Life explained

God created the dog and said:"Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said: "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?"

So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said:"Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said: "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?"

And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said:"You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer 's family For this, I will give you a life span of sixty Years."

The cow said: "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?"

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said:"Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years."

But man said: "Only twenty years ? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?"

"Okay," said God, "You asked for it."

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves.

For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family.

For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren.

And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

I'll be a geek before it's all over

Aww right now! I had lunch with our pastor Greg today. I laughed so hard I think those Red Lobster cheese biscuits were about to come out my nose! He told some funny stories about what happens during church that us normal pew warmers don't see. I landed the media bit and I've been working on s presentation for about 4.5 hours now. Changing and doing it this way and that way. I'm being super picky since it's my first week. I didn't take the whole service just yet. And right now I just realized I needed to change something else.

I'm sooo really for the long weekend! Aren't you!

Later tater tot!
Geo

Ok, someone spit!

Aww right now! Someone spit and called it rain! I did rain at my office for about 5 minutes. Became hot and humid after that. I had a meeting in the main hospital so I had to walk across the parking lot and even with 12 ozs of hair gel in my hair, it still fell! HA! Still no rain at the homefront. Maybe during the night.

I am having lunch tomorrow with our pastor and I'm going to go out on a limb and make a gutsy move. I'm going to ask for the media part of our church services. I have done a couple of marketing type things and have gotten a huge response. So I'm hoping I'm seeing this right and going after my "calling". There are so many cool things we can do at our church and I want to be on the forefront of those helping make those changes. I am putting together a media event for our teens for Oct and I'm so excited about it. The video part opens with a jet flying in over head and the noise level will crank to full on loud with a lot of bass pull. I did a teaser type email and sent it to several folks to get their feel and it was 100% thumbs up! Yeah! It's not a huge change but it's a lot more contemporary than what we are currently doing. One of the kids made a remark about when church sings some of "their" songs. I feel changes comin' on! If we don't market church to teens and young adults then we'll lose them so we'll crank it up a notch and meet 'em on their level. We'll see. Cross your fingers.

The bike?? Well, I haven't been on it lately. Sad I know. I'll be out there maybe tomorrow afternoon and then on Saturday for sure. Plan to try for a Sunday afternoon ride and a Monday morning ride. Need to wake those legs up for the MS150 next weekend. I'm going to ride the Saturday part. I have a whole list of things to "road text message" this year. Lisa, the organizer asked me to do something at the event but I'll keep quite until after I do it. My friends at the ride are going to crack up.

Weekend is getting here by the minute! Whoo Hooo!!
Geo.

Quick hit Tuesday and a correction

Ok, it was JMar who had the sub 5 hour HH100 not JBar. Gee, how could I have gotten that mixed up. Congrats JMAR!

Full moon Monday

I walked into my office today and was greeted by a very chipper co-worker who asked "Ohhhh, hellooo! How are you this morning!" This is usually done with back flips and cart wheels. I just stopped and gave her my best Red Forman (70's Show) look and said, "Ok, it's Monday, it's hot and there's a full moon. Ya need anymore information?" She just stood there looking at me like a wounded puppy then I busted out laughing. I told her I was fine and even invited her and another coworker to walk across the parking lot to get Java City. Life is good at the office but I have to mess with them!

Ok, weekend wrap up... here we go!

David and Mariann but did great in the KY Ironman on Sunday. Swim 2.6 miles, ride a bike 112 miles then run a marathon? They ain't got no sense! HA!

The crew are back from hell... well Hotter'n'Hell 100 in TX that is. All survived.

Still no rain.

Home ball team Arkansas Travlers took one in the belly from the Springfield Cardinals. 16 to zip. Not as bad as the whipping TX dished out last week to some poor soul less team but ...

Tyler had to work ALL weekend on a Wal Mart video project but he came by tonight and had dinner with us.

Would you believe I didn't ride all weekend? I was too busy doing other stuff. I'll go ride this weekend. Oh, I just realized it's a long weekend. Ithink maybe I'll go off for a long ride early Monday morning because there will be no traffic until about noon. Monday holidays are the best days for riding.

