More Rowing and Football

The weekend certainly had its ups and downs. The rowing was on the upside and the football was mostly on the downside. Lets take the upside first. Saturday practice was a very light workout as we were racing the next day. Due to a lack of enough coxswains, we were limited to taking out the 8+ rather then two 4+s. I wasn't scheduled to race in the 8+ so that left me and another rower to ride along with the coach in the launch. Rather then do that our Coach suggested rowing in a double, which sounded better then just sitting and watching. The row in the double actually went better then I expected. It was a decent row although short. We only rowed about 3.5 miles. That's probably half of what we normally row in a practice. On Sunday the 4+s were scheduled to race at 1130. However, our coach wanted my 4+ to come at 830 for a short practice. I'm not exactly sure why. It's not like we haven't rowed together before. In fact this would be our second race together, but out we went. Our coach had some good tips particularly for our two starboard rowers (get your hands down during recovery so the boat isn't off to port during the recovery. I'm a port rower so, of course, anything wrong with the set of our boat is due to the starboard rowers :-) ). At 11:00 we launched and rowed up to he start, which just upstream from Jacob's Rock. The race use to start at Jacob's Rock and started with a straight shot onto to a long straight away. Now it starts just upriver and requires negotiating a big sweeping turn to starboard of at least 120 degrees. I suppose it makes the race more interesting with that big turn at the start, but given the Chase's move slightly upstream and the Head of the Occoquan moving theirs downstream from Fountainhead Park, it makes the two races too similar. That can't be good for either regatta where you're competing for the same rowers. There will be some that will come to both, but there are a lot that will chose between one or the other figuring why spend the money to come to the Occoquan to run what is essentially the same race? Anyway back to our race. We were led to understand that we had three boats in our age category (50+). One from Alexandria and the other from Oakton Masters. Oakton would start right in front of us and Alexandria behind us. For those that aren't familiar with Head Racing, boats start single file about 15 seconds apart. You win by having the fastest time, but the idea is to pass as many boats ahead of you as you can while not letting the boats behind you pass you or close the distance from the start. We had mixed results. the boat from Alexandria passed us about the halfway point while we passed Oakton with less then 1,000 meters left. They caught back up to us and we dueled for the remainder of the race including clashing oars with each other at one point. As far as the race itself, I thought our 4+ rowed much better then we had in the Head of the Potomac. Can we improve? Surely. Enough to make up the 35 seconds we need to catch up to Alexandria? Probably not, at least not this year. After I got home, I checked the results and was surprised to find that Oakton was actually in the 40+ category. So we finished second in a two boat race. Not quite as satisfying as saying that you finished second of three. Overall the club had an excellent day. Our Men's 8+ finished 2nd, the Women's 8+ finished 1st and the Women's 4+s finished 1 and 2. Lots of medals and more important respect for our club.

Most of my Saturday, after practice, was spent watching football. Both Auburn and VA Tech were on TV at noon. Auburn was playing at Arkansas and VA Tech was playing Boston College. The Auburn game turned out to be quite the disappointment given that Auburn was undefeated going in. Not anymore. On the other hand, VA Tech took apart Boston College, which made Daughter#2 and The Son In Law, but VA Tech grads, quite happy. Sunday I watched the Redskins play and lose to the previously win less Carolina Panthers. The only good thing about the loss is listening to the fan base bitch and moan and call for heads on sports talk radio the next few days. Lets face it, the 'Skins offensive line is just terrible. Without a good O line, it doesn't matter how good a Quarterback you have or how good a running back, you'll lose.

Monday I went for a row in a single. I practiced the Head of the Occoquan course and overall it was a good row. It never ceases to amaze me how my ability to make the boat run really well comes and goes over the course of a piece. I guess the idea is to be able to hold that good technique throughout a race. I need to get more zen like with the boat - become one with the boat. 19 days until my first race in a single.

Ready for the Weekend

The weekend is upon us and I live for the weekends. No football games to actually attend as Maryland is down in Winston-Salem to play Wake Forest, but plenty to watch. Auburn-Arkansas is on tap for noon tomorrow on ESPN. War Eagle! Also on tap this weekend, on Sunday, is the George Mason Men's Crew sponsored Head Race - the Occoquan Chase. Along with the Head of the Occoquan, it's one of my favorite races. Its on our home water, but more then that, I love the twists and turns of the race. Makes for some exciting racing When I first joined my rowing club, the Occoquan Chase was just starting up and we would win the Masters 8+ every year - by default as we were the only boat entered in our category. Still we wore our "Champion of the Chase" t-shirts with pride. I might add that I love that they have special t-shirts made for the winners. Medals are nice, but you can't really wear medals anywhere. They just sit in your bedroom. T-shirts you can wear out. Anyway, the race has grown over the years and its not uncommon to have 4 or 5 boats in our category now. Its been a while since I've won one the t-shirts and I'd love to get another. As far as I know, I'm just in a Men's 50 4+, which, frankly is one of our weakest boats so winning a t-shirt might have to wait another year.

