Tri(ing) Times

Ok, the news you've all been waiting for! Curt competed in the St Anthony's Triathlon held today in St Petersburg, FL. It's about 45 minutes from home so we didn't have to leave the house until 4am! Geez. Anyway, there are different types of triathlons and this one had olympic distances. That meant it was a 1.5K swim (.93 miles), a 40K bike ride (24.8 miles), and a 10K run (6.2 miles). Curt's goal was to finish the race in 2:45:58 but he exceeded that goal when he finished in 2:32:43. His goal for the swim was 29:37 (actual 28:45); first transition - swim to bike goal was 4:01 (actual 1:54); his goal for the bike was 1:19.01 (actual 1:09:19); second transition from bike to running goal was 1.10 (actual 1:29) and his goal for the run was 52:09 (actual 51:18). The first male finisher from the elite (professional) group finished in 1:46.10. The first female finisher from that group finished in 1:57:45. Both athletes are 33 years old. Curt raced in the 45-49 male division and finished 67 out of 237 entrants. Here's the funny thing though. The swim was in the waters of Tampa Bay which is in St Petersburg. Odd. And we sometimes attend hockey games and concerts at the St Pete Times Forum which is in Tampa. Go figure. I volunteered the day before at the volunteer check in tent and earned a t-shirt for my 4-hour shift. This is Lady Di stopping by to lend her support. All of the pictures for this post were taken either by Mrs B or Mr B. Thanks, guys. I was starting to think the corvette wasn't going to work out when they sent me this picture of a corvette they spotted in the parking lot when they were leaving registration yesterday - you CAN put a bike rack on a corvette!!! I was SO excited. And last, but not, least, our main attraction. Diana took this picture of Curt today - look at the air he's getting!

Must Love Scrabble

If I'm lucky, I spend one evening a week playing Scrabble with my friend, Tom. We usually play five games and it's a rare occasion when I win. Tonight, however, I won 2 out of 5 games. On the board you see in the picture, I have two bingos. That's what it's called when you play your entire rack of 7 letters at once. I played "swinged" and "weakest." Tom played "doilies" in the upper right hand corner. There are no phonies on this board. You see, Tom is rated 1287 and I'm rated 839. He's expected to win 9 times out of 10, he told me. So what happened tonight? He says my game is improving. He says that because it cannot be that his game is getting worse. I believe him. This game is how I would spend all my waking hours if I didn't have to work. I can't wait for the day that I can truly devote more time to studying word lists and just playing in tournaments. On any given weekend there is a tournament in this country. I have been to the Nationals twice - first in New Orleans and then in Reno. What's so nice about playing in tournaments is that you don't have to qualify. It doesn't matter how well you play because you're going to be placed in a division with people who have similar ratings. It's not like sweating your butt off in a triathlon to get a spot at Alcatraz or the Boston Marathon. Geez. So, I'll leave you with a rack of seven letters. There are 4 seven-letter words here - what are they? C'mon, you know you want to play! That's my dining room table by the way - it's not for eating. It's for playing Scrabble. There's always a board set up ready to go - drop by anytime. Double click on any picture for a full screen view. And dogo culk!

Drink to me, drink to my health...

You know I can't drink anymore. It's 10 o'clock in the evening, I'm getting ready for bed...Jet...drink to me...Ho hey ho...somebody, quick, notify the press of an Imus sighting! Back this evening from my NC trip to visit Carol and Sal. We met at Bella Villa Friday evening for the usual when I arrived - spinach pie and extra sauce. We briefly caught each other up and waited until tomorrow evening to solve the world's problems since you need more than one drink to do that! Carol and I had lunch at the Blue Moon in downtown Fayetteville and did a little shopping before heading over to Sal's for dinner. Sally prepared stuffed eggplant, beets, cabbage, poori, and rice. She served this with papadum and pickled tomatoes. Of course, there's no place like home for dinner but Sally and Carol's husband are close seconds for making the best meals I've ever had. Wait, my grandmothers are second. These guys are tied for third! Win, place, show - you're still a winner. I enjoyed the drive as much as the visit - the car didn't disappoint. What a machine. She's available weekends for rides - just call ahead...

Girls just wanna have fun...

It was girls night last night. Out with Mrs B and our new friend Carmen to O'Toole's. If it's good food and good music you crave, this is the place. But they're not paying me enough to advertise so that's all I've got on the subject. What I really want to talk about this morning is the fraternity that exists among other corvette owners. The way they acknowledge each other on the road is with a SUBTLE wave of the hand - it's like belonging to a secret society which I love. But anyone who knows Curt knows he doesn't subscribe to such foolishness. The first time I spotted another vette on the road he decided he was going to wave - he leaned over me to wave out MY window with an extremely exaggerated hand wave - I could have died (laughing)!!! And if that wasn't bad enough, he's now waving at vettes from the Honda. I'm not riding with him anymore. And while I'm on the subject, what's up with you female vette drivers? There have been a few to return the wave but more often than not, they don't wave. So you have to ask yourself, are you a good witch or a bad witch? I know the last post looks a little messed up. Mrs B promised to help me next week with formatting. I am making this public announcement because I am holding her accountable for anything she says or does. And, oh, that reminds me - there is some serious smack talk going on between our husbands. The St Anthony's triathlon is being held in St Pete next weekend but I'll save all that for another post (www.satriathlon.com). They've got a bet on who will have the better time and dinner's riding on this one - woohoo! Meanwhile, I'm off to see the wizard...

This little red corvette is growing weary of all the 15 minute trips to and from work each day and lllllooooonnnnnggggggsssss for the open road. So which way to go? I've got tomorrow off to embark on my magical mystery tour. That would be Joe Cool seated at the wheel (used without his permission - ha!). Bello (www.bellonock.com) will accompany me on this tour. He's an action figure, not a doll, I tell ya. I figure I'll take him with me wherever I go and photograph him like this couple is doing with their dogs (www.scottietails.com). You have to check out where these dogs have been - great story. Hey, Mrs B, how do I get audio on here? I'd like "Little Red Corvette" to start playing each time you open this blog! That's just in case you haven't heard it enough...

Ok, it's my inaugural post. No pictures, no hoopla, nada. I just wanted to try this out. After keeping a diary for over 20 years I figured some of you must have wondered by now what I find to write about. It's boring, actually. I write about the weather that day, where I bought lunch (if I ever get food poisoning, someone will be able to track it down), who crossed my path (via in person, email, or by phone) and how they made me feel. People usually don't have any idea the impressions they leave on others. Just the other night an old friend (Charlene - she's not old, just our friendship!) from NY who currently lives in Boca Raton sent me an email. She wanted to talk about the recent death of her father and the pause for reflection that it caused. She started to remember the value of friendships. Wow. That made my day. We have pictures together of different hairstyles to prove we've been friends for 30 years. When another friend (Lady Di, aka Mrs Bigun) shows me how to post pictures, I'll show you what I mean.

Peace