If You ordered a shirt, please read this

Okay, shoot me later, after the IronMan okay?

Here is what I have
These are folks who will not be at CdA I am mailing out your T's today

BigMike -white 2X non sherpa
Duane -2 one white, one black
IronTriTim - one white med
Dan -one white
GEl - one white

Folks who will be there - I will have them with me at the Athlete's thingy on Thursday and hand them out. I am mailing them all from here to CdA today so that I won't miss anyone who leaves in the next day or two.

Wedgie - med non sherpa blk (I ordered white but your's and Iron Eric's came in black)
IronEric -2 med non sherpa in white (sorry they sent all 3 whites in black)
Fe-Lady -blk xxl sherpa
Mrs Greyhound- 1med child white non sherpa & 1L white non sherpa
Momo-2Med white sherpa
Tea - 3 shirts all blk sherpas a 2X, an XL a L
IronJenny- 1 sm blk sherpa
Blink - 1med blk sherpa 2 sm blk sherpa
SWTGirl - 1sm blk non sherpa and 1 med blk sherpa

What's in Your UBK?

As if I didn't have enough to do. You know, Blog (which in all honesty I haven't been doing much of lately), email, close up my business, look for a new job, try to catch everyone up on these major life changes (my friends all want to know everything that is new with me. ie:friend)try to keep some semblance of a neat home (Not happening right now), empty the contents of my studio, find someone to rent the space so I don't get sued by the owner, list crap on eBay, attend Tri's still try to have a normal life AND Bigun wants me to list myself on Facebook. I told him I didn't want to. I am honestly too busy for it. I check in on his occasionally to catch up on everyone. So, I told him "No Thanks". He said, "Okay, I'll put you on there." So, I figured I better jump on it before he could. Bastard. So, I'm on Facebook now. No promises on constant communication. No promises on all of the good Karma stuff, or sending mixed cocktails. But, I am there. So there you have it Bigun. Now, go send out your good karma stuff.

On another front,

There I was, standing in line at the the local Chinese Restaurant. My friend, lets call her DAWN, is busy chatting about things. Life, the weather, what she's going to eat...I'm drifting. Listening to all of the other conversations going on around me and yet still being attentive and fully aware of Dawn. She was telling me about her son, her future trip to Egypt this summer, life in general. Finally, it's my turn to order lunch. I finish ordering and walk over to the chairs at the front of the restaurant and wait for my "to go" order. As I am walking to the chairs by the door i overhear a fellow talking with two others. he says..."No, really, it's totally an American dish. If you go to China and order it, they won't know what you are talking about." I laugh to myself and i think, he is talking about Egg Foo Young. Dawn joins me a moment later. I turn to her and say "Guess what?" you know what her reply is..."What?"

So, I point at the fellow I overheard talking and said "He has a UBK too!!" Dawn starts laughing and asks me how is it that I know he too has a UBK. Before I continue on let me explain what a UBK is for those of you who haven't heard me use this term before. The UBK stands for a Useless Bank of Knowledge. Mine, it's full of all sorts of things. For example, the Egg Foo Young thing. BTW, DAWN is the same girl who barely escaped death at the hands of a serial killer rapist. Actually, she barely escaped death by TriSherpa Di to be more accurate. That is another story though. Getting back to the UBK...

DAWN and I have been friends for about 6 years. She always laughs at me and my little bits of trivia. I am a trivia junkie. It comes naturally. I don't work at remembering little tidbits of information. I read it somewhere, or I hear it and it just sticks. You know how some people remember Historical Dates or every one's birthdays or sports stats. I remember minutia. Stuff that the average person doesn't really care about knowing but find it somewhat interesting none the less.

Allow me to give you an example.... not only is EggFooYung an American dish, so is General Tso's chicken and Chop Suey. True. Sorry. They came about when the Chinese who immigrated to the US started creating dishes using the local fare. Hence, if you go to China, don't expect to see these dishes offered on the menu.

