You Say Patriot Day, I Say Birthday

Today I have turned 38 years old. That seems like an alien number and I have a hard time believing that I've been on this planet for 38 years now. Nine eleven sixty nine. I used to love my birthday and still like it quite a lot. I expect and hope that it will, eventually, become a national holiday and a day off.

But we'll have to have a more compassionate president for that.

Anyway, thirty eight years. Maybe I should take a little stock and see where we are now.
I weigh 170 pounds and am still five feet nine or ten. I've been 170 or close to it for the last 20 years. I still have a 32 inch waist and my feet remain as flat as pancakes, well pancakes with metacarpals and such in them.

I've got lots and lots of scars, some with cool stories behind them, some with stupid stories behind them. I've had several operations, mostly on my right ankle after a stupid accident.

I've broken my share of bones, abraded my share of skin but still done a reasonably good job of keeping my body in something resembling decent shape.

At one point, after I'd been training with powerlifters, I set new personal bests in the bench press, the leg press and in the squat with 305, 740 and 415 respectively. A few years ago, I was watching the Olympics while working out and successfully benched 310.

But I get most of my exercise on my bicycles these days. Well, mostly just my Ibis Mojo which I go trail riding on at least once a week. I'll try to get out for a road ride at least once a week as well but it is hard to get to and easy to blow off sometimes. But I also know how important the pedaling is for my sanity and health so I try not to.

I'd talk about career stuff but I don't currently have a career. I've been trying to kickstart a professional photography thing but it is taking some time to start up. And, in the meantime, I need to go back to working for someone else. The only thing I want for my birthday is a call from Santa Cruz Bicycles asking me when I can start the training process to be the Production Coordinator. That would totally make my day a very, very happy birthday indeed!

Here are some folks I share my birthday with.
O. Henry - short-story writer (1862)
D. H. Lawrence - author (1885)
Paul (Bear) Bryant - football coach (1913)
Tom Landry - Football (1924)
Daniel Kahikina Akaka - U.S. Senator (1924)
Brian De Palma - director (1940)

And they probably approach their birthdays with the same mixture of anticipation and sadness that so many died and are still dying on our day of birth. I'm reading an article in Discover about the downstream effects of the inhalation of toxic dust and fumes at ground zero causing up to 300,000 post attack deaths. If I dwell on it then I tend to become very melancholy and depressed. And that's no way to spend your birthday, even if the rest of the world calls it Patriot Day.

I hope you have a nice and thoughtful Patriot Day, I'll try to have a nice and enjoyable birthday.