One fast Irishman

It's work to swim 400 yds in sub-4:56 (with hands and feet), but Darragh made this 400m look sooo good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al4kAsThBzg
(Paralympic champion swimming the 400m free in the S6 classification last year)

Part of me wants to believe that this is proof that there's no excuse for mediocrity,
but the reality is that he is just plain amazing.

More from Darragh
http://vimeo.com/66073908

My new ride

My buddy Shawn spec'd and built up an amazing bike for me at his shop (Surf City Cyclery in Huntington Beach).

 For the non-techies out there:
- the bike is carbon fiber (super light)

- has a single break lever that works for both front/rear breaks (they are independently adjusted)
- grip shifting (no need to take my hand off the handle bar)

  

- has hydraulic disc breaks (great stopping power even with my 3 finger grip strength)

 

- a rear cassette (rear gears) that gives me maximum range for hills/flats without using a double/triple front chain ring that would complicate shifting for me. 

...and it looks sweet.

Off to Portland soon to have my bike arm prosthetic made soon.

Thanks Shawn.
And thanks to all that donated to me. 
Getting back on the bike has been expensive, but with your help it is happening.

Board Short Mile 2013

The Board Short Mile is back!

When the guys organizing the event wrote me last year saying that they were looking for a reason to host an event (I've never had a tough time finding a reason to get in the ocean) I was happy to point them to CAF (http://www.challengedathletes.org).

The swim was great (my 1st ocean swim sans fins) - warm, flat water with lots of sunshine and lots of smiling faces (The SoCal crew are soooo spoiled).

I'm glad to see this swim back for its second year.
Here's the link:
http://beta.active.com/hermosa-beach-ca/water-sports/swimming/the-board-short-mile-2013?cmp=39-28&ltclickid=08_48815453_f65ea633-7972-46e1-a3e6-69c5f41b3e58&ltcmp=194590


Start: Saturday, September 14, 2013
Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA
The Hermosa Beach Pier | Hermosa Beach , CA
Registration Closing Date Friday, September 13, 2013 @ 10:00 pm

Still have my piggies

My franken-thumb started acting up a few weeks ago so had to make a trip to see the doc.
His comment?
"Know what would make this better?  A toe!"

Yep, he still wants to re-locate my toe.

I'm still not ready for

• a week in a hospital bed, 
• month(s?) in a wheelchair and 
• months without a hand.

It might happen, but I can happily report that I went under the knife today and came back with a slightly stubbier franken-thumb and all 10 toes. (and he does not think the bone infection is back).

Next couple of weeks will be out of the water and restricted hand use.
Luckily I have my mom up again to help out.

Default setting

I don't usually pass around links to speeches or videos, but I think this would be similar to what I would say to h.s. and college graduates if I was a better writer & speaker and it's a way of thinking that I've worked on since before my injuries.

http://www.theworldsbestever.com/2013/05/08/this-is-water/
David Foster Wallace 2005 commencement address

If you don't need the visuals, here's the full speech
http://web.archive.org/web/20080213082423/http://www.marginalia.org/dfw_kenyon_commencement.html

 I'd love to read or hear your comments on this (Even if you think he's an idiot)
==================

I was not familiar with the speech or the speaker, but I think at that moment he "got it".
The strange thing is that he reportedly suffered from depression for most of his life and hanged himself at 46 yrs old - only 3 yrs after giving this speech.

I'm grateful that my default setting is much different than his, but I constantly work to stay aware.

Test Swim

"It's not what you know,

It's who you know"

Couldn't be more true for me on Friday.
In this case (and many others), my "who" was Joel.
Joel knows a LOT of people and also happens to be close friends with the legendary Bob Roper.
And when you're friends with Bob, you get to do some very cool things - including "test swims".

For those of you that don't participate in ocean swims - "test swims" involve throwing out a small group of swimmers into the water the day before an event to confirm the jump time and course.

On Friday, our "test swim" was an Alcatraz to the South End Rowing Club (SERC) showers...
And it was amazing.

Thank you so much Joel and Bob.
And thanks to all those that shared the water with me (Nancy, Randy, Gabor, Jim, Lezlee, Denise, the Arizona swimmers, Kathy and Susan from the SERC and the crew of the Hyperfish).
  

 

 

 

We did know that this big guy was passing through.

  Thanks go to Jeff  for driving me to/from HMB, for keeping us straight, safe, and for the pictures.

Oh yes I did

Today I tried a new recipe: "3 Finger brownies"

You'd think cracking the eggs would be difficult...and it is.

But not as hard as stirring the mixture and transferring it to the pan.

And then I nearly dropped the 350F pan.

 

 

They are not the best brownies I've ever had, but I'm proud of them.