Goldfish Carry Disease!

There were no pets allowed in the freshman dorms at Georgetown and a certain DOPS student guard I worked with used to periodically proclaim the title above.

That’s what first ran through my mind when I saw this photo in the Bodega nearest to my apartment:

I like to think that the sandwiches are labeled with which disease they carry. Here’s a pastrami and H1N1 on Rye. Here’s a BL (hepatitis) C.

I turned 33. Thanks for everyone who sent e-mails or someecards. 33 is terrible. I didn’t think anything could be worse than 32, but this is. When you’re 33 pretty much the next thing you have to look forward to is retirement, and that’s 32 years away.

Speaking of old age, I got cut from Bent, which wasn’t too much of a surprise. That team is going to be very strong and I wish them luck in the season.

Now, I’m thinking I might try to play coed. Last weekend at the Mixed Easterns in Devens, MA I played with Zojirushi who I’m now trying out for. We had a lot of fun and the team did really well, finishing 9th after being seeded 20th.

In other Ultimate news, ESPN is right on about the UPA being fools:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=buckheit/090529

I don’t know what I’ll do when the NBA and NHL finals are over. This is the most depressing sports time of the year. Wimbledon?

I saw Art Brut last week with Stephen. They were great except for the idiots in front of me who seemed really bored. If you ware bored, leave! We’re going to see the Decemberists tonight. I hope they don’t play too much from the new album, as I don’t love it, but they probably will.

I hope you are having a good summer. I had a great time at Oak Island seeing how big Kate and Lindy have grown and riding on Robbie’s new boat.

I’m off to Zion National Park in Utah for a week of hiking. I’m a bit nervous about the sleeping in a tent and the lack of sports talk radio but I expect to come back with some great photos.

There is still a great deal of ambiguity about where I might work next, which as you can imagine is becoming somewhat tiring for me.

Has anyone made it yet, that could use a personal assistant?

And finally, on the left here, you can see that our poll has closed. It seems I have 13 readers, 5 of whom are Internet stalkers and 5 of whom plan to excel in the next impromptu round of Courtney Kelly Trivia. Good luck! The integrity of the poll continues to be indicted by the fact that none of you are fessing up to being my mother. I'll see if I can come up with another poll question. Don't hold your breath.

Pants Optional

I’m not sure what went terribly, terribly wrong, but suddenly NYC is pants optional. Every third person is running around the city in these leggings from American Apparel as if they were pants. They are not.
http://store.americanapparel.net/rsac306.html#i You should try pants!

I went to White River Junction, Vermont last weekend with the girls from Bent as a try out to play in the White Mountain Open. We lost to Godiva in pool play and Brute Squad in semis but other than that we won all our games. I had an absolute blast. Vermont was beautiful (as always) and all of the women on Bent are so great to play with. We went to the Harpoon brewery for dinner Saturday night after 4 hard fought games.

Here’s a couple pics Deirdre snapped of me playing on Saturday:

I’m also trying out for a coed team called Crafty/Zojirushi. Stay tuned for the exciting outcome.

In other ultimate news, the New York Times just broke this story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/fashion/30fitness.html
Tucker summed the article up pretty well: “Ultimate is a sport and girls can play it.”

Mainstream media continues to report on my life. The folks at Today ran another segment on the AC&C, where I volunteer on weekends. Yay! Watch it here:
http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/05/19/1937215.aspx

Thanks to Jordan for this (http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/) which makes me laugh every day.

Also Stephen for this the best of the Keyboard Cats:
http://videogum.com/archives/vlogging/dad-yells-at-son-for-crying-on_069712.html

The NBA is looking pretty good these days. Go Chauncey!

Finally, take a look at this summer tragedy I witnessed earlier today:

Happy Memorial Day! I’m off to see Lynn and her girls at Oak Island.

No news on my next work destination. Could be back to Minneapolis, Florida, in NYC or Bangalore. I’ll let you know.

If you love something, set it free...

