Satellite Frustration

I'll cop to missing a very, very few things about a large metro area. Starbucks. Daily newspapers you can hold. Occasionally decent Tex-Mex. But No. 1 on my list is reliable broadband.

We use satellite -- not to name any names, but this provider put me on hold for 35 minutes today when my connection went down. Talk about frustration. All told, I spent four hours diagnosing, troubleshooting and re-connecting.

Got up and took the bike to the shop to check the shifting problem. For some mysterious reason, it decided to shift for the shop owner. It's not a bike repair person I need -- it's an exorcist. Anyway, the Very Good Bike people didn't charge me anything other than a few funny looks, and a recommendation that I maybe think about a bike rack.

Scooted over the border to the CSA and picked up the week's haul:

Broccoli
Carrots
Spinach
Scallions
Swiss chard
Basil (more pesto!)
Parsley
Cilantro
Flowers

We got some spoilage; carrots, mostly, for one of the Angora rabbits, which is going to have a litter any day. Lisa is going to take some organic bread to the CSA next week and see how many shareholders might be interested in signing up for a loaf or two. That's a Good Thing.

Stopped by the farm supply store en route home and picked up grain for the chickens, ducks and turkeys; another water bucket so I can make one trip to and from the hose; and some thistle for the songbirds.

Also drove my running route yesterday. The Outback odometer was cooperative; it reported that I ran 13.1 miles. Seems like I was lot more tired than I usually am after running a half-marathon, but it was uphill. And raining. Wah. Poor me.

More from the Cohasset triathlon, which apparently involved a lot of EMS folks. The Boston Globe reported that it's the third death this year in a triathlon (story follows below), and the Cohasset Mariner reports at least three people wound up in the hospital.

Here's the Cohasset story:

Woman treated for cardiac event, man dies in triathlon
Triathlon CPR
Photo by Chris Shores
EMT's jump on board a Cohasset Harbormaster boat Sunday morning during the Cohasset Triathlon to help a participant in distress. Four participants were pulled from the water, three of whom were transported to the hospital.
By By Mary Ford and Nancy White
GateHouse News Service
Mon Jul 09, 2007, 11:26 AM EDT
Story Tools: Email This Email This | Print This Print This
Cohasset -

In a joint press release this afternoon, Cohasset officials stated a 40-year-old woman who experienced a “cardiac event” during the swimming leg of Sunday’s triathlon was transported to South Shore Hospital by ALS ambulance where she was admitted and treated in the Intensive Care Unit. She is now awake and alert, officials said. Reports that she was transferred last night to a Boston Hospital have not been confirmed.

The woman was swimming during the fourth of six heats in the swim leg. Safety personnel responded to her immediately and transferred her to the beach where she was met by emergency medical personnel including an emergency room physician.

A 38-year-old man died at South Shore Hospital yesterday after being pulled from the water in the first-ever Cohasset Tri, that includes swimming, bicycling and running. He was in the first group of triathletes to begin the swim leg. Several fellow racers signaled to a nearby Harbormaster boat about the 38-year-old’s distress. Upon arrival on the beach, the victim went into cardiac arrest and CPR was immediately initiated. The man was transferred to the Advanced Life Support ambulance then driven to South Shore Hospital where resuscitation efforts continued.

“Unfortunately, the male was not resuscitated and was pronounced dead,” the press release states. Officials have not released the cause of death.

Four participants in all were pulled from the water, three of whom were transported by Advanced Life Support ambulance to South Shore Hospital. A 29-year-old male in the fifth group of racers was treated for exhaustion during the swim. He was transferred to the beach by one of the triathlon safety boats. He was awake and alert when met by emergency medical personnel including the emergency physician on the beach. He was transferred to South Shore Hospital in an ALS ambulance, was treated and released.

Another woman, who was plucked from the water, was fine, needed no medical care, and continued with the race. The names of the affected participants are being withheld at the request of the families, the press release states.

The water leg, which was conducted in six “waves” spaced five minutes apart, meaning not all the participants were in the water at the same time, was the first part of the event.

According to Fire Chief Robert Silvia a total of six people were treated during the event including two minor injuries – a blister and abrasions – that occurred in different legs of the race.

Silvia met with Police Chief James Hussey, race director Bill Burnett, and South Shore Hospital ER doctor Michael Hughes this morning (Monday) to go over yesterday’s events. They issued a formal press release Monday afternoon.

Hughes was at the race Sunday working in conjunction with the Cohasset Fire Department and paramedics from South Shore Hospital. As part of the safety plans in place, two ambulances were at the event, one from South Shore Hospital and Cohasset’s backup ambulance, which is shared with three towns. Five paramedics, one ER doctor and the fire chief were on duty.

Cohasset’s ALS ambulance, which was away on an unrelated call at the start of the event, went to the scene and transported the first victim. Hull and Hingham ambulances transported the other two.

Cohasset Harbormaster Lorrie Gibbons and three assistant harbormasters were all working the swimming part of the event, Silvia said. There were also eight kayaks and paddleboats that were organized by race officials.

The harbormaster boats responded to three of the four participants needing medical help; a private vessel working the event responded to the fourth; all were brought to the beach.

Upwards of 700 athletes participated in this first-ever Cohasset event. The water off the beach was relatively calm making for good triathlon swimming conditions. The swimming course was designed to be in water not more than nine feet, according to the Cohasset Triathlon website. The temperature of the water was around 60 degrees and many of the participants were wearing wetsuits.

Over $45,000 was raised for the Cohasset Triathlon charity, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

And here's the Globe story:

Monday, July 9, 2007
Cohasset death 3d this year in a triathlon

By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff

The death of a 38-year-old man at the inaugural Cohasset Triathlon on Sunday was the third death in the nation this year at a sanctioned event, said officials from USA Triathlon, the sport's governing body.

One participant died in Tampa in April, and another person died three weeks ago in Missouri, said Kathy Matejka, USAT events services director. Both occurred on the swim course, as did Sunday's fatality in Cohasset. Matejka said two deaths occurred in 2006, also on the swim course.

Cohasset officials said the death appears to have been an accident. Bill Burnett, director of the Cohasset Triathlon, said event officials planned to respect the wishes of the family and were not going to identify the man who died.

Two other swimmers also had problems on the course Sunday and had to be rescued.

Triathlon is a growing sport, with many newcomers joining the ranks of the USAT, where the annual membership is expected to climb to 100,000 this summer. In 2004, USAT had 1,500 sanctioned events and surpassed 2,000 events for the first time last year.

Tragedies like the one in Cohasset are "something that's always on our mind," Matejka said.
Posted by the Boston Globe City & Region Desk at 02:21 PM

I don't know what to think about this. It's easy enough (and self-righteous as all hell) to think, well, a lot of people enter triathlons without respecting the sport, without training enough, without really thinking about the consequences. But a lot of people get kicked in the head during the swim, have seizures for no good reason, have heart attacks at totally random moments, etc.

And having struggled in the water myself, I can see where these things can happen.

My last rant: Listened to David Broder on Bob Edwards' XM show this afternoon. Edwards asked him about Gore. Broder said "there's no enthusiasm" for another Gore campaign.

WTF?

Is my confusion a function of living in The People's Republic?

I suspect if Gore came to Our Town and called for electoral jihad, he'd have it.

But my hunch is that Gore's just smart enough to know that if he runs today, he gets torn down tomorrow. And the same people who bitched and moaned and whined for him to run today would be pissed off about a dull campaign tomorrow.

Again, though, maybe that's just me.

No workout today; between the chores and the satellite issue, I'll be up late getting my eight hours of work done.