Connor's Army

Honorificabilitudinitatibus!

2012-02-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

So when I was a kid there was a cartoon series featuring a young boy named Tom Terrific and it was shown as part of the Captain Kangaroo children's television show. It starred Tom Terrific, who lived in a treehouse and could transform himself into anything he wanted thanks to his magic, funnel-shaped "thinking cap," which also made him smarter. He had a , Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog, and an arch-foe named Crabby Appleton, whose catch-phrase was, "I'm rotten to the core!" Other foes included Mr. Instant, the Instant Thing King, Captain Kidney Bean, Sweet Tooth Sam, the Candy Bandit and Isotope Feaney, The Meany.

Now I know a lot of people have annointed him as a Hall of Famer already but Tom Terrific should not be confused with Tom Brady;

(Now where did I put those car keys????/)

Or confused with the "Terrific Tom" of the cycling world, Tom Boonen (pronounced "Bone-en") - a Tom that actually wins;

(Car Keys????? WE don't need no stinkin' car keys!!!!)

No, Tom Terrific was a different kind of hero. To give you a little taste of cartoons from "Back in the Day", here's what his show looked like;

I think that one is particularly appropriate seeing as how we're going to be heading west on June 15! I only hope we can manage not to crash into the Mississippi river the way Tom and Manfred did. Yes, that's what used to pass for animated entertainment way back when as opposed to some of what we find on TV today;

of course as an avowed Phineas and Ferb fan I do enjoy the musical renderings of those little guys - much better than the Tom Terrific theme song I have to admit.

What all of these individuals DO have in common is that they are all what William Shakespeare would define as Honorificabilitudinitatibus - "the state of being able to achieve honours". The word is first mentioned in his play Love's Labour's Lost (a prequel to the lost play Love's Labour's Won) and is spokken by the character Costard;

"O, they have lived long on the alms-basket of words. I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word; for thou art not long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art easier swallowed than a flap-dragon."

It should here be mentioned that "flap-dragon" was a game which involved trying to eat hot raisins from a burning bowl of brandy (Of course, that is not to be confused with a burning bowl of Brady which I guess is what happened after his "melt down" during the Super Bowl).

Even although the palmarés of both Messieurs Boonen and Brady are well-documented, it is a little known fact that Messieurs Phineas and Ferb have indeed earned an Emmy award for "Outstanding Writing in Animation"!

Well, it now appears that some out there have also considered Connor's Army to be Honorificabilitudinitatibus as well! A recent article penned by Miss Tara O'Connor (no relation, unless it goes generation back to the old country) in the Syosset Patch entitled "Syosset Teacher Goes the Distance" has generated a lot of interest and has helped us spread the word about Connor's Army Ride Across America. That came out on Monday and generated a lot of interest and messages to us. I also have to say I am incredibly humbled by all of the people who shared the link on Facebook and for all the comments people wrote.

And you remember the interview with the Long Islander I spoke about a few weeks ago? Well it seems the article came out in a few local papers that are under the Long Islander umbrella - the Record and the Northport Observer. It was a 3/4 page article and it really gave us a lot of glowing compliments.

Now you have to understand, one of the things I'm not very good at doing is "tooting my own horn";

it was probably one of my biggest weaknesses back when I was performing, the business of "the business". I've always been one to simply do and hope that my efforts are good enough.

Well, it seems that things are starting to happen and folks are starting to take notice. It seems that the Long Islander also publishes a paper in Dix Hills and one of the Town Councilpeople(?) took notice of it. As a result, yours truly is going to be honored by the Town of Huntington for our efforts to help Sunrise Day Camp on April 17th!!!!!!! I'm incredibly grateful to them for this honor and for everyone who has supported us thus far! I want to invite everyone who lives on Long Island and who supports us to join us at Huntinton Town Hall on April 17th at 7:00 and maybe we'll go out afterwards to Ben and Jerry's to celebrate! Nothing says support a cyclist like filling him with ice cream!!!!!

And in the meantime, please do me a favor. PLEASE help us to spread the word even further so we can get the word out - Invite everyone YOU know on Facebook to go to https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Connors-Army/143446649035655 and add us to their likes. That goes for friends, colleagues, other facebook pages and groups - everyone you know. It really would mean a great deal because every person means someone else who might be able to help us spread the world. Besides, I really am hoping to get 3600 likes by June so I can have one person for each mile I'm riding - YES, I'M DEDICATING A MILE TO EACH PERSON WHO LIKES MY PAGE! I WANT TO RIDE FOR YOU!!!!!

And now to give you all a little dessert treat in preparation for the April 17th soiree, here is a little song I just found called "I Love My Bike" by Italian hip-hop star J-Ax;

I only wish I knew what he was saying!

Stay well, and I'll see you on the road!

Base Line of CARAAM!

2012-01-28T22:39:00.000-08:00

So if you look in the dictionary, you'll find multiple definitions for the phrase Base Line or Baseline.

base line or base·line (bsln) n.
1. a. A line serving as a basis, as for measurement, calculation, or location.
    b. A measurement, calculation, or location used as a basis for comparison.
2. Baseball The base path.
3. Sports
    a. The boundary line at either end of a court, as in basketball or tennis.
    b. The area near this boundary line: made a basket from the base line.

c. A style of play in tennis in which the player remains near the base line and rarely approaches the net.

Now most of these seem to serve only as sports descriptors and forget all about other elements of "base", for instance there is the musical sense found in the following song;

Nor is this to be confused with Rock n' Roll's Greatest Bass Lines;

or the incomparable stylings of the Master of Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins;

Ahh, that never gets old, although I'm not sure what the guy in the diaper in the background is doing!

And the term "baseline" should never, EVER be confused with a line of Bass;

(I think the lateral lines give him more lateral stiffness - cycling fans, you understand)

or a line of Sea Bass Sushi;

(yummmmmmmm!!!!!)

So, as with just about most words and idioms in the English language, "baseline" or "bass line" can have multiple meanings. Well, in this entry I want to talk about definition 1 a. - a line serving as a basis, as for measurement, calculation, or location. For you see, dear readers, today I began establishing my "baseline" for training for CARAAM.

Now for those of you new to the Connor's Army blog, CARAAM stands for Connor's Army Ride Across America - my fundraising event for the campers of Sunrise Day Camp. In EXACTLY 148 DAYS I will be dipping my rear wheel in the Pacific Ocean and heading towards Wheatley Heights, NY! Ideally, we'll do it from the parking lot of Sea World in San Diego early on the morning of June 24th and the pedaling will begin! Hopefully we'll get the chance to visit it the day before - the only downside is I hope the site of all those adorable piscean critters won't turn my little vegetarian away from sushi - lord knows we love the fishy!

(My wheel will touch off just to the right of that long building!)

Now I am going to admit, ALL of the planning is not done and we have not booked our rooms yet. Part of that is going to be determined by how many more sponsors we can get between now and May. I'm going to try to book the least expensive accomodations I can and eat as sparingly as I can but even so we estimate we're still about $2,500 short of what we estimate we'll need to underwrite the costs of gas, lodging, and vehicle maintenance for the trip.

Yet, even so I went out today to establish where I am fitness-wise. Right now we have planned that I will cycle anywhere on average between 70 and 100 miles a day. Some days more, some days less depending on the terrain and weather conditions. The first day I may only do about 60 miles or so just to get us out of the San Diego metropolitan area. I'll start hitting the miles pretty hard the next few days and try to reach Phoenix in four days - roughly by June 27th.

In order to do that I have to know what my baseline is, or my beginning level of fitness. Soooooo, today I went out for an hour and a half just to see how much distance I could cover without really pushing myself. I chose some fairly step hills and rollers and just tried to maintain an steady pace. And the verdict is?????? I covered 26 miles in 90 minutes. That averages out to 104 miles in 6 hours of nonstop riding.

Now I have no illusions about being able to continue that pace the first couple of days. I really imagine that I'll most likely average about 15 mph which will allow me to cover 90 miles nonstop but I will most likely take a break after every hour and a half or so in the first few days which means I'll probably cover about 70 miles depending on the terrain. As it gets flatter and my fitness level increases I may be able to average a bit more.

Now I know its not going to be easy. But I also know that I'm just now starting my training in ernest as the weather starts to improve I'll put in more and more mileage. Right now I have 326 commuting miles logged into my Garmin GPS which is the most I've ever logged in January - thanks to the warm weather. I'm excited to get into shape and to really start mashing the pedals.

Financially we're just really getting started. After the severe setback that was dealt to us a month ago, things seem to be looking up! Officially we have collected $1500 which is 3% of our total goal! There are many more fundraisers planned and lots of groups have come forward saying they are going to help us! Emily Feinstein is organizing a group of Alumni to put together a musical cabaret fundraiser (if you are an SHS alumni who sings please contact her) as a Connor's Army Team Sunrise event and my daughter has an event planned for June that looks like it will be huge!!!!!

So we are well on our way but its only the beginning. We have 1325 likes on Facebook at the moment. We are hoping to eventually get up to 3600!!!! One for each mile (roughly) of the journey! If you are wondering how you can support us, invite everyone you know and post to every facebook group you belong to and ask them to go to https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Connors-Army/143446649035655 and add us to their likes.

Help us spread the word to the media! I just had my first interview with Long Island Press today and we're hoping our first featured article will come out soon! The more we get out into the media, the more likely we are to reach an even bigger audience to help us make a difference for these kids! And if you're reading this for the first time, thank you. Keep checking back as now that we're getting closer to the date, I'll be updating more often. And, if you should feel the spirit call you to help out, go to http://www.connorsarmy.org/ and see how you can help today!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

State of the (Connor's) Army - The Impossible (?) Dream!

2012-01-26T20:00:00.000-08:00

In honor of President Obama's recent State of the Union address (here it is below in case you didn't catch it);

I have decided to do my own State of the (Connor's) Army. Its not so much of an address as an update. Of course in thinking about this post, I wondered who even started the whole concept of a "State of the Union Address". Well as with most things that made sense, it started with our founding fathers and with our very first President, George Washington. He gave us the very first State of the Union address and if you want to read the full text you can find it here.

I have a feeling that it was much shorter than one hour and five minutes and he probably was not interrupted by angry shouts of "liar" from members of Congress as our current President has been. I am going to go on a bit of an off topic rant here and it's really not about politics per se. I have my political beliefs and you, dear reader have yours. I have endeavored to come by mine through reading and listening to what politicians have to say as I'm sure you have. However, it does seem that a vast majority of Americans (politicians included) don't think for themselves and are merely following the party dogma. Mark Twain had this to say about politics;

In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.

And I do believe that is often the case and that people demonize a President simply becuase he is from the other party. And why? Because the leaders of their party told them to, not because the really know (or maybe even deep down) disagree with the man. It is the most thankless job in the world and as our 33rd President once said;

"All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking peopel to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway."

While our 36th President had this to say;

"Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There is nothign to do but stand there and take it."

I think it is unfortunate that people from the Republican/Tea Parties seem to think that is what is expected of President Obama - just stand there and take it, we're going to kick you out anyway. Despite your feelings about Republican or Democratic parties, the man deserve respect for trying to do the most difficult and thankless job in the world - I don't even think Mike Rowe would seriously want this job, despite his Poo Party Platform;

I know I certainly wouldn't want the job - being a teacher is hard enough.

Perhaps we should just all vote for this guy;

At least he wouldn't be afraid to tell Congress to shut up and get to work!

But I do enjoy my job and I have the pleasure of being surrounded by students who (for the most part) are passionate about dancing and acting and who want to be better. The occasional speed bumps aside, I do get to spend my days, during and after school, with the best kids at Syosset High School. They are witty, creative, passionate, caring, energetic and I learn from them every day. The occasional drama from casting aside, mine is certainly not a Dirty Job!

The other "jobs" I truly enjoy are those of; husband (especially being married to my best friend), father, friend, son, brother, occasional little league coach, and chief cycist of Connor's Army. As chief cyclist, I am required by our constitution to give a yearly State of the (Connor's) Army message to let you all know how things have gone in the past year;

This year has been one of unprecedented growth for Connor's Army. Although we had received familial support in our earlier campaigns, 2011 saw us reaching far and wide via social networks to spread the word about our mission. Of course, much of the time our statement of what we were intending to do in the summer of 2012 met with expressions of disbelief;

(You're doing WHAAAAATTTTT??????)

This was especially true of the campers and counselors I worked with at Sunrise Day Camp. At least twice a week (if not more often) I would ride my bike to camp and many of them would ask me why I was doing this. Once I started telling them they were somewhat incredulous and grateful that I would want to do such a thing. But as I started talking more and more about this being a reality, people have been so supportive. But there is so much more to do - more about that later. But for now, the state of our own union;

2011 started out rather inauspiciously for Connor's Army as we really didn't have much of a presence. We had received some wonderful sponsorship in November from the incredible folks at Smiles for Scott and they have since become our major sponsor. Their donation really made us realize that we could actually do this. Although we had originally hoped to do the cross country in the summer of 2011, we realized that we just didn't have enough in sponsorship to cover the costs of gas and accomodations for me and a driver. At this point we weren't sure if I would be doing it alone or with a friend. We realized this would be too much of an undertaking for me to do solo in the time available so a driver would be needed. Unfortunately, I don't have any friends who could give up their entire summer to drive cross country with me (where is Benji Taylor when I need her? Riding across the south in a Volkswagen Rabbit convertible to go to ballet company auditions becuase there was a Greyhound Bus strike that spring!) so we came to the conclusion in January that it would have to be my family going along as my support team.

Now this of course raises all kinds of questions since many people would be assuming that sponsorship would mean paying for my family. I have had to reiterated (and I do it here again) that the cost of my family to go along would be born by us. The only thing that sponsor dollars will pay for is costs of the transportation (gas, tolls, oil change, maintenance) and accomodations for me and a driver (anything over that would be born by us) and parts that I'll need to purchase for the trip (brake pads, cables, extra chain, extra spokes, tires, tubes, etc.).

So in January/February we received some more sponsor dollars from Alan Rosenberg at Coinland.com and some smaller sponsor donations from Spectacular Smiles. Things began to look up and it appeared that we would be able to meet our sponsorship goal of $15,000 by June 2012! But now the sponsorship has somewhat dried up. I began a program of reconditioning bicycles and selling them by posting them on Craigslist and placing them in front of my home for passersby to see. We've raised almost $1,000 through that project so we are moving forward but the State of Connor's Army is still seeming short by $2,000 of our sponsorship goals. We have also gotten lots of support from various alumni who have done fundraisers on their own campuses. This past fall Jaime Blanch, who is attending The University of New Orleans co-founded a group called "UNO Fights Cancer" and they raised $100 for Connor's Army to help us. In the spring we also had Sooner Printing and Merelis Productions join us as sponsors. Peter Haughwout and Damon Tommolino (colleagues of mine at SHS) put on a show April 9, with their group Art Studio 85 at the Walt Whitman Birthplace Museum and in so doing became another of our sponsors. It was an incredible evening of art and music with part of the proceeds going to help us in our mission.

But the State of things now is that we still need to find a few more sponsors - we're almost there but we're still working on it. On the positive side, Amy and I are pretty good at being frugal (she has what she calls her Five Year Plans - I sometimes jokingly refer to our home as the Gulag) so chances are we will be able to take a good chunk of sponsorship monies that have been unused and give them to Sunrise. So in the end the kids will benefit.

The other part of the State of Connor's Army has been the support. Here we have grown amazingly, mostly due to ACT students past and present. I cannot tell you how much they have given of their support on the social networks and helping us get the word out. To give you an idea of our growth, on January 2, 2011 we had 250 likes on our facebook page (if you're reading this and you've not "liked" our page, do me a favor and like it now!) and now we have 1,336!!!!! Much of that happened this past fall. At the beginning of September we had 850 likes so we have gained 486 likes in the last five months alone!!!! So now, to dream the impossible dream - WE NOW HAVE A GOAL OF 3600 LIKES on our Facebook page! Every good State of the Union address needs to list some goals and this is one of ours! The idea is to have one "like" for each of the miles I am going to ride this summer! If I can get my self together, I'd like to be able to list on my blog every day the people that I "rode for" that day. If I can figure it out, I'll just go to my list of people that like my page and I'll start listing people on my blog at the end of each day and say who I've ridden for. That's the plan, not sure if its feasible or if I'll just choose a group of "likers" at random. Either way, I hope you continue to follow this blog becuase once June 24th rolls around, I'll be posting EVERY day on my way back to Wheatley Heights and Sunrise Day Camp. If you have a specific area of the country you want to be "virtually riding" with me, let me know and I'll try to accomodate you! Just so you know, here is a ROUGH approximation of the route;

(C'mon pick a mile, any mile!)

So what you would do is say post to me - "Can you ride a mile from Four Corners to Pueblo, CO for me??" and I will do my best to do so! I'm hoping to have a small video camera that I can film portions of the ride from the saddle so I can possible post YOUR mile on this blog as part of your virtual ride! But you have to be a "liker" to know what's going on and follow this blog to see your name in cyberprint!

And speaking of this blog, that is another incredible thing that has happened this year! As of the end of 2010 this page only had 6,752 total views since I began blogging in June 2009. Since that day, we have shot up to over 12,786 views!!!! In the last year alone we have doubled our viewership!!!!!!! That means people are reading our message (or at least clicking on our videos) but I hope this means the word is getting out!!!! Again, if you are reading this, even if it just means you're looking for pictures and videos of Brian Stokes Mitchell, Mike Rowe, or King Julian please take a moment and add our facebook page to your likes. Because of your curiosity, you could see your name listed in this blog as one of the people I ride for this summer.

So those are some of the wonderful things that have happened this year and that is the State of the (Connor's) Army! We've had our ups and our downs. We've had incredible examples of support and belief in what we're trying to accomplish for the kids of Sunrise and we've had defeats that have left us spiritually battered and bruised to the core of our beings. Yet we have some great fundraising opportunities coming up which makes us (okay me) very optimistic about the possibility of climbing out of this dark morass and being able to accomplish our mission of sending eight kids to Sunrise Day Camp. I'll be writing about those soon but so many of my friends and former students are coming together to help us reach our goal that we know it can happen.

What can YOU do? Its simple - SPREAD THE WORD!!!!
1) Invite EVERY person you know to like us on facebook! They can get their name in this blog!
2) Spread the word about our Ride Across America (also affectionately known as CARAAM - Connor's Army Ride Across America) to your friends and family (you can say things like, "I know this crazy %$#%@# who is going to ride a bicycle from San Diego to Long Island to help a bunch of kids" and then answer their questions).
3) If you know someone who might be able to help us with a sponsorship (either financial or in-kind donations) PLEASE get us in contact with them! Whatever we don't use or spend will be given to the kids of Sunrise. If its supplies, we'll sell what we don't use and give the money to Sunrise!

Let us be able to pull together to say YES, WE CAN! Together we can Dream the Impossible dream and together we can make a difference!

And now your dessert for staying with me this far. The incomparable Brian Stokes Mitchell singing "The Impossible Dream" (and by the way, if any of you know him, please invite him to like our page too! - Stephen Mosher, hint, hint!);

Stay well my friends and I'll See You on the Road!

There's a Light!

2012-01-14T20:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, so back in my youth I was an avid Rocky Horror Picture Show fan. My friends Mary, James and I would dress up and make the rounds of the midnight showings with prerequisite shopping bags full of props. Later when I moved into NYC I even made a point of attending the 8th Street Playhouse showings as often as I could, dressing up in character more often than not (I could tell you who I would dress as but then I would have to terminate you). Anyway, one of my favorite songs from the show (mainly because we all sang it at the top of our lungs) was "Over at the Frankenstein Place" and here is an acoustic version performed by Richard O'Brien (the original Riff Raff for those of you who don't know, as well as the creator of the show);

I always liked the idea that there was a guiding light to help you find your way through the velvet darkness. And if you want to find the chords to this, look no further than here (heads up, I'm planning on learning this puppy so be ready for it!)

And that's the optimistic place I think I'm starting to find myself in right now. You see, we got some really good news yesterday - we just received a donation of $1,000 to our Connor's Army Ride Across America (otherwise known as CARAAM) and that, plus what we've already managed to raise puts us at almost 4% of our goal. Yes, that means we've raised roughly $2,000 which isn't much - YET - but we know we have to prime the pump somehow. What's that? You don't know what it meanst to "prime the pump"? You've surely heard the expression? Well technically it looks something like this;

The idea being that you have to put in water to get water out (read here to read the descriptive process) and although it may start as a slow trickle, if you keep pumping you eventually get a steady stream.

Well, we're hoping that what is now a trickle will turn into a stream. It may never become a torrential downpour but a little bit at a time can add up over time and make a huge difference. Sort of like this;

And I suppose that's what we're hoping. Despite the fact that the faucet has been turned waaaaayyyyyyyy down, we're hoping that perhaps a steady little drip continues to fall and between now and the end of August when I finally return from the 3600 mile trip enough drops will have come down to fill up the entire glass. At this point its our main hope.

But we have to look on the bright side and keep the eternal optimism - sort of like Monty Python's Brian (DISCLAIMER - THIS IS NOT A REFLECTION ON THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF THE ESTABLISHMENT, THE FOLLOWING IS INTENDED AS ENTERTAINMENT ONLY IN HOMAGE TO THE LIKES OF SPARTACUS WHO WERE CRUCIFIED EN MASSE);

So yes, recent setbacks could make me just decide to pack up my bikes and say forget it all but as Brian reminds us, we have to look on the bright side. We have to know that there is a light out there somewhere. And while this really applies to me right here and right now and to all the efforts we are putting into helping the kids of Sunrise, know that it really applies to all the set backs of life. I could sit on my bum and bemoan my fate;

(What do you mean no Beggin' Strips? I didn't make that spot! I was framed I tell ya!)

Instead, just as Casey Niestat shows, when you get knocked down off the bike, you just have to get right back on and keep at it;

Its the only logical thing to do, right? It's not as t-shirt friendly as "When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade" but I've never been one to take things lying down, it often gets me into trouble but I just can't roll over and not keep trying. I've tried.

One of my favorite movies ever (and yes I admit I cry every time I see the end) is the movie Rudy and yes, its sappy and yes, its maudlin an predictable - but damn, I can identify with the little guy becasue I too have been told my entire life I can't do things. I couldn't go to college, I couldn't be a ballet dancer, I couldn't make it as an actor and now I'm being told that I can't raise the money for the kids of Sunrise and to that I say watch this;

If Rudy (and this is a true story mind you) could come on as a short-of-stature, slow walk-on and play for one of THE most storied college football teams of all time, then anything can happen. You just have to believe - like Brian and Rudy!

