Atlantan Carol Sharpless is the second female at the Duke Blue Devil Triathlon, an iron(man) distance event.

In a story book ending for this inagural triathlon, the first place male, David Glover, is a cancer survivor. Many of the other top finishers have some connection to cancer also. Did I mention that the race was a fundraiser for the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Hope Lodge for pediatric cancer patients?

More information on this amateur iron distance triathlon can be found at their website.

10:16:08 PM    comment []

Andrew Sullivan starts declaring how smart Bush is calling the U. N. on it's bluff.

Others have made the point that the Democrats blew it by forcing Bush to give his speech to the U. N. Other countries were now backing Bush, and saying that the U. N. had to get serious about Iraq. Only one thing could blow up Bush's plan for invasion. That one thing would be Iraq allowing inspectors back. Oops!

Bush supposedly had the Democrats cornered, and the war build up would be front page news through the elections in 60 days. Can Bush spin it so that he still looks good? Or has Saddam out maneuvered Bush? Will the media begin covering the deficits, court appointees, and the economy again? Will Bush just invade anyways? Will inspections actually be effective?

8:07:37 PM    comment []

What an exciting weekend of sports! No, I did not mean football, although I did see the horrible coaching job done by Reeves of the Falcons. I am talking bicycle racing!

The Vuelta Espana, or Tour of Spain if you will, has been incredible. This year the race organizers decided to shorten the length of the stages to see if it would lead to more exciting racing. The racing has been much faster. The stage Sunday was blown apart early by the speed, and some favorites were left in a chase group that lost 18 minutes. They must have felt as bad as the Falcon's kicker Feely, who missed two field goals yesterday.

The breakaways have been great. Luis Perez, of Team Coast, put his heart into an excellent solo breakaway at the end of Saturday's stage. Everybody thought he had it won, and then 15 meters from the finish line, he was caught. The last little hill did him in. On Sunday, Pablo Lastras held on to his solo break, taking a win by 13 seconds over a charging chase group. Seven seconds behind them was the peleton. Today is the individual time trial.

The San Francisco Grand Prix was also televised on Sunday. While all the talk was about Lance, who really is not one of the best single day race riders, 23 year-old Charles Dionne of 7 Up / Nutra Fig covered all the attacks at the end, and outsprinted everybody in the lead pack. Just watching him cover the attcking Lance and Ekimov of the U. S. Postal Team, you knew he was on form, and was planning to be there at the end. A great ride, and win, for him.

11:27:49 AM    comment []

The Blue Man Group has released a memorial to 9/11 titled Exhibit 13.

It is very well done with a catching and moving soundtrack. The Blue Man Group's is an example of how truly original and exciting music can be made regardless of what instruments are available. Most of their instruments are handmade out of very unmusical components. They do very unusual things with PVC, and I am not talking about anything that would be listed on The Reverse Cowgirl's Blog. Do check it out.

Georgia Quit Line Helps Smokers

Actually there are a number of local and national quit lines one can talk to. After smoking two packs a day for seventeen years, the last five trying to quit, I can relate to the difficulty in quitting. Anything that can help is great. This is funded by the tobacco companies settlement, so it has no costs for the government or taxpayers. It gives people two very important aids to quitting: knowledge and accountability.

The Quit Line gives knowledge of addiction and why nicotine addiction is so difficult to break. Along with that is information on what people trying to quit will most likely experience, and how to cope the feelings that will arise. This is crucial knowledge during the early stages when risk of relapse is the highest.

The accountability comes in with optional callbacks from counselors. People tend to honor commitments to non-family members, such as counselors, better than those to family members.

The counselors, who are trained in the clinical aspects of smoking, will be able to set up a custom quit plan with smokers. Smokers have nothing to lose, except maybe an unhealthy habit. 1-877-270-7867.

As a former smoker who has watched countless friends quit over the years, I can say that I have seen only one common denominator in the ways these people have quit. They only thing they did the same, was that they all kept trying, again and again, until they finally got it right. The Quit Line is another method to try.

9:57:18 AM    comment []