Sapphire Sky

June 6, 2010

Fever Blister in the Sun

Filed under: sports — Anthony Biller @ 9:02 pm

This weekend opened triathlon season for the rest of our family that cares to do tris.  The kids had a blast on Saturday competing in a KIT (Kids in Training) triathlon — a great organization that teaches kids how to do triathlons and has fun in the process.  Our six-year-old completed his first and was ear-to-ear grins every time he passed by.  It was pretty hot though.  Afterward we ate at Brigs and discovered for the first time their strawberry shortcake …  there was nothing short about it.  A delicious mountain … and our 3-year-old had ordered it for dessert.  It was bigger than he was.  He needed some help, a lot of help …  Delicious.  We’ll be going back for some similar “carb loading” in the future I’m sure. 

Help is also what I needed today in completing my first tri of the season with fellow blogger Steve.  Aside from being redirected by a kayaking referee to a buoy on the swim course about a hundred yards away that I had apparently missed, the most notable part of the race was the scorching heat.  I felt more like a snail on the run than a human, let alone a triathlete.  I had a snail’s pace during the run and left a moisture path behind most the way …  After the race, we immediately departed for the mandatory post-race cheeseburger.  When we returned to the car an hour later (big cheeseburgers), the car thermometer read 103 degrees. 

 

  Perfect for baking eggs and triathletes on the pavement …

June 4, 2010

Ocean

Filed under: culture, Poem — Anthony Biller @ 10:36 pm

To nuke the BP hole shut or not to nuke it, that may be the question.  What a mess, and forecasting models predict the Gulf Stream could bring the black mess to the Carolina shores just in time for summer …

How quickly we go from chanting “drill baby drill” to “cap baby cap.”  This recent spill in the Gulf of Mexico has suddenly given much more weight in my mind to the environmentalist concerns regarding drilling in environmentally sensitive areas.  It’s easy to view eco-objections with a cynical eye, suspecting the latest sky-is-falling claim is the latest subterfuge to handicap market capitalism in favor of socialism and centralized planning or something even less coherent.  That’s easy to believe since so often that’s exactly what’s going on – the inconvenient truth is that the environmental claims are too often simply wrong or divorced of context.  Nonetheless, creation is from God and entrusted to us.  Environmentalism should not be a disputed issue amongst Christians — it’s required of us to manage and care for what God has entrusted to humanity.  We owe it to our Creator as well as to future generations to preserve and protect the environment in reasonable and sustainable ways.

The threatening pollution of our local shores, reminds me of the only poetry contest my wife and I entered together … of course B.C. (Before Children).  We didn’t win any prize but enjoyed working on it together …

Ocean calling

Lift your head, come and see,
God’s fingerprints reflected in me.
Both of us are filled with life -
a delicate, magnificent gift.

Come to the shore, stand with me,
where miracles are plain to see.
Gulls, surf and sand crab frolic
together, in one of life’s dances.

Gentle waves’ music
wash away
time and burdens.
Come friend,
my shores are open
and share with me
in the beauty of life.

June 3, 2010

The inevitable creeps of socialism …

Filed under: politics, economy, etc. — Anthony Biller @ 5:45 pm

If the availability of healthcare entails or creates a “right” to other people’s wealth and labor, shouldn’t also housing and food and nutrition?  Of course, the popular and accepted belief is that the Constitution authorizes the “regulation” of all facets of industry (as written and originally intended it doesn’t).  Liberal constitutional jurisprudence has allowed over the past 60 years or so a nearly unlimited power grab by Congress under its Constitutional authority to “  As the Supreme Court noted ages ago, the power to regulate includes the power to destroy something.  If Congress has the power to regulate anything that has an impact on commerce, it may also authorize total control or nationalization of the very same thing.  Good logic, but bad Constitutional law … .  The judicial branch really dropped the historical and constitutional ball in limiting Congressional power grabs.

In a moment of unscripted candor, Congresswoman Waters expressed her belief that fuel is also within the federal government’s scope of appropriation. If controlling healthcare services is within Congressional power, why not control or nationalization of the fuel industry?

One can only imagine Ms. Waters’ take on socializing/nationalizing the oil industry after BP Oil’s ongoing fiasco …

June 2, 2010

Not Very Healthy …

Filed under: politics, economy, etc. — Anthony Biller @ 5:42 pm

Over at The City: The Fix Is In, Why Britain’s National Health Service spends so much and does so little

and this: Soaring costs force Canada to reassess health model

NRO reports that a recent survey of human resource and benefit specialists indicates Obamacare is going to adversely affect quality and cost of care in the U.S.  Among the findings: 

● 90 percent believe that Obamacare “will increase their organization’s health care benefit costs”;

● 88 percent intend to pass the increases onto employees by increasing employee premium contributions or other cost-sharing measures;

● 74 percent intend to “reduce health benefits and programs” by using stingier health plans, restricting eligibility for health coverage, and using spousal waivers or surcharges.

Well, at least nationalized healthcare systems provide equally bad and ineffecient care to everyone, at least in theory.  In reality, there are always “preferred” routes for those with means, see, e.g. the Canadian premier flying to the USA and the UK’s private insurance add-ons.

Another Reason to Eat Donuts

Filed under: humor, marriage and family, video — Anthony Biller @ 5:39 pm

June 1, 2010

My love/hate relationship with biking

Filed under: sports — Anthony Biller @ 5:14 pm

  

Top 10 things I hate about biking

  1. Cars
  2. My seat, somewhere beyond 40 miles
  3. Hitting anything
  4. Sore calves and thighs and glutes and neck muscles and AT bands and …
  5. The fear of asphalt rashes
  6. Spin class with a sadistic monster named Deshaun
  7. The up side of big hills
  8. Getting passed
  9. The Bonk Monster
  10. Flat tires

 

Top 10 things I love about biking

  1. Speed
  2. The adventures of zoom zooming through new places
  3. It doesn’t involve running
  4. Carbon fiber
  5. Espresso Love and it’s ability to ward off the bonk monster
  6. Spin class with a sadistic monster named Deshaun
  7. Going faster
  8. Chasing friends and being chased
  9. Cruising with my kids
  10. The freedom to just go
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