Friday Night Swim

Had a fun time last night. Had dinner with the Wife and Boy and then headed over to the pool, to swim alongside my friend Pablo who was doing a 12 hour swim last night as part of his his training for upcoming attempt to swim the Sea of Cortez. When he accomplishes this goal in June, it will be the longest continuous open water swim. Pretty gnarly. Joining Pablo (Paul Lundgren) at the pool was Jamie Patrick, who is the reigning open water swimmer of the year. Talk about gnarly; check out his swimming bio here.

Amazing that these dudes were into for two hours already when I got in the water and had ten more to go. I swam with them for 1.5 hours and it seemed like they lapped me every three minutes or so. Humbling but at the same time inspiring to be alongside greatness.

Anyway, though I was just out there for 90 minutes, I could't think of a more enjoyable way to spend a Friday night.

Sony Walkman

I posed a question on Facebook the other day, asking people their all-time favorite gadget/device, exclusive of their iPhone/mobile device, which I think would be overall winner. Some of the responses were pretty interesting and I had to think hard as to my own answer.

Interestingly, I arrived at a device that I haven't thought much about for quite some time; the Sony Walkman. Before Apple, Sony ruled the day and there would be no iPod without the Walkman. Without question, the Walkman was a transformative device and I think in certain respects, it's the device that kicked off the modern consumer electronics industry.

So, I stand behind that choice. My second choice would probably be the Kindle. I'm a pretty voracious reader and though I do miss the physicality of holding/reading a book, the Kindle, too marked the beginning of a new era. Third on the list would probably be the iPod, which as noted is really just a more modern interpretation of the Walkman.

I think a few years down the road, a similar conversation would likely revolve around the iPad.

Final Four

Anyone else find this year's Final Four as singularly uninteresting - and borderline detestable - as me? I mean, egads: Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas and Ohio State?!

One obnoxious fan base after the next. I'm not sure if there's anyone to really root for in the mix. And fellow Big Ten fans: don't give me that "you have to support the Big Ten" nonsense. No I don't; most particularly when it comes to Ohio State.

I guess if I had to root for any one of those four, it would likely be Louisville. I still do like and respect Rick Pitino and they've been playing second banana for years to Kentucky, so that would be kind of cool. I guess.

But beyond that, not only do I not really care, and I'm not entirely certain I'll even watch the games.

Anyone else feel the same?

Marin Headlands

I post often about how much I love Marin County, but I've like I've never been able to elegantly put my feelings into words. I came across this great article that really that sums it up very well; you can check it out here. Since my episode with cancer I try not to take things for granted anymore and I truly do appreciate how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful little corner of the world. If you get a chance, do give this article a read. And many of you who've visited: we've run/hiked the trails that he describes.

What I am Listening To

There's a lot of great music that's been released (and not quite released!) thus far this year; more than I can get my head (and ears) around, to be honest. One of the downsides of not running that much, relatively speaking, is that I'm also not listening to nearly as much music.

A few albums that I am really enjoying include:

- the new Springsteen (though its politics are at times a bit over the top for my taste. Hard to believe that anyone who lives in Malibu is truly an everyday Joe. That schtick is wearing a bit thin).

-- the new Shins. Everything James Mercer does is excellent

-- Gotye - a new one. And speaking of James Mercer, this has a real Broken Bells-ish sound to it

-- Miike Snow. This band is like Portugal. The Man. I don't know much about them, but everything I hear from them absolutely rocks. In fact, this very well may be my favorite album of the year thus far.

- Bear in Heaven. Not sure how I'd begin to describe this. Trancey-electronica is closest I can come. But it's got a groovy, persistent beat and gets better with each listen.

This weekend I got two new albums that I'm excited about, but are too early to judge. First one is Madonna. At first listen, it seems to have some obvious hits - and also some big misses. I think old Madonna is becoming exactly that. Old. It's getting panned by the reviewers but I still look forward to giving it a fair shot. The other one that's interesting is Rocket Juice, which is the new Flea/Damon Albarn collaboration. I need to listen to this a bit more, but I love Flea and think Albarn is an absolute genius.

The Hip

For all you paying attention to such trivial matters, the old hip is still pretty wobbly. I saw my doc on Thursday and she agreed that it's far from healed. On top of it, I think the cortisone is wearing off, which isn't helping matters. She's also pissed at me for not keeping with my physical therapy. To much to do in life, and not enough hours.

Anyway, I think I'm approaching month five of this hip thing and it is getting very, very frustrating. I've also come to the conclusion that my ultra season isn't happening this year - or if so, is going to be very limited. I asked my doc if she thought I could start training any time soon for an ultra and she just laughed.

So, the goal is will be to build strength via Crossfit, refine the swimming a bit and maybe even do a swim race or two. In regards to running, I will do what I can do. I'm kind of down with that. The pressure last year of having to constantly run was wearing a bit thin.

Let's Go Yankees

Its been a long while since I've written about by beloved Yankees. But it's almost that magical time of the year where hope springs eternal. So - let's go Yankees. I loved the off season trade for Pineda - that was ballsy as hell - and like every red-blooded Yankees fan I could not be more excited about the retun of Andy Pettite. That for me was the most pleasant surprise of the offseason. With all the off season changes it should be am interesting year. But he terrific thing about this point in time is that it's anyone's game. Except, of course, for the Cubs. I believe they've already been mathematically eliminated.