Battle on the side of the mountain…

One word… WOW!  I hope you had an opportunity to watch Stage 17.  This was the type of battle that I have not seen in a long time.  The two Schleck brothers, Wiggins, Armstrong, Kloden, Contador… it was amazing!  Lance played the ultimate teammate.  He would not allow himself to be used to pull others up to Kloden or Contador, but when the others went on the attack, he was right there, so you have to know he had more in the legs and that he would eventually use them.  He earned my respect more on this stage because he truly showed he was racing for the team.  I remember another stage from way back in 2001 or around that time, when he and Ullrich were battling it out and Ulrich crashed on the downhill section of a stage.  Lance pulled over and waited on him to recover.  That was sportsmanship.  When Lance hit his final blow on the last climb, he took Wiggins out and crushed that gap in no time, catching pu to Kloden on the downhill into the finish.  Wow… Auh… I wanna ride my bike!!!  Lance appeared to turn himself inside out on that descent.  Seeing him fly down that mountain that quickly was incredible.

Contador looked so relaxed, tapping on his peddles much the same way Lance did in his earlier years.  He is definitely the man to beat right now.  He is amazing to watch when he wants to fly up a mountain.  I was a bit shocked that he hit the Schleck brothers so early on the last climb, leaving behind Kloden and having to battle it out with the Schlecks on his own.  He held it though and that shows he is the man to beat.  You still have to wonder if Johan directed Contador to attack when he did.  Whose idea was it to attack?

These guys are unbelievable and in my opinion, the greatest athletes on the planet.  I am proud of the sport of cycling for cracking down on performance enhancing drugs and it is unfortunate that other sports are not taking the same approach.

Looking forward to a time trial stage next!

Stage 16 Excitement

I am way behind on my Tour watching for this year… just have been so tired at night that I have collapsed before I could get a peak at the stage.  Of course I am recording them, so I can look back when I have a moment.  I try to stay away from the news during the days when I am unable to watch the night before, so that the excitement is not ruined.  I had a moment tonight to take a peak…

Talk about excitement… After seeing it, I wanted to go down and hop on my own bike and ride up the little hill down the street and imagine it was ‘Bourg-Saint-Maurice’.  I was upset after watching Lance get dropped on the mountains last weekend, so that probably had something to do with me going a few days without watching the stages.  On this particular stage, Lance was dropped on the second climb, but he quickly fell into a pack of other riders.  Kloden was up with Contador, so Contador had assistance with the Schleck brothers.  Lance stayed back for a short while and then decided to rejoin his comrades, which I believe were over 30 seconds up the mountain by this time.  Lance stood and began hammering like he did in years past.  He flew up the mountain and closed the gap in a couple of kilometers.  I thought Paul and Phil were going to jump out of the screen.  You could feel the excitement.  That was awesome.  Lance flew by Frank Schleck on the way up and never looked back, quickly pulling up along side his boys.  Talk about exciting… that was unbelievable.

Up until this point, there had only been a couple of exciting parts to the Tour.  I can hardly wait to stay up and watch the other two stages that I have recorded.  Hopefully the remaining mountain stages are full of incredible racing.

When suits are needed…

Two days ago, I posted some thoughts on ‘class action suits’.  Today, I read an article about an individual who found medical records for their daughter posted on a public site.  I find this just outright rediculous and in these type scenarios, the offending company should be held liable for their mistakes and pay-up.  In this particular breach, more than a 1000 records were exposed.  Read here for the article I read.    You can also follow the breach timeline as it is captured out on DatalossDB.

Looks as though the question is still out as to who caused the breach, although at the moment MRecord appears to be the culprit.  Something like this should never happen and an oversight like this should be taken very seriously IMO.

Barack’s first month in the hot seat…

Barack is standing behind his ‘transparency’ promise and this is nice for a change.  I just want to see more of it as time goes on and utilizing the Internet is going to be his best option and will prove beneficial.  If he maintains this effort of transparency, it is certainly going to set an expectation from the American public.  The next step will be for this to trickle down to other areas of the government including at the state and local levels.

