Usual complaints in the mail: Today's post lacked humor.

I guess I'll take that as compliment; I really didn't realize that the rest of the posts were funny...

Anyway: New Balance Mileage for the week so far: 16

For a photo essay on yesterday's run (9 miles), please click here and here.

I had an article I wanted to link to, but it's from the Pink Sheet Daily, and I doubt any of you have subscriptions. I would mirror it, or cut and paste the article, but the Pink Sheet's security is so advanced, that I cannot hack it. So, I'll type out a few excerpts for this post, which I have titled:

"Uptight America"

...The agency [FDA] sought to determine how Barr would ensure sales would be restricted to "only those pharmacies agreeing to...keep the OTC version of the drug behind the pharmacy counter and...dispense the drug only upon the production of a valid photo identification card establishing the age of the consumer," Acting Commissioner Andrew von Eschenback noted in the July 31 letter requesting the meeting.

Barr's proposed Convenient Access, Responsible Education (CARE) enforcement and education plan that would accompany OTC sale of the drug also would not allow stores without pharmacies, such as convenience stores or gas stations, to carry the OTC version of Plan B, FDA's letter indicates...

...The acting commissioner's letter requested information about Barr's "plan to routinely monitor these pharmacies to make sure they comply with the restricted distribution plan," and how the firm plans on enforcing the restrictions in any non-compliant pharmacies...

...Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) expressed concerns that FDA would be holding Barr "to an unusual standard...to police and enforce age restrictions on the sale of Plan B" during an Aug. 1 Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions committee hearing on von Eschenbach's nomination...

Please don't misunderstand me, I am all for this mythical "third class of drugs" that would be available without a prescription from your friendly neighborhood pharmacist (only). (Actually, I suppose this third class of drugs already exists...it's just kind of empty right now). But seriously, how many meetings are the FDA and congress going to be having about how to prevent minors from buying this drug? Why don't we let 7-11 sell the stuff? They already know how to card for cigarettes.

I guess I should have a Plan B link somewhere, in case anybody wants to read about Plan B. Interesting bit of (pre) Plan B trivia: the FDA was requesting that drug companies market a morning after pill (the technology has been around for 50 years, the morning after pill is just a high dose oral contraceptive) in the mid to late 90s (those crazy, freewheeling Clinton years), but nobody in the pharmaceutical industry wanted to touch the product for fear of alienating Middle America. A new company (Gynetics) was created, and quickly received FDA approval to sell Preven (4 high dose birth control pills and a pregnancy test, if memory serves). Gynetics and Preven are both gone...we'll see how this Plan B thing works out.

Just when I thought I had nothing to write about, somebody asks me what Nicole is doing today. The usual response goes something like: "It's Wednesday...She's either having an affair, or it's Rainbow night." I suppose the two are not mutually exclusive...but I digress. My response, of course, encourages the next question, "What's rainbow."

Unfortunately, I am not entirely sure. Whenever I ask, I am told something about "service"...like: "We're a service organization", or "We do service". Checking out the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls webiste, I see that service is indeed important to them; at least the font is bigger than public speaking, poise, leadership, or fun.

Here's a picture stolen from Tricia's website. I'm pretty sure Nicole has that exact dress, so maybe she's in there somewhere.



Here's a copy of my (email) conversation with the Snakewoman...this is usually about how the Rainbow conversation goes.

Me: So they wear these dresses, and walk around in circles…nicole plays the piano. When somebody gets some memorized speech wrong, Nicole pounds on a couple of keys loudly…it’s what’s the word, I’m looking for? Not quite surreal…unreal?

Snakewoman: Tea up the nose. Too funny! How long has she been a Rainbow Girl? What caused her to join this…club? This is just very strange to me. Fascinating really.

Me: I think her grandmother was a rainbow girl…Nicole was the grand musician for the state of California when she was in high school. I believe most rainbow girls grow out of it after high school (when they become too old to be rainbow girls). Now she’s a past grand musician for the state of California…for some reason, that’s “grandy” for short. As in, “I got my grandy to play at my reception”. Instead, I call her the grand wizard…or sometimes, the grand poobah. But usually, the grand wizard.

Snakewoman: Isn’t the Grand Wizard the big guy in the KKK? I’m sure she appreciates that. Does she have any retirement plans?

So this very morning I was debating with a co-worker about the importance of correctly pronouncing words in the English language. (I believe the argument started yesterday after she mispronounced cache). Actually, I should clarify, since I'm on the phone most of the day, conversations with coworkers tend to be entirely in email. So, here is a direct email quote (I only added the quotation marks/italics): "Doesn’t the populace make the words? I mean, the dictionary can say one thing, but if 74% of people say it the other way, I would say the dictionary is wrong. Words are tools, not rules." This statement angered me a little, probably because I am one of the few people in this country that knows how to correctly pronounce the words forte and mauve...now I can't say that I have ever had the occasion to use "mauve" in a sentence, but I usually mispronounce "forte" just so people won't wonder what the hell I'm talking about.

However, after a quick trip over to stokefire this afternoon, I realized I was on completely the wrong side of this issue. I don't know what craigslist is like over there, but here it's mostly a place to find casual encounters and cheap cleaning ladies...

Random thoughts on a Monday morning:

1) Snakes on a Plane. Anybody know what this movie is about?

2) Watched Eraserhead for the first time over the weekend. Weird even for a David Lynch movie? Definitely weird...

3) Dinner at the only Swiss restaurant in the OC on Friday. How Swiss was it? Our waiter had a French accent..but they did have Dole on the wine list. We did not risk it.

