Hurricane Rita

If Rita follows her predicted path, she will hit the Gulf Coast and reach Austin with 70 mph winds on Saturday. That may make it tough to attend the Austin City Limits festival this weekend. Not to mention my 65 mile ride in Waco. The good news is that my house is in no danger of being flooded.

Huh?

While cycling on a 30 mile paved trail, I encountered three large Vikings. Why would these costumed men walk the course on a sunny Saturday afternoon, shouting seemingly witty phrases to passer-bys. Yet another Californian eccentricity?

Worthless League

I'm not the only one who believes the WNBA is worthless. Besides my mom, who follows her favorite Lady Huskies as they turn pro, I don't know of a single soul who would tune into a game. The athletes are smaller, slower, and less skilled than their NBA counterparts.

Thanks, Ronnie

Today, Ron Francis announced his retirement from the NHL.

Ron Francis was the captain of the now defunct Hartford Whalers during my childhood. I have fond memories of watching him, Kevin Dineen, and Ray Ferraro at the Hartford Civic Center as the Whalers perennially found a way to miss the playoffs. At the time, there were 5 teams in the Adams Division and 4 of the 5 made the playoffs.

Green F**cking Day

I hate Green Day. Their music sucks. They're untalented. Every time a Green Day song comes on, I just want to destroy everything involved in reproducing their horrid sound. Please stop buying their CDs. Eventually they will go away.

Revenge of the Nerds

Mark Cuban represents the ultimate Revenge of the Nerds story. He's a dot com billionaire who wisely took a huge chunk of his money and bought the Dallas Mavericks. Besides being unable to hit the apostrophe key, he writes an insightful blog. Here, he laments on having to release Michael Finley.

Let Me Get What I Wish For

An email exchange with a fellow mountain biker:

Then I hope for world peace, Bush's impeachment, and 57 virgins without having to become a suicide bomber.

ryin

--- [Fellow Mountain Biker] wrote:

> How funny is it that you mention riding in your message, and I get to
> see you the very same day at Walnut Creek. You should be careful what
> you hope for... Enjoy your day.

Holy Cow

I don't know if it's a pricing error or just cutthroat competition, but I was able to book a round-trip ticket from AUS to SJC for $110 on Continental. That's insane considering that it cost me about $30 to fill my 12-gallon gas tank this evening.

I Give Up

There are certain battles that I just can't win. I've invested too much energy. Time to refocus on more fruitful pursuits.

Tie Your Shoelaces, Kids

This is just ridiculous:

A loose shoelace led to White Sox DH Carl Everett's groin pull Thursday. Everett tripped over his shoelace while taking his lead off first base, fell to the ground and suffered a mild strain in his right groin during the rundown that followed. He's expected to miss two or three games.

Everett's salary for 2005 is $4M, meaning that this shoelace incident is a $50K boo boo.