finbarrio

Hi y'all- We had to put our husky Indy down last night. She had a spinal degenerative thing going on that robbed her of most function of her legs, and a good deal of her mind. So we decided to let her go to doggy heaven where I'm sure she's playing in a field of snow. Kristy literally rescued Indy from the middle of a busy street a few years ago. She had escaped from her owners, who, it turns out, didn't really want her. So Kristy took her in. When Kristy and I met a couple years ago, Indy defied all odds by becoming immediate friends with my dog Amy, a GSD-Rottie mix who generally hates every other dog on the planet. Indy was a sweet-n-fluffy escape artist who loved snow, and loved when her parents came home. She will be missed. Love you Indy, Daddy Kristy has a cool slide show of Indy and fam on her myspace page (right hand side): http://www.myspace.com/smashingdarling Here's a pic of her at the beach looking for dead things to roll around in... http://myspace-845.vo.llnwd.net/00360/54/88/360618845_l.jpg

I hate to state the obvious, but having spent the last 8 months being sick on-off, a word of advice - if you get sick (traveler's diarhea) at the end of your trip, GO TO THE DOCTOR. Kristy and I both got sick at the end our of wonderful Mexican honeymoon. She got some antibiotics for it, but I didn't (typical tough guy). I ended up with a parasite that has dogged me for 8 months. A visit to the hospital and a strong antibiotic has finally kicked it, but I spent a lot of time getting to know my commode in the past 8 months (and not being able to train, and losing and having to re-gain the weight). Having said that, snorkeling at Xel-ha is an awesome day trip. We didn't swim with the poor dolphins, but we did spend almost the whole day underwater. It was definitely worth the trip.

Wow you ride a lot. My road rides are usually 25 miles or so - I stretch or cut them depending on how I feel. You're just getting warmed up at that point. I've been trying to figure out the diet thing myself. I think I was generally eating too much protein and not enough carbs, so I've increased my carb intake and am trying to re-load better right after rides. I actually take Luna bars and/or Clif shots on rides for an extra boost about an hour in. I know Luna bars are supposed to be for women, but clif bars sit like a rock in my belly.

Hey man- I am a mt biker primarily, but got a road bike a few months ago and am into that now as well. My mt biking is mainly XC, due to the terrain nearby (Cape Cod), with some freeride stuff mixed in. Road biking I do mostly on the road, except when squeezed off the road by impatient tourists in a rush to get to the KFC drive-through. I have only been cycling seriously for a little over a year, so I'm still learning a LOT. I have a great network of mt bikers down here, but virtually no road ride buddies, so I always do that solo. Do you follow a specific weekly training schedule? I'm trying to improve at both types of riding, and I am, but I don't have a routine per se. It's more like I rest on days I'm really sore/tired, and otherwise, I'm out on one bike or the other. Group mtb rides are usually an intense 2 hrs, solo mtb rides I usually work on certain hills or tech parts in addition to a 1.5 hrs or so ride, and then road I just ride as fast as I can for 1.5 - 2 hrs or so. Real scientific, eh? Finn

Welcome, man. You're huge.

I haven't gotten that "high" feeling from biking up hills yet like I did from running - more like pain, burning. You know what I mean. What I like about hills on a bike is being able to do them faster than someone else, or nailing a tech hill that noone else could. Yeah, I'm a little competitive.

I love hills. I tore (completely) my ACL the Spring before my freshman year in college and my doctor said I could get away without surgery if I just build my hamstrings up. He recommended I do so by running hills. I ran them so much that I got to the point where I'd just get in the "zone" and keep going and going - it was definitely a runner's high type effect. GREAT feeling. Unfortunately, I eventually ended up tearing all the cartilage in my knee, so I guess the hills didn't help quite as much as he thought they would. But I still remember that feeling of being in the zone. I get it sometimes while cycling, but not quite like I had it on the hills.

Dude, that's all you had to say. Classic. Lampley was obviously defending boxing for his own job security. The exciting thing about MMA is that it's still in a growing stage - it has changed so much in the past few years. There are very few guys who are total all-around fighters, but with everyone realizing that you have to be to be a champion, things will only get better. I've heard that Mike Tyson is into MMA, but have never heard about him training or fighting or anything. Anyone have any info on that?

I was pretty shocked at Tait and Christian turning down the fights. I was also shocked at how good Kendall was. I thought Caleb was going to the finals for sure. I thought he'd win it in fact. I don't know if he broke ribs or not. I've cracked ribs a couple times and can't imagine getting kneed in them afterwards. Sneezing with craked ribs was bad enough.