Speaking of Head Races, I officially signed up to race a single in the Head of the Occoquan. This will be my first time trying that. I've raced in 8s, 4s and Quads, but never in a single. I decided to do it just to see how I will do. A test of sorts. It's made possible as singles race on a Saturday and the rest of my races (a 4+ and an 8+) are scheduled for Sunday. Therefore, I won't be totally wiped. Hopefully we'll have good weather (Ha!) on Saturday, but if not I'll scratch. I'm not looking to go in the water during a windy Halloween day. Yes the race is on Halloween. I do need to step up my training though. 3 weeks to go.

On a health note, I picked up a skin infection just below my eyebrow. My left eye is almost swollen shut, which looks as lovely as it sounds. I'm on antibiotics for it and if past history holds, it should start draining over the weekend. I hope you weren't eating while reading this. I did go to the Doctor's today on a another matter, my blood pressure. It hasn't been too bad lately, but the Doctor has been tweaking my meds for a while now trying to get it down where he wants it. Based on today's visit, he's happy. Now I just need to do my part by taking the medications and keeping up with my exercising.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Quite the Weekend

This past weekend was quite the satisfying and fun time. Between the football and the rowing, I was in heaven, especially the way everything worked out. First the football. Maryland was playing Clemson at Bryd Stadium. It was a noon start. Getting up to College Park for a noon game when I have rowing practice from 730 to 930 requires a lot of hustling as the trip to College Park takes an hour. Given how badly Maryland has struggled this year, I had no illusions that Maryland would win. I was just hoping it wouldn't be a blow out. It was a perfect day for college football. Bright blue fall skies, plenty of sun and warm without being hot. Because we got there only a little before game time, there wasn't really time for tailgating. I enjoyed a beer before we headed for the stadium. Ann and I grabbed sausage subs with the works from the concession stand for lunch and ate at our seats. I also picked up a Maryland hat since I seem to have lost the one I had. The game started auspiciously with Clemson jumping out to a 10-0 lead and gaining 140 yard in the first quarter alone. After that Maryland turned the game around and ended up winning 24-21 despite some strange calls by Maryland in the 4th Quarter. When you are up by 3, how do you go for it on 4th down on your OWN 29? Especially when you've gotten stuffed all day on short yardage situations. Luckily the Maryland defense was up to the task or Clemson was inept enough. Having their field goal kicker miss 2 field goals in a row helped too. Everyone left the game quite happy - well at least Maryland fans did.

After driving home with a stop to buy some KFC grilled chicken since neither Ann or I was in the mood to cook, I settled in to watch more football because you know one game just isn't enough. I watched the tail end of the Navy-Air Force game. An OT victory for Navy so good there. Really I was just biding my time until The Auburn-Tennessee game came on. When I was attending Auburn back in the old days, we played Tennessee every year and early in the year. Usually the winner of that game went on to have a good year. It was a fierce rivalry with no lost between fans. Not quite on the level on Auburn-Alabama, of course, but what is? But close. Anyway, it was very satisfying watching Tennessee get dominated, even if the final score wouldn't indicate so. Next up - Arkansas. An interesting by line of that game is that the Arkansas coach, Bobby Petrino, is a former Offensive Coordinator at Auburn and later when Head Coach at Louisville, was involved in a somewhat clandestine interview to become the Head Coach at Auburn to replace Tommy Tuberville. The meeting involved influential boosters, the Auburn Athletic Director and midnight jet rides. The scandal led to the resignation of the Auburn Athletic Director and banishment of the Booster involved. I'm sure it will come up during the week. Ann and I are considering going to watch the game with a bunch of Metro Washington Auburn supporters up in Crystal City. We'll have to see what our plans are for the weekend.

