There Are No Words for This Heartbreak

I am completely heartbroken this morning. I feel like I've been kicked in the stomach. This is not a way to start a Friday, nor is it a way to start a Tour de France.

There's been an ongoing investigation in Spain into a doping scandal which has now reached its ugly tentacles into the peloton - so high up in the peloton, in fact, that the race will start tomorrow 30 riders short (there are a couple of news links over here). This alone would be deeply saddening to any cycling fan, but the news gets worse for this cycling fan - among the riders either suspended by his team or just not allowed by race organizers to start is my favorite rider, Ivan Basso.

I am gutted.

Also among those not starting tomorrow is Jan Ullrich, the other Tour favorite, who has been suspended by his team. The team statement sounded ominous - they say that with the evidence they've been shown, they suspended him immediately. I nearly started to cry when I read that this morning. I haven't seen a similar comment from Basso's team, but I'm sure it's coming. And then I probably will cry.

I said a couple of years ago, when I first became a Basso fan, that if he - a man I considered to be a decent human being above all else - ever turned out to be a doper, I'd lose faith in the sport entirely. I'm trying to hold out hope (these are only allegations, after all, and no one's been tried yet), but I'm preparing to be crushed. And after that, I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about this sport.

Summer Hours

I've been at my wits' end lately trying to keep up to date with everything in my nutty schedule. The summer term began this week, which means I've got two nights of teaching each week plus the class I'm taking... And this is on top of my two part-time day jobs (which make up a little more than one full-time job). I've also taken on writing for a cycling blog, which, while a total blast, is really time-consuming and something I can only do in my free evenings (which I have fewer and fewer of). Plus I'm still trying to keep updating this blog as close to daily as I can, and I've got a lingering thought that I should be reading a little bit more about our vacation this fall - heck, reading anything at all would be nice, as I haven't had time to pick up a book in weeks...

Did I mention that there is, occasionally, laundry and grocery shopping to be done at my house as well?

All this is to say that, based on the suggestion of a friend, I'm going to adopt "summer hours" here at Andiamo. That doesn't mean I won't be posting at all, only that I won't make it my personal mission to update the site every day like I've been trying to do. I hope you'll bear with me and come back when my calendar clears a bit... Especially as I'm planning to do some honest-to-goodness travel blogging from our September trip.

I only wish that with these summer hours came a colorful beverage with an umbrella in it... Alas, I'd probably have to make it myself...

A Fiesta for a Fortieth

Our friend Lynn turned 40 a couple weeks ago, and we went to her birthday bash that weekend. It was a fiesta-themed shindig, complete with a birthday piñata. Lynn eventually gave up with the blindfold nonsense and, at the urging of the crowd, stabbed the thing to death. We were all rewarded for her violence.

Getting Smarter

Ever since a trip to France in 1999, I've wanted a Smart Car. Chris told me then that they'd never make it into the US market because they'd never pass crash tests. Well, apparently they've figured that whole crash test thing out, because reports say Daimler-Chrysler will be introducing the tiny vehicles to the US market early in 2008. Get me on a list now...

Schedule Madness

My over-the-top schedule got a boost into the stratosphere this weekend with a visit from a college friend from Denver. It's been a busy few days, and it's unlikely to calm down anytime soon... When she leaves, my summer classes start. So - my apologies for the lack of posts here the past few days, and a request that you bear with me as I try to figure out when exactly I'm going to have time to do all these things I've said I'll do...

I wanted to like "Syriana"...

...but I can't get behind a movie that makes me feel stupid.

I swear, I am not an idiot. Really. But I had so much trouble following "Syriana" (which we just watched tonight) that it made what should have been (I assume) a movie with a good point just plain frustrating.

Sure, I got the gist of it, but it was too complex a movie for "the gist" to be enough. I'm sure that a 2nd viewing would yield some answers to my questions, but I'm not sure I want to sit through it again. And I'm so annoyed that I didn't love it, because I wanted to...

I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Justice Scalia...

From today's American Progress Report:

In the words of Justice Antonin Scalia, passing a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning "dilutes the very freedom that makes this emblem so revered."

Italian Potluck

We've been taking Italian classes for several years now, and those of us who are beyond level three end up accumulating in the "advanced" classes... We all take them over and over again, the same people signing up for essentially the same class, but since it's always the same gang the teacher will change the lessons according to what we want or need. It's a pretty nice system.

The other nice thing is that most of the students know each other pretty well now, too, since we've been seeing each other in classes for years. Consequently, at the end of most terms, we get together for a potluck of some kind. The potluck for the end of the Spring term was a few weeks ago, and I'm just finally getting around to posting them...


