Out: Baseball, In: Football

The Philadelphia Phillies' flirtation with making the playoff is officially over. There is one more game left and they're are two games behind in the wild card standing. Yes, I'm disappointed. No, I'm not surprised.

On to the football season. The Eagles are an OK team this year. I'm counting on them to have a 10-6 record and win a playoff game. I'll take anything extra as surprise bonus.

By the way, gay favorite Jeremy Bloom isn't good enough to make the Eagles roster this year. He was placed on the Injured Reserve list, making him ineligible to play for the entire season. He'll have plenty of time to ski, work out, and pose shirtless for his gay fanbase.

Are you ready for Monday Night Football?

Hunk Du Jour

My cyber friend Chris runs a popular website called Hunk Du Jour. He offers men of all variety for everyone to drool over each day. It's work-safe, but sizzling!

Speaking of hunks, my TiVo is yesterday's news. The new man in my life is Dmitry Tursunov. He's hot. He's talented. Most of all, he has a wickedly funny personality. Dmitry is a 23 year-old California-based Russian who is the hottest thing on the pro tennis circuit right now ... at least among female and gay male tennis fans. He hasn't won a Tier 1 tournament yet, but if he can beat No. 1 American male Andy Roddick, he has a great future on the tour.

Phillies Wild Ride

Citizen Bank Park
Originally uploaded by reflexblue.

The Philadelphia Phillies continue their flirtation with making the playoff for the first time since 1993. It's been another roller coaster season, and the boys make just get hot enough to earn a wild card this year. It's scary that I've gotten familiar with the team's batting line up as well as its pitching rotation. Let's hear it for the Phillies!

The Triangle Reunion

Chris Puzak, probably the most well-liked editor-in-chief ever of The Triangle, is getting married! His wedding is bringing together a reunion for the staff of the Drexel University student newspaper of the late 1990s to early 2000s.

Where do former Triangle staffer go to re-live the glorious past? The Triangle office, of course! We actually had a bachelor party on production night of the Welcome Back Edition, which is the biggest issue of the paper in terms of pages and significance.

With the permission of the current editor-in-chief, about fifteen of us returned to The Triangle office, located on America's No. 1 college for having "Tiny or Unsightly Campus" for about 10 years running, according to the Princeton Review. This was my second trip back to the newspaper office. Last time I was there, some of my peers were still active members, so it was no big deal. This time, none of the current staff members knew who we were. It was an uncomfortable situation. These kids were trying to put together their biggest issue, and had to put up with fifteen strangers. I introduced myself to a few current kids. To my surprise, some of them recognized my name and an unfortunate newspaper controversy when I was the editor-in-chief.

We were at the newspaper office for about 90 minutes. We actually helped with copy-editing. I was given a clipboard, a red pen, and about a dozen articles. I started out with my specialty, hard news, and then moved on to fluffy stuff. I still knew how to copy-edit, although I had to refer to The Associated Press Stylebook for some help. Heck, if I use the AP Book and apply my copy-editing skill to my own writing all the time, this blog would be a lot better!!!

We left the newspaper office we we sensed that the kids were done with us. If I were in charge, I wouldn't allow visitors on a production night.

We moved on to more traditional establishments catering to bachelor parties, such as The Forum, and Club Wizard, both of which offer plenty of skins, and more ways to embarrass the groom-to-be.

Comfort Food

For some Americans, comfort food include fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, ice cream, and chocholate. For this American, comfort food also include Vietnamese noodle soup (pho) and Vietnamse iced coffee (cafe suo da). Pho typically comes in a huge bowl with all sort of floating things you can hardly identify. Cafe suo da has expresso, condensed milk, and ice.
A nice thing about living in a city with a sizable Vietnamese population is that I'm within walking distance of several restaurant offering pho and cafe suo da. The meal costs less than ten dollars. The happiness I get out of this meal is priceless.

Front Runners Philadelphia

Originally uploaded by Philly Gay Calendar.

I organized the 23rd Anniversary Weekend for the Front Runners Philadelphia, which is the local chapter of an international gay and lesbian running club. The Sept. 15-17 weekend, held in conjunction with the Philadelphia Distance Run, was the biggest social weekend for our running group. Approximately 40 people participated. We had a fun run across a famous bridge, all kinds of social activities, and a 13.1 mile race with 12,000 other runners.

Photos from the 2006 Anniversary Weekend activities are hosted by Philly Gay Calendar which is the trusted source of everything gay in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Distance Run 2006

Once again, the Philadelphia Distance Run has brought the best out of me. Today was a glorious day for a glorious half marathon. I started strong, and kept my mid-seven pace for the entire 13 mile run. I improved by five minutes compared to my time last year. My time of 1:39 minutes was good for the top 20% of my division, gender, and overall.


Marathon Statistics
Total Registered: 13,045
Total finishers - 11,119
Male finishers - 5,746
Female finishers - 5,363


Official Results
Overall Place: 1176 out of 11,119 finishers
Gender Place: 957 out of 5,746 male finishers
Division Place: 170 out of 850
Pace: 7:34


Gun Time: 1:40:17
Net (Chip) Time: 1:39:03
5K: 23:40
10K: 47:31
10MI: 1:16:23


Reference
Philadelphia Distance Run 2005

Hanging Tough: Confessions of a Wannabe Swimmer, Part 4

I've only gone to swimming practice about once a week for the past six weeks. The main reason is because of my other activities. A contributing factor is that I'm struggling a little bit in the pool. Since my techniques are less than perfect, I move very inefficiently in the water. I can swim a length of a pool, but I need about 20 to 30 seconds before I can swim back.

A coach tried to reduce my idyl time, but I fainted after 75 yards and vomitted in the locker room shortly after I got out of the pool.

I still can't stick my ass up to align my body with the water surface. I still don't rotate my shoulders enough. I still don't lead with my elbows and my arms don't reach out enough. Worst of all, my feet get cramped up during every other practice.

My goal right now is to hang in there, swim twice a week, and stay for the entire 90 minute session.

Harm Reduction and Run Against Santorum

Harm Reduction: It's a new slogan for this year's midterm election I learned today from one of my favorite blogs, Diminishing Returns.


Speaking of Harm Reduction, my running buddies John and Betsy are putting together a Run Against Santorum event on Saturday October 7. This is a "county line to county line" run that starts in Chalfont, PA and ends in New Hope, PA. You can run the whole thing (16.5 miles) or just a mile or two. There are no fees involved.

South of the Border

I love drama, and there is some great drama unfolding in Mexico. Andrés Manuel López Obrador narrowly lost the presidential election to Felipe Calderon. Accusations of election frauds spread through the country faster than you can say “Hasta mañana”!

Obrador’s refusal to concede defeat is bringing Mexico to a verge of a civil war. His supporters, mainly the poor and the left-leaning middle class, are staging civil disobedience and creating all sort of disruptions for the current government and the incoming government.

Most Western countries already recognize Calderon as the Mexican president-elect. That’s because Calderon is seen as pro-business and would likely make it easy for foreign investments. Obrador, who is threatening to create a parallel government to champion the poor, could be Mexico’s Juan Perón.

Let the drama begin!

Reflections at 32

IMG_7069.JPG
Originally uploaded by reflexblue.

I get sentimental this time of the year. It's the end of the summer, the start of the "serious" movie season, and of course, I'm a year older. Lots of unexpected twists and turns came about the past 12 months. What's life without some thrill rides? I'm surrounded by great friends, and am having a blast!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.