Vacation

The perfect 48 hours in the inland empire. Ann has summarized it much better. It was an incredibly expensive 48 hours, now that I total things up. And I had a pleasant four hour layover (two unplanned) in the United concourse at DIA on a Sunday. However, the trip was alot of fun. I am more than a little envious of the professorial life in California but I was not cut out for intellectualizing for profit and teaching.

We swam laps for 30 - 35 minutes at one of the outdoor pools on campus. It was humbling. I probably haven't swum a lap in 20 years and I think I still feel it today. I needed better goggles, for one thing. Mine never sealed right and I had water in them all the time. But let's not blame it on equipment: I flat out suck at swimming.

I was never much of a swimmer. The last time, and probably only time, I did any serious swimming was to get in shape to do a short course triathlon that included a 500 m pool swim. I swam just enough to make sure I got done in the maximum alloted time.

I am harboring fantasies of doing a triathlon this year, but I'm not sure I will be able to swim well enough to do 500 meters in open water. You know, where you can't hang on the edge and suck wind for a minute after a lap or two.

However, my neighbor informed me that swimming skills would improve rapidly. We'll see. Maybe. It's really not the right time of year to find another indoor activity.