Day Three

Day Three (06/29/08)
As far as this blog is concerned, Day 3 was a real bummer. Having talked to some people at the University Book Store, I learned that about 5 blocks from my dorm room was a Carl’s Jr. Free WiFi there they told me. So off I go to a place I’m really not very fond of but I thought here is my chance to easily post to my blog everyday. I should have remembered a lesson I learned a long time ago – anything worthwhile is never easy or cheap. I was real excited when I turned on my laptop and saw the little signal in the menu bar up at the top indicating I was receiving an Internet connection. That excitement didn’t last long because when I opened my browser, I got that dreaded message – server cannot be found. And sure enough, no matter where I looked or how long I looked the server could not be found. Since looking for a server was no fun I decided to do something else that was fun. I went back to the dorms, washed up, and went over to the cafeteria for lunch. Shortly after lunch it was finally time to head off to the track in order to be ready for the men’s 100 semifinals. Sunday’s schedule included three running finals. Tiffany Ross-Williams won the 400H in 54.03. Lashinda Demus, who ran for Long Beach Poly, I believe, just missed the team as she finished in 4th place. Bernard Jackson won the men’s 400H in 48.17. My favorite field event is the pole vault and we had great seats for viewing that contest. Experience paid off in this event as 35 year old Derek Miles cleared 19 feet 1/4 inch to finish on top while 40 year old Jeff Hartwig (some people are grandpas by that age), competing in his 5th Olympic Trials, soared over 18 feet 8.25 inches to take second place. One nice thing the meet organizers did was to schedule the best for last on this 3rd day of track and field. (Personally I think that revenue from TV contracts might have had something to do with their scheduling decisions, but what do I know?) Why was the 100 meters the best? Simply because it produced the fastest time ever run in the world for 100 meters under any conditions. And who won? The guy that was lucky to get out of the first round where he finished 4th, Tyson Gay. Since his margin of victory over the rest of the field was clear, the only thing we needed after his race was the time. When his 9.68 popped up about 3 seconds after the race (thanks to the modern miracle of electronic timing) there wasn’t anyone left sitting in their seats as the fans yelled, screamed, and clapped their little paws silly realizing that they had just witnessed something that had never happened before in the history of sports. Don’t look for Gay’s record run to be found in the record books however, because, as the headlines in the local paper up here put it, his new record was Gone With the Wind (remember that book/movie?) For record purposes the wind at a sprinter’s back cannot exceed 2.0 meters per second and for Gay, the wind chasing him down the center of the track was 4.4 meters per second. Sunday’s meet was over about 5pm so we were able to eat our dinner at the cafeteria as opposed to getting a sandwich at Hammys. With so much daylight left, (doesn’t get dark here till after 9pm) I decided to head back to Allann’s Coffee Co. where I had been able to post my first blog from Eugene. After my 3 mile ride, I get into the coffee shop, turn on my computer, and wait expectantly for internet connection. It never happened, no matter what I did to get on-line. Finally I asked one of the gals working there if the had a password or something I needed to access the internet and she apologetically said that their WiFi had been out all day and they hadn’t been able to get it working. So I ended the day as I started it, not being able to get on-line. One good thing happened though. Instead of having to ride back to the dorms on the city street bike paths, I discovered a bicycle/walking path that runs through the forest and along the Willamette River and dumps me off right near the University. What a great, fun ride that is.