I Love This Game

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Last night, I played a pickup game of basketball for the first time in YEARS. For those of you who don't know (or care), there was a time (ages 8 to 24) where I played basketball like it was a full-time job…but not because I had to…because it was basically my first love (well, after mom, dad, brother, grandparents, and Elisabeth Shue). I kid you not. My first poetry class in high school, I won awards for my poetry about basketball. Oh yeah. You all know that I can't write…but apparently somebody out there on that committee shared my love for the game. Anyway, as you may or may not also be aware, I think too much…all the time…like I can't stop even when I want to really (have to really focus when watching a movie or something). So last night after work, I went to the gym next door using my complimentary week pass to give it a test drive…and so far so good. The locker rooms were nice and it wasn't crowded or anything (high fees probably help that out). While stretching for my first real workout day since…well, we'll count moving here because that was exhausting, I took a gander around and saw people using some of the machines, trainers showing how to get a good workout regimen going, and basically any kind of equipment you could possibly want and more. It was a pretty sweet setup. I could definitely get used to it.

After about a half-hour of warming up and shooting jump shots and running lay-ups and dribbling routines and all the usual shoot around stuff, some guys started showing up for the pickup games that they do every few days. By the way, while shooting around, I was remembering why I liked to play…and picturing myself looking for the open man, then quick crossover, pull up, swish!!! Apparently I hadn't lost my game…at least in warm-up. I was also remembering playing against my dad at his gym years ago. There was a time when my dad could actually beat me in a game…but then I turned twelve…and even though he had a good eight to ten inches on me at the time, I could take him. The game started…and I was already feeling the sweat start…but that's good…because that means I'm ready to go. Not tired, just ready to start really going. I was my usual amazing self…which was actually quite surprising. I was expecting to be hunched over and gasping for life and grasping for water after a few fast breaks…but I did pretty good. I was even doing my usual routine of watching the other players, looking for strengths and weaknesses, setting up game plans, singing little ditties, working out math equations in my head (like I said, I think too much), along with the usual behind-the-back passes, smooth jump shots, and smothering defense. By the way, I even dunked it. Has anybody else out there ever dunked it before? It's a good feeling. Had not dunked in a few years. Wasn't even really expecting that either. It just kind of happened…and about an hour into the game too…so I should've been drained…but alas, it happened…and it was like déjà vu all over again. Basketball was back in my life. I'd tell you more about the experience…but I fear that I'm already boring the hell out of you.

There's one more really cool thing about this court. Now, growing up, I played on courts that were in driveways, parks, neighborhoods, churches, schools, and literally IN the streets. This court…is ABOVE the streets…as in a bridge about two stories above Curtis Street in downtown Denver. It was around sunset and the lights from cars and their drivers trying to get home and the city's neon and streetlights made it a pretty cool sight whenever there was a break and you looked out the windows. Anyway, did that…and then tried out a few of the weight machines for the upper body workout, then called it a night and went home (next door) for some dinner…and talked to Bubbles and JL Clyde. Good times. May be able to get into the swing of that place. I'm thinking tonight that I'll do a jogging machine or something, upper body work (since I'm not sore), and then some swimming and hot tub. Switch it up. Maybe I'll do the rock wall for some upper body. Can you tell I'm a little excited? Basketball's back in my life, I'm working out and eating better, my apartment's pimpworthy, my job's new & exciting, people around me are pretty awesome, my family's coming in for Thanksgiving, my friends check up on me to hear all about it, my blog's fairly entertaining (at least to me, though nobody seems to comment anymore), and the Eagles are going to win the Super Bowl (you heard it here first). Things are going pretty good. Anyway, enough about me, here's some news…

Fungus Fuel - A newfound fungus living in rainforest trees makes biofuel more efficiently than any other known method, researchers say. In fact, it's so good at turning plant matter into fuel that researchers say their discovery calls into question the whole theory of how crude oil was made by nature in the first place. While many crops and microbes can be combined to make biofuels - including the fungi that became infamous as jungle rot during WWII - the newfound fungus could greatly simplify the process. Researchers have suggested that billions of acres of fallow farmland could be used to grow the raw material of biofuels…but turning corn stalks or switchgrass into fuel is a painstaking process and the end product is expensive and not entirely friendly to the environment. The fungus, which has been named Gliocladium roseum, stands out in the crowd. "This is the only organism that has ever been shown to produce such an important combination of fuel substances," said researcher Gary Strobel from Montana State University. "The fungus can even make these diesel compounds from cellulose, which would make it a better source of biofuel than anything we use at the moment." The scientists are now working to develop its fuel producing potential, according to a paper published in the November issue of the journal Microbiology. The fungus grows inside the Ulmo tree in the Patagonian rainforest in South America.

The fuel it produces has been dubbed "myco-diesel." Cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose make up the cell walls in plants. They makes the stalks, sawdust and woodchip and cannot be digested by most living things. Some 400 million tons of this plant waste is produced ever year just from farmland, Strobel and his colleagues say. In current biofuel production, this waste is treated with enzymes called cellulases that turn the cellulose into sugar. Microbes then ferment this sugar into ethanol that can be used as a fuel. If G. roseum can be used commercially to make fuel, a step could be skipped. "We were very excited to discover that G. roseum can digest cellulose. Although the fungus makes less myco-diesel when it feeds on cellulose compared to sugars, new developments in fermentation technology and genetic manipulation could help improve the yield. In fact, the genes of the fungus are just as useful as the fungus itself in the development of new biofuels." Medicine Man was right. He need to save the rainforest. It's not the cure for cancer…but if they can figure out how to harness it's power…than we may have a good way to make biofuels feasible in today's market place. Take that, Big Oil!!! (and thanks for the cheaper gas in the meantime)

It's Hereditary - Here's a sad (yet kinda funny) little tale from America's Heartland. In Schererville, Indiana, state police said that after a mother was arrested for drunken driving, the three relatives who came to pick up her 1-year-old son also had all been drinking. A state trooper stopped a minivan for speeding early Saturday on U.S. 30 in northwestern Indiana. He arrested the 24-year-old woman on a drunken driving charges. The boy's father arrived later to pick him up...but officers determined he was intoxicated and also arrested him on a drunken driving charge. Police said the boy's grandparents then arrived. Both of them also had been drinking...but the grandmother who was driving was not over the legal limit, so officers escorted them home with the child. I'm an optimist…but I'm also a betting man…and I'm definitely putting a few bucks down that this kid's gonna be an alcoholic when/if he grows up. Please don't drink and drive. Ever. Call me if you need a ride home. Sure, that made a whole lot more sense back when I was living in Slick City next to most of you who read this…but I'll still do it. Thing is…by the time I pick you up, you would've probably sobered up (it's about an 8-10 hour drive each way) but I'll still do it. Also, my dad…or any of my network of friends would be more than happy to help me out by helping you out. So don't be afraid…and I've got friends all over the map. PLEASE don't drink and drive.

Well, that'll do it for today. Sorry to bore you to tears with my rants about basketball…but if it's any consolation, I actually left out a whole lot that I had originally typed out. Like I said, I think too much…and this blog's a testament to that. Have a great day everybody!!! Wish me luck at the gym.