Toast for brekkie

Come On Eileen

Posted on July 31st, 2005 by George.
Categories: Uncategorized.

It’s one of those steamy summer nights, the kind that inspire movies like Palmetto and Body Heat. The kind that Jimmy Buffett would draw on when rhyming clammy with Miami. It’s a night to end the dry spell and quicken the pulse with the flashbangs of 1.21 gigawatts, the crackling thunder rolling by overhead as if Sisyphus finally let loose his eternal reward.

The rain blew in just as the clubs were closing down; a quick sprint to the car kept me dry. I sat back and thought of all the reasons I’d rather have walked there nonchalantly. Not that my shirt wasn’t already soaked from dancing; but it would have been nice to take advantage of the hot, sexy rain. Alas. No use wishing.

It’s the kind of night that jolts the fingers to life, rumbles the walls and rattles around the thoughts clanking about up in the attic. I can’t say much about the last two weeks without spilling it all. I’m still dizzy after stepping off the ride.

You could say it was like a roller coaster, going from the highest high of Discovery’s Return to Flight to the lowest low of discovering we still have a foam problem. Though that will soon be fixed, mind you.

You might liken in to a merry-go-round, spinning and spinning with no signs of stopping. Delara was in town for a week (yay!) so as the workday ended the party began. Between snorkeling, yoga, biking, camping, two rock concerts and a handful of movies we fit a month’s worth of adventure into 7 short days. Of course, we are specialists.

I’m more inclined to borrow Abs‘ ferris wheel metaphor; even as you’re riding up, someone else is going down. It all happens simultaneously, the highs and the lows, the ebb and the flow, in a great big circle spiraling through space. That might be why you’re likely, regardless of the circumstance, to find a grin on my face. Ha! Take that, Jimmy!

Incidentally, spiraling through space is exactly what Commander Collins and her crew are doing at this very moment. By now all the tiles are thoroughly inspected and ready for reentry, the crew marching busily along with their myriad tasks. If anyone can put on a determined grin, shoot straight and bring that bird home safely it’s her. And when those seven step out onto the ground, then…then, my friend, is when the party begins. And I’ll be there. Grinning.

9 comments.

Deliverance

Posted on July 13th, 2005 by george.
Categories: Uncategorized.

I can remember spending hours in college reading Jack London, camping in the Smokies, rock climbing, and generally considering myself an outdoorsman. I read about Christopher McCandless with fascination and remember being riveted by the coverage of Aron Ralston. Like most members of our endlessly insulated society, I love to read of stories of survival. From the comfort of your easy chair, it’s easy to critique the mistakes, carelessness, or hubris of those that find themselves fighting for life. I used to fantasize about my own will to live; I speculated that my tenacity and wit could get me through Armageddon. It took but one weekend to show me that I’m more of a city slicker than I ever imagined.

I’m not one to sit around and wait. If I make plans and no one wants to go, hey, that’s fine. So three weekends ago I threw together a tent and whatever I could dig up in the kitchen and decided to kiss civilization goodbye. I was getting back to nature, by God. Let all those softies sit on the couch and rot.

I had learned enough from those survival stories to know that one should share their itinerary when venturing out alone, so I called Grandma June since my parents were out of the country. We chatted for a while and she wrote down all the major points of the trip: Ocala National Forest, Alexander Springs, Paisley Woods bike trail. Ok, got it? Good. Love ya, grandma!

(more…)

10 comments.

Climb Dance

Posted on July 10th, 2005 by George.
Categories: Uncategorized.

In an effort to explain why I’m so obsessed with auto racing, I offer perhaps the most compelling rally footage ever captured: an award-winning short film documenting Ari Vatanen’s record-breaking run at the 1988 annual Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado.

It is a dangerous sprint of 12.4 miles to a 14,110-foot peak, a test of intelligence, awareness, and courage. It is straightaways at 130 mph plus and 156 gravel turns where comet tails of granite dust rise and fall to earth. It is cliffs of 2,000 feet with no guardrails. It is nirvana.

3 comments.

San Fermin

Posted on July 7th, 2005 by George.
Categories: Uncategorized.

I can remember hearing that we experience time in a linear fashion to keep everything from happening all at once. Today…well, today I realized everything happens at the same time anyway.

Yesterday I wore myself out in the 90-degree sun playing volleyball for four hours after work. By the time I got home I realized the water I’d been drinking at the beach was not enough. I was desperately dehydrated and dizzy. I scraped together the only thing I could find to eat, a couple fried eggs on a tortilla. Note to self: eggs are not for queasy stomachs. No matter how much water I drank last night I couldn’t sleep. I awoke every couple of hours to drink more then stumbled back into bed. Surely, I told myself, tomorrow will be better.

No such luck. The alarm radio went off bright and early with the news that London had just suffered a terrorist attack. The weight on my chest nearly kept me in bed. I trudged into work and kept my head down most of the day, forgoing engineering work for data entry and from time to time taking part in a somber discussion of the news from England.

I left work early to prepare for my dinner plans tonight. I was getting together with 20 or so friends at one of my favorite Thai joints. As people started to arrive my thoughts turned from London to the party. I realize now that I even forgot to ask for a moment of silence.

Leave it to the Beatles to sum up my point: life goes on. Always. I feel the loss of those in London, but I remind myself that people on this planet die every second. And we get new souls at an ever faster rate. It’s tragic. It’s beautiful. But it doesn’t stop. I’ve wrestled with it, I’ve prayed about it, but in the end no matter what I do life continues. So I’m forced into the conclusion that even as I acknowledge and mourn the loss of my fellow humans, I simultaneously rejoice and celebrate in all the beauty of life.

The bulls still ran today. The Tour de France continued. I still celebrated my birthday. And when I die, every one and everything will continue on, unabated.

I would have it no other way.

4 comments.

Independence Day

Posted on July 4th, 2005 by George.
Categories: Uncategorized.

Boy, you know you’ve been away for a while when you come back and your blog’s front page is blank. Yikes. Hopefully the moblog has allowed some inference as to what I’ve been doing while away (Pssst. I’ll give you a hint: it ends with “iami”). Rest assured the survival story of last weekend and the party story of this weekend will soon be posted.

In the mean time I offer you news of the success of NASA and JPL in striking Comet Tempel 1 with the Deep Impact probe. Huzzah! The flash of the 800-pound copper impactor was unexpected, but I guess that’s what you get when you heat anything to several thousand degrees Kelvin. No doubt there are scads of data being processed by those diligent engineers at this very moment, and I hope we’ll all soon know what makes up the heart of a comet. Perhaps, if we’re lucky, it might hold a secret or two about the origins of life. Oh, and check out the movie from the impactor’s view. It’s scary watching a comet approach at 23,000 mph. And vaguely reminiscent of Georges Méliès’ 1902 film Le voyage dans la lune.

2 comments.