Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Last Post Till Belgium

All right kids, I'm gonna miss you!!! Make sure you behave!!!

I'm off to Belgium tomorrow night. All packed and ready to go. I might not post anything till Super Bowl Sunday (February 4th for the International readers). I think I might find an Internet cafe to check email, so there might be a post at some point.

Don't think I'm addicted to email, the lottery for the Chesapeake Bay Swim opens on January 25th. Need to check mail in case I win a spot.

So what do you read in the mean time? Here is my little go find a blog you might like pitch.

Through, blogging, I definitely have a new found respect for all the bloggers out there. There are tons of blogs out there. Some are much better than others. Personally, I think my blog kicks ass but I know there are people that put a lot of work into their blog. The work shows!!! No doubt!!!

Google on something. Or go over to a site like Stumble Upon or Google's Blog Search. If you are really lazy like me, Go to Ravi's Blog, and check out his blog roll. Lots of great blogs there!!!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Wish you were here, before I even leave . . .

The real title of this blog post is Great Cycling Vacations.

In 48 hours I'll be headed on a jet plane (to Belgium) as my boy John Denver once wrote. I hope they are stocking up on beer in preparation for my arrival. I would be really upset if I managed to kick the keg.

This vacation was not 100% my idea. My boy Matteis and I have definitely shared the idea of going to Belgium and watching cycling races. Our ideal was to visit Belgium during the Spring Classics and sit in a fine Belgium bar that is along the route of one of the races. Of course leaving the bar to go cheer on the racers as they fly past. Then re-enter the bar for continued beverage drinking and to see the finish on television. Rinse, wash, and repeat for the week. It would be awesome.

So I took that idea and applied to Cyclocross. Hence, I'm going to see Cyclocross worlds. It will rock. Although, the ideal Belgium cyclocross experience would probabably be to go during the week after Christmas. There is nearly a cyclocross race everyday. It would be sweet.

This got me thinking, what are some other great cycling vacations . . . .
  • Seeing the final day of the Tour de France. Sure there would be crazy crowds but you are guaranteed to see some nice cycling action on theChamps-Elysées and you get to hang out in Paris on a summer day. You could even do it without taking too much time off work if work is something you are into.
  • I would love to see the Tour of Georgia. You don't even need to leave the country.
  • Obviously seeing any truly classic mountain stage of the Tour de France would be amazing. The Galbier, Alpe D'Heuz, Lou Arzidan.
  • I read an article about doing a cycling tour of California wine country. Riding 50 miles a day to be greeted by great wine and food at the end of each ride. I can't complain about that.
  • My ultimate cycling vacation would be to do the Tour de France, one day before the tour does the tour. I believe you need to qualify for it, but I read about cyclists riding the tour stages, a day before the tour does the tour stages. Full bike support, full food support everything. They ride as a team drafting off each other. Hotel stays. The works. That would be incredible.
Well, enough blog posting I need to research some quality brewers in Belgium.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Pass me that 45 lb plate!

Whats up kids? Everyone have a good day? Excellent . . . Let's Begin!

Seems Leave The Fan On has gotten some love recently from StraightToTheBar. Like a fool I thought the site was about going to a bar, but I was actually pleasently surprised to see it is all about fitness and strength training. So I will share a few stories of complete failure in the gym.

Back Story: I have an older brother who once looked more like a member of the Schwarzenegger family than of my family. Naturally being the younger brother, I would dabble in his interests to see what they were all about and to compete with him. Cause that is what brothers do!!! I never went into weight lifting as far as he did. I was seduced by endurance sports but that doesn't mean I don't know my way around a gym.

A few years ago, I had the great idea after my Ironman to get into strength training. In fact their might be some old blog posts about "The Drive to 185!" My goal was to some day weigh 185 lbs. ( I am 6 foot 1 inch. so it seems like something I should be able to do.) Needless to say it never happened. Looking back I know why I failed :

1) I didn't eat enough. I know that gaining muscle mass requires a massive amount of food, and I did not approach my diet with the same dedication that I approached the gym.

2) On a sunny 75 degree day, I really wanted to be outside running or cycling. Lifting weights indoors would get on my nerves on really nice days. (This is why my strength training takes place between the months of November and March)

3) My approach to the gym was to always to lift hard. I would put on Rollins Band and get to work. If I wasn't so tired that driving a car felt like a chore by the time I was done, I felt like a failure. I now realize that this is not the smartest way to approach a strength training.

