and, what in the hula does "couple three" mean, anyways?

i need a big weekend.
kick up some dust.
i need a big weekend.
if you don't run, you rust.

(tom petty)

my weekend promises to be big, and includes a run. no rust in the forecast. here's a couple three pix of ol' tom petty. or, ol' t.p. har! t.p. your initials are t.p. that's funny, tom -- you know it is.

iphoning it in

iphones are released today, and the local news this morning had live coverage of the folks waiting in line at the mall for the apple store to open so that they can get their new iphone. the reporter interviewed one geek who rambled on about how excited he was. then, the reporter revealed that this geek was the only person in line. a line of one! that's just funny, i don't care who you are. she also reported that there was a much larger crowd at another mall -- 5 people. they are really bustin' down the doors for these things, eh? they are going for something like $500 a pop with a $60 per month rate plan, so go figure.

true dat, home dawg

circuit circus cereal circles

finished the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime. then read the nightspinners. currently working on the last days of dogtown. recurring themes, anyone?

it's nice to know the robbers are such eejits

plans for the weekend include a trip to the 11.2 and a trip to brigadoon. wanna go?

went to publix last night. do you get only groceries at the grocery, or do you get other stuff - like shampoo & ink pens? we used to make 2 trips - one to publix & one to kmart. now, we get most everything in one place. not sure how much more we might be spending at publix. the prices don't seem that out of line, and the dr scholl's orthodics are actually less expensive at publix. the few dollars saved by going across to kmart are worth the trip - especially when you consider that those few dollars might not be saved at all.

in the news: these two guys around here robbed this lady last night, and shot her - just wounded her, not too bad. anyhooo - after the robbery, they stopped off for a snack at a sonic right down the road. this is where the police found them & arrested them.

the difficulty is trusting & getting grounded........ go figure.

trust the bike.
trust yourself.

when it's time to stop --
get straight,
call things to a halt,
& put both feet solidly on the ground.

books 2007

night work - laurie r. king
glass castle - jeannette walls
cross - james patterson
the kite runner - khaled hosseini
with child - laurie r. king
the bookseller of kabul - åsne seierstad
bridget jones's diary - helen fielding
bridget jones: the edge of reason - helen fielding
how to be good - nick hornby
about a boy - nick hornby
olivia joules & the overactive imagination - helen fielding
a series of unfortunate events vol. 1-12 - lemony snicket
high fidelity - nick hornby
a long way down - nick hornby
the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime - mark haddon
currently reading: the nightspinners - lucretia walsh grindle

[by john denver]

now the face that i see
...in my mirror,
more and more is
...a stranger to me.
more and more
...i can see there's a danger
in becoming what
...i never thought i'd be.

some days are diamonds - some days are stones.
sometimes the hard times won't leave me alone.
sometimes a cold wind blows a chill in my bones.
some days are diamonds - some days are stones.

i'm telling them you are twelve so that you can fly unattended

sleepless in seattle is a great movie. it just is.

we went there & back again and lived to tell the tale. the nissan altima has a hybrid transmission where you can either leave it automatic, or use this manual setting where you can shift, but there's no clutch, so it's like the best of both. except it doesn't always let you shift way down really quickly. anyhoo - it's a nice toy.

this is why it was a good vacation -
- riding in cars.
- staying in hotels.
- playing it by ear.
- having conversations.
- visiting lighthouses.
- going to the shore.
- walking on the boardwalk.
- being with friends & family.

have to go back to work tomorrow. kind of needing a vacation to recover from my vacation.

the evening of citrus & ginger -- the morning of muffins & muzak

went to bennigan's last night & had asian chicken salad with mandarin oranges & ginger dressing. back at the hotel, showered with hotel soaps of citrus & ginger scent. there you have it.

today's plan includes lots of car-time, and here's hoping mine's all served in the passenger seat. should have got up & run this morning, but instead, i sampled all the muffin varieties from the continental breakfast - cranberry walnut, blueberry, and corn. also had some lo-fat yogurt, because i am not a total carb pig. the muffins were extraordinarily fresh.

we asked the lady who was managing the continental breakfast if she could change the television channel b/c the public access channel that was on was playing some of the worst muzak we had ever heard. it was like a muzak imitation of muzak. it was that bad. we were discussing how terrible it was, and we asked her to change the channel, and she said, "why? you no like dees music?" [she was... maybe... ukranian] we said, "no!" she said, "i lohve dees music." we were like, "uh... okay then". she walked away. she did not change the channel.

