Pet Peeve Phriday

Parents who use an atlas to name their babies. Now not all of these are bad, if fact some of the names I actually like. It’s just the trend of naming kids after cities, states and countries that is annoying.

Dakota, Denver, Cody, Carson, Cheyenne, Austin, Aspen, Ireland, Savannah, Charlotte, Dallas, Sydney, Madison, Virginia, Augusta, Catalina, Troy, Orlando, Brooklyn, Phoenix, Venice, Olympia, Montana, Paris, Houston, Holland, Trenton, Jackson, Mason, Easton....

And before anyone points out the fact that I have a daughter named Alexandria (a city in both Virginia and Egypt) – all I have to say is tough tootsie - do as I say not as I do :P

Baby Name test:

It always helps to say something out loud to yourself to see how it sounds. For example: "Babe Ruth is a Hall of Fame baseball player". See that just sounds right. "Pee Wee Herman is a manly-man". That just sounds wrong.

So before you name your baby take the following test – Which sentence below does the name fit in better? Say it out loud.

1) "Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States [blank] [blank]" or
2) "And now, on the main stage, the Lusty Ladies Adult Club presents the hot action of [blank] [blank]."

I'm thinking birth certificate forms should include this simple test.


Celebrities may be the worst at naming babies. What is it about celebs that they have to give their poor kids ridiculous names? Are they that big of publicity-whores? Are they that insecure that they have to try and standout even more?

Here is the 50 craziest celebrity names from London Times article.

Aanisah: Macy Gray (also mother to Tahmel)
Apple: Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow
Astrella Celeste: Donovan and Linda Lawrence (also parents to Oriole Nebula)
Atherton Grace: Don Johnson and Kelley Phleger
Audio Science: Shannyn Sossamon
Aurelius Cy: Elle Macpherson and Arpad Busson
Blue Angel: U2's The Edge and Aislinn O'Sullivan
Bluebell Madonna: Geri Halliwell
Brooklyn: David and Victoria Beckham (also parents to Romeo and Cruz)
Calico: Alice and Sheryl Cooper (also parents to Sonora Rose)
Camera: Arthur Ashe and Jeanne Moutoussamy
Destry: Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw
Diezel Ky: Toni Braxton and Keri Lewis (also parents to Denim Cole)
Fifi Trixibell: Bob Geldof and Paula Yates (also parents to Peaches and Pixie)
Fuchsia: Sting and Frances Tomelty
Gaia: Emma Thompson and Greg Wise
Gulliver: Gary Oldman and Donya Fiorentino
Heaven: Lil' Mo (also mother to God'Iss Love Stone)
Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily: Paula Yates and Michael Hutchence
Hopper: Sean Penn and Robin Wright
Ireland: Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger
Jaz: Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi
Jazz Domino: Joe Strummer
Jermajesty: Jermaine Jackson and Alejandra Genevieve Oaziaza (previously married to Jermaine's brother Randy)
Kal-El Coppola: Nicholas Cage (Kal-El is Superman’s original birth name)
Kyd: David Duchovny and Tea Leoni
Lark Song: Mia Farrow and André Previn
Lennon: Liam Gallagher and Patsy Kensit
Liberty: Ryan Giggs
London Emilio: Slash
Luna Coco Patricia: Frank Lampard and Elen Rive
Marquise: 50 Cent
Memphis Eve: Bono
Moon Unit: Frank Zappa, also father to Dweezil and Diva Muffin
Moxie CrimeFighter: Penn Jillette (also father to Zolten)
Ocean: Forest Whitaker (also father to Sonnet and True)
Pilot Inspektor: Jason Lee and Beth Riesgraf
Poppy Honey: Jamie and Jules Oliver (also parents to Daisy Boo)
Rocket: Robert Rodriguez (also father to Racer, Rebel and Rogue)
Rufus Tiger: Roger Taylor also father to Tiger Lily and Lola Daisy
Saffron Sahara: Simon and Yasmin Le Bon (also parents to Amber Rose and Tallulah Pine)
Sage Moonblood: Sylvester Stallone and Sasha Czack (also parents to Seargeoh)
Satchel: Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee
Seven Sirius: Andre Benjamin and Erykah Badu
Shiloh Nouvel: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
Sosie: Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick
Suri: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
Tallulah: Bruce Willis and Demi Moore (also parents to Scout and Rumer)
Willow Camille Reign: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith
Zola Ivy: Eddie Murphy and Nicole Mitchell

Tour de France 2009

Stage 6 > Day 6 > 182km Today the Tour de France takes place in Spain – don’t ask. We are starting in Girona and ending in Barcelona. This is another somewhat flat stage but it does have a few climbs to that could break things up. Its also raining today in Spain so that might limit the sprinters a bit at the end.

