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2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 29,May,2004 | The title of this post doesn't explain anything, I know. Well, it does to me, but that's not really the point. What the title means is what cycling means, or, rather, part of why I love it so much. I've been sick recently (sick enough to manage only part of a big trance-filled weekend ... My $70 VIP tickets did not, in fact, go to waste. I did get to watch Armin spin. But that's a post for another blog, or something. I'll just push my other obsessions out of here for now.) and so I've managed to miss live coverage on both Thursday (when I slept through most of it) and Friday (out of town). I woke up in time to read the live coverage (somehow I missed that the official urlLink Giro site (English version) has live video) on urlLink cyclingnews , so I knew what was going to happen before urlLink OLN 's coverage started (not that I don't love OLN, because I adore them. I want to work for them, please. Um. Right, back to point). So, at four (I was at the store at 3:30) I turned on OLN and settled into bed to watch. Well, even though I knew Gibo hadn't won the stage and Fabian had (thankfully!) managed to win the Maglia verde, it was pretty exciting to watch. The crowds totally blew my mind. I had no idea how close they were to the riders (like Gibo and Damiano). It reminded me, of course, of the TdF. In more ways than one, actually. And the Vuelta, although that was because I managed to miss the live video feed on the Vuelta site as well. But the excitement was similar to the last day when I, being the loyal Baden!girl that I am, followed along at cyclingnews and listed to Bob, Phil, and Paul on OLN and then watched the final stage later in the afternoon. It was just really fun to watch the race, even though I knew who won. It was really interesting to see all the Italian fans yelling and screaming and getting in the way of both the motor bikes and the cyclists. Scary stuff. But, oh, I'd love to be up there some day. As for the stage itself? I spent a lot of it hoping Damiano could keep the Maglia rosa without taking away Fabian's Maglia verde. My friend and I spent much of the last parts of the stage trying to figure out how many points Damiano needed and who was in front of him. In the end, though, it worked out perfectly. Although not for Gibo. Three seconds and he would have been second. And then there was all the stuff he said to Damiano the previous day, although Paul or Phil mentioned that he apologized. I can't imagine that Damiano will stay with Saeco for long, though. Too many top riders on one team and you'll end up like T-Mobile. A team that I love, but a team that pisses me off. I suppose I should explain that, later, though. Regardless. Tomorrow is all about Petacchi. Although I'm pretty sure I wouldn't complain if, oh, one of the Gerol!boys managed a win. Or even that Brad McGee guy. Right. Nine wins would be amazing, though. I suppose I can't go too wrong tomorrow. |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 26,May,2004 | I've been avoiding posting here. I have so much to talk about and not nearly enough time. Okay, really, once I got behind, I just let it build up. But here I am. Among the many changes I've made, posting my opinions more often is one of them. Today's opinion is one that really has no feet in reality. And then, at the end, an observation about my favorite team, or lack thereof. As most of you (are there any of you? do I even care enough? I don't know) probably saw, Brad McGee and the rest of the FDJ team were urlLink charged a 20-second race penalty for towing Brad and Matt. Now, I haven't been a fan of cycling for that long, but one thing that I do know is that Brad McGee isn't one to mince words. He proved that to me the first time I visited his site. But he did it again with his article about doping: ' urlLink Looks like we got another 80s Man . ' Now, what I want to know -- as both a fan of cycling and FDJ, is what is going on? Why would Brad lie? To me (it to a lot of people, I assume) it seems if he was guilty, he'd admit it. After all, Gayant admitted he towed Matt (poor boy). But why Brad? He knows he'd surely be caught (and he wasn't the first one), plus, he's trying to prove that he can stay in the top on his own. Or maybe I just don't like the idea of a cycling boy I love being treated in such a way. And aren't there tapes? I'm sure the Italian coverage has the incident on tape. But then again, this isn't football, where you can go back and review calls. Although I know sometimes they do it at the finish, like when Robbie McEwen have a few points and some time removed. So maybe they could go clear it up. But what do I know? I'm just a fan. And speaking of being a fan. That brings me to the second part of this post. Favorite teams. I used to say that FDJ was my favorite team, but I discovered (with a little help from my friends) that I was wrong. Just like with my favorite cyclists, things changed. For a while it was USPS, then CSC, then FDJ. But, in reality, I don't have a favorite team. I have favorite riders. I have favorite riders on FDJ, T-Mobile, CSC, QSD, BLB, Gerolsteiner, AG2r, and others. Not to mention the GS II and III teams (Lamonta and Acqua & Sapone for example). I guess that when it comes to team sports, my true loyalties lie with the Ohio State Buckeyes (college American football), the Cleveland Indians (baseball) and the Cleveland Browns (NFL). Although, I'm usually one to root for FDJ. It's those Australians, really. And Thomas and Phil. And Bernhard. And I could go on, but I won't. Because, my favorite team? All the teams. |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 17,May,2004 | Judging from my location (Michigan) you'd assume that I'd be happy with the results of Stage Nine. Well, you'd be wrong. I'm happy for Freddy (though sad about the other Fredy -- whose crash we saw on tape. Poor guy. At least it appears that he's not too severely injured.), but he is riding for Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo, which is Gerhard Trampusch's team. I'm not sure I want to have that rant quite yet (although I did learn a few things about who A&S are working for -- were working for), so I'll save it. Instead I'll talk about my cycling priorities. As an American, I fell victim to what I've decided to call 'Lance-Syndrome.' What is it? The ability to ignore all other American, much less non-American, riders and think that the Tour de France is the only race. So, the first time I watched the tour, I fell for Lance and USPS. It was easy, since it's US coverage. I didn't like Ullrich (I still don't, but that's yet another topic to be covered) or Vino (oh, how things have changed). I wanted Lance to win. And then I discovered Tyler. So now it was Lance and Tyler. But as the tour progressed, there were these other riders. Mostly Baden Cooke and David Millar. I've moved on from David, but Baden led me to other things -- other teams and riders. Just to get things straight, I do have a favorite rider (and since I love lists, I'll make on in a second). But none of my top riders are American. And, excluding football and baseball, of my top three remaining sports (cycling, golf, and tennis) two out of three favorites? Aren't American (tennis is the exception, where I am, predictably, a fan of Andy Roddick). So, what makes an American girl fall in love with European and Australian cyclists? I wish I knew. Although I suppose a lot of it is superficial. But even deeper than that, there's something about the boys (and yes, I call them boys) that I adore. Their kits, the way they ride. The fact that they don't all speak English. And maybe a lot of it has to do with the fact that they aren't American. I know this post is mostly about me, rather than the stage or the sport. But it helps me to get this stuff out. No tour predictions, well, at least not yet. Anyway. The Favorites (and yes, the first four are in order) Matthew Wilson (AUS) Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) Christian Werner (GER) Jurgen Van Goolen (BEL) Frank Høj (DEN) Anthony Geslin (FRA) Gerhard Trampush (AUT) Baden Cooke (AUS) Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ) Andreas Welsch (GER) Sure, there are others who I adore, but those are my top favorites. I suppose, eventually I have to make a list of the rest of my favorites, but this is it for now. |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 16,May,2004 | Stage Eight of the Giro D'Italia is over, I know who won (Petacchi, of course) and I'm pleased. But I must confess that, though I don't actually like Cipo, I am sad that this might have been his last race. And that's completely uncharacteristic of me. There are at least five sprinters (oh, so you want names? Just wait.) who I adore more than Cipo. But I still find it upsetting that he might be leaving. I was trying to figure out why, earlier. And I think that, since I've become enamored with cycling (and I can even tell you the date, if you like), Cipo is the man everyone talks about. Which might be why I shied away from him (and, of course, for very superficial reasons). But then again, there are those five others. So, perhaps it's just sadness that a big name (like when Johan Museeuw retired just recently) is leaving the peloton. Or maybe I'm just sentimental. Either way, it's sad. Now, that list. Sarah's Top Five Sprinters (in no particular order): Cooke Petacchi Boonen Zabel Foerster* Next time? I have this rant about Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo not (visibly) working for Gerhard Trampush. And, oh, there's so much more I could talk about. Like T-Mobile and why I don't care if Lance wins six. But I'll stop for now. * Robert. As in rides for Gerol. |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 29,June,2004 | Contrary to the subject, this isn't about death. Thought sometimes I feel like I should talk about Pantani's death (or just death in general and society), but not today. I've mentioned before that some of my favorite riders (Vino and Robert Foerster) have crashed recently. This morning, I discovered that yet another of my favorites had an accident. In this case, though, it wasn't during a race. The following is from urlLink cyclingnews . Van Goolen injured Quick.Step-Davitamon's Jurgen Van Goolen was injured while training on his bike Saturday morning. Van Goolen was struck by a motorist who failed to yield, crossing the rider's path and knocking him to the ground. Van Goolen lost consciousness after hitting his head and also suffered injuries to his hands and legs. Van Goolen remained under observation in the hospital after the accident. (As a follow-up, on his urlLink official site , it's been posted that he is out of the hospital and doing okay.) It was a reminder of how fragile we, as humans really are. But also, how much I take cycling and cyclists for granted. I don't ride on a regular basis (yet) and what races I do get to see are on OLN, so my involvement is, at best, detached from a variety of distances. And it's always stressful to read about (or see, as during the Giro this year) crashes. But when it happens to favorites of mine, it's even more upsetting (and, sometimes, off-putting). I don't really know what the point of this entry was, maybe just a way for me to, using some sort of written medium, remind myself not to take anything for granted. I love this sport too much to just not mention things. Music: DJ MRT (For TAW) - (TranceAirWaves) |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 28,June,2004 | I haven't posted about doping yet and I don't know if I will. Most likely, but we'll just have to wait and see. On to other things, though. In the comments to the urlLink entry about Vino I linked to a CN article urlLink explaining why Cadel isn't racing at the tour this year. Now, my favorite ride is Matt Wilson (who, coincidentally, is going to the tour, along with his FDJ compatriots Brad McGee and Baden Cooke) so I have a soft spot for Aussies. All of the articles I read sort of led me and the rest of the cycling world (and, as it appears, Cadel himself) to believe that he would be at the tour. So, it came as quite a surprise when urlLink T-Mobile released their tour team and he was conspicuously absent. My first reaction was, obviously, disbelief. But, upon learning the real urlLink reason , I grew skeptical. Now, I honestly have no idea if that's some BS reason to try to explain to the rest of us why they left him off, or if they really do believe they're protecting him. He hasn't fallen yet, which is better than last year. Why not let him go? I have a host of theories, none of which are probably true. But my friend urlLink April came up with a better one than any of mine (one of which was the idea that maybe Jan just didn't want Cadel on the team). She suggested that perhaps Cadel and Vino would have been working together for Jan, and thus, without Vino, the whole team would have to be restructured, and that would explain why Cadel was dropped. And I think she's probably right. But I just don't understand why they'd drop him when he's in good form. Who knows? After all, we both could be wrong. Maybe they really think they're protecting him (though, they'd just have to stop him from racing to really protect him). And, as I told Pam in comments on the urlLink Matt fansite , let's hope he makes the Olympics team. Otherwise, what a waste of good form. Either way, I'm going to be rooting for Lance (as tired of him as I may be). |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 25,June,2004 | Is it just me? Am I the only one who doesn't want more coverage of Lance -- or Tyler, Floyd, Freddy, or Levi? Am I the only one who wants more