i am taking care of someone's hamster right now, i had no idea a little cute furry thing could make so much noise!

the pistons have now lost 6 games in a row. wasn't that long ago that they had won 13 games in a row. a little consistency would be nice. all that matters is the playoffs though, and hopefully detroit will have the honor of losing to the western conference champion in the NBA finals.

chris simpson, lead singer/songwriter of mineral and the gloria record, has always been one of my favorite writers. his lyrics for this song, appearing on mineral's 1996 release 'the power of failing,' have been really meaningful to me lately:

'if i could'
"she stepped outside into the morning air to watch the cars go by and let the sun dry her hair i wanted to tell her how beautiful she was but i just stared i sat behind the wheel and watched the raindrops as they gathered on the windshield and raced down into the humming motor and she folded up her fears like paper airplanes and lost them in the trees and i know i don't deserve this: the capacity to feel (to laugh and to cry and to praise) for that i live and breathe and wake each day clean is nothing less than your grace (in awkward and glorious movement)."

(listening to: city on a hill- 'the gathering')

Best of 2003

the turn off the radio top 12 albums of 2003:

1. fountains of wayne- welcome interstate managers
www.fountainsofwayne.com

2. thrice- the artist in the ambulance
www.thrice.net

3. death cab for cutie- transatlanticism
www.deathcabforcutie.com

4. over the rhine- ohio
www.overtherhine.com

5. nada surf- let go
www.nadasurf.com

6. the appleseed cast- two conversations
www.theappleseedcast.com

7. sleeping at last- ghosts
www.sleepingatlast.com

8. elliott- song in the air
www.elliottintransit.com

9. zwan- mary star of the sea
www.zwan.com

10. mates of state- team boo
www.matesofstate.com

11. brown feather sparrow- wide awakens everything
www.brownfeathersparrow.com

12. the jealous sound- kill them with kindness
www.jealoussound.com

i have become aware that this page does not look like it is supposed to. i am working on the problem, but it is due to my lack of html knowlegde. i am learning.

today i spent 7 hours at a swim meet. mainly to coach the AIS team, but i also swam in it. while it had been over a year since i had bowled last, it has been almost 10 years since i have swam competitively. amazingly, the times i swam are comparable, while slower, to what i did in my prime. maybe now i'll start training hard and see what i am capable of. these times are for meters, so i need to convert them to see how close they are to my yards personal bests:

50m fly: 30.37
50m breast: 37.06
50m free: 28.15
100m fly: 1:08.57
100m free: 1:01.07
100m I.M.: 1:10.25

(listening to: pedro the lion- 'it's hard to find a friend')

two weeks ago the company who hosted www.turnofftheradio.com decided to delete it without informing me beforehand. ironically i used to work for this company. all of the work i put into it is gone.

i am starting over here. there is no content yet, so go to the link to the right to see my pictures.

the biggest news in zambia today is that i just bought tickets for 'return of the king.' i will be seeing it at 1 p.m. on december 17. that is 6 a.m. EST in the states. so yes, after a year of seeing movies at least two months late, if ever, i will be seeing this movie before almost everyone in the states!

(listening to: coldplay- 'a rush of blood to the head')

welcome.