i just walk off to the bathroom to survey the damage.  security eventually takes over from my friends and throws the guy out, but not before they get his info.  anyway, i'm in the bathroom just trying to clean up, and i can tell it's broken right away.  yes, it's sad to say, i'm experienced enough with broken bones that i have a pretty good idea whether or not something is broken now.  awesome.

 

anyway, get most of the bleeding to stop and leave the bar for the ER with a friend driving.  after a long wait, i finally get served, get some x-rays, and get 4 stitiches in my nose.  luckily no disfigured nose, so everything should heal just fine.  just on antibiotics and vicotin for the next couple days still.  the stitiches should be out on friday in time for vegas.  i've got a black right eye, and it was really swollen on monday and the early part of today, but it's steadily gone down since.  should be down to normal in the next day or 2.  the bummer was i couldn't race bikes on monday or today like i had planned.

 

anyway, after the hospital visit was over, we made it back in time for the very last stop on the pub crawl - a bar named pacific shores.  i had a shot of tequila just to put an exclamation mark on the whole monstrous evening.  yeah.

so i just finished booking a flight to philly for june

still need to work on a flight to venice, fl

 

june is going to be absolutely ridiculous

 

may 31 - june 1 : San Jose to visit my buddy Vose and help him get out of town as he makes his trek out to Boston to begin his surgery residency.

june 2-3-4 : Vegas for more of the 30th.

june 15-16-17 : Philly for a surprise 70th birthday party for Aunt Anna (Mucha side)

june 22-23-24 : Venice for a giant 90th birthday party for Grandpa Bennett (Brudevold side)

 

wowsa.

so i started back to track racing last tuesday night and went back for more punishment tonight. yikes - no leg speed at all. but, it's not like i've really trained any of that yet either - i'm taking a little bit of the hard way by putting in the road miles and then racing myself back in to shape at the same time - somewhat before doing any real structured interval training. the hardest part with that is struggling through the poor initial results before you can break through to real race fitness. i prolly won't be in real race shape until the middle of july, and that just feels *so* far away...