If you have not already, I encourage you to visit http://www.recovery.gov and learn about the stimulus package.

Crazy Class Action Suits

It is a disgrace in my opinion that Law Firms so eagerly launch into ‘class action suits’ these days. Lets be real. These attorneys don’t give a rip about the person (s) that are supposedly so taken advantage of. They are only interested in the $$$. Lets think about it, Americans are so greedy that they fight for a chance at a class action suit, so they run out and find a reputable Firm that is well vested in ‘Class Actions’ and the next thing you know, we have some enormous and unacceptable suit against a company that ends up rocking the company so bad, that they are out of business or they lose so much reputation that their clientele leaves them and eventually they belly-up. And to think that the economy is in the shape that it is in and we still have these silly class action suits going on leaving businesses strapped for revenue having to cut more jobs.

Enough with the class action suits. This new suit (represented by Berger & Montague – a big class action suit firm) over Heartland Payment Systems just burns me up. People are claiming how they have suffered such losses over this, but lets face it, these cards are being reissued, so I ask the question, are you really put out any money? Did you really lose any money over this breach? Let me ask an even better question, was your identity stolen? Let me go on to answer that one… NO.. it was not, and your cards were reissued, meaning that the previous card is no longer good and anything fraudulent was removed from your account. Yeah, you may have to talk to someone about the charges, but due to the high publicity this thing has received, your card issuer knows by now that you were affected and any reputable establishment is going to take care of the fraudulent charges and not give you a hard time. Instead of taking that route, we are taking the route of ‘lets get a class action together and just drive this company into the ground and cause even more people to lose their jobs’. Wake up America…!!!! Quit looking for a hand-out thinking that you have been done so wrong in life. This country was not formed on this kind of behavior, but due to it, the country is going to suffer greatly. It already has, and as long as we continue to have the attitude that ‘we are owed something’, the country will continue to spiral down.

I certainly hope that the judge who handles this one will toss it out of court, but unfortunately, we have a lot of judges out there that see great happiness is seeing people given free money, especially those attorneys… they are the ones really pulling in the cash in these cases, not the individuals.

The same old challenging question…

The words just keep leaving me as I try to write this out.  I just visited a friends Caring Bridge site, Alan Henley, and read the latest posts, finding myself asking the same old question – Why God?  Why so much pain and suffering?

I noticed some new pictures posted since my last visit and was quite amazed at how different Alan looks these days.  He has lost a great deal of weight and it hurts me to see him and realize how much he has changed.  One other thing I noticed… there were a lot of smiles on faces.  Even during a time like this!  I know it is times like these when God wants us to pull closer to Him and understand that He is the ALL POWERFULL ONE – not us.  This is difficult, because we have a natural tendency to try to control everything we do, but this is not what He wants.  He wants us to cling to Him when we face these types of challenges.  He has bigger plans… plans that we have no idea are going on around us.  Although Alan’s story is something horrible, God is working in the hearts of those who are surrounding Alan at this time and those that hear about his story.

God, I praise your name oh Lord.  You are my God, my only provider.  And like every other night for weeks now, I pray for Alan, Jennifer, Skylar and Brandon.  I pray for their strength, their healing, their comfort and their peace.  God, help me to stay focused on YOU.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

Can we bailout on the bailout???

Warning.. this is one of those complaint blog posts… so if you are wanting something positive to read.. you may want to skip my blog post today.

*****
Wow… This bailout mess has really gotten out of control.  I can hardly believe we are where we are today.  How did we get here?  I believe we got here due to poor decisions that have been made over the last few decades and the terrible decisions we continue to make… such as bailing out these corporations that are ‘in trouble’.  Why not let capitalism do its thing.  I have a major problem with the government being involved in baling these corporations out.  I can understand them being involved if there were actual criminal behaviors… but the problem is.. what these companies have been doing is not criminal behavior… it is simply poor decisions.  Would and should I expect the government to come to my aid if I make poor decions?  Absolutely not!

