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Rev3 Knoxville & the JumboTron

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Rev3 put on a good show at Knoxville Olympic Distance Triathlon May 9th (.9 mile swim, 25.8 mile ride, 6.2 mile run). I drove down Saturday and got there just before packet pickup and the transition area closed. Having visited the Worlds Fair way back when I immediately recognized the park downtown, very nice place. Liked having all the personalization like your name on your race number and your transition spot. Race morning I stayed in the room till the last minute so as to not be cold hanging around for the start. Got my stuff set, put on the wetsuit and still had to wait a long time for the last wave to go. The swim was 400 meters or so back into the current in the Tennessee River, take a right turn around a large buoy then a straight shot to the dock at the end. All went smooth till the end where I tried to pull myself out of the water without any steps. A volunteer grabbed my arm and pulled me straight up onto the dock. It was like the hand of God reaching down. Needless...
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Madame Blueberry & Pioneer Days

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I've met a character like Madame Blueberry from Veggie Tales fame, and I believe I’m looking at him in the mirror.  “ Though her butlers (portrayed by Bob and Larry) attend to her every whim, they find themselves unable to lift Blueberry out of her ever-present doldrums. The only happiness she seems to have comes from gazing at photographs of her neighbor's possessions".    The topic of Madame Blueberry came up this past weekend when we attended the evening Pioneer Days showcases at Fowler Park.  Somehow seeing the re-creation of a much simpler life convicted me of wanting too much.  Having recently purchased a much newer SUV and to top it off a nearly new mountain bike I am the guilty party.  All this before Christmas, do I feel convicted, well yes. One of my goals for 2014 was to learn and put into effect the word Guilelessness.  “The quality or state of being as simple and sincere”.  Seems I have not succeed well.  While I...
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Tolkien, the Shire and South Lake

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If you’re a fan of The Lord of the Rings, or perhaps The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien you would have come across a land called The Shire. In Tolkien's fiction, the Shire is described as a small but beautiful, idyllic and fruitful land, beloved by its hobbit inhabitants. They had agriculture but were not industrialized. The landscape included downland and woods like the English countryside.   Families lived in a close community of friends and neighbors, often celebrating and having meals together.  He envisioned The Shire as a place of refuge in an otherwise chaotic and often dangerous world.  Sometimes I view The Shire a bit like living on South Lake within Sun City Center proper. Tolkien himself experienced chaos and extreme danger as a soldier in the first World War.  Barely surviving the Battle of the  Somme, spending months in recovery from Trench Fever.  The battle was one of the world's bloodiest battles, with one million casualties.   Withi...
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