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In the latest Triathlete issue, amongst the "Checking In" section, there was an annoying pull-out ad for Hammer Nutrition. It was the kind you pull it out without even looking at it. It featured pro and age-group triathletes alike, all swearing by Hammer Nutrition products. I thought I recognized the beach featured for Adam Brown's picture as the very same one in Racine on the shores of Lake Michigan, used for the 1.2 mile swim in the Spirit of Racine Triathlon. In fact it was. I recognized the swim caps, then I caught the goggles on the guy behind Adam. Those kind of look like mine...that shoulder looks familiar, and that does look like my top. Perhaps? A double check of the swim splits confirmed it: That, in fact, is me running behind Adam. Sweet!

I'm thinking of asking Hammer for some free stuff.

Walt Disney World throws a big party early in January every year. It's so big that thousands of people flock to the resort to run either a 5K, half marathon, or full marathon. For the first time, Disney raced the half marathon the day before the full marathon. The really crazy people signed up to do both. It caught on, so Disney decided to award a special medal to those that finished both races. The medal is in the likeness of Goofy. The dual race became known as the Goofy Challenge.

Joe Bator was one of the crazies that decided he was up for the Goofy challenge. But, after the event, Disney wouldn't post the results in fear of promoting it as a race. Joe was a bit peeved and decided to do something about it. He compiled them, and I agreed to format and host the results. It's quite the impressive list.

When Kris got a laptop, we decided to move her old computer out of the back room, donate the monitor to my Mom, and use the extra space for our growing bike collection. Still, after several months, we had the computer desk. Although it was kinda in the way, it was serving a purpose, holding loose paper, some pens, and any overflow items that didn't fit anywhere else. Alas, the room it's in is next on our list to clean in earnest and the desk had to go.

Our car isn't big enough to haul it to Goodwill, and it's in too good of shape to throw out, but it's too cold and snowy to leave out for someone to grab. What do we do? Enter Freecycle.org. On a tip from a co-worker, Freecycle.org lists all the local groups that using message boards to offer items free for the taking. I checked into the local group to see what was offered. Amazingly, things were being snapped up within mere minutes. Like wise, within a half-hour of offering our desk, there was a request to pick it up.

Cheryl's sister had a fire over Thanksgiving and had no insurance. This desk allowed her to use her kitchen table as a kitchen table once again. Within three hours of the original post, the desk was in their minivan on its way to a good home.

I've got five four more GMail Accounts to give away. Who's interested?

When I signed up for a Gmail account, I also received five invites to give out. Not really knowing what to do with them, I found Gmail4Troops and signed up. After two weeks without a peep, I gave up on the service, but did nothing about it. Then, I got a request from a soldier in Iraq. Cool. I quickly replied offering the small token along with a huge amount of thanks. But, the invite got bounced back. I was down a precious invite with nothing to show for it.

Then another month and a half passed with no word. Then another request. I was cautious this time, contacting the soldier first to confirm the desire for the account. No reply. Oh well, no harm done this time. But, two days later I received two more requests. I sent the confirmation e-mail and received two eager letters in reply. I quickly forwarded their respective invites and within twenty minutes, had given two gigabytes of e-mail to two deserving soldiers.

One replied with a note of thanks and a request for my home address. With just a touch of worry, I gave him my work address. I can't tell you why I was worried, just a gut reaction. Within a week, I received a letter cancelled by the Army Post Office, which obscured a hand-written "Free Mail" where a 37-cent stamp should be. It took seven days for the letter to reach me.

An unexpected feeling of anticipation took over as I opened the letter to find four five-Dinar bills, all in near-perfect state, Saddam's portrait prominently displayed on the front. The nicest personal note accompanied the bills.

I proudly showed everyone in my office the note and the bills and everyone were equally impressed. Click on the "See More..." to read the note and see the bills. Very Cool. This is something I will save as long as I can.

Today is the last day of National Poetry Month (who knew?). Like the rest of the web, I'm (re)posting my favorite poem, by Robert Frost:

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost

Here's a disturbing stat:

"In one experiment, a fresh e-mail address was posted in an online chat room to see how long it would take spammers to locate it. The first piece of spam arrived at the address eight minutes later." (From a report profiling a prolific spammer.)

I recently changed my personal e-mail address to avoid the average 100 spams I was receiving a day. I've now directed my account to discard all mail sent to the old address. I've got several dummy address (yahoo, hotmail, etc.) that I use to sign up for newsletters, on-line accounts and the like. Only friends and family have my new address. No more spam, right? Wrong. I have a catch-all account that collects e-mail associated with robbyb.com. It doesn't matter if there's an active account sending or receiving mail. With the latest outbreak of MyDoom, it's increasing. I know I am not infected with the virus, but rather my account is getting spoofed as a sender, and I am receiving the returned e-mails from inactive or incorrect accounts.

I wish I knew of a way to prevent this from happening. If anyone out there does, please leave a comment. Thanks.

Christmastime at The Obscure Store and Reading Room brings us the:

• Good: "Christmas miracle": Cat returns home after missing for two months,
• Bad: Man playing Santa suffers heart attack in classroom, and the
• Ugly: Loser of Christmas lights contest rips down winner's display

Happy Holidays!

I totally forgot. I'm Secret Santa again.

The wireless network is up at home. Now, with a pocket pc, you can get information about anything at any time. I now know that subwoofers are more expensive than I thought, Kris researched some drugs, and I know the score of my fantasy football game all from the comfort of our brand new couch. (It's soooo comfortable.) In fact, this post is coming from a borrowed work laptop with integrated wi-fi.

But getting back to what's important, Charlie Garner hasn't touched the ball since their second possession. He ran for nine yards, but Tyrone Wheatley has run almost everything since. Where's Charlie? I can find scores of every NFL game, even play-by-play of the Oakland game. CBS has the Charger/Viking game, FOX has the Cowboy/Bills game. Even with the tickers, there's no word. Shouldn't there be some section within the webcast that has injuries? Why can't they do this? Not even the halftime show has any info.