I almost always lifted by myself, unless my brother was in town.

The beauty of weights is that they make a person incredibly honest. If you can't lift the weight you can't lift it. Since my brother was so much stronger than me, I would lift well into my red zone to compensate. On multiple occasions, I would be lifting legs and I would forget to breathe!!! I would stop my set of squats and hold onto the machine for dear life as the weight room would spin in circles until my brain got the oxygen it desparately desired. My brother would stare at me waiting for me to pass out, but it never happened. He would then politely remind me that breathing is a good thing. Unfortunately, I still hold my breath when I really lift my legs in the gym.

Of course, at the start of the drive to 185, I once pinned myself doing bench press. That is one of the most embarassing things that can happen in a gym. I had my headphones on. I hate asking for a spot. I put the weight on and I'm doing the last set. I figure I can do one more rep, I swore I had it in me. Gravity thought otherwise. Apparently gravity was right. I rested the weight on my chest for a few seconds thinking if I rest, I will gain the energy to get the weight back up. Needless to say, someone came over and removed the weight from my chest a few seconds later. How embarassing?!?!?

I could go into stories about how much gas eating protein shakes give me. (One of my poker buddies eats protein shakes before poker nights just to pass gas while playing. He thinks it throws us off our game.) I even experimented with Creatine for a few months with the drive to 185. Creatine has so much sugar in it. Everytime I had serving of Creatine, I felt like I just ate a Thanksgiving meal.

I should also confess to owning a copy of Pumping Iron, and yes it is awesome!!!

Currently, I lift to maintain my strength a little for cycling and swimming. I lift about twice a week. As the weather turns nice, my lifting will definitely die off until the next off season.

Is there a draft in here?

Morning everybody? You like the snow. Awesome!!! Let it snow. Although . . ..

Is there a draft in here? It seems a little chilly. Why do my legs have goose bumps? Oh wait, I know why! Guess who shaved their legs? That's right, kids. The legs are hairless. I busted out the clippers and buzzed off the hair. No more Mr. Caveman for these legs, and now I realize why I didn't shave my legs all that often. The goosebumps, the mess, the scratching when it starts to grow again. I might just let the hair grow back. I surrender!!!

The reason I shaved so early in the season was to inspire myself to train more, and I felt out of place at the team rides being the only hairy legged dood there. Well, I don't feel out of place anymore (one of these people is doing their own thing), but my legs are cold and miserable. Then there was a whole new concern that occurred to me halfway through shaving my first leg. . .

You may have noticed I'm rocking the long hair these days. The picture in the upper right is a little old. The hair on my head is a two inches longer. The concern is that with the shaved legs, I could be easily confused for a transvestite. I'm not making this up. This the neurotic mind I live with. The conversation will go something like this in my mind . . .

Random Stranger: Excuse, I noticed you have long hair and shaved legs are you a part time transvestite.

Me (in the deepest voice I can muster): No, I'm a cyclist.

Random Stranger: Wow, I didn't know they let fat people ride a bike.

Me: Yeah, it ain't pretty.

Luckily for me, I have Fashion Rule #9!

Fashion Rule #9: Grown men shall not wear shorts unless they are at the beach or participating in an running/cycling race.

With jeans covering up my hairless legs, I have little worry that I will be confused for a transvestite. I also have what many people consider to be one of the deepest voices they have ever heard. (Oddly the only person I have met with a voice deeper than mine is a woman, but she is cool.) There is no reason to anything rash like cutting the hair on my head to a more respectable length. I like my hair the way it is . . . FABULOUS!!!

Belgium, be prepared!!!

All right, anyone who read the previous post gets to punch me in the stomach as hard as they want. "Why am I bitchin?", is what people should say. I got no real reasons to complain. So I apologize for the last rant. I'll try to keep things positive here at Leave The Fan On.

I'm travelling to Belgium on Thursday night!!! I'm spending 3 nights in Brugge, 2 in Brussells, and then a little 4 night get away in Paris. I will no longer be the guy that has never travelled overseas. Man that is embarassing. Especially when you are hanging out with a bunch of foreigners. They look at you like you have some kind of strange disease. But now, I'll have an answer.

