Cube jefe might not be thrilled with my production for today, but in the big picture, he’s not the most important thing around, now is he? The drones at BorgHealth are very happy with my progress, and their opinion is what’s important. Cuerpo de Chuckie, home of the glow-in-the-dark prostate, is doing well at 11 months post-radiation.

So well that Chuckie was rewarded with a too-rare weekday afternoon swim. Waiting for a lane isn’t so bad when the sky is clear and the temperature is a little warm and the deck is littered with eye candy. Don’t get me wrong: since a lot of why I swim is to focus and unwind, an empty pool is always a wonderful thing. Solitude and focus, mixed with a little zen and isolation. Just letting the water flow over and around the body without outside noise really helps to keep me balanced (or at least as balanced as I get). But every now and then tilting the scale, tilting the game (a pinball reference for you young’uns) or just getting tilted is a nice change of pace.

If I remember right, there’s an old line attributed to George Smiley in one of John le Carre’s Quest for Karla books about extremists and zealots: by continually moving in one direction sooner or later they can’t maneuver and they’re trapped again the wall. Similarly, there’s an old Dos X poster on my kitchen wall in a Soviet-era worker’s art motif headlined ‘ROUTINE: The Enemy’ and showing a worker making a break for freedom off the assembly line. They both make the same point. Don’t be monotonous; don’t get trapped; be flexible and adaptive.

Celebrating the Fridayness of the morning. Thankful this will put another week to rest.

I’ve been wondering where the summer went. I spent last summer wallowing in depression and dreading the then-pending radiation treatment. This summer I had no excuses: I simply caved into the cube people and the allure of steady paychecks. Between the regular job and the freelance I spent more time inside clicking on keyboards then I should have.

Pongo’s pushing for a drive up the coast in late-September, early-October. I need to do some “research” stuff for beachlaw, particularly some photography for the CLE there and for some additional planned CLE, so Pongo will probably get his way.

In another way, a roadtrip back to NorCal (or the Central Coast) could just be a sequel to one of the earliest posts here. Except for the sequel we’ll have to add in a new character: the bitchy computer voice. The goal remains the same. I’d like to put down roots and actually stay some place for five years. Cue the bitchy computer voice: “Request impossible. Insufficient finances. A single man with a hungry dog can’t afford to live in San Diego without winning the lottery.” So, you g#%$^ computer, what options do we have? “Ejecting the Bush-core might stop the underlying economic problem, but no suitable replacement exists to conduct necessary repairs.” So what do we do you? “Thinking…thinking….beep…danger Will Robinson…danger….” At this point Pongo lifts his leg on computer and a lot of 1960s-SciFi-style sparks from the flashing console erupt.

Note to the neighbors: I don’t care that Timmy’s fallen down the well. Whether or not Jimmy’s lost in the canyon doesn’t really get me excited either. Shut up and no more barking unless Cruella de Vil goes after the puppies again.

Actually looking forward to seeing the drones of BorgHealth next week. It would be nice to know if a recent resurgence of digestive troubles are just more long-term problems of the radiation or something new and different.

But on the bright side, I’m not at work, Pongo’s been teaching the importance of stretching and napping, and right now NBC is transitioning from the Men’s 3-Meter Springboard Diving to a Water Polo match. Sure, the NBC website already spoiled the results when I went there to check the schedule, but it’s all about the game, right?

The Union-Tribune ran an article today on San Diego’s efforts to raise user fees at the Parks and Recreation Department to help with their budget deficit. The article focuses on the resoluteness of those who keep going there despite the increased costs and the hardship on the poor. There’s also mention of people who will have to travel further to use the city pools and a reference to one person who just refused to pay and walked away in a huff.

From my standpoint, the article fails because there’s no effort to follow up with that last person. There’s no mention of people like me who still swim regularly but go to private gyms, which are now cheaper than city pools. Better hours (24/7) , fewer screaming children, more diverse facilities beyond the pool, and I get it all for less monthly cost than if I was swimming the same amount at the city pools. No mention at all in the article about options to satisfy the chlorine addiction except through city programs.

Kind of frustrating, and given my current disdain for even the claimed-conservatism of Republicans, more of a push toward the Libertarians. San Diego is a wonderful place to live, but it costs money. What I save on heating expenses and winter clothing I spend on gym membership (since I’m no longer getting that great snow-shoveling cardio) and housing. City pools and recreation centers are a great idea, but if the private sector can fill the need cheaper and better, why is the city struggling to stay in the market?

