bits and bobs

That title is stolen from an english (as in Great Britain) website that I use for buying rowing clothes. It's their term for the "this and that" or "miscellaneous" clothing/accessories department that can't fit in other departments and since they are English, they use 0verly-fancy terms to describe more than simple things. Which is why I like to use their "training kit" clothing to row in, rather than the boring U.S. "workout clothes". Because after all, I'm a fancy lad and deserve to look like one.

I'm reading more and more blogs these days and its opened my eyes a little to what the current "scene" is and the "scene" is both bad and good. With "Noblopamo" or whatever going on (a bloggers pact to post once a day for the entire month of November), we have a real dilution of material out there and just general annoying stuff. Which is basically what happens to everything cool once the general public sees how cool it is. I have also determined that my opinion of the "general public" started out low, and everyday it gets lower and lower. About a year ago, I was at a stand still in that I realized how stupid a majority of the people were and that I should expect the un-expected and try to keep my eyes on the prize, i.e. friends and co-workers and not be distracted by the other monkeys in the cage. Maybe I got bored, or maybe its like a car-wreck where there was one brief glance and now I CAN'T look away. I am in free-fall now and I'm scared/excited as to how low the "general public" can go in my mind. I thought they were at rock bottom. Then I began to see this stinky molten lava core seeping between the cracks in the bedrock and I think I have only just begun.

Blogs and their reading was probably a lot like the early days of driving automobiles. There were no rules and no schmucks! The only people who drove cars were the ones that really wanted to and each car was totally different from the next. These were the real "drivers" who drove for the sake of loving how "driving" felt. They probably waved hi to each other and shared tips on how to get out of the mud and how much a pain in the ass it was to move Farmer Jack's Moo Cow out of your way. You could drive as fast as you wanted and park it where you wanted and drive on whatever side of the road was convenient . You could explore new roads and drive to places you had never been before!

Then as more and more of the general public took to the roads, they got cluttered with people who didn't belong out there. People who weren't driving for the enjoyment, but because it was easily available for them to own an automobile. Now we got problems. We got people driving slow, driving drunk, breaking cars and not knowing how to fix them, crashing into other cars, demanding rules and judging other drivers. Which is why we have the current road rage problem.

Some of the things the public brought were good. Paved roads are good, cheaper cars are good, signs are good. But then they brought bad things too......bad drivers and traffic.

I guess its the lifespan of all activities. Really fun at first, then inklings of its potential bad side, then its bad side is completely revealed, struggle with your identity/place in the activity, balance out pros vs. cons, re-assess and adapt to mesh activity with identity or quit.

I can't quit though and I am going to try to be more friendly. And I am going to try to stop harping on blogging every day and come up with some new non-nerd things. But I don't have much going on, so you will have to deal with these naval-staring posts till I get that private island with a fully stocked gym, calm water to row on, and unlimited funding and lots of movie/rock star friends. For now, I can't help but complain about being stuck here reading a blog about what she wore today and why its cool, her boyfriends ex-roomate that has a bad attitude, and the recipe for what she is cooking for dinner and why she likes this way over her mothers recipe I hate it so much I can't look away or a blog about how much he hates other bloggers and stupid music videos (ah shit, that's my blog).

Overheard at the gym from a 40 year old man who considers himself in shape (no one else does) "I've been so hungry lately! For lunch, I had a BIG CAN of soup, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a bag of popcorn and 2 sodas"

Not much going on with this post so enjoy this video which solve the "who should I get to introduce me when I win the nobel prize" conundrum and enjoy the new music video which features indie music, yet again.....or........don't.

be honest

I was doing a bit of working out this morning when wait a second......(looks left, looks right)......I think I just.........yeah.....I just had an idea.

I just had an unintended departure from my cell phone, and although I got new one with the same number, I have none of the numbers that used to be in my contact list. Common problem amoungst 20th century humans. Thus, there are a ton of facebook groups for people who have encountered the "lost cell phone, need your number" debacle. Somehow, people join these in an attempt to regain what was lost, but as we all know, you are doomed no matter what facebook group you join because a) you're lame for joining a group for that purpose and b) your friends are selfish and really do not care or read what facebook groups you join. 5 seconds to call and send you their number is 4 seconds too much.

However, my attempt to remedy this problem is to potentially make it more humerous and create a face book group called "HELP! I got really drunk and I gave my cell phone # to a fat/crazy/ugly person and I had to destroy my phone......now I need your number" I would like to see what kind of people join that group.

That scenario has to happen to a lot of people right? Anway, that's what I do on my saturday mornings; laugh to myself about inane ideas in the middle of a giant river. They are so much funnier out there, I swear......shut up, you're so jealous.

