Despite earlier promises to maintain some sort of physical fitness regimen, i've still been pretty hit or miss with regard to getting on the NordicTrack in our garage. After seeing the pictures of myself in Orlando, i decided strong action needed to be taken. While casually conversing with my radiochemist friend Fred, i found out he had started going to the Stanford gym every night and lifting weights followed by 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical trainer. Working out with Fred sounded like a great way to keep me on track, so i joined his workout schedule starting Wednesday. Wednesdays are shoulder days, so we did barbells, dips, and military press, with some crunches thrown in for the abs. Yesterday was arms, so we did a lot of bicep and tricep curls, plus some more ab stuff. Today i can barely lift my arms. I was shaving in the shower this morning and i chopped the hell out of my chin, causing it to bleed for a good 45 minutes, largely because i can't effectively touch my chin at the moment. It's weird though, i feel destroyed now but when we head off to the gym again this evening, the first few reps of weights will clear this lactic acid right out. Hopefully by the time i head off for the SMI in Hawaii in late August, i'll be lean and ripped.

I've said it before, i'll say it again ... New Zealand has got indie pop down to a science. The Clean are such an amazing band, and have spawned so many other trailblazing outfits.

Easter weekend was spent helping Naomi and Geoff pick up a new scooter, a fairly well-kept Vespa Primavera, from San Jose, attending Noel and Juliet's daughter Josey's first birthday party in San Francisco (whipping up a batch of pork and shrimp balls for the pot luck festivities), taking in a Saturday night showing of the abysmal Scary Movie 4 with Veronica, and zipping up to Corte Madera for an Easter dinner with my aunt Betty and uncle Ted, held in conjunction with my cousin Joanna's birthday party.

After flirting with letting Manchester United back into the title race, Chelsea have got their act together again and now need at minimum a draw in one of their last three matches to guarantee the title. The emphatic way of winning it would be to squash title challenger United at Stamford Bridge a week from Saturday. This weekend we've got yet another grudge match against Liverpool in the FA Cup semifinals, which as always should be a tightly contested affair. We've beaten them four times running in the League, but have been pretty evenly matched in domestic and European cup play. I'm still not thrilled with our image, which has turned the majority of the footballing world against us, not to mention ensured us somewhat less than objective media coverage. But it's always worth it to see the unity of the players, under the leadership of Terry and Lamps. Word is German midfield general Michael Ballack will soon be signing a Chelsea contract ... i'm not quite sure what to make of that. He's a great player, but is a bit older than most of our signings and is coming into a squad already replete with world class midfielders.