The big dog and I awake at 0715. (Wife and little dog have been up since 0600.) Take blood pressure pill. Pour first cup of coffee, hazelnut cream. Figure fun flavors start off the day better. Turn on Morning Joe, and listen to more discussion of Romney’s outstanding performance in first Presidential debate. A spectacle I turned off halfway through. Hard to debate an opponent who denies he said what he’s been saying for the last year or two. He will cut taxes for millionaires & billionaires. Not to mention Big Bird deserves our support. Today Romney says he didn’t really mean what he was caught on tape saying when he thought no one would find out about it. 47% of Americans are no longer freeloaders. Is he telling the truth now or was he telling the truth before? Before he got caught.
Make the bed. Turn on recorded WSOP Main Event session. Gaelle Baumann is my new favorite poker player. Smart, hot, with sweet smile, she reminds me of my wife 35 years ago. Who, by the way, remains smart, hot, with a sweet smile. Watch half of that and decide I’d better check Alex’s mail. OMG. Nothing like winning $148K in the WCOOP to double the volume of prospective students. Then there’s a dramatic increase of the ‘you don’t know me, bro, but I wanna turn pro and even though I have no results, I hope you’ll back me’ entreaties. LOL.
Start this blog. Decided I’d try to do what Alex sometimes does, which is simply to talk about his day. 0848. Both dogs sound asleep. Head back to recliner. A second cup of coffee and watch NetFlix DVD of 2003 Tour de France. Still researching my article In Defense of Lance Armstrong. Also, I like to watch video/read a book/magazine about biking before I head out for my daily ride. Put together a bowl of blueberry yogurt, sliced almonds and granola. Both dogs awake when they hear – from the other end of the house – my teaspoon hit the bottom of dish, which they both love to lick clean. Stretch/isometrics/barbells. Head out the door, put on helmet and climb on bike. Back home 90 minutes later. So exhausted, but not as exhausted as yesterday. Too tired to eat right away. Watch some more WSOP – Gaelle still hot. Watch rest of DVD of Tour de France. Stage 9, Beloki crashes going downhill at about 50+mph. Lance on his wheel. Nowhere else to go, Armstrong heads cross-country, hops off bike to remount and rejoin the chase. Juiced or not, you have to be a great bike handler to make such a move. Also impressive is Tyler Hamilton with a broken collarbone, who refuses to quit.
Lunch is left-over boneless ribs with left-over white rice. Better than prison food. Forgot the cilantro. Finish my chores. Listening to political shows, we learn the jobless rate has dropped to 7.8%, the best labor news since January 2009. Then an idiotic statement by the unfortunately-named Jack Welch – former head of GE and no relation – who suggests Obama’s people have cooked the numbers to recover from poor debate performance. When the unemployment numbers were going up, nobody doubted them.
Answer more of Alex’s mail. Start back to work on my book, tentatively titled When Running Was Young & So Were We. Today’s effort is an interview I did 27 years ago with Joan Benoit, the winner of the first Olympic women’s marathon in 1984. A very special lady and a great, great athlete. (She deserves two greats.)
I hear my wife’s car pull into the driveway & I rush out to greet her. She’s a government worker who hasn’t had a raise in six years, but has added three titles to her responsibilities. Like many women, she can multi-task, but she can’t be in three places at the same time. I goose her up the stairs. You can literally see a transformation in her mood and energy as she changes into a Vera Wang pajama set. I hand her a vodka tonic and she falls into her own recliner. We watch The Young & The Restless. Actually, she watches while I read Sports Illustrated and the daily paper. She’s been watching this particular soap opera for some 25 years and it’s like mind candy, allowing her to dissipate the day’s abuse.
We call my mother, which we do almost every day, just to let the old girl know we are thinking of her. The oven is heating. Fridays are pizza night…tonight it’s California Kitchen’s bar-be-que chicken. As we eat, we watch House Hunters, deciding which of the vacation homes we’d buy with a million dollar budget. Then we get serious. Tonight it’s Homeland on Showtime – virtually everything we watch is recorded because as an ex-advertising executive and a sentient adult male, I loathe commercials. Peggy is already starting to doze off; after all, it is 8:30 p.m. She goes to bed and the dogs go with her.
I check Alex’s mail yet again and can’t help thinking he is not paying me enough. There is little to watch on TV, so I turn on a Baltimore Oriole/Texas Ranger game. I study sports because they teach me so much. Or at least they remind me of lessons already learned. Guess I’ll go to bed early and read more about biking, my newest obsession, my latest passion. Passion seems to be an infusion, the real fountain of youth. Told my bike guy I was scared of crashing. He responded with we’re all scared of crashing. Got to thinking about that… ain’t that the damn truth.
Yesterday was a more exciting day as I got a haircut, went grocery shopping and visited my doctor. I go to a black barber shop, which is a lot of fun. Friday is the most fun day there. as that’s when the young brothers who are getting ready to chase the shorties on the weekend and the ministers preparing to preach The Message gather. Often, I am the only white face in the place. And I am the only man who looks like he might actually need a haircut. Those guys roll tight. I shop at Publix, where I am the master of BOGO, Buy One Get One Free. Remember to get fresh clump of cilantro. For 99 cents, you can kick up every meal and salad for a week.
Oh, yeah, yesterday was more exciting for sure. Got a flu shot. Which was free, thanks to ObamaCare, My young Pakistani doctor was analyzing a recent, comprehensive blood test. Turns out I’ll live. And I am in better shape than he is.