Lost in the City

Arizona, here I come!

The long awaited trip finally started yesterday. I was overly stressed out at the beginning, particularly by the renting-a-car-and-drive-at-night-to-a-new-place part. It turns out it went well. Now let's hope the trip will continue in the same fashion!

The flight was great. Of course, it was long and tiring, but I got window seats from Paris to L.A. and then from L.A to Phoenix, and we had a clear weather most of the time, to I was able to watch great landscapes and take a lot of pictures. The flight over Greenland and Northern Canada was particularly magnificent. The desert was pretty cool as well. I'll post pictures when I get back.

I stayed with Chad for that first night. Chad is a couchsurfing host who took me in. We had a good time in the evening and this morning for breakfast.

Then... then I split for Hohokam Stadium, "the Winter home of the Chicago Cubs", where I had a wonderful _sunny_ day. The Cubs lost... again... Let's just say that Dempster wasn't at his best. The game still was a lot of fun. There was a great couple from Colorado sitting next to me, and that made the whole afternoon very enjoyable.

I am now at David's, another Couchsurfer who will host me for a couple of nights.

Tomorrow, a trip to Sedona is scheduled. Then it will be another Cubs-Angels game on Sunday... and then I'll be on the road again.

They did it!!! The Cubbies are Division Champs!!! After three straight loses against the Marlins, they hit the Reds hard and won 6-0. But that wasn't enough to win the title: the Cubs needed the Brewers to lose against the Padres. And they did. Even better than that: they lost to Greg Maddux, notorious former Cub. So I guess I'll have to honor my bet and go to work dressed up in Cubbie gear on Monday.

…out in the bright sunshine
There’s no place for me like Wrigley Field
With that team of mine
I hear the call of the Ivy on the wall
God’s own green grass let’s play ball”
(Alan Barcus)

I made it!! Yes, I actually saw the Cubs win a game at Wrigley Field! That was a wonderful experience.

I started my journey on the red line, riding the El up to Addison station, which is right next to the ballpark. I had been there several times before, as you know, but it was obviously very special today. Eager as I was to enjoy the Wrigleyville atmosphere on a game day, I arrive quite a bit early on site. I mean early like more than 3 hours early… Hey, I also wanted to watch batting practice, and that starts 2 hours before the game, so I actually wasn’t _so_ early. Ok… maybe still a little bit. Well, this gave me time to wander around, look at all the cub gear, and be in the line early, which got me a little fluffed Snoopy in Cub away uniform, the give-away of the day. Just enough to revive the kid in me.
Frankly, I was afraid I would be disappointed by Wrigley Field. I had been waiting to step into the Friendly Confines for so long and had heard so much about it that I almost expected the disappointment, even if several fans said they had been afraid of the same thing and weren’t disappointed at all in the end. Well I was many things when I walked in, but disappointed wasn’t one of them. It was amazing. The closeness of the field, the layout of the ballpark, the ivy, and the general atmosphere as the fans started to come in.
The atmosphere during the game was something too. Did I mention it was a Cub-Cards game? Since it is the big Midwest rivalry, there was a lot of tension in the air. Many Cards fans had made the trip or (for those living in Chicago) dug up their Cards outfit. The result was a lot of Cubbie blue, but quite a bit of Cardinals red as well in the stands.
The game itself wasn’t thrilling, as just a few players got on base, BUT it ended with a victory, which was good enough for me, particularly since it made the Cubs advance to Central Division first place. And I got to hear “Go Cubs Go” and see the “W” flag wave in the wind.

Yes, the Cubbies did it, they slid in the first spot of the Central Division!!! It took a victory against the Phillies while the Brewers lost to the Mets. Yes, I know, there are still two months to go… and that’s a loooooong time. But that won’t prevent me from savoring today’s good news!! Nope, no one will spoil my fun! It’s so good to see the cubs’ flag up that pole at Wrigley Field!
Now to get back to the real life (wait… the cubbies wouldn’t be for real???)… it has kept being insane lately… which is why I’m posting some news here and hope you’ll cut me some slack while I’m dealing with my backup and not replying your (always interesting, of course) emails.
Work has been really busy for what should have been a slow month of July, and it's barely starting to slow down. This was for a couple of good reasons though. Perhaps more on that later… For now, I have to say that the most insane thing I have been dealing with lately is the bus situation. It’s August, Parisians are supposed to be away, so they cut down the number of busses. That means a bus every 15 minutes on my route if you’re lucky... and that's for peak hour. Bottom line: on the way in and one the way out, it’s 30 minutes in a packed bus. NOT a great way to start and end a day, particularly with a bum leg that tends to swell in the heat. So, nope, Ludi is not a happy camper when coming out of the bus.
Still on the work front, I got some very good news. Well, not me so much as a great colleague of mine, who just got the nod from the adoption commission to launch an adoption procedure. See, when you want to adopt, you first have to get this commission’s agreement that you are fit to adopt. It’s particularly difficult when you are single, which is my friend’s case. She faced the commission on Tuesday and got the decision yesterday. She took me out for lunch to celebrate. Great great news! Any kid would be lucky to have her as a mom.
The thesis is progressing. Some good work got done today as I finished the second subsection of my segregation chapter. I’ll start working on the third and last subsection tomorrow.
Finally, the marathon training is going great. I decided to give a real training a chance even if I'm not completely healed yet. I put to good used the long hours put in studying track and field training in the past and made my own training program. This is going very well for now. Let's hope my leg, knee and ankle will play nice and let me train properly!
And… I guess that will do it for today. I am totally pooped and have to get ready for my parents' arrival tomorrow evening.