I moved into the non-profit world 7 years back (after 9 in the insurance biz) and hope to never go back. There is just as much b.s. and politics, but at the end of the day, I always have the "making the world a better place" thing to fall back on, and that's important to me.

Ronnie- I don't get the "risk factor" thing on that one site - risk of what? ?? The complete list of veggies on that site is pretty awesome. Some of my favorite singers and some of the most beautiful women on the planet.

I thought the same thing when I saw the edit. (cringe) Glad that's not the case.

Man, that is so frustrating. I guess it doesn't strike them as ironic that a chain-smoking obese man is making decisions on her health? That doesn't set a light bulb off anywhere in their heads? Not to mention the cruelty and enviro issues. But us vegans are seen as the crazy ones? Why is this world so backwards? Stay strong, Seasiren. Keep the faith.

JW - I love how your first prediction is: ...and then your signature line is "Non-violence leads to the highest ethics..." That just looks funny.

You know, come to think of it, there do seem to be more and more commercials these days that disparage the veggie/vegan diet. Currently there's the Murder King one, a Subway one, and a Friday's one. And they seem to have a consistent "it's manly to eat meat" theme going on. We ate out last night and I had hummus with pita and veggies, and then pasta with grilled veggies. I did so purely for diet reasons - to make sure I got some protein and some carbs to re-load after a long bike ride (and to prepare for tonight's ride). The guy next to me had a rare steak and potatoes smothered in cheese. Putting aside the juvenile "it's manly to eat meat" thing, as well as the cruelty issues - why would you want to put that gross crap in your body? Eating that kind of food is just so...stupid. On so many levels (diet, health, cruelty, environmentally).

Cool tat and story. I don't have any ink, not because I didn't want it, but more because I could never think of what to get - I guess I couldn't think of something that meant enough. So I think it's extra cool that you could!

Der - I thought you were in Boston last week. It's hard to keep up with your extensive travel itineraries. If yer going to be on the Cape and don't have too many plans, then we should all get together for dinner. There aren't too many vegan-friendly places down here, but Kristy and I know them all! There's a great Thai place in Dennis.

"I'm not kidding, that boy's head is like Sputnik; spherical but quite pointy at parts. Aye, that was offsides, wasn't it? He'll be crying himself to sleep tonight on his HUGE pillow."

JW - how was Beantown? Hope you and the fam had fun - did you miss the rain?

All right, I'll bite.... LOL, I ended up picking all the same as you except for Sanchez-Alessio, which I think I'm picking only because I'd love to see cocky Diego get knocked down a notch. Hughes Silva Riggs Lister Allesio Davis Gonzanga Fisher Horn Horn on the under-under card??? How did that happen? Alright, in the words big John McCarthy (not Marvin Gaye) ..."let's get it ON!"

I had a dream the other night that I was at my parents' house for dinner and they were serving lobster. I tried to stop them, but they put a big lobster in the pot and the lobster SCREAMED a deadly haunting scream that filled the room like a siren. I lectured them ( ) about it. I think the point I was making (in my sleepy recollection) was that if you know you're being cruel, then how can you continue doing it? And if you're not working towards being a better you (by not engaging in animal torture), then what are you doing with yourself? My dad (very religious) has made the point in the past that the bible says that man has domain over the land and animals. My retort has been to ask if that means we can torture animals and destroy the world? I doubt Jesus would approve of that! (he changes the subject at that point). Anyhoo, I've always felt that the method of cooking lobsters was sickeningly cruel. Back in the day when I used to eat it, I would do so with a sour guilt.

Great news, especially all those companies and colleges getting away from battery hens. Steps in the right direction!!!

IMO, and apparently the opinion of everybody but the judges, the fight was 19-19 after 2 rounds. Blue Mohawk won the first round, Tait won the second. It's too bad the outcome didn't seem correct, but honestly, both fighters pretty much sucked compared to some of the others. I doubt either has a snowball's chance of making the finals. It'll be good to see bigmouth redhead get in the ring and try to back up all his tough talk next week.

Good stuff, Raw. Disbelieving everything you were ever taught as being true is very liberating. It allows you to start anew and build your own belief system that is much more in line with who YOU are. It also makes you realize why other people think the way they do, and how full of shite they are.

Awesome post, thanks for that info. "Good goth" is apparently in Western Mass. I think Kristy would look quite fetching in a pair of these... http://www.goodgoth.com/newshoes/electra3050.jpg