What is a Bobeche? It's that curved round glass(or metal) disc with a hole in the center that fits over a candle to catch the wax drippings.

Did you know that baby venomous snakes are far more deadly than adults? It is true. Want to know why? Because an adult strikes and removes it's fangs after one injection of venom. It may strike again, but that's something different. Baby snakes strike and their fangs are so small often times they cannot remove them from the victim. This means they continuously inject venom, over and over again. When that happens, it usually means, D.E.D. Dead.

The Osprey is a bird of prey that plunges into the water to capture fish. Ospreys are large birds, black-brown on top and white below. Sometimes people confuse them with Bald Eagles. Ospreys feed primarily on fresh panfish. They search for fish while flying 30-100 feet above the water. If they spot prey, they hover, then plummet down, plunging into the water feet first. Strong, curved talons and specialized spines on the bottoms of their feet help them hold onto the slippery fish. If they catch the fish, they quickly take off, juggling it in their feet until its head is facing forward into the wind. Then they fly to a perch to eat it. Ospreys can’t swim and have been known to drown, especially if they get their talons stuck in too large a fish and can’t take off. They can't take off because their talons "lock" into the fish and they cannot remove the locking talons to free themselves. The spiked talons either get ripped out or the bird drowns.

Hey Jude -When John Lennon left his wife, Cynthia, for Yoko in 1968 Paul McCartney didn't let that stop him from visiting Cynthia and Lennon's son Julian. Paul has maintained a great friendship throughout his life with Cynthia and her son Julian. One morning as he was driving out to see Cynthia and Julian, Paul began humming a tune and singing "Hey Julian..." Later the song became Hey Jules and eventually turned into Hey Jude. The song has always been about and for Julian Lennon.

Trivia aside, I also know the lyrics to more songs than I can remember. I know, sounds like an oxymoron. Truth is, I hear songs that I haven't heard in years. In fact I have forgotten the songs even existed. They come on the radio and I can remember the lyrics, from 10, 15, sometimes 20 years ago. That show with Wayne Brady -Don't Forget The Lyrics, well, I could rock it.
I remember stuff. I can't remember what I ate for breakfast, or what might have been said to me 5 minutes ago, but I remember Stuff. Hence, my brain being coined the UBK.
What's in your UBK?

Meet My Neighbors

This one is an odd bird, he kind of hangs out with a different group.

The strong but silent one...mostly

Sneaky bastard. He's the one who creeps through your yard when he thinks no one is looking...you know the type









There he is again, all smiles, like nothing is going on.










You know those neighbors who "see" everything? Yep, we have one too.








The big Teddy Bear












The recluse

The HOA Architectural Committee is headed up by this guy

This is the couple everyone is jealous of, you know, both tall, both thin, ultra sexy. The couple we all love to hate and hate to love.

Our local chatty Cathy - well, in this case, Vern

He always wins the lawn competition.

seems quiet enough, but everyone is always trying to figure out just how he lost his "ear"

The twins do everything together. They dress alike, they always have the same cocktail.

just passing through actually

Every day she walks her kids to the bus stop

Those are my neighbors. If you ever come to Florida we'll go get to know them and we'll enjoy a beer or two courtesy of my other neighbor Anheiser. Just call and book a room at The Bigun B&B. See you soon!

Great Clermont

First of all let me start by saying....lucky we made it to Clermont. Okay, TriDogmom and Momo, I know you both know what I am about to discuss. Pre-pre race night partying. WooHooo. Wow. I know Momo and TriDogmom are both table dancers when they drink...or so it has been assumed. (JUST KIDDING!!!LOL) I didn't do any table dancing pre -pre race night but i did do a little "cage" dancing. Yep. Girls' night out and the scotch was flowing... and flowing... I am 99% sure I had a great time. At least my girlfriends are saying I did! I believe them.