Doing what I can

It's not often that I mention rowing on the ol blog. I try to keep it seperate because I don't want it to be exclusively any one thing. In this case however, I feel like I have to do what I can for 2 friends of mine that achieved major lifelong accomplishments this past week, and will likely get no recognition outside of their family and friends. Rowing never gets enough press and I can't tell you how many times I have done or been a part of something newsworthy in rowing and no one hears of it. So, given that I have a blog in which 10 people read, I figured I would do what I can to get the news out there, and try to right this wrong as best I can.

Micah Boyd and Rebecca Smith both made the national team. Micah will be going to Beijing for the Olympics in the US Mens 8+ and Rebecca will be going to the World Championships in Austria in the LwtW4x. Each of them has spent over 10 years training 2x a day 6 days a week in order to reach their goal and it finally came for them. They are an inspiration as amateur athletes, rowers, and American citizens. I truly hope they get to hear the national anthem on the medal stand. GO USA!!!

Here's some pics of them in action!

Rebecca in 2 seat

Micah in stroke of the white 2- in the PACRA blue and yellow uni.

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Sorry, I wanted better pics from Row2k, but Ed sucks about that. So I had to go to the personal stalker files.

So much to blog about, so little multi-tasking ability

I didn't want to let another 2 weeks sneak by without getting a post in. The strange thing about being a blogger is that you never get to stop being one. When more than 2 days goes by without blogging, it's not as though I forget about it completely or when something interesting happens, I don't come crashing back to the fact that I haven't written anything in a while. Blogging has become a permanent part of me, just like my 22 inch biceps. ho ho ha ha. Anyway, I don't want any of the faithful to think that just because I am not blogging, that I am not suffering thinking about blogging, its just that I am too much of a simpleton to handle that many things at once. I think most people who seriously blog feel the same way. Their procrastination list is one item larger. I did vow not to let it happen during this busy time of year like last year, so I am valiantly making myself churn out another humdinger of a post.

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What have I been doing you ask? Well....."a bunch of things," I answer. I have been rowing from 5AM to 6:30 AM in an attempt to keep my rowing career intact, which was going swimmingly (that's an un-truthful pun, if rowing is going well I would not be doing any kind of swimming, but I like the raucous grammatical and syntax chaos that is YFYB) until I got sick in the early part of last week. I have also been trying to have some kind of social life on the weekend when people demand it of me and when I am not racing in said rowing boat. Thus, my copious amount of free time has been reduced significantly since the first of September. My weekends of 10 hour sleep fests, house cleaning, and movies on TV have been removed completely for the next 2 months. Good thing I am so good at being productive........if it was opposites day.

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I never get sick. Which isn't really true, cause I am right now, but it is such a rare occurrence that I am giving myself that title. Anyway, I tried to find some medicine in the pharmacy, and that made my head hurt more. There was so many different kinds, I think that by the time I made a decision on which cold medicine to pick, my sickness was gone. I can understand the free-market economics of there being more than one brand of cold medicine, but why does each of the 30 different brands have 30 different formulas for the same symptoms? I decided to just lay on the floor and lick myself till someone came to save me and give me something and push me out the door so I wouldn't have to pick myself and I can blame the lack of the medicines effectiveness on them. Surely, I would never be so careless as to pick the medicine that helped my fever, but not my emphysema cough. Stupid stock boy.

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I also like to whine about being sick to anyone, including un-knowing Internet blog browsers. I understand this trait to be unpleasant, but how would you know how heroic I was in not missing any work or training, if I didn't tell you how sick I was?

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The other morning, I lost one of my contact lenses while I was rowing. I always forget that I am blind till I lose one, and I come to a crashing and very very sad realization. No seriously, I am blind, and I also have some cataracts as well. If my eyes get any worse, then I can't wear contacts anymore because they don't make them that strong. I also have a family history of a detached retna, so I am slowly getting comfortable to the possibility of using a white cane. Once again, I am allergic to dogs, and I like non-lethal sword fighting, so the white cane is perfect for my lifestyle. I would have to use "the force" for these fights, but I am confident in my ability to whoop Sith and non-sith ass.

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Anyway, the row home was not fun at all and I began to feel a bit nauseous from the disorientating focus. I did not crash into anything, but it was only because nothing else is out at 5AM besides us crazies. I also would like to blame miss diminutive training partner for making fun of my headlight that I (used to) wear and thus making me self conscious and thus dangerous behind the oars. She won't laugh so hard when I am dead! or when I give her a "soaking wet from cold river water" hug.
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During this busy season, S.Vincent is looking for a house cleaner/personal chef/ laundry do-er to work for kisses. Preferably female with a full set of teeth. Please send resume with picture to svclarke@hotmail.com
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This post written while listening to: Nine Inch Nails "Vessel"

S.Vincent on the job.....