Just a Little Heat

After a couple of days of rain and cool weather, the heat is back. Temps hit the mid-90s yesterday and are well on their way to getting back there today. Yesterday, we went to a couple of kid birthday parties, where the girls had a blast. Fortunately, they were able to keep cool with a slip-and-slide at the first party and a huge inflatable water slide thingy at the second. Hannah didn't eat much all day and turns out she's got a bit of a stomach bug today; Deb and I both were having some stomach issues as well, but not on Hannah's level. Poor kid's been in the bathroom a lot today.

I got up at 6 today so I could get a 10-mile run in before it got too hot out. As it was, I was out the door a little after 6:30 and it was already in the mid-70s and humid. Fortunately, there were some shady stretches along my route so I didn't get totally fried. Unfortunately, those aforementioned stomach problems came and went from about mile 3 on. But I survived and was glad to be done with it.

It was a strange week, what with the cold I was fighting (still dealing with the last vestiges of it, but it was nothing compared to the last one I had) and my sore back. It bothered me more after I'd been sitting at my desk for a while and then went to get up. Today, it doesn't feel bad and it didn't bother me at all during my run. Hopefully I can get back to my regular weight workout schedule this week; haven't lifted weights in a few weeks.

Put another shrimp on the barbie:

• Congrats to the Detroit Red Wings, who won the Stanley Cup Wednesday night with a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. They deserved it, as they were clearly the better team throughout. Still, the Pens made it interesting right to the end, coming oh-so-close to tying the game in the dying seconds. Looks like the Wings are already wreaking havoc with their prize.
• I freely admit I've jumped on the Boston Celtics bandwagon as they battle the LA Lakers in the NBA Finals. It's been a long time since I watched the NBA and I still have a tough time watching a game all the way through. Unlike other sports where every run, point or goal can be crucial, there's so much scoring in basketball that it really comes down to the last quarter in most games. But I watched most of Game 1 Thursday night and it was a good game. The second game is tonight; should be interesting.
• Finally, Hillary Clinton conceded the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama and is working to get her supporters to back him. Although Obama and John McCain have been taking potshots at each other for a while now, things will really heat up now that everything's official. The mudslinging will ratchet up a notch, if that's possible.
• Talk about efficient: This crazy dude in Tokyo drove his truck into a crowd and then jumped out and stabbed 17 people. He said he was "tired of life." Duly noted.
• Okay, now there's an actual South Asian Spelling Bee? (Hat tip to Sepia Mutiny.) Apparently, it isn't enough that little Indian kids dominate the regular spelling bees. For whatever reason, we're good at 'em; of course, it doesn't help that some of these parents are drilling their kids with flash cards as soon as they're able to talk. I know what I'm talking about: My dad had me memorizing multiplication tables at age 4. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for me, I eventually developed other interests like sports, music and girls and didn't become an accomplished mathlete.
• Following up on the VH item from last post, it came out this week that the DLR-enhanced Van Halen earned $93 freakin' million on their reunion tour. Wow! Top that, Chickenfoot.
• One of the fun things about the Celtics' great season, just one year removed from being one of the worst teams in the league, has been the excitement generated around "Gino." As I've chronicled here previously, the Celts have been playing an old "American Bandstand" clip from the '70s of a bearded disco dancer shaking his groove thang while wearing a Gino Vannelli t-shirt. The clip is played when the team is about to win a game, serving as the modern day version of Red Auerbach's victory cigar. But folks have always clamored to find out who the dancer was. Turns out, according to the Wall Street Journal, that Gino actually died in 1990. But his beard and smooth moves live on.