A small group did manage to stay away (barely) all day. At the end it was Norway's Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam)

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s stage, the tour enters the Pyrenees and the fun will be starting in earnest. Here is the description of the stage:
“The Tour’s early entrance into the mountains will be sudden, with a Level 1 mountain pass and one of the highest finishes in its history, at 2,200m elevation. And yet this will not the time of great manœuvres. The fact that difficulties will be spread out throughout the race, as well as the length of the first Pyrenees stage, should enable a bold, sturdy climber who breaks away from the pack early to seize his chance at Arcalis.”

The overall Top 5

1. Fabian Cancellara - Team Saxo Bank
2. Lance Armstrong - Astana at 00:00
3. Alberto Contador - Astana at 00:19
4. Andréas Kloden - Astana at 00:23
5. Levi Leipheimer- Astana at 00:31

The Jersey’s are as follows

Yellow (overall leader) – Fabian Cancellara – Team Saxo Bank
Green (Sprinting points leader – Mark Cavendish – Team Columbia
Polka Dot (King of the Mountain) – Stéphane Auge – Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne
White (best young rider) – Tony Martin - Team Columbia

Tour Fun Fact

How are mountain climbs categorized?

There are no set rules on how the organizer can categorize hills or mountains. This is how the Tour de France climbs are defined:

- The easiest is a Category 4, which is typically less than 2km long and about 5 percent grade, or up to 5km at a 2-3 percent grade.

- A Category 3 can be as short as one mile with a very steep grade, perhaps 10 percent; or as long as six miles with a grade less than 5 percent.

- A Category 2 can be as short as 5km at 8 percent, or as long as 15km at 4 percent

- A Category 1, once the highest category, can be anything from 8km at 8 percent to 20km at 5 percent.

- An hors catégorie (“above category”) rating is given to exceptionally tough climbs. This could either be a Category 1 whose summit is also the finish of the stage, or one that is more than 10km long with an average grade of at least 7.5 percent, or up to 25km miles long at 6 percent or steeper.

Today's Workouts

10 miles early this morning wearing my Asics Speedstar running shoes. A lot less then most Thursdays - resting up a bit for a race on Sunday.

Tour de France 2009

Stage 5 > Day 5 > 196KM Basically flat stage with a few climbs thrown in. Today’s stage takes us from Le Cap d'Agde on the Mediterranean coast inland to the town of Perpignan.

Le Cap d'Agde

Perpignan

Who was hurt the most by yesterdays TTT? Probably Cadel Evans (2nd place each of the last 2 years) and Carlos Sastre (the defending champion). They are down by 2:59 and 2:44 respectively. A huge chunk of time to make up legally.

With a basically flat but windy stage it looks to setup as another bunch sprint finish, assuming the peloton reels in the breakaway group that is sure to take off early in the race.

Well there was a nice breakaway group of 6 today and they almost got caught by the peloton but Thomas Voeckler managed to just hold on and take his first ever stage win by 7 seconds over the main pack.

No change in the overall standings or in any of the jerseys.

The overall Top 5

1. Fabian Cancellara Team Saxo Bank
2. Tony Martin Team Columbia - Htc, at 0:33
3. Lance Armstrong Astana at 00:40
4. Alberto Contador Astana at 00:59
5. Bradley Wiggins Garmin - Slipstream at 01:00

The Jersey’s are as follows

Yellow (overall leader) – Fabian Cancellara – Team Saxo Bank
Green (Sprinting points leader – Mark Cavendish – Team Columbia
Polka Dot (King of the Mountain) – Jussi Veikkanen – Francaise Des Jeux
White (best young rider) – Tony Martin - Team Columbia

Tour Fun Fact

The shortest rider is Samuel Dumoulin of Team Cofidis at 5’2” and the tallest is Stijn Vandenbergh of Team Katusha at 6’6”.

