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About dpkworldwide

Native Californian, water rabbit, aries, lover of travel, trains, history, music, wrestling, anime, minimalism, stoicism, objectivism and things Japanese.

A charming evening at the E.R.

This may be pretty lame, but it’s the biggest thing that’s happened to me lately (pretty sad comment).

So last Monday night (November 10) I went to my chorus rehearsal as usual. The only difference was that I wasn’t really hungry, so all I had for dinner was a bottle of OJ and bag of beef jerky I bought at the gas station on the way (THAT was probably the culprit, but I digress…). Around 9:00 or so, I started feeling a little blah but chalked it up to my currently stress-filled and busy life. By 10:00 I was feeling far too nauseous to remain on the risers and left early.

Just as I pulled off my freeway exit after a somewhat tense and woozy drive home, I had to slam on the brakes, fling open the door and up came everything I’d eaten since lunch. I spent the next few hours driving the porcelain bus to the point of near delirium: fever, violent chills, lots of joint pain, major dehydration. Nothing like having to curl up on the bathroom floor with a roll of TP as a pillow to instill a dose of humility.

By 3:30 AM, I was over at my exciting local hospital’s Emergency Room with an IV drip in my arm, being given something for the nausea and Morphine for the pain (dude!). X-rays showed no intestinal blockage, and I attempted to get as much sleep as I could, munching on ice chips as my only form of direct hydration to try and make my mouth feel less like the great Gobi desert. Eusebio was staying at his Mom’s house that night, but I called him at 7:15 and he came and brought me home. I’ve not been this violently ill in years. In fact, it was about ten years ago—and I think in the same E.R. room—that I came for in I.V. push of Epinephrine and Benadryl to restore my ability to breathe after accidentally taking something containing aspirin, to which I’m very allergic.

I’m doing OK at the moment, though I spent the next day-and-a-half with no more nourishment than Gatorade. The doctor said it was probably something viral and I just had to tough it out, but it was one helluva way to end a rehearsal night! I ended up being home for three days, right at the wrong time—I had some major deadlines at work that have now all slipped and I’m even more stress-filled playing catch up.

The good news—if any at all—was that I lost 5 pounds! I also happened to find two packages and two expense reimbursement checks when I returned to the office Friday. That’s not much of a silver lining and a tough way to lose weight, but there you are…

The bad news is that it makes me feel like such an old man—comparing my hospital stories. More immediately, though, is that it points out how far I’ve sunk by not really getting back into my workout and training routine since before I went to Russia in August. I’m still in damn good shape, but not paying attention will catch up with you, I guess. Time to buckle down again…

“He said, he said”…

As if we needed any more proof that the only reason Democrats support items on the “Gay Agenda” is so that we’ll vote for them, give them power and let them take our money, we have this new little tidbit just in from planetout.com demonstrating that even their own staff members really don’t care about us.

Dateline, somewhere in Iowa—

Just confirming that Democratic politicians are co-opting the gay community just like they do everyone else, we get this ludicrous little piece of “news”:

“On Tuesday the campaign manager for Howard Dean accused a Dick Gephardt campaign worker of pushing a Dean staffer and calling him a ‘faggot.’ The next day, a Gephardt spokesman countered by saying the incident was fabricated for political advantage.

“The flap between the presidential campaigns was widely covered in the press by Thursday, and neither side is backing down, causing a “he said, he said” impasse.”

I love this stuff!

It just goes to prove my point that the Democrats and other assorted liberal apologists don’t give a damn about gay people any more than anyone else does. They talk out of one side of their mouths—the side that accepts volunteer support and campaign money—while it’s “business as usual” out the other. Go ahead and deride the Republicans, Conservatives and religious people for giving us a hard time if you want—at least you can see how they feel because it’s out in the open—but realize that it’s still rampant on the other side of the aisle. Scratch the surface and you get the same thing. Not that they don’t throw us the occasional bone, but just realize the cost and that they’re only doing it to stay in power, not because they care about us.

Of course, I confess that this stuff makes me secretly giddy because I thoroughly detest the left because of the social, fiscal and moral destruction they’re leading us all into. I’m a self-descirbed “Libertarian-leaning Republican with a heavy infusion of Randean Objectivism”. I’m not exactly thrilled about the Republican mess nor their infighting and political games. But I sure as hell won’t give in to the liberal morass no matter what they’re promising me. The price is too damn high. I’ll never vote for Howard Dean, because I’m not a Socialist.