i am guessing that she figured we'd be leaving soon, and she was slaving away in there all morning producing muffins from her magic muffin hat. i am guessing she thought that her longevity trumped our distaste. and, she was right.

greetings from out of town

the weather is here, wish you were beautiful. - the inimitable mr jimmy buffet

jimmy buffet is not all about beaches & margaritas. son of a son of a sailor & come monday are two of the finest songs you will ever hear. there's more to him than you might think, or that he might let on, and isn't that true of all of us?

the planned clothing menu, aka wardrobe, for today includes a white shirt. guess who forgot normal undergarments for wearing under a white shirt? that's right - my old man - b/c he wears upper undergarments. no, me ya doof. i forgot. this is where it is fortunate that i share with rainman the trait of wearing the bargain undergarments from kmart. now, the only trick is to locate a kmart.

also today, i shall be wearing capri pants & running shoes. talk about doof. ha! good for me. i can dress like a doofus if i want b/c i know the facts, and the facts are that i own a harley & doofuses... er... doofi... don't own harleys. so i can disguise myself as a doofus for the day. undercover doof.

hotel tip: if the noise from the folks in the next room is disturbing you, turn on the air conditioning unit. if you do this before 6:30am, then you might be able to get some actual sleep.

started the day with 1/2 waffle, yogurt, sausage link, small banana oat muffin, and some fruit. the hotel breakfast spread is always such a lovely thing. breakfast is the finest meal of the day, eh? and so, we're off to a good start on eatfest '07, n'est-ce pas?

on a final note - someone i know is headed to brigadoon this weekend, and would that it were me & the mini-one... eh? yeah....

my old man drove me back up to town to get the timex & the garmin, so points to him, eh?

should we stay or should we go?

something to wear in the car - pjs - something to wear to the party - pjs - something to wear in the car

there's really not much else to it, is there? will there be time for anything else? motorcycles, computers, running, boating? any of the above? not likely.

i'm all ticked, and i'm pretty sure it's your fault. that's right - you. your fault.

what are we going to eat. where are we going to eat. where are we going to shop. what time are we going to get up. what are we going to do. someone else needs to say what it is that someone else wants to do. stop asking me & decide. criminy.

left the garmin & the timex at work. criminy. hate it when stuff's not where it's supposed to be. what's so hard about remembering to clean out the locker before leaving for vacation. nothing, that's what -- nothing. so, that doesn't explain why it wasn't done, now does it?

got a haircut, and that would be at least one thing that went correctly today.

mark my words: lendale white won't play much if at all this year unless chris or chris gets hurt, and next year ol' lendale will be gone from here.

might not get to go for a run today. supposed to have lunch w/ a consultant. yipee.

considering a weekend trip, but the particular trip that's up for grabs would involve 28 hours in the car. that's not a happy prospect. would hate to miss the fun, but would hate to spend all that time in the car.

going for a haircut tonight. wanna go?

snakes in the grass

i'twas near dark out, but not quite there yet. y'know - when it's done gone pas' twilight, but not really nigh'time. the las' of the lightnin' bugs was settlin' inna th' weeds. we ha'n had much rain, so's all that was growin' 'nymore was th' weeds, not th' grass, an' f'sure not corn nor them soyabeans. som'one didn' care - they'd been out a'mowing nohow - you could smell th' fresh cut oniongrass mixed wi' the dust they'd stirred up. pa said t' come on inside, on account o' th' snakes'd be out soon, but i didn' pay him no mind. me an' the snakes, we un'erstood each other. not t' say we's friends, not 'xactly, but b'twixt us, we had a' 'greement. they'd leave me alone, an' i'd do the same back to them.

remember those gauchos that i lost months & months ago... yeah, those... they were hanging up under this shirt, & that was a nice surprise.

jerky mcjerkelhiemer got his back today - on the way home, he was boxed in by this dark blue vibe. the vibe would speed up if there was a chance to pass, and slow back down when the passing lane was blocked. the vibe is a fabulous car, is it not?

mini-me is in a bad mood, so i gotta go. :-P

titles are overrated

speedy & i are going to run the 11.2 this morning. did it last week at a good overall pace, but the first part before the golf station was faster than the last part. trying to get it balanced overall, but it's just somehow so difficult to begin again after the golf station.

speaking of golf, brandt snedecker did well at the us open the first couple days, but yesterday fell to +11. still good for a rookie and still beat mickelson who didn't even make the cut. mickelson's whining about his wrist being hurt by the course. that's right, the course jumped up & bit him. he was practicing a month ago, and injured himself playing out of the rough. he called the course dangerous, but you don't see anyone else complaining, do you?