coverage of cycling in general. Of the cyclists I like, not just Americans. I suppose I should rephrase that. Am I the only American who is tired of OLN's coverage of Lance? Okay, I know I'm not. And I know six is a lot and I know that I love my gift-USPS bright yellow t-shirt. But I'm tired of 24/7 Lance. I want variation. I want to hear about other people. Actually, I'm tired of Jan as well. Maybe I've grown too cynical already. But cycling is more than just the tour. It's more than just one race, granted the race last three weeks, but still. It's not the only three week race. I think I've been holding this in much too long. But someone on urlLink livejournal posted a mini-rant about Lance and OLN and it started me thinking. I know I'm rooting for Lance since Vino got hurt and dropped from the tour. But somehow it doesn't feel right. He's not the underdog, he's expected to win. Except that he's not. No one else has done it. But all of this hype. It's overdone. I worry that the hype will be too much and he, like Phil Mickelson and Smarty Jones, like England in Euro 2004, like Coria at the French Open, will just crash out. Perhaps not with a literal crash, but something that will let us (us being Americans? the cycling world? I don't know) down. That will break our hearts. And there will be no broken!Tyler to pull us along. No teamless!Vino to cheer for. Maybe it'll be Tyler, this time in one piece. Maybe it'll be Roberto or Iban. Or maybe Jan will surprise us all, since his top-heavy team has collapsed (no Cadel, no Vino. please don't get me started on Cadel). Or maybe I'm wrong. After all, Andy did win the US Open last year. Roger won Wimbledon last year and the Australian Open this year. Juan Carlos won the French Open last year. All were hyped. So maybe Lance will win. Maybe six is his magic number and the Postal team will happily turn into the Discovery Channel team and everyone will be pleased (we're not talking about doping, this post anyway). But what if he fails? What if he doesn't make it to six? Will he retire? My friend Katie and I used to speculate what would happen. We assumed that, if Lance won, he'd stick with Postal for another year, maybe two. And then, when he retired, Postal would end. And if he lost? He'd retire, again with the dissolving of the Postal team. But now, with the new sponsor, can he retire? If he loses, will he retire? Do I even care? That last question is the hardest. And I don't know if I care. There are cyclists that I care more about than Lance. But, I suppose, I do want him to win six. I just feel bad rooting against Tyler. But six is six. And next year it'll be harder on me. Vino or Brad. Who knows. But that's next year. |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 15,June,2004 | So may things to talk about, and I'm not going to address most of them. I'll make a list, eventually. But for now, we'll stick two things. By now, the new of Vino's urlLink crash and subsequent urlLink withdrawal from the 2004 TdF has spread. Today, another of 'my' boys crashed, German Robert Foerster urlLink abandoned after a shoulder injury (no word on how serious it is) -- his teammate, Markus Zberg was also seriously injured. This is not an entry about injuries, I'm not dumb. I know how dangerous cycling is. But I'm not about to pretend I'm not upset. I adore Robert, so that makes me quite sad. But Vino? He was my tour pick. I know, I know. I'm supposed to pick -- if I'm rooting for T-Mobile -- Jan. But, honestly? I've never liked Jan. Okay, so that's not true. Up until last July I'd never heard of him and even then I didn't not like him, I just wanted him to lose so that Lance could win. But, you know, he started to grow on me. Until (10 Million Euros and a name change later) he went back to his old team. The team, which my new favorite boy, Vino (and, of course, Erik) rides for. The newly-named T-Mobile. And boy was I pissed. Erik was leader (no more -- at least, not for really big races) and Vino would no longer have his chance at the tour this year. But I didn't falter, I was still all gung-ho Vino '04 (I've had to revise, and now am sticking to Vino '05!). But I was worried. Last year, Vino did a lot without a team to back him up. And when Erik won points a few years ago, he did it without a leadout man. Now both men would have to (in most cases, but especially in Vino's) work for Jan. Not something I wanted to see happy to my tour pick. Maybe I'm selfish, but it just really made me angry. What right did Jan have, coming back to the team he up and left two years earlier? And not only did he make Telekom rename their team, his old team? He completely abandoned them, and they fell apart. I have no sympathy for Jan (although I must confess it's nice to see him doing so well at the Tour de Suisse). And now Vino's completely out of the tour. So where does that leave me? The loyal Vino!fan? Well, not rooting for Jan, that's for sure. I was torn between Lance and Tyler. While I'd like to see Tyler win, six would be nice for Lance. And since circumstances have eliminated the man I really wanted to win, I've been reduced compelled to root for Lance. But, honestly, by the tour rolled around, I might have fallen for all the hype and been cheering for him anyway. So. My podium? 1. Lance 2. Tyler 3. [open] I have options for third. Jan is okay, Brad would be a dream. Gibo? Perhaps one of the CSC boys. Roberto Heras? Although he's a KOM man, as well. Sprints? Baden Cooke all the way. Although Robbie, Petacchi, and Stuey will be giving him a run. I'm still picking Baden. How could I not? Next up? Probably something about the new (and probably crappy) book about Lance and doping (cause I believe that, right). |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 05,June,2004 | I was going to rant about the TdF or T-Mobile, or maybe even BLB and allergies, among other things. But no. Not anymore. I just read the following at urlLink cyclingnews and I am just seething. US champion injured Multiple US champion Curtis Tolson and the founder of Papa John's pizza chain, John Schnatter, were hospitalised after an accident on Wednesday evening in Louisville, KY, USA. The accident happened when a biology textbook was thrown at the pair from an oncoming pickup truck, reported the Associated Press. Tolson suffered abrasions and possibly a broken collarbone or dislocated shoulder, while Schnatter had abrasions and possible head or back injuries. A third rider who was with them, Tracy Huber, avoided the crash. Louisville police are investigating the incident as a felony assault. So far, no arrests have been made and there are no suspects. --- What is it about this country? Do we have no respect for people? It just pisses me off to no end that people would do such a thing to people on bikes. I used to believe that maybe it was just a fluke, that Americans weren't always so disrepectful toward cyclists. But obviously I was wrong (need I remind you of Clear Channel's advertisements endorsing drivers who wish to run cyclists off the road?). I am just at a loss. Please, if you drive, respect cyclists. They aren't allowed on sidewalks in most areas and, far too often, cities don't create lanes or bike paths. I am lucky enough to live in a small town (for now) that has enough bike paths (I never thought I'd be grateful to live in Michigan -- not that I ride enough, yet). But, please. A little respect won't hurt. |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 28,July,2004 | This is not the first time I've come across people upset by OLN's coverage. Usually the people I talk to are pissed off because OLN covered too much Lance. That group, of course, includes me. But this time the situation is reversed. I first encountered it on one of cycling communities on urlLink livejournal and now (via urlLink tdfblog ) it seems that a lot of places and people are irritated as well. What's the problem? People, Americans mostly, are upset that OLN didn't show Lance cross the line at the end of Stage 20 this past Sunday. My reaction, of course, was to say something like 'the sprint was exciting and I'm much rather be watching the sprint then watching Lance cross the line.' I then went on to explain that when stage 20 started, we already knew that Lance was going to win and there was no point to showing him cross the line. Plus, the sprint was incredibly exciting and important for the green jersey competition. Also, we should be watching the replays -- why should they change the format (successful format) on the last stage? Just like all previous stages, the only time we ever saw Lance cross the line live was when he won the stage. I have to confess that I understand why people might get upset, but I don't get why it's such a big deal. Neither does the author of urlLink TDFblog . Which is why I'm writing this post. I was just going to comment, but it ended up way too long. Being upset about the lack of Lance crossing the line just doesn't make sense to me. It's like me getting upset because I didn't get to see Matt cross the line live every time -- even though he was almost always at least 10 minutes behind on many of the stages. Sure, it'd be nice to see it, but there were other things (more important things), such as racing, going on. I can honestly say it didn't even cross my mind that we didn't get to see Lance cross the line. I think that's partly because there are cyclists who I like better than Lance, but also because we already knew he won. And why should OLN waste time covering that? Instead we saw the replay of the sprint and then we saw interviews and the trophy presentations. Which, in my opinion, are more important. But people, even the CEO of OLN, are upset. AP (via urlLink ESPN ) urlLink reports that the CEO (Gavin Harvey) said 'I think it was a missed opportunity,' he said . Sure it was, but for what? For showing the anti-climatic crossing of the line? To cut away from the real racing of the day? I don't understand what was missed. But I supposed that most of those 1.37 million viewers watching on Sunday wanted to see Lance and not the actual race. But, the best thing I took away from that article was what Harvey said about the future of cycling on OLN: 'We are the home of professional cycling on television,' he said. 'We love the fact that Lance has brought so many eyeballs and attention to the sport of cycling. But it's not just Lance.' It gives me hope that we will keep watching cycling on OLN. I'm not really prepared to give that up without a fight. It's nice to know that OLN isn't fully dependent on Lance for content -- just mostly. But does it really matter? As long as I get my cycling, I'll grit my teeth through all the (excessive) Lance-coverage. Music: The Diane Rehm Show |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 24,July,2004 | (cbs sportsline) The promised post. Above is German National Champion Andreas Klöden. He's six minutes and thirty eight seconds behind Lance Armstrong and twenty one seconds ahead of Ivan Basso. His place on the podium is second. He was not the leader of T-Mobile, that was Jan Ullrich. But he has developed into something else. Something more than anyone, except perhaps Klöden himself, ever expected. He certainly took the rest of the cycling world -- and his own team -- by surprise. It's almost funny, because I predicted -- as soon as it was announced that Ullrich was going back to Team Telekom (as it was known then) -- that Ullrich would be beaten by his own team. Of course, my assumptions were based on the inclusion of Cadel Evans and Alexandre Vinokourov on the tour team. As it turned out, Vino crashed and torn the ligaments in his right shoulder. Cadel Evans was left off the team for reasons beyond my understanding (I don't really believe it was 'for his own protection' or so that he could prepare for the Olympics, since he was left off of that team as well). Also missing from the team (due to injury) was former Giro d'Italia winner Paolo Savoldelli - another powerful man whose was supposed to be helping Ullrich. By the start of the tour, the team was composed of most unspectacular people, hopefully those who could support Ullrich in the mountains, flats, and team time trial. What happened was quite unexpected. Ullrich cracked for whatever reason (perhaps not enough training, perhaps weight problems, perhaps he peaked too soon and it took him too long to get his form back) and his teammate -- Andreas Klöden, instead of helping, sort of took over. Now, Klöden did a lot for Ullrich. He did his domestique duties quite well, until the mountains. He was ahead of Ullrich, but they hadn't reached the mountains yet. And even into the beginnings of the Pyrenees, Klöden rode up with Ullrich and Lance. Then, on Stage ten, Klöden came in second -- five minutes and nineteen seconds behind Virenque. The result was not even considered that important, except as a passing mention of Klöden's improving form. Stage eleven was mostly uneventful for Klöden, he attacked, but ended up 20th, behind the big sprinters. Then, seemingly out of nowhere and as his team leader was cracking, Klöden followed Basso and Lance up to the top of La Mongie. Instead of pacing Ullrich to keep up, Klöden crossed the line in third, 20 seconds behind Basso and Lance. This catapulted Klöden up the classifications, and even further above Ullrich. Eventually they all gained more time. Ullrich slowly caught up to Klöden, but never quite had enough to pass him. In the end, Klöden was just too strong. Now, urlLink April believes that since Ullrich didn't make the podium, he'll probably seek out a new team -- or Klöden will go somewhere else. Personally, I believe the latter. I think Klöden won't be riding for T-Mobile next year. Why? Because, although he spent a lot of time helping Ullrich, it