It’s obviously too late in our corrupt political environment for the great unwashed to seriously believe in individualism, libertarianism, personal responsibility and laissez-faire. People are no longer people, they’re “focus groups”, “special interest lobbies” or “demographics”. Everybody wants somebody else to pay for them, take away their responsibility or consequences of their actions, make everything work and let them continue their lives of rampant consumerism, social irresponsibility, narcissism and television-induced hypnosis. Nobody thinks—or does—for themselves anymore.

Enough of a rant, because now I’m rambling. All I want from my government is to be left alone as much as possible and be able to keep as much of my own money in my own pocket as I can. I don’t need someone in Washington telling me how to live my life, no matter what their party, desire for power or secret agenda.

Up in flames

This week has seen the worst fires in California in decades, and certainly in my memory. Acrid, choking smoke filled the air; ash and cinders fell like a dry, eerie snow. But it’s our own fault—and it needed to happen.

The whole thing is a tragedy of epic proportions, to be sure. Nobody likes to see such loss of life, destruction of property and—above all—ruination of our beautiful mountains and hillsides. But it proves a few very important things:

First, Mother Nature does what she wants. No matter our technology, our determination or our prayers and entreaties, the earth is a self-regulating system. I didn’t need to be on the fire-lines and see the roaring flames firsthand to understand their power—I got enough of a taste through the non-stop television coverage.

Second, it points out how idiotic we humans are in our dealings with nature. We’ve know for a long time that the bark beetle has chewed through huge swaths of our forests, killing all trees in its path, turning them into match-dry tinder. We didn’t do anything about it. ALL that deadwood should have been removed, or more to the point, burned out when weather was calm and we had the chance. But no—we let either the environmentalist wackos or the exclusive cabin-owning mountain residents dictate the situation. Mother Nature has showed them the utter folly of their decisions in a big way. Burning is natural and MUST occur periodically. Just ask anyone who really understands nature, forestry and ecology. We should listen to them scientifically rather than the others politically.

Thirdly, it amply demonstrates the stupid optimism of mountain residents who prefer to maintain the “rustic” qualities of their tree-surrounded, wooden vacation cabins rather than follow fire prevention best practices, bring buildings up to code, or adequately prepare for such eventualities. In addition, we’ll CONTINUE to let them do so while they force our collective insurance rates ever higher so we can all share in their stupidity.

Finally, it demonstrates the extreme lack of moral direction our society is experiencing when people out on a joyride can so callously start such a conflagration just for the hell of it. Of course, with our horrendously corrupt liberal judicial system and a complete lack of backbone on the part of society, even if the perpetrating arsonists are ever caught, nothing much will likely happen to them. Certainly nothing like the death penalty, which they—in my opinion—so richly deserve.

So then. While I’m sad that everything went up so spectacularly and so many people suffered damage in one form or another—including myself, healthwise, from the fetid air—I think we deserved it and the forest needed it. While we as humans will have to endure the slow re-growth and rebuilding process according to our time-clocks, to nature that process will be but the blink of an eye. Maybe somehow we’ll come to better understand that living in and with nature means we have to let her do what’s right, regardless of what we’d rather see.

Not…

This may come as no surprise, but for several reasons I WON’T be racing in the Bluewater Tri this weekend.

Yep, I’m flaking out.

It’s actually unfortunate because of all the races I’d signed up for, this was the one I most wanted to do: it’s in Parker, AZ, it’s in the placid and downstream-flowing Colorado River, it’s in a climate and place I’m fond of and used to and familiar with.

The biggest culprit, I’m afraid, was financial. I had some unexpected expenses come in and some planned-on income fall through. When balancing things out, I could no longer justify the $400.00 or so for the trip, hotel, food, etc. at this point in time.

There is also a personal matter that came up between Eusebio and I. No more details, just know it was a biggie…

But I suppose in the end it was easy for me to slough it off because of my noncommittal feelings about racing at the moment. I AM needing to rethink, not to say get back into my training regimen. Now that I can consider myself officially “off season”, I can regroup and get back in the gym, actually GET that swim coaching I need and take a longer-term approach to building up for next year. It was probably the right thing to do, regardless. If nothing else, I won’t have a two-week trip to Russia thrown in the middle of my training peak to break my stride.