The heaviest rider at this year's Tour is Cofidis rider Rein Taaramae at 198 pounds. The lightest rider is Team Caisse d'Epargne's Rigoberto Uran, who weighs in at an Ally McBeal like weight of 119 pounds.

Today's Workouts

7 mile run on the trails wearing my Asics Attack Trail running shoes. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, again, the weather here in Maryland is still incredible. 84° and sunny, low humidity and a nice breeze. No global warming here Mr Tree-Huggers.

The only downer was the lame wildlife count: 1 lousy woodchuck

I Love Politicians

Sure $13 million isn't a ton of money in the big scheme of things - unless of course you are one of the millions who are unemployed and unless of course the money is stolen tax dollars....

From The Daily Reckoning

"Lawmaker spending on overseas vaca...sorry, diplomatic excursions has nearly tripled since 2001.

"According to a study from The Wall Street Journal, hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas last year at a record taxpayer cost of $13 million. And that doesn't include off-budget costs like spending in war zones or borrowing government planes to jet set abroad.

"Some of last year's most diplomatically vital trips include: Five representatives checked out the Galapagos Islands to 'learn about global warming.' Six senators attended the Paris Air Show. Eight lawmakers enjoyed a delightful eight-day Italian excursion. And perhaps taking the cake, the House Homeland Security Committee's jaunt to Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Panama... pertaining to the defense of US borders, we must assume.

"While the official numbers aren't out yet, the WSJ claims expenses this year appear just as outrageous. There are over 20 government employees whose sole job function is to plan congressional outings."

A Tale of Two Funerals

Farrah Fawcett - Private funeral with 200 family and friends at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels.

Micheal Jackson - Total media circus and freak show at the 20,000 seat Staples Center - complete with MJ in a golden casket covered in red roses like he was some kind of Greek god. 3,000 of LA's finest will be guarding the Staples Center. Plus the very in debt city of LA gets to pick up the $2-$4 million security tab for the event...nice.

8,750 'fans' (out of 1.6 million) won tickets in some kind of online lottery.

The event was a who's who of celebrities. Which was to be expected but it just seemed so over the top. Was it really necessary to have Don King and Al Sharpton there? Alas I guess if that was the kind of celebration that his family wanted...

Notably absent was Elizabeth Taylor, long time friend of MJ's, who posted this message on Twitter and said she declined an invitation to speak because she "cannot be part of the public whoopla."

So much for resting in peace.

All I can say is thank God its finally over and he's in the ground. I like listening to his music but the 24/7 in your face reality-show like coverage as been a bit much. He was hardly Mother Theresa or the Pope.

Tour de France 2009

Stage 4 > Day 4 > 39KM Team Time Trial (TTT) in the town of Montpellier

For the TTT all 9 riders of each team ride together, at least 5 from the team have to finish. The clock stops after the 5th rider for the team crosses the line.

The TTT just looks plain cool. So if you haven’t seen one, check out the Versus reply tonight.

Today’s time trial will give Lance a very realistic chance of getting back into Yellow for the first time in 3 years. Team Astana is a very strong Time Trial team and Lance is only 40 seconds off the lead in 3rd place.

Well that turned out to be s truly exciting race. Yes really, it’s true. I know that it might not seem thrilling to watch 9 men in skin tight spandex ride bikes for 46 minutes (unless of course you are Madonna or Richard Simmons) but trust me it sure can be.

So as I said, Lance was down by 40 seconds overall and his team beat Fabian’s team (Team Saxo Bank) by 40 seconds. But alas the Tour can’t have 2 riders wearing yellow at the same time. Ties are like Kissing Your Sister. The Tour doesn’t normally record time in 100th of seconds but they did this time. So Lance is in second place by a few one-hundreds of a second. In addition to Lance, Team Astana also has riders in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 11th and 18th place. An astounding 7 of their 9 riders are in the top 20. Their other two rides are in 165th and 177th place. I wonder if those two slackers have to eat at a different table.