There’s nothing I love more than my apartment, 29, and that’s why I’m moving out. I spend 4 days a week in a Westin any way, so it make sense to save a little money on rent and since I spend all my time in Brooklyn (practice in Prospect Park, the animal shelter, watching Jesse’s cable) I spend the 3 days I am in NYC getting back and forth to Brooklyn, so this will save me some time as well. I will miss 29, that is for sure, but I tend to think that change is good, and this will be change. I’ll keep you posted.

Deirdre is at the vet. She was not put together properly after I got back from Melbourne and I didn’t use her all winter and when I took her down the chain just fell off, so she’s down the street at the bike hospital. Send flowers or grease.

It is 87 degrees today in NYC. So much for spring.

Last Friday, Jesse and I went to see the new Mets’ ballpark Citifield. The Mets won (over the lowly nationals) and the new ballpark is nice. My favorite part is the Jackie Robinson rotunda. This is the field from the left field stands where we sat:

Saturday I did this SNERTZ workout with Keri and Ali. It is almost impossible.

Then I went to the animal shelter. Uneventful.

I am so excited!!! Kimberly informed me that the first season of The State will be out on DVD on July 14. Sign up to be notified when it goes on sale. My excitement caused me to look up some old favorites, like the Schwam family.

Sunday, Keri took me on a tour of Brooklyn’s best Pizza places, with Drew and Adam in tow:
(I missed the first stop.) I went to:

• Franny's (295 Flatbush Ave) - *****
• Di Fara Pizza (1424 Ave J) - *****
• L&B Spumoni Gardens (2785 26th St) - ***
  

I am still full, but it was fun.

This pic is from Di Fara’s where we waited 90 minutes for a pie at 3:30 PM in the afternoon:

This weekend is the first of the Bent tryouts. There are 60 or so women interested so this should be pretty great. I haven’t been this psyched since the training camp for Australian National Team try-outs. I love try-outs because you are bound to learn something new.

Speaking of Australian Disc, congrats to my sisters and teammates from Sporting Team Box Athletico United for making the finals at nationals an nearly getting over on those boring school marms from Wildcard. There’s no shame in second place and I know you will get them next year. It was a great tourney for Victorian ultimate with Honey making semis (yeah, Mama!) and my favorite boys from the Heads of State finishing third, due in some part to hot D from Mikey Stout.

How amazing is this Bulls/Celtic series? This could be the best series until the finals. Every game is a game winning last second shot or overtime. Great Basketball.

I owe you a book review. I finished Roth’s Exit Ghost. It's a painfully detailed look into the implications of aging, of losing your faculties and losing control of yourself and of your legacy, which might have been just an illusion anyway, but a comforting one nonetheless. The book is a quick read and I enjoyed Roth's take on the post 9-11 hysteria in NYC. I struggled with the crux of the main character's struggle. Aging is just such a sick joke, getting more broken and more useless every day, forever. I honestly don't know why anyone over 27 gets out of bed. I'm just trying to stay distracted by sports and entertainment. I hate being 32, but this book was a reminder that it will be getting worse, a lot worse. It's very well written and I enjoyed the characters Roth introduced, but it's hard to recommend unless you are pretty comfortable with your place in this world.

I’m presently reading Faulkner’s Light in August and I love it. I love the descriptions. I am deeply involved in the story and the characters. It is great.

Looking out a ways, I’m going to see my Brother-in-law’s new boat on Oak Island for Memorial day, and then hiking in Zion for a few days in June, and then back to Oak Island in July to see all the cousins.

Break's Over. Get Back to Work.

Well, spring break is over. It was great, but it really only served to remind me how great New York is and how much I wish I lived there full time.

Keri and I went to the Bronx Zoo (I liked African Painted Dogs the best and resisted the perfectly understandable urge to jump in with the Polar Bears ) and to see the Younger Than Jesus exhibit at the New Museum, as well as a sweet Alife sale.

Jesse and I went to see the Felice Brothers at Webster hall. They were pretty rawkin'. Check them out. Their brand new CD is out now.

I also spent a couple days down near Dewey Beach, DE and that was really fun.

