Get over it already

I'll give the French some credit-Good bread, wine, cheese, champange, easily conquered during wartime, partial heritage credit in my background...but man, let the Armstrong thing go already. Even though he could have easily came back and whooped some biking ass for an 8th time in a row, he chose retirement. Now, if he had won the tour say only twice, maybe three times, there wouldn't be any talk about him.
But because an American from Texas comes over to France and hands it to them 7 times in a row at "their" sport, you raise a fit.
I don't see Miguel Indurain getting harassed for winning it 5 times in a row right before Lance's stint. Or even Greg Lemond?
Speaking of Greg Lemond...Lance threatening you and your family to not testify that he supposably used steroids? Man, LeMond was a inspiration for me back when I cycled a lot in high school, I didn't expect him to go there...
Once again Lance is faced with a hellstorm of accusations, mostly 3rd and sometimes 4th party accusations. My mother's, brother's wife's second cousin's ex-best friend said that her sports therapist knew a doctor that gave Lance steroids and cortisone shots back in '92.
Huh????!!!
What it boils down to is that during Lance's cancer treatments, his doctors may have given him therapeutic drugs to help him recover which may have traces of steroids in them. Well? Ok? Then my dad did steroids too. He got cortisone shots, and anti-inflammatory drugs. Its commonplace. People who have asthma do it too, to survive. Any asthmatics on the tour? I betcha you could catch them for steroid use...but nope, his critics are still trying to possibly spin drugs used during his cancer treatments as grounds for a possible steroid usage in sports.
Somebody who is this successful at a sport is going to stir up jealousy, bitterness and controversy as well as admiration, awe, and inspiration. People may be upset that he has won so much and that he is THAT good at his sport. So are Hank Arron, Ted Williams, Gary Hall Jr., Dan Marino, and Pete Sampras...but they didn't use drugs either, and they achieved standing records that are viewed as benchmarks in their sports.
Let the man retire without any more problems. He won (7 times) and he's done, you have your race back, now concentrate on producing a French cyclist that can win at your sport again.

Holy Hell Batman!

Goodtimes tend to happen when you don't expect them. This time it involved $80, a shit-ton of booze, a stripclub, and midgets. A world of dark debauchery, air reeking of a mix of sweat and perfume, money flying everywhere, glitter and leather. Welcome to your inner dark side, enjoy the ride, because chances are you may not want to leave. So step on up and shake hands with Tittie-Bar Tuesday.
I get sucked into this dark void of carnal delights after getting off work yesterday at 6 with my other bartenders and our in house celebrity halfling, Chuey the rock and roll midget. He won't be the only midget I will deal with by the nights end. They are going to Babe's cabaret to see Pixie and Trixie, the twin midget sister strippers. I argued if I should go or not, then, after 2 drinks and 3 unasked for shots thrown down my gut, I know that I may not have the chance to do this again in my lifetime.
We go, and we order a few rounds and watch the regular girls dance their way into our wallets. Chuey falls in love with one girl, then with the next one, and the next... A caramel colored, 5-8 drink of brown sugar walks to our table and plants her C cups on top of my head. She asks if I'd switch seats with Chuey so she can give him a dance. I move to the inside next to the stage where a DD girl is slowly sliding down the pole in ecstasy 8 inches from my face. Chuey is getting a good ride for his money.
The midget strippers do their show. Nothing very impressive or arousing, but none the less interesting. All I know is that they made a shit-ton of money. At the end of their dance they play "boobie-ball", by holding a plastic cup inbetween their titties for you to toss balled up dollars in. Sink it, and you get an autographed glossy photo of the twins. Chuey gets one.
We head back to the bar after leaving the club very thirsty. I have a few more drinks, participate in our Tuesday night fish races, and achieve a few more goals in life. 1) Get into a squirt gun war with our servers, 2) apparently someone told me that I smacked one of our servers in the twat, 3) I asked for, and got smacked in the nuts.
I leave my car there, cuz at least I know I can't drive. Get a ride home, hump my bartender/doorman on the way out and get in the car. I get home, undress out of the clothes I have been wearing for the past 20 hours, smelling of sweat and cheap cologne and vodka. I take a refreshing shower and then go to In and Out for drunken munchies. A double-double, fries and chocolate shake. I scarf down the food and then felt queasy due to the fries being half cooked and really greasy. I make a quik joke about In and Out, poke 2 holes in the togo bag, put it on, do a little dance, take it off, and then proceed to pass out on the bed.
I may have to find out whatelse I did, and probably apologize to some people, but in the meantime its all fun. I will tell you this though, its a rough time but a fun time. I wouldn't be able to handle this every week. I think I'm good for a while, as well as a little more broke.

Getting the ball rolling?

As I've stated before, I've been starting to look a little into opening up my own small business/ restaurant soon. I've started taking the next few steps. On the good advice from my boss and some words of encouragement from my papa, I've started investigating sources a little deeper. I'm currently awaiting info and forms from everybody ranging from the Arizona Dept of Revenue, Liquor boards, City of Scottsdale, and even state civil rights unions and OSHA, anything pertaining to opening and running a small business. I'm starting to scour the internet and local auctions for restaurant equipment and gear. Most importantly though, I need to get on the ball with starting to look for a location for the business proper. I think on my day off tomorrow I'll drive around a few downtowns and look for leasing locations, and maybe even contact a business broker to help out with finding property.
The current plan? A small restaurant that has late night hours ( 5pm-4am if near a central downtown area with clubs or bars nearby), or more standard hours if not (10 am-2am, depending on if I will be able to serve liquor or not). Sandwiches & small fares, ice cream and possibly other desserts, hopefully a beer, wine and liquor license.
Any names?
Big Al's?
Tasty Treats?
Frankie B's?
Now I'm just getting ahead of myself....