was clear he wanted to win the tour. The different between T-Mobile and USPS was teamwork. I believe Jose Azevedo could win the tour, and may someday, but he dedicated himself to helping Lance. And what happened? He's fifth overall and Lance is on his way to six. Klöden, it seems, wasn't satisfied with his team leader's performance and decided to take advantage of the great form he was riding into. And it paid off. But he didn't do what the team wanted and Ullrich suffered. The fact that he focused on his own ambitions instead of his team's, and because he almost caught Ullrich on the time trial today, I believe that he'll be seeking a new team next year. It's obvious that he's turned his career around, at least for now. I think we can expect big things from Klöden -- the rest of this year and next as well. As for Ullrich? He's still got a few more tours in him. And I firmly believe he'll be riding in T-Mobile colors for at least one more year. Maybe next year they'll pick the right domestiques. It's quite possible that this year will have made him mad enough to focus him into winning in 2005. Regardless, next year will prove to be just as exciting. (cbs sportsline) Music: DJ Moe - (Moe's B-Day) Live 31-03-2002 (ETS Global) |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 20,July,2004 | According to urlLink procycling , the cause of Iban Mayo's poor performance in the Pyrenees? '[A] stress-induced mental block.' It was what everyone had guessed, and today, well, it took it's final toll for the tour. Mayo didn't start the stage, along with Jakob Piil, who left yesterday. CN and Reuters reported that Euskaltel team manager Miguel Madariaga said 'We knew he wouldn't finish the stage today, so we decided it was better for him not to start.' It's hard to tell if Mayo even had any say in the decision, but I'm betting he did. So, is it better not to start than to abandon? Either way you're not finishing the race, one way just saves embarrassment. --- Yesterday I mentioned that Matthew White was on the Australian Olympic team and I was worried that he wouldn't be able to make the team. Well, CN apparently has started reading my mind, because they reported that Matt is up and riding again. Matthew White (Cofidis), who crashed before the prologue in Liege and didn't take the start of the Tour, is now on the mend after breaking his right collarbone. White also suffered facial wounds and had to get four stitches to his eyebrow. However, he has resumed training on the road and is expected to start racing again at the end of July in preparation for the Olympic Games in Athens. ( urlLink cyclingnews ) --- Although Richard Virenque didn't win today's stage (no amount of my shouting could change that, sadly), his win on Bastille Day and invitation to the Olympics might have changed his mind about retiring. urlLink procycling reports that Virenque might extend his QSD contract. Personally, I'd like to see him try for an eighth(yes, I think he'll win seven without any problems) KOM jersey and then retire. A nice round number that will take years to overcome. Or maybe I just like records. --- Quote of the day: 'I gave it everything today,' the young Frenchman said at the finish. 'As things got harder, there was nothing I could do – Armstrong was too strong. But I don’t feel disappointed about losing the yellow jersey,' continued Voeckler. 'I held it a long time, and I was happy to be wearing it. I have no regrets – it’s been a positive experience for me.' ( urlLink procycling ) And now he's after the white jersey. I hope he keeps it. --- Tomorrow: The urlLink Sachsen Tour International starts. PS. OLN? Ivan Basso is 26. He'll be 27 in November. 11.26.77 to be exact. Music: One Man Army - The Anthem (DI.fm) |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 19,July,2004 | Olympic teams: Baden, Brad and Mark are all going. Sylvain and Thomas (and Richard!) are going. Lance is not, but Levi is. Matt (White) - status unknown. I hope he's healed enough (he should be). I hope Tyler's healed enough as well. I hope NBC covers cycling on the channels I get (those I don't get being Telemundo and NBCHD). Thomas Dekker (a favorite of urlLink April 's) beat out Erik Dekker (they aren't related) for the Dutch TT at the Olympics -- although Erik is riding the road race. It should be a lot of fun. Doping: Man, it never stops. I suppose it will never really spot, anyway. Sean Eadie's considering legal action. ASO and Lance aren't speaking. Hinault 'is not impressed with Greg LeMond's insinuations that Lance Armstrong has achieved his five Tour victories with a little help' ( urlLink cyclingnews ). What next? I don't know, but I suppose it does keep people on their toes. Articles: There is just something inspiring and hopeful about cyclingnews' story ' urlLink A victory of another kind for Euskaltel-Euskadi .' Some teams still have that something, even when they're down and out. And it's especially nice to be able to understand -- at least to the extent that he understands -- what's going on with Iban Mayo. Amusement: As always, the urlLink Daily Peloton provides some good (and entertaining) reading. Tick translated urlLink Nobody Loves Me by Ploner. It's an amusing take on the tour jerseys. Eventually I'll have real content back -- probably when the tour is over. Until then, you just get this random collection of things. The TdF diary has my coherent set of opinions. Oh, and by the way? Thomas Voeckler is still 25. Even urlLink Le Tour agrees. Music: Kenneth Thomas - Live at Club Bleu with DJ Tiesto - 06.24.04 (Trancepshere) |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 18,July,2004 | I feel like the saga of Jan Ullrich's 2004 tour should be called 'oh, the places you won't go.' My little take off on the Dr. Seuss book, urlLink Oh, the Places You'll Go! , not that that wasn't at all obvious. It just seems that the only place he's going is backward in time, so to speak. He just keeps losing time, yet going up in the classification. It's all beyond me. I think he looks pretty bad, but he's still riding strong. I'm not the only one who wonders what's wrong either. The procycling article, urlLink T-Mobile perplexed by Ullrich , has quotes from T-Mobile manager, Walter Godefroot. He essentially says that he has no idea what's going on with Ullrich. He [Ullrich] hasn't really talked to the rest of the team. They'd hoped that today's stage (13) would have been good. But while it was better than yesterday, it wasn't at all what they'd expected. What do I think? The dramatic weight loss he experienced (during the Tour de Suisse? Correct me if I'm wrong, please.) took a negative toll on his body. Non-tour talk. So. My boys that aren't racing the tour? Most of them will be racing at the Sachsen-Tour International. urlLink Cycling startlists has the complete urlLink startlist (PDF) for the race. Included (of 'my' boys) are Christian Werner (T-Mobile), Frank Hoj (CSC), Mads Kaggestad (Crédit Agriole), and Björn Glasner, David Kopp, and Phillip Mamos (Lamonta). The Saschesen-Tour is from July 21-25th ( urlLink official site ). According to urlLink Cycling startlists , both Jurgen van Goolen and Alexandre Vinokourov will be back racing at the urlLink Tour de la Région Wallonne . Cadel Evans, who I believe should be at the tour right now -- and part of the reason Jan's not doing that well, will be racing. Philippe Gilbert of FDJ will be there as well. The race is July 26-30th ( urlLink official site ). It'll be nice to have other racing to follow as well. Not that I'm tired of the tour (I'm not, because I love to watch live cycling -- even if it's only on my TV). But I miss following my other favorites. Music: Above & Beyond - Essential Mix - 06.06.04 (TranceAirWaves) |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 17,July,2004 | I know I complain about the hype surrounding Lance. But I'm about to succumb, in a way, to it. So, in the urlLink diary I talk a lot about Thomas Voeckler and not so much about Lance. I've confessed that I want Thomas to go all the way, but that I don't think he's going to do it (this year). I've also stated that I would be just as happy if Lance were to win six (record breaking and all that). I can't predict if I'd be sad if he lost, but I'm betting I would be. I'm a pretty loyal fan, once I get settled. And I've never spent much time thinking about if Lance -- or any of my favorite athletes -- doped. And, honestly, I don't really want to know. Maybe if they changed the rules around (let everyone dope -- it's their own life -- or tested every three months [neither of those ideas are mine, they're urlLink April 's and I've come to agree with her]) I'd feel differently. But right now, I don't want to know. I didn't want to know that David did, or that Baden might have (I still believe that Baden didn't). But that's not the point of this. The point is that reporters (and others) like to go after people. I know David's case was different. There was actual doping evidence (I believe) of former Cofidis riders doping and then, eventually, he came forward. But most of this stuff has been in the past (even David's, really), until now with Lance (and the riders that tested positive before and during the tour). What I'm really writing about is Lance. I've read both books, I believe that he didn't -- doesn't. But who am I to know? No one. I'm just a cycling fan in the middle of Michigan. The only person who really knows is Lance and he says he didn't. He's only failed one test and that was several years ago. Who are we to go against his word? And if it turns out later that he was, how do we know that everyone isn't using stuff? We don't know. And I'm beginning to think that it's just a witch hunt. Maybe the French press don't want Lance to win. Maybe they really do believe he's doping. Maybe the UCI and ASO think they're making a difference by cracking down on people. I don't know. And I don't really care. They can keep doing what they want and people will keep riding. And, honestly, people will keep doping. That's just the way things go. You don't feel your good enough, you take something and you might do better. If that doesn't work? You try something else. urlLink April spent a lot of time talking about this when David confessed. When I was telling her how devastated I'd be if Matt said he was taking something. But I've, for the most part, gotten over that. I might feel betrayed, but people come back. Just look at Richard Virenque. It's not the end of the world. As for Greg LeMond's comments? Part of me thinks he knows something, part of me thinks he's just making trouble, and most of me thinks he's bitter. He used to be the named in US cycling (and, really, I think he is in a lot of circles) but no one is like Lance. There's no real superstar. And that's what Lance is. Not just here, but in other countries as well. And in the states? If you know nothing about cycling, you know Lance. He's 'that guy with cancer who rides the bike.' Hell, that's all I knew about him (and that he had a book with a cool title) just over a year ago. Oh, how things change. But whatever the motive is, people will keep searching for scapegoats. They'll keep doping. And they'll keep racing. That's just the way things work. I wish we could just get over it and be thankful that people have stopped riding drunk. Music: Breaking the habit - Linkin Park |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 15,July,2004 | urlLink Race leader Thomas Voeckler (Brioches La Boulangere) and Sebastian Joly's (Credit Agricole) son, Antoine Joly, before Stage 10. (lycos) This is mostly just a bunch of links/articles I've collected. Sites I've been reading, stuff like that. I'll have real content later, I promise. Blogs: > urlLink TDF Blog > urlLink Baden Cooke's TdF Diary (bike.com) > urlLink Lance's Bike (statesman.com) Articles: > urlLink The Fabulous Baker Boys from Brioches La Boulangere (CN) > urlLink The Tour is Stranger Than Fiction (bike.com) > urlLink Lance Decides Tour Not A Priority (from the cycling dude, reposted on james raia's site) --- Some things that have caught my attention recently: 1. Levi Leipheimer has been picked to replace Lance at the Olympics. ( urlLink CN ) 2. Jean-Marie Leblanc (TdF Director) regrets kicking Martin Hvastija and Stefano Casagranda out of the tour (go figure). ( urlLink CN ) 3. urlLink Tyler Hamilton 's dog, Tugboat, was put to sleep the other day. He had cancer. ( urlLink CN ) A lot has been going on recently but, of course, the tour overshadows everything. Hopefully I'll write more later tonight or tomorrow after the stage. Music: :: LIVE :: Armin van Buuren - A State of Trance 157 (ETS Global) |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 14,July,2004 | The yellow bracelets/bands finally came in the mail today. If you don't have one, you should urlLink buy them for yourself and others. That being said, I'm going to take a moment to explain why I am wearing one. --- I wear yellow because my grandfather died of cancer. Because my grandmother survived breast cancer. Because one of my mother's close friends has cancer. I wear yellow because my favorite cyclist survived cancer. I wear yellow because no one should have to go it alone. I wear yellow because someday we will be cancer. I wear yellow because I live strong. 