A week goes by

I haven't posted for a week. A lot is going on and ALL I want to do is sleep. A brick is a triathlon specific workout where you do a bike workout immediately followed by a run. Saturday we did 3 1/2 hrs on the bike followed by an hour run. This is known as a big ass brick and they're only gonna get bigger from here. I screwed up my nutrition on the bike by drinking all of my fluid the first 2.5 hours. I then ate a bar the last hour, but had nothing to wash it down with leaving me bloated from the bar, thirsty from the heat and lack of water, and bloated because the bar didn't digest. This caused me to have a horrible run. I almost gave up, but I pictured myself running with all of the people that have supported me in this and I gritted my way through. Excelsior...

My quest for a job hasn't paid off, but I've been very busy with existing clients and I got a new one last week. Hmmm...

I really need to do a big push for donations or I will not make the $4250 cutoff on March 2 and I'll not be able to race. If you'd like to donate, visit http://www.active.com/donate/tntgla/mattmoline

Thanks for reading. I installed a visit tracker and was surprised to see all the visits I've been getting. Thanks especially to my Ironteam teammate Dean. He drives a lot of traffic to me. You can check out his blog at http://irondean.blogspot.com. He's also got all of the links to my other teammate's blogs and donation sites

That is all

Nuance, or another reason why I (and the "Democrat" Party) hate America

I just read what Wes Clark posted on his site today:

"Military power aside, the US has enormous economic leverage over the Iranians through our influence on world financial institutions, international commerce and capital flows. While the latest actions against Iran's banking system show the sharp stick of US power, the potential carrots are enormous, too. Islamic pride cannot be purchased, but neither can a proud nation ignore a more hopeful vision of its future." http://securingamerica.com/node/2234

It's amazing that there are people around that can argue that carrots can not be used with Islamic nations because they "hate our freedom". The sooner we start treating nations that have a different culture from us like regular people, the sooner we will stop makinig the world more dangerous.

Think of the children

Maybe I'm super PC, but I was just blown away by what I heard just now on the street. That's right, this is the proverbial, "Word on the Street."

I'm dog-sitting Tosca, a sweet dog with a bum right leg, just like me, and I saw a mom walking with three girls somewhere between the ages of 6 and 13 (note: I'm pretty much a kid expert). The three girls sang the following:

Mailman, mailman, do your duty;
Here comes the girl with the African booty;
Swing it to the left, Swing it to the right...(unintelligible)

Is that okay? Is this some nursery rhyme from when I was a kid that I blacked out? The girls were Hispanic. Could this have been some mistranslated song? Anyway, Tosca and I hid our disdain for the girls blatant racism by taking a crap on the lawn (Tosca) and by laughing (me).

Sean Taylor...Pro Bowl Safety

Come on!!! Sean Taylor is the best Redskin on the team (Sorry Clinton) and the best safety in the league.

Back in the saddle

I have had enough of being injured and I'm back to training. Wednesday, I took it real slow by doing a 40 minute 4.2 mile run. A few times I tried to push myself, but I backed off. It's more to difficult to run slowly when you know you can run faster than it is to push yourself into running faster. I'm glad I took it easy, because that's how I screwed up last time. Thursday was a 40 minute spin on the bike trainer followed by a 35 minute 3.5 mile run. Another easy run and I'm feeling better all the time. I got a foam roller from my massage therapist and I've really been stretching my hammy and working out the kinks.

Last night I swam 2700 yards and I'm feeling better all the time in the water. All of this was prep for today's 3.5 hour ride on the PCH and up Latigo Canyon. Climbing Latigo is apparently a big deal and I'm extremely happy to say that I made it up and down the hill, with a tweaked hamstring, and I never pushed myself so hard that it got worse. I stopped a bunch and stretched out the leg and I learned that, even though I stopped, I was able to keep a decent speed because stretching seemed to put energy back into my ride. When I got done, I ran up and down a hill for 15 minutes. The hill running was the first stupid thing I've done in my recovery and I'm hoping I don't pay for it tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I have a 1:50 run with the TNT Marathon team. I really want my leg to be healthy enough to make it through this run as I REALLY miss my long runs as a way to clear my head and enjoy the beautiful LA sights.

I had a really good interview on Friday with a company that seems like a good match professionally and personally. I hope to hear from them next week.

Speaking of next week, I start school again after a 10 year absence. I'm really jacked to take the classes and learn again.

That's it for now. Things are moving from bleak to sunny and, once again, I've learned alot by going through this last rough stretch. In the words of the Maestro of Marvel, Excelsior!

What's the matter with the NFL sportswriters?

Here are the stats for two NFL player's careers:

Player #1 - 750 catches for 11,904 yards and 65 TDs.
Player #2 - 940 catches for 12,721 yards and 68 TDs.

If only one of these players makes the Hall of Fame it's got to be player #2, right? Well apparently not if player #1 is a worthless piece of dung ex-Cowboy named Michael Irvin. Irvin was elected to the Hall while Art Monk, one of the classiest guys to ever play the game was left out once again. By the way, Irvin had Hall of Famer Aikman throwing to him while Monk had Rypien, Schroeder, Humphries, Williams, etc.

This election comes on the heels of sportswriters taking a holier-than-thou attitude while refusing Mark McGwire entry to the baseball hall. What is worse, McGwire's use of substances that were not against the rules of baseball at the time or Irvin's extremely public cocaine addiction and assorted gangster behavior over the last 15 years? Irvin should be in lockdown, not on television every week reminding of exactly why I hate all things Dallas

This made me laugh

It's rare that I laugh out loud while reading stuff on the web, but I saw this yesterday on overheardinnewyork.com:

Meyers-Briggs Questions That Didn't Make It

Gucci girl #1: Okay, let's play 'Would You Rather?'!
Gucci girl #2: Okay.
Gucci girl #1: Would you rather... be an auto mechanic or... die of breast cancer?

--F train

Overheard by: My sister

via Overheard in New York, Feb 3, 2007

That is all

Job Hunting

I had an interview for a position I really wanted Friday AM. I was pretty bummed out when the guy I was interviewing with imformed me that I wasn't a good fit for the job technically. Ouch. I realize that I suck about talking about my technical skills and other teh folks can overwhelm me with lingo. I need to develop a way to convince people that that is what makes me a success. First, there has not been a technical issue I have come across yet that I didn't find a solution for. I learn very quickly and fix problems. The fix also does not stick in my head and weih me down. There isn't a technical job in IT that I think I couldn't handle.

Second, my strong suit is in dealing with non-technical people. The client I visited on Thursday actually sang a song when I came in. One of the things that helps is that I don't know technical jargon. Unfortunately, tech geeks love their jargon and unfortunately for them, that is why, in the past and present, office workers love talking to me about computers...I don't care about the jargon.

Anyway, when I got back home, I got a call from the job that would actually be an ideal fit for me. The tech interview went well and I'm still in the running. I should know more the middle of next week