just john

Today it rained and snowed and the sun shone. Then it rained again.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are straight cardio/cycling days in the gym. Today the spin class was full. It was that tiny little, strict woman instructor too. She's good. There's also the guy who teaches like he's Budda meditating on the immovable spot. A little too freaky, new age or maybe he's just weird. There's also Joerg, who's a happy medium. At any rate, the main point of this is that all the exchanges were in German. The instructor doesn't speak much English so she explained about making a reservation, which I don't think she thought I understood, but I did. She offered her bike, but I told her I didn't have a work permit for that job. I did my own cardio and went downstairs to ask about appointments. Fortunately, the really cool desk guy was there, but I volunteered to try it all in German anyway, possibly because it was the really cool guy. So he explained, conveniently in German, that days like Tuesday which might be busy, you should call before 9am to reserve a spot, arrive and announce yourself, check in, get your laminated reservation card, and cross your name of the list. "All ist klar", signifies you understand everything, which I did. Went back upstairs at the end of the spin class and explained to the instructor, who is nice, that I got an explanation. Went home feeling pretty good.

Damn, just realized I forgot to do crunches.

More importantly, i have settled on a beer brand, which  anyone who's serious about it should known takes time. Sure there will be forays out and other-variety tastings, but one really needs a staple brew to fall back on. For the moment, it is Erdinger Weissbier.

Has anyone noticed that Karl Rove is starting to look like the wicked witch of the west after she got water thrown on her? I mean, the guy can afford Botox and probably has at least one surgeon general in his pocket. If that's what being the dark puppet master does to you, he can keep what's left of the job. I've also always thought Gonzales was nothing more than an admin stooge from the very start. It's almost gratifying to see what's going on except that the entire country is affected by it.  I wish I could follow the news better hear to read the European analysis of the whole mess.