We ate outdoors - al fresco! - in the backyard of two classmates of ours, and then two others (on the right) - the musical ones - sang a few songs for us in Italian. Not a bad way to spend an evening.

More Reasons to Pack Light

The Sunday Oregonian this past weekend had a long article about packing light when traveling. This is an art I really need to learn - I pack a helluva lot lighter than I used to, but I still end up bringing more than I need. What I should just do is bring less than I need - on purpose - as an excuse to go shopping...

Under the Iron Sea

Keane's new album came out yesterday, and I've had it on repeat most of the time since then.


Chris bought the most recent Death Cab for Cutie album not too long ago, as well, and there's still a long list of new music I'd like. Music seems to go in fits and spurts with me - sometimes there doesn't seem to be anything good on the radio, and other times I can't keep it straight, there's too much. This is one of the latter times. I'm not complaining - I love it this way.

Milk Sodaism

Chris brought home the following can of some kind of beverage from his trip to Taiwan earlier this month:



It's been sitting in the fridge ever since. We finally tried it over the weekend, and y'know what? It was actually good.

The whole "Milk Sodaism" thing was a little disconcerting (I kept thinking it would be like Alka Seltzer or something), but it did say it was "orange" flavor. And it ended up tasting like a creamsicle, so all in all, not too bad.

If the Earth were a sandwich...

If you drilled through the globe from where you are now, where would you end up? Here's where to find out. Double click on the left map to place your pin, and the map on the right is the opposite point on the planet. Click and drag the left map to find another destination. And I'm told that Hawaii is the only state in America that ends up entirely on land on the other side (southern part of Africa).

A Little Girl Needs Daddy

A Little Girl Needs Daddy
by Nicholas Gordon

A little girl needs Daddy
For many, many things:
Like holding her high off the ground
Where the sunlight sings!

Like being the deep music
That tells her all is right
When she awakens frantic with
The terrors of the night.

Like being the great mountain
That rises in her heart
And shows her how she might get home
When all else falls apart.

Like giving her the love
That is her sea and air,
So diving deep or soaring high
She'll always find him there.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Is there room in my heart for another?

Generally speaking, there are a hundred things I'd rather do than watch sports - either in person or on television. I know plenty of people who will watch any sport that's on TV, from baseball to football to car racing to golf to - yes - bowling. Chris watches a good number of those things (no, not the bowling), and while I'm in the room some of the time, I'm usually doing something else.

As many of you are aware, there's one glaring exception to the paragraph above - and that's cycling. I love it unabashedly, and now after a decade of following it (albeit at arm's length) I'm even writing about it on that new Tour de France Logue I mentioned awhile ago.

Now soccer is threatening to creep into my hemisphere, at least temporarily, because of the World Cup frenzy in my office. Half of my co-workers are in Berlin for the duration of the tournament, blogging about the games and the experience, and the rest of the gang is watching at least one game a day on a gigantic television that just happens to be in my office. (Poor me.)

I not only finally understand how a 0-0 tie game can be deemed "exciting," I'm beginning to get some of the rules. The other day in the office, someone asked about how the group play was scored, how teams got to the next round. I spit out the answer without thinking, even using the phrase "aggregate goals" like I knew what I was talking about. I did make the disclaimer even then that basically all that was happening was that I had heard that said and was merely regurgitating the statement.

That's when I remembered something - that's how it started with cycling.

Nothing to Talk About

We have our final Italian class of the Spring semester tonight (a week late because it started a week late), and there are rumors that we'll have to deliver five-minute presentations on something - anything - in Italian, of course. I have prepared nothing. I'm too tired at the moment to think about preparing in a mad dash before class meets at 6:30, and so I'll just have to wing it tonight. I suppose I can talk about our trip this fall, or my new job, or... I don't know what. It's strange for me - the one who wouldn't stop talking as a kid - not to be able to think of anything to say.

A momentous day, indeed.

Teabag Tags

When one is suffering from a head cold as I have been, one drinks lots of tea. These are the teabag tags I've collected recently:

A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
-- Pablo Neruda

Men in no way approach so nearly to the gods as in doing good to men.
-- Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC)

People are more funny than anybody.
-- Dorothy Parker

You Could Have a Steam Train...

Every so often we get lucky with the railroad crossing outside our window, when a steam train rumbles past. Usually we hear it too late, only in time to rush to the window and smile as it barrels through, but not in time to rush outside with the camera.

Until Saturday afternoon, that is.

