Cape Verde Hurricane?

There is a little something to watch out in the Atlantic. Being that it's a Cape Verde-style wave, it'll take a long while to get to us. However, it bears watching, especially since I have a friend heading to Miami in exactly one week. I keep you posted. So far Weather Underground has nothing, but The Weather Channel did mention it at their tropical update at :50 past the hour (cue the scary tropical music!).

Eye of the Tiger

I'm starting to get kind of excited about Marathon #2. Today was an easy 30 minute weights day...no big deal. Tomorrow I'm spending my lunch hour getting new shoes at the New Balance store...I'm going to wear them for the 1st time next Saturday when I do my 20 miler.

Football season is only about 1 month away!

Sad news on the Silver Comet: The lady that went missing was most likely murdered by a sexual offender violating his probation. I hope that it does not deter people from using the trail b/c honestly the more folks on the trail the better.

The IRS Convention is in town...how exciting is that (in a twisted way, I'm only 1/2 joking!).

Nothing in the tropics today, but the season is about to ramp up significantly if it follows established trends.

Mystery on the Silver Comet

A woman's body was found today on the Silver Comet Trail in Paulding County. She had been bicycling but never made it home. They are not sure of the cause of death. It's scary b/c I use the Silver Comet all the time to run on but they think she may have gone off into a ravine or something. Also it was out at mile 13 which even I don't go that far! In any event, it's creepy.

No tropical stuff to update...the thing in Texas is well over land and no longer a threat and the wave in the Atlantic is getting caught in wind shear. There's some talk of a major Cape Verde-style hurricane forming in early August, but it's too early to know for now.

I'm putting my poker skills back to the test tonight...I "won" (well came in 2nd) last time I played, so there is hope!

Hurricane Fatigue

Fatigue from waiting on this thing in the Bay of Campeche to decide whether or not to be a hurricane or not. Currently the winds have died down a bit & the center of circulation is over land, but by Thursday, both the winds (shear that is) may die down & the circulation may move back over land. This would be a bad thing for the coast of Texas potentially. In addition, there is something coming over from Africa, but it's dealing w/a dust storm, so who knows about that...it's all crazy.

9 miles tonight...argh. The air quality isn't too bad & the temp is only supposed to reach the high-80's (sad that I find that "cool" isn't it?), so it shouldn't be too bad. I guess the dog and I will take the Ga Tech/Midtown/Downtown route again.

Finally, The Weather Channel is unveiling this HiRad stuff that I don't understand, but is supposed to let you pinpoint the weather for anywhere. How that happens, I'm not sure. There is a press release about it though, & they've started advertising it before they start the Local on the 8's.

Maybe, maybe not

There MAY be a storm forming just south of Brownsville, Texas (Cameron County). The winds are high enough & the water temperatures are warm enough, but the wind shear is just too high right now. It MAY form if the shear dies down (by the end of the week) before it heads over land (maybe by tomorrow). We shall see. You can see some of it by looking at the Brownsville radar, although there's not a lot of rotation. In addition, there are weather statements for South Texas and southern Louisiana concerning this thing, as they're expecting LOTS of rain.

It was a good day for the U.S. in Europe as Tiger won the British Open & Landis won the Tour de France. That must tick a lot of French people off...haha. I wonder if they'll accuse HIM of doping??!!

I've done 28 miles in 3 days...18 on Saturday & 5 yesterday & today. Tomorrow is an "easy" 9 miler. Argh. Can't...wait...to...stop...running. I am excited though.

Beryl update

Tropical Storm Watches have been posted for the eastern half of Long Island, east of Fire Island on the south shore & Port Jefferson on the north shore (i.e. most of Suffolk County, NY). Also a Watch has been posted east of New Haven, Connecticut. That means tropical storm conditions are possible within the next 36 hours.

Beryl plummeling the Massachusetts coast

Well, not quite. Although there are Tropical Storm Warnings out for Barnstable Co. (Cape Cod), some of Plymouth Co. (mainland Mass.), Duke Co. (Martha's Vineyard), and Nantucket Co. (Nantucket). The storm is expected to pass by there in the middle of the night Friday, then hit Nova Scotia on Friday evening. The winds are up to 60 mph now and although it could possibly turn into a hurricane, it's running out of time due to colder water & wind shear, so it's not looking likely.