So I will believe that there is light at the end of all of this and that eventually it will all be just like this (perhaps with the Bollywood music in the background too!);

In the meantime, for dessert I will leave you a video of one of my favorite cyling playlist songs but The Killers -
"Mr. Brightside";

So stay well my friends, keep looking on the Bright Side, and I'll see you on the road!

Finding My Sanity

2012-01-09T20:14:00.000-08:00

So much has happened since the last post. First of all, I want to thank those of you who read my last post and have reached out with your kind words of support. You have absolutely no idea how much I needed/still need them. Granted, it still looks like a very long, scary and dark tunnel - sort of like this;

(Is that the end or is it just a train coming at me????)

But I am feeling better and I don't quite feel like this;

(Heeeeeerreeeee's Connor)

But, to quote one of my favorite scenes from the old TV series "Night Court", "I'm feeling much better now,";

Not TOTALLY, but a good deal better. Part of that is by trying to get back up on the horse;

(I knew all that egg nog would catch up with me)

Or, if you the visual art doesn't quite give you the full picture, I would probably be more like this right now;

But as I am a self-respecting Texan, I wouldn't be quite that bad, although now after all the dance training I've had in my life, I would probably end up in some sort of arabesque pose. Now if I could only mount that gracefully on my bicycle I would look like this;

Or I could combine my passions and channel my inner Kevin Bacon;

Of course, whenever I try to do a graceful bicycle mount, ala Cyclocross racing, it usually ends up like this;

Ahh, everything goes better with a Black Eyed Peas soundtrack. I personally like to hill climb to this little ditty;

	Black Eyed Peas - Pump It .mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

And that my friends is what started me on the road to "Feeling much better, now". The day after my last post I read some more of Michael Moore's book and I relized that I had to jump start myself out of this blue funk so I got on my bike and looked for the steepest hills I could find around me. I managed to put in 30 miles which really sucked because I had such high hopes for all the miles I was going to put in during the break but as I said, despite the gorgeous weather, I just couldn't get motivated.

But that first ride got me going. The night before we had had our annual family Chanukah party and I received some more gift cards so I was stoked for all the stuff I was going to buy from Performance Bike. I really didn't imbibe (despite all that's been going on) so I felt the need to get out and shred some hills!

The weather was perfect for riding (about 55 degrees) and there was no wind so I headed out about eight in the morning for a two hour ride. I hit some of my favorite hills, sweated up them, bombed down the other sides and just vented some frustration. For those of you who have followed this blog on occasion (the 55 OFFICIAL ones to the right as well as all of you others), you know that I often find catharsis on many of these rides. Particularly two years ago with the passing of my brother David. I just find that when I ride to punish myself and to push myself I can release a lot of things that hold me from being able to truly see the forest for the trees and that's what this ride did for me. After sweating and hurting from all the hill climbs (and being in inadequate shape, despite my non-debauchery of the evening past) I suddenly had a clear thought - I can't give up, I can't let this be all there is to it, I can't give in. So I will ride. I will do everything I can and I will be riding this summer from San Diego to Long Island. We raise what we raise. My hope is that it will be at least more than we put it, but we'll raise what we will.

But the delicate grasp I've had on my sanity in the past week slowly began to return with that ride. Then this past week (being our first week back after the break) I made a point of riding as much as I could to school I rode four times this week and logged a total of 112 miles in commuting - I just like to take the long way home - sort of like this;

And yes, I know that there is another song out there with the same name by Bruno Mars - but nothing beats the original , especially when backed by a full orchestra.

But what also helped me to regain my sanity thappened this past weekend. Along with Peter Haughwout and Caroline Basner I took 27 young actors and techies to the Fifteenth annual New York State Theatre Educators Association Student Conference at the Villa Roma in the quaint hamlet of Callicoon, NY. It was a truly magical weekend that allowed me the opportunity to reconnect with my students, my colleagues from across the state and (to an extent) with myself. Our students did an amazing job performing the opening number from Rent at the Festival of Student Performances. Even though there wasn't much of an audience, they were amazing, especially considering that they did all the work themselves.

The majority of the time was spent by the students taking workshops and connecting with other theatre students (some 750 in all) from across the state. What was great for me was being able to teach some workshops and have students actually pay attention and hang on to my every word. When I had other chaperones and colleagues observe my workshops and then come up to me afterwards and compliment me on my work I knew that I was where I belonged. I had missed the conference for the last two years (last year due to the blizzard of '11 and the year before because Amy and I were performing in A Chorus Line) so it was great to be able to see my colleagues and be reminded that I actually know what I'm talking about.

And that went a great deal to reviving my spirit. There were so many other things that happened at the conference and I could spend a ton of time writing about it but the main point was it was fun. I had fun with my students, my colleagues and on my own as a teacher and a person. My only regret was that the weather was so nice and I didn't pack along my road bike to put in some miles early Sunday morning. Oh well, perhaps next year!

So we're back on the road to recovery and the glass again is half full - not totally full mind you, but half full. I still appreciate the words of encouragement and support and if you can all spread the word about Connor's Army and Sunrise I'd be eternally grateful. And now, for a little dessert, I leave you with the original cast performing the title song from Rent (sorry about the quality, its a bootleg but at least its the original cast on opening night in 1996!);

Stay well my friends, pay your rent and I'll see you on the road!

And The Wheel Keeps Turning

2011-12-30T10:21:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have been following this blog I apologize for my silence over the last eleven days. I had gotten so much better in the last month with my postings and although my 2011 postings (35) have only been half of those in 2010 (74), I had recently been very excited about Connor's Army and our Ride Across America for Sunrise. Well, in the way that God has a way of laughing at us;

Of course, Mr. Chopra's view of God's Laughter is at complete odds with those of Order of the Ebon Hand, a black metal band from Greece.

And this in turn is not to be confused with the playing card from the game Magic: The Gathering;

(White Clerics Beware!!!)

Which, according to my daughter Sarah, is a really good card to have. I honestly wouldn't know since I am magically impaired (as opposed to magically delicious).

Anyway, back to my original reason for writing. I have been vascillating for days on whther to post this because to be quite honest I haven't been this down and despondent in a very long time. I guess the last time I really felt this pessimistic about life would have been back in October of 2010 when I wrote about feeling like a raisin in the sun. For those of you who have forgotten Langston Hughes' masterpiece, here it is;

Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

What has gotten me back into this state of blue funkness is something that has recently occured in my efforts to raise money for Sunrise Day Camp. And no, I'm not talking about the song by Heavy D & The Boyz;

A month ago you may remember that I wrote about how things were going well with our efforts to get support for our Connor's Army Ride Across America
(aka, Connor's Army XC; aka, CARAAM) looking up with over 1200 followers and almost 10,000 views on this very blog. The Fashion Show advisor and students in charge had informed me that the even twould be a fundraiser for Sunrise (the idea being that the proceeds would count towards the $50,000 we're hoping to raise with CARAAM), Sunrise Syosset had formed, other clubs were excited about getting involved with helping fundraise (including Sports Night). Everything seemed to be on track and it seemed like I had the support of a village, or at least a school.

And then the cast list went up for our spring musical!

Now, as you may know from reading these pages, I am a high school drama teacher by day (okay and sometimes by night too) and three times a year I have the task of casting our main stage shows. It has to be the one part of my job that I truly hate. Not because I find the process itself difficult. I've learned over the years to really pay attention to all the kids do in auditions, to take in consideration all they've done in the past, what I know of their work ethic and how far they will push themselves to creat the role. I use all of this information when I cast a show and I try to cast the best OVERALL show that I can. I know I've personally been to many productions (including professional *cough* Broadway productions) where the male and female leads are amazing and everyone else is just window dressing and blah! My own personal philosphy is that my job is to collect the best cast I can and cast them in the best roles for the overall production so that the overall show is strong. Its sort of like coaching a team - you don't want just your quarterback/pitcher/striker/race leader to be amazing and everyone else just there. That doesn't win games or races, it just gets your quarterback/pitcher/striker/race leader targeted and/or pummeled.

So I've strived over the years to always cast the strongest OVERALL show possible and put all the personnel in the best slots for the overall show. I use my knowledge of them to know what they can do, what special talents they might have and how far I can push them and how far they will push themselves.

But sometimes that's not good enough. It's almost like that monologue from 'Dentity Crisis by Christopher Durang when the character Jane talks about an experience she had as a child watching a production of Peter Pan. She describes the ending of the play this way;

"You remember how in the second act Tinkerbell drinks some poison that peter is about to drink in order to save him? And then Peter turns to the audience and he says that "Tinkerbell is going to die because not enough people believe in fairies. But if all of you clap your hands real hard to show that you do believe in fairies, maybe she won't die." So, we all started to clap. I clapped so long and so hard that my palms hurt and they even started to bleed I clapped so hard. Then suddenly the actress playing peter pan turned to the audience and she said, "That wasn't enough. You did not clap hard enough. Tinkerbell is dead." And then we all started to cry. The actress stomped off stage and refused to continue with the production. They finally had to lower the curtain. The ushers had to come help us out of the aisles and into the street. I don't think that any of us were ever the same after that experience. It certainly turned me against theatre. And even more damagingly, I think it's warped my total sense of life. I mean nothing seems worth trying if Tinkerbell is just going to die."

Well, sometimes when I cast the shows I find that sometimes just getting a good part isn't enough for the kids or thier parents. As a result, I've had my job threatened on more than one occasion. Usually I'm okay with that since we have a consistent process in place for casting the shows and although the final decision in casting is mine to make, I never go about it lightly and in the case of the musical I never do it without conferring with my colleagues. We don't always agree but in the end I think the casting of the musical has always been made with the right people in place.

However, when parents start railing about me in public places in town to other parents and start declaring they are going to have me fired because of the way I have cast a show it really does start to make me wonder what I'm doing here. It starts me into that Blue Funk that really makes me wonder why I spend so many sleepless nights worrying about if I'm making the right decision in my casting choices.

But what really has thrown me back to the feelings I was experiencing in the fall of 2010, that is the feelings of wanting to give up is the fact that this time its gone even further than just talking about. This time a parent, in order to get back at me has charged that I'm exhibiting a "conflict of interest" and abusing my power by making students and parents feel like they HAVE to support my philanthropic efforts (Connor's Army and Sunrise Day Camp) or they won't get good parts in the shows. In other words, that I have been "blackmailing" the parents and kids into supporting my efforts to help Sunrise. My answer to that is really shock, disbelief, anger, hurt, and frustration. I mean, really?!? My father was a career military NCO and I was in no way EVER raised with any type of silver spoon - if it were anything it might have been a plastic spork - but what he did give me was a deep abiding sense of honor and honesty. I would never sell any favors to anyone for anything. To quote Brutus from William Shakespeare's Julius Caeser;

What, shall one of us
That struck the foremost man of all this world
But for supporting robbers, shall we now
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,
And sell the mighty space of our large honours
For so much trash as may be grasped thus?

My honor is everything and its all that I am likely to be able to pass on to my children (that along with a couple of bicycles and some guitars). So why would I sell my honor to raise a few dollars for charity?

Now, have I been telling everyone (including you dear readers) about what I'm planning to do this summer? Yes. Have I been reaching out to everyone I know and asking them to support us on facebook? Yes. Have I asked people to pass on information about us to anyone who might want to sponsor us and help us be able to underwrite the costs of gas, tolls, accomodations for on the road? Yes. And that's where the trouble lies, according to the school district that is all inappropriate behavior and I am abusing my power. Really? In order to help children with cancer I have reached out to the people (aside from my own family) with which I have the most contact and who know me best and that is considering selling the casting of the school shows. In other words, I am now considered to be the Syosset version of this guy;

(Rod "I-never-met-a-bribe-I-didn't-like Blagojevich)

As if I'm going to risk everything I've worked for the last fifteen years in order to give someone a really good part. Again, my honesty and integrity is all I have and that is now being dragged through the mud. Or at least that's the way it feels. So just for the record, for any of you who have made it thus far and who are still reading this let me say this as UNEQUIVOCALLY as I can - I HAVE NEVER "SOLD" THE CASTING FOR A SHOW, I WILL NEVER SELL THE CASTING FOR A SHOW, AND I HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING BUT DO MY JOB AS HONESTLY AND HONORABLY AS I CAN. And yes, again to quote Shakespeare this probably smacks a bit of "the lady protests too much methinks" or being reminiscent of this guy;

(Checkers believes me!)

If you can't tell, I am incredibly upset by all of this. But what is even more important, I think I am truly falling into a state of despair that I'm not sure I can recover from. And this is why its taken so long to write this latest blog post. Its had me so depressed about the prospects for Connor's Army that during this winter break I only rode one day - in a week that was full of temperatures in the upper 50's and low 60's! And this from someone who has logged more than 3,000 commuting miles this year. The reason being is that all of this information about the "abuse of power" charges hit me only a week ago. So I have spent the entire break upset and pretty much feeling like I don't want to do anything.

Why? Because I was told that I could do not promotion of Connor's Army to anyone at school. I had to go on Facebook and delete any posts that went out to the kids asking them to support Connor's Army in ANY way, shape or form. I can't ask colleagues to help support Connor's Army and I can't reach out to the people where I spend most of my adult life. I reluctantly agreed to this because if parents were feeling pressured to support my own personal not-for-profit group I could certainly understand a cease and desist order. I wouldn't want anyone to think that there was any sort of inpropriety going on. I took out the brochures that I had posted in the faculty cafeteria. I complied in every way that my supervisors asked me. NOW PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS CLEARLY, I DO NOT BLAME MY BUILDING ADMINISTRATORS AT ALL! Especially, given my experience in my administrative classes (yes, everyone I am certified as a School District Administrator) I know that when a parent makes this kind of complaing they have to cover their bases. So sadly, I packed up my car and headed home for the holidays.

That is when the other shoe dropped. I received a phone call at home from administration saying they spoke to the parents involved again to say I would not be promoting Connor's Army again at school to parents, students or teachers. But just like Peter Pan, that wasn't enough, I didn't clap hard enough. Now the argument was that if there was any fundraising happening for Sunrise and my name was in any way associated with it, students would still feel pressured to help out becuase they would feel that if they didn't they wouldn't be cast in any shows. That means the Fashion Show could not raise money for Sunrise if I was involved. Sports Night can't raise money for Sunrise if I'm involved. GSA, Peer Helpers, Exercise Physiology, Interact, MLK - no student group could raise the money for Sunrise if I am involved in any way. In other words, if the students wanted to help me raise $50,000 and send eight kids with cancer to camp and possibly change their lives forever, they can't do it if I'm involved.

And that my friends is what hurts. That is what makes me wonder if what I'm doing is worth it. That is what makes me feel like selling my bikes, my cycling clothing, my repair stand and just giving up. The joy of riding is somewhat diminished becuase I feel like what is the point, I'll never raise the money now. And all because someone was mad at me because of casting a show. Becuase of that anger and the desire to get at ME, eight innocent children who have never done anything to hurt these people are now going to be denied the chance to have a summer like other kids. And that is what makes me feel so damn depressed.

And then I started reading Michael Moore's autobiography Here Comes Trouble a few days ago and he describes what life was life after he received the Oscar for Bowling for Columbine. In his acceptance speech he said that we lived in fictitious times with a fictitious president and since it came only two years after 9/11 he succeeded in invoking the wrath of the American public. He had death threats against him, he was effectively black listed in the film community and he felt like giving up entirely.

However, he also managed to become close friends with Kurt Vonnegut during the last year of Mr. Vonnegut's life. Towards the end he had a conversation with Mr. Vonnegut in which he said his son had helped him figure out the meaning of life, "our purpose here is to help each other get through this, whatever it is." Our purpose here is to help others, especially those who have found themselves in a worse state than ourselves.

I read his words and a light bulb went off in my head. Of course, that's it. Our point here is to help others - Not to wage wars of enlightenment, not to dictate other peoples' morality, not to preach for the conversion of their souls, nor to enslave them to politics that don't help them get through the day to day. No, its to help make life better for each other in whatever way we can. Perhaps by teaching. Perhaps by feeding them. Perhaps it will be by donating our time. Me, I ride my bike in the hopes that I can make life better for the children of Sunrise.

So I am going to go on. I may not be able to raise the same kind of money that I hoped to do before but whatever we raise, we raise. I can't stop trying to help these kids. Perhaps someone will read this and be inspired to help me raise the Monies that I can't raise through teh channels at SHS. Who knows? I do know that I WILL be riding and I will keep trying to make a difference, to help others get through this, whatever it is.

And now for the dessert, a little number by a group called Cake;

Thank you to everyone who has believed in me - I'll try to justify that belief in the six months coming up and as I ride the 3600 miles from San Diego!

Stay well and I WILL see you on the road!

Frozen Cyclist (on a stick)!

2011-12-19T20:37:00.000-08:00

And the above picture pretty much sums up the way I felt when I rode in to school this morning! You see, when I finally arrived at school this is what Weather.com said the outside temperature was;

Of course, the good folk over at The National Weather Service said the temperature was actually 20 degrees but I'm not going to get into the debate over whose more accurate. To tell the truth, at those temperatures, four degrees really doesn't mean much. Especially when the wind is gusting up to 25 mph! It really felt like I was riding on rollers in a walk-in cooler!!!! I truly just felt like an popcycle shaped like a cyclist. Of course, this is not to confuse me with Jose Jalapeno on a stick who is usually much warmer (being a jalapeno) than I was;

Of course it could be worse, it could be like cycling in the Antarctic;

Now I have to say as I rode in I saw a lot of curious faces. Well, not so much curious as flabbergasted. They sort of looked like this;

(What the ????????)

Although (speaking of lemurs) I have to say that at one point during this morning's ride I felt like this (fast forward to :52 and leave it there a while);

Mainly becuase I was pedaling as fast as I could but with the wind gusts on my nose, I was only averaging 15 mph!!!! But mostly people seeing me ride into work were asking me the simple question "Why?" Well, its not so I can do my impersonation of an Emperor Penguin;

Though I suppose if I WERE a penguin I would be more like this guy;

But it would be a cross between dancing and cycling I think.

No, the real reason I'm riding in this weather is that I have to get used to a couple of things - 1) Riding EVERY day (or at least ALMOST every day) and 2) Riding in all kinds of weather. I realize it probably won't get to be 20 degrees at any point during my ride IN THE SUMMER but I do have to get used to riding in some degree of coldness as I'll be passing over a couple of mountain ranges. I also have to get used to riding in the wind. We're planning on leaving at the end of June and traveling east to catch some of the westward winds but there's never a guarantee - especially on the plains of Kansas!

So, I plug away and I'll keep on riding in all kinds of weather becuase I just can't see the possibility of telling the kids of Sunrise, "oh, I couldn't cycle the whole way becuase it was too cold (or rainy, or windy, or hot)." No, its 3600 miles or bust come rain, shine, hail, tornado (okay, hail storns and tornadoes MAY slow me down a bit), fog, gloom, and dark of night. Hey, maybe I should just work for the US Postal Service. But of course, we know they don't support cyclists!

Okay, its time to retire for the night and get ready for tomorrow's big commuting ride - at least its supposed to be warmer!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

Over the Airwaves Straight to You

2011-12-18T16:44:00.000-08:00

(Bicyle Times - A proud sponsor of Connor's Army)

Over the last year we've really been trying to push the presence of Connor's Army as much as we can. Its hard because there is really only Amy and myself running this group. Unlike a lot of other charities, we don't have a huge group of people behind us pounding the streets and soliciting donors or sponsors for us. I really wish we did, it would certainly make all of this much easier and we would probably be close to our goal already. I was having a "conversation" (I'm really not sure what you call it these days since so much of our communicating gets done cyberly) with Heidi Goodstadt Burian today and I was telling her how difficult it has been for us. She and a few others (Danielle, Jason, Jamie, Melanie, My Beginning Acting Class, and quite of few of my ACTers current and past) have been helping get the word out and it certainly is reflecting in our numbers. For instance, if you're reading this right now you have gotten us a step closer to 11,000 views!!!!!! I'm sorry but that deserves a trumpet fanfare;

	Robert Paterson - Fanfare for Trumpet Sextet .mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Okay, so maybe that's a bit of overkill. And to be honest, I don't know if all of those views are people who actually read much of anything I write since I still only have 53 official followers and no one (except for Jason) ever comments. But still, 11,000!!!!!!

Anyway, getting back to my conversation with Heidi, its been very discouraging becuase it has just been Amy and I pushing this project along. We keep hoping and praying that someone will come along and say, "what you're doing is amazing, how can we help you!" and will help us get the sponsors and help us generate the donations that we're hoping to get. As Heidi said, "just think of yourself as The Little Engine That Could" (WARNING: THIS IS ONLY PART ONE SO YOU'LL HAVE TO CLICK ON THE LINKS TO WATCH THE WHOLE THING);

Don't get me wrong, we do have some incredible people who support us (Heidi being one of them) and we have some great sponsors. But times are hard for lots of businesses still and although there are some companies out there that really have the money, we still have yet to find one or two that can help us raise the last $5,000 in sponsorship we think we'll need to make sure we'll be able to fully do this event right. So we keep plugging along - "I think we can, I think we can, I think we can.......".

We've also not really pushed it too hard on the PR front yet though. We've been using the social network (mainly facebook) to try to get the word out but as of December 23rd we'll be SIX MONTHS FROM THE START OF CONNOR'S ARMY'S RIDE ACROSS AMERICA or CARAAM as I like to sometimes call it. So we're going to start sending out releases to papers, tv stations, magazines, everywhere we can get the word out. For instance, the picture of the magazine cover that starts this blog entry is from the August issue of Bicycle Times. And in that issue are two articles about Connor's Army. Of course we were hoping that someone would read one of those articles and be moved to come forward to sponsor us but no dice yet.

That's not to say we haven't had some strong advocates pushing for us. Jason Lederman has been one of the most "vocal" of our supporters. Some of it has been in his vlog, "Late Night With Jason Lederman";

Here's one from our Victory ride 2010;

And here's a video that he did for Project for Awesome 2010;

And I try to take advantage of any chance I can to get the word out. This past summer the family and I took a trip to Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT and while we were there they had an attraction called "Tall Ships and Tattoos". It was great time had by the entire family and at the compound was an exhibit about the development of tattoos as a mode of personal expression for sailors. At the exhibit they were filming people telling the story about their tattoos and since Sarah thinks my "tat" is so cool, she insisted I do the interview;

And of course I couldn't resist the chance to plug Connor's Army.

