Mash-Ups

The World Wide Web is a velvet-lined bear trap, in my humble opinion. How wondrous it is to be able to type in a few terms into a search engine & be overwhelmed with information, misinformation, disinformation & shameless capitalism, all in a matter of moments, depending on the rarity of the item. The fun begins when you start to fork through the, er, stuff, with the intent of "finding the pony" you know is in there. It's definitely living proof pure democracy is the worst form of government, next to despotism, with a representative democracy only one step higher on the ladder.

Actually, the internet might be closer to modern American representative democracy than I care to think. All I have to do is give a few dollars to the right persons - like lobbyists, right? - who will type in the plethora of search tags my site needs to be recognized among the masses. My wife has been working on a series of how-to videos for her work...I've been joking about it, telling her they are how-to-videos. She decided to do something really cute last week, involving a ponytail extension. (A couple of months ago she got her hair clipped into a very serious pixie cut; which for her is fantastic, she has to spend less time shampooing and styling, & it's less hot during our summer conditions. Took me about thirty minutes to get used to it, but after that it was all good.) She finished the video while wearing the ponytail...but started the video without it. Kind of humorous, an allusion to the length of time it could take to accomplish a particular process. She was going to do something else, but I recommended the ponytail.

Of course, she was waiting for friends, colleagues & consumers to ask how she grew her hair out so quickly...we were going to have her mention she answered one of those internet advertisements we all kick into the junk mail folder. The continuation of the joke, however, will remain unspoken in this forum, but I think some of you can get the visual. Ugh.
Suzanne's told me about mash-ups, the joining together of two seemingly incongrous technologies. In music this might be a mix, but I've run into some mash-ups here & there (Judie Tzuke's Stay With Me Til Dawn & Pink Floyd's Breathe is a good example). In 'grit country,' wearing a t-shirt that has to do with racing brings the inevitable question: 'oh, do you do stock cars?' Hm. I'm reading a book with a picture of Alan Webb on the cover; wearing a Timex Ironman watch, Asics running shoes, & I'm carrying a binder with a USA Track and Field logo on it. Probably not.

But, can you imagine if runners began to use the language of automobile racing?
The Cubs must be doing well. I haven't followed anything of the baseball season, outside of the Manny Ramirez-thing. I've more-or-less given up on that particular sport for the painfully obvious fact it's as dirty, if not more so, than cycling. At least when cyclists get caught doing drugs (even the ones for which they're not getting tested, like Tom Boonen & cocaine) they get the snot slapped out of them, then suspended for two years. Dear Major League Baseball: Don't make me go all UCI (wimps compared to the French & Italian cycling federations!) on your butt.

I'm certain my father is tight on his fantasy baseball league & watching what games he can in between working his part-time job (supervising clean-up of roadside rest areas near my home town) & whatever honey-do list Linda has crafted for him. He's not on the Facebook as much as he originally was, either that, or he's more of a lurker than a status poster.

Reading the statuses of some of my contemporaries on Facebook does make me think every so often. Several of my tri-geek friends went out & had a practice triathlon (I guess) at the beach this weekend...yep, on the Fourth of July. Frankly, that's a frightening time to be out on the roads, especially near the beach. I don't know how long they went, or if there were bragging rights on the line...but sometimes it just doesn't matter, y'know?

Perhaps I'm just being cautious, or lazy, or know I'm going to get blown out of the water/off the road by most everyone...I haven't figured it that much. Because I'm coaching entry-level people it's more important for me to (as in the words of John Lennon) Be Here Now. They might not like me jogging past them, saying hello in a chipper 'gosh, I'm loving life right at this moment' voice, but that's the reason I get paid the big bucks. I am getting paid, aren't I?

No? Ah, then it's the scintillating conversation after it's all said & done. We found a new breakfast joint, just in time for me to have to go out and do long rides while everyone is eating. Haven't figured out what channel Versus is on yet, but we have a couple of weeks. We'll have it figured out by the Vuelta a Espana.