“Daddy, get me that one! I want a blond with a heinie like a basketball.”

Nice column by Jane Ganahl at S.F. Gate this morning. Not that I really needed to be reminded why I watch the Olympics, but with quotes like that it helped to lift my spirits a bit.

I definitely need a vacation, and now that I’ve been with the cube-people for six months, I can start trying to schedule something. Pongo’s pushing telepathically for a road trip up the California coast, but I’m not sure yet, and he’ll be happy as long as the truck’s window is open while we’re driving and there are fresh bushes to sniff when we get there. Any suggestions?

I’d love to do a post nice post about relaxing swimming, but the pool at my gym was closed today for scheduled maintenance that no one bothered to announce. Since I’ve got nothing about how swimming is calming down my week, or helping me forget about work, I’ll just leave it alone. So here, unfortunately, is a post about how swimming is turning me into a couch potato. Coming soon: how water polo gave me bed sores, and maybe, if y’all are a good audience, a special feature on how gymnastics has me seeing double.
NBC Olympics coverage: it’s my Anti-Sport.

On a side note: While I cheer for Team USA, this year the big shout-out is Go Bears! Thirty-seven competitors and coaches for national teams from five continents and the medals are rolling in. It reminds me of an poster the alumni association distributed in the late 1980s reminding people potential donors that Cal had more Nobel Laureates than the Soviet Union, but to give now because the commies were catching up. So once again… GO BEARS!

Berkeley would probably send big men dressed in black over to remove the degree from my wall if I didn’t acknowledge my belief that civil disobedience has a time and a place. As long as the disobedience stays civil I’m generally pretty open to a wide interpretation of what time and which place.

Some people, obviously disagree. There are people who want to say that all laws must be obeyed all the time. A silly concept given the over-regulation of modern western society, but a respectable goal if one isn’t too hypocritical about it in real life.

So today we salute the civil disobedience in Illinois:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced Tuesday that the state will set up an Internet network within the next month to help Illinois residents buy prescription drugs from Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
. . .
“We have taken every possible step we could think of to convince the FDA, and convince the Congress, and anyone and everyone who will listen, that people across Illinois, and across our country, deserve access to safe and lower cost prescription drugs,” Blagojevich said. “The federal government has failed to act. So it’s time that we do.”

Of course, when San Francisco mayor Newsome committed his little act of civil disobedience, and said “I do not believe it’s appropriate for me, as mayor of San Francisco, to discriminate against people” groups came out of the wood work to enforce the rule of law.

[wags finger] can’t have no anarchy ’round here. just wouldn’t be proper [/wags finger]

Now c’mon. What’s a worse image for America’s impressionable youth to see: commited but non-traditional relationships fighting for equal status or old people buying drugs illegally off the internet?

Since Bush owes his presidency to a bunch of old people in Florida who couldn’t figure out a voting machine, I guess I understand why we’ve seen responses like the Federal Marriage Amendment out of the White House rather than squads of DEA stormtroopers poised to retake Illinois for the War on Drugs. If Bush won’t act for fear of incurring AARP’s wrath, maybe Pfizer and Co. can step in and bury the poor of Illinois in litigation. Take a lesson from the RIAA and target a few of the scoflaws for punitive litigation.

How come I feel that a lot of the people who were cheering for the rule of law in San Francisco are suddenly going to become anarchists now that their arthritis meds are 30% off?

Just a quick note about dinner tonight. Good food, good talk, great company.

Normally I just dread Mondays as the start of a work week. But this time Monday wasn’t the start of the week, not because I took the day off but because I went in yesterday. And in addition to the dinner, the calendar’s making it look like a good week. It’s still a work week, but it could be a good one, and actually seeing people outside of work unaffiliated with the cube helps to make it so.

As I get my morning fix, just a few observations from the morning news sites.

L.A. Times – GOP Grapples Over ‘Big Tent’

But away from the spotlight, infighting appears about to break out over the GOP platform’s stance on gay rights. The issue is important to the White House because the appearance of intolerance could sway critical swing voters.

Note that actual intolderance doesn’t seem to be a problem, just the appearance of intolerance.

N.Y. Times – How Much Is That Dancer in the Program?

Apparantly the program isn’t as intriguing as the headline suggests, but it brought up some good memories of similar comments at shows over the years.

But that’s enough of the almost-serious news. Back to the water until it’s time for breakfast.