I don't have any material/brilliant thoughts for a complete blog, but there are a bunch of little things floating around in my head. Seeing as I get on a plane tomorrow back to the US, I'll give more of a summary of what's been brewing in my noggin.
Results released for Sunday's Fucked-Up Triathlon Extravaganza
After obsessively checking the results page from Sunday's Crash Course in Xenophobia I finally found the results posted on the Catalan version of the page. I can't be sure it wasn't just a "happy accident" that when I opened the Catalan version of the page for the first time, the results were there when they hadn't been on the Spanish version (because I didn't check the Spanish version for several hours afterwards), but it should be noted that the page loads in Spanish by default. But, let's just assume they were being elitist assholes.
After comparing my unofficial data with the site's, I found that I would have come in 34th out of 67 female athletes, exactly in the 51st percentile. The most significant discovery from my scouring of the website every 5 minutes, however, had nothing to do with me. The bitch who looked down so mightily on my aero bars (evil number 12, an unlucky number for me in billiards) is actually the 3rd ranked triathlete in all of Catalonia at the moment. She finished just over 10 minutes in front of me, 3rd in the overall female results for this race, and her name is Mar. I have declared war on this tri slut and plan to beat her into the ground next season if I'm here. Mark my words, Mar, your ass is grass!
In other news, the chip confusion was all my fault. It figures. I'm always a bit of an airhead, but in general things aren't as well explained here. It turns out that I was supposed to have gone to federation HQ to pick up my chip in advance, but since it didn't occur to me to ask, how was I to know?
After comparing my unofficial data with the site's, I found that I would have come in 34th out of 67 female athletes, exactly in the 51st percentile. The most significant discovery from my scouring of the website every 5 minutes, however, had nothing to do with me. The bitch who looked down so mightily on my aero bars (evil number 12, an unlucky number for me in billiards) is actually the 3rd ranked triathlete in all of Catalonia at the moment. She finished just over 10 minutes in front of me, 3rd in the overall female results for this race, and her name is Mar. I have declared war on this tri slut and plan to beat her into the ground next season if I'm here. Mark my words, Mar, your ass is grass!
In other news, the chip confusion was all my fault. It figures. I'm always a bit of an airhead, but in general things aren't as well explained here. It turns out that I was supposed to have gone to federation HQ to pick up my chip in advance, but since it didn't occur to me to ask, how was I to know?
Barcelona in the dark since Monday morning
A major power line somewhere in the city fell at 11am on Monday morning, causing subsequent short-circuits and dramatic explosions in 4 of Barcelona's prominent power circuit hubs. 80,000 houses and businesses were without electricity on Monday, and 50,000 continue without power tonight. Only 60% of the city's traffic lights have been restored at this time (37 hours after the original incident). It is estimated that normalcy won't be restored until sometime Friday (which, knowing Barcelona, may be Friday of next week). Hospitals are running on generators and the federal courts just had to switch to battery power this afternoon.
The city is in some sort of subdued chaos. What else can you do but keep going? We were among the lucky ones to not lose power, but half of our block has not been so lucky. To the right is one of the few stop lights that still works in western Barcelona, but you have to walk half a mile to find another one that works. On our block only one business has not lost power- the psychic downstairs, leading me to believe in her powers. Many businesses have decided to close including BOTH my gyms (between a 20 and 30 minute walk away each), but it's amazing who has decided to stay open. "Do you want to buy furniture in the dark?" "Come buy our fruit, we have a generator!" "Come to the Kwick-E-Mart, we have no power, but we'll charge you more for the beers in the fridge anyway." The pizza shop downstairs stayed open in order to make some revenue off the cigarette vending machine, and kept someone on the job just in case the lights came on.
Yesterday evening I saw the neighborhood drunk standing on the sidewalk with his head against the wall smoking a cigarette. He looked in despair. I understood when I looked across the street and saw the bar, HIS bar, with its doors shut. Tonight people took to the traditional manifestation of social unrest, begun in 2002 with the invasion of Iraq and instrumental in the election of the current Spanish president 2 days after the terrorist attacks in Madrid on March 11, 2004. For 30 minutes people stood on their balconies with pots and spoons and banged away constantly to show their disapproval with the situation. Had I lost power too I would have been the first one out there with pots, pans and whistles.
The city is in some sort of subdued chaos. What else can you do but keep going? We were among the lucky ones to not lose power, but half of our block has not been so lucky. To the right is one of the few stop lights that still works in western Barcelona, but you have to walk half a mile to find another one that works. On our block only one business has not lost power- the psychic downstairs, leading me to believe in her powers. Many businesses have decided to close including BOTH my gyms (between a 20 and 30 minute walk away each), but it's amazing who has decided to stay open. "Do you want to buy furniture in the dark?" "Come buy our fruit, we have a generator!" "Come to the Kwick-E-Mart, we have no power, but we'll charge you more for the beers in the fridge anyway." The pizza shop downstairs stayed open in order to make some revenue off the cigarette vending machine, and kept someone on the job just in case the lights came on.
Yesterday evening I saw the neighborhood drunk standing on the sidewalk with his head against the wall smoking a cigarette. He looked in despair. I understood when I looked across the street and saw the bar, HIS bar, with its doors shut. Tonight people took to the traditional manifestation of social unrest, begun in 2002 with the invasion of Iraq and instrumental in the election of the current Spanish president 2 days after the terrorist attacks in Madrid on March 11, 2004. For 30 minutes people stood on their balconies with pots and spoons and banged away constantly to show their disapproval with the situation. Had I lost power too I would have been the first one out there with pots, pans and whistles.
Claire lands on US Soil tomorrow (7/11) at 9:00 pm EST
At 9:00 Eastern Standard Time on July 26, 2007 I will land in Boston Logan International Airport for my longest stay on American soil since 2005. Allowing 2 hours for delays, 45 minutes for customs (they always have a lot of questions after "And how long were you in Barcelona?"), 30 minutes in baggage claim, 10 minutes walking to the parking deck, 15 minutes for my mom to figure out the parking ticket validation machine, 5 minutes to find the car, and 90 minutes for my mom to drive home at 5 miles per hour I should be safely at home. I should be home at 2:15 in the morning barring exceptional circumstances. Wish me luck that there aren't further delays!
6 comments:
Have a safe trip! Wear a moustache going through customs so they don't recognize you from your blog.
Safe travels back! Hopefully they won't keep ya too long in customs.
Mar is SO TOAST. I'm going to enjoy watching this . . .
so long as the lights come back on. No electricity in Houston means people die. Literally. No air conditioning makes the city uninhabitable.
Welcome back to the U.S.
Double lucky you. Got electricity and coming home to US. Have a great trip and an even better time at home.
Claire vows to stomp a tri slut...I like the sound of that. I'll fly my ass to Spain or wherever just to watch this battle. CONTADORRRRRRRRRR!!!!
Sorry for the outburst. Let me know if you have "trouble" coming back into the US; I'll take care of it for you.
You're probably getting bad airplane service as I type this, but whatever, I hope it works/worked out and customs is not too much of a pain in the gluteus maximus.
If you make it down to this charming burg of York, do let us know!
Post a Comment