Please check out www.eatlowcarbon.org which is a pretty cool web app and serves as a good guide for how one can cut back and make meaningful changes in our diets. Compare sushi to steak. It’s pretty amazing how significant the difference is, and according to this Fruit Monday is holding up, but much better if you eat local, seasonal fruit than greenhouse grown fruit or fruit that is flown all over the world.

I am back in Minneapolis. At least it has stopped snowing here. This weekend I'm going to the new Citifield to see the Mets, cross-training, and getting my beer on while I watch NBA games. I am advocating the name change from the Cavaliers to the Labrons. Any objections?

Spring Break

Hi. I am on spring break. I am taking a few days off in NYC. I was going nuts. I had tons of errands to do and mail to open and stuff like that and I am never home and I took some vacation days to get through it all.

So far I've worked out every day, unpacked my suitcase, done laundry, gotten a haircut, filed all my 2008 mail and made a mid-week visit to the animal shelter. This is my dream vacation.

Speaking of the shelter. The very place where I volunteer was on TV on the Today Show. Check it out:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/30009467#30009467

There is a guy that they show at the 40 second mark or so that I work near pretty regularly.

Just today, he saved my skin when I lost control of a 50 pound Pitt. None of them want to get back in their cage. I can understand this. I wouldn't either. I had been walking this dog, Bingo for 20 minutes. He was great out of the cage, great walking around on his leash, when it was time for me to put him back in he freaked out and started biting my jeans and took hold of the leash. The worst thing that can happen is if a dog gets loose. (They wreak havoc and mess with other dogs or people and maybe cats). I lost my cool and quickly shut his cage to control the situation and get myself away from the dog. However, now I have an angry freaking out Pitt with his leash on (chocking hazard) in his cage thrashing around. I had to come find Larry and he saved the day by deftly showing Bingo another leash for a bait and switch and reneging on the trade after my leash had been extracted. It was a skilled move and not one I could have executed. He's a pro.

There were so many adorable dogs today. There was a 10 month old beautiful yellow lab baby girl that is so sweet and won't even walk on her leash, she just flops on her back and shows you her belly and wiggles.

Here's two pictures of my favorite animals today:

The dog is Frankie, a chow/lab mix. He is such a sweet dog, walks great on a leash, very friendly. He is on his 8th day and I am worried for him.



I know you are all on the edge of your seat for this one: Shit Mountain Update is that there are now two baby squabs (a hatched swan is a cygnet, a hatched pigeon is a squab) on the upper right nest of the duplex. The lower nest still holds the pigeon corpse I've been watching decompose for months now. It's a matter of time before someone moves in right on top of Bernie.





Here's another pic of my namesake: Courtney Kelly the baby girl Jack who lives with my Aunt Vicky:

She is a real character.

Fruit Monday persists. I was surprised there were no comments, but you, dear reader are lazy. Let me know if you give it a try, or if you think it is dumb. Whatever.

This weekend I'm off to Delaware for a coed tournament. Should be fun(ish). Next week I am back to Minneapolis, looks like at least through June. Boo.

I am reading Philip Roth's Exit Ghost. A review of that should be coming up soon. Stay tuned.

Will the Real Courtney Kelly Please Sit Down? Good Girl.

As mentioned previously, my dear aunt Vicki has recently acquired a new baby girl Jack Russell Puppy and I have been informed that she has been named Courtney Kelly. She is clearly the more charming of the two and CKs and fetches much faster than I do. It is a matter of time before she is a better project manager. I think she is just adorable and I am quite smitten with her. See?
You’ll remember my Aunt Vicki from being the sole preserver of my sanity when I toured around Victoria, Australia with my parents, me driving the 5 of us down the left side of the Great ocean Road in a Minivan. John takes great pictures and I suspect I may have him to thank for the sweet one above.

Let’s take a moment (with only 72 days remaining in our poll) to note according to the current tally that 50% of you, dear readers, are Internet stalkers. None of you, however, are my mother, which is quite curious and quite frankly casts doubt on the validity of the entire poll.