However, the Weather Channel is broadcasting from Chatham, MA (at the elbow of Cape Cod), New York City (because the Northeast Hurricane Conference was held there yesterday) & Montauk Point, New York, on the tip of Long Island. They're just gearing up I guess, waiting for the first big one. Quite a difference from last year when we were already on Emily, and had 3 hurricanes under our belt. This year the shear is just too strong.

Other than that nothing brewing the tropics. Chris will be next.

In other weather news, it was a wild & dangerous day yesterday. 30 people were injured during the St. Louis v. Atlanta Braves game at the new ballpark in STL when strong winds blew a lot of stuff around, including press box windows & the tarp covering the field. The Braves 7-game winning streak ended though...we need every game we can get to get the Wild Card!

Finally, I missed a turn & ran 1.6 miles too much yesterday, which was bad considering the heat index was pushing 100. Our dog did just fine though running with me. Oh well. Today is 30 min cross-training.

Storm Brewing?

SATELLITE AND SURFACE OBSERVATIONS THIS MORNING INDICATE THE LOWPRESSURE AREA LOCATED ABOUT 250 MILES SOUTHEAST OF NORTH CAROLINACOAST HAS BECOME BETTER ORGANIZED THIS MORNING... AND A TROPICALDEPRESSION MAY BE FORMING. AN AIR FORCE RESERVE RECONNAISSANCEAIRCRAFT IS SCHEDULED TO INVESTIGATE THE SYSTEM THIS AFTERNOON. INTERESTS ALONG THE NORTH CAROLINA AND VIRGINIA COASTS SHOULDCLOSELY MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS SYSTEM.

This was posted at 8:20 EDT this morning. Looks like we might have something hitting the Outer Banks. It was a good thing that my parents went there LAST week, not this week! A recon plane is going at 2 PM EDT to investigate. Again, should this be named, it would be Beryl.

Also, it's HOT out. The high today is expected to hit 97 & tomorrow 100. Good thing I did my 9 mile run yesterday in relatively "cool" 93 degrees. I went through West Midtown, Georgia Tech, Midtown, Piedmont Park, Old Fourth Ward & Downtown. Today is a "short" 5 miler at the gym.

I'll update if need be about the Depression.

It's Atlanta!

That was the headline of the Atlanta Journal in 1990 when we got the Games. Last night was the 10th Anniversary Party:
1) Bob Costas being the Master of Ceremonies
2) ACOG volunteer shirts in the background...I felt like the only one w/o official Atlanta Olympic gear on
3) The view from the seating area of the screen
4) The Atlanta downtown skyline at night
5) The new Georgia Aquarium.

Here comes the weekend...

Plans:
Tonight: mow grass then hang out with South Carolina peeps.

Tomorrow:
Wake up in the early AM (~ 7) and run my quick & easy 12 miles (~ 1 hr 40 min);
Go visit the brand new Olympic museum, w/guests of honor Janet Evans, Shirley Franklin, Billy Payne & more...
Head to Centennial Olympic Park for the Trisha Yearwood Concert

Sunday:
Have 10-15 people over for dinner for a post-4th picnic (inside since it'll be roasting hot).

Random stuff:
People are picketing outside our office because some of the contractors are using non-Union carpenters. Isn't this a good thing? The work gets done cheaper & it's quality work b/c there's not as much job security!

There was an African wave that threatened to be the first Cape Verde-style hurricane but it's gone now & the tropics are very quiet at least for the next couple of days. I wonder if when things start up if it'll be really bad, or if the predictions were just too dire...

Thursday already?

Not that I'm complaining. This week has gone by fast however. Nothing too exciting going on. A few tropical waves but no imminent storm. There is a pretty major hurricane, Bud, in the Pacific however.

We're inching closer to the big Olympic anniversay however. I cannot wait!

Oh Canada

First, we may have Tropical Depression 2 by this afternoon, but if so, it's still unlikely it'll turn into Beryl.