'Yellow wakes me up in the morning. Yellow gets me on the bike every day. Yellow has taught me the true meaning of sacrifice. Yellow makes me suffer. Yellow is the reason I'm here.' - Lance Armstrong Support urlLink The Lance Armstrong Foundation . Music: Armin van Buuren - The Newest Tunes Selected - A State of Trance 157 24-06-04 (Trancepshere Radio) |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 13,July,2004 | I was going to post this last night, but the UCI site crashed Firefox. And then I thought I'd post it this morning, but I sort of slept through the Pre-Race show (when I do my usual early morning updates). So here it is. I do a lot of reading of online cycling news sites. They have pretty good coverage, with a wide variety of views, among other things. But something they all have in common is the inability to state, correctly and consistently, what Thomas Voeckler's age is. I have read that he's 23, 24 or 25. Which, obviously, means he's between the ages of 23-25. You'd think that someone would have looked this up, but, alas, it appears most people haven't. Some sites even have conflicting articles, where his age is listed differently every time. So I've decided to clear this up once and for all. After all, he is wearing the yellow jersey. So? What is his age? Well, I first went to the urlLink UCI website . And, after finally getting it to work in Opera, I navigated until I found the listing of riders on urlLink Brioches La Boulangere . FRA19790622 VOECKLER Thomas Not that I don't trust the UCI, but I figured I'd better get another source. So I went to the official urlLink BLB website. I headed over to their bio section on urlLink Thomas and what did I find? 22 juin 1979 After some quick (and easy -- he's a year and a few months younger than I am) math, I determined that the actual age of Thomas Voeckler is 25 years. Nice to know, isn't it? I thought so. Good luck on Stage 10 tomorrow, Thomas! Music: Jason Mraz - Water |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 12,July,2004 | On this rest day -- well, not really, because this stuff happened (well the tour-related stuff) yesterday and the day before -- people are whining -- well, mostly speaking their minds rather publicly. It's not nearly as amusing as urlLink Simoni , though. Actually, it's kind of odd. First there's Mark French's family. Now, I don't blame them -- after all their son (cousin, nephew) is only 19. But I'm not sure their urlLink letters will help his case any (scroll down to 'French saga rumbles on'). The poor kid (if his story is to be believed, I've read conflicting views on this) confessed and has tried to take a lot of people down with him. No one is sure how much of it is true, but still. Except maybe all of the evidence in the open will clear things up? I'm tired of it, although I contradict my own statement by the fact that I keep writing about it. I'm not sure what I think. On one had I feel bad for Mark -- like I feel bad for David, etc -- but on the other hand, he (they) did dope. It's not that I can't feel bad for them, it's that I don't know what the punishment should be -- though I believe French has been banned from a lot of stuff for life. Or maybe they should just make doping legal and let everyone take their own risks and, potentially, get sick and/or die. I don't know. Right. I think I lost my train of thought. People on AIM are distracting me. Next up, clash of the titans sprinters: Robbie v. Rene. I'll sum up: Rene crashed. Robbie blames Rene, and says Rene did the same thing last year (to both Robbie and Baden). Robbie falls and is hurt (Baden is fine). Rene is (seriously) hurt, Robbie yells at him. Rene gets pissed. Robbie is pissed. They fight. Oh, wait. I made that last bit up. Lots of nasty words exchanged. I wish people would just get over it and move on, but it seem neither urlLink Robbie or Rene can. And we don't really know what happened. The amateur video footage shows the aftermath of Rene's crash. Bob claimed that it couldn't have been Rene's fault because he crashed into the barriers after he feel (or something similar -- correct me if I'm wrong). Rene says it's not his fault -- that his handlebars snapped in two and he was flung off of his bike and into the barrier. Robbie says that Rene was riding to fast and his the barrier, Floyd Landis pretty much says the same thing and 'don't sprint for 35th place.' I hope everyone feels better now that they got that out. Maybe Robbie's just bitter that he didn't get the green jersey that day. But I don't know. The video doesn't really show. Mostly it's the big gap between Flecha and the riders in front of him because he was going slow, then the peloton is slowing down because Rene crashed. Then the camera pans over and there are two (I think) Saeco riders that ride/crash over Rene, but we don't really see what happened to Rene, except that there's no one around him until those Saeco riders -- a few seconds later. So, we don't really know. I would bet that most of the riders don't, either. I have to say, though, that the most impressive thing was watching Thomas ride through the crash and not fall. The yellow jersey just slipped right through -- lucky for him. I was worried. Crashes are upsetting and there seem to be more than last year. But, according most things I've heard and read, this happens every few years. I don't know if they should change the rules like urlLink Bjarne Riis wants or if they should just let it be. Who knows. Certainly not me. EDIT: Because, you know, it's kind of like a train wreck. From the BBC: urlLink Italian Stefano Casagranda and Slovenia's Martin Hvastija have been asked to leave the 2004 Tour de France . Music: Sam Sharp - Twister (DI.FM) |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 11,July,2004 | Among the many sports I like, the Olympic Games tends to be near the top every two years (winter or summer, I'm not that picky). But, for me, things have changed a bit. Even though Matt's not racing for Australia (although I don't know if they're going to replace Matt White or if four weeks is enough time for him to recover from the broken collarbone), Baden, Mark (Renshaw) and Brad are racing. So, most likely, I'll be an Aussie!fangirl. Not that I'm not rooting for the US, because I will be. But it seems Lance has decided that he doesn't want to go to the Olympics (although Phil and Paul are certain he's going to change his mind, especially if his form is still good after the tour). An article posted at urlLink TDF Blog is titled urlLink Armstrong's Athens avoidance to annoy audience? and brings up the idea that we won't get more than a few seconds worth of cycling coverage. Well, I don't hold out much hope, but NBC owns a lot of stations and it seems most of them will be covering the Olympics. Now, in previous years we got a few different sports, but mostly stuff that most people would care about. But, things seem to be different this year. Why? I don't know. But at the urlLink NBC Olympics site, they claim they're doing 'unprecedented 24-hours-per-day broadcast.' So what does that mean? That we'll hopefully be able to see everything we want to see, like, oh, cycling. The 24-hour broadcast info can be found urlLink here . They don't have a schedule for the games yet (probably because there isn't one), but there it is. Probably not as good as when my parents lived in Upstate New York and watched Canadian coverage of the Olympics in Canada, but hopefully close. I really want to see cycling. And I should go watch the rest of the stage, now. Music: Stage Eight on OLN |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 10,July,2004 | So, poor Rene wasn't the complete cause of the pile-up with 1km to go. Although Gibo did run him over. Possibly why he has three (9th, 10th, and 11th) broken ribs. But it was the speed of the peloton chasing after Juan Antonio Flecha and slow riders (I'm pretty sure it was Gibo running over Rene and people trying not to hit them) that caused the crash. OLN's (rather unexciting) pre-race show just showed a slow-motion replay. After talking to the completely adorable Tom Boonen. Other things. Baden write in his urlLink Stage Five diary that 'my morale is low but my ambitions are still high.' What I want to know is how this is really affecting the whole team. This being the loss of Brad. So far three FDJeuxers (Bernhard, Sandy and Carlos) have gone in breakaways and I'm sure there'll be more. Well, I hope there will be more. The team really needs to figure out how to get it together. Some of us think that Baden's not completely out of the running for the green jersey. Although Baden himself thinks that urlLink he's out of contention . Which is sad, but hey, you never know. He needs to start winning, though. Commercials. I know that I'm not the only one who finds those damn cyclysm commercials annoying. And I don't know, but OLN really seems to need a better set of commercials because these are getting old. Although I complete love (as it is my favorite commercial ever, followed closely by the British Airways one that was shown during Wimbledon this year) the urlLink See Lance Ride Nike commercial. I also like the Posties delivering mail, but is it just me or are there only two or three actual USPS riders in the commercial? And, of course, I like the commercials with Bob Roll pretending to be in last year's tour (except for the tacked on Lance bit). But mostly I'm ready for some new ones. 7 minutes! I'm ready for race coverage already. Pre-Race note: Bob. What the hell? 'Woman's prerogative and drafting are related? ...' I'm glad you find it funny because I'm confused. Music: Commercials on OLN |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 09,July,2004 | Just a brief note, I'll probably write up another entry later. But I've finally completed the new project: my urlLink TdF Diary . Complete with opinions, pictures and recaps. Lots of fun for me, anyway. Music: Peter Luts vs. G-Bric - Pacific Wish (Digitally Imported) |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 08,July,2004 | I'm the kind of girl who gets obsessions. Sure, I've done the whole actor thing. Movies, bands, books, everything. I loved Leonardo DiCaprio in high school, Dave Matthews Band throughout college. I've been through Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter , among others. But the one constant has been sports. I've always loved sports, I tried to play (t-ball, softball, soccer, gymnastics) but it hurt my feet (I had bunions -- I had surgery to remove them in 2002) so I never got very far. But I became a very good fan, mostly of baseball, basketball and football. I've held onto both baseball and football, but basketball never really held my interest. I grew up loving teams from Ohio (pro - Cleveland and college - Ohio State) because my father did (and still does). When I went to college, I was in marching band and went to all the home football games (and one or two away ones) and my dorm room was right off the practice field for soccer. Sports has never been far from my life. And that brings me back to this sport, cycling. There are others I like, baseball and football of course. But also tennis and golf (with a few others mixed in). But nothing, not one thing, compares to my love for cycling. It is an obsession for me. And while that might freak people out, it's just part of who I am. I am not extremely OCD (or the Matt site would be updated as soon as the full results were posted, and it never is). But I love cycling, more than most things. I like say that I love cycling more than everything else, except maybe Armin van Buuren, but I know I'm wrong. Armin is a close second to cycling (probably followed by the music of Jason Mraz and Sondre Lerche, then college football). But cycling is by far the one thing in my life that I stop doing stuff for. It is what I want to spend my life doing. Throughout high school and college, I've always struggled with what I wanted to do with my life. While other kids wanted to teach or work in the business world, I would make up stuff just so people would stop asking me. Nothing ever really grabbed me (and that's part of why I'm still unemployed right now) until I found cycling. And it wasn't even until I started that Matt site that I realized that cycling was it. It was the thing I'd been looking for. And so I made it my goal that I wanted to write about it. But, as I'm prone to do, I let a lot of people down along the way. I made them promises and broke them, said I'd email people and then didn't. But I started writing, with this blog. Nothing big and nothing on a regular basis. And then the tour happened again (as it's prone to do) and that's when I figured out that I had to do something. And finally, after nearly six months of wishing it, I have. I suppose the real point of this is that I sometimes forget that there are other people in the world who love cycling. I forget that I'm not the only person out there. And when I'm reminded, it takes me a while to get over myself. To realize how wonderful it is that I'm not the only one, after all. And it takes me time to realize that sharing is okay. That it's fine that other people have the same favorite cyclists as I. That it's okay that people have different opinions than I do. That it's all right if someone wants Jan or Tyler to win, while I'm dissing Lance and, at the same time, hoping he wins. I forget that I can't and shouldn't have it my way. And when I remember that, everything is okay. Everything makes sense. And, I guess what I'm really trying to say is that, to me, I am cycling. It is an obsession, but it's turned into my life. When I talk about myself, the first thing I say is that I love cycling, that I want to spend the rest of my life writing about it, watching it, whatever. I want to be immersed in it. It's almost been a year since I first watched tour. Since the 'cycling bug' bit me. And I've come so far. I'm not there yet, but I will be. Cycling is my life and that's just how I want it. It's who I've become. And that makes me happy. Music: Lance Nike Ad MP3 |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 07,July,2004 | 1. Benjamin Noval. Didn't make it across the line with the rest of Postal, in fact, when he did cross the line (thankfully before the cut) he was in tears. What happened? Well, OLN just showed us (because sometimes their devotion to USPS pays off). The team, including Lance, did their best to comfort Noval. It was pretty impressive. Just more evidence that cycling is a team sport. Not that I ever doubted it. Just look at FDJ, especially the Aussies. 