So, needless to say, after getting home at 4 am on the day before the race, I kind of took my time getting ready to head to Clermont the day before the race. I was draggin' ass to say the least. I didn't have what you would traditionally call a hangover, I was just tired. WAAAAAAAYYYYY tired. Finally though, after Bigun had BettyLou all packed up and ready to go I figured i should get my fanny in gear and get packed for our overnight stay in Clermont. Geez Louise. How do you pack for only one day?!?!? I don't know!!! Shouldn't someone, a woman in the know, give classes for that? I packed enough clothes for three days. You know, just in case. Hell, it was supposed to rain on race day. What would I do if I got totally wet while watching the race and then wanted to go somewhere afterwards? AND if we did go somewhere else, what did I want to wear? These are all important points when a woman packs an overnighter. Right? Finally, I get packed, enough for three days, throw the bag in BettyLou and we hit the road.


By the time we get on the road it's pretty obvious we'll roll into Clermont around dinner time. Bigun and I are pretty hungry. Afterall, I was too sleepy to bother eating all day Saturday and Bigun, well, I don't remember why he didn't take a break to eat, I was busy. Sleeping. We call GreenEyedLady and ExcelMan to find out their plan. After much deliberating we decide to all meet at the Italian restaurant we enjoy, Bruno's. It's good eats and it's on the way. It's all good.
Dinner is fun, GEL drinks, and drinks, and drinks and well, you get the picture. Okay, I am exaggerating, I just didn't want you to think I was the only one of the group that liked to drink. So, GEL had two glasses of wine. I stayed with water. After the night before, it was a wise choice, hydration and all that.

Finally we make it to our Hotel. If any of you ever stay over in Clermont, stay at the Fairfield Inn. It was really nice. Bigun and i had a super room!! Fantastical as a matter of fact. Supercalifrag...wait, that's a movie I saw. Never mind that train of thought. So, we're checked in and all comfy and finally decide to crash for the night.
Because we are so close to the race site I don't have to get up at O'Dark:thirty with Bigun. He and ExcelMan head out to the race site sans myself and GEL. Wow, who would have ever thought that sleeping in means getting up at 6:30am? That's what I did though, I slept in until 6:30 race day. UN. BE. LEEEEV. ABLE. Truly. Loved it.


After getting a coffee, checking out the breakfast line, drinking some orange juice, chatting about plastic bottle vs wax carton....we head over to the starting line. Parking for a change was actually pretty easy. Even though we didn't arrive until 5 minutes after the first wave. Whoops. GreenEyedLady and I were having a nice leisurely stroll down to the beach. I notice all the women lined up waiting for their start. So I start yelling, really yelling, "CINDY!!!", "CINDY JO!!!", "ANYONE HERE NAMED CINDY JOVANAVICH?!?!?!?" Everyone is turning and staring but no one is raising their hand. I am yelling to a line of blank faced chicas. Nothin. Finally one girl turns and asks.."What does she look like?" my answer..."I don't know." now, just imagine this, an entire line of women staring at you like you have 2 heads. That's what happened. I almost started to put that second head in my hat. Jeez. So, I proceed to say" She's one of my creepy internet friends." The entire group just about fell on the ground laughing. They wished me luck and then the gun went off and they hit the water. I didn't find Cindy Jo until much, much later.

In the mean time GEL and I wait for our guys to come out of the water. Bigun's wave went off first, 5 minutes later, ExcelMan's wave and 5 minutes after him, the women. So, GEL and I are waiting, and we're cheering. Then we cheer some more and wait some more. After a bit GEL and I look at each other. We don't say anything but we are both beginning to think the same thing..."Where are they?" Then, we see the first woman come out of the water. Our guys, both of them, just got chicked, Majorly, in the water. Still, no Bigun and no ExcelMan. We start to worry. Ofcourse, we had no knowledge of the 2 egg mcmuffins that were scarfed down. Finally, huge sigh of relief, ExcelMan comes out of the water. Phew!!! Thank Goodness. Wait, he took off AFTER Bigun. Crap. Worried again. A couple of mintes go by and then we see Bigun making his way on shore. THANK YOU JESUS!!! We crossed ourselves, said a few Hail Mary's, snapped some pictures and hit the path for the bike ride. It was all good.