And two years ago I relied upon the combined talents of Phil Rosenberg, Dan Kahn, and Daniel Incalcaterra (and I think Saleem Gondal may have had a hand in this) to create a video for Bicycling Magazine's "I Need A New Bike" competition. Basically our whole gist was, I don't need a fancy carbon racer, I just need something that will get me from San Diego to Long Island in one piece without breaking down;

Unfortunately, it didn't win. Although I have put the offer out to my brother in law that if he can find a way through his connections to convince Giant Bicycles to donate a cyclocross bike (or even a frame and fork combo) for the cross country ride, I would wear a NEW YORK GIANTS logo on my jerseys the entire 3600 mile ride! Now for a die-hard DALLAS COWBOYS fan, that is a sacrifice but I will do it for the kids! (Okay, so are there any big wigs out there with some pull that want to see me humiliated for 3600 miles?)

And jus the other day we started our latest barrage of PR work when Jason (and Justin Tasolides for a small while who admitted he loves my blog but it keeps crashing his browser) dropped by for a visit. At the end of the visit Jason had managed to shoot some new video footage and using the geniurs editing skills that he has been developing while he's been away at Northwestern. He really worked hard on it and even though we didn't get it in with enough time to really have people vote for it, it gets us out there and it shows what Connor's Army is about and what we're trying to do and every little bit helps;

What I think it all boils down to is that this process of finding people to sponsor us and to donate is a hit or miss process. We just have to keep putting it out there and hope that someone will feel called in their heart to help us in some financial manner. Heidi and the Burian clan have been truly financially generous as have many of my other friends and family members. Syosset High School is starting to help with various fundraisers and with any luck we'll be able to raise $6,000 through the combined efforts of different student groups. That would be enough for ONE CAMPER FOR EIGHT WEEKS!

And my darling, wonderfully giving Sarah has decided that for her 13th birthday (yes, can you believe it, THIRTEEN!) she wants to to do a Mitzvah project even though she's not having a Bat Mitzvah. And yes, even though her entire life seems to have been one large Mitzvah, she has decided she wants to throw a fund raiser benefit for Sunrise Day Camp and with any luck we'll be able to raise another $3,000. She continues to amaze and humble me every day.

Jamie Blanch and her friends at UNO Fights Cancer have been incredibly supportive and have done a few bake sales to benefit Connor's Army. I'm continuing to sell refurbished bicycles through my RECycle for Sunrise project. I have a student who wants to sell bracelets for Connor's Army - its all adding up slowly but surely and I'm starting to feel hope that this might happen.

But Amy and I can't do it alone, we need help. And no, this is not for my own narcissistic needs. Honestly, if there were a way to get publicity about htis without ever mentioning my name I would do it. If someone would donate the $50,000 to me to do this if I would do it without ever putting my name to it, I would do it. If you could see what Sunrise means to the kids that attend it you would understand. Its not about me, its not about you - its about them.

So, if you've read this far I thank you. I thank you for being supportive enough to "listen" to what I have to say. I thank you for being supportive enough to help us get closer to 11,000 views, and I thank you for possibly passing on the idea of Connor's Army to others - who knows your mentioning it to someone else may be the spark that ignites a flame in someone's soul - a burning desire to help us help the kids.

And now, your reward for making it to the end, Freddie Mercury and Queen performing "Bicycle Race";

And there you have it - we're coming over the airwaves and we're after sending eight kids to camp! Help us if you can.

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

1306 + 2350 = Love (Or at least a LOT of LIKE)!

2011-12-13T16:40:00.000-08:00

People do a lot of thins out of love - we marry, we move, we have children, we throw away everything we've ever known, we even refuse to by another bicycle because we know that it was cause strife with the one we love (and no, I'm not talking about the other bikes!).

In fact, Huey Lewis (and the News) may have summed it up nicely when he sang this little ditty;

	Huey Lewis & the News - The Power of Love .mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Of course, this view was the exact antithesis of the views espoused by the J. Geils Band;

an idea that was further expressed in their song "Centerfold";

I guess the idea being what's the point of falling in love if the person is just going to spurn your attentions and become an adult entertainer?

And then there's always Love Potion Number 9;

	The Searchers - Love Potion Number Nine .mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Of if you prefer you can create your own love potion;

But how do you measure it once you have it (by whatever means)? Can it be quantified and correlated like a product? Can it be stockpiled and catalogued? How do you know how much love you have?;

Of course, the Ancient Greeks believed there were three types of love - Eros (erotic), Philos (brotherly), Agape (unconditional). In essence, eros love is "physical", philos love is "mental", and agape love is "spiritual". Thus, it is made up of the three fundamental elements of man: physical, mental and spiritual.

And the one that drives us to do things for others is "Agape", the unconditional, spiritual (sometimes called God's) love. We don't ask for anything in return, we do it becuase its the right thing to do.

In the last month I have seen so many people pour out Agape (not to be confused with Agrape which is a place for wine connoisseurs) upon Connor's Army. Becuase of my students and friends we have grown from 800 likes on our facebook page to 1306 as of this writing - and they keep liking us. This is amazing because we really need the support. It is our biggest hope that someone will come forth and offer to sponsor us so that we know we'll have enough money to complete the coast to coast journey. In all honesty, I'm just a high school teacher and although I teach in Syosset, NY I don't make all that much money. If I did, I would be able to afford to just give the money to Sunrise Day Camp myself. But, alas, I don't so I ride.

And that brings me to the other form of the equation - 2350 miles is what I've ridden this year to prepare me for my cross country ride. I'm now trying to commute almost every day to school - even when it dips below 30 degrees! I figure there will be some times when I'm in the mountains of Colorado that it will be incredibly chilly at the top and I can't quit then. I have to start getting used to the idea of riding every single day since I'll have to train myself to get up and ride now matter how I feel.

And why do I do this? Becuase its the right thing to do. I'm not after fame or accolades for this. If there was a way that I could get the money for the camp without having to promote myself and what I'm doing I would surely do it. But for right now I have to keep pushing Connor's Army, keep facebook posting and keep relying on my friends to invite their friends and to get as many involved. Hopefully somewhere someone else will be touched by the spirit of Agape and offer to help sponsor us in this. Or perhaps someone's spirit will be moved to make a very large donation to Sunrise in honor of the Connor's Army Ride Across America. In the words of the New York Lottery Guy (and the California based rap group the Hieroglyphics) - "Hey, You Never Know";

But the most driving reason of all to do this is I am grateful to so many people for the lives of my sisters and my mother - because of the kindness of people we will never ever meet they are here today and cancer free. Its only right that I do what I can to give back to the cancer community and especially to our future - the children. They are our future and if I can do at least one thing to help these kids who have been fighting so hard to have some kind of happy childhood, then riding 3600 miles to raise the money for them to have that experience is the least I can do.

I leave you with something that someone forwarded to me as "One of the Greatest posts on Youtube so far!". It is the words of Charlie Chaplin from his movie The Great Dictator juxtaposed with modern imagery to make a compelling argument for us to do the right thing - to think of others;

So go out my friends, use your love potion number 9 and spread your Agape wherever you go. And if you can turn some of it towards Connor's Army to help us in our mission, I would be forever in your debt.

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

To Our Significant Others - We Can't Help It, We're Obsessed!

2011-12-10T14:20:00.000-08:00

Chances are if you are in a loving, committed relationship your significant other may have some quirks. Now these might take the form of things they collect, hobbies they may have, little idiosyncracies, or personal peeves of theirs. Usually early on in the relationship you may find these incredible endearing, even cute. But, their comes a time when this cute hobby, collection, idiosyncracy or peeve becomes "not so cute" in the words of Bernardo (you know, West Side Story). In fact, you start to worry that your significant other might just be obsessed and you'll seek an opportunity for an intervention.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about a harmless obsession like a crush on somebody a la Paramore;

No, if your relationship with your significant other is strong and has passed the test of time, then a little crush is not what you should be worried about. No, I'm talking full-fledged obsession as in borderline addiction!

It may be an addiction to shoes;

(None of these pumps go with my dress - time to go shopping!!!!)

It might be an obsession to football which leads some of them to make videos like this;

or even to dress up like this;

(Hey, nothin' a little cold cream won't fix!)

Or for those who prefer the South American style of football their obsession could lead to this kind of behavior;

Or perhaps they have an obsession with the game "Words With Friends";

Or perhaps it is an addiction/obsession to/with (*gasp*) FACEBOOK!!!!!!!!

Or it could be an unhealthy preoccupation with Harry Potter;

Maybe your significant other is obsessed with being a paradigm of physical fitness;

(And I will here admit that during my high school years I spent a lot of time trying to become a bodybuilder myself)

Or maybe your loved one has a strange preoccupation with late night Christian cable Televsion;

Or perhaps your significant others' obsession is with The Internet itself with all the amazing and wonderful things it has to offer;

And these obsessions can destroy our lives - they can turn us into individuals that spend every single waking hour fixating on the object of our desire, so much so that it can turn us into cold and distant beings. We can become withdrawn and taciturn and cause distress to our significant others - spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, partners - we hurt them all with our distance.

For myself, I have to admit something to all of you who have been following this blog. I have a secret obsession with cycling;

I know, I know - I need a twelve step program. But to get to the twelve step program site I have to ride my bike to get there, which only feeds into my obsession. Which bike do I take? Which helmet do I wear? Which jersey would look best, the Connor's Army or the retro Z Team jersey from the early 90's? Just trying to get better causes even more obsession.

But you all have to understand the distance we who are obsessed sometimes fall into has nothing to do with the ones we love. Sometimes we can't help ourselves. It takes over and its all we can think about. Witness for instance the following scenario;

So you see - its not you - its us. We can't help ourselves. It doesn't mean we love you any less when we're caught up in our thoughts, and rarely are we thinking of someone else. My long suffering wife Amy probably wonders sometimes if I'm having an affair. She hears me muttering about Pearl, Betty and Ariel and I'm sure she thinks I'm seeing someone on the side. And yes, there are times when I sneak down to the basement and caress one of these beauties or I linger to lube her chain or add another coat of wax to her shiny skin. I can't help it, they call to me. When they speak to me in a language of creaks and clunks I have to figure out what's ailing them, and I obsess over how I can make it better.

But for the most part Amy has borne this with a patience and an understanding. She understands that it is only part of what makes me the unique person that I am and that nothing and no one will ever supplant the passion and love I feel for her. I would venture to say that its the same for YOUR loved one. They have those quirks, they have their way of doing things (Lord knows Amy does) and they have the things that drive them and allow them to blow off the stress of every day life. But at the end of the day they love you/us and they always will. So embrace their obsessions - as long as they don't involve a duck, a slip and slide and two gallons of extra virgin olive oil - becuase that kind of obsession is just WAYYYYYYY unhealthy.

So Amy and my family will let me engage in my obsession and take it on the road in the summer of 2012. Syosset High School groups are starting to join us in fundraising for this cross country event and I'm listening even more intently to the creaks, squeaks and groans of Pearl - after all she'll be under me for 3600 miles, the least I can do is listen to her! You too can help Pearl and me make a difference and if you become obsessed with our journey in the process - well that's okay too!

Stay well my friends and I'll see you on the road - hopefully tomorrow!

Start the Change!

2011-12-08T19:10:00.000-08:00

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi) once wrote, "You must be the change you want to see in the world." Here at Syosset High School we have an event that has been going on for about five years now called Junior Day. I probably can't do it justice here in one blog entry, you really have to experience it for yourself. It is truly an emotional day and part of what makes it so special is that the entire them of the day is to "Be the Change", to create change in our community in the way we treat each other by starting the change in our own behaviors.

The day starts with each adult advisor being given a family of six or seven students, most of whom we are not familiar with and one of the first things we do after ice breaker activities is to complete the following statement, "If you really knew me ......" with the idea of sharing with those in the group what is behind the mask that we put on every day. While I am not at liberty to share what my kids shared I can speak about my own story.

What I shared with everyone is the fact that I go throughout my day feeling incredibly lonely. I guess that's why I'm so sensitive to what went on with my daughter Sarah in her 5th and first part of 6th grade year. She felt as if she had no friends, she was never invited to birthday parties and she had a miserable experience feeling as if she was alone. What made me so sensitive to that fact was that I feel the same way and have for many years.

Now, much of this is my own fault because I get so focused on what I'm doing at work that I get blinders on and I don't take the time I should to socialize with my colleagues. I'm friendly with many of my fellow teachers in the building but aside from Peter Haughwout, Damon Tomolino and one or two others, there aren't that many I could just go and have a beer with. I've gone riding with Dave Steinberg and have done field trips with others but aside from Pete there aren't any whose houses I've gone to or who have been to my house. The truth is I don't really have any friends, only acquaintances and that realization just makes me lonelier and lonelier. I have almost 1300 facebook friends (many of them former students, people I went to high school in Germany with, people I've known from the various summer camps where I've worked, people I've directed in Long Island productions) and over 1200 likes on my facebook page but no close friends. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not about to turn this into a pity party for one so you can keep reading;

(Should I RSVP for my own party?)

I didn't start to talk about being lonely but that's what ended up happening. In talking to the kids I realized that my feelings of loneliness are because of a pattern I created in myself, a pattern that I was born into. For those of you who have read my blog before, you know that I've spoken in the past about being an "Army Brat" and that for my entire life my father was a career soldier. As a matter of fact, there is even a poem entitled "I Am a Military Brat" that was written in 1975 by Deborah W. Giusti;

I am an Army Brat. My hometown is nowhere, my friends are everywhere, and if I haven't been someplace yesterday, I am sure to go there tomorrow. I grew up with bugle calls and artillery salutes and the knowledge that home is where the heart is and the family--with no dependence on the dwelling.

Mobility is my way of life. I have found security and happiness in motels and guest houses, in duplexes and apartments around the world. Some would wonder about my roots, yet they are as deep and strong as the mighty oak's. I sink them quickly, absorbing all an area offers and hopefully giving enrichment in return.

Like all Army dependents, I can say "Hello," "Good-bye," and count to 20 in five languages. I can tell of the shores of Maine, the marketplaces of Mexico, the Buddhas of Japan; and my knickknack shelves look like those of an import shop, for my memories span the globe.

Travel has taught me to be open. By age nine I had seen more of the world than most people do in a lifetime; I had touched many and allowed their cultures to touch me. Shaking hands with the universe, I found a brotherhood in all men.

Just as there is joy in meeting, so is there pain in parting; and although practice makes perfect, there is no way to perfect "Good-bye." Farewells are never easy. Yet, even in sorrow comes strength and an ability to face tomorrow with anticipation. And if when I leave one place I feel that half my world has been left behind, I also know that the other half is still waiting to be met.

As an Army Brat, I go out to others extending hand and heart. Friendships are formed in hours and kept for decades. I will never grow up with someone, but I will mature with many, and the help that I offer today will be returned farther down the road. Be it inevitable that paths part, there is constant hope that they will meet again.

I feel fortunate to live in a society of tradition drawing from the past to enhance the present - where silver baby cups announce life, horse-drawn caissons pronounce death and the living in between is dedicated to the service of God, man and our nation.

Love of country, respect and pride fill my being when Old Glory passes in review. As I stand to honor that flag, so also do I stand to honor all soldiers, most especially to the man whose life created mine -- my father. Because of him I have shared in the rich heritage of Army life.

Now, as Army wife and mother, I have passed on that legacy to my children. I wish for them a wealth of experiences and knowledge and love, so that their lives will be blessed as mine, and I pray that one day they will join me in boasting, "I am an Army Brat!"

Though it was written in 1975 many of the sentiments still echo the reality of military brats today. However, unlike some other Army Brats my friendships didn't last for decades and I now find myself without the friends of my childhood. So part of my story to these high school juniors was to hold onto those friendships that they have now with those that know them so well and that have grown up with them over the years. Hold fast to the memories and the connections or you could end up like me - plenty of acquaintances, but no real friends. I am just fortunate that my patient wife is also my best friend, yet it would be nice to have others to rely on in times of stress and hardship.

And yet, I have begun the process of "Starting the change" this year. Amy and I have reconnected with our Texas friends Pat, Stephen, Marci, Laurelle and James. It is my most sincere hope that we can keep this reconnection going and not let it fizzle out like far too many of my friendships have done.

After lunch we came back and spoke together a bit but then we participated in an activity called "crossing the line" in which a series of statement were read and if they applied to us we were to leave the group of 200+ gathered there and cross a line then turn around and face those left standing. This is always a very revealing moment as we are all asked to honestly respond and bare our faults and insecurities. The idea is not to make us targets but to show that we all share some of the same secrets and fears but we pass each other every day not knowing that someone else shares our feelings, hopes, fears and insecurites. Comments like, "I don't like what I see in the mirror", "I don't feel as though I am a good person", "I have tried or have thought about hurting myself", "I have been hurt by someone close to me", "I have had an eating disorder" and so many others. Most of which I found myself crossing the line for. And in my head I'm thinking, "with all of this wrong with me, that's why I don't have any friends".

Again, this is not a pity party but I have bared my soul enough on this blog that I hope you, my reader will understand. At the end of the day we were to write letters to people and say things to them that we felt needed to be said. I wrote two, one to a colleague and one to my best friend - Amy. These could be letters we delivered or didn't deliver - the important thing is that the feelings were to be expressed, even if not shared. I did receive two letters from some of my ACT kids speaking of how much I mean to them and how much they look up to me which made me cry but of course I don't feel deserving of their accolades.

But the point of all of this is that I have to start the change within myself and keep on trying to keep up with the change, not forget to be an active part of this. So, Pat, Stephen, Marci, Laurelle, James, Pete and others - you're on warning because you're my friends and I'm not letting you go!

BUT WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH CYCLING?????? What does this have to do with Connor's Army?

Well, just as some of the most famous people in our history have been inspired by the bicycle (look back at the top for Mahatma Gandhi enjoying a spin), for instance Albert Einstein;

Ernest Hemmingway;

The Beatles;

and The Muppets;

I too have been inspired while riding my bike to school and back in the rain yesterday. You see, while riding back at about 4ish in the afternoon I found it was already dark due to a little thing we like to ~~curse~~ call ~~pain in my ass~~ daylight savings time. What started as a gentle drizzle soon became a constant, driving and very cold rain. That coupled with the lack of visibility made me a bit nervous but I had to red lights blinking away on the back and a white one blinking away on the front and I was wearing a reflective rain jacket - I figured I was pretty safe. And I was until the idiot on Pulaski decided to buzz me and pass me only a foot away - his side mirror nearly clocked me!

It was while enjoying the adrenaline rush of that particular moment that I had one of those "Eureka" moments (and for the record, I'm not talking about the town on the Northwest coast of California or an alloy of copper and nickel with a high electrical resistance) in which I realized that I have already started the change that needs to happen within me for the cross country ride. The last four or five times that it has been predicted to rain I've been riding to start getting myself used to riding in any adverse condition. When I'm halfway across Kansas I can't just decide not to ride becuase of weather - I have to change the way I think about what is "good" riding weather. So what if it looks like this;

or even this;

I need to just suck it up and do it - because there will be eight kids fighting cancer who don't understand how I could just give up and not pedal because of rain or wind. And going forward I can't let weather deter me - I have to start the change!

And I'm going to make more of a concerted effort to stay in contact with my friends and to try to make friends out of acquaintances at school. It won't be easy but I hope that I can by starting to take more time to talk to them and get out of my office and be with people rather than holed up in my Theatrical Lair (its kind of like a Bat Cave but without the flying rodents, high tech gadgetry, a butler, or cool caped costumes). Again, I have to start the change!

And lastly, now that so many people are liking the Connor's Army Facebook Page I have to start being more aggressive (read that to be more shameless) about approaching sponsors. I have to follow up on leads and offers of help so that we can attract and secure the kind of sponsorships we need and the kind of fundraising we need to get this $50,000 raised. So if you get multiple messages from me about donating, please don't think I'm being a ~~pain in the ass~~ pest, just know that I have to start channeling all this positive energy for Connor's Army into really making a change in the lives of eight young people - I have to start the change!

BUT I NEED YOUR HELP DEAR READER to make this happen! Please, if you are reading this and you know people who might be interested in helping us, spread the word! Help us start a change in a young person's life that could have positive consequences the likes of which we'll never know but that will have such an impact on that young person's future! Join with me and together we can start the change! Invite your friends, family, other facebook groups. Ask your boss if your company can sponsor us. Repost the link to the Sunrise Donations Page where people can give to help these kids. Let's together change the world, eight people at a time!

And now, becuase I haven't given you a song in a while something that as a group we shouldn't do but its a great song nonetheless and I like John Mayer's cover of it - "Waiting for the World to Change";

	John Mayer - Waiting For The World To Change .mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Stay well and I'll see you on the road in rain, sleet, snow, and maybe the dead of night!

Grateful Alive!

2011-12-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

So I have to admit that I missed the Grateful Dead craze. Musically I sort of fell into an in-between time and as a result my musical tastes are many and varied. Because I moved from California to Georgia when I was in elementary school and I wanted so much to hold on to my California identity (can you blame me?) I listened to a lot of The Beach Boys. Then when a bunch of the local boys and I started skateboarding I was really digging the surf scene, since grunge wasn't in yet.

Before I left Georgia for Germany I got into a lot of rock, especially Southern Rock. Groups like Lynyrd Skynyrd;

Then when I moved to Germany instead of Disco, I found myself listening to groups like Queen;

Aerosmith:

The Kinks;

The Police;

The Ramones;

Pink Floyd;

And because I was living in Germany at the time I got a little into Kraftwerk, this clip is not really from the 70's, its from 1983 but if you watch it you'll know why I chose this song;

And there were many other groups that I listened to at the time that seminally influenced my taste in music but there are some that I notably missed out on - The Beatles (never really heard much of them until the late 80's), mainly because I just didn't have the interest or the exposure; Bruce Springsteen, because they hadn't heard of him in Germany; Billy Joel, because when I moved from Germany to Texas not many people listened to him down there - and a host of other popular musicians that people of my generation listened to.

And one of those was the Grateful Dead. I know that most "baby boomers" spent many hours listening to "The Dead" and many of us are closet "deadheads" but I never really got it. I guess its because once again, I wasn't really exposed to it and by the time I started choosing my own music it was really more the driving rythms of punk and rock that turned me on.

And another seminal influence from that time period was cycling. I've written in the past about how I spent most of my time getting around in the summers in Ansbach via my cobbled together bicycles that my friends Ed Trevarrow, Mark Pariseau and I all would put together. We'd augment them by buying a few parts from the shop in the old city of Ansbach but we'd go traversing all over the countryside in the summers with our toe clips (check out the Kraftwerks clip again) and panniers exploring as long as our parents would let us.