here's a pic of leader aaron baddely. sharp dresser, eh?

an excerpt from _the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime_

this is how you know what prime numbers are.

first you write down all the positive whole numbers in the world.

then you take away all the numbers that are multiples of 2. then you take away all the numbers that are multiples of 3. then you take away all the numbers that are multiples of 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 and so on. the numbers that are left are the prime numbers.

the rule for working out prime numbers is really simple, but no one has ever worked out a simple formula for telling you whether a very big number is a prime number or what the next one will be. If a number is really, really big, it can take a computer years to work out whether it is a prime number.

prime numbers are useful for writing codes and in america they are classed as military material and if you find one over 100 digits long you have to tell the cia and they buy it off you for $10,000. But it would not be a very good way of making a living.

prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. i think prime numbers are like life. they are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.

(p 11-12)

it's friday & that means sr volleyball

speedy's car broke down yesterday. we were supposed to go for a run together, and ended up on an epic saga journey bringing the car home, so we bagged the run & got some supper with my old man & mini-me. speedy thought junior was at soccer, so we didn't call him, and when my old man got home, junior was at the house wondering where everyone else was. he'd tried to call speedy, but speedy's phone was turned off. last evening when they both got home, they probably had a very productive discussion about coordinating their communication better in the future. either that, or they yelled & threw left-over b'day cake at each other.

took my meaning and twisted it like a baggy tie, choking off the burgeoning goodwill in the office

a few days ago, i sent out an email at work about the shared fridge. there were, in the icebox: a rotting bag of spinach, an open can of soda, and a couple containers filled with mystery. sometime between my email & this morning, someone took it upon him or herself to clear it out. i know this happened b/c this morning, one of my coworkers came by to ask if i had thrown the stuff out. no - i replied - i did not. she was upset b/c someone threw out her marked container. that's right - you heard me correctly: her container was marked with her name, and someone threw it out without consulting her. she didn't actually think it was me, but she was checking b/c i sent out the email. i assured her that i sent out the email precisely b/c i would never presume to remove other people's things from the shared fridge. it's bothersome to imagine that someone would build from my email the belief that he or she should take initiative to throw out the belongings of other people. i was asking people to take charge of their own stuff, not trample all over other people's stuff.

books read 2007

uh-oh. haven't kept the list up too well, and now may not be able to remember them all. sadness abounds.

night work - laurie r. king
glass castle - jeannette walls
cross - james patterson
the kite runner - khaled hosseini
with child - laurie r. king
the bookseller of kabul - åsne seierstad
bridget jones's diary - helen fielding
bridget jones: the edge of reason - helen fielding
how to be good - nick hornby
about a boy - nick hornby
olivia joules & the overactive imagination - helen fielding
a series of unfortunate events vol. 1-12 - lemony snicket
high fidelity - nick hornby
a long way down - nick hornby
currently reading: the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime - mark haddon

nick hornby - a long way down

you know that things aren't going well for you when you can't even tell people the simplest fact about your life, just because they'll presume you're asking them to feel sorry for you. (maureen, p 199)

you need confidence to go into small places with regular customers -- small bookshops and small music shops and small restaurants and cafés. i'm happiest in the virgin megastore and borders and starbucks and pizzaexpress where no one gives a shit. no one knows who you are. my mum & dad are always going on about how soulless those places are, and i'm like, der. that's the point. (jess, p 188)

and that's me: i suffer from a failure of imagination. i could do what i wanted, every day of my life, and what i want to do, apparently, is to get walloped out of my head and pick fights. telling me i can do anything i want is like pulling the plug out of the bath and then telling the water it can go anywhere it wants. try it, and see what happens. (jess, p 209)

that's what i'm talkin' about

but, what about the apple?

in the news: burger king & mcdonald's are battling it out in hawaii with spam-based menu options. spam is very popular in hawaii -- the state leads the nation in consumption of spam. residents consume more than 5 million pounds of spam a year, an average of about six cans for every man, woman and child.

but, at the luau... where do you put the apple?

from the land of the merry odometer, i bring you 88888.

brigadoon reappears tomorrow. i miss it more having been in the past few years than i missed it lo those many years of not going at all. that's the way of things, isn't it -- you kind of put it out of your mind & get used to not having it, but you get one little taste of it, and bam - you're right back to square one.
my name is ace, and i am a brigadoonaholic.

update: it's down to the 2005 1200 custom or the 2007 883 custom. still weighing the pros & cons of each, and of course, the '05 could get gone before i decide, and the 883 isn't available in the color i wanted... so the choice is kind of all froggie.

