Not every truth needs to be told.

Who knew there was so much dancing in the Olympics? But these guys are Baptists, so while they're allowed to dance, they have to stay at least a soccer ball's distance apart.

The Africans have some excellent proverbs. Last night's blog title and tonight's are examples.

COULD THIS BE IT???
That sweet little old lady I talked to at the pool yesterday - the blind one that thought I was in my 30's - said she'd been told that you're supposed to look back at your hand as your head comes out of the water to breathe. I've tried every little hint I've heard over the last three or four weeks hoping for something that would throw open the gates and usher me into genuine swimming, so today I tried this latest piece of advice.
This is the first time I've left the pool not feeling totally discouraged. It worked! At least I didn't swallow any water.
There is a certain logic to it. If you're moving forward through the water and have your open mouth pointed forward - or even horizontally - through any part of the breathing process it's inevitable that a certain amount of H2O is going to enter that mouth.
Lest you think I did one smooth lap after another, nothing close! I walked down the lane about 15 of the 25 meters, to the point where only my head was above the water, and swam to the shallow end. Back out and repeat. I'm still hyperventilating and exhausting myself with no balance between my aerobic function and my physical exertion. But I'm filled with hope and optimism!
Can I get an "Amen!?"
One more observation: what physiologists call the Law of Specificity is nowhere more true than in the pool. That law says that any specific exercise uses specific muscles in specific ways and no other exercise fully prepares you for it.
My biking is going well and my running is improving daily. I am neither Hanz nor Franz but the work in the gym is going as well as it ever has. But the pool is humbling! After that work on breathing I got out the snorkel and swam some laps, and I'm gaining a new appreciation for those who swim for exercise or competition. I think my underarms hurt! And my shoulders.
There's a reason serious swimmers have triangular-shaped upper bodies. I don't.

Today it was Vivaldi and Brahms. I think I'll pass on Vivaldi. First, his "Four Seasons" gets way too much air time. I change stations now when I hear it. And he wrote almost everything for strings. Hey, I'm a string player, but after awhile a guy wants some brass and percussion! Man up, Vivaldi!
Brahms has it all. Lullabies and serious power. But look at pics of the two guys. Brahms looks like he could hold his own in any city alley.

With the Olympics and our national political activity, the situation in Georgia isn't getting the attention it warrants. I wonder how many people understand what the basic issues are.
Georgia was part of the Soviet Union. When that Union broke up Georgia exercised its new-found independence to align itself with the West, including moving to a democratic form of govt. That makes the West happy because Georgia occupies a strategic position on the Black Sea through which oil and natural gas passes (pun intended).
OK, so one of the provinces in Georgia, South Ossetia, has been an "autonomous region," meaning it had its own govt. while still a part of Georgia. But Ossetia includes a lot of Russians who were settled there during the old days of the Soviet Union (cf. the Chinese settlement of the Han in their outlying regions) and Russia was cozying up to those Russian Ossetians. For example, they gave Russian passports to the Ossetians. The Georgian govt. realized they were about to lose their most significant province so they issued a "cease and desist" order in the form of troops sent into Ossetia to take control back from the Russian-leaning officials. That's when the Russians responded with tanks and troops.
The Ossetians were seriously over-matched, the West pretty much impotent, and Putin ready to kick some derrierre after feeling like the neighborhood wimp for too many years.
And he's not going away - literally. He has ignored the conditions of the cease fire agreement Russia signed, leaving troops in the key port city of Poti. Russia also announced earlier this week that they're recognizing South Ossetia as an independent country. That's a pretty in-your-face move directed as much at the West as the small fry in Georgia.
So, with Russian troops occupying Poti and ready to defend the sovereign country they just "created," what's the West to do?
Somebody should be asking a couple of Presidential candidates that question. It's not an irrelevant issue. The world price of energy resources is affected by this issue at least as much as by what happens in Iraq.

OK, if you waded through all of that you deserve this:
Paul Hunt Gymnastics
Enjoy!