I told you we'd get there...
Once again, I took advantage of a short trip to my parents' to play some baseball. We went to the municipal stadium up the hill and played catch for a while before hitting a bit. We had a lot of fun.
Now to talk about serious baseball, I am quite amazed at all that happened in June for the Cubs. I am still loyaly following the game from the other side of the pond, and it has been quite eventful lately. Zambrano and his catcher Barrett throwing some punches, the manager Lou Piniella getting ejected from a game the next day. Ted Lilly getting ejected from a game after 10 pitches for supposedly purposefully hitting a slugger. D. Lee getting hit by a ball and then initiating a fight with Padres' pitcher Chris Young... well, you can say stuff happened! On top of that, we had a couple of amazing come-from-behind wins, including a 9th inning 2-run homer by Ramirez against the Brewers (Central Division leaders). Lots of emotions in June... lots of good game too, allowing the Cubs to stay within reach of the Brewers for the Division Title. I'm telling you: this is the year!

That was fun! As part of Dominick’s visit to France, we dashed down South for my mom’s birthday, combined with mothers’ day, fathers’ day and my father’s birthday. It’s amazing all we could squeeze in a single day!
We started with a bike ride. At lunch, we celebrated my dad’s birthday and got a piece of the infamous “charlotte aux fraises”, his birthday cake. We then drove to the beach, which is about half an hour away.
That’s where we had some baseball fun. Well, frankly, it was more than fun: I had a blast! I played catch with Dom and my father while my mom took pictures. Then we switched to batting practice. That was great! After that, we drove back home in time to have drinks with my aunt, uncle and cousins. Finally, we celebrated my mom’s birthday. Her cake is a “Black Forest”. It has been since I came up with this idea a few years ago. You see, since she is the family’s baker, she never had ‘her’ cake when we grew up. She would have a different cake every year, depending on my dad’s mood. There once was this memorable strawberry pie, whose sticky syrup almost glued our teeth together... Anyway, when I started baking on my own as a teen, I came up with the Black Forest idea, and have been making it ever since for her birthday. Very good cake. Of course: with cherries, chocolate and whipped cream, how could it not be delicious?

These three things haven't apparently anything in commun, I know... but actually they do. Or at least they did today. See, this afternoon, before going north to meet my parents and my niece, I played catch at the Jardins du Luxembourg with Brent, an Hawaiian.
I met Brent on Craigslist. He replied to an add I posted looking for someone to play catch. So we hooked up at the "Jardins du Luxembourg" around 4:00 and thrown for about two hours. That was a lot of fun. We got a lot of curious stares and made an impression on a lot of kids who are not used to see baseball gloves around. By the way, the gardens were crowded. It was nice and sunny outside, and a Saturday too: perfect recipe to have Parisians go out to the park.

I swear, this blog is turning into a baseball blog... It's not really my intent, but what can I say?
So I'm down South at my parents right now, getting ready to take the train back to Paris in a little while. I decided to spend a few days here when I still can, because starting in April I won't have vacation for a year.
I have been serious about my rehab since the accident, and I still am. In Paris, it's either indoors cycling or swimming. Here, I took my bike out for a ride on Sunday and Monday. I biked a route I hadn't been on for a long time, with a nice hill in the middle, and I can't believe how fast I climbed that one. The only time I went so fast was when I came back from a "cycling vacation" in the Alps - where I climbed most of the major mountain passes.
On Tuesday, I did something totally different though. I had brought my baseball glove, ball and bat from Paris, and my mom had borrowed a couple of gloves at the Junior High she teaches at... so I went to the town's stadium with both my parents to play for a while. We played catch at first and tried some batting after that. It was really fun. The only thing left to try is real pitching... I'll find a way.
Time to sign off now, so I can get ready and take my train back to the capital city. There is some leafleting waiting for me as soon as tomorrow morning.