And to be honest, The Grateful Dead scene never really fit into it. The music, the drugs, the hippy love throw back thing wasn't really us - and personally, I was too grateful being alive than thinking about being dead. Its kind of stupid to say it now but I think that's one of the things that turned me off about the band. I would hear about them and think, "what a stupid name for a band!"

And now that I'm older, I find myself grateful for the smaller things that I come across in life as well as the bigger things. I know that I made a list of things to be grateful for in my last post but in just a week and a half, so many more things have happened to add to the list; big things like my daughter receiving an award from the Long Island chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals;

And little things like my children performing their own rendition of an old Holiday Season favorite but with a slight twist that they like to call "Santa Clause is Stalking You Now";

Or just living in a town where this happens every year;

And I am so grateful for so many things that have been happening on the Connor's Army Ride Across America front. So much has happened in the last week that I've been dying to share but facebook posts just aren't the right place because I can't add as much detail so for those of you who are keeping up, here goes;

We got a mini van!!!!!! Yes, I know what you're thinking, "why in the hell would you be grateful for a mini van?!?!" Well, to be honest, I'm not sure that Amy is. But it is a necessary evil if I'm going to be able to do this ride supported instead of hauling everything by myself across the country. It has the DVD player for the kids and the rest of the support team, a trailer hitch for a hitch mounted rack that can carry more than one bicycle, a luggage rack for "the hamburger" and to strap down spare parts, and it was at a price we could afford. We're going to have to put some money into it and it doesn't have "stow and go" seating but it has everything else. And its black with tinted windows so it doesn't look quite as dorky. I'm torn between naming it Vanikin Roadwalker or Vanna Black. I thought about giving it a Spanish flair and naming it Vanna Negro but I'm sure that's racist and let's not even talk about what I REALLY wanted to name it - The Black Hole, since so much will dissappear in there! Of course, I could just go with my German experience and name it Vanna Schwartz!

Our Facebook Page has over 1200 likes!!!!! Now, I know that in itself doesn't seem to be such a big deal but it is. We're hoping that by gaining some sort of significant exposure on facebook we'll be able to attract some more sponsors to help us with underwriting the cross country event. We figure we probably need about $5,000 more in sponsorships and we'll be set for whatever evenutality we hit on the road. But the popular support on facebook is a big step. For those of you reading this that have liked our page - THANK YOU!!!!!!! Your support is truly overwhelming to me and I know that because of it a big difference will be made. Please continue to invite your friends and let's continue to grow!

This blog has over 10,000 views!!!!!!!! I don't know how its happened but since we debutted this blog way back in June 2009, we have (as of this writing) 10,284 views!!!!!! A year ago (January 2011) we had about 2800 views but since then it has taken off! To each and every one of you who has looked at this site, or read these posts I thank you! You've been following my ramblings (or maybe you're just looking for pictures and videos) and that means I'm reaching more of you. If you've read this far in this post, please take a minute to go to our facebook page (if you're a facebook member) and add us to your likes - help us spread the word even further.

The Syosset High School Fashion Show!!!!! And this is HUUUUUGGGGEEEEE!!!!! After a hiatus of a few years the Fashion Show is making a return to Syosset High School. Two of the most energetic young ladies I know are instrumental in making sure it happens and they are both counselors at Sunrise Day Camp. They are going to use the fashion show as a fundraiser for Sunrise with the money going towards the $50,000 we are trying to raise in the Ride Across America.

Sunrise Syosset!!!!! There is a group of students at SHS who are also counselors at Sunrise Day Camp. They are going to meet with me on Monday to brainstorm how we can get the other students groups of Syosset High School involved in helping us with raising the money we're trying to raise for the ride. The idea is that if a good percentage of the student groups at SHS (there's about 100 of them) can do some type of fundraising for the event (we're looking at it as a Team Sunrise event) then we might be able to raise enough at the school to send one child to camp for the summer. That's $6,000 and for the school to come together to do that would be amazing! However, if you're reading this and you would like to contribute on your own, you can go here and donate safely and securely!

My back!!!! A lot of things could have happened when I had the encounter with the car door back in July 2010 but so far I seem to be doing well. I didn't break anything and the only permanent reminders I seem to have are my scar and my tattoo! We're not sure what the herniated disc issue is from but the one injection I had seems to be holding steady. There's a little bit of pain but I'm going to set up another injection soon and with any luck I'll be ready to roll all 3600 miles!

RECycle for Sunrise is taking off!!!! What started out as a way to try to raise more of the funds I need to underwrite the costs of the cross country trip has started doing so well! Just today I sold three bicycles and two of those were from people who contacted me. Folks are donating bikes for the effort (thank you sooooooo much Andrea!) and I know that the bikes are going to great homes so they'll make people doubly happy - those who'll get to ride them and the kids at Sunrise who'll benefit from the sales! I'm not going to be a bike mechanic full time but I'm learning a lot and I know if something happens on the road I'll be ready for it.

So, its been a week and a half full of great things for Connor's Army and I thank you all my readers for believing in me, reading my words and for supporting something that I truly believe in my heart of hearts will make a difference in the lives of eight children far beyond what we can imagine.

So for now I'll leave you with this cool little picture that I found online. I just thought it was funny and it shows some of the problems that cyclists face now are nothing new under the sun. Oh, and if you made it this far, feel free to leave some comments!!!!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!!!!

For This Let Us Be Truly Thankful!

2011-11-23T19:30:00.000-08:00

“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.” -Buddha

And that in a nutshell is something for all of us to be thankful for of all the things that could happen to us - we're here and we're able to express our thankfulness.

Now granted, in honor of the holiday I could have posted a picture such as this one to express my thoughts for the season;

(Ready for the town line sprint!)

Or I could have gone old school and used this one;

(And we can't even train the cat to use the litter box 100% of the time!)

But I found the quote about Buddha and I thought that since it was more non-denominational that it would work for this post.

Tomorrow (or today, depending on when you're reading this - perhaps after your evening meal?) most of us in this country will be celebrating Thanksgiving that wonderful day of familial bacchanalian delight! But its so interesting that though many people know about the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe setting down to break bread (deer, corn, fish and other items of bounteousness) they don't know about the rest of the story. Fortunately, our friends at History.com can help us out - just click here. And they also put out this great video;

Or this version from Scholastic.com;

Or, there is this interesting and amusing little vignette;

But what it all boils down to after the commercialism and the Macy's Day Parade and the sales is that this is really a holiday for us to take just a moment in our busy lives and remind ourselves of all we should be thankful for. Buddha, being the wise and enlightened being that he was, managed to distill what to be thankful for into three points;

1) Be thankful that we learned something, even if it was only a little bit;
2) We're not sick;
3) We're not dead.

That pretty much covers it. And yet, that doesn't seem to be enough somehow. My friend Stephen Mosher (click on the link you can learn all about him) has been doing something on facebook for the last month in which he has been posting every day something for which he is grateful. They have been uplifting, enlightening and thoughtul posts and I have looked forward to reading them every single day.

In the Northport Connor household we do something every single evening at the dinner table - we share one thing we are grateful for from all the things that have happened during the day. At our annual Thanksgiving feast, which is usually held at Mark and Laura's house in New Jersey, we also go around the table and share something we are grateful for from the previous year.

Yet one grateful does not seem to be enough. So in honor of the holiday and in the spirit of Thankfulness I would like to offer my own Stephen Mosher inspired list of things for which I am grateful this year;

24) Facebook - As silly as it may seem to be grateful for this "addiction" it has been a very important part of my life this year. No, I don't have a smart phone and I don't post updates every three minutes (I actually have a ten-year-old flip phone that was a hand me down from my mother-in-law) and I try not to post "amusing" things like, "sitting on bus next to a really fat guy who stinks - help me!" but I have used it to reconnect with so many old friends and to share important moments in my life. It also helps me keep up on all the doings of some of my favorite people - but more about that later.

23) That I live in America - It seems trivial but its true. Although I sometimes fantasize about retiring to the Netherlands or Belgium (for the cycling culture) or even Ireland (for the music), I'm grateful to live in a country that gives me the rights that I have. Although it seems many people take these freedoms for granted, I'm grateful to live where we can disagree with the policies of the government and not be jailed. Even if it means listening to ludicrous statements like this from those who seek to lead our country;

22) Politician who follow their conscience - I'm primarily referring to politicians like Governor Andrew Cuomo, State Senator Mark Grisanti, State Senator Carl Kruger, President Barack Obama and all of those whom we have elected that forget about their reputations in order to try to do the right thing. In a year that has seen our national government gridlocked by petty politics, I am so grateful to have lived to witness the legalization of Gay Marriage in New York State;

21) The best job in the world - I am so grateful to have a job that is secure, that provides health care and that still inspires me to be better. Yes, it has its frustrating moments but what aspect of life doesn't. I get to work with the best kids in the world who are so passionate about what they do and the art they create. They inspire me to be a better teacher, director and father and they provide my own children with such amazing role models. How could I ask for more.

20) My wife performing again - yes, she has been doing it off and on since we moved out here but lately she has been getting calls left and right to do shows and now (as I write this) she is in rehearsals for a production of A Wonderful Life at a theater that is a six minute walk from our house. We hope that this leads to more engagements at the John W. Engeman Theater. As tiring as the rehearsal process has been on her, to see her happy about performing again makes me so glad.

19) Beer - It seems silly but it is one of the things I'm grateful for. I don't drink it all the time but hey, I like the taste and as Benjamin Franklin once said, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy"!

18) My friends and colleagues at Syosset High School - Okay, so I have never been someone to have a ton of friends. In my entire life I have usually only had one or two close friends that I could always count on and those were the ones I usually hung around with - Ed Trevorrow, Chris Wilmoth, Mike Shef, Eric Folkerth (who was also my boss) and others. Its no diferent at work. Becuase I'm almost a one-man theatre department I tend to spend a lot of time alone. This year I have made a conscious effort to try to reach out and socialize with my fellow teachers more. I've tried to talk more to my stalwart, brilliant, resourceful and patient set designer Pete Haughwout; my former SDL compatriot/set constructor Craig Mooers and this year I've tried to branch out even more. I've gone riding with Dave Steinberg and had lots of conversations about Connor's Army with Rich Faber, Shai Fischer and Steve Tozer. It feels so good to talk to someone other than teenagers.

17) Coffee! - Yes, although I'm decaffeinated (mostly) I love the flavor of coffee and the hot cup that I have in the mornings always hits the spot. Of course, sometimes I cheat and add some REAL coffee in the mix and the resulting jolt is so much fun!

16) Riding my bike in the rain - Okay, so I don't pretend that all of my gratefuls are going to be esoteric and profound. I'm just grateful to feel the wind on my face and the rain coming down. I don't like cold rain as much but there is something that always manages to take me back to being a little kid and riding in summer rain showers that I feel every single time I ride in the rain - even when my butt is squishy from the water. Today I went for a 20 mile ride in the rain and the feeling hit me again - it never fails.

15) Working at Sunrise Day Camp - Sunrise Day Camp is the only day camp dedicated to serving children with cancer and their families and a place where I have spent the last two summers teaching Drama and Dance. As tiring as it can be sometimes (both physically and emotionally) I have grown so much as a result of my working there. I have witnessed the power of these children to bounce back from what many older people would consider an instant death sentence and yet they continue to embrace life and sieze the day for all its worth. Its because of them that I decided to spend the summer of 2012 riding across America to raise enough money to let eight more children fighting cancer experience this joy for themselves.

14) Our new sprinkler system - Yes, it seems like an indulgent luxury but its really not. We're not rolling in money but we took some of the money from my bike accident in the summer of 2010 and we decided to have an in-ground sprinkler system put in. You see, to me part of having a home is having a lawn (and my Long Island raised wife ridicules me for this "obsession" as she calls it) and I've never been able to keep it watered properly . Invariably I let it (cause it?) die every single year. This summer will be worse since we won't be living here - this sprinkler system will hopefully ensure that I still have a lawn when I return from our trek.

13) My mechanical aptitude - One of the things my father always insisted on teaching me is how to be self sufficient when it came to taking care of cars, our house, the lawn. Growing up we never had the money to pay for a lawn service, plumber, carpenter/handy man, and rarely a mechanic. Watching my dad I learned how to do certain things and to do them right. As I became a homeowner that became imporant since living in an old house means there is always something that needs to be fixed. This has also been important to me as a cyclist since I can't afford to take my bike to the mechanic all the time. With the right books and the right tools I have learned to be my own mechanic (98% of the time) and have been able to start a project called RECycle for Sunrise to help raise money for our cross country fund raising event and for Sunrise Day Camp. I can completely strip a bike, true wheels, and put it all back together - and it will still run.

12) Living in Northport - As conservative as this little village can somtimes be, I'm so glad that we live here on Main Street in a town that has parades, concerts in the park and where you can walk down town or go to the grocery store and see people you know. We live a ten minute walk from the water and we can bicycle to the park and lay on the grass. There are ice cream shops and general stores and family nights in the summer where they close the street for a big block party. This Friday we are going to the tree lighting and Sarah is lighting the tree! And this is where my children are growing up - a Norman Rockwell painting come to life;

(It may not be as snowy but this could be Northport if you squint your eyes and turn your head just so)

11) My Inspirations in life - Through the years they have changed depending on what I was doing and who/what I wanted to be - Mikhael Baryshnikov, Paul Taylor, Mario Siletti, Twyla Tharp, Laurence Olivier, Johnny Depp, Dan Gable, Gene Kelly, Ed Kresley, Kevin Bacon, Lance Armstrong (yeah, yeah, I know), Eric Clapton, Lund Sox, Mike Ockrent - these are only a few of the people that I have tried to emulate in my life. Although I could never even hope to get close to their greatness (although I did double date with Gene Kelly once - do you remember that Shannon?), in my zeal to be like them I found myself pushing myself to be better and because of that I accomplished so many things in my life. I don't always talk/brag about them but they shaped who I am and I'm grateful for that.

10) Everyone I ever met in my life - Yes, I know its very esoteric but I have been shaped by all of those who have come into my life and as a result I am who I am and I am in the place where I should be. Meeting each of you and interacting with you has shaped me in miniscule ways the way the gently lapping waves eventually shape the largest stones on the shore. I have become who I am becuase of you and I am grateful for that.

9) Joey Patton - It may seem odd that I put one particular person down as someone/something for which I am grateful but if it wasn't for this man I would not be where I am in life right now - I truly believe that. I answered an ad in Backstage for dancers who could sing who were needed for a production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Up until that point I had all of two musicals under my belt - being more of a concert dancer. Joey saw something in me and when my friend James Heatherly's agent managed to knock him out of the role, Joey offered it to me. Becuase of that role I obtained my Equity card and I met the person who would become my best friend, my partner and my wife. That role also opened up doors for what would eventually become my performing career. If it wasn't for him, I can't imagine what my life would be like now.

8) Everyone who has supported Connor's Army - From the sponsors to the riders in the various Victory Rides, from those who have donated to any of our fundraising events to each and every person who has added our Connor's Army facebook page to their likes. Your support and your belief in the value of what we/I am trying to do is what keeps me going. There have been some dark times in the last year where I really began to fall into despair and wonder if I would ever be able to do this but then support would come from an unforseen quarter and I would be revived. We still need sponsors to help us cover the costs of our cross country ride but I do believe that will come from somewhere - because your support has given me the faith that it will happen.

7) Black Betty and Black Pearl - I'm just grateful that I have not one but two bicycles that I can still manage to climb on to and find my purpose. Although my body is not what it used to be and all the dance injuries are beginning to creep up on me - I can climb on one of these beauties and work through my problems, find inspiration, and put things into perspective - just keep pedaling!

6) My family - Not my immediate family, three of whom are sleeping upstairs and one of which is rehearsing downtown - but those who raised me, grew up with me and who came back into my life at the age of 38. We don't get to see each other as often as we would like but you are always a part of me and you have made me who I am. My values are because of you, my intelligence and natural gifts are becuase of you, my DNA is becuase of you. I love you all and without you I would be incomplete.

5) My father - Yes, I know technically he is part of the grateful above but my father deserves to be thanked on his own. Whenever I think of my father I find myself constantly thinking of the song "The Leader of the Band". In particular I think of the lyrics, "he earned his love through discipline, a thundering velvet hand/and his gentle means of sculpting souls took me years to understand". My father has had his flaws but he was the best father I could ever have hoped for. He was a career military man and he taught me by example the importance of honor, of keeping your word, and of working for something that was higher and bigger than yourself. As a kid, even though he was a single father working two jobs (his job as a Sargeant in the Army and as a night janitor), he found time to be active in the Y-Indian Guides with me, assistant coach my Little League team (I wasn't very good) and be a den leader for our Weblo den. As I write this he is in the early stages of Parkinson's and yet he finds time to be a Eucharistic Minister for the homebound taking the sacrament of communion to those who can't make it to mass. He has never done anything for accolades or pride, except the pride in doing his best. I am grateful to be my father's son.

	leader of the band dan fogelberg.mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

4) My family's Health - I'm spending next summer riding in support of children who are fighting cancer and I constantly ride with the list of those who are fighting the disease, have won the fight, or have lost the fight in my head. Three of my four sisters are survivors. My mothers are survivors. My father is fighting Parkinson's. And yet I am grateful that my wife and children have all been spared the ravages of anything more than a cold and allergies. I am grateful that I don't have to worry about their medications or if they'll make it to their next birthday. They are all healthy and I can sleep knowing they're okay.

3) Reconnecting with my friends - This year has been an incredible year thanks to the miracle of Facebook (see #24 above). I have reconnected with dear friends that I had drifted away from because of time and distance and I'm so glad they are back in my life. Friends like Pat Dwyer and Stephen Mosher whose wedding on the beach we attended and who were so amazing in supporting Sarah as she stood in front of 600+ people to give a thank you speech for winning the AFP's Philanthropy Day Leaders of Tomorrow Award. You have both been so incredibly supportive of my family and we love you so much! So supportive that your current profile pictures are you with my children! Friends like Marci Reid, Laurelle Rethke (Auntie Laurelle!), James Heatherly and others of the "Texas Mafia". Friends like Shannon McNulty Burwell - the object of my double date with Gene Kelly and the list goes on. Being able to "talk" to you via FB reminds me of who I am, where I've come from, and what it means to be part of larger community.

2) My Children - It is not always easy to be the father of a "tween" but when she looks at you and says, "I'm so glad your my dad" it makes your heart melt and you thank God for life and for the fact that you must have done something right to deserve that moment. I am so proud of Sarah and all that she has accomplished this year. She has received so many awards and accolades this year for her environmental and fundraising work and yet she has managed to stay humble and truly cognizant of what they all mean. She has also managed to maintain her curiosity and wonder. She is truly growing up to be a beautiful young lady. My boys can be rambunctious but they are my pride and joys and I couldn't be prouder to be their daddy. Their passion for life and the friendship they share with each other is something I never had growing up since my sisters were so much younger than me. They are truly each other's best friend and I'm so glad to see they are growing up as truly kind and caring young men. They remind me of what it means to be a gentleman and a "gentle man".

1) My Wife - Amy is my best friend, my soul mate, me right hand, my everything. Some sort of convergence occured to bring us together (see the note about Joey Patton above) and my life has been magical ever since. Yes, we've had some very hard times due to all of the infertility we expereinced and we have our dark periods even now. But I could not imagine my life without her by my side. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and just gaze at her sleeping face until I fall asleep. Every day I wake up grateful for the beautiful woman beside me and for the amazing family she has given me. I don't know what I did in another life to deserve her (if you believe in the teachings of Buddha) but I am grateful for whatever it was I did to draw her to me and to keep her by my side.

	Tracy Byrd - The Keeper Of The Stars .mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

And that my friends is my list of gratefuls for this year. I thank you if you made it this far and I thank you for being part of my life - I guess I have yet one more grateful after all!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

I'm Not Worthy!

2011-11-21T18:54:00.000-08:00

(I genuflect before your kindnesses)

For those of you who are new to Connor's Army I want to thank you for believing enough in us to have made it this far. If you're reading this I'm going to assume (of course we all know that its a dangerous proposition to do so) that you are here because of the post on facebook. You may have added us to your likes becuase a friend of yours invited you. You may have added us becuase you saw a post I placed on another page's wall. You may have added us because your a friend of mine and you responded to the event I placed on facebook. You may have added us becuase you are one of my Thespians, a family member of one of my Thespians, or a friend of a Thespian. Or, you may have added us becuase you saw the ad I placed in program for The Complete History of America (abridged).

However you got here I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I wish there was a way that I could see each and every one of you and let you know how much your support means to me because I was beginning to lose hope. To those of you who are new to Connor's Army - thank you for joining our fight. For those of you who have been a supporter from the beginning (yes, I'm talking to you Justin Tasolides who started the first facebook group so long ago) thank you for staying with us!

Now, for those of you who have read my posts in their semi-regularly schedule you know that I sometimes tend to ramble and go off on stream-of-conscious tangents or I insert lots of amusing (at least I find them to be so) youtube videos and music clips. For instance this one;

And that's truly the way I'm feeling right now because if you're reading this from one of the above mentioned sources, you're one of (as of this writing) 1,121 people who like our Connor's Army facebook page. Of course, if you're not one of the 1,121, why not? You can click on the link above and add us to your likes right now. Go ahead, I'll wait;

Did you do it? Thank you!

So many of you may have joined the Connor's Army facebook page but you don't really know much about us and that's really what this post is all about. You may have joined because you're good friends with someone and they said, "hey, my high school theatre teacher has the facebook page and you should like it becuase I do" or something to that effect. And because of your friendship with that person (or one of my entreaties) you've joined but you're not sure what we're about. Well, I think its about time you knew my story.

For as long as I can remember I’ve been riding bikes and enjoying the freedom they give me. I wish I could say I still ride the old faithful cruiser of my youth but, alas, it has gone the way of most of the other bikes I’ve owned in my life – “lost in transit.”

You see, I grew up traveling around the country and the world as an “Army brat”. Although we did enjoy one long spell in California, as a career Army man my father received moving orders every three years. Inevitably in the move things would be lost – electric basses, favorite clothes, stamp collections, books – and most often it was my bike.

In 40+ years of riding (and who knows how many miles) I’ve only owned two brand new bikes. One was a golden Italian five-speed that gleamed in the California sun and that I promptly crashed into a parked car on the first day in a “look at me, I’m riding a big bike” moment. The other was a black 1989 Peugeot hybrid I bought for myself to get around my college campus, which was stolen after only three months of owning it.