Complete Stage 4 Results

1. ASTANA 00:46:29
2. GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM 00:46:47 00:00:18
3. TEAM SAXO BANK 00:47:09 00:00:40
4. LIQUIGAS 00:47:27 00:00:58
5. TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC 00:47:28 00:00:59
6. TEAM KATUSHA 00:47:52 00:01:23
7. CAISSE D’EPARGNE 00:47:58 00:01:29
8. CERVELO TEST TEAM 00:48:07 00:01:37
9. AG2R-LA MONDIALE 00:48:18 00:01:48
10. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 00:48:39 00:02:09
11. RABOBANK 00:48:50 00:02:20
12. QUICK STEP 00:48:55 00:02:26
13. SILENCE - LOTTO 00:49:05 00:02:35
14. FRANCAISE DES JEUX 00:49:15 00:02:46
15. TEAM MILRAM 00:49:18 00:02:48
16. COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE 00:49:28 00:02:58
17. LAMPRE - N.G.C 00:49:54 00:03:24
18. AGRITUBEL 00:50:47 00:04:17
19. BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM 00:51:11 00:04:41
20. SKIL-SHIMANO 00:51:52 00:05:23


The overall Top 5

1. Fabian Cancellara Team Saxo Bank
2. Tony Martin Team Columbia - Htc, at 0:33
3. Lance Armstrong Astana at 00:40
4. Alberto Contador Astana at 00:59
5. Bradley Wiggins Garmin - Slipstream at 01:00

The Jersey’s are as follows

Yellow (overall leader) – Fabian Cancellara – Team Saxo Bank
Green (Sprinting points leader – Mark Cavendish – Team Columbia
Polka Dot (King of the Mountain) – Jussi Veikkanen – Francaise Des Jeux
White (best young rider) – Tony Martin - Team Columbia

Tour Fun Fact

Helmets: Mandatory, dude!

To reduce or eliminate deaths from crashes, every rider in the Tour must now wear a helmet during every stage of the race, including time trials. At their own risk, cyclists may remove their helmets during the final climb to the summit if the climb is at least 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) long. A Tour course marker designates the point on the course where cyclists can remove their helmets. Removal of helmets on mountain stages is never allowed before the start of a climb.

Today's Workouts

15.5 mile run early this morning wearing my Saucony Tangent running shoes. Weather is still awesome in Maryland. The run was originally supposed to be 12 miles but my legs were feeling extra perky this morning.

Our Future Healthcare System Under Obamacare

1-8OBama-care

For Spanish, press 1.
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Thank you. Please enter the nature of your ailment, condition or problem.

For Achondroplasia, press 1-0-0-0. For Acne, press 1-0-0-1. For Acrodysostosis, press 1-0-0-2. For Acromegaly, press 1-0-0-3. For Adenoids, press 1-0-0-4. For Adrenoleukodystrophy, press 1-0-0-5. For Age-related macular degeneration, press 1-0-0-6. For Agoraphobia, press 1-0-0-7. For Albinism, press 1-0-0-8. For AIDS, press 1-0-0-8. For Alcohol poisoning, press 1-0-0-9. For Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, press 1-0-1-0. For Alport syndrome, press 1-0-1-1. For Altitude sickness, press 1-0-1-2. For Alzheimer's disease, press 1-0-1-3. For Amyloidosis, press 1-0-1-4. For Anemia, press 1-0-1-5. For -----

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Did you select HEART ATTACK? If yes, press 2, if no, press 9.

2

On a scale of 1 to 9, with 9 being excruciating pain, how much pain are you in?

9

Enter your age, followed by the pound sign.

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Call recording terminated

Tour de France 2009

Day 3 - Stage 3 - 196.5km. Marseilles (It is the Tour's 33rd visit to this harbour on the Mediterranean, first appearing in the very first Tour in 1903) to La Grande-Motte.

Marseilles

La Grande-Motte

This should be another 'sprinters stage'. Watch for an early break away by some riders with the pelton chasing them down so each teams sprinter can have a crack at a stage win. For the teams without a strong contender for the overall race win, winning a stage is huge. It keeps their team in the spot light and keeps the sponsors happy. The other option is that the peloton just chills today and lets the breakaway have their day in the sun. If the breakaway contains none of the 'A' riders then they might just let them go and save their legs for the mountains.

