Wayne's Whirled

The wife of a long-time friend of mine was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a year ago, and she is riding the Arizona Bike MS Event at the end of March which is a two-day, 150 mile ride. Geesh, it makes me tired just thinking about it.

Since I am unlikely to leap off my couch and jump on a bike and join her, I did the next best thing and DONATED. I know all of us want to have some good Karma flowing so throw a few dollars at this to get a jump on the next time you do something bad. Then you’ll just be even.

You can read about Marlene and donate to her effort HERE. Really you can. I know you can. Okay, I’ll buy you a frickin’ drink next time I see you if you donate. I’m not above bribing you. And you don’t have to pick $25; you can choose your own amount so if you give $5 you’ll be even after I buy you that drink.

There is currently no cure for MS; to learn more about MS, to read stories of those affected and to see what else is being done to combat this disease, check out the National Multiple Sclerosis Society website.

We thank you for your support.

It was supposedly “The CLIMB to Conquer Cancer” but we certainly spent a lot of time on buses.  School buses.

So I joined my friends Princess, Max, Esther and Elmer on the Climb to Conquer Cancer this morning, which consists mainly of walking about six miles to the top of South Mountain but ALSO consists of multiple rides on real school buses to get to and from the parking area and also down the mountain after hiking to the top. I realized that in all the years since I last rode a school bus (be nice) the technology has NOT CHANGED AT ALL. Even the windows have the exact same “squeeze in on both sides and slide up or down” kind of latches. And either the seats seem so close together:

or maybe I am bigger. I’m not sure what I expected; maybe drop-down DVD screens, a small Starbucks counter or at least wireless internet access. Nada.

And check out this little guy who made it to the top!

Had a wonderful time; wish you were there.

Yup, I went out and tore up Scottsdale last night with my friends Erica, Chris and a couple friends of theirs. Actually we just tore up Kazimierz Wine Bar but it was really fun. It turns out that Dennis Rowland plays there Thursday nights so the music was pretty cool. Here is a shot:

We had fun messing with one of Erica’s friends named Ryan; Erica, Chris and I were there early and were tucked in a corner so when Ryan came in he was sitting by himself at the couches reserved for our group. I got some scoop on Ryan from Erica and went over and sat down next to him and started talking to him like I’ve known him for years; I fessed up right when I could sense he was going to ask “Who the hell ARE you?” He was a great sport and all of the people there were cool and witty.

One other interesting note: I guess it was Scottsdale ArtWalk night so there were a lot of artists in the house. It was obvious because it TOTALLY threw off the usual 90%/10% Snottsdale ratio of blondes to brunettes!

Thank you Lord.