For a number of years, a feel-good story of a cyclist transfixed us.  First, doctors diagnosed a twenty-five-year-old Lance Armstrong with testicular cancer in 1996.  That’s not uncommon, many young athletes become afflicted with serious illnesses.  Second, after he completes his recovery, he proceeds to win the Tour de France, the epitome of bicycle races, in 1999.  Third, he repeated this victory, winning the twenty-plus day bicycle race, six more times.  It had never been done before.

I did not know the name before these victories began.  In fact, I had only a vague familiarity of the Tour de France and really knew nothing about it.  I certainly knew of no names that had won that event.  However, I’ll admit that even I was seduced by the allure of that story.  I started to learn about the event, which includes the types of stages, the different awards, etc.  I learned that Armstrong excelled at the mountain stages; he passed other riders and grew his lead during these stages.

Continue reading “The Lance Armstrong bubble”

Back at Microsoft, my friends and I had a tradition.  Every other week, on Tuesday mornings, we met for breakfast.  We called it The Breakfast Club.  It started many years before, but we had maintained it for that entire time.  We set a time at a nearby cafeteria, we’d even designate a particular portion of the cafeteria among the sea of tables.  First, I order breakfast, a latte, and a pastry.  Next, upon collecting all my food items, I sit down at the designated collection of tables and wait for friends to arrive.

Our collection of friends spanned from people I had known for over a decade to others that I had only met months before.  We simply sat together and chatted about anything at all.  Conversations ranged from talking shop, to family issues, to our current hobbies and plans.  On one particular day, we spoke about current events and the conversation turned to Michigan, in some ways my adopted state.  Meanwhile, one friend speaks of Michigan’s governor and calls her “Gretchen Halfwit”.

Continue reading “Respecting our disagreements”