With this posting, Tall Tom will most certainly be in the dog house (actually there are some among us that say he never left the dog house)

Why Some Men Have Dogs And Not Wives:

1. The later you are, the more excited your dogs are to see you.
2. Dogs don't notice if you call them by another dog's name.
3. Dogs like it if you leave a lot of things on the floor.
4. A dog's parents never visit.
5. Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across.
6. You never have to wait for a dog; they're ready to go 24 hours a day.
7. Dogs find you amusing when you're drunk.
8. Dogs like to go hunting and fishing.
9. A dog will not wake you up at night to ask, "If I died, would you get another dog?"
10. If a dog has babies, you can put an ad in the paper and give them away.
11. A dog will let you put a studded collar on it without calling you a pervert. 12. If a dog smells another dog on you, they don't get mad. They just think it's interesting.
13. Dogs like to ride in the back of a pickup truck.

And last, but not least:
14. If a dog leaves, it won't take half of your stuff.

Thank You Bruce for Coaching

Appreciation Day (12-19-08) for Coach Bruce and Manhattan Magnum Masters. Following a Vandermint toast and sugar and gingerbread cookies, Coach Bruce was presented with a team jacket and Duckhorn Cabernet Sauvignon (2005) wine bottle. Life is good for the Manhattan Magnum Masters:

Coach Bruce and Tall Tom report in

I am sick but hope to be back next week.

Coach

Chuck, I will return. I am hiatus for awhile since I have to perform soon. Paula and I have to perform Argentine Tango in front of 350 black-tie people at a formanl dance ball on December 14. The instructor last night called us (really me) the "weak link" of the group. So I will get that bastard, and become the best. Hard to do when you have two left feet. So, some, maybe even most, mornings I will be working on dancing until I get better. Better at least so that I am not the God damn "weak link."

Tom

No word yet from Go You Beavers Guy who is being investigated by the Cal Alumni.....

What happened to Tom and Bruce

Rumor is rampant that Bruce is sick and Tom has lost his driving license at worst or has been denied the use of his son's Tim's car since none of the Manhattan Magnum Masters have seen either in the past two weeks.

Also, for some unknown reason, there have been many "Guy" workout appearances at the club. Also, with respect to Guy, I have reported him to the Cal Alumni group for rooting for his "Go you Bears" defeat last weekend at the hands of the Oregon State "Beavers."

Meanwhile, Jim has been busy in court on another lucrative court case defending another defendant facing a first degree murder charge....another one bites the dust....

Smokey Sunset on 18th Street

Video taken on November 16, 2008 following the unfortunate burning of LA and Orange County homes and resulting haze over Manhattan Beach.

Fruins' Fireworks Fiesta - 2007

Every year the city of Manhattan Beach Downtown Business Association funds a Christmas Fireworks display off the MB Pier. The video below was taken from the balcony during the Christmas party at swimmer Fruin's house (double click on the arrow located in middle of or left portion of screen):

Spooky, Halloween Weekend Girlie Man Ocean Swim - Sunday, November 2, 2008

A Day to Remember. Henceforth the Girlie Man Pier to Pier Swim, on the occasion of the digital pictures in the video below (courtesy of Nancy Roe), should be known as "The Survivor Swim." Click on arrow in the lower left corner if the screen below is black to start and view video:

The Survivors:

For the record, of a total of 20 swam in the ocean, from south of the Hermosa Beach Pier to the planned finish north of the Manhattan Beach Pier. The Manhattan Magnums taking part in the Girlie Man (wet suits allowed) Pier to Pier Ocean Swim were: Jim Hallett, of course, the person in whose name the swim is taken, Bob "help I'm lost," Tall Tom, and Mother Teresa....hearty and somewhat foolish swimmers on this day to be remembered. But all supposedly swam (the ManMags were pictured only in the last two pictures) and ate breakfast in Hennesey's following their harrowing experience.

