LIVING WITH MCL

From the Telegraph in the UK Men who do 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day have a 34 per cent lower chance of being killed by cancer than those who do not, according to scientists. See, I knew there was a logical explanation for my 6 plus years of treatment free cancer survival.  It's all that damn bike riding I do. (Read the entire article .) Now if I can only come across an article equating an increased cancer survival rate with not cutting your hair, I may just end up living forever. :) Oh well, the sun is almost out now, so I'd better start getting ready for todays ride.  I may even go for a little longer ride than originally planned.

I left the house this afternoon planning on racing at Eldorado Park, but even before I left, I knew that was going to be unlikely.   You guessed it, my back was still hurting, and 8 miles around the course, simply confirmed that suspicion. So dejectedly I headed back home for some additional rest, with the intention of riding tomorrow morning, when the wind won't be blowing so hard.

I'm not really a race car fan, but a few of my friends are, and since I didn't have anything else better to do ( my back was still hurting so I couldn't ride my bike), I decided I would watch the Indy 500.   I was also somewhat interested because Danica Patrick was in the race, and I was rooting for her to win. Anywaze, I can't remember being so disappointed in anything in my life, except maybe for our trip to Italy in '06 .   The race was just a total bore.  There were 8 caution flags, with 69 laps run under caution. So while this is dubbed as a 500 mile car race, only 328 miles was actually run under race conditions. What kind of test of machine and driver is that, if over a third of the race isn't really a race? And then during all the cautions, there's a mad dash to the pits for needed tire changes, fuel, minor adjustments etc. giving an advantage to those, who were lucky enough to wait for such an opportunity, or unlucky enough, i.e. Danica Patrick, to

Well it dropped down to 46°F this morning, a lot colder than it has been lately, but as I look out my window, I am heartened by the fact I can see breaks in the clouds.   It looks like it may actually be a nice day. Plus my back has improved some more, and while I'm not going to ride again today, something that is just beating away at me, I am confident I will be able to race at Eldorado Park tomorrow.

It's hard to believe today could be worse than yesterday, but it is. The high today is only supposed to get to 60°F, and it's mostly overcast, although the sun has been trying show itself on occasion.  Plus there's a 30% chance of rain all day. Even worse, my lower back is still hurting, and it doesn't seem to be getting much better. It may even be worse than yesterday. I can't sit down for more than a few minutes at a time, so I can't even watch TV, to pass the time away, on this miserable day.  And laying down on the bed doesn't help much either. The only consolation is, I picked a good week to hurt my back, as the weather really isn't good bike riding weather.  Still I would rather be out on the bike regardless. Oh well, sorry for boring you all with my petty complaints, but I just had to vent and get that off my chest. Maybe going to a wine tasting later this afternoon will cheer me up some.

Just another day in paradise! But I can't complain too much.  My back is still hurting slightly, so now I have two excuses for not riding my bike today.

I just received a telephone call from a Miss Potter (no relation to Harry) at American Express (AMEX), concerning the cancellation of my Starwood Preferred Guest credit card, after numerous attempts to get a $45 good will credit for the annual membership fee failed. It appears there is at least one person at AMEX, still versed in the now almost lost art of mathematics, who realized, losing a customer, who generates well over $500 annually in merchant fees, by trying to squeeze an additional $45 out of that customer, was not good business. She's over nighting my new cards to me today, and even gave me her direct telephone line, in case I encounter a similar problem in the future. My faith in American business [at least my faith in American Express] has been restored. Uhm! I wonder if maybe she read my blog. :)

With the real estate market in the toilet, and gasoline, oil and food prices going through the roof, now it appears one of the Criminal Minds , Behavior Analysis Unit (BAU) agents has been killed by a terrorist bomb.  That was just totally unexpected.  I was shocked to say the least. And even worse, I have to wait for next season [and who knows when that may be] to find out who it was. I sure if you've been a loyal fan of  Criminal Minds , you understand how I felt after watching the ending of last nights season finale, but if you're not a fan, or have never watched the show, I suggest you watch the reruns, or rent/buy the DVD's. It is definitely in the top five of my all time favorite shows. Anywaze, I did get the results of this months bloodwork, and for the third time in six months, I have cracked the 100K thou/cumm lymphocyte count threshold.   At least my hemoglobin rose slightly (from 12 g/dl to 12.3 g/dl), and my platelets have remained stable at 213K (reference rang

We were actually able to convince Sylvia to go check out the bridge club I posted about on Friday. She's even there now playing bridge.