Now for the rowing. This past Sunday was the Occoquan Challenge. I was only scheduled to row in the Men's 8+. The interesting part of this particular race from almost all other head races is that halfway through there is a 180 degree turn that has to be navigated, which poses quite the challenge for coxswains and rowers alike (hence the race name). It's quite possible to shave or add significant time to your race depending on how you navigate the turn. The conditions on Sunday were sunny, cool and windy. The water was quite choppy, particularly at the turn. Our race was ok, but not great. Our ratio could have been better. Despite that we ended up winning. We beat our rivals from across the water, something we haven't ever done before and by 30 seconds to boot. So another Gold medal, which now makes three races in a row that I've been lucky enough to be a part of. Sort of unheard of for the men's side of our club. Overall it was a good day for our club. The Women's 8+ also won as did one of the Women's 4+ and a Men's 4+ (by default as there was no other boat in their age category) and our mixed double. I might have missed some others, but everyone went home happy. I need more weekends like this. How was your weekend?

Rowing Downtown

This past Sunday marked our second Head Race of the season. Our first was two weeks ago with the race around Wye Island on Maryland's Eastern Shore. I've been too lazy to get around to posting pictures and writing about it and perhaps I still will, but the bottom line is we won! There were three boats in our category (Masters Men 8+) - ourselves, a boat from Wilmington and one from Alexandria. We were first off and slowly pulled away from Wilmington and we never saw Alexandria. We later heard they made a wrong turn somewhere along the line. So a great start to the Head Race portion of our schedule.

Sunday our race was the Head of the Potomac. I was scheduled to race in a 4+ and a mixed 8+. The mixed 8+ consists of 4 men and 4 women. I didn't get to race in the Men's 8+ primarily because I have the suckiest erg time for 5,000 meters among the men. I need to work on that although part of it is that I'm also the smallest guy on the team. However in the men's 4+, I was moved from2 seat to the stroke seat so a bit of a promotion there. My first race was in the Men's 4+. The boats launched from Thompson's Boat Center although the race itself is hosted by the Potomac Boat Club. For those familiar with the Washington area, it all happens down at the Georgetown waterfront. One of the interesting aspects of the area is that the old C&O Canal runs through it. Keep in mind this is right downtown.

The course itself starts above Key Bridge - way above and finishes at the Roosevelt Bridge. It's shorter then most Head Races although not by much. However it seems longer then most. As far as a scenic course, it can't be beat. This is looking up the course from Thompson's.

After the race, you circle back to the docks at Thompson's and row by the Kennedy Center.

So for my races. My boat finished last in the Men's 4+ (out of 7 boats), even after the time adjustments due to the age of our boat (50+ category). The race didn't feel that bad, but obviously we have some work to do. The Mixed 8+ was the next to last race of the day. There were 3 boats in the race - one from Capital Rowing Club and one from Thompson's. We were the third boat crossing the start. I had no real expectations for this race. The 8 of us had never rowed together and the crew was not made up out of the cream of the crop of the rowers in our club. It took us a while just to figure who should row in what seat. I got elected to stroke, which was ok with me. As we rowed up tot he start, the sky was turning an ominous color of black. The referees on the course told us as we passed them that if the storm struck to row to Potomac Boat Club and wait it out rather then to try and make it all the was back to Thompson's. We were late getting up to the start as we hot seated the boat with our Men's 8+. Hot seating meaning we rowed the same boat as the Men's 8+. They pulled into the dock and hopped out and the Mixed 8+ hopped in and took off. So we basically rowed up, spun the boat and headed to the start. As we crossed the start line it started to rain. Lightly at first and then harder. I kept the boat at a 28 stroke race through most of the race. As we approached the Key Bridge, our coxswain started telling us how close we were to passing the boat from Thompson's. Frankly I thought she was lying to us just to keep us motivated as I didn't think we would be passing anyone, but who knew? We did catch and pass them. I have to put a mention here of our coxswain for the race, Sammie. She coxes primarily for the women's side, but for this race she agreed to do the Mixed 8+. She's from Australia and still has the accent. It's so cool listening to her. Her calls sometimes are a bit different then our calls here in the States, but that just adds to the experience. Anyway, as I mentioned we passed the boat from Thompson's and then Sammie was telling us how we were gaining on the boat from Capital. By that time we were nearing the finish and I picked the stroke rate up to 31/strokes per min so we finished hard. The organizers were quick to post the time and we had the fastest time and won 1st Place Medals. So cool. Oh and rain, it slowly diminished as we raced so it turned out to be a nonfactor. Besides our Mixed 8+, the Women's 8+ also won. Our other Men's 4+ came in 4th, one of our Men captured a 2nd in the Masters single (1X), The Women's 4+s came in 2nd and 5th (out of 14) respectively, and the Men's 8+ came in 4th (out of 11). Overall a good day for our club. next week we race on our home water in the Occoquan Challenge. I will return to the Men's 8+ for the race, which I love.