2. Jesus Manzano. Well, it turns out I was right. The following is from urlLink cyclingnews . Manzano pops up Amore e Vita rider Jesus Manzano is alive and well, according to Europa Press. Manzano, whose team manager expressed concern about his whereabouts on Tuesday after the former Kelme rider had not been in touch with the team for some time, said the only problem he was having was that he'd been a bit downcast recently as a result of the intense media pressure he'd been under. Manzano blew up a storm of controversy earlier this year when he alleged he had been subjected to institutionalized doping practices while at Kelme. He said he'd fled reporters who had been at his house every day looking for interviews, and was concentrating on getting treatment for the knee problem that has prevented him from riding this year. However, he was not optimistic that the treatment would allow him to return to competition, though he did expect to return to a 'normal life.' As for the visit to a clinic which his team manager believed was for treatment for depression, Manzano said the cause was actually a rather happier one - his girlfriend Marina is pregnant. He ran, like I figured. In a way I feel sorry for him (especially after the stories of Pantani), but he brought this upon himself, so the sympathy is muted. 3. Thomas Dekker - otherwise known as young gun at the Olympics. One of April's favorites is the Rabobank T3 rider Thomas Dekker (I am partial to Bas Giling myself). He won the elite men time trial at the Dutch National Championships about a week and a half ago. urlLink Cyclingnews reported that he beat out 'his more experienced elder namesake Erik Dekker.' It just makes me happy when the young guys ride so well that they can get picked. As for the Olympics? I'm not sure who I'm rooting for, since Matt (Wilson) wasn't chosen. Although Brad, Mark and Baden all were. But who knows, since Matt White fell before the tour and ended up with a broken collarbone. Maybe I'll, gasp, root for the US. Who knows? I just hope that NBC (with all it's affiliate stations) chooses to show cycling. Not just the time trial and the road race, I'd like track, too. We'll see. It certainly won't be like the Salt Lake City Olympics. It's almost time for the stage, then I'll get to finishing up that diary page. I've got so much tour opinions to share. Music: Pre-Race Show on OLN |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 07,July,2004 | The team time trial was not what I expected. Not necessarily the teams themselves (except where the hell is FDJ -- oh. 21st. Or, you know, last.) but all the crashes. Anyway, this is not at all what I wanted to write about. In the diary entries, of which I am behind by two stages and weblog-less for the moment, I talked about poor Brad. Well, I just finally got around to reading his diary entries at urlLink his site and he's apparently hurt himself doing some urlLink heavy lifting . Which might explain yesterday and today's stage results for FDJ (don't worry Matt, I'm not giving up hope). But it's really disheartening to read how much Brad wanted to be in yellow and then find out how much crap has happened. Other things. I feel bad for David Millar, all this doping stuff he got himself into has just urlLink knocked him down . I expect Cofidis will kick him off, if they haven't already. It's too bad, disappointing too. Maybe he'll be able to overcome all of this. At least I hope he can. I want to write the headline 'Key Cyclist in Doping Scandal Missing,' but it seems urlLink Procycling went for the more standard headline, less exciting as it were: urlLink Fears for whereabouts of Manzano . In a very loose and non-doping sense, it makes me think of Les Triplettes de Belleville (someday I'll own that movie). But, honestly, I hope nothing serious has happened. Not that I should speculate, but maybe he just got tired and ran off. Although the following is kind of worrisome: 'The only other vague piece of information Fanini revealed about Manzano's recent movements was that the former Kelme rider had called Amore e Vita directeur sportif Roberto Pelliconi in tears after leaving a Spanish hospital where he had apparently been told he would never be able to cycle competitively again. Describing Manzano's mood as 'depressed', Fanini explained: 'He disappeared then without leaving any trace of where he was going.' I don't even know why I care, after all the stir he's caused. It's just kind of sad to watch cyclists slide downhill so far. Like Mark French and, in a way, Pantani. Although we'll never really know if Pantani doped while riding. It's all so sad. As are the deaths overshadowed by doping recently. Just as a small reminder: Jean Graczyk, Charly Grosskost and Stive Vermaut all died near the end of June. Stive was only 28, though retired from cycling. Robbie dedicated his stage win to the memory of Stive, a former teammate of his. Graczyk died at 71. Grosskost, 60, was hit by a car while riding. Just a quiet moment of reflection, we are all human after all. Music: DJ Percision live on Tranceairwaves |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 02,July,2004 | I did, in fact, get to watch the first three stages of the tour while I was away (as well as the Wimbledon finals, but I'm not talking about that). --- I have a lot of things I want to say, catch up on. One of these things is a TdF diary of my own that I need to work on. But that's all for later. What I want to talk about today is the fact that this is, to me, totally different from last year. Granted, I didn't start watching the tour until Stage 12, but by that time the team that would be my favorite by the end of 2003 (FDJ) had already done so well (although they'd lost Matt) by then. With Baden having worn the green and the white jerseys and Brad was in yellow (though only temporarily). And this year? Not so much. Although both Matt (on his urlLink official site ) and Baden (in his urlLink bike.com diary) have mentioned that things will improve, it still makes me sad. Most of the Australians have had problems this tour. Which shouldn't surprise me so much, because that's how the tour goes. But, perhaps, Tyler spoiled me by doing so well last year after his crash. Or maybe I'm just lacking in faith right now. Well, maybe faith isn't the right word, because I'm still convinced they'll all come through. But, how else is it different for me? So many big names on the front, both overall and in the sprints. By the time I figured out what I wanted to pay attention to, Cipo hadn't been invited and Petacchi had dropped out so it was, really, just Baden and Robbie. I didn't know anyone else, really. Now I'm familiar with all the sprinters (and I, along with urlLink April are fans of Thor and Tom (along with Baden and Petacchi, among others) and so it's a lot more intense. As for overall? It was great to see Fabian in yellow, the same with Thor. But yesteday's stage over the cobbles really blew my mind. Not really because of the cobbles, as I'd watched Paris-Roubaix this year, but just how hard USPS pushed and then the crashes. Just surprising, really. I'm just happy I've settled on Lance for my overall. The rest can fall wherever, although I wouldn't complain if Tyler came in second this year. There's team time trailing on my TV so I'm off to watch that. Music: 2004 Tour de France on OLN |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 02,July,2004 | As the tour is starting and Wimbledon is ending, I am leaving town. I will, hopefully, be watching at least the first two stages live. I'll definitely be writing more throughout the tour. Music: NPR - Morning Edition |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 04,August,2004 | Update on the David Millar story. According to urlLink Procycling , he hasn't been stripped of the world champion jersey -- yet. That's only something the UCI can do. Also, they printed the 'full statement from British Cycling,' which includes the following list of sanctions. * A two-year suspension from competition from 5 August 2004 until 4 August 2006 * A fine of 2,000 Swiss francs. * Disqualification from the 2003 World Elite Time Trial Championship * Disqualification from the 2003 Dauphine Libéré Stage Race * Disqualification from the 2001 Tour of Spain. And, 'David Millar has no right of appeal to British Cycling, but may appeal to the Court for Arbitration in Sport.' It's not just two years, it's two years plus a bunch of stuff. Music: Tennis on ESPN2 |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 03,August,2004 | Does David Millar deserve more than two years? Should he have been banned from cycling forever? Or maybe just for a few months? After all, Virenque lied and everyone knew he was lying, yet he was only banned for eight months. Millar's case, along with that of Cofidis, are perhaps the most high-profile in recent years. There was a fear that because Millar was so well-known and well-liked by other cyclists, he would be used to set an example. The British Cycling Federation, among others, obviously felt that two years would suffice. We will probably never know the exact details, but maybe they decided that his confession, along with the stripping of his world title and firing from Cofidis were punishment enough. Or maybe the subsequent interviews (see links below) where he finally told his story to the public, gave him a softer side. Two years is a long time. He'll miss (including this year) a total of three world championship races, three tours, three Vueltas, and the Olympics. But maybe his banning will have a positive effect. Even though it's two years, he can still change the way young riders think about doping. Because he is so well-known, people will listen to him. 'I made mistakes and am ready to learn. I'd like to explain the dangers to young riders.' ( urlLink bbc ) Then again, two years isn't so long. He's a fit rider, and just because he's not racing doesn't mean he can't ride his bike. If he's lucky, someone (perhaps even the team that offered him a contract already) will still be willing to take him. He'll train and show the world that he can come back. Two years from now, he'll be back racing. And then, perhaps four years from now, he'll be preparing for the Olympics again. Maybe what cycling needs is proof that punishment works. Millar's been fired from his team, had his title stripped, and lost his chance for gold. He's been to the bottom, he's there now. And he's telling the world what it's like. Maybe this time people will finally pay attention. > urlLink The wrong gear ( urlLink Guardian Unlimited ) > urlLink Millar's tale of woe is made all the sadder by his natural talent ( urlLink Guardian Unlimited ) Music: John Digweed - MMII (RaveTrax.com) |
2,140,894 | female | 26 | indUnk | Pisces | 03,August,2004 | I try hard to be objective. I try to keep my personal bias tucked away -- at least, I like to think I do. And then I find myself getting all worked up about one of my favorites (Sylvain Chavanel and his potential transfer to QSD, Phonak or Discovery) and wonder whatever happened to my desire to be unbiased. I get into an argument with a friend over why Sylvain shouldn't go to Discovery and then I start to wonder. Am I really thinking about why Sylvain shouldn't go or my own desire for him not to go? It's a distinction that I find hard to make sometimes. I have always, and will always, have favorites. Cyclists (golfers, tennis players, baseball players, football players -- American) that I like more than the rest. To me, they deserve better. They should win more races/stages; their teams should work for them and not the other way around. I don't necessarily realize that I'm feeling instead of actually coming up with anything intelligent to say. Probably the biggest example (aside from the Sylvain situation) relates to T-Mobile, back when they were Telekom. Quite soon after the '03 tour, Jan Ullrich announced he was going back to Telekom. I was incensed. How dare he invade Vino's team, take the captain duties from Zabel, and so on. It was only later that I formed other opinions, based on facts and not on emotions. I was pissed off because I like Alexandre Vinokourov and Erik Zabel, I didn’t want Ullrich ruining their tour chances. About a year later, I still believe that Ullrich shouldn't have returned to T-Mobile, but my reasons are different. He left his former team, Bianchi, in ruins. A lot of money was spent on Ullrich, yet he didn't give T-Mobile what they wanted -- a tour win or a second place on the podium. The team, as I'd predicted, was top heavy. Of course, neither Vino nor Zabel were the cause. The point, though, is that I am prone to think with my heart. I always look to see where my boys are placed and only after, who won the race. I'm trying to change, but it's harder than I expected. Why? Because I care. Not that other people who write about cycling don't care, it's just that the way I care is so much deeper than just a superficial love. There are some sports where it's okay for me to care deeply, because I have no need to be objective. Golf is probably the most obvious example. I adore certain golfers (Freddy Jacobson, Aaron Baddeley, and Bill Haas for example) and when they don't do well, I don't necessarily pay close attention to the rest of the tournaments. But with cycling, I cannot afford that luxury. If I want to write about cycling, I need to be objective. I need to see beyond my favorites. I need to be able to separate myself from the people and concentrate on the sport. Unless someone knows how I can incorporate my bias into my writing and make it work for me. Until then, I'll fume to myself about my specific trade rumors and transfers. There are, after all, other riders besides Sylvain Chavanel. Music: Niklas Harding pres. NH Sessions Live (Trancesphere Radio) |