A few months ago, I made a promise to myself to travel more. My little trip to South Beach Miami, in December was part of that, and so is this trip. Moreover, I had a more specific goal of traveling somewhere for every month of the year. This was something I take seriously. I want to see outside of suburban Philly. (which is funny cause recently this area has grown on me a little. grown on me like a fungus perhaps, but grown. ) I've decided to count this trip as both January, and Febuary since I will be travelling to Paris on Febuary 1st.

What is on deck for March? I am thinking a trip to New England to go skiing. It would be nice to ski in deep powdery snow and not the ice in the Poconos. I am going to focus on Belgium and Paris first, I'll worry about March when I get home on Superbowl Sunday.

Friday, January 19, 2007

The Repitition of Life?!?!

All right kids, I've got a Victory Storm King Stout in front of me, so I'll be ok. But I was really wondering if I was gonna survive the day. What can you do? I'll chill. But I got some issues and even though it is Friday, I'm gonna vent a little. Maybe some you can help me out with my issue . . .

Is anyone here bothered as much as I am that almost everyday is the same? Now, I don't mean to say that everyday is the exact same, but work day almost is?!?! at least it is for me anyways. I'll give you my schedule right here:

6:30 or 7 am: fight my way out of bed (easier if I know I'm working out in the morning)
9 am: Leave for work
9:30 till 6 : work
6:30: home and eating food
~7:45: at the pool swimming or on the trainer riding
10pm : back home or off the trainer and showered
Chill till i'm in bed at midnight.

I know exactly what is gonna happen before it even happens. It isn't exactly how I imagined things would be when I was younger. Althought I always thought I was gonna play in the NBA, so maybe that wasn't exactly how things turned out. Anyways, my post isn't very clear but here is my question . . . .

Is the rest of life going to be the exact same day repeated over and over for the next 35+ years, and is that ok? Cause most of the time when I think this thought, I get rather upset. (then I listen to some VanHalen or Rollins Band and I feel all better.) But the problem never goes away?

How do you all deal with this? I am being serious!!! I would love to know. Is there an NLP technique I could use to get rid of these feelings?!

All right well, it is Friday. So that means that I'm going into the Philly to get some good food and a few beers. Have good night kids!!!

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Write it Down!!!

Yo yo, kids? How you all doing out there? . . . . . Glad to hear to it.

So, how does one gain fitness? More importantly how does one measure fitness? Just as important, how does one know what helped gain fitness? Do you remember the last 3 workouts you did? I know mine. How about the last ten workouts? I couldn't answer that question.

Why do I keep asking questions?

I'll get to the point which should be obvious by now. The only way you know how you gain fitness is to write down every workout you do. You should write down some very basic information and follow up with the details that are deemed necesssary. I imagine the outline for a workout diary would be the following:

Workout: (what you did, cycling, swimming, 12oz. Curlz)
Duration: (how long)
Length: (if measurable by distance, the distance covered)
Effort: ( how hard did you try. Using a 1 through 5 scale is usually a good scale.)

I also would add Notes. How you felt during the ride? What the weather was like? What you were wearing and whether you overheated? Heartrate, if you are wearing a monitor.

You would think this would be a simple thing to do, but I can't remember the last time I kept a workout diary. I didn't even keep one when I was training for my Ironman. Well, thats all about to change. I am committing myself to keeping a training diary for this season. This way I'll know what workouts help me gain fitness and what workouts lead me to an optimal fitness. Perhaps I will write down what beer I had after the race? I'll think I'll note that too!!!

Monday, January 15, 2007

Back to the Pool

Ahh, whats up kids? Everyone have a good day? Hope so. Especially you, reading this right . . . . now. I hope you had very good day. How was my day? Most Excellent, thanks for asking!!! I have all these foaming rants swimming in my head but I'm going to stick with the original one.

I'm training for the Chesapeake Bay Swim. 4.4 miles of sexyness. My workout today was fairly modest by any standard:

300 warm up, 6x200 1st 100 form, 2nd 100 stroke. 300 pull. 200 cool down. Nothing too intense just feeling my way into the water. I'm on the pool deck trying to pick a lane. There is free lane, so I pick that one.

Before I hop in the water I look at the guy in the "Fast" lane doing 50's on the minute! Are you kidding me? 50 yards on the minute!?!?! You better be doing 100 of those 50's. This should have been a sign to me. Just get back in the car. Go home.