Fast forward to six years ago. Stilly mechanically minded and still not living in the lap of luxury (I’m a high school teacher with three kids) I found myself needing a bike. As it turned out I found a discarded Diamondback Allure frame in a pile of garbage by the side of the road. It had flat bars, the derailleurs and shifters were trashed, the rims were bent and the seat was missing. Suddenly, I had a mission, like the bionic man we could make it faster, stronger, better than it ever was. I began commuting from my home in Northport to Syosset where I work - a distance of between 13 and 20 miles each way - depending on which route I take.

I started doing this fairly regularly and then I found I needed ankle reconstruction surgery. As part of my rehab I hooked my bike up in the basement and rode for hours on end trying to get my ankle strength and stability back. And then everything changed.

Until 2005 my life, I guess like so many other people’s, had been touched by cancer in only distant ways - a grandmother who died when I was a toddler, a rarely seen great-uncle, my Amy's mother’s friend. Even when my biological mother went through her own bout with cancer it was before she re-entered my life in my adulthood, so I learned of it merely as a past occurrence.

Then my wife’s Grandmother Mina died of cancer … and his uncle … and his wife’s aunt … and a close colleague.

And then what I thought would be unthinkable happened.

In 2005 my sister Winona, a single mother raising two children, was diagnosed with cancer. Soon afterwards my sister Angela was diagnosed with a different cancer. In 2006 I got word that my youngest sister TaMara had cancer at the age of 28, and just before Christmas that same year my mother developed a rare and aggressive form of melanoma. To say I was overwhelmed and more than a little pissed off would be an understatement.

Now all of my instincts as a big brother and a son were to fight the enemy and beat it for them - to do something, anything but sit on my ass. But I couldn’t - this was a battle they had to win on their own. And they did.

Nonetheless, I felt helpless and impotent as they struggled valiantly to conquer the disease. I just felt like I needed to do more than simply sit by and wait for news to come that things were going to be alright. I needed to do more than just offer emotional support. I needed to do more than wish that there was something I could do. I needed to take action.

So I turned to one of the things I knew best and began plans for his own kind of war - a peaceful one waged on a bicycle. Yes, I suppose I could have organized a benefit dance concert. Something that would happen once or, if I were lucky, could happen on a yearly basis. A dance concert for life as it were. As someone who has been dancing since my late teens I first thought of that option. But I also realized that in fighting this disease my loved ones had indeed gone through a lot of pain and suffering - in order to truly help them I needed to also go through something to feel what they were feeling.

From the time I was a teenager facing the constant displacement of an army brat, my bicycle had always been the place I felt most at peace, the place I could really think through whatever life threw at him. Now I decided to use it fight the disease that was attacking MY family.

And Connor’s Army was born.

Of course, I'm not a pro. At the time I was riding for fun and exercise, occasionally joining the local Huntington Bicycle Club for weekend 50-milers or their annual century. I also knew that I couldn’t afford to leave my job to do a several thousand mile fundraiser. So instead I pledged to ride my bike to work and dedicate this daily commute to raising funds for the American Cancer Society in gratitude of the fact that it was through research and tests that came about as a result of ACS funding that allowed my family to win their battle with this damn disease.

I rode in all kinds of weather, got hit by a van (on the same day as the prom - which I was attending as a chaperone), and did a lot of thinking. People kept thanking me, often telling me about someone they loved who was also fighting cancer; and I began keeping a list of all the people I was riding for as the miles slowly added up.

By December 31, 2007, with 53 names on what we now call The List, I'd cycled 2,154 commuting miles and raised a bit over $12,000 for ACS. In addition my eight-year-old daughter Sarah had started her own fundraising campaign, Connor's Army Junior, and raised an additional $1,000 for ACS.

In the fall of 2008 Syosset High School dedicated their annual homecoming week school walk-a-thon to a place I had never heard of - Sunrise Day Camp. I became intrigued by this camp and what they were doing for children. Unfortunately, by the time I found out all about the camp I had already made plans to work at another day camp as a drama specialist. However, I kept finding myself drawn to this camp and what they were doing. I found that it's a very special place where children with cancer and their siblings can come free of charge to enjoy a summer filled with fun, friendship, and activities - things often denied them by the demands of their medical condition. At Sunrise they can escape the waiting rooms, the lab work, the check-ups, and the chemo-therapy; and simply be children in the sun.

And finally, in the summer of 2010 I began working at Sunrise Day Camp. Working with the children there and getting to know their families has affected me deeply. Seeing the joy these children feel at just being able to be a regular kid, not "the kid with cancer". Being able to attend a camp where no one gives them a second look because they've lost their hair or because they have a stint in their chest. Having a five-year-old kiss me on the head on my last day of dance class with her and thank me for playing with her for the summer.

Watching these children go through a battle even adults find it difficult to face is both heartbreaking and inspiring. But I have seen with my own eyes the difference this special place makes in lives filled with pain and uncertainty. I have seen the joy spread across the face of a fourteen-year-old who has never really swam before finally (after weeks of constant, daily and frustrating work) being able to go up to "the deep pool" with the rest of his teenage friends. I have seen kids who have never acted before find their dramatic voice and discover they really are good at this drama thing.

And by the end of that summer a plan had begun to form in my mind - and now as a result we are well on our way an even more ambitious ride than the first one. To help this camp I'm going to do one of the things I do best.....ride my bicycle!

	Queen - Bicycle Race .mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

During the summer of 2012, with my family as my support team and (HINT, HINT) the occasional riding partners, I'll be cycling 3,600 miles across America to spread the word about Sunrise and help raise much-needed funds to keep up their year-round programming.

My fundraising goal? $50,000! Enough to send eight kids with cancer to eight weeks of camp!

I'm not naive - I know I can’t compete with people who raise millions of dollars for cancer research, but this coming summer I'm doing what I can to fight the war against cancer one mile at a time ... all 3,600 miles of it between California and New York!

I'm looking for sponsors and I'm hoping to connect with people who can help me raise the funds to send these kids to camp. Anyone interested in helping can go to the Connor's Army Ride Across America link on the Sunrise web site and contribute online. Or sponsors can contact us through our web site at http://www.connorsarmy.org/. Any money that sponsors give us to underwrite the cost of this event will be used only for gas, lodging and food for me. The support team will be paying their own expenses.

And I'm not doing it on some super fancy bike like the one the writer from the New York Times used on his recent trip. No, I'll be riding on a steel frame bike I dug out of the trash six years ago. As time has gone by I’ve engaged in more dumpster diving, e-bay purchasing (much to the chagrin of my wife) and online mega bike stores to create my current “Frankenbike”, affectionately known as Black Pearl because she’s completely black and, like the ship in the “Pirates” movies, she’s not pretty but she’s fast. She’s my main commuter bike, and I would say in the last six years I’ve probably put on 7,000 miles on her commuting the 25 mile round trip between my home and school.

(Steel is Real - and Black Pearl is going to make it 3600 miles!)

And I won't be staying in fancy hotels. We're hoping to get Motel 6 or someone like that donate some nights. We're hoping to sleep on the couches of friends (and maybe facebook supporters?) along the way. We'll stay in hostels and we'll camp out in our tent - whatever we need to do to keep the costs down.

Because whatever we get from sponsors that we don't use - we're going to add it on top of the pledges we get for Sunrise - sort of like the cherry on top!

So that is my story. Again, I want to thank you from the bottom of my soul for liking us, supporting us, believing in our mission to help these kids and for making more of a difference in my life than you will ever really, truly know.

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

Caps......make that bikes.....for sale!

2011-11-09T16:34:00.000-08:00

So I've been working lately on a side venture to support Connor's Army and by extension Sunrise Day Camp. Its called RECycle for Sunrise and what I do is take old bicycles, fix them up and sell them to either help sponsor the cross country ride or to go towards the $50,000 we're trying to raise for the camp.

I don't know how many of you remember this sweet little tale but Caps for Sale was always a favorite of our kids when they were much smaller. If you don't remember this sweet little tale, here it is for you. I find it better to put on my snuggly pajamas and grab a mug of hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows while I enjoy it. Wait a minute...............okay, I'm back and ready so here goes;

Of course this is not to be confused with that other children's novel "Cats for Sale";

Or (slightly less cute) "Crabs for Sale";

But if you want completely (and somewhat nausiatingly so) cute, there is always, "Kitten Falls Asleep";

And then we run into the problem that once the kitten falls asleep, what do we do when said kitty has a nightmare? You give it a hug of course!

And then there is the problem of trying to transport ducks for sale. I mean sure they can walk themselves but what happens when the elements get to be too much for them?

Of course the entire problem of trying to peddle cats or crabs (or ducks) from town to town is trying to get them to stay on your head as you carefully walk along. Even if they fall asleep, trying to get them to stay up there is a real pain!

Now what many of you might not know is that I used to be a big baseball cap wearer. Not that the baseball caps were big, I just used to wear them all the time when not teaching class. And as much as I'm a big baseball cap wearer, I don't have quite the collection that anyone would want to purchase (although my wife does want me to get rid of about half of them) so instead of caps I sell my bikes. And let me tell you, parting with one of my metallurgical steeds is not easy!

But I began listing them on Craigslist to see if I could interest anyone in a good quality used bike. Most of them are bikes like this;

(all it needs is you!)

And so far I've managed to sell six bicycles and have raised over $250 in money that will go to help sponsor our trip. I get theses bikes either as cast offs that I see on the side of the road (I have a great GT Tempest that fits that category), that friends have donated (I have a 1970 Schwinn Breeze and a 1980's Univega road bike from that source) or sometimes total strangers give them to us (the Trek above is part of that category as is a Trek 820 Antelope, a Columbia Road Bike) and I spend ~~hours~~, ~~days~~, weeks fixing them up. Some are straight forward and simple adjustments. Some, like the Schwinn Breeze you see here;

(all it needs is you!)

need lots of work as they are covered in rust and oxidation. It doesn't mean they're junk, they've just been unused and unloved for far too long!

All in all, I have five bikes I'm working on right now including Amy's bicycle - a 1970's Raleigh Sprite which looks something like this;

(all it needs is - yes, you guessed it, Amy!)

the only problem is that as much as I like vintage, I'm working on "pimping" her ride so I can update some of the componentry. Since my darling wife is not a much of a cyclist as the rest of the family, I want to make it as easy on her as possible!

Another project that I'm saving for those cold winter months is my father-in-laws bicycle a 1950's era Schwinn New World. I don't have pictures of that bike available but it looks something like this one;

(could this be YOUR cool, hip, retro bike?)

and its in really good condition except it needs a THOROUGH cleaning! It hasn't been ridden in fifty years and it has been hanging in their garage for about 40+ years. When I did a similar treatment to my mother-in-laws bike (which we are not sellign by the way - 12-year-old Sarah has CLAIMED it!) I had to take it completely apart because all the grease had turned the consistency of parafin. But he donated it to the cause and I'm hoping to get it all cleaned up and rideable and hopefully I'll find the perfect home for it!

Now I wish I were able to do something like this;

That is a top of the line Time road bike with top shelf componentry! But the most impressive thing is the work space these guys have - look at all those shelves (not to mention the FOUR bicyle helmets this guy has!) and that space and enough room to move around. Me, I'm relegated to my little corner of the basement known as my "man cave". Its small and cramped and I have crap everywhere. But, I still manage to crank out a few refurbished bikes or two a week. Its fun and its a cool hobby, although I don't think I could ever make enough money to support myself at it. Of course I do sometimes daydream about leaving it all behind and getting a bike mechanic job, I don't think I really want to relocate my entire family to Hong Kong to do it.

So, if you live on Long Island and you're reading this blog and you have an old bicycle languishing in your basement, shed, attic, back yard or wherever, drop me a line at syossetact@aol.com and I'll come and take it off your hands - it could end up with a new home and helping us reach our sponsorship goal so we can help the kids of Sunrise! Or, if you're willing to pay me to fix your bike - I can do that too - and the money will go to the Connor's Army Cross Country Ride for Sunrise fund!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

Back in Black (With a Vengeance)

2011-11-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, so today I finally got on my bike after a week of inactivity. This was due to a variety of reasons - 1) my little germ monster (William) got me sick with his chest cold; 2) too many errands I had to run to and from (and after) work that I needed to haul things in my car; and 3) excruciating pain in my back which I finally had taken care of yesterday! I guess you can tell I'm feeling better because I am posting two days in a row!

Well, after my *whispered* "procedure" my doctor told me after laying flat on my back and drinking caffeinated beverages for the remainder of the day, I could resume "normal" activities today. And for me that means - RIDING MY BIKE!!!!

So, to the strains of AC/DC's "Back in Black";

	AC/DC - Back In Black .mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

I started my ride. And since today I was riding "Black Betty" instead of "The Black Pearl", I next listened to "Black Betty" by Ram Jam;

	Ram Jam - Black Betty .mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

And I was pumped! First off, part of the reason for all the "black" theme songs is that its getting to that time of year when we'll have to set our clocks back for "daylight savings time"

which pretty much applies to everyone who doesn't live in Arizona or Hawaii.

But in experienced this morning's ride I was able to see so much that truly made me appreciate life: The pinkish blue interspersed with the whispy white of the clouds as the dawn errupted across the sky; the dew dappled grass of the suburban lawns; the crisp breeze as it brushed across my face; the sight of light just breaking across an American flag in front of the fire station; and even the stench of someone's cigar (how can anyone smoke those things at 6:45 in the morning????) that seemed to linger for 1/8 of a mile as I rode along towards school. It made me feel so grateful to be alive to experience these things.

In fact, it made me feel a littel like Mr. Weenie from Open Season as he charged down the hill towards the hunters!!!! You have to go to about 1:11 to get to the part I'm talking about, "I feel Alive!!!!" (it comes right after, "move your wee pudgy legs!")

And that made me so grateful to be alive - to be able to ride my bike again without much pain and to experience these things again. For a while there I have been really worried if I'll be able to do the cross country ride. I was frightened that I'd have to have back surgery that would keep me from riding for six months and not allow me the opportunity to train for the event.

But it seems like the injections work and that after the next two (yeah, I know - YIKES!!!!) should eradicate the problem completely!!!! I mean some of the old "crunchiness" is coming back for the instability but I don't feel the same kind of pain that I did before. Of course, that may all change after I spend the night in a sleeping bag on the floor of The Cradle of Aviation Museum with my twins' Cub Scout Troop! It could be worse, I could be spending my seventh week of sleeping on the ground and in all conditions at Occupy Wall Street!!!! I have a friend who has been there for a while (kudos to you Laurelle!) and while I agree with their message, I hope that someone really hears them and acts upon it - sort of like I'm hoping someone will hear me and act upon our mission to cross America on bicycle to help change the lives of eight children!

So that's where we are dear readers. Its Friday, I'm heading out on my bike to go join my boys for an evening of fun at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, the sun is shining, its 52 degrees and there is a 23 mph wind blowing in from the North (okay, that parts not so good). But in the words of Mr. Weenie, "I FEEEELLLL ALLLLIVVVVVVEEEEEEE!!!!!!"

So keep the faith, Occupy My Blog, and I'll See You on the Road!!!!

Bionic (sort of?) Cyclist

2011-11-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

Before I go into today's long overdue post I just want to get something off my chest, and please forgive me for shouting - THIS BLOG HAS HAD OVER 9,000 VIEWS!!!!!!!!!! I want to thank each and every one of you who has ever read and/or viewed my blog - it means that what I write is reaching someone.

And now back to the post. Okay, so today I had to go for a "procedure". For those of you who are familiar with Brighton Beach Memoirs you may want to whisper the fact that I have a "condition"

Yes, apparently on top of my "asthma", "reconstructed ankle", and "sleep apnea" I have a "herniated disc" which has necessitated my having a "procedure" called a Lumbar Spine Epidoral Cortizone Steroid Injection (it sounds so much better when you whisper it);

Apparently, my "condition" is not that unusual in men ages 30 - 50 (although I think my doctor said something about 70% of men may experience one age 35+) and only a small percentage of patients (something like 10%) will need corrective surgery. So, I don't need surgery but I'm having this "procedure".

Now, I've known about it for a few weeks but we only scheduled it a week ago which sort of sucks because it means all of those wonderful anti-inflammatory drugs that were keeping my "condition" in check started wearing off. Apparently, anti-inflammatories are cummulative (which is why we have to take them twice a day for like ever) so since I stopped taking them I've been feeling the pain pretty much all the time. As a matter of fact, yesterday I walked into the main office at school and my Assistant Principal said, "what's wrong, you look like shit!" - ahhhhh, you have to love Ray Gessner.

So all the research and studies seem to indicate that after my shot I should feel much better. It should at least relieve the tightness in the muscles of my lower back and right gluteous maximus (latin for big butt) that I feel fairly constantly. So the big question is will it turn me into the Steve Austin of cyclists?

Well, probably not. But I should be better, stronger, faster than I have been in a long, long while.

Of course, we're really not sure what caused it so I can't really say for sure how to keep it from happening again. One theory is that is simply a genetic break down of my spine (apparently I also have something called sacralization and a fairly sizeable cyst that is also pressing against the nerve - they're going to try to aspirate that as well today). Another possibility is that whatever preexisting condition I had was exascerbated by my accident and that earlier this year (February to be exact) I had gone to visit my good friend Dr. Scott Torns and he thought I might have some damage in my L4 - L5 area. Well, it turns out he was right (he's really very brilliant and if you need a chiropractor on Long Island I would say GO TO HIM!) and there is a lot going on in that area.

But I prefer to look at the glass half full;

(Ahhh, that which nourishes all!)

and I feel like this is going to take care of a myriad of problems. With any luck I'll be spry and fit and raring to go. Which is a really good thing since this back has to hold up under 3600 miles of travel on a bicycle this summer!

Well, I'm off to St. Catherine's now - I'll finish this post when I get back.

So I'm back - okay, pun intended. I'm a bit loopy right now so if I go off on a random tangent, or at least more random than usual, its the medication not me.

Before we left we had a few errands to run and thinking that I would have lots of time on my hands at the hospital I got a new book at the library. It's called My Thoughts Be Bloody and it takes an in-depth look at the fued between John Wilkes Booth and his brother Edwin and how their rivalry helped drive JWB into his assination of Abraham Lincoln. Its part theatre history, part American history, and part history geek out! Since I love all three areas I was in heaven!

We got there early and of course, owing to my unerring sense of direction, promptly went to the wrong place. Thank God my sister Alina bought me the Garmin GPS unit for my bike - with my sense of navigation I could end up in Utah during the cross country and that would be WAAAAAYYYYY out of the way!

Anyway we got to the right place and got all checked in and barely had time to get down to reading before I was called in. Now I was all prepared for a quick in and out since I had watched the video above. And then the admitting nurse asked me if I wanted anesthesia. Now I hadn't planned on it, especially since the only time I've had it in the past it left me realllllllllllyyyyyyyy loopy. I think it caused me to slightly hallucinate the first time as you may remember from this post. So I was a little reticent but since they were going to also try to aspirate a cycst that the doctor thinks might be pushing against a nerve in my spinal column she STRONGLY suggested I have the "twilight" as she called it. Turns out she was right.

Anyway, after he came and marked on my back, I got to read a little bit and found out that JWB's father was a famous actor from London who was married (and Jewish) but who ran away with a young girl to America (influenced as he was by the writings of Percey Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron). They would never be able to be married but could start a new life in America. Then they wheeled me into the room.

To save all the gory details (see video above) they anesthetized me and the loopiness began in earnest! I never went out, I was in this hazy, fuzzy stage but I still felt some twinges of pain when the needle went in and the injection went in, and he tried to aspirate (unsuccessfully) the cyst. It was all over in about 20 minutes and they wheeled me back out where I tried to read some more but fell asleep.

Now I'm just dealing with a potential "epidural headache" perhaps caused by them having to go so deep to (unsuccessfully) aspirate the cyst. But I can say that for now my back feels better!!!! I may never be doing this;

Nor, with my newly reconstituted back which is free from pain will I quite be as mechanically efficient as this;

of course, in my wildest dreams it would be amazing to be able to ride like either one of these guys (for those of you who don't know, they are the infamous Schleck brothers);

But what it does give me is new hope that I won't have my herniated disc explode somewhere in the middle of Kansas and have to abandon the Connor's Army Cross Country Ride for Sunrise!

I have some really great news coming on that front! It looks like we'll be able to get some of the student groups at SHS behind us to help fundraise for Sunrise. They can't sponsor Connor's Army (so if ANYONE reading this knows anyone who can help sponsor us on that front) but they can help us towards our goal of $50,000 to send eight children with cancer to the camp.

IF YOU ARE READING THIS, whether its your first time reading my blog or your eighty-fourth time, please help us spread the word. We have donations coming in but its happening slowly. Every little bit counts. If you think about it, one drop of water by itself is not much, but when they combine with other little drops of water they can fill a bucket, a pond, a lake, a sea!

You see (don't you love homonyms) I really do believe in this cause. I'm not doing it to get credit for myself and I'm not doing it so people will write how wonderful I am. I am truly scared of what this journey may do to my body and since I'm a dance teacher/choreographer, my livelihood. But I also realize that helping children have the opportunity to be children without the stigma of being *whispered* "the kid with cancer" is too important not to try.

Unfortunately, between us, Amy and I don't have quite the same family support that other people who start not-for-profit foundations have. Other family groups can band together and call upon their dozens of cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. to help them fundraise, to help them promote the event, to plaster the community with advertising, to get people to use their connections to hold music concert fundraisers, or auctions or raffles or other inventive fundraisers. All Amy and I have are each other and we can't do it alone. We need the bigger global family - we need a village.

So, if you've read this far it tells me that you are part of my cyber family - you do care about what I have to say and what I'm trying to do to help these kids. So I ask you, please take a moment and ask yourself how you can help us help these kids. Its not for the glory, its not for the accolades, its for the kids. Think if it were your own children (present or future) who were going through this, wouldn't you want someone to try and help them?

Sometimes I think the reason we don't get everyone jumping on board is because cancer is not effecting my own family now like it did when I was riding for my sisters and my mom. To me, that's the exact reason we should be helping these children - because but for the grace of God would go we. And my family needs the help of you, my cyber family, to make this happen

So if you've read this far, take some time to write a comment below. Take some time to add our facebook page , invite your friends to do the same. Take some time to become a regular, registered follower of the blog. Take some time to go to https://www.wizevents.com/register/register_add.php?sessid=1809&id=1056 and make a donation, no matter how small it is, to Sunrise on behalf of the Connor's Army Ride Across America.

