Things that Robert is thinking about that keep him from accomplishing anything.

 
Indian Nicknames
USAToday has this article about Indian nicknames and the NCAA. Marquette has been going through this tortured process with its nickname, Warriors to Golden Eagles to Gold to whatever now. I can see how nicknames like Redskins (Miami (OH), Washington) and Redmen (St. John's) are problematic, and logos definitely enhance the problem.

What I wonder is why schols like Texas Tech haven't gotten flack. I mean, what the hell else could "Red Raiders" mean? At least FSU has the blessing of the Florida Seminole Nation, and couldn't Marquette just change its iconography and keep Warriors? Why is this so hard?
posted by RSaunders at 8:37 AM ⇒ (0) comments

 
Indoor Mini
Sunday I orchestrated my own indoor mini-triathlon. 1500 m swim; 10 mi bike; 2 mi run. Just to get the feel of doing all the things at once. I think I'll survive an Olympic distance based on the test run. If Sunday had been T-day, I would've made it, but this was a good test to see how much more work I need on the bike.

On the other hand, my swimming is coming back together. Sunday I did a 400 IM straight. I lingered on the 3rd turn on the butterfly, and I took two 1-arm strokes into the 3rd turn, but otherwise I made it all straight. That in itself felt more impressive than the triathlon or even the half-marathon. I never thought I'd ever be able to make 4-lengths butterfly again.

I'm also noticing my times coming down on sets. Where I was doing my 200 FR on 4:00 and finishing in the 3:25-3:35 range, I'm now finishing at about 3:00-3:05 and repeating between 3:20 and 3:40. I also added some stroke work, and my 100 BK sets are about where my 100 FR sets were a couple weeks ago (in on 1:40-ish, repeating on 2:00). I won't be making Nationals anytime soon, but it is progress.
posted by RSaunders at 8:14 AM ⇒ (0) comments

 
Let Me Get This Straight...
They hired Jessica Alba, who hovers near the top of the perv-list rankings (though I guess she's finally in her 20's) as the actress to play the invisible woman in The Fantastic Four? Wouldn't it have made more sense to hire Rosie O'Donnell as the invisible woman?
posted by RSaunders at 7:31 PM ⇒ (0) comments

 
What the Hell?
Is there such a thing as adult-onset dyslexia? I've been wondering this for a couple years now, but I'm really starting to get concerned: flipping through a listing of Nick Hornby books on Amazon, I ran across a title that I read as Snogbook but was actually Songbook." Perhaps because he's British I "wanted" to see it say "snog" rather than "song," but I don't think so.
posted by RSaunders at 8:28 AM ⇒ (0) comments

 
Updates Redux

• Latest article, parade of homes preview, is online. Nothing else lined up for now.
  
• Frustrated with dissertation data. Struggling to make a compelling question out of rancid data.
  
• Went to Jackson, MS last week. Apart from its being in Mississippi and all the red state baggage that entails, it is pretty nice little city, with my favorite hotel, The Edison Walthall Hotel.
  
• Miscellaneous SAS freelance stuff is going alright. One fell through (just got tired of back and forth on the specs, so I quit), the other is just about done. Again, fortunately, nothing new is scheduled.
  
• Go to Boston for a research conference a week from Fri. Presentation is Sat., but the highlight will be getting into Fenway Mon. night and seeing my friend from Vanderbilt while I'm up there.
  
• Just shy of 3 weeks until my LASIK surgery. Nervous, less about the procedure, though that has amplified some, but more about what it reveals about me (i.e., I'm shockingly vain). I hope this isn't the anti-Powerball jackpot that I finally "win."
  
• Still haven't settled on a triathlon. I'm worried that the LASIK will somehow incapacitate me (e.g., can I really swim in a hyperchlorinated pool with scarred eyeballs even with goggles?). I probably mentioned this before, but I am thinking I might add a marathon to my portfolio this year, one on my birthday and in Baltimore, 10/15.
  
• Why is it, with all the information stored on the magnetic strip on your credit and debit cards (not to mention stored at the bank), that the ATM machine still feels the need to ask me what language I prefer? Can't that be added to my strip, or can't I call my bank and ask them to have that default information accessible to the card/machine when I swipe?
  
• I have a Curb Your Enthusiasm spec script bouncing in my head. Probably pointless to write a spec script for an improvised show that's almost entirely controlled by the Larry David and Jeff Garlin, but what the heck. I'm going to commit as much as possible to paper; we'll see if I can finish something.

posted by RSaunders at 11:20 AM ⇒ (0) comments

 
Updates
Here is the latest news about Robert:

• Most recent freelance article for the Tennessean about a family's kick ass basement.
• Still on the triathlon routine. Settling in at 195. The weight lifting is going o.k.
• I ran for the first time since the half-marathon, and my foot seemed to hold out o.k. I only did 5 min. walk/5 min. run alternating for about 35 min., but it's a start. I felt like I could go longer, faster; but, patience seems a good strategy for now.
• I still feel like I'm swimming with gunshot wounds to my shoulders, but today I actually didn't feel terrible. I can see my sets getting faster on the clock, and doing 10 200's today I wasn't thinking, "Jesus, if I just could get to 150 I'd only have 50 to go," which is a nice place to be.
• While I'm on the fine-tuning my body kick, I've decided to fork over the money to get LASIK done in July. Feels incredibly self-indulgent. I'm hoping that's it's just self-indulgent and not self-mutiliation.

Oh yeah, and my mom leaves for the Carribbean tomorrow. Note to self: Remember to call, remember to call.

posted by RSaunders at 3:33 PM ⇒ (2) comments

 
Let's Get Ironic
So I'm at the rec center Saturday lying out on the deck while the Tennessee Summer Special Olympics was going on at the surrounding ball fields when I hear the cleaned up version of "Let's Get Retarded." It's odd that changing from "retarded" to "it started" is sufficient to make people happy with, or at least forget, the origins of the song.
posted by RSaunders at 5:59 PM ⇒ (0) comments