Watchersticker Follow-Up & Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

I don’t have a real post today- I’m still “buzzed out” by the Fly posts. But I’m going to take advantage of the off-day to catch up on 2 things: some WatcherSTICKER-related housekeeping, and a current news item with a connection to a previous post in this blog.

Tangent: Speaking of “real” posts, a quick word about posting frequency over the next several weeks. Though I know it doesn’t seem like it from reading this blog, I do in fact have a Real Job. And though the details of that Real Job* aren’t important, the busy season for that job is the last quarter of the year, or Right Now. As such, I may be time-challenged for the next little bit to do full topic research and graphics for quite as many TdF**-type posts. I hope to post at least twice/week between now and the end of the year, but if I slack off a bit, don’t worry- I’m not flaking, just making sure the bills get paid.

*I sell stuff.

**Tour-de-Force.

First Thing

At this point I believe I’m completely caught up with WatcherSTICKERS, meaning that if you sent me a request/address for a STICKER, I’ve responded, mailed the STICKER, and you’ve received it. If you sent me a request/address, but did not receive a response, it means I didn’t get your email, so send it again to adventureREMOVECAPSbotanist@yahoo.com. If I emailed you back, but you never received the STICKER, it means it never made it to you, so let me know and I’ll re-send.

Also, I have STICKERS left, so if you were on the winner list but didn’t claim your STICKER*, you can still do so. (Or, if you weren’t on the list, but just want a sticker, just send me a nice email and I’ll probably send you one anyway.)

*Yes, believe it or not, a couple of winners never claimed their STICKERS, which seems simply unfathomable, given their Incomparable Utter Coolness.

Speaking of STICKERS, I thought they were cool enough when I came up with the idea, but now that I’ve seen them in action, they’re actually- if possible- Even Cooler. Here’s SkiBikeJunkie’s WatcherSTICKER, positioned enigmatically on top of his LOTOJA sticker. For out-of-staters, (*warning- link takes you to phenomenally annoying and utterly unnecessary flash intro*) LOTOJA is the much-hyped, longest single-day UCSF-sanctioned road-bike race in the US (207 miles.) Over the years the hype and bragging rights associated with the event have grown exponentially and the ubiquitous stickers (yes I have one- raced it 3 times) have become perhaps just a bit too popular in the view of many regular racers, as the race has attracted hundreds (thousands?) of participants who pretty much never race otherwise. This effect has given rise to an informal, grass-roots anti-LOTOJA backlash/jihad, led by none other than our own, otherwise mild-mannered, KanyonKris.

SkiBikeJunkie has a subtle mind and a well-developed sense of irony, so I’m not entirely clear whether his placement is poking fun of the LOTOJA-hype, or rather poking fun of the anti-LOTOJA-hype-backlash/jihad (and hence KanyonKris.) In either case, I’m proud that a WatcherSTICKER is part of his statement, whatever it is.

Speaking of KanyonKris, the man is living proof that family minivans can be Way Cool, merely by the addition of a well-placed WatcherSTICKER, as shown here. Sharp-looking wheels, KanyonKris!

And speaking of sharp-looking wheels, Maggie reconsidered her WatcherSTICKER placement and opted for the seat-tube (rather than the down-tube) on her Awesome-Canadian-Panda-Fixie-Bike, shown here parked along the happening streets of Toronto. I think the eye gives the Panda-Bike an almost sentient look, as if it were somehow self-aware*.

*Which I’m hopeful will dissuade would-be bike-thieves.

The WactherSTICKER looks sharp on other continents as well. Here it is gracing Ian’s Ford Mondeo in West London. I have to say, that burgundy compliments the WatcherSTICKER beautifully- great-looking car!

You might think, living as he does in the busy metropolis of London, that Ian would rarely see actual wildlife, except for the snippets he glimpses in blogs such as this one. You would be wrong. Here’s a Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes, in Ian’s urban back yard taken last week. Red Foxes aren’t unusual in London, but this one’s the biggest he’s spotted yet.

Nowadays Red Foxes are the only wild canines in the UK. They’re also found here in North America, but their distribution and origins are both fascinating and unclear. While they were apparently native to the Boreal Forest of Canada and the Northern Rockies in the US, non-native Red Foxes were introduced during colonial times in New York, Maryland and Virginia* (for hunting). The non-natives thrived in human-disturbed environments and spread throughout North America, coming into contact with native Red Foxes. Today it’s not clear whether there are really any true “native” Red Foxes left in North America, or whether they’ve been replaced, or hybridized out of- Oh wait! Stop! This is turning into a real post, and really, I’m just not up for that today. Sorry, where was I? Oh yeah- cool STICKER placement.

*And possibly later on the West Coast.

But the coolest WatcherSTICKER placement of all to date is by KristenT, who’s placed it on the rear window of her Rally Racer Nissan Sentra SE-R, shown here in the Mt. Hood 2009 Rally.

It’s cool enough that Kristen competes in the overwhelmingly male-dominated sport of road rally racing, but that she does so sporting a WatcherSTICKER is Even Cooler. And let me tell you- this lady can drive. Check out minute 7:20 of the video below, as Kristen rips around the corner in car #231*.

*The “T’s” are a family team. If you watch the whole video, you’ll see her 2 brothers and her dad racing in cars #232, 271 and 222 respectively. That’s right- the whole family races. Remember how in the old Speed Racer cartoons, the whole Racer family** raced? That’s KristenT’s family- she’s living Speed Racer in real life. How. Cool. Is. That?

**Personally, I always identified with Speed’s older brother, Rex Racer, who of course was really the mysterious RacerX, and who regularly appeared at Critical Cartoon Moments to get Speed out of jams. I don’t know why; I can’t say that I’ve ever gotten my real life little brother- let’s call him “Phil”- out of any significant jam…

Cool WatcherSTICKERS are everywhere. Thanks to all of you who sent photos, and if any other recipients have sticker-shots to share, please forward and I’ll see if I can work them into future (filler) posts.

Second Thing

So the second item is decidedly less frivolous. You may have seen in the news this week that former NBA star Kareem Abdul Jabbar made public that he is suffering from a rare form of leukemia. Though most of the articles mentioned the type- chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML)- they didn’t provide an awful lot of detail as to exactly what CML is, how it works, or what causes it. But long-time readers of WTWWU of course already know, for this is of course the same form of leukemia that my friend “Lance” suffers from. Both Abdul-Jabbar and Lance are being treated with Gleevec, which offers both of them good chances for many long years ahead. If you missed the Lance-CML post, and would like to know the details of Abdul-Jabbar’s leukemia, you can go check it out.

While CML is of course a tough thing for Abdul-Jabbar, there may be a silver lining. One of the challenges Lance initially faced was finding a local oncologist experienced in CML treatment. When well-known personalities face unusual illnesses, knowledge of that illness and its treatment often spreads more quickly both through the general public and the medical community. Abdul-Jabbar’s going public with his illness may well improve awareness and treatment for CML patients in general, and it was a good thing to do.