Some more pictures from this weekend. The Men's8+ loading at the dock.

Men's 8+ leaving the dock and rowing up to the start.

The Women's 8+ loading at the dock.

What Customer Support?

Since I'm old I've been witness to much of the progress of the computer through the ages. I'm not sure my kids, even though they are adults, can even fathom a life without personal computers. When I was a kid, the whole of idea of computers was still like sci-fi. Sure they existed, but they were few and far between and huge. Whole rooms/areas were set aside to house these behemoths, which required a good deal of air conditioning to keep them cool and only a relatively few people knew how to operate them. When I went to college, I had to take two computer course. These were classes in programming in COBOL and FORTRAN. Auburn had one computer, an IBM 360 mainframe, that every one used for everything - from admissions and billing to athletics to students. Needless to say, student computer programs were at the bottom of the priority list. There was no Internet (or at least not that any one knew of except maybe a few Government labs), no wired dorm rooms, nothing. To run our software projects, we had to use punch cards. A single COBOL program and a simple one at that, might use 500 to 600 cards to run. We had maybe 12 to 15 punch card machines for the entire student body. Needless to say they were always busy although the computer center was open 24 hours a day. We didn't have any remote terminals to enter data. I didn't do that well in either class although I passed both. I always seem to be a week or two behind in grasping concepts. I would spend entire Quarters cussing out the computer and how dare it tell me my coding was wrong? Couldn't it read? WTF?

Fast forward to the late 80s and early 90s and personal computers are becoming much more common in households. For the most part, access is by dial up. Broadband has not made it to the masses yet. This is about the time that I first became an AOL member. Unlike a lot of people, I've been pretty happy with AOL over the years. My primary e-mail address has been an AOL address. Even when I got broadband, we have kept AOL. In fact AOL is a local company. They are a neighbor to the bike trail I visit most weekends. One of their server farms is in my county. A few days ago when trying to sign on a message appeared that my screen name had been suspended. I mentioned it to Ann, who happens to have the AOL account in her name, and she said she had been notified of a Terms of Service (ToS) violation by The Son. ToS covers everything from cussing out other people on line to spamming, to sending inappropriate pictures, etc. I didn't think that much of it as The Son has gotten his share of ToS violations over the years. Usually a call to Customer Support is all that is required. So it was yesterday that I decided to contact AOL to see what the problem was. My first problem was that I couldn't find their Customer Service phone number on the web site despite looking for quite a while. I finally Googled it and apparently others had had the same problem and were only too happy to share it much to AOL's dismay, I'm sure. So I called. After providing some basic information to a recorded voice, a representative came on line. I told her of the problem and her response: "I can't help you. You'll have to write a letter to AOL headquarters." A letter? Was she serious? She couldn't help? "No. You have to send a letter." No phone number to call? An e-mail address maybe? "No. A letter." I told her that was the stupidest thing I had ever heard, but took down the address anyway. When Ann got home, I told her of the problem and she mentioned the ToS violation, but thought it was pretty benign and therefore hadn't replied to it. We thought since she was the account holder of record, that she might have better luck then I had. So she called AOL and same thing. Customer Support couldn't help and a letter was required. For a company that provides internet access, e-mail and probably has the most popular Instant Messaging program, that they are requiring a letter just seems bizarre to me. I'm not sure what a letter will say. Ummm...not sure exactly why, but our account has been suspended. Can you tell us why and how do we get it turned back on? Oh and by the way, you're still collecting my money. It just seems so archaic. I can hardly wait to see what response our letter brings. Maybe in cuneiform on clay tablets.

I Love Football

There are a few things I love about this time of year - Head Races, warm weather, but not hot weather and most of all football. I enjoy pro football and follow our home team (the Redskins) as close as the next fan, but my true love is college football. I love the tradition, I love the atmosphere, the rivalries, the BCS upstarts, in short everything (except for the lack of a football playoff ,but that's a post for another day). I love being able to watch several college games a week. I look forward to College Game Day every Saturday morning. I went to a college (Auburn) where football is king. There was nothing like attending a game at Jordan Hare Stadium. I was lucky to have attended Auburn during the run of Pat Sullivan and Terry Beasley. While Auburn never won a National Championships during those years, Pat Sullivan did win the Heisman so it was exciting times for Auburn football. If I didn't know it before, going to Auburn taught me there is no better thing to do on a Saturday then to be at a college football game.