removed the toenail from the big toe on my right foot. the pressure of the blud that had built up under it is obviously relieved, but it's a little tender. awww, tender.

okay, just saw this story on the news where this house was burning in a flooded area. earlier this spring, lake okeechobee was on fire.
fire on the water. jeepers.

crappy green team won despite the fact we only had 7 players the first half & 11 the second half, and they had like a gazillion mia hamm clones.

okay, they weren't that great. they were just allright, but there were so many of them, and they kept yelling "sub!", "sub!", so it was totally like shuddup we know you have subs. but, anyway, we won. so there.

now my toe hurts, and i am pretty sure it's b/c a toenail's mutinying. mutinyzing? staging a mutiny. anyhoo - it's painful, so be sad for me.

this is ace, reporting from the field. back to you in the studio.

went goodwill hunting today and didn't bag anything, but that's cool b/c i'm not really needing anything.

did you hear about john daley? he said his wife came after him with a steak knife, and now he's staying in a hotel. his wife's a convicted something-or-other -- drug dealer, maybe -- but she's definitely some kind of felon, so there you have it.

i'm a cowboy, on a steel horse i ride. -- bon jovi . lookit ol' john, there on his steel horse.

speaking of horses, did you realize the belmont stakes was today? the kentucky derby's always a big hooptiehoo. the preakness is the second triple crown race, and it attracts attention on the chance that the ky derby winner will win the preakness and setup the chance of the triple crown. if the ky derby winner doesn't win the preakness, then the belmont stakes is virtually ignored. the entire rest of the world that's not involved in horse racing doesn't give a horse's hoof about anything except the possible triple crown.

hello. i am in a bad mood for no known reason. so there.

googled bad mood and found this image. curious, as it doesn't really communicate bad mood. more like stunningly cool computer-generated pic.

to anyone who watches lpga, this is not news, but it's still curious: why are there so many asian women in the lpga?

so we got our new mortgage book, and the payment's gone up by $1, and this is curious because we got an escrow refund from last year which would indicate that the payments were already too high.

there's this woman from around here who picked up a shotgun & shot her husband in the back. killed him. jeezum - talk about a bad mood. said he was always gettin' on her about stuff. she was sentenced to 200something days in prison. curious to know what's the rest of the story, as paul harvey'd say. surely there's more to it, 'cause if not, you can bet a passle more of us women'd be snatchin' up a shotgun for the easy trade of spendin' 6 months in jail.

oh, settle down. i'm just kidding... as far as you know.

just because people follow me, that doesn't make me a leader - just makes them followers.

don't grovel, man -- it ain't pretty. let it go. it's just a job, and you can find someone else to do it. my modus operandi is to go it alone, and that doesn't fit your profile. you ask for a team player who can communicate weakness and vulnerability. get freakin' real. you can have that if you want that, but you can't have that from me. period - end of story.

although i believe there are people in this world for whom i would lay down my life, i have not been tested on that front. i know that i am unwilling to lay down my life for the president. this is why i am not in the secret service. clint eastwood, in in the line of fire, is in the secret service and is therefore required to lay down his life for the president, but he doesn't seem to be too good at it either. he keeps missing the mark, and they keep giving him another try. not sure that's too realistic, although it's true that folks aren't perfect, so maybe even the secret service has to put up with it.

we went to the harley store today & sat on harleys. who said dreams don't come true.

speedy & i are planning on trying the 11.2 on sunday. well, trying but not in the sense that we might fail altogether. more in the sense that there will be some walking, and it remains to be seen just how much. might bring along some honey stingers. oh, yeah!

tomorrow is the day that would be hummus day, but instead it's left over calzone day, and that's really a good day, too, wouldn't you agree?

my computer usually does not react to what i click on until i move the cursor again

pictured here, the next oval on my radar.

this big decision at work kind of melted into a easy decision. how? okay, i will tell you, but you have to promise not to laugh, okay? prayer. oh, shut up, it works, and you know it works, so just shut up. first, talked to some people, asked some questions, and gathered some facts. when that road was exhausted, just laid it all out there in prayer, and presto: decision. it's up to me to take an action -- the action will not be taken on my behalf. but, the choice is so clear, so obvious, that it's no longer a decision. all that's left is to step on out there and take the action. easy peasy lemon squeezy.

spent 1.5 hrs at the dmv to get licensed. 1.5 hrs sounds like a long time until i reveal that most everyone else there had been waiting 4 or more hrs. ridicularium. next stop: the harley store. they've got a used one at a good price, but it's painted to look like a dirt bike. yuck.