Let’s also take a quick status check on some of the promises and declarations I’ve made here on ‘Spondence for 2009:

• My commitment to review a book a month is ahead of schedule but significantly stymied with my current assignment. Look for the next review soon.
  
• The month off drinking was pretty easy. Maybe I should do that again soon. July?


• The 100 push-up project ended because it was taking up a lot of time and I couldn’t remember why I had ever wanted to be able to do 100 consecutive push-ups, except to prove some kind of point I had forgotten. 2 out of 3 isn’t terrible.

Next up, is an idea I’m still working through: Fruit Monday. For the last few Mondays I’ve been eating only raw fruit with no preparation or preservatives. The thinking isn’t gelled yet, but it has to do with how much I admire people I’ve known like Hussey and Emily who commit to being vegetarian. I do think being a vegetarian is the only ethical choice, if you care about the carbon load of your food or about how animals are treated on factory farms. I also know that eating meat leads to heart disease and obesity. I probably wouldn’t be willing to shoot deer for venison. Unfortunately I love steak. And buffalo chicken wings. And probably most of all Tuna sushi. Bacon is in there somewhere too.

So the idea of Fruit Monday, is not to leap into eating ethically or healthily all the time, but for just 1 day a week, for my food to have a lower than usual carbon load (local produce is best if possible) for it to be low cruelty, for it to be fresh and nutrient rich with no preparation or preservative. I’ve generally found so far that on Fruit Mondays I don’t get as tired as I usually during the day and I have a bit more energy than usual. I know it’s the only day a week when I get my recommended 5 servings of fruit and vegetables.

You might point out that I’m still eating unethically and unhealthily 6 days a week, but at least I’m, putting my toe in the pool here, and so far this seems like something I can actually stick to without feeling cheated. You might point out that I could have vegetables or grains. First off then it wouldn't be Fruit Monday and furthermore I need very clear bright lines and if I could have carrots, then the slippery slope to potatoes, to pizza combos to lobster would be sled right now. Fruit is simple enough to keep me focused. (Tomatoes are in). I let you know how this goes.

Want to give it a try? If you do, I want to hear about it. I think you know I'm not a dietitian. I hope this doesn't make you sick. I realize this is only 1/7th of the time, so for me to make any meaningful difference I need to keep this up for a good long while. The goal is a sustainable life change I can keep up. We'll see.

In other news, since my last post, NYC ultimate is starting to heat up for spring and I’ve already had an obligatory ankle roll. I’ve been scrimmaging with some of the women from the new team, Bent and it seems pretty cool. I’ll let you know how tryouts go. I’m off to Fools Fest in Virginia with the gals from Flash Taco as well, so that should be a good time.

I’ve been back to the animal shelter a few more times as well. The last time I was there some genius in a white Mercedes SUV rolled in to ‘drop off’ a dog. She was an adorable white Pitt puppy, maybe 8 months old. Very sweet and obedient. Sit. Roll over. The whole deal. He just ‘dropped her off.’ I hope his SUV gets Repossessed. I also walked a stray Pitt that was all ribs and spine and was as sweet as he could be. It was heart breaking. I do think a couple agreed to adopt a cat while I was there, so that was nice. I will try to remember to take some pictures while I am there next weekend.

Have you given blood lately? Accenture actually had a blood drive a work a few Fridays back, which was great. I was a bit sluggish at the first Bent scrimmage as a result, but I think a lot of us were just getting into shape anyway, so hopefully that will not be too big a factor. Giving blood is free and a huge way to give to people in need. You should probably open a new tab and click this link and make an appointment right now. RIGHT NOW.

I nagged Jesse until he finally got renters insurance. Don't think I won't nag you.

I am just back from a week in St. Charles, Illinois for ‘training’. I will not color outside of the lines any more and the accidents are pretty much under control as well. Actually, it was a week of client sales simulations and I guess I like my simulated work as much as I like my actual work. It was a long week. By pure chance, I did happen to run into a colleague who had been faculty with me at back in August, Patrick Warburton who has an unnatural attachment to Andy Murray.

