Maison de Provinces de France

So I got an e-mail with my dorm assignment for Paris. I won't know the exact room until I get there, which is a bit bizarre and kind of annoying, but I got the building assignment. Let me just say, I am so glad that I got the building I got. Not even kidding. I'm going to be living in the Maison de Provinces de France. Its supposed to be a French dorm, meaning mostly French students from the outlying provinces of the country (hence the name), but I think there will be a handful of Americans in it too. It should be pretty nice, I get a private bathroom, a fridge, and someone's supposed to come around weekly to change my sheets. If I were in the American house I don't think I would have had any of that. This is all making me super amped!

Check it out:

Maison de Provinces de France

Wally B

I swear, if another kid shits in the Middleton Pool I'm gonna lose it. I can not stand walking 20+ minutes to the pool only to have to turn around and go straight back. It's even worse when your boss is a moron and decides to try and wait it out, only to have to sit in the 90 degree heat for an hour, and then walk back to camp.

Can you tell I had a bad day today?

Four Down, Six To Go

We've got four weeks of camp done already. It seems like summer just started, and in a way it has because I'll be around until the 25th of September, which is still more than two long months away. Things have been slow going for me. Partly because of this unexplainable disease I have, which is probably mono, but no doctor has told me that it is anything. It might also be the plague of the kids, something one gets after being in a loud, kid-infested camp all day everyday. All I want to do on the weekends is sleep and be somewhere quiet. Of course my social life has taken a bit of a dive because I just can't get motivated to do anything when I'm home. Although the promise of Trivia Night at Quaker Steak and Lube could remedy this in the short-term. It's been unbelievably humid the past few weeks, and I can't take it anymore. So I lay around the basement of my house waiting for the next day I have to go to camp and get paid to sit around screaming kids who feel it is ok to dump a waterbottle full of water on their counselor. Just for the record I let them do it because it has been so freaking hot.

Anyways, we've got four down, six to go. And then I live the life of an unemployed, bored member of society for a month before heading to Europe. The excitement of that long month of September will only be amplified by the fact that all of my friends will return to school, and I will just have to sit and wait. And wait.

There have been no terribly eventful camp stories to tell as of late. I had more fun this week than any other so far because I was more relaxed and had mostly good kids. I even got up from sitting/lying on the benches to play a few times. I've already told myself I must relish next week when I will only have six campers, and the opportunity to go canoeing three days, and to the county fair another day.

Of course I have the Tour de France, part of the reason for my low motivation. It has not failed to impress so far this summer. Of course the first doping positive was announced today. A surprise to me, as I thought there would be one sooner in the race. I don't believe this "clean race" bullshit. The riders of the old generation, the Lance Armstrong Era, are in desperation mode. Either retire now, or use to stay with the younger guys, and face the wrath of the UCI/ASO when you get caught.

It used to be so much easier.

Fourth of July Fireworks, In My Body

Ok the title of the blog sounds kind of weird. But its sort of fitting. I guess?

The short story is that I spent a large portion of my Fourth in Urgent Care getting tested like you wouldn't believe for every disease under the sun. The good news is so far everything is negative.

The long story is this: I went for a bike ride yesterday morning with my stepdad. We were planning on going to Mt. Horeb, maybe 25 miles, and back. We were going to stop in Mt. Horeb for lunch and a short recoup before going home. Problem was, I totally bonked at Cross Plains, only 10 miles into the 50 mile day. I had absolutely no energy whatsoever, which was weird because I had just eaten a big breakfast and slept for 10 hours the night before. It was a recurring theme. This summer I've been a lot weaker than normal. So my mom came out and got me in CP and drove me to the Urgent Care. I then went through three blood tests, a urine test, a heart scan, and about six nurses and doctors up in my business. And so far everything is negative. Although I am waiting to hear back about mono, which would actually make a lot of sense.

But yeah, fireworks on the ride yesterday, when I pretty much broke down. Seriously I was delirious I was so tired. I'm ok now... just bedridden until Monday morning when I have to figure out if I want to go to camp or not... otherwise I've got a doctor's note to get out of two days!

So yeah, it was a great Fourth. I slept all afternoon and then hobbled around to watch fireworks in the evening before passing out again.

I did manage to wake up at 7:30 this morning for the Tour though. Anything for the Tour.

Maybe I have Tour fever?

Fantasy Tour Team

Addendum:

Here is the roster to my fantasy Tour team, forgot to add that earlier.

Alejandro Valverde
Denis Menchov
Mauricio Soler
Iouri Trofimov
Mark Cavendish
Fabian Cancellara
Gert Steegmans
Nicolas Portal
Haimar Zubeldia

It took me four days, but I think it turned out pretty good. I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Tour De France 2008

I am so ready for the Tour de France to start. I mean seriously, the UEFA Euro Cup ended a week ago, I have absolutely no good TV right now (well that's a lie, but still), I need something to consume my life with.

Ahhh, perfect. The Tour starts tomorrow. 23 Days of total life consumption. Gotta love it.

I'm a big fan of cycling, and the Tour is the highlight of my summer, and has been since 2001. This will be my eighth Tour. And the first that I don't get to watch live. And by that I mean, I have to watch my TiVo'ed live coverage at 4:30 when I get home from camp. It's a travesty.

I really hope this Tour isn't like the last two. Meaning, if a rider gets thrown out for doping, you better believe that I'm not going to ever watch another Tour again. Ok, that's a lie too. But seriously, I'm so sick of the Tour being marred with doping drama, and getting a bad rap. Because the Tour is the most incredible single sporting event EVER. There is nothing that is more incredible than the Tour de France, in terms of a single sporting event. Yeah the Olympics or the World Cup are cool... but they are a little different than the Tour.

The Tour is 21 stages of competition. The only cuts are done by the elements, and the minds and bodies of the athletes. You've got to be the most stable, yet craziest person in the world to race the Tour. It consumes these athletes like you wouldn't believe. They have to have the exact perfect weight or they won't be able to finish. A cold and they are done. It takes the perfect specimen of the human race to win one of these things.

I love it.

I love waking up at 6 am on a Sunday morning to watch the race go through the mountains. I love the constant commentary of Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen. I love watching the primetime coverage in the evenings when I've already seen the morning live coverage. I love correcting Bob Roll and Al Trautwig during the primetime coverage when they get the name of a rider or location wrong. I love yelling at the TV before anyone is awake. I love complaining about the riders I hate when they do well, and boasting when my favorites win. I love the dumb look on everyones face when I tell them that I like to watch the Tour de France, and then proceed to not shut up about it for at least an hour. I love that I am the only person I know that I can talk to about this sport at the level that I love and understand it. I love walking into bike shops and asking what race they are showing on their TV in the winter, and then when I proceed to detail what happens throughout the race, who wins, who crashes, who tried hard, who didn't try hard enough, only to have the staff at the bike shop look at me with the sort of admiration I have when I look at Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen.

I love the month of July like you wouldn't believe.

I love the Tour de France.

I love that it starts in less than 12 hours.

Decisions Decisions

I'm dead serious when I write this... I have spent the better part of the last four days trying to put together a fantasy Tour de France team. It is driving me absolutely nuts. And the thing is, I won't stop working on it until I am perfectly content with the team I've put together. This may be never. Or the deadline for the entries (Saturday). We'll see which comes first.

And I had to cancel my awesome day trip I planned because of severe weather possibilities. Probably a good choice because it got pretty nasty, but still. Now we'll never get to go.

I don't like having to make decisions in summertime.