Things To Do
Lately I've been talking quite a bit to a coworker who is running in the NYC marathon next month. All this talk has really made me want to participate in next year's race - however you've got to either qualify or get lucky and win a spot through the lottery. This has made me think about some of the other things I also want to do while I am still in New York. Besides trying to get in for the 2006 NYC Marathon - I am gonna try and see if I have what it takes to join the Polar Bear Club this January 1st. This is something that has piqued my interest ever since I moved here but have never tried. On the first day of every year - a group of crazy nuts gather at the Coney Island Boardwalk and take a plunge in the icy waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. There's not a hard and fast rule of how deep one must go in - just as long as you frollick in the water that should be good enough I think. So Bob will probably go at least knee deep - may go a little deeper but I got to be careful not to damage any "goods" either. Also since we are talking about New Years - I still have to make it into the middle of Times Square for the Ball Drop. I just befriended a guy who has connections at a hotel located in Times Square - so with these special passes I will be able to walk into Times Square at around 9pm or 10pm instead of 4pm like the rest of the losers standing out there for 8 hours without any bathroom breaks.
So there you have it - any takers out there - I really need a partner for the Polar Bear Club - let me know and we can start training soon. I figure there are two ways to train for this - you either start eating tons and tons of rich and fatty foods so that we can form a nice and thick layer of blubber to protect us from the shock of the freezing waters or start taking only cold showers from now until the big day. My plan is to party it up from now until New Years - eat drink and be merry - enjoy the ball drop - test out my new layer of blubber the next day and then burn it all off a few months later in the marathon. Now does that sound like a great plan or what.
So there you have it - any takers out there - I really need a partner for the Polar Bear Club - let me know and we can start training soon. I figure there are two ways to train for this - you either start eating tons and tons of rich and fatty foods so that we can form a nice and thick layer of blubber to protect us from the shock of the freezing waters or start taking only cold showers from now until the big day. My plan is to party it up from now until New Years - eat drink and be merry - enjoy the ball drop - test out my new layer of blubber the next day and then burn it all off a few months later in the marathon. Now does that sound like a great plan or what.
posted by Bob at 3:54 PM
5 Comments:
Bob,
YOU finally posted - about time!
-SM
I thought you would find this interesting:
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A great white shark has astounded scientists by swimming from South Africa to Australia and back in a journey that sheds new light on the murky world of the ocean's most feared predator.
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The epic voyage of the tagged female shark -- named Nicole after Australian actress Nicole Kidman -- will be described in the Thursday edition of the U.S. journal "Science."
In the first transoceanic and longest ever recorded trip by a shark, Nicole swam an astonishing 12,400 miles -- and experts reckon she did it for love.
"We suspect that she went for reproductive reasons," Dr Ramon Bonfil of the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) told Reuters by telephone.
"There's plenty of food around South Africa and she would be using too much energy to just go to Australia to feed. Of course we can't prove this at this stage, it is just a hunch," said Bonfil, lead author of the study.
Nicole's tag recorded data on time, temperature, water depth and light levels -- but not whether she mated.
Bonfil said her path was remarkably straight -- after veering a few hundred kilometres south of South Africa's coastline toward Antarctica, she arced east and northeast to Australia.
Along with California, South Africa and Australia are the great white shark capitals of the world.
LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS
Nicole's long swim suggests the South African and Australian populations have far more interaction than previously thought and may not be entirely separate groups.
She also did it in just under 9 months -- which the WCS described as "the fastest return migration of any swimming marine organism known."
"We actually know very little about these things," said Bonfil.
Bonfil attached a satellite tag to Nicole's dorsal fin on November 7, 2003. She spent some time in South African waters before embarking on her journey.
On a pre-recorded date, it detaches and floats to the surface, where its data are transmitted via satellite.
"Although Nicole took frequent plunges to depths as great as 3,215 feet -- a record for white sharks -- while crossing the Indian Ocean, she spent most of her time, 61 percent, swimming along the surface," WCS said.
Scientists therefore suspect that great white sharks may use celestial cues for transoceanic navigation.
Over 30 great whites were tagged for the study, with many swimming up and down the eastern side of South Africa. But Nicole headed out for the vast Indian Ocean basin.
Her tag detached after 99 days when she was swimming a mile from shore just south of the Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia.
She popped up again on August 20, 2004, in Gansbaai, South Africa, where she had been tagged the previous November. Researchers recognised her from photographs of her distinctly notched dorsal fin.
Demonised by the hit 1975 movie "Jaws," great whites are fearsome predators but scientists say they are rarely man-eaters. Most attacks are believed to occur when they mistake humans for common prey such as seals or sea turtles.
Why, why not the simple things in life Bob - have your people call my people to ensure I do not want to participate!
Much Love,
-SM
P.S.
I don't know what your boy was laughing about today, but know this...he is a very jealous and envious man because you got it going on...and all the babes want ya (but you already got the best one) - where he is still trying to figure it out. You are number one always and forever - know this if God is for you then the world is just like nothing against ya!
PEACE!!!!
Hi Bob
Have you become like a Seinfeld person and become superficial Bob? Not the Bob I know! Get back on track guy! Just keep on lookin' for the free stuff and guard the "goods" whatever you do.
From Concerned about ya in cyberspace
The Marathon
See Bob run.
See Bob run some more.
See Bob run and run.
See Bob run, run and run some more!
See Bob cry. :(
Bob ran too much!
Bob is bleeding.
Bob has lost toenails!
Bob is rubbing gel on his everywhere!
Bob is crazy!
Polar Bear Club
See Bob swim.
See Bob swallow river water.
See Bob in the hospital.
See Bob throwing up his cookies!
See Bob freeze.
See Bob frozen.
See Bob in front of the microwave.
See Bob trying to warm up.
See Bob crying about what cold water does to his body!
See Bob get dumped by his Sugar Momas
See Bob's cat die of cancer.
See Bob wish he bought that cat cancer insurance! :(
See Bob in a bad place!
Mr. See Spot Run
I've done two plunges--the Asbury Park Polar 5 mile race/plunge last December and the NJ Special Olympics plunge last February in Point Pleasant. I don't know about training. Just do it. It's over quickly.
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