Second, we're continuing to make the preparations to go to Quebec for the marathon. I did an "easy" 5 mile run today & it felt good...I'm hitting my stride so to speak.

Also, we found an incredibly good deal at the Loew's La Concorde, which is on the Grande Allee, the "Peachtree Street" of Quebec & overlooking the Fleuve St.-Laurent. That'll be pretty cool.

If only I could spend all my day looking up stuff for the trip, & not doing actual work!

Centennial Olympic Games

This is the big 10th Anniversary Weekend for the Olympics, although the actually anniversary date isn't until next week. There is going to be a free concert starting around 7 PM in Centennial Olympic Park, headlined by Trisha Yearwood, who sang a song called "The Flame" on the scaffolding below the Olympic Cauldron as the flame was extinguished at the closing ceremonies (& before a 2nd line parade, NOLA-style). FYI, Trisha is from Monticell (pronounced Mont-E-sell-O), which is about 100 miles SE of Atlanta.

Also, the Atlanta History Center is opening up its Olympic 2-story wing on Saturday & it'll be free all day long. Apparently it has the only complete collection of Olympic torches from 1936 (when Hitler started the tradition) to the present. Very, very exciting.

No tropical news except that there is a wave that COULD form into something, to the point where the National Hurricane Center has given it an investigation number. The wind shear is supposed to die down in the tropics & the water is already warm enough, so we could be looking at Beryl and maybe Chris, either one of which could be a hurricane, by the end of the month.

As you probably know, World Cup has finally ended with Italy winning. Think there are still some folks singing Fratelli d'Italia even today? Italy has had a good year between this & the Torino Olympics. The national anthem is catchy too, even if it has only been officially the anthem since 1990.

Almost football season....

It's not too far off! August 31 is the 1st day, while UVa starts at Pittsburgh on September 2 at 7 PM EDT. That's 58 days for those counting.

The Olympics will be held in London as you know, but I just found out that the Olympic tennis events will be at Wimbledon, being the 1st time since 1924 that the sport is contested on grass at the Olympics.

Finally, the big Wimbledon c0ntroversy now is the fact that Sharapova (who just lost in the semis to Mauressmo) grunts too loud. Some players call it cheating b/c they can't hear what the ball is doing when hit. I just say it's a reflex. A Daily Telegraph reporter said it sounded like the inside of a brothel...haha.

Back to the Grindstone

Well, the LONG 4th of July holiday is over. Due to leap year, we probably won't get one like that again for a long time (in 2 years, 2008, 4th of July would have been on a Thursday but instead it's on a Friday because of leap year). In any event we all started to go into vacation mode so work is especially painful.

Peachtree was amazing. I kept zig-zagging back & forth to make sure I saw everyone/everything I needed to see. A lot more people handing out beer & shots this year than years past. I ended up at 50:19, which is just shy of where I wanted to be (sub-50 to qualify for Time Group 1A again). I'll do some minor 10K in the fall when it's cooler to cement the time.

This is the important week of Wimbledon, w/the "Breakfast at" this weekend. There was a streaker, Sharipova held on, & it looks like it might be a Nadal-Federer final.

North Korea is unsuccessfully trying to blow us up. Apparently they have 1940's Soviet technology & we have 2006 defense systems....haha.

Other than that nothing new. There's a possibility of Beryl by the end of the week, but no guarantees. Today is the anniversary though of Hurricane Cindy hitting NOLA. It hit Grande Isle & caused the worst blackout since Betsy.

Finally, we went to the Fireworks at Lenox Mall last night...how Atlanta is that...sitting on the parking garage of Bloomingdales watching Fireworks. They were delayed about an hour though because of strong storms. When we were let out though they Contraflowed the lanes on Lenox down to Buford highway...very interesting but somewhat disorganized.

Peachtree Eve

Not much to report today except that I am very excited for Peachtree Eve. I'll be low-key tonight (I think), ready to get up at 6 AM & get on MARTA w/EVERYONE else. It's going to be a hot one, at least 75 or so at the start. My dog & I ran up some of the course & everything was ready to go. I can't wait!

Tropics are quiet too...