My life travels have taken me far away from my alma meter so attending games back on the loveliest village on the plains isn't practical. That doesn't mean there aren't options. When I moved back to the Washington DC area, I started attending University of Maryland football games. My now ex-brother in law (actually deceased now) was a big fan of Maryland so Ann and I would go. Eventually we bought season tickets with him. Section 6, on the 45 yard line. We've had those tickets now for over 25 years. By no stretch of the imagination is Maryland on the same level footballwize as Auburn and to be sure there have been some ups and downs over the years. The fact remains though that we enjoy going to the games. The tailgating, the band, just the sense of excitement as you enter the stadium. It's a perfect way to spend a day. And so it was this past Saturday. After Saturday's rowing practice, Ann and I headed to College Park. It was a gorgeous day. Bright blue sky with not a cloud to be seen. The temperature in the high 70s. We munched on veggies with ranch dressing, Italian Subs and chips, washed down with some cold Coronas. The only downer was Maryland lost - to Middle Tennessee State. Ugh. Maryland hosts Rutgers next week so hopefully the outcome will be better. On a happier note, Auburn rallied to beat West Virginia Saturday night on ESPN2. West Virginia has some of the most obnoxious fans I've even encountered so I love when they lose. So Saturday night closed out on a good note.

On the rowing front, we had our first race last weekend and I've been meaning to write about it ever since. I took pictures that I want to include, but I'm always forgetting to upload them. I need to get that done, but the good news is we won! Details to follow. On other rowing news, I got bumped out of our 8+ for our next race, which comes this coming Sunday - Head of the Potomac. It's a great venue as you race down the Potomac through the key Bridge and the Georgetown waterfront and finish in front of the Kennedy Center. I'll be racing in our old (50+) 4+ and in a mixed 8+ with some of our women. I have been rowing 2 seat in the 4+, but got asked to move to stroke. A little added pressure there, but I've rowed stroke before so we'll see how that goes.

Happy Anniversary!

Today marks Ann and I's 33rd wedding anniversary. The fact the our anniversary now shares a date with the one of the most infamous events in America history makes it pretty difficult to forget. It makes it both a day to celebrate, but also a date to remember. To me it's hard to believe we've been married that long and that we have adult children (some more adult then others). When I meet new couples I'm always curious on how they met. What brought them together. What was the initial attraction. So I'll give you our story.

Ann and I first met in 1975. I was living in Charleston, SC at the time and she lived in Alexandria, VA. We were both working for the Navy (and still do). We were both in the intern training program but working for different Commands. I was involved in ship repair and Ann dealt with buying things for the "Air" side of the Navy. In our line of work, new hires are sent to a ton of classes the first few years. Not surprisingly there are endless amounts of rules and regulations to learn in order to do our jobs. One of the first classes is a four week one to learn the basics. I chose to attend one that was being given in northern Virginia, across the street from the Pentagon , literally, rather then the traditional location, which was Ft Lee in Petersburg, VA, just south of Richmond. The reason I chose the former was so that I could spend time with my family that lived in Maryland at the time. The first day of class started auspiciously as I was over an hour late due to an accident that screwed up rush hour traffic. What a surprise there. Anyway,I finally manged to get to the class, which was being held in an office building in Crystal City, an office/residential/commercial series of buildings located next to National Airport. The class was made up mostly of locals with just a few of us from out of town. Included in the locals were three girls who were friends and all worked in the next office building over. Now remember this was 1975 and the miniskirts was the fashion of the day. The three girls sat on the far side of the room so they had to walk across the front of the classroom to reach their seats. It became a viewing sport to watch them return after breaks. Very cute girls. After a week or so of class, during a break, I was getting a drink from the water fountain and one of the three girls approached me and asked what school I had been a Delt at. She was referring to what fraternity as I was wearing my windbreaker with the fraternity letters on it. I told her I had gone to Auburn. We talked a bit did the introductions and I found out her name was Ann and she asked if I would like to get together for a drink after class. Next to the office building where the class was being held was a Holiday Inn with a bar. A lot of the class went there after class. So we went for drinks and talked and talked and talked. We ended up having dinner there. Then we went back to her apartment where we mostly just watched TV and maybe a little making out before I left late for the long drive back to my parent's house. We went out everyday after that until the class was over and I returned to Charleston. After that there was daily phone calls. Well during the week anyway. I had no phone in my apartment as I was making all of $8,000 a year at the time. We managed to schedule a three week class a few months later. We did the long distance relationship thing for about a little over a year until I managed to switch jobs to the same Command Ann worked for. A few months after tat we were married in my hometown in Maryland. None of this living in sin for Ann. So now 33 years later I can safely say that I definitely made the right pick.