Do you think?

"Chemical Ali" sentenced to death again.

Headline as seen on CNN

which begs the questions:

Is this guy already dead or will he be executed twice? and

Why is someone wasting time doling out two

punishments that cannot be carried out?

Doctors say implanting fewer embryos will mean a smaller chance of pregnancy.

Headline as seen on CNN
Really? Doctors said that?

This is why I don't regularly watch the news.

Are you anxious, panicked, depressed, schizophrenic?

Advertisement I saw on the back of a bus

for Mental Health Centers of Charleston.

If someone had one of these problems, don't you think

reading this ad would exacerbate their condition?

Try our fish. It's way better.

Wendy's Billboard.

Way better than what?

Are they not confident enough to say that it's the best?

After the Bridge Run

Four years ago, this was the first century that I ever did. With my body shutting down, a throbbing dehydration headache, and six and a half hours later, I was pretty sure I never wanted to do that again. Nine centuries later and I've made this one of my favorites.

The After the Bridge Run spring century dubs itself as fast and flat. That it is. Bring plenty of water because there will be no stopping and with barely a ripple, this is the fastest century around.

8:00 am. and the group (500 total with about 100 for the century) couldn't have asked for better weather. Low: 65 High: 75 and light winds. It took only about a quarter mile for the pack to settle in to the pace it would hold for the next one hundred: fast. So much for the warmup. In fact, it would be 25 miles before I settled in. It sounds strange, but it takes a period of time before the body gets accustomed to some suffering. Sometimes you never get over it; those are the long days. Other times, if you can make it, you experience periods of strength that you never knew you had. This was one of those days.

While I wasn't out there taking monster pulls or soloing off the front (I leave that to the truly strong guys), I did have my moments. At about the halfway point, a group of about seven had slipped off the front and somehow the pack wasn't chasing. It looked like this group had some strong guys in it and I interpreted this as a serious threat to stay away. Apparently so did two others. Out of the pack and onto the chase wheels. Following some rude efforts and some periods of doubt, the three of us had bridged the gap and eventually, so to did the rest.

Following a slowing down of the group to allow for pee-breaks (some stopping and some peeing from the bike, a real Pro maneuver) it was time to chase back another. A triathlete, who for most of the day was doing his own thing at the front, had pulled away. A paceline was formed to bring him back. Showing some of my giddiness from earlier, I pulled through and lifted it to near 30 mph. With a flick of the elbow, signaling to the next rider to pull through, I moved over only to find that I had gapped the field. This can do bad things at the back of the peloton. Ideally, the person rotating through should do so smoothly so as not to cause a speeding up and slowing down at the back. It's just better to continuously pedal. Oh well.

Laid low for the next 30 miles and managed to bridge one more gap with about 3 miles to go. Despite some ugly smack talking in the last five miles and a weaving, wobbly-tired moron on the way out (who received a stiff-arm from me for his efforts), this was a great ride. At 3:56:47, I had finished with my best time and come a long way since that first century. Best of all I felt good doing it.

Daddy Starbucks

I'm going to try something different this time. Instead of complaining and badmouthing companies that I hate, I'm going to talk about a company that I really believe in, and explain how they're screwing it up.

Like me, many of you too are struggling with addiction. Caffeine. Starbucks caffeine. The 'Meigs County Gold' of caffeine. Signs that you are suffering from this addiction are:

-not driving past a Starbucks without your car veering towards it
-finding yourself standing outside a Starbucks waiting for it to open while pulling on the door
-planning trips around Starbucks locations
-being recognized by Baristas
-showing off your new Starbucks locator cell phone app

If you or someone you know experiences one or more of these symptoms, get them some Starbucks now.

Believing they were and evil empire, I used to despise Starbucks. That is, until I actually tried their coffee and saw how they treated their customers. For such a huge company they treated me and their employees well. Offering me free beverages if I were ever inconvenienced by waiting, and despite their taxing and seemingly thankless job, doing it with a smile. I soon became their proponent, swearing off other coffees and spreading my satisfaction throughout the land. This was all to change about a year ago when Starbucks reintroduced its Pike Place brew in an attempt to compete with McDonald's.

If Starbucks is ever to fail, history will show that this was the beginning of the end. By competing with McDonald's, they became McDonald's. I've noticed customer service starting to slip and with it so goes my business. Below is a copy of the letter I recently posted on Starbucks' idea website entitled Don't lower your standards to compete.

Dear Starbucks,

If I wanted crap coffee, I could go to any number of gas stations across the country and get 74 ounces of burnt, sludgy, tar-flavored oily water, but I don't. Instead, I can just go to my nearest Starbucks and get a cup of your Pike Place Roast and enjoy crap coffee in an expensive cup.

"But wait," you say. "Pike Place is our original brew. It's what made us who we are."

Please. What I go to Starbucks for is a huge cup of wake-up. Something bold that will smack me in the face. Please don't patronize me with the premise that you are 'revisiting your roots.' If you are simply trying to cut costs to compete with rivals (say McDonald's) and passing the buck to me, you are completely wrong.

Their clientele aren't interested in Starbucks or coffee. Other than soccer moms, you don't even pull from the same demographic. What I'm saying is that they are not even in your league. Stooping to their low standards will only cost you customers who, like myself, are disappointed in their $2.14 venti. Please go back to the way you used to do business and stop peddling reheated English muffins and dirt coffee. Leave that to the fast food joints.

Within minutes my post had received many positive votes of others supporting my feelings. Check it out for yourself and I'll keep you posted.

