Hate Mail

I had the pleasure of receiving this comment through www.joepapp.com from good ol' Cale McAninch:

"Name: Cale McAninch
Email: calemac@yahoo.com
Phone: 417-860-8785

Message body: Dope kills sport! Once a doper always a doper...

Cale McAninch
Springfield, MO"

I responded to Cale, and he sent me a few more gems, including:

"Mental note...never use Blue Archer or any of their associates if you are the kind of individual they would employ...a liar and a cheat..."

and

"Tell that to the poor clean (as in not a doper) son of a bitch that needed one good result to get a ride for the next season but was upstaged by a doper like YOU and now is out of a job. Some decisions you have to live with the rest of your life..."

Hey, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I realize that there are countless and innumerable haters out there (including quite a few here in Pittsburgh in my old club, the Allegheny Cycling Association), but at the end of the day what is the value in sending me hate mail or talking shit on me to my friends?

It doesn't register on my radar save as a curiosity, and most of the commentators are anonymous or people I haven't seen in five years or more. I'm flattered that I so impacted some people's lives that they feel compelled to remind me of my sins 19 months after the fact, but...keep it in perspective for your own sanity.

Barriers to Internal Revolt in Cuba - a simple treatment

I left this comment on RoCAB, but wanted to reprint it here:

"MaT, I don't know if this fits your topics of interest with regards Cuba, but I'm still waiting longingly for someone with your talent to write the definitive commentary or analysis on why internal revolt in Cuba is about as unlikely as my being invited back to the Vuelta a Cuba after I pissed on a statue of Fidel on the outskirts of Cienfuegos. I'm hoping for a piece that contrasts Cuba with Eastern Europe with particular attention paid to the relevancy of 1) The Cuban regime's having a monopoly on violence (no private ownership of weapons); 2) How the geographic isolation of Cuba, unlike East/West Berlin, or East/West Europe, makes it much more difficult for external players to meaningfully fund or support materially an internal resistance; 3) Total control of news outlets, an indoctrinating educative system that discourages critical thinking and strives to maintain a population in a total state of ignorance; 4) How material conditions (such as almost-famine) leave the population waging a daily struggle for sufficient calories, as opposed to waging a insurgency against government forces and (to keep this short and not make it a PhD dis.) 5) How policies in other nations, directed towards Cuba, actually enable the Castro regime to stay in power, through whatever mechanism is triggered (an example could be the US's banning family remittances to Cubans who don't fit a particular definition of "immediate" family)..."

Glass, Biking, Cuba

Went to Chihuly Nights at Phipps yesterday with Pete and Kirsten. Verrrrry cool. I saw the installation during the day this summer with another friend, and while nice then, it was spectacular last night. Highly recommended.

Anyway, I'm bored with not exercising and feeling like I'm getting fat in addition to not having a definite life purpose. Apparently knocking myself out has knocked some sense into me, as I've had a kick-ass Thanksgiving break getting caught up on all kinds of life-enhancing endeavours, including trying to rehabilitate myself in the eyes of the nonprofit community in Pittsburgh. For those of you who know what I did in 2001 in order to get to Cuba, you know what I mean.

My sporting sanction is up at the end of July next year, and I need something in my life other than just selling software and web development services, and fighting a rear-guard action against the communist regime in Cuba. I miss the daily rhythm of training, and while I will never race full-time again, I do plan to race at least locally. Maybe. So I rode yesterday for the first time in about a month, and took the picture below, which I sent to douchebag brian trdina, errr, I mean, DoucheBlog, along with a note saying I plan to win at least one ACA Criterium in 2008. I didn't mention that I will also ride the Dirty Dozen in 2008 if I'm still in Pittsburgh.

I had a very loud Dan Chew on the phone last night, and so I don't have to repeat myself, I didn't start doping until late-2001, and all of my results up until then were achieved cleanly. So no need to strip me of my second-place in the Dirty Dozen, my whopping four ACA Club Championships, or my brilliant and inspired Pseudodrome records. I mean, c'mon, I've already been stripped of allllll of my results since July 1, 2001. A man needs something to keep him warm on these cold Western Pennsylvania evenings, and dreams of Cuba, Uruguayan putas and focaccia just don't do it.

Mike Dropkin, who engaged in a spirited bit of email trolling last week, wants to know about the shooting gallery videos. Patience is a virtue, my friend. Updates on Cuba? Not really. Work is top of mind right now, because without a developing career and regular source of income, what's the point? I've hardly given up the fight, however. I'm even thinking about what's next on the education front, and - if I can arrange it - will complete a mini-MBA program at Katz this winter. Keep your fingers crossed, and watch out Robert Morgenthau!

Before, I go, for my friends in the Cuban government who are reading this, I want to leave you with:

1. Abajo Fidel!
2. Viva Cuba Libre!
3. Chavez is as bad for Venezuela and the Hemisphere as Castro.

YOUR REAL COURAGE SHOWS BEST IN THE HOUR OF ADVERSITY

Napoleon Hill - Thought for the Day

Some setbacks are so severe that to give in to them means losing the whole ball game. When he assumed command of the Korean War, Gen. Matthew Ridgeway found his forces pushed far to the south, hard pressed by the invaders. Only a determined decision to hold the lines allowed the American forces to keep from being swept into the sea and to eventually regain all the territory they had lost. When a defeat strikes, you may not have the time to withdraw and contemplate your mistakes without risking further setbacks. Don’t succumb to paralysis. It is important to know at that moment what it is you truly desire and to act to preserve your resources and your hope. If you crumble utterly, you will take a blow to your self-esteem that will be hard to repair. Instead, stick to your principles, and you will know, at the very least, that you have protected the most important thing you have.

The Cuban Regime = Haters

What More Evidence do You Need? Details via KillCastro.

I haven't had much time or desire for blogging, least of all about Cuba. Nonetheless, this is too shocking not to at least redistribute. Let me quote KC:

"Sadly...people do not seem to understand the importance of what is been shown in this photograph, we are missing a great opportunity by not divulging this photo as much as we could, making it fly around the world.

Many of us just shrug shoulders and make a "comic" comment about it, and that's it. Others simply look the other side, and do nothing about it. The ones who feel indignation, and whose blood boil for these injustices are just very few.

That's why we've been 48 years under Castro and his system from hell. And if we don't get the message out for the world to see, if we just ignore that this is about marketing our cause through images like this for the world to understand the pains of the Cuban people, well, some more years of tyranny -who know how many- will keep on piling up over the Cuban people. Thanks to all who understand this and publicized this brutal image."

Viva Cuba Libre!

Abajo Fidel!

A Note to His Fellow Pittsburghers

Last night I had the difficult task of confronting - along with dozens of other enlightened Pittsburghers - the sad reality represented by the final result of the mayoral election. Voter turnout was "light" (I hate the use of that word in this context...perhaps compulsory voting like that which is required in Uruguay should be implemented in this country), my fellow democrats held a 5:1 registration advantage over Republicans, and the incumbent walked away with