I warm up. In the middle of my 2nd 200, I hear splashing and yelling. Wondering who is drowning in the pool, I pick my head up and look behind me only to see some regular standing in my lane behind me. He proceeds to say the 8 words that frustrate me to no end. "Do you mind if we share the lane?" You can't say "Yes." If you didn't think it was an issue you probably wouldn't be stopping me to ask. So I nod, and go right back to my form work. I should give a little back story right here.

I have a very uncanny ability of recognizing faces. So I knew what kind of swimmer this guy was. He is the kind of swimmer that thinks of a new swimming stroke while eating his cornflakes in the morning and comes to the pool to see if he can change the world of swimming. He does kicking drills. Wears a swim cap, without goggles but doesn't stick his face in the water. As if that makes any sense. I really wish I was making this up. But the above description is true.

Here I am doing a kicking drill and he thinks to himself, "wow, this guy is doing kicking drills, I do kicking drills. We must swim the same speed." Unfortunately for him, I do kicking drills to swim faster. Where as he does . . . . well, I have no clue what that dude does.

I get to the 100 stroke, and I am right on top of the guy in no time. Like I didn't see this coming. I just turn around before the wall. After passing him on the next 200, he stops me again. (Hey buddy, I'm here to swim. Not to chat.) We should split the lane, so we don't pass each other. I nod again and just keep swimming. I disdain splitting a lane. If you can't circle swim with me, then find another lane tough guy. I don't hop in lanes with people faster than me, and I expect you to show me the same courtesy. Its hard to flip turn in half a lane. Needless to say, the few glares I gave the guy when he stopped caused him to change lanes once another lane was free. I was free to do the rest of my workout.

Back in the day(2003), when I was in swimming shape I had a great technique for clearing a swimming lane. I would stand on the pool deck and pick a lane where I knew I was faster than almost everyone in the lane. I would stand right on the edge of the pool and while staring down the lane I would stretch. Slowly everyone who didn't do flip turns would see me at the end of the pool and find another lane to swim. It was particularly effective when slow swimmers were in the fast lane. My sister would actually ask me to do this whenever the pool was a little crowded and she wanted a free lane. Good times!!!

If the stretching didn't work, I usually made my first 100 a very fast and very obnoxious 100. That would usually help the slower swimmers make up their mind.

I'll end this post with one final question: Is Salsa considered a fruit or a vegatable?

Sunday, January 14, 2007

How do you like them apples?

Wassup kids? I know what you are thinking . . . where have you been? well, sometimes, i get busy and I completely forget that my loyal readers need me. Please forgive me. If you need to we can hug it out later.

Someone has tomorrow off! an That someone is me. Are you jealous? you should be!!! Ok, enough B.S. lets get on to the post.

My training consistency is up!!! Way UP!!! and I couldn't be more happy about that. Joel Friel said that consistency is the key to gaining fitness, and I couldn't agree more. Training once a week just ain't going to pay the bills come June or July. Hopefully, DNF are 3 letters I don't see this year, but it happens.

I only took Friday off, because fitness can't be gained without some rest. Most of the cycling has been on the indoor trainer, just riding while watching the 2003 tour or perhaps a Spinerval tape. I like to end the hour plus trainer ride with a half hour on the rollers just to mix it up. Help smooth out the pedalling stroke. Make it smooth like butter. No pedalling in squares for this guy. (on a side note i will probably post about the 2003 tour in a few days.)

The icing on this cake is I rode outdoors for 3.5 hours today. It was a great ride. Nothing too crazy just a nice tempo ride. I ended up blowing up by the end of it because I ran out of sugar products to ingest while riding . I don't want to curse it but can Febuary and March be as warm as it is now. (I just cursed it.)

Well, I'm keeping this consistency up. I'll be out on my bike tomorrow. Riding easy. So what is the lesson for the day kids? Consistency. It doesn't need to be cycling but if you don't do what you do regularly you won't be improving. All right time to get some quality couch time.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Feel the burn son!!!

Well do you feel it? Do you?

I got myself fat ass trainer! Yeah thats right kids, skinny Charles is cominig. You best be prepared. I got the cyclo-ops fluid 2 trainer. It is sturdy and produces lots of watts.