Sure enough, 4 riders broke away and stayed away for a decent amount of time but they were eventually caught. The interesting thing today was that the peloton/pack broke in two in some heavy winds. A group of about 25 (including Lance Armstrong and current leader Fabian Cancellara) reeled in the 4 and finsihed about 40 seconds ahead of the main peloton. "Co-Captain" of Team Astana (Lance's team) was not in the main group. This should make for interesting dinner conversation tonight on the team bus.

At the very end Mark Cavendish once again showed why he is one of the best sprinters in the world and took his second stage win in as many days.

Tomorrow is the Team Time Trial (TTT) and with Astana being a very strong team, Lance could actually find himself in Yellow tomorrow night.

The overall Top 5

1. Fabian Cancellara Team Saxo Bank
2. Tony Martin Team Columbia - Htc, at 0:33
3. Lance Armstrong Astana at 00:40
4. Alberto Contador Astana at 00:59
5. Bradley Wiggins Garmin - Slipstream at 01:00

The Jersey’s are as follows

Yellow (overall leader) – Fabian Cancellara – Team Saxo Bank
Green (Sprinting points leader – Mark Cavendish – Team Columbia
Polka Dot (King of he Mountain) – Jussi Veikkanen – Francaise Des Jeux
White (best young rider) – Tony Martin - Team Columbia

Tour Fun Fact

What is the gruppetto?
This is the group of riders that forms at the back of the race, usually on mountain stages. They ride at a pace just fast enough to finish within the day’s time limit (a varying percentage of the stage winner’s time). The gruppetto (Italian for “a small group”) is sometimes called the autobus, the bus or the laughing group — but this is no laughing matter. Riders at the back are often sick or injured and struggling just to finish the stage

Today's Workouts

Afternoon updates:

Workout update - 8 miles on the trails. the weather continues to be awesome for July. 85, breezy, sun not much mugginess. Critter count: 1 wood chuck, 4 deer and 1 jogger. Wore my Asics Attack Trail running shoes.

Lunch update - cheese steak and crab fries

Ego update - on the way out to run at lunch time, some of the people that work here introduced me to the new receptionist. Since I’m a contractor at this location she will have to buzz me in when I need to get into the building. I was introduced as "this is Rob, he runs at lunch every day and he has the nicest legs of anyone in the company".

Najor Announcenent

The 'M' key has fallen off ny laptop. Using it is now a royal pain in the butt. In order to nake ny life easier I shall be using the 'N' key as a replacenent.

Please adjust your reading of ny posts accordingly. I an sorry for any trouble this ny cause you.

A special apology to San, Non to Five Ninnies, The Non, Narissa, Nary and any others whose nean parents put a letter fornally known as 'M' in your nane.

Nadia, Nancy, Nathan, Nick and Nero, you guys are all ok.

Now I just have to figure out what to with all ny upconing posts naking fun of Obana. It could get old typing Obana over and over again.

Tour de France 2009

Day 2 – Stage 2 > Monaco to Brignoles – 187km.

This is non-mountain stage. Rugged terrain but not super hilly. It will be a sprinters bunch finish today. The overall leaders will just stay reasonably close to the sprinters and try and stay out of trouble – ie no crashes. The big boys will let the sprinters have their day in the sun and pick up some points and a stage win. The sprinters will all fade away when the tour hits the mountain stage anyway.

And yes it did turn into a sprint for the finish with Mark Cavendish, the Brit who rides for Team Columbia, pulling out the victory today.

There was no change in the top 10 overall standing.

The Jersey’s are as follows

Yellow – Fabian Cancellara – Team Saxo Bank
Green – Mark Cavendish – Team Columbia
Polka Dot – Jussi Veikkanen – Francaise Des Jeux
White – Roman Kreuziger - Liquigas

Tour Fun Fact

Why do riders race in a pack?

By riding behind other cyclists — called drafting — on a flat road, a rider uses roughly 30 percent less energy than he would riding alone. When the speed is extremely high (in chasing a breakaway or in the final hour of a flat stage), the pack stretches into a single line as each rider fights to stay in the draft created by the fast-moving group.