So, unfortunately there will be no additional race photos for this year, no fun stories or interesting anecdotes from the racecourse, no pats on the back for surviving another one. I’ll be back though: I’ve already registered for next April’s Desert Triathlon for a repeat.

I’ll be back…

So am I in this thing or not?

Last night I went swimming at the Y for the first time in over two months. It’s times like these that make me think—even more than usual—that I really need my head examined if I’m going to continue with triathlon.

Actually, that statement is no surprise to me or to anyone that knows me—swimming is not my strong suit. It’s tough, it’s tiring, I hate getting water up my nose and, frankly, I don’t really know how to do it properly. The last and only time I ever took swim lessons, I was still in elementary school.

If I’d ever get off my butt and just go get some swim coaching, I know that things would begin to dramatically improve. As it is, each time I even think of going to the pool for a workout, I get kinda depressed. This then carries over into thoughts about “what exactly am I trying to prove with this triathlon thing” and “why don’t I just go to the gym or take up climbing or something less demanding”? But I know the real reasons—I want to be an athlete, develop a great, healthy body and prove that I can do it. I want to join that unique little club of triathletes, even if I’ll never do an Ironman and may never place in a race at all, much less win. I also like the feel (and the scenery) of being with my fellow racers out on the course and in the transition pens—it makes me feel extra vital and I’ve come to really enjoy the feeling of my own physicality.

So as I once again go through my self-doubt bout before an upcoming race, I have to truly decide if I want to continue. I have to decide what other things I want to give up to do what’s necessary to be “in the game”. I’m at the point where I’ve got to think seriously about ponying up a chunk of cash for a real tri bike, since my heavily modified road bike is getting towards the end of its useful life for what I’m putting it through. No, I don’t need titanium or carbon fiber, but I’d really like bar-end shifters (which I can’t put on my current ride without a lot of extra cash to basically redo the entire drive train).

But back to swimming. Sometimes I think that being in the water for the first leg of the race is a sort of phobia for me. But to set the record straight, the only real fear I have in racing triathlon is not of drowning, but of wiping out at speed on my bike. The mental picture of me hitting the pavement with nothing but my racing brief, a singlet and required helmet on is not a pretty one…

17″ PowerBook for sale

This may be blatantly commercial and self-serving, but this IS my blog…

Last night I posted my 17″ PowerBook for sale on eBay. You can go check out the ad by clicking right here.

Considering what you’re getting for the money and its excellent condition, I’ve started the bidding at $2699.00 with a “Buy It Now” price of $3K. The auction is set to run for 7 days, the exact ending time being: Oct-15-03 21:15:26 PDT

As I prepare to say farewell to all that screen real estate, I have some minor pangs of sadness. However, I’m lovin’ my 12″ a whole lot—and who wouldn’t love their own 12″?

Hooray!

It’s a GREAT DAY for California! We’ve used the democratic process to remove an ineffective and dangerous politician from the Governorship and replaced him with someone who’ll hopefully get something done. I wish I could say the saga is over, but it’s only just beginning.

WOW!

What a resounding message from the people of my state: 55% to recall Davis and 50% to elect Schwarzenegger—that’s more voting for Arnold than voted for keeping Davis. I was absolutely delighted with the result, and it just shows how sick we are of the outrageous politicking in Sacramento and how much we yearn to get something done. It also shows the electorate being fed up with politicians to the point that we’d put our faith behind a total outsider. However—isn’t that what populist American politics is all about? In the Jeffersonian ideal, statesmen should be regular people who serve for a time then return to private life—not career politicians whose only point in life is winning and keeping their phony–baloney jobs.

Of course, now we can look forward to the court challenges, the recalcitrant California legislature chock full of vindictive, left-wing obstructionists and the chaos ensuing from a no doubt cantankerous transition, despite what Gray Davis said in his concession. Everyone says they hope to put things behind them and move forward, but I’ll believe it when I see it. With such an extremist, diametrically opposed makeup of our political establishment, it’ll be a miracle. Of course with an election coming up next year and an angry population, I’m hoping that ineffective politicians will get something done for fear of being ousted themselves (which we should probably do anyway).

One of the best lines I’ve seen in the press coverage is that if it were constitutionally possible, we probably would have removed the entire legislature by recall as well as the governor. Sounds like a good idea to me…

Stay tuned!