We are only a small part of the 7,000,000,000 people who inhabit this earth and its up to us to take care of the others - especially the smallest drops of water!

Thank you my friends, stay well and I'll see you on the road (yes, I'm riding tomorrow - because I can).

2003 In Review

2011-10-21T20:10:00.000-07:00

In 2003 I received the inspiration for naming the black steel bicycle that I will be riding from San Diego, CA to Wheatley Heights, NY in the summer of 2012 - "The Black Pearl" and she was unnamed until I saw this beauty flash up on the big screen;

I then made the comparison that like this gorgeous ship under sale, my Pearl wasn't the prettiest bike on the road but she was fast and she could take a beating!

So this brings us back to what else happened in the year 2003;

One of the most important events in the Connor Family history occured in February of 2003 - William and

James were born (at 28 weeks) in the middle of a blizzard! And so began the crazy journey of raising

twins! Our family would never be the same again but I wouldn't change it for the world!

The fall of 2003 saw me begin my sixth year of teaching at Syosset High School.

The summer of 2003 was (unebeknownst to me at the time) my last year of directing at Usdan Center

for the Creative and Performing Arts. (Boy do I miss that place and all my friends there - yes, I'm talking

about you Eric Baum!)

The spring of 2003 saw us bring to the SHS stage an amazing production of Macbeth with Alex Numeroff (a

young lady) as Macbeth and Jackie Silvestri as Lady Macbeth.

But what was happening in the world around us back then? Here is a potpourri of US and World Events to remind you;

(Elevated home in Belhaven, NC - 2003)

For starters, here's how much things cost;

How Much things cost in 2003

Average Cost of new house $246,300.00

Average Median Income $45,016.00

Cost of a gallon of Gas $1.83 (to quote Adolfo from The Drowsy Chaperone - WHAAAAAATTTT?)

(Making Muppets Adult Friendly for All!)

Because I teach Theatre, here are the shows that opened on Broadway in 2003 (click here for a link that will provide links to all these shows);

Anna in the Tropics
Avenue Q
Big River
The Boy from Oz
The Caretaker
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Golda's Balcony
Henry IV
I Am my Own Wife
Laughing Room Only
Little Shop of Horrors
Master Harold and the Boys
Never Gonna Dance
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells it All
Retreat from Moscow
Sexaholix...(A Love Story)
Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks
Taboo
The Violet Hour
Wicked
Wonderful Town

And as a teacher of Theatre, I'm ashamed to say that I saw less than a quarter of those shows. Of course, with the boys being quarantined in the house until June, its no wonder that we didn't get out much. Of these (and yes, I know I'm about to commit a sacriligeous act here) my favorite of that season was Avenue Q - sorry all of your fans of Wicked. I guess you'll just have to sing this little ditty;

And what else happened in the world around us in 2003? I'm glad you asked. You can click here for an in-depth, almost daily rendering of what went on in that great year. However, for the time-crunched amongst us, here are some of the highlights in no particular order;

(NOTE: this video really doesn't have anything in PARTICULAR to do with the events of 2003, it just is a whimsical look at how consumerism is driven by politics)

World Events 2003

•The new United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation
•United States plans for an invasion of Iraq due to an imminent threat from weapons of mass destruction
•The United States and the United Kingdom start with their shock and awe campaign with a massive air strikes on military targets in Baghdad before the invasion of Iraq by Land Forces.
•Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, is captured in Tikrit by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.
•A major severe weather outbreak spawned more tornadoes than any week in U.S. history. 393 tornadoes were reported in 19 states
•Earthquake in Boumerdès region of northern Algeria - 2,200 killed
•Lance Armstrong wins his fifth Tour De France
•Do Not Call List starts providing consumers with an opportunity to limit telemarketing calls.
•Armed undercover "sky marshals" are used on Aircraft to prevent terrorist attacks following 9/11
•Americans rename "French Fries" to "Freedom Fries" in protest to France's stand on Iraq
•Toyota overtakes Chrysler to get the number three slot in US Car Sales
•Ex-soldier John Muhammad is found guilty of the Washington sniper shootings
•10's of thousands of Harley Owners gather in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to celebrate 100 years of Harley-Davidson Motor Cycles.
•The last old-style Volkswagen Beetle rolls off its production line in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
•Italy suffers a near countrywide blackout when electricity supplies fail
•The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK - 38.5°C (101.3°F) at Brogdale near Faversham in Kent
•A car bomb attack in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq has left nearly 100 dead including a leading Shia Muslim politician Ayatollah Hakim.
•Voters recall Governor Gray Davis from office and elect Arnold Schwarzenegger to succeed him.
•The wanted terrorist Abul Abbas is captured in Baghdad
•Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch is amongst those captured US Troops free her 9 days later
•A massive earthquake devastates southeastern Iran. Over 40,000 killed
•In France a 104 degree heat wave kills approximately 5,000
•Dafur Rebels begin attacking Sudanese government targets, bringing a swift military and police campaign to Darfur causing millions to flee their homes.
•President George W. Bush on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln announces major combat in Iraq is over
•US Interest Rates at 45 year record low of 1% and core inflation rate of 37 year record low 1.3%
•Justice Roy Moore, is suspended when he refused to take down the Ten Commandments from an Alabama state justice building.
•Hurricane Isabel claims 40 lives and leaves six million people without power
•Kyoto Protocol in danger of failing following International Climate Conference in Moscow
•Terrorists bomb the United Nations Baghdad Headquarters
•Terrorists from Al-Qaeda drive two trucks packed with explosives and bombs into the Bet Israel and Neve Shalom synagogues in Istanbul, Turkey killing 27
•Suicide bomb attacks on British interests in the Turkish city of Istanbul kill 27 and injure 400

(to keep this in the bicycle theme, I was actually riding home from Usdan to Smithtwon as this was happening. I was riding on Jericho Turnpike and I couls see the traffic lights slowly going out down the road in front of me - one by one.)

Technology 2003

•The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry, killing all seven astronauts onboard.
•The highly infectious disease SARS ( Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ) spreads from China, Singapore and Vietnam, Worldwide nearly 9,000 People are effected in 15 countries and over 800 die from the effects.
•Human Genome Project successfully completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy.
•Secretary of State Colin Powell urges the U.N. Security Council to move against Iraq due to possession of weapons of mass destruction
•In the biggest blackout in the history of the north America some 50 million people in the northeastern states of US and southern Canada lose power.
•The birth of Prometea, the first cloned horse by Italian scientists.
•The space probe Galileo makes a fiery dive into Jupitors atmosphere it was launched in 1989 and is one of the most successful NASA Projects.
•Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic travel to a close, at least for the time being
•Libya agrees to give Up Chemical Weapons
•Concerns continue to grow over possible Asian bird flu outbreak also known as avian influenza

(One of the original commercials used by Apple in 2003 to launch iTunes)

Popular Culture 2003

•The ABC's 20/20 airs the controversial Granada Television documentary Living with Michael Jackson
•Keiko the Orca made famous by the "Free Willy" movies, dies
•The Recording Industry Association of America (or RIAA) files copyright lawsuits against Internet users for trading songs online
•Apple launches Itunes which becomes a major success selling 10 million songs within 4 months of launch
•A white tiger attacks Roy Horn of the duo "Siegfried & Roy" leaving him partially paralyzed
•Michael Jackson is booked on suspicion of multiple counts of child molestation ( later acquitted )
•JK Rowling's fifth Harry Potter book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is released

(There were so many incredible movies this year but my kids love this scene and so do I!!!)

Popular Films

•The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
•Finding Nemo
•The Matrix Reloaded
•Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
•Bruce Almighty
•The Last Samurai
•Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
•The Matrix Revolutions
•X2: X-Men United
•Bad Boys II
•Lost in Translation

Popular Musicians

•Amanda Perez
•Elton John
•Beyoncé
•Christina Aguilera
•Travis
•David Gray
•Limp Bizkit
•Evanescence
•Coldplay
•Sheryl Crow
•Hilary Duff
•Norah Jones
•blink-182
•Pink
•Shania Twain
•Madonna
•Avril Lavigne
•50 Cent
•Clay Aiken
•Kylie Minogue
•Stereophonics
•Kelly Clarkson
•Blur
•Ashanti
•Fleetwood Mac
•Eminem
•Nelly
•P. Diddy

Of course this is only a small sampling of what happened, there were still so much more that went on in the world in 2003. But isn't it fun to go back and walk down memory lane and remember? To say to oneself, "oh, right, I remember that!"

But why this walk down the memory lane of 2003?

TODAY I HIT 2003 MILES ON MY ODOMETER!!!!!!!

Yes, Connor's Army fans, I have already ridden over 2000 miles on my bicycle and its only the middle of October!!!! I have ten more weeks of riding to do. If by some miracle of modern time-crunchedness I am able to ride an average of 160 miles a week (I really don't think that's possible) I will be able to ride 3600 miles this year - the same amount that I will be riding across the country this year. Basically the route we will take will look something like this;

This is the actual route that I created on Google Maps. It looks like it would be doable since I programmed it in using the bicycle directions feature.
I am feeling much more optimistic about the ride now. I know that I'm committed to finishing what I started (and some people think I should be committed for doing what I'm doing). But I do still feel frustrated because I can't seem to get the support. I see people everywhere starting wonderful foundations for their family members and entire communities getting on board to support them. Yet, I can't even get my school community on board with it.

Now granted, I haven't tried to get my ACTers really into fundraising for this because of the entire political aspect of it. I don't want to have any kid put into the position of things being said behind their back that the only reason they got a role was becuase they (or their parents) gave a lot to Connor's Army and to the cross country trip. I would NEVER allow anything like that to enter into my casting of a role. Accusations like that were made in the past which is why I'm really not leaning on those kids for help.

However, I am going to start appealing to the other clubs at school for their help in fundraising for this. They fundraise for a variety of other charities. I'll let Breast Cancer month wind down and then I'll ask for their help. Its the only way I can think of doing this.

In the meantime, I've sold about $250 in bicycles through what I'm calling RECycle for Sunrise. I take used bikes that have been donated or that I find in the trash and I refurbish them. I then place them out in my yard and/or list them on Craigslist. So far I've sold two kids bike, a ten-speed racer, and three mountain bikes with more on the way. If I have to do that to get the money I need to pay for the cross country then I'll do that.

But there are some former ACT alumni who have really been so incredibly supportive in these endeavors. Mel Mednick helped organize a comedy improv night to help raise money for Connor's Army last spring. This fall Jamie Blanch and her fellow warriors at UNO Fights Cancer have held bake sales and are selling ribbons to help raise money for Connor's Army and ACS. I am so incredibly grateful to them because it does remind me that people out there do care about what I'm trying to do for these kids and believe that I can make the 3600 miles to bring some attention (and hopefully donations) to Sunrise Day Camp.

If anyone else out there wants to help organize a fundraising event either here or where you are at school (ALUMNI PLEEEEEAAAASSSSSSEEEEEEE???????) let me know and I'll do all I can to help you. Remember - its for the kids of Sunrise!!!!!

Stay well and I will continue to see you on the road!!!!!!

Hmmmm, Should I Have Some Biscotti With that Venti(ng)?

2011-10-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite teacher movies is The Dead Poet's Society. Granted, its no Goodbye, Mr. Chips but it does have an incredible scene (there are so many) in which Robin Williams' character (John Keating) works to instill in one of his young charges (Neil) that he does indeed have a poet within him;

He is, of course (for the learned amongst you), referring to Walth Whitman's masterwork "Song of Myself" and the 52nd "stanza" which reads;

The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my loitering.

I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

The last scud of day holds back for me,
It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow’d wilds,
It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.

I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.

I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.

Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.

To read this in its entirety, you only need to click here.
Or to use the Dr. Seuss version (you can fast forward to 9:09 for this one);

Although I do like the updated version of this classic (especially Carol Burnett's treatment of the Sour Kangaroo) and the Broadway version of Seussical: The Musical, there is just something so timeless and classic about the original animated version.

So I need to vent. It may be just the frustration of wanting to be heard, or it may be born out of the need to let out a mighty Yawp in the manner of Walt Whitman and be counted but I need to vent about what's going on with Connor's Army.
You see, A New York Times writer is riding cross country to retrace a trip he took 18 years ago. He has a blog which I have to admit is much better than mine - hey, he's a professional writer, it had better be. But he is also making his trek on a custom-made titanium road bike with flat handlebars, he's only staying in hotels, and he's getting all the exposure that working for one of the most well-known newspapers in the world can bring.

Its all well and good that a single person is making a cross country trek on a bicycle. Thousands do it every year, many for charitable groups. But what is so damn infuriating is that this person is getting so much coverage when he is doing it for purely selfish reasons. It seems as if this is his way of expressing his mid-life crisis. Now granted, he does admit that he has some physical ailments that will make this less than ideally comfortable and I truly feel for him. However, as I ask my acting students all of the time, what is his motivation?

Now I don't want this to just be a pity party for one. Yes, perhaps I am experiencing a little of the sour grapes syndrome:

As our cousins the Girls of the Golden Afternoon would say, "ewwwwwwww"

and I do know the old story of Aesop's fox and the grapes;

One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: "I am sure they are sour."

Moral: It is easy to despise what you cannot get.

And maybe to and extent that is what this is - I am belittling his physical efforts and discomfort because I cannot get the coverage. But it is just so damn frustrating to wish to do something to help others and not be able to get anyone else interested.

You see, part of the problem seems to stem from the fact that I'm not doing this because (God forbid) something has happened to one of my children or one of my family members. It just feels like because I am doing this for altruistic reasons, no one wants to help. To date we have NO DONATIONS that have been made to the link at Sunrise, I can't seem to get to the 1,000 mark on facebook (however, you can like us by clicking the link to the right), I can't seem to get any more sponsors to commit to help underwrite the costs that this trip will entail, and I can't seem to get any press coverage except for the articles that Amy and I wrote for The Bicycle Times.

WHAT GIVES??????????

I am soooooo grateful to all of you who have actually viewed these blog entries. Even though I only have 52 followers, I can see that I have had over 8100 views since I've started this blog. I truly would like to thank each and every one of you who has read this far, not only the continuing blog but this particular entry, and I would like to ask you for your help.

You see, my family is spread far and wide and some of them still continue to deal with health issues. To ask them to go beyond what they've already been able to do to support me is just not feasible right now. The only people working on this enterprise are my wife Amy and myself. We don't have a staff, we don't have a huge network of friends who are making calls and soliciting donations for us - all we have is the two of us trying to make this happen and in doing so make an incredible summer possible for eight children that we may never even meet.

HOW CAN THOSE OF YOU READING THIS HELP?

I am throwing out a challenge to The New York Times, The Daily News, Newsday, USA Today and/or any other big newspaper companies out there. They've covered the elite people who ride cross country and have huge budgets and support teams. Phil Keoghan of the Amazing Race did a cross country ride for MS - and I don't want to denigrate from his noble deed. But if you look at his equipment, his chase vehicle and all the other support he has its not all that arduous.

I would like to challenge The New York Times, The Daily News, Newsday, USA Today and/or any other big newspaper out there to cover me during my preparation time and during the cross country ride next summer! I will give them an exclusive daily blog and I will cover step by step the entire logistics planning, training and the journey itself. I am not doing this trip on a custom titanium frame or on a Trek bike donated to me by the company. I am riding cross country on a Diamondback frame I dug out of the trash (I've contacted Diamondback and they won't even sponsor me) and with parts I have bought off of Craig's List, Ebay, Internet companies and/or pilfered from other bikes I have found.

I would like to challnege The New York Times, The Daily News, Newsday, USA Today and/or any other big newspaper to cover a REAL person riding cross country to help others.

How can you help? If you have any connections to any of these papers or if you know anyone who has connections to any of these companies, pass on my challenge to them. See if they are willing to see what REAL people are willing to do to help others, isn't that the entire point of giving? I don't want the publicity for me (and that seems to be the double edged sword here) - I want to publicize Sunrise and make people aware of the camp and one way they can give - by pledging to Connor's Army CX.

Is it sour grapes? Yes and no. I'm sour because it doesn't seem fair that the only people who can get coverage for their causes are the well connected or the famous. When does the average guy get the chance? Isn't helping children with cancer forget about their disease for a summer a worthy cause too?

Yet We Go On.....

Becuase that's what we'll do. Although we can't seem to attract sponsors and no one is donating, the ride WILL be happening. We hope that once people hear about it they'll be moved in their hearts to spare 5, 10, 15 or 20 dollars - with enough donors we can reach our goal. If we can just get 2500 people from across the country to each give 20 dollars, eight children's lives will be changed forever - and isn't that worth the challenge.

So if you have any connections to papers or sponsors please let us know, the bike is ready, I'm getting ready, all we need is the funds for the kids.

Okay, enough Venti(ng) for now, I promise!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

Back in the Saddle (Yet Again)!

2011-09-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who know me well, you know that I am a transplanted Texan. Even though I haven't lived there in 20 years (that would be twenty years this October), I still consider myself FROM Texas - Rick Perry and his pig-headedness notwithstanding. And, despite the fact that I didn't live my whole life from there - in actually my father got stationed there while I was in high school and I graduated from C.E. Ellison high school with my friend James Deane (yes, that's right James Deane - a tall, thin red head who wanted to be an architect).

But there is one thing I have learned from one of my all-time favorite movies and that is, YOU CHOOSE WHO YOU WANT TO BE!

Or in an even more powerful version of the same message from this movie (sorry, it wouldn't let me embed this one);
http://youtu.be/YX5IOAoPt2A

or put even another way, there is this montage from some of the best movies of all time (including early Harry Potter when Peter O'Toole was still Dumbledore) which is entitled "Words of Wisdom from the Movies";

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, we all make choices in life - I choose to still call myself a transplanted Texan since I did graduate from a Texas High School and a great Texas college - Southern Methodist University - home of the Mustangs!

I also choose to ride my bike. When I was a kid I rode it for the sheer joy of it all, to get away, to taste freedom - the wind in my hair, the bugs in my teeth, the asphalt in my skin after a particularly spectacular crash! Then in high school (while dad was stationed in Germany) my friends and I did it to explore, often ranging abroad for days exploring the European countryside. When I moved to Texas I still rode my bike everywhere which made me somewhat of an oddity (okay, even odder than I already was) since everyone else of junior and senior age was driving by then. I was one of the only ones I knew who rode the big yellow limousine to school on a regular basis.

I stopped riding for a long time after that, not taking it up again until I lived in New Jersey and I often rode my bike to my job at Overpeck Stables in Leonia, NJ. That's right, I was a stable boy. Which is funny because even though I considered myself from Texas I had never really ridden a horse before. I got that chance at Overpeck, although I mainly stuck to the theme and only rode Western style. But I did get to take care of horse, mainly recuperating racehorses, and managed to get stomped on, dragged, shoved against the side of stalls and even peed on (yes, by a mare in heat - that was a fun day!) by various horses in the eight or so months that I worked there. I had a car but whenever I could I would ride my bike since it was only ten miles or so. Due to various reasons, I moved back to Texas but sold my bike when I left New Jersey. It would be three years before I would ride again.

I chose to ride again because I sold my car (due to the fact I was living on campus and parking was a nightmare) and I got a Peugot hybrid which I loved. It was the first new bike I had ever owned since I was a kid. I rode it fairly religiously for about eight months before it was stolen from out in front of where I worked. I ended up buying a Volkswagen Beetle (in which I once transported Paul Taylor and a couple of members of his company - long story!) which I drove until I moved back to New York to pursue my dream of being a dancer. At that point I pretty much stopped riding since I didn't want to injure myself and thereby deprive myself of my livelihood.

Flash forward to eleven years ago. I had found an old Miyata Triplecross hybrid bike at a garage sale for $50. It was a bit big for me and it only had 18 speeds and flat handlebars but for me it was a great deal. I bought it and started riding again around the streets of Smithtown where I was living. We would put Sarah to sleep at about 5:00 in the evening and I would go and ride for an hour or so. I gradually decided I wanted to start seriously riding again so I started scouring ebay, craigslist and the internet and got cycling shoes, clipless pedals, cycling shorts, cycling jerseys and started upgrading the bike. I started riding it occasionally to work at Usdan in the summers much to my wife's chagrin (since I was riding on 25A for about 10 miles - a place second only in safety to the Boulevard of Death in Queens).

I never really commuted from Smithtown to Syosset on my bike but once I moved to Northport (only 15 miles away) three years later, I gave it a shot once or twice. It was then that fate stepped in and saw me through, so to speak;

It just so happened that I got into a car accident at the corner of Pulaski and Lennox Avenue in Huntington Station. My car would be out of commission for at least two weeks (it turned out to be three) and so I had to either figure out a way to get a ride to and from work every day or I would have to ride - and that began my love affair with the two-wheeler all over again.

I eventually found an old Diamondback Allure frame lying in the trash and put drop bars on and upgraded my pedals until I had my current Frankenbike which I affectionately call Black Pearl. With Pearl I rode 2,000 commuting miles between Syosset and Northport in the 2007 calendar year and raised $13,000 for the American Cancer Society. Then I used some Christmakuh money and gift cards from my birthday to buy myself a new frame and I was off to the races. Well, not literally. I still don't have the time to really train to race and as it stands now with my herniated disc I don't think I will (but that's another story). I've had some guys that I used to ride with very nicely tell me I should race but that was when I was in a bit better shape than I am now - although today I felt AWESOME!

So what all this preamble is basically to say is that I have chosen to be a cyclist just as I have chosen to be a transplanted Texan. And I like to ride just to ride - it clears my head, it pushes my body, it makes me feel alive, and sometimes it helps me deal with what can sometimes be overpowering emotions such as the passing of my brother David. But most of all it has become part of who I am, much like it was when I was a kid. I ride because it gives me a feeling of freedom that can't be matched. Don't get me wrong - I love to dance and I love when I can perform a particular difficult piece of choreography and put emotion into it. But bombing down a hill at 50 miles an hour (shhhhh, don't tell my wife) makes me feel as close as I can to actually flying.

Most of the time I ride by myself as part of my commute or I get up early in the morning (6:30 ish) and ride for two hours while the family is slowly stirring on the weekends. I don't ride with the club as much anymore simply because leaving at 8:00, 8:30, or 9:00 (depending on the time of the year) is just too late in the day. By the time I get to the meeting point, ride the 50 miles with the group, and then get home, five hours has passed and its now in the afternoon - the entire day is shot. So I end up riding alone. I don't really get to push myself as much but I get the miles in (1800 so far this year).

