LIVING WITH MCL

Don't drink too much, and if you do, drink lots of water. Like we use to say when I was in the army, It's a good thing I drove, cause I never could walk home. That's a pretty much how I felt yesterday, after Edie and I had a few friends over for wine and gumbo. I did manage to awake my usual time this AM, but I unhappily discovered, after getting my tea ready last night, I didn't replace the tea pot directly under the spout, and only about half the water made it into the pot. The remainder, as you might be able to guess, ended up all over the kitchen counter. It was also tough going on my bike ride this morning. Fortunately the club went out relatively sedately (I'm guessing others must have felt the same), giving me plenty of time to sweat all the toxins out of my system. The last 20+ miles, however, was the antithesis of the start of the ride, reaching speeds of 34 mph at one point. That's pretty much my top speed, even with the favorable wind and a good dr...

I just learned yesterday that Bjarne Riis, winner of the 1996 Tour d'France, admitted to using EPO from 1993 to 1998 . And this comes after recent confessions by Erik Zabel and teammate Rolf Aldag for also using EPO . Then there was Ivan Basso , winner of last years Giro d'Italia, and one of the team leaders on the Discovery Channel team, until he opted out of his contract after confessing to attempted doping . Basso said he made contact with a doctor at the heart of the Spanish investigation, Eufemiano Fuentes, and gave him a blood sample with the intention of doping - but never actually did. ....... "It was a moment of weakness on my part," Basso said. "I accept responsibility and I am ready to face my punishment." He still faces disciplinary action, and a likely suspension, regardless of his intentions. As a cancer patient, I am keenly aware of the effects of EPO (having considered taking it myself due to a low hemoglobin count), as a performance enha...

Wednesday night, Edie and I both went to bed at 10 PM, confident in the knowledge we were recording the last hour of Lost to watch Thursday evening. So it came as quite a surprise, when we sat down this evening to watch the last hour of Lost , to discover it was not in our recorded programs list. I was devasted! What could possibly be worse, then not seeing the season finally of Lost ? Well, OK, now I can think of a lot of things worse, but at that moment, it was at the top of the list. Fortunately ABC had the foresight to load the last hour on the internet. We had to download some free software, and it took a minute or two to figure everything out, but in the end it was a relatively painless endeavor.  And there were only limited commercials. Thank you ABC for turning a potential devastating situation, into a happy ending!

On my bike ride today, I worked a little bit harder, and went a little further than I planned, but ultimately it was worth it! No matter how much people bad mouth Southern CA, I still can't imagine living anywhere else. Where else can you be ride a bike along the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean one minute, and an hour later, be climbing hills, and confronting wildlife. At the start of the second climb of 5 that we managed today, Old Fullerton Road, we encounter 3 deer scurrying across the road in front of us. We obviously scared them, and I didn't have a chance to get a picture. But then on the 4th climb, when I got to the top of Turnbull Canyon, there was another deer, about half way up the hill, staring at me, as I rode by. I took 2 pictures with my phone, but one, for some reason didn't get stored in memory, and on the other I couldn't make out the deer in the picture. Obviously camera phones aren't the greatest, for getting spontaneous pictures. I've only e...

Anyone still wondering how I have been able to make an 80 mile one way commute to work for the past 18 years, check out this 15 second commerical for ING. Click on the picture to the right and pay particular attention to the last 5 seconds. You might get some perspective on one reason. The driver is driving the same section of PCH, I pass by everyday on my way to work. I only wish I had that same '62 Chevy Impala to make it. If I did, I might be able to do it more often than 2 days a week!

Well, I went and bought the new (new to me that is) driver, I eluded to in my previous post . I decided on the Taylor Made R7 425 , and so far I am pleased. And today I went out to give it a test drive (no pun intended). I shot a respectable 91, which is better than I have shot in the past 3 months at Eldorado Park , the course I normally play (being only 3/4 of a mile from the house), and that includes what I shot in the Senior Amateur Championship last week. While I am still not as consistent as I would like, shooting a 43 on the front 9, and a 48 on the back 9, including two triple bogeys, I am starting to feel better about my game, especially since I have decided to give up on the triathlon training , and concentrate on bike riding and golfing. I've also decided to play in the Mens City Championship in July. I'm hoping by then, I will have honed my game sufficiently, to be more competitive than I was last week.

I'm beginning to learn that training for a triathlon takes a lot of time and dedication. Maybe even more time and dedication than I'm willing to give. Well at least more dedication, and if I consider the fact I'm not willing to give up on my golf game just yet, than time is also a factor. Maybe if I were younger it wouldn't be such a factor, but at 58 (soon to be 59), it's just not as easy. At least that's my excuse. The problem being, after exercising, I'm usually worn out, and require a nap. Now when I was only cycling, I was able to overcome the feeling of fatigue, because I could always find time to rest, and still be able to golf whenever I wanted. Plus I didn't have to ride everyday to stay in shape, providing time for my body to recover. But now that I've added swimming and running to my exercise routine, sometimes even doing 2 or 3 of the events in the same day, there just doesn't seem to be enough time left over, after resting, to ...