This race is always a good race to go to. I like it alot. Fred Sommer and his crew do a really, really nice job. GEL and I settle in our chairs on the bike route and commence to more cheering. This is where I dropped the ball. In my foggy stupor of psuedo hangover the day before, I forgot to pack the booze for the race. No. Bloody. Marys. I know. I. Suck. Moving along...
The guys do great on the bike portion. Their timing was right, we cheered, whistled, clapped, etc. (I don't actually know how to whistle but I always imagine myself whistling). It's cowbell time on the run portion. After staking out a great spot just this side of the finish line we start ringing. It's funny how when we start off with the cowbells there are all sorts of people around us. 5 minutes later, not so many. When we start ringing cowbell, we can clear a spot at the finish line faster than a bad case of IBS. We raucously cheered everyone in over the finish line. It was a lot of fun. Not only did we get to cheer in our guys, we also were able to cheer in first time Triathloner John, our blogger peep Moonpie, and blogger peep Cindy Jo. It was fun. Except for the big emptiness left by the lack of Bloody Mary's it was a great time. Swear.

Sommer Sports always has a pretty good post race spread. This past Sunday was no exception. As a Sherpa however, I don't partake in the post race food. I would hate to have an athlete miss out on a plate of much needed nourishment because of me. As I told Moonpie, sometimes I will pilfer a banana or a bottle of water but otherwise, I don't eat the Athletes' food. Wait, unless there are cookies. I will snag a cookie, or two. On occasion. So, it's lunch time for us. Outback is sounding really good and especially fulfilling in the beer department. An added bonus is that it was Happy Hour. 2 for 1. We could drink all day. Until 7 pm atleast. That's when Happy Hour was over.


Gel, Excelman, Bigun and myself all enjoyed a really good lunch. With beer. Moonpie and Cindy Jo were held up at the race but they joined us later. Because of their time schedule GEL and ExcelMan had to leave but the four of us, Bigun, myself, Moonpie and Cindy Jo enjoyed a few hours at the bar laughing and having a good time. We may have even buzz texted TriRob a little bit. Can't really call it drunk dialing like we did to 21CM at IMFL because we weren't yet drunk and we were texting, not dialing. Poor TriRob...lol we are all still laughing pretty hearty about it.


BTW, did I mention that the West Point Triathlon Team cleaned up at this race? They did. Here's a shot of a few of their team members. These guys will be America's future leaders folks. Sharp. Easy on the eyes too!!

What I Did Last Weekend

Last Saturday Bigun and I did a little grocery shopping. You know, stock up on a few staples and pick up a few perishables. Grocery shopping is never an activity that I look forward to doing. I don't hate it, it's one of those automaton type chores for me. In addition, it is inevitable that I forget to pick up the one thing I most wanted. Here's a few of the items we picked up... fresh fruit,

some light refreshment ( I LOVE this stuff)

Bigun needed some Gatorade and also chose some lovely cashews. Cashews don't last long in our home. Costco has a big tub they sell. It lasts about 3 or 4 days.

I walked away from the cart, being minded by Bigun, to grab a few items. When I return I went to place said items into the basket I noticed a couple of new additions to the cart...

But wait...Twizzlers weren't alone. They were accompanied by these -
I was only gone for about 40 seconds. Not even a full minute. All of that Tri-training has atleast paid off for the Bigun in the grocery aisle. He can speed his way through the donut and twizzler section faster than I can turn and grab a gallon of milk!

Bigun had an earache so I told him to rest while I put away groceries. I caught him on camera "resting".

Grocery Shopping is what I did on Saturday. I know, my last post made my weekend seem much more ...involved. Sad to say, most of you will be disappointed. (feel free to click on the pics for a better view) Last Sunday I hung out in my neighbor's (Orlando) backyard. Here's who I met...