Out like a Lamb

March is probably easily like my most favorite month. Be it because of being my birth month (which I also share with my dad and my son) or being the start of spring, March has always held a special place in my book. I still remember being introduced to the Lion-Lamb concept in Mrs. Mehafee's first grade class. The class would vote on what we thought the previous day was and tally the lions and lambs at the end of the month. Not understanding the concept, I always voted lion (lions are way cooler than lambs). I didn't care, it was a win-win situation: lambs winning meant great weather, lions winning meant maybe a snow day and defeating the lambs!

March is the month when the snowy, short days of winter turn to the crisp and sunny days of spring. The time of the year just before the unstable late afternoon thunderstorms of April through June rolled in. Barnyard football turned to backyard baseball, and if you were lucky, a freak snowstorm got you a snow day on your birthday or extended your spring break.

With no chance of a snow day down here, the month came in like a lion: dreary, rainy, and cold, but quickly turned to lamb-like conditions and reshaped my attitude. Like the green grass or the budding trees, I am reborn. Looking forward to the busy spring and summer ahead, now I'm a lamber.

A Cobra?

Dream if you can a courtyard
An ocean of violets in bloom...

Prince

When Doves Cry

Dream if you can a cobra

A vision of violence in bloom...

What I thought it said.

What? It made sense.

Mediterranean Salmon

I made this dish on a whim, using random items I had left in the pantry; turns out it was pretty good. Feel free to add to it whatever you like and vary the ingredients to suit your portions. Sometimes I toss in chopped asparagus for more texture and freshness. Serve with a side of risotto, a mescalin or micro-green salad, and a glass of wine (if you're into that).

Mediterranean Salmon
In a large, deep-sided skillet, sweat some yellow onion over medium-low heat in olive oil. Add garlic and diced tomatoes and allow to simmer and reduce.
Toss in capers, Kalamata olives, and some halved artichokes. More simmering.
Push salmon (steaks or fillets) to the bottom of the pan and spoon mixture on top of the fish. Cover. Cook fish about 4 minutes per side until fish is just pink or still slightly red in middle.
Serve topped with mixture and risotto to the side.

There you have it. Risotto makes an excellent pairing for this dish as it cuts the salt and soaks up some of the residual liquid. Even more so, up until you add the salmon, the dish doesn't require a whole lot of baby sitting or prep work. You can focus on getting your risotto right. The olives and capers add plenty of sodium, so don't add any yourself. I like to eat this meal a day or two before a huge ride. It combines the right amount of protein, carbs, sodium, and good fats for sustained efforts. As for the risotto, stay tuned.

Wholly Cow

I know, I know, the last time I wrote about doing a century I bashed it. Well, the fact that I did another one, and that in two weeks time I will have done a third should tell you that they are a necessary evil.

It is disgusting what you do to get yourself ready for one of these things. The filth that you put in your body just to keep it going. All sugars: fructose, glucose, galactose, lactose, maltodextrin, and high fructose corn syrup. So much sugar that despite being in glycogen debt, your body begins to reject it. The list of stuff I ate reads like a Atkins dieter's nightmare.

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with cranberries, almonds, and apples
Peanut butter sandwich
Orange juice and coffee
Banana

During the ride:
Four Clif shots (sugar and electrolyte blocks)
Chocolate power bar
Handful of cashews and raisins
Half a PB&J
Washed down with 2 liters of Cytomax (more sugar)

Post ride:
Philly cheese steak
Big ol' bag-o-chips
24 oz. Coke (the extra sugary fountain kind)*
*This amounts to my 3rd Coke in five years. I only allow myself to drink it after one of these rides. Riders in the pro-peloton have been known to down up to 10 of these during a stage. The pick-me-up of caffeine, sugar, and carbonation is second only to an IV.

So it was only appropriate that this ride was sponsored by the Wholly Cow Ice Cream and Coffee shop. The ride left from Ravenel (just south of Charleston) and immediately I noticed the vibe was relaxed. I recognized a few of the locals and a group of about 20 of us rolled out at 9:00. The pace and the weather were brisk, 46-degrees, but both would soon change. The conversation of the pack soon faded and turned to grimaced faces. By about the 50 mile point the pack had been whittled down to about 15 (although we would pick up few more from the metric) and things were beginning to change. I started playing cyclo-banker.

Cycling can be analogous to a bank account. You make deposits and withdrawals, and so long as you don't write checks your legs can't cash, you'll be okay. Until this point, I had been doing my share and feeling pretty good. Then some people began to take some hard pulls, and I almost bounced some checks. Already hurting, we approached a gnarly bridge that would lead to Edisto Island. The group hammered up the bridge as if it were flat and it was all I could do to hang on and regroup on the descent (withdrawal). By the time I caught up, I decided that if I was to hang on, I'd have to sit out a few pulls to recover (deposit). The trouble is, it was about this same time that we turned south and into a nice tailwind. Not wanting to waste it, the group surged ahead. I just kept thinking, "Guys we've got to come back this way, shouldn't we save something for the headwind?" The group had other plans.

At the halfway point, a few of us rolled on while the majority stopped for a break. There were now just six of us, and whether it was lack of numbers or the 20 mph headwind, we had lost our impetus. I kept expecting to be caught by the others, but they were nowhere, so on we cranked. We were working together, or surviving, quite nicely until the lure a another rest stop cost us three more riders. Now down to just three, the other two left me to my own devices. I was the third man on the road, which it was how it would stay for the next 35 miles. For the better part of the next hour and a half, my mind wandered, my legs and brain ached, and I felt like my chest was caving in. I wanted to look at my odometer but I knew I couldn't; the result could be devastating. I had to stop once for water and to pee and with about a half-mile to go, the original group finally caught me. I gave it one more go to get on their wheels and roll to the finish.

I had not felt like that in quite awhile and it was good to be done. What is the half-life of pain? I'll let you know in about two weeks.