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Lisa's Deep ThoughtsSharing tales from our move to Denmark, other adventures, and anything else on my mind October 27 Even Captain Husky gave upA tradition at University of Washington home football games is the arrival of Captain Husky after the first UW score in the 3rd quarter where he tears up the opposing school's mascot and leads a stadium-wide spell-out. If for some reason the team does not score in the 3rd quarter, Captain Husky will come out when we score in the 4th quarter. This Saturday the team did not score in the 3rd quarter and it was not looking good for the 4th quarter either. I'm sure this left quite a dilemma for Capt. Husky. Finally, he emerged after one of the few first downs with a few minutes left in the 4th quarter. The band was already playing and only a few dedicated fans sitting within a few rows of him actually joined in the spell-out. Luckily we actually completed that drive to score some points but how was he to know that. Most fans around us had already left the game so there were only a few of us diehards left that would even notice. UW Football lately... What a mess! At least Coach Ty has now "resigned" (before he was run out of town by the fans!) and we can hope for something better next year. October 06 Weekend of TheaterOn Friday night we saw PNB's tribute to Twyla Tharp called "All Tharp" compliments of SAS for all of Chris' traveling. Neither one of us had ever been to a ballet other than the Nutcracker, so this was definitely something completely new for us. Each act was totally different from the others and was a fusion of ballet, modern, ballroom and I don't know what. That kept it very interesting for us. SAS gave us tickets to the opera last year and we liked it so much we joined their Bravo (under 40) club. We partly wondered if this introduction to ballet would have the same effect. Although we enjoyed it as a night out, I don't know if it was enough of a draw for us to invest in an ongoing commitment to dance.
Sunday night we supported the local arts once again - this time to see the musical Saint Heaven at the Issaquah Village Theater. Before going to Denmark, we had been season ticket holders at the 5th Avenue theater in Seattle and when we got back, we fully intended to renew for our musical fix. But nothing really popped out on the schedule to us and about the same time, we happened to notice Aida running in Issaquah. Literally the evening of a show, we decided to see Aida and marveled at the production value such a small theater could bring. So instead of making the trip downtown to the 5th, we opted for season tickets at the Village Theater instead. Saint Heaven was the first show of the season. Set in a small town of Kentucky, it had powerful gospel melodies and like Aida, great sets and overall production. Plus, it was only 10 minutes from home with free parking. A definite bonus! Our next show of the season at the Village Theater is Beauty and the Beast - in English (last time we saw the show in Danish!) October 03 Sarah is no HillaryLast night I watched the vice-presidential debates fully expecting a little comic relief. The SNL parodies with Tina Fey of Sarah Palin have made it so I can hardly even watch her speak without chuckling. After essentially going to a debate prep cram course for the last few weeks, I thought she held her own much better than I or really anyone thought she would. Even with her drastic improvement, it was still night and day looking at her and Senator Biden on the same stage though.
One particular question stuck out to me. It was something like: What would you do if you had to take over the presidency for your respective presidential candidate?... Regardless of how I may feel about the top of the ticket, Biden portrayed poise, confidence and strength whereas the thought of Palin in that situation made me shudder. Can you imagine her leading the country? That would be worse than the last 8 years!
Republicans trying to capture the moderate votes of Hillary supporters by adding Sarah to the ticket are not even close. Sarah is no Hillary! Not even close. October 02 Stampedes for religionThe last 2 days I noticed some articles on MSNBC that made me wonder how far people will go for religion. Yesterday, over 200 people died in India when over 12,000 had packed the paths leading to a Hindu temple for worship a dawn, started pushing to get ahead in the huge pack, and then started a panick when rumors of a bomb threat circulated in the crowd. People tried to escape through the temple itself but many slipped on the coconut milk all over the floor from previous offerings. Then today I see there was a stampede killing 20 children in Tanzania at a Muslim festival to celebrate the end of Ramadan at an over-crowded dance hall. It's sad to see people obviously trying to follow their faith get so passionate that they actually end up killing their fellow worshippers in the process. September 25 Officially back in the saddle againAfter taking a few years to run a few marathons and offroad bike races, Lance Armstrong has officially come out of retirement to ride the Tour de France again! Per the NYT, he'll reunite with Johan Bruyneel (the former team director of the US Postal and Discovery teams that led him to 7 Tour wins) to join Team Astana.
I wonder a bit about this choice since 2007 Tour winner Alberto Contador is already on Astana. If Lance is on the team now, what will that mean for Contador? What about Lance without long-time teammate George Hincapie blocking for him? (George is now on Team Columbia.) Will contender Levi Leipheimer take on a domestique role for Lance on Astana like George did all those years?
Astana is sponsored by Trek so I imagine that could be a factor too. Lance is already used to riding them and they are fit for him. Geometry is key to comfort and power. (BTW, I ride a Trek and wouldn't ride anything else!)
Astana has had it's fair share of doping issues though. It pulled out of the 2007 Tour after Alexander Vinokourof tested positive and the team was barred from the Tour in 2008. You'd think after trying so hard to refute previous doping allegations throughout his career, he'd team up with one of the other new pro cycling teams that are running strict internal doping testing on their own to battle the flawed methods used by the French.
