Of Course I Remember You

I am taking a cardio kickboxing class at the Y. I have to appologize in advance that there is no way to get any photos without being "exposed", so you will have to take my word on the quality of the participants.


There are 6 or 7 guys in a class size that is usually in the 30's. Lots and lots of hard bodies, tight pants and tops. The woman are dressed the same.








Last night a young high school girl who had been missing for a while said hello. I greeted her and she said,

"You remember me? I haven't been here in a while because I've been too busy".

We had only talked twice, and it was brief and in passing.


The first conversation was about soccer. She mentioned that she played at New Bedford High School. I told her that I coached for many years at Bishop Stang. (Many of you can see the irony of me teaching and coaching at a religions school I'm sure).


Our second conversation was in the workout room. The music had not yet started and all the above hard bodied, spandex wearing Victoria Secret models, were in various stages of warmups and stretching when my little friend said,

"Are you coach Sullivan?"

"I am" I said with a smile.

"You used to date my grandmother".

....."Of course I remember you.

The Night Sky

The last few days the night sky has been phenominal. My neighbor and I have been walking the dogs on the MUP. While the moon is still low, it is easy to find the little dipper, orion, and especially the comet, 17P/Holmes.

Comet Holmes lies in Perseus the Hero and is visible all night from most of the Northern Hemisphere. It is about 35° high - one-third of the way up from the horizon - at 6 P.M. local time. By 11 P.M. the comet climbs directly overhead and to the naked eye it appears as a modestly bright, small round cloud of about 3rd magnitude.

No one knows how long the outburst will last. Comet Holmes could remain a naked eye object for several weeks, and may even undergo a second outburst. At any rate, the comet is worth watching!

I was very tempted to get the bike out last night, but my legs were very sore from kickboxing class. The class really pushes legs to their limits. I had to stop a few times because my legs were toasted.


The class has really improved my racquetball game. The leg strength, lateral movements and cardio work has given me quite an edge over my playing partners. Getting to the ball quicker also makes it much easier to choose shots as opposed to just returning the ball. My win percentage is creeping up.

On those cold crips nights, take a walk, or ride, and take the time to look at the sky. You may get hooked.

A fun beginners site to get acquainted with the constallations is >The Night Sky.

A video link of tonights sky is shown at Amazing Space.


Google Earth also has a pretty good video link for kids, but adults can also get lots from the video and it's links.

Full Moon

You riding tonight? The moon is full, the weather is crisp. Perfect.

MLS Cup Weekend

We managed to change to an earlier flight to Baltimore Friday evening. A 40 minute bus and 30 minute underground ride got us to the hotel around 9PM. We lolly gagged getting ready and found most of the restaurants' kitchens closed. One place did have a bar menu that pretty much consisted of fried food. Nachos and a steak sandwich were about the best we could get.

Saturday morning was a trip to RFK to pick up the tickets to the match. We decided to meet up at LenEfant station downtown and began the day long sight seeing trek. The monuments, capital, senate, archives, we walked and walked and walked.







We had earlier decided to lunch at Union Station because of the diversity of eateries. We settled on an Indian place which had some great curry and beer.

Duck at Neramitra, a really good Thai restaurant topped off the evening.







Game Day

The drums woke us at 0730. The hard core were on their way to the tailgate. We decided to leave at 0930 and that still left plenty of time to get warmed up for the match. Lots of old friends showed for this one. We all had the same feeling that this was our year.


The kids were walking around with a distinct bounce to their step and their heads held high. The parents on the other hand were a bit apprehensive.
L to R
Mrs and Mr Warren, Dr. Heapes, and Mr. Noonan.

A few hundred midnight riders turned up for the tailgate and lots of old friend this rider had not seen in years showed up.









The league commissioner Dan Garber, and team president Sunni Gulani, stopped by the tailgate.





The drums and singing signaled it was time for our entrance. We walk en mass to the stadium, flags flying, voices bellowing, singing proud to be from New England.



"We are part of Nicols arrrrr-me......."




The Stadium

We managed to get most of the tickets together in the stadium and made the best of it.