bernie mac has a grandchild named jasmine. i know a cat named jasmine. it's a small world, eh?

not sure what all the 6's & 1's mean, but there they are.

intersecting

here at our intersections, we are continually selecting from the options: go straight, make a turn, pause to let another have the right of way, stop altogether to see which way they all go.

here at our intersections, we are all together meeting, yet ironically [and with a nod to the trite], we are alone. together we travel; alone we choose.

here at our intersections, we see our samenesses & our differences - highlighted in the blinking redyellowgreen traffic signals. we read the signals & the samenesses & the differences, and we imagine we form a deeper understanding of each other, a knowledge, a wisdom.

here at our intersections,
our paths cross,
but our lives continue separately.

they're so resigned to what their fate is - but not us, no-no-no not us: we are far too young & clever.

having dreams is one thing, and having them magically come true is another -- but making them come true, now that's hard work. of course, how hard the work is depends on how big the dreams are. and, of course, how big the dreams are depends on where you're at right now. for instance, dreaming of one day playing in the college world series is big deal if you are a high school baseball player, but it's a bigger deal if you were cut from the high school team. either way, you will have to work hard to make your dream come true, but if you can't even make the high school team, you are going to have to work harder.

tomorrow, i'm going to get my motorcycle license, which puts me a little closer to that particular dream.

did billy donovan dream of coaching in the nba? one would think every coach would aspire to coach on the professional level, but he was offered the chance, and took it, and now has changed his mind and wants to go back to coaching on the college level. go back has a negative connotation, but what's so bad about knowing where you fit and going there? maybe it took making any choice to show him which choice was the right choice for him.

tomorrow, i'm going to gather more information about two available jobs, which will put me a little closer to figuring out where i fit. then, i will have to make a choice.

did dexy's midnight runners dream of having one big hit song? it's more likely they dreamed of having many hits, but at least they had the one, eh? many... myriad... a veritable plethora... of bands never have a live performance, never make a record, much less have a hit song. wonder what ol' dexy dreams of now? perhaps he dreams of the past, and that one hit song, that one shining moment in time.

there was lightning, so we had to quit early today, and now we're supposed to get there tomorrow at 6:45AYEM.

there's a lot to remember -- that's true -- and it is kind of tiring to remember it all & then actually do it all while simultaneously thinking about it. going around & around in circles is monotonous. but, the bottom line is that it is fun. first, it's w00t-level excitement. then, it kind of settles into a tedious if-i-learn-this-it-can-be-fun-later level. you know that in-between time when you are starting to catch on, but you see a tedium of practice stretching ahead of you? then, one or two things click, and you kind of get it. you begin to see that maybe it will require practice, but it will definitely be fun. so they tell you to arrive at 6:45ayem, and you say okay, because you know it will be worth it.

you've heard of tuna salad & pasta salad & chicken salad & salmon salad & ceasar salad & taco salad, but what about hot dog salad?

hot dog layer salad:

12 hot dog buns
18 hot dogs
1/2 cup sweet pickle relish
1/4 cup mustard
1/4 cup ketchup
small bag potato chips
small bag fritos

cook hot dogs according to package directions. place 6 buns in a layer at the bottom of a 13x9 pan or large bowl. chop hot dogs bite size pieces. layer 1/2 of chopped hot dogs over buns. mix relish, mustard, ketchup. pour about 1/2 of relish-mustard-ketchup mixture over hot dogs, then proceed with another round of buns, hot dogs, and relish-mustard-ketchup mixture. crush potato chips & fritos - sprinkle over top. serve immediately.

i just made this up, so it the measurements might not be spot on.

hummus day. hummus day. do a dance for hummus day. hummus day - it is today!

meanness is in the eyes of the beholder. mean is simply the dark side of funny. one man's mean is another man's funny.

not mean as in stingy. not mean as in defined linguistic interpretation. mean as in not nice.

do we mean to be mean, or do we mean to be funny? general consensus [not to be confused with general pershing, pictured here] states that we are attempting humor. on the other hand, we not trying to be not mean [if you see what i mean]. we are not trying to be nice, we are trying to be funny, and to hula with political correctness b/c sometimes it's simply humor. laughter is difficult enough to come by - and now we've got to worry about each other's feelings? lighten up and laugh a little.

of course, the flip side is that you have to be willing to take the joke. if you can dish it out, you have to take it, too. but, take it where & do what with it? absorb it? better to make like a martial arts expert, take the verbal momentum and turn it against the attacker.

slay them with humor, general.