We had dinner with Jeremy and Amanda at Boatwerks in Holland last night. It was good to have dinner with friends and catch up on what’s new in each other’s lives. I was hoping that we’d pack a picnic for dinner and walk around downtown taking pictures and experimenting with the new camera, but it’s been raining since I got up, and only 62°F to boot (July?).

I should mention in passing that I [technically] have a new job, but not really. Last month, our organization (A) merged with another organization (B). That organization (B) provided IT support to a third company (C). Due to state regulations in the long-term care industry, only employees of B can provide support to C, and since the primary IT guy left B, they needed somebody in IT to support C. So the only difference in my new job is that my paycheck comes from B instead of A (even though, post-merger, we’re the same legal entity) and I got a decent raise. It’s the same job I’ve been doing, I have the same desk, do the same work, report to the same boss, and do everything else the same. The only difference is that I occasionally have to support C. Seem confusing? It is to us too. But the extra money was too good to turn down.

I was going to post longer about this, but were you aware that the Tour de France is going on? I really wasn’t either. My interest in it, and that of many other Americans, has basically evaporated. Every time an American rider wins (11 of the past 21 tour winners have been American) the allegations of doping and cheating come fast and furious. Between the absurd way that the UCI is handling the Floyd Landis affair and the disgusting nationalism of Europeans, particularly the French, there’s no way that I can see where the Tour is going anywhere but down a long spiral.

In a sentence, Europeans (especially the French) can’t bear to see Americans consistently beating them at “their” sport, and so rather than admit defeat, they go and fabricate elaborate conspiracy theories about how American riders are using secret, unknown doping techniques to gain a competitive. Or maybe we just train better. Oh, and Europeans? Free clue about the whole doping problem: Your riders are the ones who keep getting caught.

Speaking of doping, I have to wonder why major league pitchers don’t all agree to a) try to hit Barry Bonds as hard as they can with a fastball, thereby disabling him, or b) only ever walk him from here to eternity. What a cheat. At least there’s still minor league baseball. We bought a 10-game ticket package for the Whitecaps this year; on Thursday, despite rain and cold temperatures, the Whitecaps eeked out a 12th-inning win after opening with back-to-back homers in the first.