Today was different - today I got to get back in the saddle and ride with a pack - albeit a small one! David Steinberg is a science teacher at good old SHS and he is also the advisor to the bike club. Although they generally do almost all mountain bike rides, he and another colleague from school, Mike Borra, had decided to do a flat century ride this year and so David asked my advice about a road bike. I, of course, sent him to Adams Cyclery. Chuck got him set up and apparently he had been riding all summer and dropped fifteen pounds (the bastard!). He had mentioned that he was going to be riding with some friends today at 6:30 in the morning. I asked if I could join them and he said sure.

The only problem was that today was also the Cow Harbor Race which meant the roads would be closed down about 8:30 in the morning so I would have to ride to the meeting place. Which meant getting up at 5:15 IN THE MORNING on a Saturday! Am I crazy or what?????? I got a good night's sleep (okay seven hours which for me is a long sleep) which still left me feeling much like this:

(Just a few minutes more......)

Now, I had pretty much prepared everything I would need for cycling at this ungodly hour the night before. I even fully hydrated and put out all my clothing and lubed my bike and made sure everything was adjusted just so. I silently got dressed in the half light, put the bike outside after making sure the tires were properly inflated and checked to see that everything was in order. I then proceeded to get a little jolt of caffeine (shhhhh, don't tell my wife since I've been decaffeinated since Augsts) which becuase I haven't been partaking left me feeling something like this;

Ahhhhh, I have to admit it may be healthier to be decaffeinated but I do love my jolt!

So I suited up and headed out the door into the dark! It was great. I truly love riding at this time of day when there are hardly any cars on the road and it truly feels as if the entire road system belongs to me. I had carefully looked at mapquest the day before and knew where the road was located and lo and behold it was closer than Sunrise - which is where I had made many rides during the summer. It should have been a piece of cake.

And then God laughed. I was lost. The turn to the road was not where I thought it was supposed to be!!!! Fortunately, my sister had purchased a Garmin Edge 705 for me which looks like this;

She bought it for me as a type of sponsorship for the cross country ride - to make sure I don't get lost in the middle of the desert! Well, I wasn't in the middle of the desert but it was dark and I had no clue where I was. It was then that the combined effort of Sts. Christopher (patron saint of travelers and Motorists), Madonna del Ghisallo (patron saint of cyclists) and Isidore (patron saint of technology) kicked in and I thought of my GPS unit! I punched in the address of where I was supposed to meet them and lo and behold it showed me the way. And I got there just in time to meet them coming down the street - and I thanked God (and the saints) for GPS!!!!!!

I soon found out that I was riding with six other gentlemen, Dave Steinberg (who I knew) and five others I didn't know but found out that one was planning on riding 120 miles that day to train for an upcoming Ironman competition, another gentleman who had competed in an endurance event (where you ride for 24 hours) and a wiley and wirey older gentleman who obvious had game. Dave pretty much played the role of rabbit and we all chased after him, pretty much averaging 20 mph the entire time. Dave is an avid and experienced mountain biker (think Floyd Landis without all the races and without the testosterone patch) so he had the legs that day and was eager to stretch them. I can't say I stayed on his wheel the entire time but I never got dropped off the back! And for me that is a minor victory!

However all good things must end and this outing with the boys had to end at about 7:40 in the morning for me. I looked at my GPS and realized that with the mileage I had already put in I had already logged 30 miles (and thought with a smile that the group I usually rode with at HBC hadn't even left yet) and I found myself in Smithtown (about 20 miles from Northport by the route I had in mind) so I thanked the boys for a great ride and headed home. I pedaled like there was no tomorrow to try to get home before the roads closed at 8:30!

I managed to get back to Northport at 8:20 and I hit the Dunkin' Donuts to bring home a treat for my sleepy family! Nothing to sate you like some donuts and coffee after a loooong hard ride! Forget about runs, America Rides on Dunkin'!!!!! Of course since it was 1/4 from the start of the race it was packed with racers and family members caffeinating themselves beforehand.

I wove my way through the racers who were prepping for their race and I managed to get myself back in time to watch the race - and grab some more coffee! Just in time to start watching the people run their race! I was impressed with the times but hey, I already did my workout!

So I'm anxious to find more guys to ride with! If there are any of you out there on Long Island who want to go for a spin, drop me a line. Even if I don't race - I'm a cyclist, because I am who I choose to be! And I feel confident that I can keep this progression and get more and more in shape to be ready to cross the good old U.S. of A. on the Black Pearl - especially since I don't have to do it at 20 mph!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

10 Years After

2011-09-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago the unimaginable happened - individuals who held an intense hatred for our country decided to use jet planes filled with passengers to kill even more people! Their intent was to demoralize the American people and force us to acquiesce to their demands - whatever those demands might be. They held a deep seated hatred for our freedoms and for a system of government that allowed people to determine (at least to a large extent) their own destinies - even if that determination was in a completely secular fashion.

Religious belief is a wonderful thing. It can help us make sense out of our world, it can explain the mysteries of the cosmos, it can even bring peace to us at the end of our days. What it can't and should not do is determine the entire zeitgeist of the world - particularly through the murders (and let's be serious here, that's all it was) of thousands of innocent people.

The title of this particular entry is Ten Years After and long ago there was an incredible band by the name of "Ten Years After". Actually, technically there name was Alvin Lee and Ten Years After. Anyway, about 40 years ago they recorded a song entitled, "I'd Like to Change the World". While some of the lyrices of this song are completely out of place ("Dykes and Fairies" really is no longer appropriate unless you are using the words to refer to yourself as we are reminded by Father Roger Schmidt in The Laramie Project ) but so much of the rest of the song could have been written today. Its funny how 40 years ago, the sentiments coming out of the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, The Oil Embargoes, and the Recession of the early 70's could still be applied today;

Ten years after what can truly be considered a cathartic moment for our nation, so much has left to be done in our country. We are facing the biggest economic crisis in decades, our government is disfunctional, the unemployment rate is reaching astronomical proportions, and yet we are still embroiled in the blame game. We even have people who wish to perpetuate the idae that this disaster was either staged or was somehow cuased by the U.S. Government in order to start a war against Islam. Well for those of you who believe it was staged just remember these images;

9/11 will be for our generation what Pearl Harbor was for our grandparents and Kennedy's assasination was for our parents - we will always know where we were and what we were doing when we got the word of this tragedy.

For me, I was in a Production Practicum class in the Little Theatre with Megha Nabe, Katherine O'Connor, Megan Taggart, Jordan Ross and some other students whose names are slipping my memory right now. This was in the time before EVERYONE (at least not me) had cell phones or smart phones so we weren't really sure what was happening. My office is right off the Little Theatre so I became aware that someone was trying to call me and the phone kept ringing. I finally excused myseflf from the class and answered the phone.

It was Amy and she was in hysterics. She was watching it all unfold on our television at home and she couldn't believe what was happening. We had friends (Lauren and her husband David) who lived down in Batery Park and I had been working in 1 WTC only a few years ago for a little while because Goldman Sachs had kep an office there and I would sometimes have to go over there for my boss. Now it was on fire and we didn't know what was going on with our friends.

And then she called later to tell me the second one had hit and it was clear it was on purpose. A few of my kids had phones and started getting calls. Right then and there the lesson was out the window and we started talking about what we knew. Then she called again, the first tower had fallen. I remember her being in hysterics and some of the kids as well becuase they had just gotten updates. And then the second tower fell and we were struck by all the devestation that had just happened 40 miles away.

This was on a Tuesday morning and the rest of the day there were televisions going on in the faculty cafeteria, the library, every computer in the school was following what was happening. Students were being picked up by fearful parents and everyone just wanted to be home with those they loved. It was a day that was surreal and seemed as if it would never end. But I know that part of what got me through the day until I could go home and be with my wife and my beautiful little girl was the support my theatre kids gave each other those terrible 40 minutes in the Little Theatre and the support they gave me.

Now it is ten years later and there are moments when those fears are still there. I still find myself looking up at airplanes sometimes and wondering if I'm going to see them explode in mid-air or if they will start plummeting towards the ground. Its a strange and terrifying thing to think about and to think that my children - the three of them now - will be growing up in a world in which we seem to be forgetting the lessons learned during that terrible time. Forgetting that what saves us is our ability to pull together, to comfort each other, and to minister to each other in times of need. When we lose our belief in our duty to help others, we lose our humanity. Amy's uncle Arthure Gudeon is just such a man. He never lost his belief in his duty to help others, even though it eventually cost him his health. If you follow this link to the 9/11 Memorial website and the rescue and recovery page, you can find him. Click on his podcast link and hear his story.

I guess thats one of the reasons I want to join the rescue squad at the Northport Fire Department. Its something I've been wanting to do since 9/11 and now that my School District Administration duties are finished I think I might have the time. I want to give back and I want to help others - I guess I always have and its part of why I became a teacher. I think another reason was early on in my teacher studies I read the book To Serve Them All of My Days and to tell the truth, that's really what I think teaching should be about. Its why I work at Sunrise Day Camp and why I want to help those kids by riding my bicycle across the country. If I could only get some people to donate funds to the effort!

Okay, so you knew that it was going to have to come back to riding at some point right? And today, to help me make sense out of my thoughts and feelings of what happened ten years ago I went for a ride. Not a long 50-mile hammerfest mind you. Just a nice 25 mile ride that would help me clear my head, provide me some catharsis, and push me to think how lucky I am to live in a country where I can come home and write down these thoughts and share them with whomever wishes to click on my blog. America is a pretty amazing place. Despite the crazy demonstrations, the crazy politics, the crazy trends and "reality" television shows (for which I sometimes feel bombing us is sort of justified), we live in a country where at the end of the day we can get on our bikes, wear spandex in public and express our displeasure with others by what we wear on our backs.

or maybe we won't ride anything at all;

And yes, in this country we do have that option as one of our freedoms! But rest assured, in eight months when I embark on my 3600 mile journey to raise $50,000 for Sunrise Day Camp by riding my bicycle from San Diego, CA to Wheatley Heights, NY I will be FULLY clothed!

But today, as I rode in my Connor's Army bicycle jersey and watched the sun rising in the West on a new day that is so far removed from that tragic morning ten years ago there was a song playing through my head that was recorded and released about the same time as Ten Year's After's "I'd Like to Change the World". That song is "Imagine" and it kept playing over and over in my head - but never as wonderfully as it sounded as performed by the man who wrote it (who also had a propensity for nudity as well), John Lennon;

And for those of you who still don't get his Liverpudlian accent after all these years, here are some important lyrics to know - the second verse and the chorus):

"Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one."

And those my friends are words to live by. There are worse things that could be repeating themselves in your heads as you ride along!

Stay well and I will see you on the road!

And the World Spins Madly On/To All of Those I've Taught Before

2011-09-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

So I have this song on my iPod that was introduced to me by a former extremely talented student named Heather Burian. She choreographed an end of the year project that included this song as part of the mix and she made a cd for me that included the entire version. The name of the song is "The World Spins Madly On" and its by a group called the Weepies;

Today I listened to it as I rode my bike to school. Its the first day of school and as has become my custom in the last few years, I ride the first day. Today it was raining but I just bundled up in my plastic shell (its sort of like magic shell, just not as chocolatey) and headed out the door.

The ride was great (although squishy) and I arrived at school in time to dry myself off before I went into the Little Theater - the traditional early morning meeting place for members of the Association of Creative Thespians - our school drama club.

And I was immediately slapped in the face as surely and as palpably as if someone had done it like this;

What caused this incredible slap to the face? The realization that the incredible young people I have watched grow, mature, blossom and soar with their incredible talent have gone off to bigger and better things (college). As a teacher of now 15 years, I have never gotten used to this first day of seeing familiar faces, but not ALL the familiar faces. Even the absence of the summer never really takes the edge off and this day always leaves me with a gaping hole in my heart.

And I see in my classes and in the hallways the new crop of actors that will come up in the next few years - the newest Phil Rosenberg, Emily Feinstein, Ally Grossman, Alex Mogil, Ally Giorgio, Jaimee Diamond, Erin Edelstein (or Edelle as she calls herself), Catherine Woodard, Louis Hatzipetrakos (see I can still spell it!), Dan Incalcaterra, Andrew Rubino, Megah Nabe, Jordan Ross, Katherine O'Connor, Jared Morgenstern, Caryn Lewi, Lyndsey Staib, Stephanie Israelson, Jillian Feinstein, Martina Bonolis, Robin Sutker, Alex Green, and so many others (please don't be offeneded if I didn't list your name here - after 15 years there have been so many of you!).

But these newest editions (call them ACT 15.0 if you will) can never replace those that have gone before. And then there are those former ACTers who can never be repeated because of their singular place in my heart: the entire graduating class of 1998 (my first ACT grads ever); the graduating class of 2000 (who made a huge banner for me congratulating me on my tenure!); the entire ACT group from 2001-2002 (those of us who pulled together and tried to make sense of 9/11); the graduating class of 2004 as we put together an awesome season of The Man Who Came to Dinner, West Side Story, and Romeo and Juliet; The Casts of the Laramie Project (both versions); the ACTers of 2007-2008 who were so supportive and helpful to me when I reached my goal of 2000 miles for Connor's Army. And I could literally go on and on!

All of these kids who have gone through these halls, performed in the LT, had classes with me and performed on our main stage are indelibly printed in my memory - they are a part of who I am now as a teacher, a director, a person and most importantly a father. I have been blessed over the years to have the best job ever - teaching young people who are so passionate (sometimes too much so) about what they do and who invest themselves (sometimes too much so) in what they do. They put their trust in me that I won't make them look foolish and that I have their best interests at heart. I really do try to do that on a daily basis with them. Often times I am successful but there are those times I am not and those failures on my part also weigh on my heart and soul on days like today. Will this be the year I get it right? Will this be the year that I truly use their talents to the best of their ability? Will this be the year I grow yet again as a teacher, director, father, person? Can I manage to not destroy someone's confidence in their own unique talents and abilities? The questions that weigh on my mind as I face my new charges are a swirling morass of uncertainty.

You have all taught me so much about being a person and following my own passions. Connor's Army came about because you taught me to follow my heart. You have taught me to try to listen to my own children better and be more patient with them and their zaniness. I don't always succeed but becuase you have all loved them so much and have given them such examples of what I hope they can grow up to be, I am reminded daily to be patient with them and help nurture their passions - whatever those passions may be. I may get stretched to the limit becuase of my obligations to ACT but working with you also reminds me every year why I have a family and why I love my wife and children so.

And I do know this - becuase of all of my ACTers who have come into my life I am better than I was, despite my numerous failings (and they are so many). I know that I will have more failings in my life but I do believe in my heart that I am trying to do my best with all of my children and with my ACT kids and that I will always strive to be better. When it comes to the time that I detest my job and I see all of these young, passionate people as mere pains in my ass it will become time to hang up my dance shoes, fold up my director's chair and make use of the School District Administration degree I now have waiting to be framed at home. Once I lose the passion to help these kids be their best, its time to stop.

But for now I still love what I do - I still have the best job at Syosset High School and as I rode Black Pearl home in the drizzle I even relished the feel of the wet rain in my shorts because it reminded me that I am alive, I have a great family at school and I'm headed home to the best family I could ever hope to have - a loving wife, creative and passionate and beautiful children, and a warm, comfortable house. Thank you ACT for making this life possible.

And so I ride my bike on the first day of school and I return home. Some of the faces have changed, and the world spins madly on.

Stay well and I'll see you on the road.

P.S. - If you are a former ACTer and you've made it this far - subscribe to my blog - I do talk about you all quite a bit!

Down With SUVs (With Apologies to the Subset That Aren't Self Absorbed)!

2011-08-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, my apologies to any of my friends and fans (okay, all 52 of you) who might be frustrated by the lack of posting. Forgive me readers for I have sinned and its been three weeks since my last posting. I will now do penance by going off on a long cycling related diatribe that has to do with an incident that happened to me today.

WARNING - SOME OF THE LANGUAGE AND IDEAS IN THE FOLLOWING WHILE NOT PROFANE MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME (ESPECIALLY THOSE OF YOU WHO DRIVE AN SUV) - SORRY!

So today I ws finally able to get back on my bike after a two week absence. The family and I went away to Cooperstown and had a relaxing, rejuvenating and refreshing time! We had the chance to see the Baseball Hall of Fame (Sarah,did so under duress!), The Farmers's Museum (we saw the New York State Carousel and William suffered his first bee sting - ouch!), we played miniature golf (twice - a moral imperative!), visited Howe Caverns (it was SOOO cool and we got some really amazing pictures of geological formations!), we went on a haunted house/sites tour ( (not so scary but very interesting!!!). Overall it was a great time had by all and we got back in time to still have a bit of "vacation" before the start up of school.

So I've been out riding again this week to begin seriously training for the cross country ride. I've been getting into the habit of leaving the house at 6:30 ish since that's realistically the time I'll be leaving when on the road next summer.

Today, however, I left a bit later than usual - about 8:00. I had just started out and I was about 3/4 of a mile from my house, just ready to start a 30 mile psuedo- time trial. I wasn't riding agressively, I was just doing an easy spinning cadence and I was just passing the Administrative buildings of the Northport School district on Laurel Avenue, otherwise known as The Brosnan Building and closing in on the raised crossing by the library when a woman in a large maroon SUV started beeping her horn agressively at me.

Now, I will admit that I was not hugging the shoulder at this point simply becuase there was no shoulder as you can see from the Google Maps Street View here:

View Larger Map

I was actually about two feet from the curb, taking up about a quarter of the lane. Now, despite the fact that there was an intersection coming up in about 30 yards (if you play with the above link and follow the road up you'll see), she decided to race past me missing me by about a foot!

Now you have read posts about my Irish temper and about how I've been working on trying to calm that down. This, however, pissed me off so I decided to sprint after her and see if I could catch her at the light about 100 yards or so up the road. As chance would have it, I did catch her.

Trying to be as calm as I possibly could, I pulled up to the side of her behometh. As I pulled up I noticed that she had flicked out a cigarette from her window and I thought "Oooo, would that ever tick off Sarah!" I regained my compusre enough to ask in my most polite Sourthern manner, Excuse me ma'am. I noticed you were honking at me back there. Was there a problem?" To which she replied, "Yeah, you were startting to take up the lane back there." To which I replied (still maintaining the politness I learned from reading Bicycling Magazine), "Yes, but there was no shoulder and according to New York Stated DMV Law, I can take up the lane if I need to." And here is where I got really pissed off as she retorted, "Just try that next time and see what happens!"

And here is where the Southern Gentleman mentality failed me completely! While outwardly all I said was, "Yes, and I will make sure that I have a lawyer on you so fast you won't know what happened!" Inside I was having serious fantasies about something like this;

or perhaps this;

She then proceeded to peel out and show the ultimately in couth, refinement and tack - she flipped me off! Now I could expect that from a 20-something or even a soccer mom in her 30',s but this was a "mature" woman in her late 50's or early 60"s! Giving up on the idea of chasing her down again, I started to have even more lavish thoughts in my head as I settled in to finish my training ride. Thoughts like this;

Of course, that one would entail her actually using her SUV for what it was intended - CLIMBING THINGS - instedad iof just carrying her big butt around so she can throw cigarette butts out the window!

I also thought of this fantastical possibility - if I only knew how to get a hold of a crane and a tank!!!!;

Instead I just settled into a pedaling groove and the words to this song that I had recently heard kept playing in my head;

Its by a guy named Bill Burnett who also brought us "The Happiest Song in the World" so you know he's not some hate-mongering misanthrope who likes to just rag on people indescrimately;

Of course even if I was alternating between the "Big, Fat Stupid Suv" song and "The Happiest Song in the World", I knew that my mental revenge was in a sense futile because there are way too many of these kind of people out there;

WARNING! THE FOLLOW CONTAINS EXTREMELY MATURE LANGUAGE!
\

It just leaves you feeling like George Castanza in that episode of Seinfeld;

The frustration leads from that fact that as a cyclist people just assume that you're trying to be Lance Armstrong and that you're doing it because you think you're better than them. But there are a lot of us who ride because we enjoy it, and some of us are even riding becuase we're trying to make a difference in this world - helping the lives of others. But if you just follow this link you'll go to a nice YouTube compendium of "I hate cyclists" videos.

And therein lies part of the problem all of us cyclists face - too many of these idiots (male and female) believe we should be on the sidewalks or on the RUNNING paths. This guy even knows the argument that cyclists are subject to th esame laws as motor vehicles and that we are supposed to be on the road but like the other idiots out there, he would much rather just run us over and "teach us a lesson"! As many of you know, I've been hit three times (once fairly badly) and doored once - which ended up with me riding in an ambulance and receiving fifteen stitches. And yet I still get on my bike, despite the lunatics who want to run us off the road.

But why rag on the SUV? Because in my own non-scientic observation its usually the SUVs that are the most agressive towards me. They're the ones that buzz me closer, honk more and (once) throw things out the window at me. And the thing is, most of them seem to be nothing more than glorified mini-vans that have never been used for what they were designed as this scene entitled "SUV Boot Camp" clearly illustrates;

And that fact that so many of these people on facebook who are hating against cyclists seem to also be SUV drivers just seems to add to that. I mean, its bad enough when you get hit by a regular car but against a two ton SUV, what chance do we have. There is a very funny video on YouTube that shows Adolph Hitler ranting against the facebook hate groups that are directed against cyclists. Now don't get me wrong - I AM NOT GLORIFYING ADOLPH HITLER IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM - but the very IRONY of having the most vitriolic hater of all time going into a spittle inducing tirade against those that hate cyclists is pretty damn funny. I couldn't embed it here because the embed code has been disabled but you can follow this link and it should take you right to it!

But, as usual, I have to admit that my wife is right. When I finally finished my 30 mile adrenaline/anger fueled ride at an average speed of 18.5 mph I came home and told her about my confrontation and she immediately launched into "You can't talk to people like that!" And I guess she's right. Think about it, I'm in the middle of nowhere during next summer's cross country ride and some idiot in a large vehicle cuts me off. I finally catch up to them to calmly ask them what I did wrong and they hit me with the damn thing - or worse!

And that's the reason why its important to have a support vehicle during the cross country ride! So my faithful reader, if you've made it this far please do me a very big favor. If you haven't already done so, please go to our facebook page and add us to your likes. We are really trying to get to 1,000 as soon as we can!

The other thing you can do to help us is to go to the web page for our Cross Country ride and donate. It doesn't matter how small, anything you can spare would help us in our goal to make an amazing summer possible for some kids who really need some sunshine in their life!