Here's my upcoming fall ride schedule.

Sept 8th is MS 150 - Pedal The Peaks (Petit Jean Mountain)

Sept 15th is a training ride for BDB 100.
Sept 29th is Big Dam Bridge 100.

Oct 6th is Medic One's Ride for a Better Life in Jonesboro. Fun ride and always very nice goodie bags! Whole group of riders that I've never met before. That's always cool! I get to hook up with my buddy Brandon once again. Might even stay at his and Hannahs house the night before.

Well that's all folks! Thanks for reading and hang out for a moment!

Geo

Within inches of the house

Woke up at a dark 5:30 this morning and not sure why!

Had coffee and read more of a book that I started. Bob Franquiz "Elements". Good book. Inspirational. Revolutionary. Someone gave me that "Purpose Driven Life". Yeah yeah yeah but Elements... ding ding... the winner! Just the shot I needed.

I checked my email and one of the guys down in TX finished the HH100 in 4:47! Ok, take a century ride (100 miles) and divide it by 4:47! That's over 20mph average. Way to go JBar! I was surprised to find out several regulars I know didn't return to HH100 this year.

Note to Wes: Hope you did great at West Point Tri today!

*** Later note: I went to some other websites and came back by my own and cracked up! I forgot to say anyhting so the title of he blog would make sense. IT RAINED just inches from the house. Dark clouds, wind blowing and Weather Channel showing a red and orange blob heading right toward us. Nah, it turned to green then light blue then nothing. Awww come on!

Serious Bling!

This is some serious hearing aid bling! It can be yours for $50,000. It'll look good with your black Yukon!

Thursday lunchtime hit -- HH100

Hey friends
heading down,
over,
up,
across
to Hotter'n'Hell 100 in TX this weekend!
Y'all have a great time and a safe trip!

Thursday lunchtime quick hit --- IRONMAN KENTUCKY

Here's a rundown of the folks from AR heading to Ironman this weekend!

454 Darnall Tyler M25-29 Rogers AR
1905 Theriot Beau M25-29 Conway AR
1970 Vandiver Nathan M25-29 Conway AR
884 Herget Ted M30-34 Jonesboro AR
1406 Newberry James M30-34 Jonesboro AR
2067 Williams John M30-34 Fayetteville AR
152 Beard Donald M35-39 Rogers AR
970 Irvin Drew M35-39 Little Rock AR
1615 Reynolds Chris M35-39 Hot Springs AR
1738 Schmidt Ron M35-39 Fayetteville AR
1880 Suminski Michael M35-39 Jonesboro AR
2118 Young IV Joe M35-39 Jonesboro AR
757 Golden Christopher M40-44 Bentonville AR
1846 Starr Don M40-44 Conway AR
2061 Williams Ken M40-44 Springdale AR
77 Angel Michael M45-49 Conway AR
281 Bryant Barry M45-49 Fouke AR
655 Ford Paul M45-49 Jonesboro AR
2098 Wonn David M50-54 North Little Rock AR
166 Bender Heather W18-24 Cabot AR
1480 Park Marianne W40-44 Cabot AR

Up again

Crud, I cursed it... the temps are back to the 99's. **Sigh***

It broke!!!

Yeah-izzzz!!! It broke! Finally! I was hoping it would break soon. The heat wave broke for the day. It was cloudy today but still no rain. I hear it's gushy at the St Louis Card's game right now.

I got home from work and couldn't wait to go play on the bike for the afternoon. I headed down to the river and really enjoyed the ride. I had the I-Tunes cranked and rocking. Don't give me lip about wearing tunes while riding. Some folks freak out about it but it's usually the same folks that don't realize they just ran the red light while their blabbing on their cell phones. HA!

The ride was fun and fast. I rode both sides of the river and spotted a few friends. Ironman David was out doing a run and Paul C was out with a group. He was pulling when I saw him. Go Paul!