Lance is one of my idols. Say anything negative and I'll plug my ears and say "La, La, La, La, La, ..." until you stop. I don't want to hear it. I know nobody is perfect, but I truly admire his amazing work ethic and support of cancer survivors through his LiveStrong organization. Go, Lance! Go! September 22 Holding down the fort againAfter just over 2 months without business travel, Chris is racking up the frequent flyer miles again. This time he's gone for 2 consecutive weeks to Moscow, Beijing, Shanghai and Manila --- literally doing a full circle around the globe. This is just the first of his next sequence of trips. All this travel may sound glamourous at first, but it really isn't. Poor Chris got food poisoning on the first leg of his journey (SEA-AMS) and still had to travel another leg to Moscow. Jazz, Maddie and I are keeping each other company at home. If I'm going to be stuck holding down the fort while Chris travels, at least I'm at my own house and in my own country. September 10 Da BeachWe extended the Labor Day weekend with an extra day on either end to make 5 full days off and headed south to the beach. It was Maddie's first trip and let me just say... she loved it! All the great smells, the water, and the endless sand to run, run, run. We kept no agenda and didn't rush to do anything. We left when we were ready and tried to avoid all urges to rush. We slept in as much as Maddie would let us, walked the beach at least twice a day for the low tides at 7am and 7pm (of course with the obligatory ball throwing session), read, played games, watched movies and just hung out. It was the annual Fireman's Breakfast that weekend so we supported the local volunteers for Netarts and Oceanside by endulging in stacks of pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage in the firehouse. Weather was cool (this is the Oregon coast so you can't expect much else) but sunny most of the time. It was just the getaway weekend we needed and Maddie's ready to hit the sand again soon. September 08 Waking to Waterfalls and BatsSaturday as we were doing our pet routine in our usual early-morning stuppor, we came upon something from a horror movie. The paint on the walls at the bottom of our stairs was literally bubbling and weeping with water. We quickly removed some artwork from the wall (a signed and numbered piece!) that had been soaked from behind to uncover a river coming from the powder room above. The ceiling was soaked through and the plasterboard was turning to mush. Chris started investigating by pulling down chunks of the mushy wallboard and we called for emergency backup from our personal contractor Gary. They turned off the water to the house, created a crater in the ceiling large enough to maneuver inside, identified 2 potential leaks from the copper pipes above, and soddered the pipes to stop the leaking. Then we all rushed off to try to catch the noon kickoff for the Husky game. We made it by seconds. Sunday was spent on a bit of cleanup and rough patching until we can do a permanent repair of the drywall.
Sunday night, we had a little more drama. About midnight, Chris was awakened by Maddie who pounced on him like she had to go outside. But instead of leading him to the door, she led him to the bathroom where Jazz was stationed in the bathtub holding down a small bat. Jazz is over 14 and has never caught anything in his life. He's getting so old that we have created ramps for him to get on the bed and to his food, so the image of him catching a bat is very far fetched... but there he was a stealthy little hunter. Chris quickly whisked the bat out and off the deck, closing the screen door behind him that we accidently left open. I guess in future we'll have to give Jazz a little more credit. July 18 Bike commuting impactsI read an article this morning pointing out that with gas prices rising and pocketbooks getting tighter all over the US, more and more people are opting for bike commuting. I totally see more bikes on the racks on campus, more stashed in offices as I walk down the halls, and more on the roads. I have loved my bike since I was big enough to ride one so I'm all for encouraging new riders. In fact, I was infamous for riding around the neighborhood with a lifesize Wile E. Coyote perched on the back of my banana seat as a child and that spirit carries with me even today as I sport my hot pink leapord print helmet. However, this massive influx of newbies is creating a few issues and I'm afraid for their safety. Many new cyclists are not comfortable on their new rides enough yet to ride predictably or even in a straight line. Some alternate between riding the sidewalks and riding in the road making it hard to know where to expect them to be. Some ride the wrong way down the bike lanes, on the wrong side of the road against traffic. Some just don't know how to make themselves visible enough on the road to be seen. To make this worse, the roads around MS main campus have always had some of the worst drivers. I'm guessing it is from all the drivers not paying enough attention while dialing into conference calls or checking email from their cell phones, or it is due to the high number of international people who are either new to driving all together or new to our rules of the road. Now we have added a bunch of new cyclists with equally bad habits and I am fearful of this combination.
While living in Denmark, we commuted to work by bike 3+ times per week with dedicated bike lanes and even special traffic signals at certain locations. Biking there is a much more acceptable form of transportation and drivers actually watch for cyclists. In the US, it is a much different story. Most streets do not have bike lanes and even when they do, drivers are not used to looking for bikes. Until lately, bike commuting was just for bike enthusiasts who were skilled at meshing with traffic and riding defensively.
What can we do to promote safe driving and riding habits? I think education and awareness is the key. Sure we can improve roads and add bike lanes, but that does not solve the underlying problem that bikes and cars do not always know how to play nice together. First we need to make sure people give proper respect to each other and know how best to travel while sharing the road.
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