Areas of Unrest

18 February 2001 - From the Ashes

QOTD: "Those who admire the massive, rigid bone structures of dinosaurs should remember that jellyfish still enjoy their very secure ecological niche." - Beau Shell

Reading: Dervla Murphy, A Place Apart

Listening to: Salsa Celtica, Monstruos y Demonios, Angels and Lovers

I was feeling very edgy Thursday and Friday, absorbed in a particular sort of panic that comes over me every now and then. Namely, the feeling that there just isn't enough time. In this particular case, it was brought on by studying major league baseball schedules and trying to figure out where I might be able to manage weekend trips to as part of my "go to a game at every major league stadium" goal. The complication is that I don't really want to go to games where I don't care about either team playing. But I also think it's generally tacky to root for the away team. I make exceptions - otherwise I could never go to Yankee Stadium (a.k.a. the Heart of Darkness). And Southern California is a land of come from aways, so it feels okay to root for the Red Sox at Anaheim. To add to the complexity, the schedules are not derived with any thoughts to my personal convenience. For example, I have a conference to go to in Baltimore in late April - but the Orioles will be on tour. Not to mention the games I'd like to go to that interfere with previously planned vacation travel. The upshot was that I worked myself into a lather of indecision and frustration and didn't decide much of anything.

I was also frustrated over something else that was entirely my own fault. I hadn't entirely thought through my plans for my excursion to Phoenix this weekend and belatedly realized I'd need to get a rental car. Which was far more difficult than it should be and none of the companies I normally prefer had anything available. I got some truly absurd quotes, e.g. $200 a day for an economy car. In the end, I got a decent rate via Alamo, which is a company I despise. I really should have made the rental car reservation when I booked the flight, of course.

The trip itself was, however, enjoyable, despite the crappy rental car and the inability of the people at Alamo to give me directions even when I pointed on the map to where I was trying to go. I did a 13K walk through downtown Phoenix yesterday, then drove over to the state capitol complex to photograph it. (The buildings were closed, alas, so it's just exteriors I got.) Then I did an 11K in Mesa this morning, followed by an excursion to a large used bookstore. I found a book I'd been searching for (Anna to the Infinite Power by Mildred Ames) and the clerk who served me insisted on giving it to me free. I have absolutely no idea why, but I'm not complaining.

By the way, Mesa is the winter home of the Chicago Cubs and, in addition to walking by their new winter stadium, I got to see some early practice. It was purely coincidental, since the walk took me past their old stadium, too. It took me a minute to figure out that those were real Cubs uniforms. I'm used to thinking that adult men playing baseball at what looks like a city park are just teams of lawyers or corporate execs or whatever, not real players.

Maybe it was the nice weather (not too hot but some sun) or maybe it was all that exercise or maybe it was just being a good 30 years younger than anybody else around, but by midmorning today I felt positively glowing with health and energy. The metaphor of the phoenix was certainly an apt one for the ups and downs of the past several days. I'd burned myself up before I left and the weekend left me genuinely renewed.

And, best of all, I have tomorrow off to catch up on all the normal weekend errand running.