Today's Workouts

4.54 easy miles to try and loosen the legs up. Wore my Newton running shoes.

The Cowboy

A cowboy appeared before St. Peter at the Pearly Gates.

'Have you ever done anything of particular merit?' St. Peter asked.

'Well, I can think of one thing,' the cowboy offered.

'On a trip to the Black Hills out in South Dakota , I came upon a gang of bikers who were threatening a young woman.

I directed them to leave her alone, but they wouldn't listen.

So, I approached the largest and most heavily tattooed biker and smacked him in his face ...

Kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring, and threw it on the ground.

I yelled, 'Now, back off!! Or I'll kick the snot out of all of you!'

St. Peter was impressed, 'When did this happen?'

'Just a couple of minutes ago...'

Tour de France 2009

Day 1 - Stage 1 – The Prologue

Le Tour starts today in Monaco with a 15.5km individual time trial. Each rider is on his own and basically goes pretty much all out for about 10 miles with the fastest times being just under 20 minutes. Roughly 30mph. The riders wear more streamlined aerodynamic clothes and use a special time-trial bike that is also more aerodynamic. These bikes aren’t allowed to be used in the regular stages. They handle much too flakey to be riding in a large pack of other riders. See Pictures below.

Since Lance seems to be the rider that most people care about, he did very well for an old guy who has been off for 3 years. Plus ‘his’ team (team Astana) had 3 other riders in the top 10 and leads the team competition. Astana may have the old problem of two many chiefs and not enough Indians. Look for the who’s the leader question to be answered later this coming week when the riders hit some of the harder mountain stages. If Lance can hang with the leaders when they get to the big hills then it will be his team, otherwise it will be up for grabs with Contador and Leipheimer the mostly likely to come out on top.

Results
1 Fabian Cancellara
2 Alberto Contador
3 Bradley Wiggins
4 Andreas Kloden
5 Cadel Evans
10 Lance Armstrong (40 seconds off the lead)

The Jerseys:

Yellow – Fabian Cancellara in first place by 18 seconds
Green – Bradley Wiggins
Polka Dot – Alberto Contador
White – Roman Kreuziger

Fun Tour Fact –
What is a peloton?
It’s a French word meaning “platoon” that’s used to describe the largest group of riders. The peloton is also referred to as the pack or the bunch.


Time Trial Bike - Used only for time trials and triathlons

Road Bike

Today's Workouts

4.5 mile easy run this morning wearing my new END OTG running shoes. END is some tree hugger shoe company that tries to make sures that are Environmentally Neutral. Personally I think the soles of the shoes looked quite a bit like baby seals and I'm pretty sure the shoelaces were made of polar bear gut. But I could be wrong...

Insurance Compaines Suck

In particular Progressive Car Insurance - Details to follow next week - Sorry Flo I used to think you were cool

Tour de France 2009

The Tour is back! The Tour is back!


The world's most prestigious cycling event starts today. This, the 96th Tour, is made up of 21 stages and covers 3,500 kilometers (2,170 miles).

These 21 stages have the following profiles:

10 flat stages,
7 mountain stages,
1 medium mountain stage,
2 individual time-trial stages,
1 team time-trial stage

20 teams, each with 9 riders, are entered in this year's race.

Besides competing for the overall win (the Yellow jersey) there are other jerseys up for grabs to:

Yellow - The maillot jaune is worn by the general classification leader.

Green - The maillot vert is awarded for sprint points. At the end of each stage, points are earned by the riders who finish first, second, etc. Points are higher for flat stages, as sprints are more likely, and less for mountain stages, where climbers usually win.

Polka Dot - The King of the Mountains wears a white jersey with red dots (maillot à pois rouges), inspired by a jersey that Félix Lévitan saw at the Vélodrome d'Hiver in Paris in his youth. The competition gives points to the first to top designated hills and mountains.

White - The maillot blanc (white jersey) is for the best rider under 25 on January 1 that year.

Most Combative - The prix de la combativité goes to the rider who most animates the day, usually by trying to break clear of the field. The most combative rider wears a number printed white-on-red instead of black-on-white next day.

