#456 Worm Killer

I am a worm killer.  Or a worm-mutilator.  Let me explain. 

My gym is next door to my office.  Many years ago, our parking garage was a five-minute walk to the gym.  My neck/shoulders gave me fits carrying my gym bag every day, so I invested in a rolling bag.  This practice screams “elderly” but I was in my 30s at the time.  (I don’t care what I look like.  I don’t care that people make fun of my rolling gym bag, or think they are being followed by a skateboarder.  My neck and shoulders thank me and that’s all I care about.)

Even though our current staff garage is a bit closer, I have to walk a good distance from the gym to the other side of my office building, so I still use the rolling bag.  Where do the worms come in?  Stay with me. 

I have an affinity for worms, as they provide a valuable benefit to the soil.  And they seem very friendly.  Occasionally when I see one lying on concrete after the rain has stopped, I will pick it up and put it in the grass/soil so it won’t dry up and die. 

On rainy days when I walk from the gym to the office, there are seemingly hundreds of thin worms along the sidewalk.  I maneuver my bag so as not to roll over any and potentially cut them in half.  I look like an Indiana driver avoiding potholes in February.  And every time I cringe at what damage may be fall the worms.  If I do run over one with my wheel(s), will it regenerate or shrivel up and die? 

An interesting article in the Washington Post explains the rules of worm regeneration.  Whether or not they can regenerate after being cut into two (or more) pieces depends on several things, including the type of worm, and the location and cleanliness of the cut. 

This assuages my fears a tiny bit.  And there are a ton of them, so if I happen to crush one, there are a multitude of his family/friends to carry on the good work. 

Worm Killer

Qu'est-ce que c'est

#455 Tall Chick World Tour

I started playing organized basketball in the fifth grade and was fortunate to play in college, with USA Basketball and professionally.  While basketball was never my “life”, it was a big part of it and I am grateful for the lessons I learned, the people I met and the places I visited (and sometimes lived). 

Last year an idea popped into my head that I should re-visit all the places I played throughout my career.  My next stop after high school was Auburn, Alabama, which I have returned to frequently (and still do).  From there I played in several foreign countries, ending in Seattle, Washington. 

I traveled extensively until my final stop in Seattle, then started my “real” work career.  Yes, I still traveled, but only within the United States.  It wasn’t until 2014 that I finally ventured back to foreign soil, with a trip to Italy.  The bug nibbled at me.  Three years later I was determined to let the bug take a bigger bite and coined my Tall Chick World Tour.  How would it happen?  Who would want to go with me? 

Life is unpredictable, and it took a nudge to put the wheels into motion.  I recently returned from a long weekend in Seattle.  I had wanted to go back for a long time.  Things just seemed to fall into place:  Re-connecting with a friend from the past.  Free hotel nights.  Realizing that several of my teammates (and front-office staff) still lived there.  Let’s do this! 

Below is the back of my Tall Chick World Tour T-shirt.  I’ve listed all the places I played in alphabetical order by city, with the eventual travel dates TBD. 

Stay tuned for my first installment of my TCWT. 

Bon voyage! 

#454 To Russia With Love

The latter part of last year, my good friend, and twin tower, Tammy travelled to Russia.  She didn’t go on vacation.  She went to work there for the next two years. 

I first met Tammy in 1986 at a girls’ basketball camp at Purdue University.  The next time I saw her was the fall of 1992 at an Athlete’s in Action training camp in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Tammy was on the team and I was assigned to stay at her house before we left on our tour.  Well, it was her dad’s house, as we were in our early-20s.  We hadn’t kept in touch after the Purdue camp but quickly realized we had met before. 

Not long after our tour, Tammy moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and has lived there ever since.  (Minus a couple years in India.)  Over the years we have visited each other.  We also talk on the phone now and then.  She’s 6’3” and we commiserate on clothes, shoes and men.  I tell her I don’t see many tall, good-looking men in Indianapolis.  She tells me she sees lots of tall, good-looking men in Ft. Lauderdale.  Unfortunately, most of them are gay. 

We’ve had lots of fun times together.  She met my friends and me in New York in 1999 and 2000, and in St. Louis for the 2015 Men’s Final Four. We ran the 2000 New York City Marathon together (hence, the twin towers). 

We have conflicting stories of how this came about, but one of us was walking down the street and a stranger commented on our height, as they are likely to do.  Instead of the usual, “How tall are you?” or the exclamatory, “You’re tall!”, this person referred to us as a goddess.  Wow!  It made quite an impression that one of us told the other, and for several years we have refereed to each other as the “Florida goddess” and the “Indiana goddess”. 

Tammy and her friend, Martha, visited me before Tammy left for Russia, and it was great to catch up in person again.  With technology, I hope we will be able to keep in touch as if she were still in the States.  Russia has never been on my list of places to visit, but I would love to visit her while she is there.  Finding a cheap/free place to stay overseas is half the battle! 

Bon voyage, Tammy!  Удачи and Бог благословил!  (That is my attempt at Russian translation.)