Operation ÖSTERREICH
Okay, what in the heck? For the second week in a row, Day 1 of the One Hundred Push Ups plan was a complete fiasco. Day 2 and Day 3 of Week 1 were both triumphs. I didn't quite feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself after finishing Day 3's push ups on Saturday, but pretty damn close. And now, I was unable to finish the final set of Day 1, Week 2; perfectly willing, but physically unable. My arms pushed, but my body would not rise, and I collapsed onto the floor in a heap. The program prescribes taking two days off between Weeks; I am at a loss as to explain the loss of strength between Saturday and today, when there was an appreciable gain in strength over a gap of the same length between last Thursday and Saturday, Days 2 and 3 of Week 1. I shall try Day 2 on Thursday exactly according to the plan, but anything less than complete success will force me to repeat Week 1.

I remain dedicated to the One Hundred Push Ups, but I wonder, am I following a foolish course? How sound can the program be given the gulf between the results of the initial test and Week 1, and now between Weeks 1 and 2? No, sir, I do not like at all where this seems to be heading. Or, "No, sir, I don't like it."

Operation ÖSTERREICH: Fortitudine Vincimus.

The Wild Sea
The image currently gracing my desktop, the I.N.S. Tarangini entering Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.



"Sea-Fever"
by John Masefield

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn is breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Mustard Plug, "Lolita" from Pray for Mojo (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: I'm in a gamesome mood, a hefty ransom (of a sort) to whomever can surmise why "Lolita" was today's R.B.D.S.O.T.D.