As I was coming back to the north side I was climbing the BDB (Big dam bridge --- yes, it's really called that!) and a dad was pulling his little guy in a bike trailer. Dad was getting on up the bridge and looked back and saw me. I shouted, "No prob!" But dad jumps and dances on those pedals and up they went. When we got to the top I laughed and told the little guy in the trailer if he knew his daddy was a superhero? The dad just laughed. Good times!

I still like the shirt Keith Hill had on when we went to HH100 last year... "I'm a Superhero but without power or motivation." It's something like that.

I did a little marketing piece today for a church sock drive for the homeless guys. It's a photo of a sock with toes sticking through and the title was "Holy, holy, holy." I'm trying to get more into the "marketing" part of church with stuff like that. We have the Roast 'n' Ride coming up in Oct and we'll be pulling out some stops for the short youth devo we'll do. Let's just say, it'll be cutting edge for sure! Can't wait to see the kids faces. It's gonna rock!

I'm outta here...
Geo.

A tropical storm next door and still no rain

It came ashore last week in south TX and dumped the rain. Now it's in OK and they are getting tons of rain but it's going north. We are so close to rain but nada. We are getting the wind. There's a nice 15 mph breeze blowing out there today.

Last week I got bit on the arm by something and it formed a white looking blister. Nothing serious but the other night I went outside to the side of the house, in the dark to turn off the sprinklers and something bit me and it hurt! I noticed my little toe where the bite was looked swollen and red. This morning I had one of those weird blisters on my toe. Whatever it is, is a pest!

I woke up too late to get down to watch the half Ironman yesterday so I rode a little along the river, watched an Easter Seals 5K race then spent the rest of the day cleaning and organizing the garage. I had let a lot of things go around the house and so i decided it was time to get back into the handyman mode. Terri and I also bought a freezer after diiner Friday night and I needed to make room for that. It was funny some of the memories I had going through stuff out there. I had cans and cans of old paint. There was the half full can of light "baby" blue that Emily just had to have her room painted in. There were several sample cans of various cream colors that we had to paint sections of the wall to see which one it was going to be. I found a can of old house trim that was really ugly. I was scratching my head, thinking, did I really have a house color like that? Funny house style and colors change through out the years.

I have to finish getting some stuff out of the garage this afternoon so we can put both cars back in. We ate at Fridays after church and while we were there this lady who had been sitting at the big table of seniors across from us had gone to the restroom and slipped and fall on the way. Several of her friends got up to go see when the waite came and told the table. Terri leaned over to see if it was outside and BANG! See didn't relaize the glass was right there because it was double pane and looked like it was further away than it was. We all laughed and laughed.

Well time to get back outside and inishe the job and maybe get a ride in at sunset this afternoon.

My worst nightmare came true!

Oh man, y'all ain't gonna believe this!! My worse nightmare came true! I went to work in my boxers and no one even noticed. My that was because everyone else was in theirs as well!

Yeah baby, the heat wave continues but might have a break this weekend thanks to the possible shot of rains coming up from the tropical storm in Texas. First day of school on Monday may be a cool and brisk 96 degrees.

I'm hearing the 10 day forecast for the Hotter'n'Hell 100 next weekend in Texas is 88 degrees. Wha??? 88??? Last year when I rode it was 188. That's right, one-hundred-eighty-eight! Guys were stopping on the side of the road and just hanging over their bikes. Every now and then you'd see a bike just abandoned on the side of the road and no one in sight. Made one wonder if the rabid arm-ah-dillo's kidnapped them. Ok, truth be told... I'm sort of feeling left out since I'm not going.

Hey when I finish this you know want I'm going to do? Log in and make my LAST car payment! I will have no more car payments at all! Now if I can just pay off the house right quick! It's been a long time since I've gone into the no car payment club. I will get to enjoy it until May when I'll let Em get a new(er) car. Probably another Honda Accord that will last her through college.