And lastly, if you haven't already done so, please sign up to be a regular follower of this blog. I will be updating it a lot more frequently now and I will be using this to post pictures, videos and shout outs to all of you when I'm on the road next summer!

So, thank you for reading, thank you for being part of my life, and thank you for making a difference!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

Wedding at the Beach - Song on the Sand!

2011-08-07T22:48:00.000-07:00

(Amy takes an artistic shot!)

So I have now lived in the New York City area for almost 20 years and in all that time I have never been to Coney Island. Of course, the first thing I was confused about was the fact that it was not an island. That was cleared up by this bit of information;
"Coney Island is the westernmost part of the barrier islands of Long Island, about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide. Formerly it was an island, separated from the main part of Brooklyn by Coney Island Creek, which was partially tidal mudflats, but it has since been developed into a peninsula. There were plans early in the 20th century to dredge and straighten the creek as a ship canal, but they were abandoned, and the center of the creek was filled in for construction of the Belt Parkway before World War II. The western and eastern ends are now peninsulas."

Okay, that settles that. If you want to read more about how it got its name and all you can read here. Of course, back in the day

Coney Island was one of THE places to go. The beaches would look something like this;

(Has anyone seen my car keys?)

Although today it looked a little bit more like this;

(Oh, there they are, under this bucket!)

To say it is no longer the hippest place to go (although I did see quite a few hipsters) would be an understatement. Or it could have just been the weather forcast that kept the attendance down.

However, we weren't really there for the beach anyway (although we would have packed for it if the forecast was better). We were here for Pat and Stephen's Final (?) Wedding!!!!!!!

We were incredibly excited but I personally was a bit nervous since Stephen had planned a special surprise for Pat. Certain of the wedding guests would create a verbal Flash Mob and begin singing a section of a song from La Cage Aux Folles called "Song on the Sand". For those of you who don't know it, it sounds like this;

Once I realized it wasn't going to be all of the guests singing I was feeling very conflicting things. On the one hand I was incredibly honored and humbled that I would be asked to do this (although Amy and I only three solo words), and scared to death since I would be doing it in front of people who were still in the business and making their living at it! I mean I haven't done an equity show in how many years? But I do think my voice is better now than it was when I was performing, simply because I have done some shows and I have been trying to sing and do open mics when I can;

(okay, I'm just grimacing musically at this point)

But we managed to work on it (just a bit) and be (somewhat) prepared for singing. We all dressed in flowy white and tan clothing to sort of fit into the entire beach theme and we headed out for Coney Island! Now I had never been although we pass it almost every time we travel back from visiting Angela and Per in Philajersia. The kids were excited out of their minds and for one the traffic wasn't bad.

We made our way towards the boardwalk and as we got close we were greeted by the sites of The ORIGINAL Nathan's Hot Dog Stand;

(Uhhhh, I don't think I can eat 62!)

and the famous parachute drop;

(Geronimooooooooooooooooo!)

and the cyclone;

(Say what you like - I like wood!)

And the oh so intriguing Soaring Eagle;

(Oh yes, flipping upside down while riding on your belly - yeeehawwwww!)

Unfortunately the only thing we did get to visit of those attractions was Nathan's - but more on that later!

We finally made it to Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park;

(Ahhhhh, childlike Mecca awaits!)

And the kids were wild with anticipation. Of course we had to explain to them that we couldn't go on all the roller coasters because we were: a) here for the wedding, and b) only able to go on what was in Deno's Amusement Park. That's okay, fun was in the future! Next we came to this incredible sight!

(Aunt Laura's Coulrophobia would definitely kick in here!)

You see, the kids have been viewing this icon for years as we pass by in the car and they were so close to actually being able to ride it that they were besides themselves. (I guess in here I should mention that we couldn't find the sheet music for "Song on the Sand" although I had gone back to the car to get it so I was a bit nonplussed and beside myself because I thought for sure that everyone else would know their parts, be flawless and I would sound like a crow with a lymph node problem).
While on line for the Wonder Wheel we happened to see the gorgeous Pat Dwyer - one of the grooms for the day - who gave us each bracelets giving us unlimited access to the rides at Deno's Amusement Park - now the kids were in total heaven! We made the FIRST of our forays on the Wonder Wheel to be greeted by this site;

(James: The people look like tiny ants!)

Although the "rocking car" was a little unsettling to some, no one lost their lunch and we headed to the bumper cars (Mama's favorite);

(Auntie Laurelle and James!)

(In only a few years she'll be driving for real - SCARY!!!!!)

And then we reconnected with old friends while we ate some lunch. We then managed to get some more ride time in, including James and I going through the haunted house. Right before the end of the ride he asks, "Is this supposed to be scary?" You have to love the honesty of children.

We then had a quickly improvised vocal rehearsal after walking up and down the boardwalk to find a quiet place. I was so relieved to find out that I wasn't the only one who needed the words and that we didn't sound bad at all - it was a very nice vocal arrangement skillfully directed by fellow Texan Ricky Pope! We were ready for the surprise (and the eventual tears)!

Finally it was time to head to the beach for the ceremony! We all walked out to the beach and surrounded the happy couple, the best people and the officiant. It was beautiful! I only have one picture from the actual ceremeony to share'

(Not the most flattering of photos but it'shows the bystanders in the background which was sort of humorous)

(however by following this link to a trailer for their documentary "Married and Counting" and if you look closely at :42 you can see William cavorting on the sand behind them!). But despite the fact that we don't have any pictures of the actual ceremony it will be forever etched in the minds of everyone in attendance - including the bystanders who just happened upon us. It reminded of my own wedding to Amy and that magical day when only she existed and all I could remember of the ceremony was her eyes. The chance to actually participate in the wedding of these two beautiful souls was such a rejuvenation to our lives and do be able to sing the line from the song "something about sharing" made it even more poignant! As Stephen says in the trailer, "How can anybody object to love?" and it was such an important lesson for us to share with our children - that love is love! This is the second of their weddings that we had the honor to take part in and we were/are so very grateful!!!!!

After the ceremony everyone threw rose petals at the happy couple and then we were finally able to take some wonderful pictures of everyone enjoying the sands of Coney Island;

(Like Movie Stars, right?)

(Two childlike souls celebrating like - and with - children!)

(Its so amazing when they actually play together!)

(Almost there!!!!)

(The finished masterpiece!!!!)

And mama finally got the picture of the family dressed in our summer finery!

(Our happy family!!!!)

It was about htis time that received word from some of the locals that we shouldn't be out on the beach once the sun went down since that's when the gangs start coming out. Now, of course the only thing I knew of gangs and Coney Island came from the movie Warriors so of course I was expecting something like this;

So I was on the lookout for any wildly painted hearses. On a side note, the psycho leader of the Warriors' rival gang later played Feste in the Lincoln Center production of Twelfth Night starring Helen Hunt. So to avoid any possible flight back to Long Island, we reentererd the sanctuary of Deno's where the kids once again had a field day;

(Sarah enjoying her Carousel)

By the time they had enjoyed the rides it started getting dark and we said our goodbyes to the newly married couple then we started to head out. We had three very tired youngsters by this point - too tired to even fight with each other!

(Peace at last - for now)

But we had time for one last ride before we left - not the look of ~~abject terror~~ unadulterated joy on William's face;

(Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!)

We then headed to Nathan's Original Hot Dog stand for a late night snack because after all, how can we go to Coney Island and not have a hot dog?

Finally it was time to pack up our little wedding warriors and take them home in our non-customized Subaru! And as we finally pulled into our driveway after a day of fun and love, this is the sight that greeted us in the back seat;

And that is what happens when love takes hold!

So I didn't talk about riding or Connor's Army this time but sometimes more important things take over, things like love and family and friends, and isn't that what life is all about?

Yin and Yang Keeps All in Harmony

2011-08-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if Buddha ever rode a bicycle (even though he could have built his own out of bamboo). Of course to do that he might have to travel to the exotic land of Brook - lyn to do so which is a far trek from Shangri La. And under no circumstances should this be confused with the group Sha Na Na which started as a group called "The Kingsmen" back in 1969. They had their own television variety show for a while. If you never saw them, this is what they look(ed?) like performing "Get A Job" in 1973 which they actually performed in 1969 at Woodstock - yes THE Woodstock;

And what does all of this have to do with anything you may ask? Its all about the Yin and Yang of Life. Let's take a little journey, shall we?

For many of you who know me, I have spent most of my life growing up in a Korean-American household. This means I've gotten some really different influences in my life that I'm very grateful for but at the same time probably contributed to the Gemini/bi-polar mess that I am. For those of you who have followed this blog, you know that I spent my misspent high school years in Germany at Ansbach American High School. While there I participated in a variety of activities including sports (football, wrestling, soccer, baseball), band (marching, concert, jazz) and drama/forensics. I was a very busy boy and yet I still managed to keep my grades up enough to be in the National Honor Society. I have no idea how that happened.

Anyway one of the other things I did while there to tap into my Korean heritage was to take Tae Kwon Do lessons. Now I probably could have taken a form of Karate, or Kung Fu but my cousin was living with us at the time and he had some previous experience with Tae Kwon Do as well so I worked with him and with a teacher who was stationed at the base. He was completely old school and we worked our butts off almost every day for two years. We learned forms, we learned to use weapons and we learned to fight in a controlled environment. I even went to a tournament once and I did okay but no trophy. The point was he was old school and he treated us fairly but firmly and we respected him and really learned the material. With my cousin's help I worked very hard and I advanced to second degree green belt in two years but that's as far as I got. Now when I mean "old school" I don't necessarily mean this;

or even quite like this (sorry, this one is from Brazil so its in Portuguese - but if you've seen the movie you know what's going on);

So, no he didn't use anything to trick us into it rather he just made us work hard although I wouldn't have been adverse to this "old school" technique;

No, it was just hard work and lots of practice, drilling and sparring. And we NEVER used pads. We used mouthpieces most of the time but never EVER with pads. I remember my cousin clocking me in the mouth with a spinning back roundhouse kick that knocked me off my feet. That was cool to see coming at you but not so much when it hit. My point is that "old school" training or even "back in the day" training (to see when that was just check below)

(you see it ranges from the front haunches to the mid spine - borrowed from Bikesnob NYC)

when you were really training to learn the art and the reason behind the technique and the traditions behind it you would never see five-year-old black belts trave;ing around and giving demonstrations or young Circassian boys getting their black belts in Tae Kwon Do;

Yes, they may have learned the "moves" but the maturity and understanding to use it correctly is not always there. Nor the respect or the patience or the multitude of other things. Now some may say, "well its not REAL, its only a junior black belt" but to the kids when they are bragging/telling others there is no distinction made. They simply say "I'm a black belt". Now don't get me wrong, I'm not jealous but let's be realistic here and see the real problem. Everyone is after quick results and instant gratification. A black belt in five years (that's assuming they started right out of the womb). Where is the balance? Where is the harmony? How can there truly be any?

Why do you ask am I even talking about any of this at all? Well today was a day of experience the true nature of Yin and Yang and the ebb and flow of balance. Today was a day of sadness for me, much more than I thought I would have but it truly was difficult for me. I had been preparing for it all week but when it actually came it was a bit more than I excpected. You see, today was my last day at Sunrise for the next two years. Next summer I won't be at camp since at this time next year I should be somewhere in Western Virginia getting for the final push up the coast. Yes, at long last it will REALLY happen, either solo or supported but next summer Connor's Army XC happens.

As exciting as that will be it was saddening to know that I won't be back, especially when so many of the campers told me how much they would miss me and drama. This year I was the only drama teacher so I got to see every single kid in camp from the smallest Acorns to the oldes CIT's and all the counselors in between. I saw some kids who couldn't be bothered to try drama become some of the first to volunteer or to come up to me during the day and say "what are we doing in drama today?" Although I reall missed being able to teach dance as well, being the only drama teacher this summer really allowed me to make some connections - connections I hope will last me two years.

To counter act this Yin (blackness, negativity, sadness) was a good deal of Yang (whiteness, positivity, happiness) to even everything all out.

To begin with, after months of having pain in my lower back area and putting off going to the orthopedist, I finally went yesterday morning and found out I have sacralization of my L5 vertabrae. Although I'll have to go to physical therapy (the Yin) I won't have to have surgery (the Yang) at least for now - Yay!

Secondly, we finally have our donation link up on the Sunrise Day Camp home page! You can see it by going here - and if you happen to feel moved to make a donation - even better. Go Yang!

Thirdly, I have been working with a camper who is a high school student (i.e., Leadership) and he came to camp with very little swimming experience. He is an accomplished athlete and has great power but hasn't really swam much in the past. I've been working with him to try to get him from level two (the small three foot pool with elementary/middle school kids) to the big pool (i.e., four to six foot). We've had our ups and downs and he has gotten so close on so many occasions but the swim instructors were hesitant to put him up above. Well today he made it!!!!!! He was so incredibly happy and they let him stay there. I was so proud of him and what he's accomplished! Again, go Yang!

And lastly, we've been working on trying to get a sprinkler system and a patio put into our back yard. The patio is not so important but I just don't want my grass to completely die while we're away next summer so we're putting in a system to keep it watered during the two months we're away. We just found out that the company putting in the system might be interested in sponsoring us! Woohoo! Even if it's not much, every little bit helps and we'll be able to have the money we need to pay for gas!!!!!!

Now all this good news/bad news may not completely give me inner peace like our friend here;

but it really makes the sadness of not seeing my Sunrise family for two years (except for the occasional Sunrise Sunday) a little easier to bear (get it?).

Stay well and I'll see you on the road.

A Lead Sail is Not Always a Bad Thing

2011-07-31T19:55:00.000-07:00

So for the last few days I had been very nervous. You see, I had made a cycling "date" with a riding friend of mine, Michael Foresto, to go for a ride. Of course, this was not without a small amount of "negotiation" with the family. Weekends are family time and there is often a lot of things for us to do together. However, my wife realized that it was a good thing for me to get out and try to ride with others, at least once in a while.

So Michael and I had been going back and forth for about a week trying to figure out when and where we would ride and we finally settled on yesterday and we still weren't sure exactly where we would go but we agreed we would try to tackle a bunch of moderate climbs.

Now there were a couple of reasons that I was very nervous about this, not the least of which was the fact that I think I'm not in the best of shape right now. The first is that Michael is an amazing athlete. All you have to do is look at a listing of his accomplishments to know that he is a pretty damn intimidating cyclist. Back when I rode somewhat semi-regularly with the AA group of the Huntington Bicycle Club he was always one of the ones that would be off the front leaving us all panting in his wake. Okay, maybe not ALL of us, but almost always I would be huffing and puffing.

The second reason I was nervous about the ride was because he had invited a friend of his, Glen Corso who just happens to be a world class ice speed skater (although I didn't find out about this until a little bit into the ride). As it was, Mike and I had been facebooking back and forth and bemoaning our lack of fitness. Since we were planning to do some hills I thoroughly envisioned myself looking like this;

(Can you see them? I think they're over the next hill! *puff, puff*)

So I did everything I could to prepare for the ride. I laid out everything the night before (shoes, shorts, jersey, pump, etc.), I cleaned and lubed my bike, I hydrated like crazy, and I got a good night's sleep. We were meeting at the Dunkin' Donuts in Greenlawn (which it turns out is only a really good baseball throw from Michael's house) so I left a bit early so I could get a hit of caffeine to give me energy on the ride.

Michael and Glen got there and we rolled out and I immediately knew I would be hurting - these guys are serious riders! We even ran into a couple of other riders who had been following us and then as they passed us up the hill Glen took off saying, "I can't just let them pull away from us like this" or something to that effect. I thought, "Crap, I'm going to be dropped next". It was then that I realized Michael was suffering too. He was showing pretty classic signs of dehydration even though he had been drinking a lot of fluids. Now you have to understand, Mike has been through a hell of a lot physically. He was a extremely serious body builder (and you can find the pictures online to prove it) when he was in a serious accident in 1993. He lost his left arm above the elbow but he still managed to compete in body building competitions and even race his bicycle on the track. He is also diabetic and has some other complications that have started to hit him lately. Yet I am in awe of him as a cyclist and with what he has been able to accomplish both as an athlete and as an exercise physiologist. However, he was hurting and he kept apologizing by saying, "sorry to be your lead sail and your paper anchor."

Now I was not really doing much better and I was happy with the fact that we were hitting some hills but not sprinting up them the way the Open guys of HBC would be doing.. I'm still trying to get my fitness base back (yes, I know its VERY late in the season) so I was happy to just spin up the hills. But he kept apologizing and although I am a font of useless knowledge, I never did get the reference. Well, now that I have done some research I find it is the title of a song by a band named ATREYU and here it is;

	ATREYU - Lead Sails Paper Anchor - Track 1 .mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

It may not be to the tastes of some of you since it is what is considered "metalcore" but I like it and I think I'll put it (and a few more of their tracks) on my iPod in my cycling playlist. It certainly makes me pedal faster.

Afterwards we found ourselves back at Mike's house and we had some coffee and chatted a bit. The more I learn about him (and Glen for that matter) the more I was humbled that I was riding with these guys. They truly are inspirational. Mike in particular has come through so much and still finds a way to keep pushing forward and finding better ways to do things. We should all have his spirit and his fight. And as for Glen, now knowing his palmares in the ice speed skating world, I'm glad I didn't challenge him to a sprint!

What does all this have to do with Connor's Army, the mission and how we can help Sunrise? Well, basically, we can't stop fighting, we cant' stop pushing and we can't stop searching for the answer to the question, "how can I/We beat this?" For it can be done. It may not happen overnight and it may not happen in the time that we want it to but we can get it done if we keep pushing ahead. We won't always feel on top of our game and we may even feel like we are holding others back, but you never know who you're going to inspire and who is going to want to push a little bit harder because they see what we are doing.

We (and by that I mean I) can only hope that such will be the case as we go cross country next year. There will be days when I will feel like I'm just on a treadmill and that I'm not getting anywhere but if I just tuck my head down and keep climbing/pushing/pedaling through it I can get through. Its my hope that my example will not only raise some much needed funds for these kids but also raise some awareness to the battle these kids face every day and yet they go on and they fight through and they embrace life - so should we all!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

Happiness is......

2011-07-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

"What is the meaning of life? To be happy and useful."

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

So with all of this talk about recession and debt ceilings and the doings (or not doings as the case may be) of our government it makes me wonder what it takes to be happy in today's society. One school of thought is that you need to have more stuff and have all the toy and luxery items you could ever possibly desire and once you attain them you'll have happiness. Unfortunately, the pursuit of "stuff" can lead you to feel like a rat in a maze:

(And we keep on going....where's the cheese?)

But what happens when you do get all the money and the stuff? What would you do with it? Would you purchase the world's most expensive yacht?

(At least gold doesn't tarnish!)

However, as I have a tendency to get seasick - a fact that causes my wife (who grew up sailing) no end of chagrin - that probably wouldn't be so feasible for me.

Or possibly you could purchase the world's most expensive home?

(I always wanted a home where I could park my 160 ~~bikes~~ cars)

And I have to say it would be great to have all that space but as it is in Mumbai, India it would be a real pain to commute by bike. I'll have to pass on the house.

Ahhhhh but what about the bike? Despite Lance Armstrong's assertions in his book, sometimes it is about the bike! And this sweet little ride, priced at a mere $102,417.60, is a gold fixed-gear from Aurumania;

(Forget the teeth bling, ride this through the 'hood)

Now I have to say I was hoping Andy Schleck would be able to pull it off! I was really rooting for him and his brother to pull off the 1-2 on the podium of the Tour but alas it looks like Cadel Evans (yes, of "touch my dog and I'll kill you" fame)

will be the winner. Despite Andy's amazing ride on Thursday he and brother Frank will take the podium 2-3 instead. So its clear that all their money and the backing of the new Leopard-Trek team did not bring them happiness.

Or, for those of you with the 160 bicycles to park in the house in Mumbai, would you prefer to have one of these little babies custom installed on your property? Would that make you happy?

So its clear that money can buy you lots of stuff? But will all the stuff make you happy?

(This guy is obviously in search of some minimalism)

Its' truly hard to tell which side of the fence George Carlin is on;

Now according to my wife, I fall into that category of having way too much stuff. Of course, I don't quite fall into the "Mythbusters" category of happiness that can be summed up in this Marine Corps bumper sticker;

(Not practical but I sure would like to shoot one - at targets, of course)

No, I think I adhere more to the warm puppy and surrounding yourself with family school of happiness. Its taken me a long time to get there and I really am trying to be more "content" with what God (or fate, or karma or the Great Spirit or Earth Mother) have given me. Perhaps a trip back to our youth and the simplicity of "Peanuts" would be a helpful reminder;

14 Happiness (From _You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown_).m4a

Perhaps its as simple as that. To have someone who you love to be with and not worry about all the stuff and the what, just the who!

I'm reminded of this every day this summer at Sunrise as I go into the building we call "The Cooler". There is a sign posted outside the trooper room (which are the kindergarten aged campers) that says, "Happiness is not something you experience, its something you remember". And maybe its as simple as that, its about making memories of happy times that can last you when all the stuff loses its charm (or gets lost, broken, sold, worn out, boring).

For instance one of my all time favorite riding moments happened just this morning as I was riding back home. I was about 18 miles into a 30 mile ride when a rabbit that was on the side of the road got startled by my presence. I was cooking along at 25 miles an hour so I thought he (she?) would just hop into the bushes and that would be the end of it. However, my bunny friend ran along side me only three feet from my bike for a good 50 feet. Ultimately, in our impromptu drag race I think the bunny one, but only becuase it jumped into the bushes. I've had lots of great bike memories and many of them are chronicled in the pages of this blog (including gorgeous sunrises, climbing mountain passes and finishing my first century) but of the memories that will cause me to smile for a long time this has got to be up on the list.

I'm hoping that next summer we'll have a lot more of them to show as I replay the greatest hits in my mind. We are getting closer every day to our departure date from San Diego. Right now I'm in the process of starting to use all the gift cards I've been given over the years to outfit Pearl for the journey. I'm still hoping for an angel or two to come forward and help us with our sponsorships but I know we'll be able to get Pearl ready for her journey.

In my many eclectic readings I have come across another quote that I think describes the missions of Connor's Army perfectly. It is by the writer Leo C. Rosten and he writes, "I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be "happy." I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter and to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all."

My fellow counselors and specialists at Sunrise do this every day during the summer. I'm hoping to take it one step further next summer and make just a bit more of a difference that I have lived. If I can do that and make some memories with my family on the journey, then that will be happiness.

Well that's all for now.

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!