Back in Hermosa

Of the shit-ton of pics we all took this past weekend, this is the only pic where I look upset. Why? Because it was Sunday in Hermosa Beach and 10 minutes after this pic, we left to come back home to Phoenix. Poo!
We had one helluva weekend at Hermosa this past weekend. Drunken debauchery aside, the place was packed with peeps, the AVP tour was in town, the weather was warm and the people friendly. The downside? Besides having to come home, it was visually confirmed that Sharkeez did burn down a month ago. But they are slated to re-open in 2007. I get the feeling that we will be there for it's grand re-opening.
Friday we rolled into town around noon and hit Hennessey's for a rewarding corona. Checked into the hotel, headed back to the beach, ate dinner at Padron's pizza, and then partied at the Underground bar all night. Woke up in the morning, had breakfast at Good Stuff, got on their webcam, watched some good volleyball, including old schooler Kartch Kiraly, hit the beach, got wet, came back to hit the pool, and got ready to hit the clubs on Saturday. Our friends Nat and Bri made it from the valley to party with our clan, and we all met up at Hennessey's in Manhattan Beach for dinner. Then down to Rockfish to visit Eddie's buddy Dave behind the bar. We were to head back to Hermosa separately, Chris went with 4 of the girls while Eddie and Laura decided to walk the 2 miles on the strand back. Along the way we hit Shellback for a ugly shot, and Eddie's old neighborhood liquor store for a smuggler bottle of warm *ugh* Jagermeister. Finished that the way back, and met up with everyone in Hermosa at Pat Molloy's for last call. Hit the room after for afterhours shenanigans, passed out at 4am...
Sunday Bri and Nat went home, we all went to breakfast at Scotty's on the beach. Had the best dam breakfast ever...hands down! A carnitas omelet covered in melted co-jack and enchilada sauce with pan seared potatoes, onions and bell peppers. I spooged myself. We all cruised around the strand for a bit, bit some small shopping and people watching before heading back to this hell hole.
We may be coming back pretty soon seeing that the airport is close and cheaper to fly than drive, and we started getting good hookups in the area. BTW mucho gusto thanks to Dave Hollander at Becker surf for hooking me up with advice and a fat deal on a new wetsuit. Now all I need is a board...
Pictures are to follow soon on shutterfly mi amigos!

Sustenance

Sunday, on my day off, I decided to go fishing up north after getting off work Saturday night at 3am. With no sleep, 3 cans of diet monster in me, I tally ho'ed it up to Woods canyon lake and Bear Canyon lake up on the rim.
Now, I don't really fresh water fish, but after not going any kind of fishing in say like 4 or 5 years, I was jonesin. I would have preferred to go bass fishing, but bass and game fish like that are all in the lower desert lakes, and well, sorry, I am not fishing in 120 degrees. So, trout fishing up north it was. One fish is better than none, and after a good 6 hours of enjoying the outdoors, exploring places I haven't been before, and getting one wicked sunburn, I'd like to introduce my lone friend Sammy. Sammy is a 10 1/2 inch rainbow trout. He was quite tasty.
I think I may go again soon, the weather and scenery was awesome, 84 degrees, party cloudy, slight breeze. Oh BTW, it was freggin HOT in Payson! They got to 105 today, which is like, unheard of!

Updates

Time for updates kids. First, I came down with strep throat a few days ago, fun times I tell ya. I was finally able to eat last night without too much pain, before that, I hadn't eaten in 2 days. Dropped 7 pounds in that time.

Got the ball rolling on prepping the house for an eventual sale. After 2 years of putzing with the wiring out front, I finally had to hire an electrician to fix the front lights. They're all up and running now. I also got paint samples of approved HOA colors in the mail today. All I have to do is chose what I want to paint and send it in to the HOA for painting acceptance. More than likely I'll paint the house myself, which is a pain in the ass, but at least it'll save a grand or two...

Been talking with my pop and my boss at work about ideas for opening up a place of my own. Not necessarily a bar, but maybe a late night deli with a basic liquor license for beer and wine. We've been tossing around the ideas for an ice cream store as well. This would be a whole lot easier to do than opening up an actual bar, and soooo much cheaper. At this rate I could front most of the cash on my own without too much help from partners or loans. We'll see what happens, it may start rolling within a year.

It's getting hot, and sleeping is becoming a pain in the ass now. Too hot in this room, too bright in another. I don't want to crank up the AC to make it comfy because cooling a house this size with 14 ft ceilings is running me about $350 a month by just keeping it at 82. Any lower and I need to start taking out a second mortgage.

One week to go for the big Cali trip to Hermosa Beach. This time next week I'll be having my toes in the ocean again, sipping cool suds and gettin my sun on at the beach. I'll take lots of pics for y'all. All I have to worry about is finding a sitter for Jenny. Any takers?