July the fastest month ever

And even though we ain't got money,
I'm so in love with you, honey,
And everything will bring a chain of love.
And in the morning, when I rise,
You bring a tear of joy to my eyes
And tell me everything is gonna be alright.

Loggins and Messina

I know, I know, I know. I'm sorry it has been forever since I have written. And truth be told if not for the tornado warnings and thunderstorms tonight I would be playing volleyball instead of writing this. Playing volleyball 6 nights a week has been a gigantic undertaking for me. No complaints, well a few, but I have loved it. The biggest complaint is that my body refuses to heal and the nagging pain in my legs and shoulders and hips just doesn't seem to go away. And I refuse to not give 100% at all times in the sand. I dive and dive and dive some more. I wake up some mornings and feel like I am 90. It has cut into my normal workout schedule as has the world cup and working 5 days a week. No complaints and I do feel like I am in the best shape of any adult summer, but I wish I was further along with my jogging and riding further without pain than I a currently am.

Food has been a big issue for me this summer and I have struggled to do much more than maintain where I was when I left the ridge almost three months ago. Sorry to those with big numbers in the challenge. It's not going to be that high. I do think I will extend the contest a few weeks until I get back to the ridge so I can weigh on the same scale. But some lucky person who knew me and had less faith than the average is going to walk away with a free week.

Here's some standings from Volleyball. Yes I picked the best results but also chose my two favorite nights. I swear that some nights I look out on the court and there are 11 other players in the sand and all 11 are young enough to have been fathered by me. It makes me feel good to compete with these kids, and even better to kick their ass. It's funny we used to be the team that a lot of the other teams would root for, but not so much anymore. Were not cocky but we don't let off the gas pedal very often and frankly we are a bunch of piss poor losers so we hate to do that. I have done a much better job of passing on the celebratory drinks after the matches this month, which caused some problems last month. Not the drinking so much but I tend, and by tend mean without a doubt, grab anything salty I can throw down my gullet when drinking.

I am far from perfect that I know, but I like my life right now and certainly don't have the issues a certain More Magazine hack attributed to me. I have started playing indoors as well one or two days a week. It's an extremely different game than the sand and I am more sore for sure from jumping on the hardwood. And yes I did use the word jumping. It's funny that my life sort of revolves around volleyball as I never really played as a kid and now consider it my favorite activity. I feel lost on the night I dont play.


Thought I would let you guys know that I am tentatively scheduled to be back at the ridge in the fall. Most likely for 3 weeks starting October 24th and ending with the fall triathlon on November 13th. And as always I have an open invitation to anyone to come out and join in the fun of the race. It's a pretty good feeling when it's over that I can promise all of you.





I have been to a few more shows and have two scheduled in the next week. I drove down to Chicago. Again I hate the traffic there and have no idea how anyone can deal with that on a regular basis. I saw Sara Bareilles do a free show at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Chicago. The good news was the venue was really small, a $5 tip still gets you great seats, and she played a few new songs which I really enjoyed. The bad news was she only played 7 songs total, it took me 4 hours to get there from Madison, and I had to pay $16 for a burger. I saw Squeeze Tuesday night in town at the same theater that hosted Ingrid last year. 1100 fans for her and about 200 for Squeeze. But Tempted, Black Coffee, and Puling Mussels all sounded great, the crowd was into it, and the band seemed to be having a blast. Going to see Jack Johnson this weekend and then Kenny Loggins next Saturday.

The new store looks awesome and has been exceeding my expectations. We had perfect weather for our annual street festival and had the two biggest days on our history last Friday and Saturday. The original store will be closing at the end of September and life should return to some semblance of normalcy.

Need to say thanks to my great staff for working extra hard on our big weekend. Congrats to all that won some of the games we played at our post festival dinner party.

I really hope that everyone is having a great summer. I don't care how hot it gets I'll take it every day of the year over winter in Madison. It seems to go fast that's for sure, but that only means football season is right around the corner. Heading to Vegas next weekend and will cross paths with some fellow ridgers if they can pull me out of the racebook where I am very enthused to see Saratoga opening tomorrow. I have a really good friend's wedding coming up in mid-August and I will be performing my first wedding ceremony. Thanks internet church and lax Wsiconsin state rules regarding who can officiate a marriage ceremony. Hope I dont sweat as much as the last time I was up front at a wedding ceremony. Peace, Love and Sunshine, Jim