3,884,781 | male | 16 | Student | Cancer | 21,July,2004 | The soft metallic thump of the door latch echoed across the room each time the door swung into its frame: the only visible sign of a ghostly draft. The constant gentle hum of the computer permeated the air and was punctuated by the occasional burst of chattering keys on a keyboard. The stream of a bird’s song from outside, muffled but still clean and clear, filtered through an open window. |
3,884,781 | male | 16 | Student | Cancer | 13,July,2004 | urlLink An old pic of my sisters and I at Charmouth beach in Dorest, taken in February, (I'm on the left!) urlLink |
3,884,781 | male | 16 | Student | Cancer | 12,July,2004 | urlLink Me dressed up all posh for my Prom urlLink |
3,884,781 | male | 16 | Student | Cancer | 12,July,2004 | Sometimes we can take a step back from our lives and realise that we are only really very small and what we individually do has very little affect on the rest of the universe. Whilst this can help us to put our own troubles and worries into context, it can also make us feel useless and without purpose. However we should all remember it is a matter of scale. The most important people in our lives, our family, friends and others, have a huge impact on our lives; sometimes we cannot imagine life without them. This is what we are like to them. We as individuals have a lot of power to make all the people we know happy and to positively assist them in their lives. So therefore each of our groups of family, friends and peers can be heavily affected by what we do, and when in some situations we can seem to be so small and useless, in others we have the potential to do great things. I believe that every action we take has an affect on the rest of the world, be it very small or diminished. The small things we do in our lives to benefit other people, no matter what our motives are, all contribute to making the world a better place, even when we cannot see it. |
3,884,781 | male | 16 | Student | Cancer | 10,July,2004 | Hello and welcome to my first post. This, i promise, will not be terribly interesting, as the only real purpose of this post is to write some utter crap to start the ball rolling, and to test to see if this thing works. let us start with one thing that really annoys me: people who make a habit of eating a Kitkat, without breaking it in half first. Why? The Kitkat is clearly designed to be broken into individual pieces to aide the ease of consumption. What is the psychology behind this confusing habit? Leaving the Kitkat as a whole and attemping to eat it all at once is an arrogant gesture, a sign that you feel you are superior to other Kitkat eaters, and therefore do not need to break it in half in some pandering to convention. But this convention makes sense! Who wants to see some idiot attempt to stuff a whole Kitkat in his mouth and get half the chocolate arround his mouth instead of in it, just because it looks clever? Or it could be that you just couldn't be bothered, which frankly is even worse. I have nothing to say to you accept BURN SOME OF THOSE CALORIES, BREAK IT IN HALF! Having said all this, it could just be an attempt to 'mark yourself out of the crowd' which is just sad, GET A LIFE! |
3,884,781 | male | 16 | Student | Cancer | 06,August,2004 | The camping adventure park we eventually ended up going to, was the aptly named 'River Dart Adventure Park' on the outskirts of Dartmoor. It was one of those places, like Disneyland and the like, that has an atmosphere of enforced happiness. 'We're on holiday! Of course we're happy!' The trouble is that I seem to have an intolerance of these places - for me they have exactly the reverse affect, they just make me miserable. I seem to be the only one left out from whatever magic is in the air, and all I can see is the cynical capitalism driving it all. So needless to say I didn't find it very much fun. However the weather this time was good. Too good. It was sweltering hot and even taking a sip out of my 70p (rip off!) chilled cola can was exhausting. Everyone in the campsite wandered about like sleepy sloths whilst the sun slapped down upon our burnt backsides. I took a dip in the tiny swimming pool to cool down. A few minutes later my eyes were burning like hell and my hair had the texture of straw, plus, when it had dried my beautiful blond highlights had gone green. I got out when some kid loudly declared he was going to 'warm' his wetsuit. In other words he pissed in it. For the rest of the holiday I sheltered in my tent, reading the paper and strumming some chords on my guitar from time to time. I successfully avoided having a 'fun' game of badminton or for that matter doing any physical activity whatsoever, apart from swatting the odd wasp. When it eventually came to the last day I was so ecstatic that I somehow managed to break the indicator light on my dad's new car. He was furious. The journey home was just one long let's bollock James fest. All my faults were carefully explored and put down in the end to me being a complete idiot. So let this be a warning to you - don't go camping, it'll always end in tears! |
3,884,781 | male | 16 | Student | Cancer | 02,August,2004 | I have just arrived home after what can only be described as my worst camping experience to date, (and I thought the last time was bad). Yes, last Thursday I happily jumped into the car at the prospect of getting away from Yeovil for a few days, but all too easily forgot my last encounter with camping. About a year ago my Dad decided it would be jolly nice if we all went for a lovely 'low effort' camping holiday to Tintagal (a small town in Cornwall where King Arthur was supposedly born) as an answer to the cries of 'Why can't we go on holiday' and 'I'm bored' that issued endlessly from my sisters. Big mistake. Within hours we had discovered that our pitch literally teetered over the edge of a cliff that plunged to an inviting (yes it was that bad) rocky outcrop and the sea. Inevitably the tent took ages to put up, my labeling system was obviously not as clear as I had thought, and then it started raining. Soon we were rolling into town through thick sleet and fog having given up on the tent, trying to find a cozy pub, or similar, to eat at. My Dad eventually gave up trying to find anything cozy, he commented that half the town seemed to have disappeared since he had been there last - probably swept into the sea. So in the end the chip shop it was. That night my Dad developed food poisoning, and a bad back from holding the tent up to stop it blowing away. His insufferable optimism took a knock too. You can imagine the rest. Well this time my Dad said it would be better. Well for him it would be - his girlfriend plus family were going to come too. He also decided that was would go to one of those 'adventure park' themed sites, 'Lots for the kids to do, it'll be fun!' Well unfortunately, I don't know about you, but capsizing in the middle of a filthy, freezing artificial lake with no hot showers in the immediate vicinity and with a bank of people jeering and shouting at you, does not constitute fun. Catch the rest of my shocking tale, in the next episode of, 'My Campsite Hell: How Camping Nearly Killed Me!' |
4,262,748 | female | 23 | indUnk | Leo | 20,August,2004 | Hi everyone Well, Luke, you've guilt tripped me into updating you, and everyone else, as to what's going on in my life right now. Where to start? I guess chronologically... This sunday will mark two weeks since I bought a laptop. I've been wanting one for a long time, and I got a sweet deal on a Toshiba A65-S126 package. I got the laptop, a 'free' Lexmark Z715 printer, a 'free' laptop carry bag and a 'free' 256 MB RAM upgrade in the deal. The following monday, I came to work and jinxed myself. I said to my coworker: 'Watch, now that I spent a good chunk of money on a laptop, something's going to happen to my car...the engine's going to blow, or something, I just know it.' -- I'm not joking, I said this. Now, on to my car, or should I say my old car. It got crunched on friday the 13th arond 8:30pm by a 2002 Ford Pick-up. I'll try to upload a pic below (when I get home from work) for those who haven't seen one yet. It's been declared a total loss. They estimated about 4000 in damages...Mel and I were/are ok. Just some sore necks and backs for a few days. We were driving on a road about to make a left hand turn. Two lane road, no traffic lights, no oncoming traffic, no stop sign, 55 mph speed limit, double yellow line down the middle. Mel slows to make the left hand turn, the car behind slows down with us, the pick up behind the car was lighting his cigarette. He looked up, realized he was going to rear-end the car in between us, and jerked his truck into the oncoming traffic lane. Well, we were still in the process of turning. He crunched the driver's side, back quarter panel, from the tire to a few inches beside the license plate on the back, and spun us around into the grass. We had no idea what happened...anyways, the picture should help with my explanation. As far as I know, he ended up with a cracked grill. Maybe a dent or two on his bumper, I didn't look at his truck after the accident. Anyone know anyone who's selling a 98 or 99 eclipse GST or GSX? :) And the third bit of news I have is that I am being flown to Raleigh, North Carolina for a job interview this coming Wednesday. I fly out of rochester at 6am, and return to rochester at 10pm the same day. The company is Aeroglide Corporation. The job is for an Electrical Engineer, designing and drafting electrical control panels for their systems, as well as programming PLCs (programmable logic controllers) and some other minor EE things. I'm excited, I hope it goes well. I think I'm the favourite for the job - that's what the recruiter tells me at least. I'll keep you all updated. (This blog beats sending numerous emails!) Well, time to get back to pretending to work... Jon |
4,262,748 | female | 23 | indUnk | Leo | 19,August,2004 | Hey everyone, I am off to the arctic again. I will be leaving Kingston at 0500 on Saturday August 21st, and returning on the 4th of September. This time I am going to a site called FOX Main, which is located at Hall Beach. In the map below you can see Hall Beach directly below the second U in the word Nunavut. I will try to keep in contact and let you guys know how I am doing. Apparently there is a pool table and a sauna and a workout room, so I will try to work on my hand eye coordination and get buff in the short time that I will be there. I may need that workout room, because from everything everyone is telling me, the food there is amazing and fattening, so I could be in trouble. Oh well, I hope everyone is doing well. Talk to you all again soon |
4,262,748 | female | 23 | indUnk | Leo | 18,August,2004 | Look at me, I'm bloggin now....yup that's me, bloggin in barrie, i'm a barrie blog bloggin blog blog...in barrie..................blog. |
4,262,748 | female | 23 | indUnk | Leo | 13,August,2004 | well, here is the first posting. I kept seeing things on the internet about blogs and not having a clue what they were so I looked into it. This one is through google, so it should be quality. Anyway, it is a place that you can write thoughts, share information, links, pictures, anything. I figured it would be cool to set this up for anyone and everyone that has lived at/stayed at 515 Johnson, as well as family, friends, significant others, et cetera to keep in contact and keep up to date and to share information and pictures, and links and all the rest of it. |
4,262,748 | female | 23 | indUnk | Leo | 13,August,2004 | Courtney is saying 'duh' right now, but I didn't know where this word came from. To make a long story short: say 'Web log' out loud. There you go, blog became a word. |
4,262,748 | female | 23 | indUnk | Leo | 13,August,2004 | urlLink Olympics - CBC.ca - Athens 2004 Let's all keep up to date with how Canada is doing at the Olympics |
3,958,372 | female | 33 | Communications-Media | Virgo | 24,July,2004 | When I think about this Air Supply song, I don't know what to surmise. Have I lost in love or am I lost in love? I would like to think both. I kind of feel both today. I'm someone who likes to live for the day. Do I want love to be suffering, as someone said to me today - love is suffering! No way, I want to live every day happily in love. But is it humanely possible when you are constantly pursued by lonliness. Life is a constant fight against loneliness, despair, negativisim especially when you are living in a small country like Singapore, far away from your own country, far away from the dynamism of Mumbai city, your own folks and your friends. Out there, when your love lets you down, at least you have your family and friends to fall back on. Here there's constant despair, and an urge to escape from this island of loveless life. Today is my wedding anniversary, one of the most dull and boring days of my life, hubby just gave his courtsy call to wish me in the morning from distant America, without any display of love or emotion. He expects me to feel on top of the world with that. I'm human after all, so how do you expect me to react? It felt like the longest day of my life, I surfed the net, read the news, tried to sleep in the afternoon, couldn't sleep plagued by persistent negative thinking, popped an anti-depression pill to deaden the anxiety in my brains, slept finally, still many hours to kill, went to the gym and exercised for an hour, came back, ordered a Pizza, had a shower, and then made myself a strong drink which I had with the Pizza, still a lot of time to go. I'll probably read a book putting on my radio softly, hopefully sleep would invade my senses and make me happy and reposeful. Tomorrow is another day, hopefully it'll begin and end happily. |
