Three Run Jimmy Jack

I can't be the only person who wonders "why am I here?" I am totally fixated on this question. Maybe the human being is a mistake. Our intelligence is not necessary for our existence and our knowledge of own mortality causes us mental pain. Animals don't ask themselves, "why am I here?" They just live. They look for pleasure and avoid pain. Dogs seem easy to understand. They like to eat food and be petted, they like to stay warm in the winter, cool in the summer. They like to take walks and sniff things. When I was a kid sometimes our dogs would really go crazy barking at other dogs when we would drive by them. Yesterday when waiting at a stoplight there was a dog in a car crazily barking at a guy holding a Quizno's Subs sign. The dog was really barking at him, and the owner didn't seem to notice. What did that dog want to bark at the man holding the sign for? Was the dog against the blatant anything-to-make-a-buck attitude of Quizno's? The commercialization of America had gotten too overwhelming for that dog? Did he not like the guy holding the sign? Did the dog think the guy with the sign didn't like dogs? Does the dog bark at anyone it sees on the street when riding in a car? Maybe just as good a question as "Why am I here?"

I have been totally engrossed in the 2005 Tour de France. I bought a dvd recorder and recorded the stages. I can't believe Lance Armstrong is hanging it up. The dude is so awesome. The 10th stage is the best where he demolishes the field going up a mountain.

I started to read Lance's book called, "It's not about the bike". I have to disagree a little because if it wasn't about the bike, we'd have never heard of this guy. In the book is a paragraph that goes something like this:

Wednesday I was diagnosed with testicular cancer
Thursday I had my left testicle removed
Friday I was released from the hospital
Saturday I drove to donate some sperm because after the chemo I would be sterile
Monday I gave a press conference telling the world I was taking a break from cycling
Wednesday they found the cancer in my lungs
Thursday they found it in my brain.

And I thought I had problems. This dude proceeded to beat cancer and then win the Tour de France 7 straight times. There will never be another Lance Armstrong. I wish I could for once be great and do something worth remembering. Maybe I will.