Tuesday, February 21, 2006

I'm on my way to setting an OLYMPIC RECORD!
...or at least a "personal best" and I'm not even an ATHLETE!


Back when I used to run, I was still big and slow. My lightest running weight was 215. So me trying to run up a hill was like a "semi-truck" going up Snoqualmie pass. Lugging all the way! I had the heart of an Olympic athlete, but the body of a couch potato. The last few years, my heart has pretty much gone the way of my body. Again, lugging all the way. Ergh.

In past years, I've watched my share of Olympic Games Coverage; I thot the ski-jumps were especially fascinating...they fly thru the air with the greatest of ease...and try all the while not to fall on their knees...(oops, got diverted there) But, this year, I'm setting a personal Olympics record. I am not watching a SINGLE event. As such, I'll not witness moments like these...


When I watched the Olympics, I used to also like the skiing "downhill" events; I remember rooting for Picabo Street, for example. But I just can't get into hockey. You know how monotonous hockey is? You don't? Well, just think of "soccer on ice" and you pretty-much get the idea.

I also never have really figured out the biathalon thing, where they ski, then pause to shoot a gun, then ski some more, and perhaps shoot again. I've always thought that skiing and shooting a gun go together like a dead skunk at an ice cream social. Maybe it would be more interesting for the skiiers to shoot WHILE they're skiing. Not at each other, of course, although that would lend a degree of suspense to the event. Sorta like when all of the skiier-assassins were pursuing James Bond during the "For Your Eyes Only" movie. That was one cool chase!

(Some) credit where credit is due dept.: The newly-redesigned Spokesman-Review appears to be getting a little better; featured in the paper this week was a multi-part article on slimeballs in the witness-protection-program who were relocated in the Lilac City. Interesting stuff. Still, there is no "Handle" section anymore; it's now called the "Northwest" section, a more general term, which actually makes sense since, instead of lots of North Idaho stories, it consists of (mostly) legislative reports from our state capital, Boise, which is further away from CDA, and harder to get to, than Olympia is from Spokane. I wonder if the paper's Idaho News dept. has been 'cut back'. Honestly, now I have to look at the competing paper, the Coeur d'Alene de-Press, because more than likely, that paper will have local stories which the S-R doesn't have. Ah, progress, eh?

A big monster with an insatiable appetite dept.: F'rinstance, one story NOT in the Spokesman, that was in the de-Press, was a big article about North Idaho College's budget shortfall. LOOK OUT STUDENTS! Look for tuition to rise AGAIN, I guess! A Spokane TV station explained it thusly: The job market in North Idaho has gotten better, so more students are working, instead of going to school. So do your part, area employers...FIRE all of your college-age employees so North Idaho College can remain solvent! Of course, the hyoooge new buildings on campus, the monstrous addition to the Student Union Building, and the tearing-down of the old dorms, to be replaced with brand-new Conrad-Hilton sized dorms, probably cost the college a little bit, too. Didn't I just read recently that the College was the recipient of some "tax funds" which had been deferred? Chomp! Chomp! Slurrrrp! Drooool! Oh yeah, and support yer local college. Rrrrright.

Another sign o'the changing tymes dept.: A little humorous "kicker" story at the end of tonite's Channel-4 nooze, concerned kids who TEXT-message on their cellphones, and end up getting all kindsa text-messaging INJURIES because they text-message a hundred times a day on the average. Huh? What? I actually had a "Cricket" cell-phone, and I could never figure out how to put someone's name in my phone. There's only 10 keys on the phone, yet there's 26 letters in the alphabet, so it didn't make sense to me. But...if you text-message SO MUCH that you get INJURED, ain't it about time to toss away the cell-phone, because it then becomes nothing more than an electronically-oriented glorified BALL AND CHAIN? And I suppose teachers can't take cell-phones away from kids in the classroom because it'll violate the little monsters' precious civil rights or something. Like I said, "changing times"!

Okay, maybe I AM a total hypocrite dept.: Earlier in this post, I took the Spokesman-Review newspaper to task because lately, it hasn't featured a whole lotta local news. So what do I then go ahead and do? I post a photo, not of the Coeur d'Alene area, but of LEWISTON (Idaho's version of Tacoma, Washington, what with them ever-present paper mill fumes).

This is an old 1950's postcard by world-famous Sandpoint photographer Ross Hall, of the old Lewiston Hill road, as it winds down from a height of some 2400 feet, down to Lewiston, which is approximately 700 feet above sea level. Some fancy time-exposure techniques were used here, although I wouldn't want to have ever driven that old winding road at NIGHT! This old road's since been bypassed by a much safer NEW road.

____________________

Well, that's it, I'm done, da-dee-da-dee, that's all folks. You see, I've been typing so much that I'm beginning to come down with computer injuries. I'd scream out, "WORKMEN'S COMP!!!" but I'm doing this for free. So, in addition to seeing a doctor, maybe I should have my head examined too?

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

My family & I drove to Lewiston a couple weeks ago for a basketball tournament. I'd never been there before so the Big Drop into town was quite formidable. I was concerned for our safety on the highway with semi's barrelling down the hill and other drivers passing us. Your photo of the old time road into town reminded me of that nighmarish drive.

8:32 AM  
Blogger Lil ol' me... said...

That IS a big drop. An even BIGGER drop is when you go down Whitebird Hill, which is further south on Hiway 95...that road just winds and winds and winds; I suspect the Whitebird road was at least twice as long as the Lewiston grade. And yer right, those "semi's" make the roads even scarier!

6:36 PM  

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