you know what they're writing about

in the weekly e-mail that goes to everybody on the team i work for, check out my blurb...

"We are thrilled to say we've turned over the reins to Coach Doug, who will take on full-time coaching responsibilities for those groups. Doug, formerly with [another team] and currently a coach with our night group at [pool location], is ready to begin a long-term and successful career with [current team] and we couldn't be more confident in his abilities, commitment and passion for teaching your children. Please introduce yourself when you see him on deck!"

able, committed, and passionate? huh, i was hoping for charming and good-looking, but i guess you take what you can get.

what three adjectives would your employer use to describe you? what three adjectives would you use to describe yourself at work? and do you think, or at least hope, that they'd differ greatly?

props if you picked up on the van reference in the title.

it's that time of year

it's that time of year, again. yup, that time where i look at my calendar and see that i've only got 3 months to get back into shape for the summer. although, the last, ohhh, 6 years or so, i've done nothing about except maybe a few sit-ups or push-ups.

not this year. this year will be different. for the last 2 weeks i've actually been swimming. swimming with one of our senior prep groups. and i've actually finished the whole practice. this isn't like in college where our workouts would generally consist of maybe 1500 yards and then a 15-minute hot tub sit. nope, i've pushed up over 3000 meters twice in the last two weeks. simply put? that's more swimming at any point in my life since high school.

hmm what else? i went to see fighting gravity at the barns of wolf trap last weekend. it was a lot of fun, and i even went by myself. everybody had an excuse not to go, and i didn't, so i said why the hell not. it was surprisingly fun and not as awkward as i thought it would be. i was able to get up to the front (much easier for one person) and had a great time. doing stuff like that by yourself is surprisingly liberating... or something like that. so, i can now add a concert to my list of activities i've done by myself. the list? well, not too long. but i have been to the movies by myself.

the curse of manhattan place

to begin, let me clear up any confusion: you matter too, B. you matter, too.

the last 2 times i've left manhattan place, i've had brushes (or near-brushes) with the law. thursday night, coming home from the duke game, after dropping rachel off, an officer pulled me over. i suppose it was 230 in the morning, and he was probably somewhat suspicious.

but, what did he say when he pulled me over? "your license plate looked strange." right. thank you for wasting 30 minutes of my time in the middle of the night when i've been driving all day (and yes, i did tell him about UVa's big win.)

so, leaving last night after the super bowl, i'm on the toll road. not going too fast, and actually in the far right lane. they don't actually pull people in the far right lane over, do they? i'm following a white mini van. we go by a cop at probably 65 miles an hour. the toll road, for those of you that live on the 66 side of the world, is like a nascar track. people fly down it. so 65 is nothing. however, the cop pulls out. i start getting all pissed off about how i had just said that i didn't want to start a new tradition of being pulled over every time i left manhattan. fortunately for me, though, the cop throws his lights on behind me (yah, that was scary), then blows around me and whips in front of me. he pulled over the mini van.

phew. let's just chalk it up to strange coincidence, right?

as predicted

yup, great win last night hoos! the weather held out completely, and it was one helluva basketball game. i'll admit, i got quite nervous with about 3:30 left to go, and i believe we were still down 8. i really thought we wouldn't have enough time to dig out of the hole, especially considering how the shots had been falling all night.

but, i was wrong. we played outstanding down the stretch and pulled out one of the craziest victories i've ever been witness to. great decision to go to the game, and i'm glad the sabre helped me get the tickets!

a couple of thoughts from last night...

1. sean is sick. he's ridiculously clutch. and his no look passes have become, dare i say it? pistol pete-esque. if we had anybody that could grab them and throw them down, well, it would be a nice duo to have on your side.
2. it did get loud in there last night. our section (way the hell up in the rafters) even got to standing the last 5 minutes of the game, as well as all of overtime. good work by the students to keep the volume up, and also for some great chants ("you can't guard him!")
3. michael's bistro, where we were fortunate enough to dine, is nothing short of fantastic every time i go. their beer list is nothing short of magnificent, and my meal, a pasta dish, was easily the best i had ever had. ever. seriously.
4. i had to fight the bartender at biltmore to get a beer... as one of only five people sitting at the bar. why? well, it was 3 minutes before survivor hour started, and they were astonished that i didn't want to wait to save $2. but i wanted to get to the game.
5. beth duffy, the idiot from WCAV19 news, is terrible. she is the most patronizing, out-of-touch big-screen game-leading lady i've ever encountered. please please replace her!
6. the duke bench suit-wearing-huddle-toweldown boys were hilarious. after each huddle, they, no joke, vigorously attacked the floor on their hands and knees with their towels for a solid 10 or 15 seconds. it was ridiculous. but coach k likes them on their knees, i guess. that's what wojo said, anyway.
7. we will actually really miss jason cain next year. and not just because of the stache. he grabbed a solid 10 boards yet again.
8. congrats to the redneck dukies sitting a couple rows behind us that made duke look completely ridiculous and classless. way to slink out of the arena you pieces of shit.

what else? hmm i think that about does it.

also, rachel has started her own blog. you should check it out. the link to it can be found to the right in my "sweet blogs to read."