It's Been How Long?

In case you need anything to keep the rivalry stoked during this time of no football.

Did You REALLY Mean to Send that Email

This guy makes all my "Respond to All" snafus look pretty normal.
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Duke lacrosse player sent 'vile' e-mail about strippers
Associated Press

DURHAM, N.C. -- Hours after an exotic dancer was allegedly raped by members of the Duke University lacrosse team, a player apparently sent an e-mail saying he wanted to invite more strippers to his dorm room, kill them and skin them. It was not clear whether the message was serious or a joke.

Investigators did not return calls seeking comment about the nature of the e-mail. But a lawyer for the player who purportedly wrote it said the content suggests his client is innocent.

"While the language of the e-mail is vile, the e-mail itself is perfectly consistent with the boys' unequivocal assertion that no sexual assault took place that evening," said attorney Robert Ekstrand. The e-mail "demonstrates that its writer is completely unaware that any act or event remotely similar to what has been alleged ever occurred."

No charges have been filed in the case, which has roiled the campus and the community and led the school to suspend the lacrosse team from play.

The e-mail, according to an application for a search warrant of the player's dorm room, was sent from his Duke e-mail account just before 2 a.m. on March 14. Police said investigators received a copy from a confidential source, though they later won a court order seeking access to the account.

In the e-mail, addressed "To whom it may concern," the player says he has "decided to have some strippers over" to his dorm room, "however there will be no nudity."

"I plan on killing the bitches as soon as the walk in and proceding to cut their skin off," the author of the e-mail says, adding in vulgar terms that he would find the act sexually satisfying.

Zed is Actually Zoe

Before Anna was born we called her Baby Z. Since we can recycle that prenatal name I've changed it up for #2. I've been calling this one Zed (as in the French pronunciation of the letter "Z"), plus since I figured this one was going to be a boy, Zed sounded pretty safe.

However, LP and I just got back from our ultrasound and found out that Zed is actually gonna be more of a Zoe-- IT'S A GIRL!!!

Thus, I lend more evidence to the belief that cyclists overwhelmingly have girl chirns.

So now I'll be outnumbered in the house 4-1 (the dog's a girl too) and will end up paying for 2 weddings. I think I'm gonna pass out on that thought.

Who Am I Gonna Make Fun of Now?

Looks like the country better step the eff off. Here comes Mississippi. I'm not convinced this is due to Mississippi's stellar schools; instead I think it is because white folks with money and intelligence are fleeing Memphis like rats off a sinking ship (except they're not really rats and they drive BMW's).

"DeSoto County has notched another bragging right. It leads the eight-county metropolitan area and exceeds the national average in the number of high school graduates among residents 25 and older."

"A story Sunday by DeSoto Appeal reporter Jimmie Covington reported that 81.6 percent of those 25 and older had at least a high school diploma, according to 2000 census figures. That compares with 80.4 percent nationally. In Shelby County, 80.8 percent of residents 25 and older had at least a high school diploma."

Eating Out = Wearing Me Out

What kind of luck is this? LP and I went out to Cafe 61 (Downtown Memphis) to catch a late b/day dinner for me. We also caught "Inside Man" which was decent but quite predictable-- think of it as "Ocean's Eleven" but without as much excitement or creativity.

So after the movie we chug it from Downtown to way out east to our house in Cordova and get this-- we did not hit a single red light. What are the odds? Union Ave. which has more traffic lights than pavement; and we didn't hit a single one? Awesome. With that kind of luck I should have immediately bought a lottery ticket.

But that's not what I'm hear to talk about. The dinner thing is the topic of the day.
Friday, I ate out for all 3 meals- breakfast with my Channel 4 News Team (Zack and KY), lunch with Brick Lacek and dinner for my birthday.

I was sick by the end of day from so much eating out. My body literally revolts on me after I eat out too much.

This is gonna come full circle, I promise. So I'm having trouble shedding the blubber I put on from 4 months of no exercising. The first few pounds came off easily but not so much after that. I've got about 10 lb. to lose-- 7 lb. to get to where I'll feel okay again. The weather is warm and I'm riding more but I noticed about 7 years ago that the weight just does not peel itself off like it used to. I have to make some changes. I can't workout any more than I do-- no time. The last avenue is analyzing my diet.

This all came crashing down on me Sunday morning. I got up early so decided to get some McD's b'fast for the family. I got the Big Breakfast; pretty reasonable I thought- biscuit, eggs, sausage and hash browns. How bad could that be?

Well, Lordy. Check out McD's nutritional information-- 730 calories for the Big Breakfast. I also had some coffee and milk so now I'm north of 800 calories!! And this is the first meal of the day.

Research indicates that 5 grams of trans fat per day increases your chance of heart disease by 25%. The Big Breakfast has 7 grams by itself!! Ahhhhhhhhh !!

LP and I then plan to hit PF Chang's for Easter lunch. Mongolian beef is one of my favorites. How bad could a 5-6 oz. serving of beef in brown sauce be? Try 1,100 calories and enough sodium to build a salt lick for your cows. Sh1t.

The deal is, I thought that even when I went out and ate reasonably I was doing okay. Truth is, even when you get the "lite" or "good" stuff, it's prolly packed with more shat, sodium and trans fat than you can count.

