All One! All One! All One!

Dr Bronner's Magic Soap Box. Must see documentary. Think Grey Gardens meets Grizzly Man with soap. Add it to your que. I don't want to give too much away but here is a brief synopsis. First of all if you don't know Dr. Bronner you have probably seen his soap. It's sold at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and even Target now. He is a very eccentric German fellow. He has a jolting German accent and spews his gospel of "All One" harmony on spaceship earth constantly throughout the film. He calls his gospel The Moral ABC. He is a holocaust survivor and mental hospital escapee. Oh and he's blind. Anyway he invented Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap which is a super eco-friendly, organic18 in 1 soap. You can use the soap for anything from washing your hair and body to washing your clothes to mouthwash and deodorant. The movie explores his life and his family that have taken over his company with special attention to his son Ralph, a disciple of sorts who is changing the world one hug and one bottle of soap at a time.

Here is a bit of his gospel. Read this in your best German accent.

Small minds decay! Average minds delay! Great minds teach All-One today! Win Victory-Unity & all stand by you! Delay-divide, all deny you! Remember: The only difference between the brave and the coward, is the brave has an ideal to fight for, such as helping teach the whole Human race the Moral ABC of All-One- God-Faith, lightning-like 6 billion strong & we're All-One! All-One!

I Can't Let It Go

Volleyball update. There are 8 teams in the league and we play each team twice. The first round we finished off 1 and 6. Is that how you say it when you have won one game and lost six? Anyway that's what happened. We are now on round two. We beat the team that we beat last time. Hallelujah!

Last night was the Net Nazis. We already hate them from our first interaction. Steve came up with the strategy to go in and ignore them, just play our own game and not listen to a word they say. They are constantly talking the whole time about anything... what they did last weekend, work stuff, and then the game. Letting us know about any suspect hit or that we may have crossed the net or questioning a call. It is so irritating and hard to ignore. Anyway we lost the first game. I can't remember the score maybe 9-15? The second game we were great. And they were losing it. The game kept going into a tie so it was a long one. We had really long exchanges. And then it happened. I had a great shot that dropped right on the line and their player was out of position. We were cheering and high-fiving, I went back to serve and out of nowhere. This chick from the other side of the court starts saying that it was out! She was playing right front and the ball hit the line on the left middle of the court. The three people from her team who were right there just stood there speechless. Junior asked them for a call and they would not respond. And this chick just kept saying it was out. She was in no position to make that call and no one on her team would say a word. Well not until after the next play when one of the other ladies said to me "You shouldn't have let that happen. You shouldn't let her get away with that. You shouldn't have backed down." I said "Thanks" but what I should have said was "Then you should have stepped up." Anyway we eventually lost 17-19. But the momentum from that shot could have changed the whole game. We were in the lead and just needed one more point to end the game. It was one of those moments that you wish you could relive and do over. I know it's just volleyball but it is so irritating. It was a blatant bad call and we let her get away with it. Later in the game they had a similar shot. They actually thought it was out but it landed perfectly on the line. Of course we called it in and gave them the ball. A couple of them said "Really it was in? Thanks" We can't stoop to their level. It's just wrong. I will have to admit, though, it was hard.

Game three was a waste of time. We were in no mood for them any more. We lost. Our hearts were not into it any more. I am pretty sure no one shook hands with the chick after the game. I know I didn't. I am pretty sure Junior and Jess didn't. And Steve said he barely touched her. Maybe one finger touched her hand.

We were all quiet after the match was over. Cleaned off our feet, drank some water. No one said a word. I think we were afraid to start unleashing our anger in public. One guy from the other team walked over and made point to shake hands with each one of us and tell us what a great game we played. I think he felt the guilt. But it was nice of him to come over. He was really genuine.

If you have any tips on how I can just let this go please let me know. It is still boiling in my belly.

The Tour

The Tour de France is maybe my second favorite thing to watch on TV. It seems boring, 3-4 hours of watching people ride their bikes. If you really get to know it, there is so much more going on here. It's not just a straight up race to the finish.

There are teams and each member has a specific role. A man's career could be hugely successful, but he is strictly a domestique. His job is to ride in front of his leader to block the wind, sacrifice himself to allow the leader to conserve energy. Fall back to the team car and pick up water bottles. Even give up his bike if his leader's bike is destroyed in a crash.

There are competitions with in the race. There are special jerseys which denote a rider’s status. The leader in the time competition wears the yellow jersey, the leader in the sprint competition wears a green jersey, the king of the mountains wears a polka dot jersey, and the best young rider gets a white jersey.

There is etiquette. If your team has the yellow jersey your team is expected to lead the peloton. If the yellow jersey rider falls the race will slow giving him time to catch back up. You never attack when the yellow jersey is down. Never attack if the peloton is near, in or leaving the feeding area. Never attack when a large number are having a bathroom break. (They pee on the fly). There are so many more you will learn if you watch The Tour.

And don't for get the spectators. They line the course days in advance to watch these riders fly by in about 3 seconds. In the mountain stages the riders are slower and the peloton is broken up. Most of the fans have also been drinking for days. They will run along side the riders for as long as they can carrying a flag or screaming encouragement ...or just naked. And the most famous of them all is the The Devil.

But the main reason I watch is the commentating. There are only two men in the world that can make 3-4 hours of watching a bike race interesting, Paul Sherwen and Phil Liggett. The hours are filled with wit, analogies and quotes that will be classics for years to come, at least in the cycling community. To be honest nothing is really going on 90% of the time yet they talk the entire time and some how make it interesting. Here are some classics.

"The peloton is passing a field of white cows. This region of France is known for its bovine....Of course, none of that matters to any of the riders, except that they might like a nice steak at the end of day."

"The weather is something of a damp squid"

"The race is no respecter of reputation, your only as good as now".

"He's done his job at the front and now he must concentrate on getting his enormous carcass up the rest of the way"

"Its only a mountain, one of many you can see on this French Country morning, but for 171 young men it would be a place where they would dare to ask themselves the questions of greatness"

"The history of the Tour De France was chiseled into these walls of rock by men willing to ask more of themselves knowing that this time for some, the answers from their bodies would be...no more"

"He's really having to dig deeply into the suitcase of courage"

“He’s reeling them in like a fisherman with a trout on the line”

"Bridge to engine room-more power. There is no more"