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It amazes me how every time I have a break or vacation coming up, I get sick.

I don’t have too terrible of a bug this time, but it is enough to have me feeling tired and lethargic. I’m trying to stay hydrated and just rest. I watched The Transporter - which was actually pretty good. I hadn’t seen it before, but wanted to see it since the lead actor is supposed to be the next Bond. Jason Statham did a good job - and I think he’ll be a good Bond. Can’t get much worse than Brosnan. Shudder.

Since I’m sick, work will have to wait. I tried logging in remotely to get some work done, but it was just tough to be very engaged. I figured it would be more fair to my employer to just take the day off and come back energized on Monday once I kick this thing.

I’m off to curl up with HP6 and some home made cookies. Hopefully I’ll feel better real soon.

I spent most of my Labor Day watching the U.S. Open. I started out watching Lindsey Davenport win in straight sets. Then I watched Andre Agassi fight to pull out a five set win over Milesse. I almost walked away at that point to go play tennis or do something else when James Blake, an American who has had to battle some tough odds, came on to play Robrero.

The match was intense, like the Agassi match before it. Every point was hard fought, and the momentum swung wildly from side to side. It was a real treat to watch such talented athletes play a sport I love. My tennis league starts this Saturday — guess I’ve got some big shoes to live up to now! Ha!

Our city league men’s volleyball team took the title yesterday. We had a playoff with the team that had the second best record - we only lost once all season long (14 weeks or so), and beat them at least twice.

We had some great players on our team, and it was fun to be part of a team playing at such a high level. Our opponents played great, and actually took the first game from us (the match was best of 3). We fought back and ended up winning the next two to take home the trophy and a commemorative t-shirt. I’ve only won a handful of championships - whether recreation, high-school sports, or whatever - but this was a sweet one.

Actually, come to think of it, our city league tennis team also won the title this summer! How cool is that? Apparently some of the teams in the tennis league are recruiting talent for the next season (starts after Labor Day). I’m going to have to spend some time the next couple of weekends with a hopper full of balls and serve til my arm falls off.

Like John Wooden says, “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” I need to prepare by practicing my serve. Then I’ll be on my game for the new season, no matter who my opponent is.

I have to sign up for health insurance this week, and as my buddy Ly was lamenting the high rates, it made me wonder what could be done to solve the high premiums we have to pay?

The problem isn’t the health system, though - at least it isn’t the only problem. A large part of why premiums have gone up is because of legitimate and not-so-legitimate lawsuits. Insurance companies have to raise rates so that they have enough cash on hand to pay out when someone dumps hot coffee in their lap and sues McDonald’s for not telling her it was “hot.”

Or my favorite is kids suing a company because the cigarettes they sell killed their parents. I’m pretty sure if you have half a brain these days you can figure out that cigarettes cause cancer - smokers accept the risk and believe that they can beat the odds. When they lose that gamble, their kids get rich? Why does the company, who warned the consumer of the risks, take a beating?

Now don’t get me wrong, there are legitimate lawsuits, and I wouldn’t want to lose our ability to sue to right a wrong, but there needs to be some kind of limits placed - perhaps on the punitive damages? I don’t know the solution, but I do know we’ve got a problem.

One solution that’s doomed to fail, however, is global healthcare. Look at Canada and Switzerland. Sure they have their healthcare provided as part of the taxes they pay to their governments, but the quality of care is not even close to what we’d consider “acceptable” much less excellent. And the Swiss are paying something like 50% of their income in taxes to support this?

As flawed as our system is, I think I’ll keep it. Hopefully we can get some limits on lawyers bringing frivolous cases to court - maybe they should pay the bills for the court and court staff if they lose? That would make thing interesting…

Kristen and I had an amazing meal at Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant in San Francisco. I had the Shrimp New Orleans, which was the best shrimp I’ve had since eating at Brennan’s in New Orleans. Kristen had a great shrimp dish as well. It came in a bucket of a tasty broth to dip french bread in. Mmmm…. I’m getting hungry just remembering!

Jeff and Kristen at Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant

I’ve been fighting a cold all week… and to be honest, I feel I’m losing the battle today. Swung by the store and picked up some cough medicine, some cookie-dough ice cream and Anchorman. If that’s not a recipe for good health come tomorrow morning, I don’t know what is! Ha!

I’m not sure you can call miniature golf exercise, but it certainly counts as recreation. We went to a barbecue at a local park and then went miniature golfing with a group from church tonight. It was tons of fun and great to just hang out with everyone in a casual setting.

I started off the night with four straight birdies, but then it went downhill from there. I ended the night three over par for eighteen holes. Not Tiger Woods by any stretch, but I still had a great time. Of course I probably would have had even more fun if I hadn’t finished second!! Oh well.

Wow. I haven’t gotten a sunburn in years. I played in a tennis tournament today, and of course, forgot to put on sunscreen. And I chucked my hat because it was cutting off my peripheral vision as I was serving. So much for the hat keeping the sun from scorching me.

We had a blast in the tournament though. It’s an adult league, but several of the high school kids in the area still jump in to play. We played a team with two guys from local schools who just wrapped up their tennis seasons. One of them played pretty well, though they both hit far harder than I can. Of course they are both incredibly inconsistent, so we won the match relatively easily.

We’ll be matched up against a different team next weekend. Hopefully I’ll remember sunscreen. And hopefully we’ll win again .

I made it into the Chiropractor today, and after some scary creaks and cracks, I’m standing a bit more balanced that I was a week ago. I’ve never had an adjustment like that before, so to be honest it was a bit frightening to hear my bones crack. Apparently this is a good thing though. After the appointment, I spent the next two hours experiencing strange muscle spasms as my back tried to get used to the changes. Things are fine now, but for a while there I was wondering if I’d really done the right thing. My neck sure turns better now… I have about 90 degrees of motion each direction where before I could only go about 60 degrees to the left.

This experience made me wonder what other areas of my life are in need of a slight tune-up? I’m sure there are many areas we all neglect. We get used to the discomfort of knowing things are just not quite right and convince ourselves things aren’t that bad. I’m going to do a bit of an inventory and just make sure I’ve got a healthy balance in the key areas of my life. I’m sure a little attention to each area will yield good results.

I had my first chiropractor visit today.

The history goes like this: a month or so ago I tweaked my lower back and was in some good pain for a week or two. I scheduled a visit with the chiropractor, but they couldn’t fit me in (as a new patient) until today. In the mean time, the pain has gone away. I figured I’d keep the appointment anyway since it would probably be good to establish a baseline for when I feel good so that I know what’s wrong when I feel bad.

The chiropractor was extremely nice, and worked me through several motions to determine my range of motion and such. A few times he noticed some aberrations, but for the most part I was looking pretty good. At one point, he had me lay on my back on a massage table, and as I lay there, he immediately noticed my right leg was shorter than my left leg. Hmmmm.. That’s cute.

He had me pull each leg up to my chest, and as I did, he showed me how my right ankle came in during the motion while my left stayed in line with my knee. Apparently my right femur is rotated slightly outward at the hip which causes my right leg muscles to be tight, and the leg to appear shorter. We didn’t measure bone length, so I don’t know if this is a permanent situation - but the doc seemed to be confident we can adjust it and I’ll be back to my normal, less lopsided self in no time.

He even thought I’d see an improvement in my hoops game. So watch out. All of you who thought I couldn’t play ball just cause I’m short and white — it’s actually because my right leg is shorter than my left. Now you’re all in trouble

~J

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