"Most people would rather be certain they're miserable than risk being happy." - Robert Anthony

This morning's bike ride was the 15-mile route and it's shaped like an upper case P. It starts at the bottom and the leg to the top is just over 6 miles, all uphill, and this morning into the wind. It doesn't take much of a headwind to make a big difference on a bike, and two miles into the ride I wondered if I should take one of the earlier options to turn east. But by mile three I'd settled into a rhythm, and while it still wasn't easy I knew I'd be OK.
By mile five I decided that was a metaphor for life. When we hit a headwind we wonder how we'll survive, but if we just keep plugging it usually turns out to be manageable. Not fun, but not overwhelming, either.

Speaking of P, the chances that your bladder will scream for relief increase exponentially if you're wearing your one pair of bib-style riding shorts. The good news: that headwind going out was a tailwind on the last leg, so I made it home in time.

Early this morning I watched the F1 practice session I recorded and learned about the Coanda effect. Turns out I'd seen it before but didn't know what it was. Have you ever seen someone keep a ping pong ball suspended in the air at the end of the stream of air coming out of a vacuum cleaner hose plugged in to the exhaust vent of the vacuum? (Most shop vacs have both.) The ping pong ball will stay suspended even if the hose is turned at about a 45-degree angle. That's the Coanda effect. It was named after the Romanian scientist who discovered it.

Someday I want to drive a Porsche 911. They look fast and nimble. Are they?

For as long as I can remember I have rooted for whichever team was playing Notre Dame. But we watch and enjoy Mike & Mike in the Morning and one of the Mikes is Mike Golic. Before his ESPN gig he spent 9 years in the NFL and was one of the captains at N.D. before that. His oldest son is a starting offensive guard at N.D. So, we find ourselves...I'm sorry...pulling for the Irish. Today they beat Stanford, a top-10 team and known for their physical game. The Irish are still undefeated for the season.

In today's mail: our early voting ballots and a promo piece for a pastor's conference, "Accelerate International Pastors' Summit." It's an expensive piece that should have had more careful proofreading. After reading the promo piece and looking at the website I didn't know if I should chuckle or throw up. This represents everything Pathway is not - style, flash, the latest __fill in the blank__ , 
My sermon tomorrow happens to be about what the local church is, and it's pretty much the opposite of this.

The next presidential debate is Tuesday night. Should be interesting to see the difference in the President's demeanor, if there is one.