"No problem is so big or so complex that it can't be run away from." - Charlie Brown

Sun City Alligator

I missed the first half, so I didn't see Barak Obama. But I just watched the McCain portion of Rick Warren's interviews on CNN. I was impressed. Somebody needs to tell McCain to stop saying, "my friends" but his answers were to the point and direct. In fact, he did so little smoke-blowing that Warren had time to ask him additional questions. Part of that may be due to what McCain perceived - probably correctly - as a sympathetic audience. No need to pad and cloud an answer to a question on abortion, for example, when you know your audience agrees with your view.
I wonder how many people saw the program. It didn't run across from the Olympics in this time zone but I don't know about other places in the country.

My friend Sherry sent me an article about traffic flow that discussed drivers who merge as soon as they're told to vs. those who drive past them and speed ahead to the front of the queue and merge at the last possible point.
The article is excerpted from the book Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt. I heard him interviewed a few months ago on NPR and the book sounded like a good read.
In the case of early/late mergers he makes the case that the latter actually help to improve traffic flow even if they do equal damage to the practice of civility. He also argues for roundabouts. He says that at the typical 4-way intersection there are 56 potential collision points, whereas at a roundabout there are only 16. And even though you have to slow down at a roundabout you never stop, a net gain over most stop light intersections.
So, will I become a late merger?
Nope. My conscience just won't allow it. Overdeveloped superego?

Sherry may want to watch this. And if you also have too many CD's around, this does look like fun.

While we're on links, read this short article and then watch the video at the bottom of the page, a clip from the Sydney Olympics. Fun!

I had a good ride this morning. At the 9 mile point my bum began to send my brain unpleasant messages and I thought I might have to cut the ride short. But it never got any worse. In fact, I felt so good that at the point where I usually turn right and head for home I turned left and did another 5 miles.
Part of today's experience vis a' vis last week's difficult LSD is just the vicissitudes of life. But I'm going to try to duplicate things that might have contributed to today's success: eating my Gu packet a little earlier, riding at a slightly slower pace (I am too easily suckered by watching my average speed readout), and stopping at the 30 mile point to fill my water bottles which involved getting off the bike for a few minutes.
The downside of today's effort is that I have been absolutely whooped all afternoon. Drained!

I watched some Olympic Dressage this morning before heading into town for lunch with the kids. I wish they showed more of these lesser known sports. The equestrian competitions are fascinating, as are the track cycling events. And I don't care if I am totally out of touch with the rest of the world, watching a 100+ minute soccer match between two countries I couldn't find on a map if my life depended on it seems beyond the pale.

Tomorrow we're going to look at Ezra, specifically his commitment to Scripture. It's the second in our four-part series on Hidden Heroes. I admit to feeling a personal affinity with Ezra. (He couldn't swim well either.) I love being a pastor and I've been blessed with wonderful flocks to shepherd. But I felt most at home in the classroom. God is sovereign, so I'm not second guessing his decisions. And I see in retrospect that the situation at the college wasn't good for my role as husband and father. But I'll always look back on that 10 years as a highlight.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. But so was yesterday, and look how you messed that up.