So what has training taught me thus far. I've been getting prepared for the Chesapeake Bay Swim and building a decent cycling fitness. Swim, Ride. Ride, Swim. Its all good.

Time has become very precious. The daily drive of an hour is eating up some of my workout time. Planning ahead and looking at my weekly schedule before the week has arrived definitely helps. The problem is my mentality is still stuck in college (at least somewhat). I forget that I can't get to the workout in two seconds or that I might need to plan out what my workouts might be because I don't have othe people telling me how we are going to train.

I definitely need to do a little time management to get my training done. It will give me more time for the beer.

Swim Training for Chesapeake Bay Swim

In training for the Chesapeake Bay Swim, I am telling myself to focus swim form. Seeing how I haven't swam consistantly for a while, I figure now is a good time to fix any problems with my swim stroke. When I'm doing 25,000 meters a week in May, it will be too late to fix my inefficiencies.

Yesterday I hopped in the pool and did 300 warm up. (Insert joke here) Then I proceed to do 1200 worth of form work. Catch-up, kicking, "pushing the T", Swimming on a side, Fists, to name a few.

What amazes is me . . . is how little form work other swimmers do. They dont do any!!! At least not the ones that I see. They seem to be doing some sort of workout, but I never gather sense that they are doing anything on time. (weird) Some get upset with me for doing form work! I can tell they hate the fact that my pace is so slow doing the drills and then goes back to a very normal swim pace doing stroke in between drills. I tell them when I'm doing form work and that they can just pass.

When my form comes around, we'll see you should be doing the passing? har har har!!!

Another thing I have noticed. Good swimmers don't swim by themselves. (with a few exceptions, the Beast of the East being one of them) Every wonder who uses the pool at 6 am? All the swimmers that can really kick your ass, thats who! Eventually I will have to joing them, but for now I will focus on my form.

Friday, January 05, 2007

January's Pain is August's Gain

I don't think I take credit fo the title of this post. Anywayz on with the post.

I hoped in the pool for the first time in a long time. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I swam around 1600, and I don't feel all that sore this morning. I mostly did form work. As for the UMLY, well, the more things change the more things stay the same. I'm short on time and want to get the entertaining part of the post. . .

I have trouble resisting going out for a quick beer on a Thursday. Especially in January when it is dark all the time and racing is 3 months away. The "Gay One" (who also isn't gay) calls me to grab some beers at the Fox and Hound. I haven't seen in a while, I so figure we can't chill out and drink a few beers. Perhaps shoot some pool?

Let me paint the picture of the Fox and Hound, in case you haven't been there. It is the chain bar/restaurant with pool tables, big screen tv's and darts. It is in lovely King of Prussia PA! (nothing like that dump Narberth, see previous posts) . The clientelle are the yuppies who have their successful Pharma/IT/Banking jobs and just want a few beers on the Thursday night to get them through Friday and make it to the weekend. Everything is pretty chill.

I get there and find "The Gay One" sitting at the bar in the corner. We sit at the bar and laugh at each other for a bit. When all of the sudden we over hear some harsh laungage going on behind us. Hmmm? This seems odd for the fox and hound? We turn around and apparently some short dude and his 2 buddies are in a very heated argument with a large dude and his 3 friends. (what is with short dudes?)

The argument turns into taunting. The short dude calls the big dude a fat ass. The big dude taunts him by saying how he has bigger breasts than the short dude's mother. You would think they could come up with more original material. Anyways, we all know where this is going . . .

Meanwhile the entire bar is looking at this scene with the sense of complete disbeleif. Who gets in fight at the Fox and Hound? No one except the goof balls behind us. All of the sudden all hell breaks loose. . . . and guess who is stuck in the middle of it.

The gay one was able to sneek off to the side, but I was left helpless surrounded my nothing but flying fists. Two dudes were fighting to my left, and two other dudes were fighting to my right. All of the sudden I'm in a dukes of hazard espisode. I'm just trying to 1) perserve my pretty face and 2) perserve my beer.

Chairs start flying. Someone picked up a chair!!! Two of the dudes fight for what seems like a few minutes. I'm hugging the bar while enjoying the best seat in the house. There are no bouncers at this bar. In fact, I'm bigger than most of the hired help and I'm 6 foot 175 lbs. I'm wondering if this ever gonna end. In the mellee I grab our beers and watch with the Gay one from a safer distance. Somehow the owner comes over right around the time when the two guys left fighting were too tired to throw another punch.