4) Total New Balance miles for last week: 14

Happy Tin Anniversary, Ms. Lasko. Your six pack of beer will be waiting for you at home.

In other news: Members of Parliament are reading my blog (or so says the gostats counter):
in.parliament.uk
194.60.38.10

Marathon training begins. The plans are currently calling for Long Beach and/or the Outer Banks. Thought maybe I would raise some money for a charitable organization this time around. Anybody have any good suggestions?

Some of you may remember my previous marathoning exploits: Marathon #1 and Marathon #2. (Quick aside, Nicole with sock puppets is right above the Marathon #2 entry).

I swore not to run another marathon until I could qualify for Boston. 3 hours, 10 minutes is never, never going to happen. So maybe I'll shoot for 3 and a half hours. That's a nice, lofty goal.

Anyway, I have not been running for over a month (what with the bicycling, and the vacationing, and the bicycle vacationing). So last night I thought I would start it up again by running to the post office (7 miles, round trip) and back with the Big Boss Man. Not only am I out of running shape...actually I guess that's it, I'm out of running shape. On the way back from the post office, with mail in one hand, and a Power Gel in the other, I tripped over my shoe laces. Normally, I suppose I would have put my hands down to break the fall; however, as my hands were full, I did this neat tuck and roll (and roll, and roll) move . I was hoping to have some disgusting photos of my knees or elbows, but I seem to have escaped unscathed.

Is there a moral to this story?
How about:
1) Practice running before you go running.
2) Make sure your shoelaces are tied.
3) Run on the sand, it's softer.

And id Nico can do it:
Odometer (8/9/06): 7 miles

I'm kind of sad. The Fun Zone (looks like that link is already dead. If you want, you can read about the area right here.) is pretty run down and all, but it's a real genuine piece of Americana that they're removing.

An artists rendition of the finished construction (at least the ferris wheel stays):



NEWPORT BEACH - With a "salute to the past and a nod to the future," officials at the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum have settled on designs for their new home at the Balboa Fun Zone, a remodel they say offers a classic feel while helping revitalize the peninsula.

...The museum bought the Fun Zone last year for $14 million, and remodeling will cost $6 million more.

Hey you Nautical Musuem bastards...why do you need a $5 donation from me to enter your "freemuseumm" if you have 20 million dollars squirreled away?

P.S. In the middle of reading The Fountainhead, and this "salute to the past, nod to the future crap" is indeed irritating.

Sadly, many of the Too Much Joy links I needed to write this entry have disappeared from the world wide web. So we will make do...and you will just have to believe me about most of it.

Seven or 8 years ago, when I first decided to spring the 9 dollars for a domain name, I had my heart set on drugsaremylife.com; however drugsaremylife.com was already taken (glad to see somebody is still doing something useful with the domain). So I registered the next best thing, borrowed from the title of a little known Too Much Joy song, Take A Lot Of Drugs. Aside from all the revenue I am not making by selling Drugs Are My Life T-Shirts (check your local pharmacy school if you want one), I like takealotofdrugs.com better (anybody want a T-shirt?).

So anyway, there's this really cool story that goes along with the song, and I used to have some real newspaper clippings somewhere. Now all I can find is this reproduction. The brief version of the story goes something like this: A Too Much Joy fan/congressional aide (the band was big in D.C.) played Theme Song at a GOP party the night the republicans took back the house. Something about the song touched Newt Gingrich, and everybody was breaking champagne glasses to the lyric "Smash a glass and cry, Too Much Joy...to create you must destroy..." Unable to convince the members of Too Much Joy that this story was true, the fan had Newt sign a letter thanking the band for their inspirational song, etc. What would a band that had once traveled to Florida to play a set of 2 Live Crew (no way I can check that link at work) songs, for the purpose of getting arrested, do with such a letter? Call the newspapers and local news, and tell them that Newt Gingrich likes a band that is encouraging your kids to "take a lot of drugs, drink a lot of beer, and have a lot of sex..." Newt denied the story, but lead singer Tim Quirk still has his copy of the letter.

Email I received from a co-worker today...Actually, most of the pharmacists in the building received the email:

Subject: BOYCOTT STARBUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No more STARBUCKS!
Next time you feel like getting your latte, know that its contributing to the killings of many innocent civilians....BOYCOTT STARBUCKS UNTIL ISRAEL STOPS CARPET BOMBING LEBANON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Israel may say they are only hitting the muslim areas but their recent attack was to a strictly Christian Beach Resort. They are basically demolishing a beautiful city and killing thousands....Stand against violence....the world we live in has becoming appalling...

Lebanese Lobby ::: Lebanon

So where to begin?

If you were reading diligently, you would have noticed that the first link (from the lebanese lobby link) admits that the letter is a "parody", but that all the views expressed are true.

Starbucks hoaxes are, of course, nothing new. Here's one about how the company does not support the war in Iraq. And an interesting one about Starbucks closing all its stores in Israel. Don't get me wrong, as part owner of Diedrich Coffee, I am not opposed to a Starbucks boycott...still, I could do without the anti-Israel crap sent to my work address. I get enough of that from CNN.

What is with all this talk of Zionism?

I used to share an office with a Palestinian guy. Commenting on a water bottle that one our colleagues was drinking out of (it said something like: "Women's Zionism Day"), he said, "I knew she was Jewish, but I had no idea she was a Zionist". Hey, it was 2001, and I'm all for a state of Israel, so I replied, "Dude, we all are". I did not understand then, and I do not understand now what the term means to the Muslim world. Does "Unionist" still carry a negative connotation in the South?

I was planning on a light and lively post about the origin of my site's name. Maybe tomorrow.