We do not need more government… and we do not need more bailouts… at the end of the day, our grandchildrens grandchildren will be paying for these decisions and is that really fair?

Even after the bailout, we still have crooks running these organizations and continuing to make rediculously terrible decisions about how to utilize funding… check out this story on the executives of AIG, while this article mentions that “Big lay-offs at AIG will come soon.”

America is headed into major crisis and all the executives can think about is how to continue to bring home millions, spend millious on wasteful activities and ultimately cause employees to lose their jobs.  Unfortunately, our government feels these types need additional funding to maintain their lifestyles.  Where is the justice here folks?

-Wake up America…

Everyone get out of the water!

So I missed posting yesterday… due to the excitement and it was just a very long day.  We had a great morning, took our time and made it down to the beach (our first trip for the day).  We searched for shells, yes, more shells, mainly because the water was still kind of dirty from the storm.  I remember how crystal clear it was Sunday before the storm and even today it is still far from being that clear.  So on to the excitement that I mentioned.

Caroline and I were walking on the shore, about 40 or so yards down the beach from Staci and Campbell.  We were near our little sand stroller that we use to cart things back and forth to the beach.  Staci and Campbell had decided to walk out to the sandbar to take a look there for some larger shells that may have made it that far without breaking.  They had been out there for a few minutes while Caroline and I played.  All of a sudden I heard Staci yell out for me.  I turned to see her backing up off of the sandbar holding Campbell and trying to reach backwards to swim back across to the beach.  I knew instantly that she had seen a shark.  Before I knew it, I had thrown a spray can of sunscreen down on the beach and had sprinted towards them.  As I approached, I glanced out at the water to see two small fins headed down the sandbar away from them.  I slowed to take a closer glance up the beach to scan for any other fins, as I made my way into the water.  I could tell Staci was quite shaken up.  I asked if she had been bitten and she responded with ‘no’ as she gasped for air.  The section between the beach and the sandbar was a stretch of water about 20+ yards and was probably near shoulder depth at times, so she had to drag Campbell on top of her while she swam across that section.  We ran on up out of the water as she continued to catch her breath.  We glanced back at the water, but never saw anything other than dolphins further out from the sandbar.  Staci walked up the beach to tell someone who was out in the water, that we had seen a shark, but he really was not all that interested.  Shock!  If it had been me, and the water being as dark as it was, I would have been out of the water.  Not this guy.  He proceeded back into the water.  We remained out of the water for that trip and made our way back towards the pool for a few moments before heading in for lunch.  It was off to nap time for the girls after we wrapped up lunch.  I rested for about an hour and then took a bike ride for an hour. 

Once I returned, the girls were up and ready to play.  Being as early as it was, I fixed the girls and I some ice-cream and we sat and watched ‘Finding Nemo’ for a while.  Afterwards, the girls were ready for another trip to the beach, so we loaded up the stroller again and headed down.  We spent a couple of hours out (Staci found a few more shells to add to the collection ) before heading back in for dinner (after 8:00 by the time we made it inside).  We had some leftover spaghetti that was just marvelous, followed by a round of desert of course.  We watched some TV and then Campbell and I headed back to the beach to do some crabbing.  Campbell loves it.  We both had a flash light in one hand and a net in the other.  We were determined to find crabs this time around.  We had been out one or two times already this week with no luck.  Within a few moments of stepping onto the beach, Campbell spotted a crab that was smaller than an inch in diameter and was running trying to catch it with her hands.  It somehow managed to escape into the darkness.  We made our way down to the water and spotted a larger one, which we caught instantly.  In June, when we were here, we had a lot of luck just walking in the edge of the water and spotting them very closeby.  Since the water is so dirty, we ended up having to shine the light down the beach and scan for movement.  When we would spot something, we would both sprint down the beach (hoping not to step on a broken shell or a crab that we had not spotted ).  We caught several on our way down the beach and then made it to a spot where water was being trapped and being washed out up the beach (so there was a section of water that flowed kind of like a small creek).  I figured at the other end where it went back into the ocean, we would find crab.  Sure enough, we caught four in that section alone and would have caught more if we had more time.  In all, we caught 9 crabs, missed one that kept evading us and made it back home around 11:15.  We both crashed pretty hard… slept on the top part of the downstairs bunk beds that Campbell has been begging us to let her sleep in since we came back in June.  I woke up feeling like someone had hit me with a bat.  No one reminded me that it only has one layer of mattress (very small one I might add) with no springs, etc.  It also creaked very loudly, but we had a good time.  Anyway, got to run, I hear ‘little one’ downstairs.  Time to go play!!!