One other thing... a guy slit his wrist and jumped off the bridge down onto the interstate right in front of the hospital yesterday.... and lived! OK, humor me here. I don't think it was his time to go. Know what I mean? You don't try to kill yourself times two and live through it. I was wondering today... what was the purpose of this? Where did it fit in with "the" plan? Who did it affect? Good or bad. By the way, when he flipped off the bridge he misjudged a tad and landed on the shoulder of the road rather than in the lane of oncoming traffic. Really a sad scene.

Just plain ole hot

It's just plain ole hot! I ate lunch in the lounge at 11 and the Weather Channel was on... temp was 98 degrees. When I started to leave and go back up to my office at noon it was 102.

I'm going to work in my boxers tomorrow. So what if they laugh. This long sleeves and jacket business get up is for the birds.... HA!


Make it a fun day!
Geo.

I wished I owned the bike store!

Holy molely batman --- you see all those bikes this morning? No kidding! There were bikes everywhere and we are supposed to have the hottest day of the year today. I spotted the Hotter'n'Hell training ride. I spotted the Ironman training group. I spotted 1/2 dozen running friends. Spotted Solo Kyle, awesome cyclist from church but always rides solo. I spotted a million other riders out enjoying the river trail. I'm serious folks, there were a lot of bikes this morning!

I woke early and had a good cereal breakfast and headed out the door about an hour later. The temp was really nice (upper 70's) and I was feeling the love this morning! As I rode down North Hills Blvd there were very few cars. Even though NHills is wide it's still nice to have car-less. I noticed there was a lot of glass along the sides of the road. Fingers crossed for no flat today but I did see a couple of folks changing tubes along the river.

So I rounded the corner and into one of the parking lots and oh man, cars and trucks everywhere! Packed! I was just stinkin' awesome. Now that Kincannondale over in OK finally turned the water off and the Arkansas River finally went down along with the Big Dam Bridge (BDB) open the bikes were out! I rode up and down a couple of times then had to remind myself that I did have to ride home and it was mostly up hill for several miles and the temp was climbing... but I was having a good time!

I spotted Solo Kyle leaving and tucked in behind his Pathfinder and waited for hi to look up. Of course when he spotted me drafting he puts on the brakes. HA! We yapped a second while rolling along then he gunned it -- no way bubba, I have to ride home, not drive in air conditioned high end SUV. HA!

I then spotted some of the Ironman group and others coming in off the farmlands. Got to talk to Robb for a few moments and got to see Skinny Yale for a second (there was a truck behind him--- bummer). Seeing them really makes me miss them all really bad. Fast Girls Slow Guys were also having a yard sell today for the MS150. I hope to go up and ride the Saturday part of the ride with them like I did last year. Fun ride, good friends, and a lot of laughter!

Well I rolled into the driveway and parked my tail on the front porch swing and looked out over the valley and sudenly found myself dripping in sweat. Like the flood gates opened. I finished off my water and GU-2-Oh and just enjoyed cooling down!

How fast did I average? I dunno.
How far did I ride? I dunno.
I have turned the bike computer off and told myself to just go enjoy your ride... so I did!

Have an awesome weekend friends!
Geo

Like Pair-rez always says, "Oh that's hot!"

Hot hot hot. Yep, it's triple X Hot and sweaty and.... never mind! It's 103 (That's the triple XXX -- three digits) for tomorrow then then we have 102 for the rest of the 7 days and the icon is this funky orange hazing looking thing that looks like LA.

(Note to Boomer: Man, I feel like the squirrel some days too! HA! You're blog has gotten so funny lately... keep it going! Driving Lindsey to rehab... LOL!!)

The half Ironman is next weekend in Arkadelphia. I hope to go cheer on the gang! I plan to do some "road text messaging" if I get down there. I really want to get there early enough to draw a picture on the road instead of just writing.

DWonn and MaryAnn are doing their KY (full) Ironman training tomorrow. There may be some others training it with them but I don't know them. I saw a 6a.m. swim on the schedule for this morning. I think tomorrow has a 2 lap 56 mile course with an hour run afterwards. Crazy stuff.