Chris heard it long before I did, and even as I ran outside with camera in hand I was skeptical. But then the crossing gates went down and the steam train blew its whistle again, and I managed to snap a few pictures as it screamed past. On Sunday morning the same train has come by twice more, and I've watched from the window as other people hastily parked cars and ran up to the tracks to snap pictures. It's such a rare treat, I'm glad I finally have some photographic evidence of it. Next time I'll have to take a little video, as the best part of the whole experience is that sound...

Glen Phillips Concert Review

The first time I saw Glen Phillips perform, I didn't know who it was until about midway through his set. He was opening for Counting Crows at the Schnitz, and as I listened to his unquestionably pleasant voice I kept thinking, "Wow, he sounds really familiar..." When he launched into "Walk on the Ocean" the lightbulb went off. Phillips is the former lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket (which, incidentally, is now touring again, I find).

The second time I saw Phillips, I only found out about the show that morning. It was at Mississippi Studio, a tiny and intimate venue which seemed to suit Phillips' style perfectly - there were probably only about 50 people there.

The third time was last Thursday at the Aladdin Theater, and I continue to be really impressed by him as an artist, as a singer and mainly as a performer. There is nothing flashy about Phillips. He's a small man, and wears oversized T-shirts, baggy jeans and flip-flops onstage. The acoustic guitar seems large on him, and yet the voice that comes out is oversized.


Phillips onstage at Aladdin Theater

But let me back up momentarily...

I've always been one to show up early to shows, always in time to see the opening act - even if I didn't recognize the name. This practice has, several times, led to happy additions to my CD collection. And since Phillips himself was once such a discovery, I was curious who he'd have opening for him. I'm glad I got there early.

David Mead was the opener, and I'd never heard of him before. The man walked onstage and picked up what looked like a miniature guitar. I turned to my friend and said, "Is that a ukelele??" Why yes, yes it was - and so I was honestly surprised that his music didn't sound like it came from an island somewhere...

At any rate, his voice is what kept me most in thrall - it's a beautiful voice, not sharp at the edges but precise in its vocal wanderings, and his range is extraordinary. I'm quite sure he hit notes that would have been considered high in my register. He moved ably back and forth between his ukelele and the keyboard, and his clever lyrics and pretty melodies convinced me - at the break I went out to the merch table and bought one of his CDs. My friend and I chatted with him briefly, too, and I have to say - though I know it's not easy to be a "struggling musician," I like meeting struggling musicians. By and large, they're nice people. Mead was no exception. I bought three more of his CDs from his website the day after the concert. I'm hooked.

Phillips took the stage by himself, performing a handful of songs before being joined by his friend Seattle singer-songwriter Jonathan Kingham. Kingham provided some lovely backing vocals and additional guitar or keyboard to fill out the sound. Although Phillips is perfectly capable of commanding a performance all on his own, I'm a particular fan of vocal harmonies, so I was happy to hear Kingham's contributions.


Kingham & Phillips

The duo performed several songs from Phillips' newest album, Mr. Lemons, a couple of covers and one of Kingham's songs as well. In between songs, however, was when the fun stuff happened - the kind of thing that makes a Glen Phillips show feel more like it's taking place in your living room than a theater. The two men spent time tuning between each song, laughing about how lame it was that they needed to constantly be tuning. When Phillips would put the capo on his guitar to start a new song, Kingham, seated at the keyboard, would say, "What key is this one in?" To which Phillips would reply, "It's in this key," and strum a chord, leaving Kingham to figure it out for himself. Kingham eventually said, "Oh, it's in E. Hmm. We've never played it in E before." (As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that it's hard to convey the sense of humor appropriately here; perhaps it was a "ya had to be there" moment, which is too bad, as the entire audience was having a grand old time.)


During the encore, someone in the audience said something that clearly amused Phillips...

Despite my ailing throat (still getting over that stupid head cold), I sang along as best I could when audience participation was asked for, and sometimes even when it wasn't. Phillips performed nearly all of my favorite songs in a set that seemed painfully short - even with an encore. And thanks to a recording policy that seems, to my mind, like a 21st-century version of what the Greatful Dead encouraged, there's always someone in a Glen Phillips audience with microphones and recording devices, and the shows are downloadable on Archive later. I see the June 8th show is already online, and am looking forward to hearing it all again and again.

Mind Over Matter

Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
-- Jack Benny

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Screwing in Lightbulbs

At the Glen Phillips show on Thursday (which I'm working on a review of), he told two jokes which I think are worth spreading around. Both are of the "how many (fill in the blank)s does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" variety.

First: How many Microsoft executives does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Ans: None, you just have to redefine darkness as the new industry standard.

Next: How many Republicans does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Ans: It isn't dark, and why do you hate America?