I'd Rather Have an Elephant's Memory Than His Butt

That image is from Postsecret and there are days (weeks...months) when I know exactly what he means.

Rode to Big 5 Sporting Goods with full saddlebags and wearing just a t-shirt and shorts, the weather being just barely warm enough to to that for one of the last times of the year. Bought a synthetic long-sleeve undershirt for the morning, but, ironically, don't know if I have the cajones for another frozen ride tomorrow. The upside of these kinds of rides, both morning and afternoon, is I can feel my body expending energy for about an hour after I stop riding. The colder it is, the harder the body is working and the longer it burns calories after I stop, so the cold ride in the morning will occupy my mind, and I'll probably spend the next ten hours going back and forth on whether to ride.

And the body is changing. I'm on the last hole on two of my favorite belts and I don't think it's because I'm tightening them under my gut (but we are foolishly myopic on those kinds of things, so who knows). Pants that used to rest in the back of the closet are starting to fit again, and I feel lost in the pants I've been wearing. And my energy level is way higher from before dawn to long after the sun sets. These are changes I can get used to.

A quick comment about Harriet Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court: liberals tolerate her and conservatives were disappointed they didn't get someone more to the right. With Bush weakened by recent events and his polls serving as fish-wrappings, this is probably the right was going to get: a bachelor whose loyalty to Bush is beyond question and has no papertrail to speak of. There are those who complain she's a crony, but ten of the 33 justices nominated in the twentieth century worked for the president who nominated them, including deceased Chief Justice Rehnquist (he was a staffer for Richard Nixon). My prediction: unless there's a serious smoking gun out there (doubtful), she takes her seat on the high court before the end of the year, but she will not get the unanimous Republican consent that Judge Roberts received from the Senate when they voted on his confirmation.

Since we're on the subject, I think the one important right not specifically spelled out in the Ten Amendments is the right to privacy. Once that is gone, the value we hold as a democracy built and defended by individuals will be lost forever. But don't get me wrong. There's no such thing as unlimited rights: you can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater, you can't publish critical military secrets on the front page of your newspaper, and your right to privacy does not supersede the health and welfare of your family, neighbors and friends. Bottom line: don't hurt anybody, don't place anyone in danger, and the government should leave you alone.

And related to nothing else: Bush stopped using hair dye because he's noticeably grayer now. Now if we can get him to button his shirts right, maybe the other world leaders on the playground will stop laughing at him.

About time to go pick up Lara and to spin down a little after today's exercise...

Morning ride:
Distance: 5.70 miles
Time: 33:12 minutes
258 calories burned

Afternoon ride:
Distance: 6.10 miles (11.8 total)
Time: 32.41 minutes (01:05:53 total)
311 calories burned (569 total)

13 Days until the USN