My resolution this week-- no eating out. I swear I'm killing myself with that processed shat.

I'm out of town for racing this upcoming weekend so I'll have to eat out a few meals, but I'm gonna cut back on this crap and save myself some money and clogged arteries.

I swear, McD's is bad for my body like Wal-Mart is bad for America.

Peace.

Got My Wits Back

Been out of touch for a few days. Sorry internet friends.

Anna's 3rd birthday was last weekend. Man, it was a hoot. Actually, the day before that we started with a school presentation. She did the Chicken dance with her classmates and that's how the started our hoot of a weekend.

My moms flew in town Friday and we got geared up for Anna's party. First order of business was showing off the bodacious playset that my Mexi-CANS and I assembled despite her lack of faith.

It was freezing for Anna's party but the kids has a BLAST. We rented a Dora moonbounce and the kids bounced and swung (on the bodacious swingset) themselves ragged. Then, when we thought they could play no more, we turned up the party a notch with tons of sugar. We were betting on which kid would bounce themselves into vomitting up cake and ice cream first, but none came through for us.

My moms and I got up early Sunday morning to travel to LA-- Lower Alabama for the folks not in the know.

Potentially, this was the most depressing trip I've ever taken in my life. We traveled to Bay Minette, AL to see my cousin and my grandmother, Ann, who is in an Alzheimer's unit there. The visit with Ann was basically sitting there holding her hand and crying the whole time. My cousin bailed after about 5 minutes of nonstop crying and I made it about 10 minutes before I thought I was gonna pass out. It was just plain out horrible. My grandmother is only a shell of the person she used to be.

Monday, I went and hung out at the Junior College where my grandfather was president and I lived until I was about 11-years-old. This was my first trip back. It was another emotional roller coaster visiting the place where you grew up. Everything seemed so much larger and better kept up back in the day. I guess it's that way for everyone. I strolled around campus for a little while just taking it all in then back to Ann's "home" for a tearful goodbye. It's also quite ironic that my grandmother is living within 1 mile of the school that she and my grandfather worked so hard to build from the ground and she has no clue.

So, I've been out of pocket for a few days; I was kind of an emotional wreck for a few days, but now I'm back to "normal"-- whatever normal is for my crazy self.

Apple Rocks

Not sure what to say about this other than "IT ROCKS."

Apple introduces ability to truly dual boot either Max OS or Windows XP.

I might go today and get that PowerBook that I've always wanted.

Everyone Keep Your Eyes Open and Slow Down

That's the easiest way to correct this issue...

Anne Arundel County in Maryland has been running five red light cameras for five years, during which period they raised a fat $2.85 million in ticket revenue. Unfortunately, a comparison of accident statistics shows that the cameras have increased the rate of accidents.

Immediately after installation, the cameras sparked a 40-percent increase in rear-end collisions, and never looked back, with five-year increases in accident rates far exceeding a 10-percent increase in traffic.

Unfortunately, this is hardly an isolated phenomenon. TheNewspaper.com reports similar results in the state of Georgia, where the city of Duluth's one and only camera is forecast to generate a whopping $1 million next year, at the cost of a 21-percent increase in accidents. A study by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution showed red light cameras were linked to an increase in accidents, injuries and revenues across the state, although there is early indication that the rate of serious accidents in intersections is falling.

Critics charge that cities are at best trading one kind of accident for another, and that the proliferation of traffic cameras is really just a money generator, while advocates maintain that they encourage safer driving.

[Sources: theNewspaper.com, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

18 volts and My Mexi-CANS

I've almost recovered from the stellar events of this past weekend.

Lots of bike riding and barn raisings going on. Went to Nashville for a race Saturday morning. The most exciting thing that event was watching a Discovery Channel special on the sinking of the German warship, the Tipitz. That's about it for Nashville.

Sunday was barn raising galore. It was actually building a fort/swingset for my shawtee but barn raising sounds so much better.

Being the anal retentive that I am, I assembled some parts before my crew came over; I even separated and labeled the bags of screws, washers, nuts and bolts. Then, with LP's assistance we unloaded all the lumber and separated it into piles and put labels on them.

Yes, that is out of control obsessive-compulsive. However, had you seen what happened when 1 or 2 boards lost their labels then you'd understand how important organization was to this project.

I love building stuff; I also like buying stuff. This job required around $220 in tools from Sears and Home Depot. I upgraded my beloved 14.4 volt Firestorm that LP got me for my 30th b/day. It was a sad day to retire it but I went up to an 18 volt Ryobi. I figured I'd need the extra horsepower for this job.

The Channel 4 New Team graciously gave up their Sunday afternoon to help on this project: Zack "Pablo" Perry, Kenny "Escobar" Allen and "Brickquez" Lacek. Brick used to be a builder so his skillz came in handy when the primary structure for the swingset turned out looking like the leaning Tower of Pisa. By the time Brick was finished that fort was so square and tight it could have blended in at a Linux conference (sorry nerds).

Through superior intellect, dexterity and strong backs we were able to knock this job out in under five hours AND avoid most piles of dog shat in the back yard.

We celebrated with families coming over for burgers and beer.

I truly appreciate my homies and give them mad props for proving they're a great bunch of Mexi-CANS and not Mexi-CAN'TS.