The Krafts


GOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL




mov00984.mpg

Losing was kind of depressing being the third time in three years, but hey we should always look for the bright side.

On the Road Again

A few friends and I are off to DC tomorrow for the MLS Cup weekend. The game is a rematch of last years cup vs Houston Dynamo. Another month, another championship for New England I hope.




The Kraft family, who own the Revolution, are supplying four busses at no cost for the traveling fans. I am using frequent flyer miles because the 10 hour bus trip would drive me nuts. I'll be flying with a friend into BWI (Baltimore) and traveling to Crystal City in DC by bus and underground. Saturday a few of us will be tourist, but at night, when the moon makes is entrance, we will transform into footie fans. After nourishment of wine and tapas of course.


We'll be in fine form, singing, drumming and dancing the samba. Party begins at 0730AM Sunday in Lot 3 of RFK, and ends............

Best DUI Ever

The Best DUI Arrest In History - Watch more free videos

Sunday Hike

Beging skyline hike

Hiking the blue section of the skyline trail (Boston)

This mountain biker took a wrong turn and landed on this very technical "blue trail".

The Boston skyline from the top of the trail.


A midnight rider with Boston skyline in background

Sunrise

Just for fun I tried this quiz I got from Snakebite

You Are Sunrise

You enjoy living a slow, fulfilling life. You enjoy living every moment, no matter how ordinary. You are a person of reflection and meditation. You start and end every day by looking inward. Caring and giving, you enjoy making people happy. You're often cooking for friends or buying them gifts. All in all, you know how to love life for what it is - not for how it should be.

What Time Of Day Are You?

Revs Win, Revs Win

Twellman's cracker of a goal.

Taylor Twellman's 38th minute "goal of the year" overhead volley put the Revolution in the finals for the third consecutive year. This midnight rider will be making the trip to DC for the MLS Cup next weekend. No doubt about it.


Another month, another championship in New England.

There was also the chance to get in a bike ride along the waterfront. A freighter was in port unloading hundreds of truck trailors. Years ago these would have been loaded onto trains to make their way across the country. Trains could solve a lot of our transportation, safety and ecological problems. But they don't have a very good lobby.



The thirty mile ride really felt good. It had been a few weeks of short market runs and was past the time to do a longer ride.


The beaches are all deserted for the winter.

After the ride it was off to the Y. There was enough time to get in a really hard racquetball game before kickboxing class. It was very tempting to not complete the boxing session because of fatigue, but a few well timed rest breaks got me through the class. There should have been a feeling of accomplishment but the excitement and anticipation of the Revs game made all that and the rest of the world kind of irrelevant.

This and all the other Midnight Riders will be in DC for the culmination of this great sports run. "Go You Revs"


Sung to Hi Ho Maderio

New England 'til I die
New England 'til I die
I know I am, I'm sure I am
New England 'til I die

Thursday Night EBBP

The Thursday night East Bay Bike Path rides are back. Now the dilema. The Revs also play this Thursday in the Easter Conference Final, after sending the hated New York Red Bulls packing. There is also the kick boxing class to consider. It's difficult when any of the three is the best decision. The weather is definitely going to dictate this one.

200 Peanut Butter Cups

That's what it took to protect the house from the ghosts and gobblins roaming the streets on Halloween evening. The street scene looked very much like the one in the movie, "It's a Wonderfull Life". Every house had kids at the front door. There was a constant flow of princess', spidermen, draculas' and witches criss crossing the street, warding off the evil spirits with screams of glee.

Things calmed down around 8PM, the lights went off and the candy count was 204 bribes.

For those who are into team sports, it's a good time to be in New England. The Revolution are in a playoff run. Parkhurst won the leagues fair play award, and his sixty yard strike is in a tight race for the MLS goal of the year award.

The Red Sox won the league title, the Celtics, look to be back in form, and the Bruins begin league play.




Saturday evening all of the Midnight Riders will be representing at Gillette Stadium for the home leg with Red Bull NY. (The hated New York.) Third time is a charm and maybe, just maybe the curse of Stapo will be broken.

Ohhhhh New England,
New England!! New England!!!
repeat till blue in the face.
Then go vote.