Sunday July 26th

It has been a crazy week once again. I have been crazed trying to figure out how I want to spend my teaching days at Bead and Button next June. For the last several years I have loaded up my schedule with all 3-hour classes, I have been seriously considered and I think convinced myself that I am going to teach a few all day classes so I can feel that I am accomplishing more. I have made this change with Bead Fest Classes next year, each of my classes are full day sessions and I just feel that the students and I will have a better experience in the long run.

This week has also been an exciting week for me in the world of sports. I have been following the Tour De France with my yearly addiction. I am up each morning at 5am to watch it live. I am such a geek. The tour is SO exciting. I love it all, the climbers and the sprinters and all of the amazing strategy that is required to win and be competitive. Lance Armstrong has done an amazing job, after a 3 ½ year absence he has done what many thought was impossible…the 37 year "old man" of the tour came in 3^rd place. Just 5 minutes behind his crappy and grandstanding teammate Alberto Contador. I was not impressed by Alberto’s tactics, which in the end eliminated the chance for a total Team Astana sweep of the podium positions. He was too greedy ignored the team plan.

July is almost over and I now actually have to get up and work in the mornings. My Wimbledon is done as well as my Tour de France. I love July; these events are 2 of the quintessential sporting events of the year. Each is steeped in amazing traditions and incredible sportsmanship. There are rules of the road for this race…that are honorable. It is a sport that demands the racers to respect each other and that each participant remembers where he came from who your friends are. These men do not break these codes because they may need these codes someday. It has taken me a few years to understand some of these but I admire these men and the codes that they race by.

My Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game the other evening. I did not get to see the game live but thanks to MLB.COM I got to watch the game in it’s entirety. It was an amazing display for the man that just 2 seasons ago fought to get a 4-year contract with the Sox. Yea, Mark…way to go…you are the man. The Sox are shaping up nicely as my Reds once again falter mid-season.

I have spent this day getting travel plans all set and plane tickets and car reservations and working at my bench after I took a very long swim this morning. I am looking forward to the next few months…I have had a wonderful year so far and I feel that the rest of it is shaping up nicely.