3,958,372 | female | 33 | Communications-Media | Virgo | 20,July,2004 | Gloomy weather in Singapore. Strangely it's a feeling-less day. Don't feel towards anything strongly. Early in the morning I got a rejection letter from the newspaper that I had applied for a reporter's job. That is, after doing considerably well in the written test. Well that's my destiny I guess. We Indians are pretty good at passing off our failures to destiny. It's time to seriously rethink what I want to do with my life. Be a writer! I think I can pass off reasonably well writing erotic novels and letters. I guess am pretty good at it because I write erotic letters everyday to my sweetheart. I have no qualms or inhibitions about describing every little intimate detail of lovemaking, our fantasies, being far apart from each other. Every morning I log on to write a letter to him. Today it took me a while to get over the rejection letter and write him a long loving email, as if things were normal. Well in the midst of despair, love is our only hope I guess. You have each others love to fall back on. Love can be life's greatest support. No more PMS blues, life is calm and tranquil again. Time to go and exercise in the gym. Need to get rid of all the bad energies. I want to be a loving, hopeful and optimistic person and pass all the positive energies to my loved ones. |
3,958,372 | female | 33 | Communications-Media | Virgo | 18,July,2004 | I had a terrible start to the day. No one loves me, life on earth is full of sufferings!! Well am on a total pms mode today. I see bleakness everywhere. This is my perception of life life today. Who knows, things might change tomorrow, in this world of constant mood swings. I had a bad start to the day. Hubby calls me from America to voice his discontent over an email I sent him last night- a one liner of course 'Are there no phone services in America?' He hadn't called us for a quite a while. Well I guess it was enough to elicit an immediate respone - an sms and a phone call in the wee hours of the morning. Of course he expects me to write nice loving emails to him everyday but he doesn't bother to do the same for me. But what did I really gain from it??? Nothing, but pain. So from today, I've decided not to be emotionally dependent on T. I'm not going to be bothered whether he writes to me or phones me or sms' me. I'm going to build an invisible wall where no man can penetrate and hurt me. That's one thing. One incident sparks off the other. I had called up my distant sweetheart hoping to hear some kind reassuring words and hoping to feel loved and wanted but only met up with his stony silence. Never show your vulnerability to someone who is in awe of you because half the time he might wonder who you really are!! Alas! I'm beginning to believe in that almost hackneyed cliched saying, 'when you laugh, you laugh with the world but when you cry, you cry alone.' I guess that's true. Believe me, you are better off not communicating your grief to anyone. It's better to drown your sorrows in alcohol, a book, a nice movie or music. At least they wouldn't let you down. Unleash your grief and disappointments in your diary and when things start looking up, start day dreaming. What would I do if I have some money? First of all, buy a Sony PD 170 camera, then buy a the latest Nikon SLR Digital camera, buy the most sophisticated laptop with video eidting package and then weave around an enchanting world of my own, just live for myself and my little beautiful daughter. Some amount of materialism is not bad I guess. It keeps you going in life. So who says, you need a hubby or a lover to be happy! Happiness is within yourself, it's important to love oneself first!! |
3,958,372 | female | 33 | Communications-Media | Virgo | 17,July,2004 | I'm an incurable romantic, I can't live without love and the thrilling adventure of romance. I want to be in love forever because it makes life so exciting. Imagine life without love, it's like a desert, or rather love is like the oasis in the desert of life, the constant tribulations that you come across. From now onwards am going to write down my random thoughts on love and what it can do to one's life, especially my own life. I will write in all honestly all the intimate details of my experiences, my feelings and observations. |
3,958,372 | female | 33 | Communications-Media | Virgo | 16,August,2004 | Love is often subjected to one's terrible ego. What is love I ask? Is it pain and suffering or is it inflicting pain and suffering upon your loved ones because of one's ego? I'm terribly confused. I love my husband very much. I often feel insecure about him and in a rage I end up doing all the wrong things, in my fits of jealousy and possessiveness. I want to be the centre of his universe and want to be the most important person in his life. But when you are married for several years, things change. You are expected to mellow down and become mature, have less expectations from your partner and give him space. I haven't been doing that. I don't think it's impossible to change. Can I resurrect my marriage? I think it's worth giving it a try. It's never to late to realize one's mistake and try to mend things. I regret all my silly mistakes and seriously want to undo all of them. Is there a way out? |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 27,May,2004 | Hey, have you tried Sal's pizza? The place is owned by the same people that run the Wig & Pen, they even have a lot of the same menu items. I'm tellin ya they make the best pie in town. I highly recommend it. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 21,May,2004 | Look ma, it's the urlLink Church Sign Generator . |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 20,May,2004 | So fuck, you live your life trying to be a nice guy with a reputation for giving head to bisexual chicks, no problems except for the usual shit. So a few nights ago I was home watching 'Deliverance' with my room-mate - no queer jokes please, I get enough of those from urlLink cootersnap . And hey, it was on, it wasn't like we went to the effort to put in a tape. Anyway, Ned's big scene was coming up in maybe 10 or 15 minutes, I forget which, I hadn't watched it for the past couple of months. Anyway, I had just eaten a big hamburger pizza (don't forget the pig is a filthy animal) and the pressure in my lower regions was calling to be relieved. So I thought I'd hit the can, do my business, and get back with a few minutes to spare for Ned's career-defining role. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case. As soon as I sat down on the throne I knew something was amiss. However, out of deference to some of my fairer readers, I will not go into the graphics of the ensuing mishap that, suffice it to say, felt like my entrails were being ripped out in a staccato fashion. This went on for what seemed like hours, but really only lasted until the next commercial break during 'Deliverance'. Yes, I missed Ned's stellar performance, but certainly put on one of my own. Did I squeal like a pig? What are you, some kind of sick fuck? Pigs are unclean... I already told you. I'd like to think I bellowed more like a bull in heat. Up! I gotta call. Seems like Mrs. Schuber needs a ride to Hy-Vee for her afternoon coffee clatch. Man, these afternoon hacking shifts are boring as fuck. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 31,July,2004 | 1. People who roll their eyes when you ask them where to find something. Does your minimum wage ass have something better to do right now other than your job? Beatdown. 2. Clerks who yap their traps on the phone the entire time they are ringing up my shit, never even bothering to make eye contact with me. Beatdown. 3. Customers who insist the grapes are $1.76 per lb., not $1.79, requiring the rest of us to wait while management scurries off to check the sign and inform said customer 10 minutes later that she is wrong. Beatdown. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 30,July,2004 | Second-time moms who claim they don't want another baby shower because it wouldn't be appropriate, then change their minds and invite SO MANY people that they end up having TWO showers for the second kids. Grrrr..... (Off to host the final shower; see y'all tonight) |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 30,July,2004 | Yo Mama. And yo Mama's Mama. And yo Mama's Mama's mama. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 30,July,2004 | Acquisitions which are referred to as Mergers. Big Beatdown with an 10K report, you bastards! |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | 1) If you used to smoke, quit, and then make smoker's lives hell: beatdown. 2) If you're still taking about Seinfeld like it is the hotest thing since slice bread, bam! Actually, scratch that, if you ever did, beatdown. 3) If you get laid more than me and you brag about it constantly, beatdown. 4) If you can't laugh at yourself, beatdown. 5) If you think John Edwards made an original statement with 'You cannot run, you cannot hide. We will destroy you.' Beatdown. 6) Fan of Michael Moore? 5 ton beatdown. 7) If you pull out and cut me off just to drive 20 mph below the speed limit, run over, beatdown, and a round with a fungo bat. 8) Allow your 13 year old daughter to dress like a whore and wonder why grown men stare at her? Beatdown. 9) Think Rush Limbaugh and Reverend Al Sharpton are accurate truthsayers for the right and left wing respectively? Beatdown. 10) Snore so I stay awake? Beatdown. Joke 'em if they can't take a fuck. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | People who order the #1 at MickieD's with a diet Coke. Beatdown with a clogged artery. People who let their crusty children pick their noses in restaurants. Beatdown with a barf bag. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | People who drive slowly in the left lane because they're going to make a turn 5 MILES AHEAD! Get into the right lane asshole! I'll let you back over when it's time for your turn! Beatdown! |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | People who don't turn their signals on until half way through their turn. Big beatdown, with my working turn signal. And along those same lines, people who leave their signals on after they've changed lanes. Mini beatdown, with a wet noodle. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | Phoney people deserve a beatdown!!! |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | People who turn their blinkers on then drive past six businesses before finally turning into one. Beatdown. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | Like most other Macktastical animals, pups are not morning creatures (except at 6am when we HAVE to go pee, but then straight back to bed). For those that feel the need to be EXTRA cheery and talkative in the morning hoping to get me to join you in your freaky morning cheery-fest. Beatdown with my bearclaw. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | People who don't leave messages on my answering machine then get snippy with me when I don't call them back. How the hell am I supposed to know you called? Beatdown with a twisted phone cord. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | If so, I deserve one, for going 0 for 4 in my team's 5-3 loss tonight. We were beat down. Damn. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | People spouting their political agendas in places that are supposed to be safe/free/fun zones. BEATDOWN! |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | People waiting for the elevator who charge right after the doors open, body slamming you as you're trying to get out! Hey asshole, this is my floor! You're supposed to let people out first!!! Beatdown! |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | Simple: People who can't shut the fuck up and thus make what should be a 10 minute meeting take an hour and a half, discussing such things as which hotel rewards programs are better than others, so I can't get my own work done, and will now be here until midnight (after leaving to play softball and coming back). They, and our opponents tonight, get a beatdown. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | People who don’t watch their children & let them run willy-nilly - beatdown! People who build toilet stalls so small one must straddle toilet to open the door - beatdown! People who don’t flush - beatdown! People who ride those stupid little mini motorcycles - beatdown! People who don’t answer e-mails but send you all kinds of joke/story crap - beatdown! |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | 1. Grasshopper lovers? Beatdown. 2. People who visit and have no qualms about strolling around my apartment while brushing their teeth **shudder**. Big-ass beatdown. 3. People who come into the bar and immediately ask what the drink specials are... BEATdown. 4. Sales clerks at Von Maur who follow you around when you're dressed in your gardening clothes but wanted to stop and look for a dress for a semi-formal occasion the next week before getting dirty and then point you to the sales racks to look at leftover mumus because your overalls used to belong to an old, incredibly obese farmer named Harlan who was four feet tall and they think if they take their eyes off you you're going to shove the over-priced $400 dress inside said overalls. I'm still beating that bitch down. Down, girl!! 5. My ex-boyfriend, Twit, and his new girlfriend, Twat. Much beating. With big sticks. 