Seventh Round of World Cup

Today the Clasica San Sebastián was won by a lesser known rider, Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero, outsprinted the favorite and winner last year, Paolo Bettini. Davide Rebellin still leads the World Cup (a competition based on points awarded for top placings) after his win in the Amstel Gold Race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Flèche Wallonne, above 2-time winner, Paolo Bettini.

Guess who's blogging now

Sign Petition

Do you want to be able to watch the 2004 Vuelta a España like you watched the Tour de France? Sign this petition and hope to make an influence on those fishers at OLN.

Hawaii

Steve had a great time in Hawaii. There was time for play and time for psychological stuff.
My friend Kirk Schneider invited me to fill in for an ill speaker. That allowed me to talk about my work with children. I was able to attend two workshops, one on psychotherapy with males and one on psychotherapy with couples. Both were helpful and validating. It is nice to be reminded that you know something and that others are interested in your sharing. I value these experiences very much.
I enjoyed the time in the ocean and at the beach. Audrey asked what was my favorite part of the trip? I first thought of all the things we did and tried to decide what I enjoyed the most. What I realized later was that it was having time for such a trip. Having time for myself, Beth and I, or with family feels like it is in such short supply. Much less than I like. So having the time for myself, Beth and family was the best part.

more hawaii sites

Hilton Village from the Beach.

Dancers at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Wind swept ladies at Pali Point overlook.

Visiting the Battleship Missouri.

Visiting the Dole Pineapple Plantation.

Hawaii

Here are a couple of pictures from our trip.

The ladies on arrival.

A view of a rainbow from Beth's and Steve's room.

Hunauma Bay where all four of us got wet and Steve, Beth, and Audrey snorkled.

oh yeah, i tried to put my picture in my profile, but failed. am i allowed to do this blog masters? and if so, how can i make that happen?

r.i.p. ozma

today, after work, i spied a three day old piece of meat in the fridge that was begging to be cut up, and joined with a tortilla to become a burrito. i gladly, guiltlessly obliged, and it was pleasing to the lord. however, later in the evening, glen and cindi (my landlords) returned home from puppy bootcamp with the apparent goal to consume leftover foods from the refridgerating unit. in a sad turn of events, it turns out that i had eaten glen's intended supper! the guiltless glee that had filled my tummy quickly turned to shameful sorrow. glen had to settle for a nasty frozen pizza instead of a steak dinner. for this, i am eternally sorry, from the bottom of my cold, black heart. i'd like to buy you another london broil glen, if i may.

i like telling sam "down" after he's already decided to lay down. it makes me feel accomplished, and fulfilled.

i got a postcard today from my pen pal in hawaii. it was beautiful, and made me jealous, and proud all in the same instant. can't wait to hear more stories.

looks like you can download speeches from the d.n.c. for free at itunes music store. i'm thinking of downloading them, and playing them when i've already tried counting sheep at night, in order to induce sleep. (yawn)

peace

Puppy Wars

Sam II goes to his fourth puppy class tonight. I have been doing "down" with him all week with little to no success. Sniff, sniff. I tell him down and wave my hand appropriately and all that. He looks at me and doesn't move. So, I go to level two...pull his paw out and roll him gently to that same side. Then I get big results. He resists, pulls back, and nibbles my hand. I wrestle him to the ground and say "Good dog." What?!! Yes, I've battled him to the ground everyday this week for the sake of "down."

Is Sam testing me? Am I doing something confusing to him? Does it normally take more than a week to "get down?" And dear, sweet Ashley. She's come on the scene a few times. Sits promptly next to me when I tell Sam to sit. Goes down with grace and beauty in perfect Olympic form when I tell Sam to do the "down." Ugh. So he figures if she's got it, he's off the hook.

Glen, oddly enough, observes from a distance and just laughs. With me of course. Well, I leave for Minnesota on Wednesday. He'll have the bulk of the training time this week. We'll see how it goes. This week's command will probably be something easy like "leap on the sofa" or "chomp on an avocado" or "look sincere" or "beg for an ice cube" (his new treat of choice).

Livestrong. Laughstrong. Downstrong, please.

Popovych signs for Discovery

Yaroslav Popovych signed for the Discovery Channel team (US Postal next year) for 2005-2008. "I'm really excited to get Yaroslav on the team," said team director Johan Bruyneel. "He's a young rider who has shown his talent on numerous occasions. ... I'm sure he still has a great margin of progression (to make), and I see him as a future contender for the Tour de France in a few years. It's great to have a big talent like him joining us. He really believes in our program."

"Riding for the Discovery team in 2005 has been my ultimate dream," Popovych said. "It's a team in which I believe in and a team where I'm sure to receive the proper education from directors such as Johan Bruyneel and Dirk Demol to become a three-week stage racer."

The team is also trying to get American Levi Leipheimer to sign, but no results yet.



No OLN?
OLN won't be showing the Vuelta a España as much as usual. They said, "Our current plan is to air a one-hour highlight show of the Vuelta on October 27 at noon Eastern time." Bummer. At least we shouldn't miss Lance because of it because he has never ridden the Tour and the Vuelta the same year.

Lance's fan club website, thepaceline.com, says that the interview continues today on OLN. I was wondering if the OLN people (Glen and Cindi) know about this at all and when it is.

Welcome new blogger

The PWWCR blog welcomes Jeff Barneson who has responded to the invitation I sent for him to join our blog. I hope that he will weigh in on the Lance mania and other bicycling chatter here. AND, I hope he is inspired to produce his own brilliant blog.

I told another friend about the blog, he got inspired and blogged about his recent trip to Cancun.

BlogStrong; LiveStrong

Race Coverage

Stuart O'Grady won the HEW Cyclassics Cup race in Germany and just beat last year's winner Paolo Bettini.