Not Just A Hat Rack

Where I'll Be

USSoccerPlayers.com has a feature where they occasionally write live at a game and file the story as the final whistle blows. Or something like that. It's called Where We Were, or something like that. I volunteered to try it out at Saturday night's RSL game, so look for my story on the game by 9pm MT. (Kickoff is 7pm.) Just for kicks, I may do some live blogging here as well.

Storylines... Jason Kreis suspended. Carey Talley just traded. FC Dallas flying high. RSL looking good at home but "needs to go for the jugular," says Big Man Deuchar.

Tune in, we'll see what happens.

Also on Saturday, we're running in Susuan Komen Race for the Cure 5K - a breast cancer benefit event. If you'd still like to support Teri and I in NEXT WEEKEND's Ogden Marathon, visit our fundraising page. Not all donations are reflected here (just the online ones), and we're over $3,000. Thanks, all!

Container House

I had lunch with a developer who is using 35 shipping containers to build a 7-story condo complex in downtown SLC. The containers have little value after being shipped full of Chinese goods to America - we don't export enough to use them, the Asians don't want them back empty, so they are piling up by the millions. See City Center Lofts here.

Each container is 8' wide, 9.5' high and 40' long. They are designed to stack nine high and withstand turbulent seas, which apparently, makes them earthquake-safe if you happen to build a seven-layer condo out of them in the middle of a fault zone like Salt Lake. All the strength is in the corners and frame, so you can cut out the side panels and doors and voila, you have industrial strength legos that you can live in.

Many come with teak wood floors (I am not making this up), but the developer plans to pour concrete for pipes that will circulate radiant heat in his super eco-friendly complex. He has multiple deposits and a waiting list of 40 for the seven units, although he hasn't revealed pricing yet. He figures he'll either make a mint or go bankrupt. "Just breaking even doesn't seem like an option to first-time condo developers," he said.

By the way, the containers are being retrofitted out-of-state as we speak and will be shipped to Utah in February. By April, he says, the condos will be ready to inhabit.

Here's more on the architect, Adam Kalkin:

Happy Anniversary

This is what I wrote a year ago tonight.

Life throws curves. Sometimes you were looking fastball. Sometimes you just swing and miss. In my case, they called in a pinch hitter tonight. I'm out. Back in the clubhouse, I'm swigging gatorade and planning my next at-bat. Guess it will be in a different uniform. I guarantee it means more entries in the 'Hat Rack. Peace.

Mrs. 'Hat Rack and I are celebrating with a date tonight.

A lot has transpired in 365 days, including the fact that I haven't set foot on an airplane in that time. I'm pretty proud of that.

All my favorite teams have lost a lot of games, notably the Giants, RSL and Northwestern football & basketball. Mrs. 'Hat Rack completed an IronMan. We're both just weeks away from the Ogden Marathon (marking at least 25 marathons between us!). We're watching people we love battle insidious diseases and trying to do a few little things to make a difference. I write a lot for work and pleasure. I don't read enough. Our boys have learned to ski. Our "princess" has learned to chatter and disperse hundreds of pieces of (fill in the blank here) all over her room and our house. One dog proved she has 9, no, 99+ lives. And we're thankful for friends (like ones who sit through snowstorms to watch U.S. Open Cup games), running friends, cooking friends, kids' friends and family and friends.

And somehow, against all odds I would have predicted last year, we're still here... with the inch of fresh snow on the lawn and the bright/frozen tulips... on 900 South in Salt Lake City (where they really do name streets like that). And life seems perfectly normal.

Plenty To Read This Week...

Beginning with the tragic... a triathlete met the ultimate predator north of San Diego this week. The shark won. Triathlete dies in shark attack.

Onto lighter triathlete stories, ex big leaguer Jeff Conine is taking to the art of swim, bike and running:
He wants to be an Ironman!

Congrats to Deena Kastor who won the US Marathon Olympic Trial last weekend. And how about Ryan Hall? He ran a 2:06:17 in London last week - third fastest time EVER by an American!

Switching to baseball, Doug Glanville writes in today's NY Times about the moments when a baseball player goes from prospect to veteran to washed up. I'm sure it seems like a blink of an eye: It Gets Late Early Out There

RSL fans will be interested to know that the Guatemalan national team defender was offered a contract as the international transfer window closed. The MLS team low-balled him, however, and he can make much more at home in Central America for now.

Do you realize RSL is 11-4-2 with 41 goals (27 against) in all-time HOME Reserve League games? I'm impressed. In case you missed it, read my story on the Regal Rapids Reserves - two-time defending champs! Thanks to John Murphy for a great interview.

Who else misses RSLFM.com?

More next week on the RSL Exiles. They were live at Midday in Paradise today. Great to see the band members again. Good times.

Here's to Earth Day: Go plant tomatoes

Great article from noted food journalist/conservationist Michael Pollan from the New York Times. It's long, but worth the read.

On another note, I had the chance at work to edit a letter from the former Beijing bureau chief of the New York Times, Christopher Wren. Talk about daunting! Would you edit the writing of a 30-year NYT veteran writer?

Anyways, read on:

Why Bother?