As for my bracket, I have 11 of the sweet 16, which is not great, but has me in 5th place out of 12 in my pool. If UNC wins out I should finish up 3rd or 4th which is still just losing in the winner takes all format. Go Cards! The Big East is looking great, BTW. Mercifully the GU season is final over, with another lost lead late in the second half to Baylor in round one of the NIT. We’ll see if there is still a team next year or if they just dissolve the program. Maybe they will form a touring checkers team.

Of course you know my buddy Chip . His baby brother Michael is actually in Melbourne these days and playing disc with my favorite open team, the Heads of State. Do check out his blog of events which reminds me a lot of my first few months there so far (minus detailed recounts of dramatic layouts.)

Okay. Gotta run. It snowed in Minneapolis today. This weekend. Chip's wife Jen will be in town. I have dinner with Danielle planned. Saturday is another Bent Scrimmage and then off to the Animal Shelter. After that I'm scheduled at a W - Bachelor Party: White Castle, Whiskey and Wii. I CAN'T WAIT. Sunday is a hat tournament for Ultimate for Peace. I am prematurely exhausted.

Oh yeah, LSF was a pajama party. It was nuts. See?

March Lion

Sorry it’s been a while. It’s been mostly work anyway, so you haven’t missed much. It is negative 2 today in Minneapolis. And snowing.

I got a chance to see the CEO speak last week. He was a piece of work. He blamed the current economic troubles on the Obama administration and the fact that they have done nothing to instill confidence in the market (over the last 50 days). He said his adopted Korean daughter should be good at math because of her genes (and shouldn’t waste time on subjects like sociology.) He asked if females in the workplace prefer to be called ladies, women or girls. He is steering the ship that I am riding on.

The past few weekends I have been volunteering at an animal shelter in Brooklyn. The animals are great but the people are a nightmare (the public, not the staff). I walk dogs that spend 23 hours a day in their cages. The shelter is under-funded, so the animals get food and water, but very limited socialization opportunities. Most of the dogs are pit bulls or pit mixes and they are so sweet. When I walk past their cages with the leash they all get up and wiggle and whine to tell me that they want to go for a walk and I can only take one at a time. Most of the dogs are great, but have not really been properly trained to walk on a leash and they are so excited from being stressed and pent up all the time that most of the dogs pull a good deal. My arms were quite sore the last time I left there.

I also help the public identify which cats are available for adoption and help them to try and find a match. People show up in this place with 2 or 3 children that they don’t watch and ask me where the little kittens are. Meanwhile the kids are sticking their fingers in the cages and rattling the cages and I have to try to explain that all the tiny kittens will grow up to be big cats just like the many available adult cats quite soon. Then potential adopters ask me questions like, “Why isn’t this cat more friendly?”Um. Well, it could be that her owner abandoned her, and she had to fend for herself in the streets until an animal control officer caught her and brought her to this place with 50 pit bulls that bark night and day and she is scared and lonely. That could be it. Or another favorite, “Can I see that cat hunkered down in the back of his cage, hissing? Will you pick him up for me?” Usually followed again, by “Where are the baby kittens?” I try to stay positive and my goal is to help with one adoption each time I volunteer.

The Hoyas are done for the year. I’m not as excited as usual for March Madness this year. Pitt looks pretty good. As does the perennial threat UNC.

I’m off to “Chicago” to have the key in my back wound for a week next week. I wish Amy & Simon were there, instead of Fiji so I could stop by and see them. Maybe I should stop by and see them in Fiji instead.

I am told I have a new namesake and that my beloved Aunt Vicki named her new Jack Russell puppy Courtney Kelly after me. She is MUCH cuter than me. I am working on some pics of her for you.

I’m going to see Les Savy Fav again on Friday and scrimmaging with the gals from Bent on Saturday.

The first weekend in April, Flash Taco is going to Fools Fest again and that should be a fun time. I think we are going to be secret service agents. I am looking fwd to playing in a suit and dark glasses I’ll try to grab some digi-snaps for you.

Happy Ides of March