It's hard to imagine what it was like living during the "great" depression.  Neither Edie nor I grew up during that time, and there aren't many people who were around then still alive. But there are a few, and Edie and I just so happen to be living with one such individual, my aunt Sylvia. I say it's hard to imagine, because today Edie and I went to see about a bridge club for Sylvia to join. Currently Sylvia only plays on Thursdays, at the senior center close to our home, but two of the last 3 weeks there weren't enough players, so she didn't get to play.  She was a little disappointed, so in our infinite wisdom, Edie and I thought we would look into some other places she could play. We were impressed with the  bridge club .  There were lots of participants at all skill levels, and many opportunities for her to improve her playing ability. Well, much to our surprise, Sylvia was already aware of this club, but she was not interested. And the reason she wa

Thanks to the persistence of Kenny B , who attends just about every race in the southern California area, I've finally come across a decent photo of me, racing at Eldorado Park last night. I'm left center of the photo, in the yellow Velo Allegro jersey. Next week, I plan on being at the front of the pack!

I usually don't like getting political here [health care being the exception], since that isn't the intent of my blog, but sometimes I just can't resist, especially when I hear a continuation of the fear mongering, I have been hearing over the past 7 years, by those seeking to gain some political high ground, and promote an agenda for their own benefit. Such is the case with

I sure hope I didn't offend anyone, by my reference to George Bush in yesterdays post on stupid people, but if I did, I would just like to say, that was not my intention. After all, even I voted for George the first time.

there are REALLY STUPID people. I always knew the US wasn't blessed with a plethora of very intelligent people. You only have to look to the election of George Bush to two terms as president to realize that, but still, I never thought we had stooped to the depth of stupidity displayed by Erik , on Survivor tonight. I couldn't watch, as I saw his decision unfolding. It was just too much to bear. Giving up the immunity idol to Natalie , thinking the other four women wouldn't vote him off, has to go down in the annals of Survivor as the stupidest thing anyone has ever done. If you think the country is in trouble now, just wait until Erik's generation starts running things. I'm not sure I want to be around when that happens.

While it's not stormy outside, nor is there a hurricane, tornado or hail storm bearing down on Long Beach, today still remains as one of those truly standout miserable days. It's not so much that it's been overcast all day, we experience those kind of days quite often, it's just that today it has been MAJOR OVERCAST, and that's something we don't typically experience unless there is a storm bearing down on us. From the moment I got up this morning, the temperature hasn't risen more than 6°F, and the cloud cover hasn't let up at all, in fact it may have gotten heavier. Oh well, one can only hope things will improve for the weekend. The weekend forcast appears promising, but.....

As we spend our last morning in Las Vegas getting ready to head for home , I can't help but feel somewhat disappointed in this years trip. Oh, I don't know! Maybe I've just become too finicky in my old age, and easily disappointed when things don't meet up to expectations, especially since the Wine Spectator Grand Tour (our main reason for coming to Vegas this year) was great. We got to taste so many top wines you don't often get to taste, including the 2003 Casanova De Neri, Tenuta Nuova Vineyard, Brunello de Montacino, and the 2004 Joseph Phelps Insignia, just to name a few. Plus we got to see Jersey Boys , which I have been wanting to see for a long while, and by itself may have been worth the trip [IOW, I highly recommend it], so I can't complain too much. But I remember last years trip to Las Vegas , which incidentally was exactly one year ago this weekend, as being so much more enjoyable, and that was principally due of the choice of hotels. Since the m