6. The people who program the stoplights incorrectly so my poor car has to lurch to work because of a three second delay. Beatdown. I could think of so many more... but alas, I must work. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | 1) If you smoke later in the evening and complain about the smell in the morning, you get a beatdown. 2) If you think it was a smart move for Mr. Kerry to let his wife speak at the DNC and open her up to political attack, you deserve a beatdown. 3) If you judge a way of thinking without reading it, beatdown. (I'm reading it to see what the psychosis is about) 4) If you blame the weather for making your hair friz, and not the wild romp in bed you got the night before, you deserve a beatdown. 5) If you're female and don't vote on my poll on my site, you deserve a beatdown. 6) Democrat? Beatdown. Courtesy of urlLink Johnny5 |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,July,2004 | 1. If you smoke in the morning and then sit next to me on the bus so that I get to smell a wet ashtray all the way to work, you deserve a beatdown. 2. If you say that Teresa Heinz-Kerry is too mouthy and opinionated and you conveniently ignore the glaring double standard between men and women in the public eye, you deserve a beatdown. 3. Scientologist? Beatdown. 4. The weather is so muggy that my towel has not dried out for two days. Beatdown. 5. Ann Coulter, you deserve the biggest beatdown of all for being such a twat that you would attack Max Cleland and belittle his patriotism and his war wounds. The guy lost three limbs in heavy combat during the Vietnam War and you accuse of him of lying about how it happened? What kind of fucking insect are you? I'm sorry, I do a disservice to insects everywhere by associating you with them. You are a goddamned turd and I hope you choke on your tongue. Courtesy of urlLink Sloth |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 06,August,2004 | I know this is a free service, and perhaps I'm a selfish, ungrateful bitch for looking a gift service in the mouth...but sometimes Blogger deserves a beatdown! And I think we all know why. Like right now, when I am unable to create a new paragraph. For that, Blogger, you get a beatdown with a wireless mouse. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 05,August,2004 | Women who write Dear John letters to Our soldiers in Iraq definately deserve a vadergrrrl style beatdown. RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Check out urlLink Doc in the Box's last post for more information. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 05,August,2004 | If you call me at all hours and wake me up to whine yet again that you're a loser magnet, and then get defensive and angry at me when I call them dumbasses, beatdown with a dog-eared copy of the Feminine Mystique. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 05,August,2004 | To men who invite you someplace, pay for dinner, talk about sex for hours, then don't even try to kiss you. Was it a date? Was it not? And when did I lose it? Beatdown with a precious moments figurine! |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 05,August,2004 | To people who join homeschooling groups, make the group all about them, their children's needs and their own agenda and then NEVER show up again. Phone calls are answered sweetly, plans are made, but nothing ever comes of any of it. I'm sick to death of you people. I have a busy life, I do not need to be picking up the shit you left behind in your wake and now you've made it impossible for me to start my own homeschooling group here in our teeny tiny town. Beatdown with my unused school supplies. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 04,August,2004 | People who invite you to lunch but expect you to pick up the bill should be beaten with an American Express billboard. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 04,August,2004 | Mangers who are annoyingly paranoid about launching my new product because he/she doesn’t think I have thought of every single last contingency and continues to insiste on delays. Yes, I’ve got all the normal contingencies in place (technical, non-technical). No, I don’t have a contingency in place in case an 8-foot half-man half-Godzilla creature decides the product is too small for him/her to use. You paranoid pessimistic bitch. Beatdown with my left shoe. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 04,August,2004 | Drunk grrrls who act a fool and say (type) stupid things...... definately deserve a beatdown. 'I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.' 'I may be drunk but at least I'm not insane.' 'I don't have a drinking problem 'Cept when I can't get a drink.' 'There ain't no devil, there's just god when he's drunk' 'Well, the first rule is not to try to drink with him. (When asked about what it was like to write with Keith Richards).' 'Pour me a cab, I just can't drink no more.' 'The piano has been drinking, not me.' 'Oh yeah, I remember my first beer.' (to a waitress dropping a tray of drinks) 'the drinks are free and everything...but they hit you up at the door on the way out...' 'I thought I heard a saxophone, I'm drunk on the moon' 'I've got a bottle for a trumpet, a hatbox for a drum...' 'I sold a quart of blood and bought a half a pint of scotch' 'And I'm standing on the corner of Fifth and Vermouth...using parking meters as walking sticks.' -Tom Waits |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 03,August,2004 | People who use words and phrases like 'pipet' and 'assay system' as if they are common knowledge to the non-geeks. Beatdown. ;) |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 03,August,2004 | Beatdowns for me and my boss, for not realizing until waaay too late that the assay system I was putting in my yeast strains WILL NOT WORK!!!! Beatdown with a pipet! |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 03,August,2004 | Beatdown for the person who assigned me 60 invitations to address, thus leaving me with a blah tasting tongue from all the envelope licking. Yuck. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 03,August,2004 | How dare you send our loved ones in harms way. Their lives are worth more than your stinkin oil war. for that, George W. you deserve one big ass smack down. i hate you right now |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | People who are blatant about bringing back a silk nightgown in a beaten up gift box. With no receipt. 5 years later. With a 3-inch tear in the seam where the security tag usually is. And say that it was a gift and that she received with the rip. Best of all is how she expects to be given $68 in cash after all that. Nuh-uh. Beatdown with a gift box. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | If you have a job as technical support and somebody is having a problem, then make yourself fucking useful! If you don't know the answer, then say 'I don't know the answer'. Stop shuffling me around from one technical non-support idiot to another. Find me someone who knows what the hell they are talking about! If you can't find anyone, at least try to charm me... tell me a fucking dirty joke, good gossip... anything... just make the hour and a half I wasted on the phone with you worth while. MORON |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Anyone who doesnt agree with me 100% of the time.... deserves a Mr. T style BEATDOWN! xxxooooooo |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Anyone that drives a garbage truck through a neighborhood before 5 a.m. should be beaten with a steel garbage can lid until they puke up trash. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | If I was Amish, why would I even be on TV? If you continually produce tv shows full of mindless dribble, or are entertained by the majority of the crap that's on network tv... reality beatdown. Also you all now get a collective beatdown... consider yourself beatendown. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | People who go into a stall and wait for the first person to walk in to ask, 'Hey, buddy, can you pass some paper under to me?' HELL no, you nasty bastard. Pinch it off explain it to your wife later when she does the laundry. Beatdown with the Charmin. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 01,August,2004 | People who miss work and sleep..... all day...... definately deserve a beatdown. (or a spankin) xxxooooooooooo |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 01,August,2004 | People who complain about people not leaving comments on their site, yet haven't posted anything new for 5 days - BEATDOWN! :) |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 01,August,2004 | People that visit my blog but don't leave a comment deserve a beatdown with a mouse. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 01,August,2004 | The Sandman. That fucker rarily comes to visit, and when he does, he leaves quickly like I'm a $2 ho. Beatdown with your empty sandbags, soaking wet and with vivacity. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 01,August,2004 | Cool people who drive by and flash 7x7 signs, in huge bold red letters, that say 'HI!' They deserve forgiveness for at least 2 earned beatdowns. Very cool. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 01,August,2004 | Best Buy at 23rd and 6th. For not letting me in at 6:51 tonight. Why? 'We close at 7.' I guarantee I could have found what I needed and been at the register in under 9 minutes. Beatdown with every DVD copy of 'Just Married' left on your shelves. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 01,August,2004 | If you miss something in a conversation and apologize with ' Sorry, had a blonde moment', Beatdown with a bottle of peroxide. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 01,August,2004 | People who work in bagel places/delis and do not understand the meaning of 'a little bit of cream cheese.' It's great that you're being generous and giving, but no human being could eat that much cream cheese and live. Least of all one who's pretty sure he's lactose intolerant. Beatdown with a 5 lb. block of Philadelphia. |
3,305,901 | female | 38 | indUnk | Virgo | 01,August,2004 | 1. Customers who ask you a question about what they want to buy and then answer their CELL PHONE in the middle of your answer. 2. Women who come into your store and say, 'I'd like to try on everything you have in size 12. I'll meet you in the dressing room.' 3. People who return clothing that they have clearly worn to an event. It smells like sweat, the tag is taped to the inside of the sleeve and they are soulless asshats. 4. People who don't understand that hitting on a person who has NO OTHER CHOICE than to be nice to you is abominable. Don't you get it? You can be a complete pig, but if I'm on commission I still have to kiss your ass. And even if I'm not, I still have to be polite or risk getting fired. You all deserve a beatdown with overpriced leather luggage and power suits still on the hanger!! |
1,138,306 | female | 17 | indUnk | Gemini | 23,June,2004 | Beauty queen of only eighteen She had some trouble with herself He was always there to help her She always belonged to someone else I drove for miles and miles And wound up at your door I've had you so many times but somehow I want more I don't mind spending everyday Out on your corner in the pouring rain Look for the girl with the broken smile Ask her if she wants to stay awhile And she will be loved She will be loved Tap on my window knock on my door I want to make you feel beautiful I know I tend to get so insecure It doesn't matter anymore It's not always rainbows and butterflies It's compromise that moves us along My heart is full and my door's always open You can come anytime you want I don't mind spending everyday Out on your corner in the pouring rain Look for the girl with the broken smile Ask her if she wants to stay awhile And she will be loved She will be loved I know where you hide Alone in your car Know all of the things that make you who you are I know that goodbye means nothing at all Comes back and begs me to catch her every time she falls Tap on my window knock on my door I want to make you feel beautiful I don't mind spending everyday Out on your corner in the pouring rain Look for the girl with the broken smile Ask her if she wants to stay awhile And she will be loved And she will be loved And she will be loved And she will be loved [in the backround] Please don't try so hard to say goobye Please don't try so hard to say goobye Yeah [softly] I don't mind spending everyday Out on your corner in the pouring rain Try so hard to say goobye |
1,138,306 | female | 17 | indUnk | Gemini | 21,June,2004 | Tell me where i’m Supposed to begin An unhappy life working Some kind of dead end job For everything you thought you had Has gone from worse to bad Lean to the side Whisper it quiet The end is in sight to working All night around the clock For everything you thought you had Has gone from worse to bad But it’s not my kind of scene oh yeah Footprints on the other side Remind me where I’ve been oh yeah I’ll watch from the other side Tell me where i’m Supposed to begin Move out of sight and onto Some life I’m dreaming of For everything you thought you had Has gone from worse to bad So I’ll just wait and watch the wheels While you’re turning back But it’s not my kind of scene oh yeah Footprints on the other side Remind me where I’ve been oh yeah I’ll watch from the other side Pulls me over and it drags me under Pulls me over and it drags me under Alright now alright now |
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