Long story short, one dude loses a shirt. And the short dude and his friends are asked to leave. I have no clue what made these goof balls start fighting, but it made for a little excitement in a rather tired evening.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Chesapeake Bay Swim!!!

Thats right kids!!! 4.4 miles of open water fun! But there is a down side, isn't there always?

The organizers question my fitness? Not just mine, they question everyone's fitness. Do you beleive that! They don't think I can swim 4.4 miles in a tiny little bay. Please. Step a side and let me show you how it is done.

In order to prove your qualifications for this event, you need to have swam 1 mile or longer at a pace of 40 minutes per mile or under in the last 2 years.

or

you need to complete a 3 mile pool swim in 2 hours and 15 minutes and a signed document by an official swim coach on pool letter head. This needs to be ready by January 25th, when the lottery for the Chesapeake Bay Swim starts.

Guess which one, I am going to have to do? Well, my last triathlon was Eagleman 2004! I signed up for The Columbia Triathlon in 2005 but decided I wanted to focus on cycling and didn't do it. So guess what? Looks like I'm swimming 3 continuous miles in a pool in the next 2 weeks. It ain't gonna be pretty, but it will be done in under two hours.

For those in doubt my swim time for the 1.2 mile Eagleman swim was 32:21. Looks like i'm going to the pool tomorrow morning!!! Lets get sexy!!!!

Proper Coffee Ratio

Two parts coffee to One part water. Repeat as needed.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

The Armpit of Mainline PA, Narberth

Today, I would like to talk about a small town located in the mainline suburbs of Philadelphia, PA. How can I put this? Narberth is to the mainline of Philadelphia as New Jersey is to the rest of America. Thats right! Narberth is the stinky sweat filled arm pit of the mainline.

This little town is mostly known for being the "closed in" town of the mainline in that it has no major thoroughfares running through it. Well, how inconvientent is that! Why would I want to add 5 minutes to my commute in the morning (and evenings) just to have peace and quiet. I enjoy the buzz of tractor trailers rocking me to sleep from Route 202 or Route 30.

Narberth is also known for its small town feel in the suburbanized mainline. Small towns are so outdated. I will take my drive through Starbucks coffee over walking a few blocks to a local coffee shop. I don't remember the local coffee shops offering any Norah Jones CDs? How about a scone? Ok well, maybe the local coffee shop has scones but I don't want to have to interact with the neighbors I might run into while walking back from the coffee shope. In my car, I just honk at them. Narberth has its own town bars. Filled with town drunks I'm sure. Luckily, they don't have to drive home. While the rest of us responsibly watch how much we consume, they can stumble on home.

From doing a little research, I have also read that Narberth has each of the following: A train station (right in town), a library, police department, a fire department, and recreation board. No doubt the recreation board is probably planning the next whippet party. All of these departments are nice to have but they put a large burden on tax payers. A little disposable income has much more value than a public library.

I won't even bother to mention the housing situation in Narberth. Just take my word for it that the old houses lack the practicality of modern apartment living. What am I going to do with a 3 bedroom and 1.5 bathroom , two story twin? I don't want to walk up and down stairs all day.

Well, if you are still unconvinced that Narberth is the armpit of the mainline. You will just have to visit it for yourself.

Monday, January 01, 2007

New Year Resolutions

I took a little hiatus from blogging. Hey, if Ravi can take a break, then so can I. I hope you all had a good Holiday. Everyone get what they want? I sure did. Oh, yeah, you know it!!!

Have a good new year? I spent mine much like I spend every new year, breaking out the bubblee!

So anyone got any New Year Resolutions for me? I have a cold, so I'm already making a solid commitment to health in the new year. Someone give me a resolution! It can be anything just so long as it is acheivable.

If I really like it, I will do it. I'll even blog about it.

Memories . . .

In cleaning the office, over the break I came across this lovely thing. Any of the leave the fan on readers tell me what this is?

Anyone . . . . Anyone . . . .?

It is an outdoor pool admission ticket from the Summer 2000 at Penn State!!! How or why I kept it? I have no idea. How it got on my desk? I got nothing. Yeah State!!!