The main story of this years tour will be Lance's return. Love him or hate him, he brings much needed attention to the Tour. How will Lance do? Can he compete for the Yellow Jersey after 3 years off and at the age of 38? Is he even the leader of his team (team Astana)? Albeto Contador of Spain (the 2007 winner), would seem to have a legitimate claim on being the leader. And Levi Leipheimer of the US is no slouch either.

I will be posting daily updates on the race and a Fun Fact each day - I'm sure y'all will be waiting with baited-breath.

Here are few useful links:

Versus TV schedule

General TV and Internet Streaming Info

Official Tour Site

Tour de France for Dummies

Tour de France 101

Tour de France Predictions

Today's Workouts

13.12 mile run this morning wearing my Asics Speed Star shoes. Very sore legs the first few miles.

Pet Peeve Phriday

Today’s pet peeve is - People who name their kids “Pretentious” or “Character Building” names. You know the kinds of names that are going to ensure that the kid is a stuck-up jerk or at the least get them beat-up on the playground at recess daily.

Let me start off by apologizing in advance if your name, your kid’s name, your dog’s name, your pet llama’s name or your car’s name falls in this list of names I hate. If your cat has one of these names then I don’t care :P get a real pet already.

‘Trinity’, “Freedom”, “Destiny”, “Precious”, “Kingsley”, “Princeton”, any gemstone and most flowers, “Chastity”, “Preston”, “Thurston”, “Archibald”, “Panache”, “Mercedes”, “Chardonnay”, “Ambrosia” , “Meadow”, “Truth”, “Dynasty”, “Sage”, and last but not least “Apple”

What are some names you dislike? And don’t worry about hurting anyone’s feelings, no one reads this blog anyways.

Next week; people who use an atlas to name their kid

Wimbledon

Serena to meet Venus in the Ladies Finals - Yawn

Today's Workouts

26.33 mile run this morning while wearing my Asics DS Trainers running shoes. I ran this on a combination of roads, trails and the local high school's track. And yes I purposely went a bit over the marathon distance (26.2). Why? Well to rub it my other running friend's faces of course.

Extraordinarily Evil?

Am I the only one that finds Bernie Madoff’s sentence of 150 years just a tad excessive? Everyone seems to be rejoicing that he’s going to rot in jail until he’s dead, and then some. Dude is something like 70+ years old. How long do we think he’s going to last in prison? Let the punishment fit the crime doesn’t seem to matter when the media gets its panties in a bunch and has it out for you.

150 years?! Rapists, murders and child molesters rarely get that much. Old Bernie would have been better off killing an ex-wife and her lover ala OJ Simpson or maybe he should have just started a dog fighting ring. Bernie just had the unfortunate circumstance not to have been born in the projects and been beaten as a child, that kind of upbringing would have gotten him off with a small fine, some community service and enrolled in a personal enrichment program.

Sure he fleeced some people out of their money and sure it was said to be about $65 Billion dollars. A large number to be sure by anyone’s standards – well except for that Messiah Wannabe over at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. That dude spends money faster than a sailor in a Singapore Bar & Brothel. But what Bernie did seems to be very common in the investment community (no offense Wall Street). Not to mention the political community (none of those guys have ever over-promised and fleeced voters-right). This is like locking up a serial jaywalker for 10 years.

And just what were the people thinking who invested with him? Haven’t they ever heard the expression “if it seems too good to be true it probably is”? Bernie was promising and ‘showing’ such high returns on investment money that people just turned green with greed. They had to have some suspicions that what Bernie was telling them they were making wasn’t kosher. And no I’m not saying they got what they had coming but really they should have known better. These were rich people that had to have had some brains in their heads. I mean they didn’t get that rich by being morons. And yes I think Mr. Madoff should be punished. Just not so excessively. How about a huge fine and a billion hours of community service helping the poor and old get a handle on their finances. There are millions of people out there who are unemployed, being foreclosed on and have more credit card debt than I have running shoes. Or since he’s good at raising investment money maybe he could help me raise some money for my latest business venture; renting out children to undecided prospective parents.