Snakes at the beach??…

Oh yeah… it can happen.  Happened to us this evening when we drove a few miles down the peninsula to an area commonly called ’stump hole’, named after the many tree stumps that line the beach.  We spent a few hours there back in June when we were down, so thought we would go back this evening to see how things looked after the storm and also take a look around for shells.  This is where we found all of the shells back in June.  Once we got there, Staci walked down the little road to the beach to determine if the tide was low enough for us to venture around, while I kept the girls in the van.  She returned a few minutes later claiming she had stumbled upon a rattle snake.  I had not thought about snakes at the beach before, but the surroundings were obviously a place they could live.  She stayed at the van while I took a quick look.  Sure enough… a 2.5 feet long rattler.  I came back and got the camera and went back for some pictures.  She has a couple of them posted on her facebook page, but I have added one below just in case you are not connected with her there.  Check it out.

Eastern Diamondback Rattler

OH yeah…!!!  This snake was less than 15 feet from where salt water was washing up onto the shore.  It seemed odd, but a few feet further up the bank was the typical Florida brush, which the snake could have easily hidden itself in and we would have never seen it.  Lesson today: Watch for snakes while at the beach… they live there too.

Shells, shells and more shells…

Everyone was well rested this morning when we awoke.  We had breakfast and decided since the weather was nice, we would venture down to the beach to see what we could find.  I assumed the water would be much more clear today since the waves has died down a great deal from yesterday.  We quickly discovered that the water was not clear and that the waves were still somewhat large enough to keep the water churned up.  Right now, the water itself feels very good, but you cannot see anyting on the bottom because the water is really nasty.  In all of my times to the beach, I never recall the water being that nasty (brownish – I guess from all of the sand and various sea items that the hurricane pulled ashore).  It almost does not seem like the same place we were at on Saturday evening when we were at the beach and the water was unbelievably clear and beautiful. 

Although the water itself was nasty, we did discover what we anticipated would be there – lots of shells.  On top of that, the beach has shrunk – the distance from the end of the boardwalk out to the water was probably 15+ feet shorter than on Saturday.  The hurricane caused such disturbance in the water that it seemed as though the waves just swallowed up the sand.  The beach also slopes more gently down to the water and the slope itself is long, starting soon after stepping off of the boardwalk.  Just strange how powerful a hurricane can be, and that it was still so far away from us that it was able to make these kinds of changes to the beach.

Anyway, as I mentioned, we discovered lots of shells.  Staci and I have never seen this many shells on any beach in all of our life.  Since the water was so nasty, we spent the next hour or more just searching through shells that had been washed up (and continue to be at this point).  There were literally thousands in various pockets down the beach.  One particular pocket of shells was only 50 or so yards down the beach, so we camped out there for a while.  The first picture below shows a good example of how many shells were in this particular spot.  We gathered up the ones we thought were cool or different, most all of which had no visible flaws.  Check it out below – second picture.

Unbelievable amount of shells bunched together.

Awesome looking shells.

Anyway… I am relaxing on the deck, the girls are napping and Staci is out playing at the beach for a while.  Hope the weather is nice back home… it sure has turned off beautiful here.