I'm still be asked what I'm going to do next year. The answer, just event rides and regular guy rides. Am I riding for the hospital as a fundraiser? I doubt it. It takes so much work and time plus I was blocked from so many accounts that I had for the first ride but another hospital group is working them for another event. It's a soapbox thing so I'll stop here.

OK, it's the weekend so I think I'll rid as early as I can get out in the morning. I mean it's going to be 100 by noon.

Here's a laugh for you. They are doing major construction around the hospital for the next 10 years and they've had to reroute traffic. Look at this map they sent out this afternoon!! Our hospital is so big that folks are lost in K-Mart during a blue light special but this is over the edge! It looks like one of those Family Circus cartoons where Billy walks to school. I promise I did not alter this in any way.

Well y'all have a dandy weekend in!

Geeee-oh!

The dog days of blogging

Ok the weather is saying 101, 102, 101, 99.99, 98 I mean c'mon!

I'm having dog days of blogging.

Really not a lot going on so go on back to doing what you were doing before you were doing this. HA!

And this little piggy went for a ride

Today was my first "event" type ride since R2R. It was in Morrilton and called the Tour de Oink. It was part of the Great American Pig Out. This was my third year to ride it. Always a fun little ride (40 miles) because you get to see a lot of the Conway crowd and always make a new friend or two. The ride didn't start until 8:30 which makes it really nice. Set the clock for 6:30 so I could take my time and have some breakfast. And like all event rides I toss and turn the night before and for the life of me I don't know why. Even if I over slept and missed the ride it would have been fine.

I drove solo breaking the tradition of Keith M and I riding up together. I knew he would be riding a lot faster than me and I didn't want him waiting an hour for me to roll in. I pulled in and they had a big crowd. I turned in my paperwork and check and walked back down the alley to the parking place we've parked in the past couple years. HA! Got everything and rolled over toward the start and spotted Keith M, Dr. Paul from the hospital and Brandon, fresh in from New Orleans from FloMax school! HA! He has been in school getting ready for his new position as an RX Rep. He'll be a great one. Then I spotted a fella I've not seen in a year or so... Brandon's dad. Larry is one of the most awesome guys I've ever met. Serious, not making this up. He was sporting a "Life is Good" t-shirt and that pretty much sums it up. We got to catch up a little bit.

The ride started and rolling hills begin. I remember that there would be some climbs so I rode very conservative. After the first climb we rolled out across the farmland and the rider in front of me a bit was pointing really big to something white in the road. Then I realized it was a puppy. A really little fella. It was running down the middle of the road as fast as his thumb sized legs would take him and screaming his head off. Oh man, it was tough to not stop, toss the ride and take the little pup home. There were no houses anywhere around. Whoever dumped the pup, well, I'm not going to say it... make up you own ending.

Some of the riders who flew out of the gate were alread starting to slow. The heat would eat them alive soon. Been there, done that, got the $800 ER bill for it. I didn't have the computer turned on so I had no idea how fast I was going, no idea how many miles I had been. I knew the ride was 40 miles and I would get there when I got there. I looked at the crops and farms and just enjoyed the ride. I planned well and had frozen my polar bottles so I had cold water and GU-2-O for the whole ride as well as gels. I drank often and shot a gel after I passed the rest stops. Sure folks passed me and some played pass/catch for miles and miles. There is one place before you reenter the town that I have noticed for 3 years now that someone dumps toilets. It's the weirdest thing. Just a pile of toilets going down an embankment to a creek.

I rolled in with some guys from The Ride bike shop in Conway. Like I said I had no idea my speed so I rounded the corner and there was Brandon. He was going to knock out the ride in 2 hours (20mph average). I rolled in at 2:15. I had no problem with that at all! This puts my average at 18.6mph??!! I was expecting maybe 15mph. We laughed!

Like Larry's shirt said... "Life is good!"

Way to go Rahsann Bahati!!! Cover of Road!

Awww right!!!! Check out the new issue of ROAD magazine!! Rock and Republics Bahati is rockin' the cover!!! I've been following them since spring now and they are ripping it up out there! Way to go Rahsann, Austin and team!!!