But to have the judge call you “Extraordinarily Evil” is a bit of reach, more like you basic everyday evil it seems to me. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Jerry Springer, Nancy Pelosi…now that’s Extraordinarily Evil incarnate. But old Bernie, I don’t think so. And what about the hypocrisy of his prosecutors? After all they all work for the Federal government who runs the largest Ponzi scheme ever created. You might know it better as the Social Security System. Not to mention the billions and trillions that the Feds owe to US citizens, foreigners and their respective governments; and have no way possible to ever pay it back – short of just printing up a pile of $100 bills and shipping them over to the Chinese in one of the many empty cargo ships sitting around our docks. Hey they would love that. Maybe they would keep the flow of lead painted toys and gizmos coming.

Today's Workouts

6 mile trail run wearing my Asics Trail Attack running shoes. Went out at lunch time warm and muggy back in the woods but much better than running on the roads. Wildlife count: 1 deer, 2 wood chucks and countless squirrels, birds and horseflies.

Spending Less? Saving More?

Money, get away.
Get a good job with good pay and you’re okay.
Money, its a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think Ill buy me a football team.

Everyone – The Washington Post, The NY Times, CNN, MSN etc – are reporting that Americans are spending less and saving more. Middle of the road food chains for us porky Americans, like Applebee’s, Chili’s and Ruby Tuesday’s are all duking it out to get that middle class night out on the town dollar. Applebee's offers dinner for two for only $20. Chili's advertises entrees for just $7. Ruby Tuesday's is going for a 2-for-1 deal. Buy one meal, get one free. All of them are making heavy use of discount coupons. We had pretty much stopped going to those places years ago (unless of course we got a gift card to them) in order to support locally owned joints.

So what if anything are you doing differently during this recession/depression? Are you talking advantage of the deals or hunkering down?

Even if you are still gainfully employed and doing ok financially have you changed your lifestyle? Are you paying down debt?

Are you cutting your own grass now (or hair)? Eating out less and cooking at home more? Stopped the hair plug treatments or the Botox? Staying in and renting movies or playing games? Clipping 50¢ off coupons for Rice a Roni and Tidy Bowl? Making your own underwear out of old burlap sacks? Tell me what you are doing to save money and budget better.

Us? We haven’t changed our lifestyle too much. With the size family we have we never have had a ton of excess money each month anyway. We’ve always had enough to survive on – sometimes barely – and we’ve never had to go into debt to meet our monthly obligations. So from a debt point things are the same. Zero credit card debt (we use them but they are paid off every month and have been for the 20 years we have been married). Zero car loans, we have also bought used cars for cash. And we have been in the same house for 9 years. It was a foreclosure that we bought before the house bubble so the mortgage is very manageable. And we still save at least something each month for a rainy day.

It is a good thing we have been living that way because every once in awhile a lot of things go to hell all at once. After our nice anniversary trip to Florida last month, everything decided to break all at once at our house – well almost everything. First our 15 passenger van became possessed on the way home from the airport. Possessed to the tune of $890. Then the stovetop had to be repaired ($225), next it was the computer that fried itself (more or less – I’m still trying to fix it), I bought a refurbished replacement for $290. After that the washing machine decided it was sick of doing 30-35 loads of laundry a week and pulled the plug on itself. New large capacity washer, $830. I tried to delay that purchase a bit but the Misses drew the line at everyone wearing the same pair of underwear for more than 3 days. 1 day later the very old hot water was leaking more than a bunch of drunks in the bathroom of their favorite bar. Price to have hot water so my teens can take 20 minute showers? $850. And that is the main reason I sock money into a savings account each month.

And that is all on top of the everyday expenses that are incurred in keeping a family of 14 going. Darn if those kids don’t want to eat at least 3 times a day. And clothes can only be passed down so many time, especially when you are passing down Strawberry Shortcake jumpers to a younger brother.

We have changed a few things. Our monthly date night has downscaled to less expensive restaurants and I have been putting a bit more into savings…just in case. And when I needed a haircut a few weeks ago I had Sam buzz me with the clippers (and 3 of the boys while she was at it).

It could be worse. I could be living in California which looks to be completely bankrupt by about lunchtime

One final suggestion - Lease/rent, don’t own your fun!