I met a Mime at the pool.

A diver named Seymour

A couple of shady characters, I didn't get their names. Probably kin to the ones ExcelMan will be meeting in June during the Escape From Alcatraz Tri.

A surfer chick. She was pretty cool.

A few Acrobats

They were far too busy for me to catch their names.

But, you know how there is always that one, really big, guy who splashes around and jumps around in the pool? You know the one, always manages to soak everyone sitting poolside. He was there too.

I did get his name. He was actually a really likable fellow. His name was Shamu. Great guy.

There you have it. Now you know what I did last weekend. I hung out in the neighbors yard and met quite a few interesting characters. Any time you head this way, let me know. I'll introduce you. I'll fill you in later on what I did Wednesday. Wednesday I stayed home and played in my own backyard. It's pretty WILD.

Any Time at All

All ya gotta do is call, and I'll be there....

Sunday morning, November 4th. Bigun heads out for a run, I snuggle back under the covers. It's 7 am. I'm on vacation.

7:28 am. Phone rings, it's IronJenny. "Di, Waffle House. Breakfast. Get there." I question which Waffle House, determine location and agree, "Bigun will be back in 30, we'll see you there". I in turn call GreenEyedLady. I know she is in her room, alone - on the morning of her Birthday- because ExcelMan is in the line to get a slot for IMFL 2008. After a really horrible rendition of Happy Birthday, she clears her ear and says she too can be ready in 30. IronJenny had already called Tac and TriMama - we would see them there!

When Bigun gets back, it's takes him a little longer than 10 seconds to get ready to go... he's such a primadonna!

By the time we arrive at the Waffle House, everyone has consumed their breakfast and are heading out the door. We missed it. Darn it. No worries, they are all headed over to the Registration site for IMFL 2008. Even Ms. Athena Extraordinaire (you know the one...the one who called me last night and said - and I quote - "I am SO DONE with IronMan"). lol. Bigun, GEL and myself figure we have plenty of time to enjoy breakfast while they are standing around in the chilly PCB morning air waiting to put their names down and to fork over ungodly amounts of money to be tortured for a day by a group of IM organizers they don't even know. Okay. No worries. We'll see you all at the pool after breakfast.

After a torturous ride in the car GreenEyedLady is relieved that Bigun and I can finally decide on a place to eat. Half of the places listed, we went to, they were gone. Disappeared. No longer in existence. Beach towns. We would have eaten at the Waffle House but the line was wrapped around the building and we were hungry. Oh well.

Lovely Birthday breakfast was consumed and back to our charming, well kept, non rusty toilet paper holder rooms we went. A girl can dream, can't she?(remember the "eeeeeewwww" from my previous post) lol ExcelMan arrives at the Hotel moments before we do. We see him briefly in the lobby, congratulate him on signing up for IMFl '08 and chat briefly about the day ahead. We really really really want to talk them into staying one more day, but alas, they're responsible grown ups (something Bigun and I are unfamiliar with) and explain, they really must get back to Tampa that day. We have been invited to Brunch at TriFeist's and discuss meeting up there. GEL and ExcelMan explain, they really must get back, they'll go by and congratulate Trifeist a little early and then hit the road south. Hug hug, kiss kiss...you know.

Bigun and I point BettyLou in the direction of the Boardwalk Hotel and head over for early morning cocktails, poolside. the gang is all ready kicking it up at the pool. TriMama, Tac, IronJenny, IronGirlNyhus, IronGreg, IronRob, IronNick...man, it was virtually a Who's Who at the pool. Bigun has the video camera out and it's rolling. I have NEVER met a bigger bunch of camera hounds in my life!! They were ALL mackin' for time on the Bigun Video!!! Tac, he's really diggin it. IronJenny, well, lets just say, she may soon have a place in the Halls of Video History. IronGirlNyhus....total camera Hawg. Total!! LOL Just kidding!! Sort of, a little. It was so much fun, it really was.