The Long Beach Senior Mens Championship is finally over, and even though I didn't finish in the money, at least my final round was semi decent. I shot an 89, which included one triple bogey and 3 double bogeys. Everything else was either a bogey or par. I could have even shot about 5 strokes better had I had a little more luck, but hey, that's golf. Like life, the ball doesn't always bounce the way you want or even expect it to. Still, I had a good time except for a brief moment, when I got a little frustrated with my game, and reacted somewhat inappropriately. That is the first time I ever reacted that way since starting to play golf again, about 4 years ago. Hopefully, I won't do that again. In the mean time, now I can get back to concentrating on my cycling and training for the Long Beach Triathlon in September.

I am not doing a very good job of defending my championship. :( Like yesterday, I shot a decent front nine today, and then pretty much fell apart on the back nine, ending up shooting another miserable round of 95, putting me in a tie for 12th place, 14 shots off the pace. I don't really have too many excuses for my lousy play except to say, because of the unusually cold winter we had this year, I wasn't able to practice as much as I have the last couple of years, and I just haven't been able to generate any consistency. But there's no sense worrying about that now, tomorrow is another day, and I still have time to redeem myself, and maybe even finish in the money. And if all else fails, there's always next years tournament.

Here it is 5:30 AM on Thursday morning, and while I slept better last night than I do most Wednesday nights , I still did not sleep well. I couldn't help but continue to dwell on my poor play of the last 3 holes in my golf game yesterday . And to top it off this morning, I discovered that my gross score was posted as a 96 (I'm in the "B" Flight), instead of the 95 I actually shot. Now I'm not sure if the score was just entered incorrectly, or if I actually signed for a 96. I will have to verify that today. I don't think that one stroke will make a whole lot of difference though. Even at 8 strokes off the pace (net) , unless I shoot lights out today, I don't have much of a chance.  One good thing is I didn't sign for a 94, in which case I would have been disqualified.  I will be more careful next time. Still I'm disappointed, but I shouldn't be. It's not like this is some renowned tournament. The entry fee was only $150 for 3 rou...

Well the LB Golf Festival kicked off today, with the first round of the Senior Amateur Championship . As the reigning title holder in my age group, I had high hopes that I would be able to defend my championship, but todays round was far from championship caliber. All day long my short game and putting made up for my driving which, for lack of a better description, was awful. That is, it did up until the last 3 holes, when everything fell apart. The last 3 holes, I shot triple bogey, double bogey and triple bogey, finishing with a 23 over par 95, putting me about 6 shots off the pace. (Final results won't be in until later this evening.) Fortunately there are two more rounds, Thursday and Friday, for me to attempt a comeback, much in the same vein of Tiger Woods. I'll keep you posted

It's true (at least I believe it to be so) the internet has been a benefit to the world. It has brought the world a lot closer together by enabling people all over the world to easily communicate with each other and exchange ideas. No where is this more apparent then in the case of people diagnosed with serious illnesses, such as cancers. Through medical informational sites, blogs and list serves (newsgroups/email groups), people are able to gather information about various treatments, along with their successes, failures, and complications, from around the world, making better informed patients, not only benefiting themselves, but their doctors as well. Of course intermixed with all that good information is false information, or at the very least information that is without evidence or proof of efficacy. In that regard people have to be very astute, and able to filter out the good information from the bad, producing false hopes. Unfortunately that isn't always as easy to ...

Almost forgot! While in Vegas we also went to two shows, both at the Wynn. On Monday night we went to Le Reve , and Tuesday we saw SPAMALOT . Le Reve , was the typical Las Vegas spectacular, with lots of acrobatics on, in and above the water. It was enjoyable, and Edie enjoyed it much more than I did, but that type of show just isn't my cup of tea. The best part of the show was the Champagne and chocolate covered strawberries we were served at the beginning of the show. SPAMALOT was much better. It had some sort of story, albeit a mild one, which gave you something to follow, and provided enough funny satire to keep it interesting. The only problem with SPAMALOT was the loud woman, sitting next to me, who literally seemed to think the simple act of actors walking out on the stage, or a scene change, was just as hilarious as the actual scenes. She was so loud and obnoxious, it almost ruined the play for me, but fortunately, the show was still worth the effort.

It's been a long time since Edie and I have been to Vegas, and a lot has changed. There is construction everywhere, but there have also been a lot of improvements. There is very little pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks and at intersections. Traffic flow has been directed to pedestrian walkaways above the street and through the casinos, preventing the virtual gridlock that used to result on Las Vegas Blvd, because pedestrians refused to obey traffic laws. We stayed at the Wynn , and I have to say it is by far one of the nicest hotels on the strip. It is pricey, but overall the ambiance and decor of the hotel, was totally inviting, and the attitude of the staff, from the housekeepers, to the desk clerks, the bell hops, the valets, and whoever else was extremely professional, as well as being extremely friendly. I would definitely stay there again. The best meal we had in Vegas was in the Wynn , at the Daniel Boulud Brasserie. Edie had a filet that you could cut with a fork, a...