We parted ways for a little while and drove over to Shores of Panama for a celebratory brunch with TriFeist and her hubby Joe. We met some MORE new people there! Good food (the BEST spinach quiche I have ever had), excellent Champagne and wonderful company!! I met TriAndBeHappy along with several of their friends. It was a really good time!

Cut to the pool - suits donned. Oh - did I tell you that IronJenny was walking around introducing her new friend to everyone? This is Wilma

We laughed, we drinked, we laughed, we drinked some more. Uh, I mean, we drank....I must still be buzzed!! TriMama didn't know her drink was gone...

The day was enjoyed by all. One of the best parts of the weekend - we all went out to the water line to watch an amazing sunset. Amazing.

Then we all changed out of our suits and headed over the Caribou Cafe to finish watching the game between the Patriots and the Colts. A couple of Bostonians joined us for the game. It was a really good time. Don't get me wrong, I like the Patriots, I do. But. Tony Dungy is the Colts' Coach. I'll take Tony. Too bad it wasn't in the cards for them last Sunday. We checked the time and decided we needed to be getting to the awards ceremony to watch our friends receive their beautiful Plaques!! Lots and lots of pictures. Iron Jenny placed first for Athenas. She is now 2 years running Athena Champion!! The night was not over.

Coyote Ugly had a few barstools waiting with our names on them. We arrive - guess what. Remember the beer situation we told you about - the lack of. It wasn't any different at Coyote Ugly!!! OMG. We were in the land of bad/no beer!! It was a black vortex and we had been sucked down into it! Kicking and screaming was of no help. No beer of any distinction ever magically appeared over the whole weekend. ARGH. We made the most of it. TriMama and I had already set our spokes spinning with some Tequila Shots at the Caribou Cafe. My philosophy, when all else fails, Tequila will solve the problem. Actually, I think Tequila solves all of the world problems for a few hours. It just doesn't matter where you are - black hole or PCB. lol A good time was had, that's what matters. IronJenny came in to join me, Bigun, Tac and TriMama at Coyote Ugly. Man - talk about CELEBRITY. IronJenny was the talk of the bar!! Everyone wanted to touch her plaque!! We even got a free round of beer...well, you know what I mean. She was HAWT!! Everyone wanted to touch her running suit! Everyone. Did the Bartenders dance on the bar for her too? Oh, wait, no. That was that guy who kept touching her plaque.
Everyone knows - no night out at a bar is complete without a follow up at The Waffle House. We did. I don't even know what time it was. Felt like midnight, it was probably only 8 pm. Time took a different turn on the clock that weekend. I never knew what time it REALLY was. I laughed so hard all weekend. And laughed and laughed.... Oh my gosh - to quote Tac " I just love my creepy internet friends!" I just love them!!!! Here I go, I am getting all misty eyed just thinking about it!

After our late evening breakfast we decided to call it a night and went back to the POSH Days Inn. I was out in seconds. Oh. Wait. No I wasn't. Nevermind.

The next morning Tac calls. He and TriMama know of a great little coffee shop - Java Joey's or something like that. LOL I think I have totally butchered the name. We meet up there with IronTriTim and Gemma, IronJenny, IronNick, IronGirlNyhus, IronGreg...wait, do you see a theme going on here...? Anyway, we fill the coffee house with all of our peeps and begin the massive download exchange onto everyone's laptops! It was hysterical. There were 10 different conversations going on all at once and we were each a part of all 10!! It was an early morning coffee party!! After about 2 hours, everyone started looking at their watches and decided it was time to get to their prospective hotels for the 11 o'clock checkout times. IronTriTim and Gemma had a long drive ahead to Chicago and had already packed up and checked out. We hugged, said our good byes to all and laughed heartily about our next meet ups. We are already anticipating the fun to be had.

Bags packed, check out at the desk and Bigun and I sigh sadly as we get ready for BettyLou to transport us back home. Back to IRL - In Real Life.

All ya gotta do is call....I love you guys.