Comments from the survivor emails:

Here are the photos I received yesterday.Teresa

Yes, indeed! What a great day! Here are some pictures. (Thank you very much Anne for taking pics and Gary for the officiating plus hot drinks. ) :-)Nancy

Hey, I just want to thank all of you for being out there with me today--it was a day I will not forget, and (showing my age) it was a total blast!....Jim

GOOD JOB EVERYBODY!!!! Now all future girlie-mans will be a piece of cake!
~ Lorie

Good Job GM I found a black REI jacket size ex-large in the men's room dressing area today, call me if its yours.Gary

Teresa, did fine once she got in. Only took her 9 and a half minutes to get up the courage to get in after being literally beaten back 10 yards a few times. Looked like the USC line coming at her.

When we finished at Manhattan Beach pier, the biggest set of the day crashed on her and others, pushing Teresa uncontrollably under the pier and through it. It was an incredible rip tide.

What Teresa and the others in her groups experienced caused the lifeguards to panic, and call in four lifeguard vehicles and one boat and order all swimmers to round the pier by 200 years. (I had rounded it by 2 years and got swept into the barnacles repeatedly by much smaller sets than crashed on Teresa). One swimmer had to be helped in by a lifeguard in the water.

That is why Teresa only barely is alive, only barely made it. Tall Tom

Only barely...Teresa

How did the race go this morning.....waves and ocean looked pretty narly this morning. Please let me know you all are alive and well.....Chuck

I just have to say it was so scary!!!! Jerry, one of our group and a lifeguard, told me I was going to be swept through the pilings so just go with it. I did this only to discover that I was only swept halfway through the pier and then held under. When I did finally make it to the surface, there was just another 10 footer ready to take me under again. Luckily that one swept me all the way through to the other side. There I saw Tom waiting on the shore saying I could make it now. Easy for him to say, he was the first one in and this after he told me we'll swim together! That togetherness lasted about 2 seconds around the Hermosa Pier before he took off leaving me to fend for myself.All in all, I'm glad I did it, and that it is OVER!!! Next year you all have to join us for this fun event. Teresa

All went well, with Tom the fastest and me the slowest and Bob and Teresa finishing by having a longshore current sweep them through the Pier pilings. We struggled at the HB Pier to get out through 5-6 foot breakers, only to find 10-12 feet at the MB Pier. By the time I arrived, three lifeguard trucks, a Baywatch boat, and 6-7 lifeguards were there helping us to get in, including a couple of rescues. I fortunately avoided the humiliation of a rescue because one lifeguard swam out to me and told me to swim 100 yards north of the first lifeguard tower to avoid the longshore current, and it worked. It took some of us 10 minutes or more to get into shore. The good news: the water was warm, so the hour and a half I spent in it was quite manageable. Thanks for asking!......P.S.--the lifeguards were simply awesome......Jim
___________________________________________________________________

Death to a Diesel

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Freestyle Week

Ocean Swimmers Saturday 27, 2008

The swimmers (Liesl,Tom, Jim and Frank). Not pictured is Bob "Help I'm Lost in the Fog" Kapust who was or still is swimming somewhere:



Tom "The 53rd. Assembly District Candidate, Dressed for Success" Vidal:


Frank "The Man" Buckley:


Lisel "Keeps up with Chuck":

Breaststroke Week

Breaststroke kick with kick board:



Breaststroke with paddles and pool buoy:







Breaststroke Swim:












Dan:

MMM Backstroke Week

Stroke technigue and practice - Videos 1-10 (Coach Bruce, Robert, Pat, Jim and Teresa). You may have to click twice on the arrow key to start video:













Susan:

Dan:

Butterfly Week

Coach Bruce (leading the way):



Robert:



Jim:



Pat:




Teresa:



Patrick (fly/back):

Chuck:

Frank:



Susan with pool buoy:

Dan:

Susan:

Frank:

Jim:

ISF, subject to pressure, issues official swim time to Coach Bruce

Although the team is still awaiting on the Coach's wife's pictures taken before the start of the 2008 Pier to Pier ocean (this year called a rough water against the current) swim, the controversy over whether Coach Bruce registered has been resolved. Unlike the slow Jim Hallett who received an official time, Coach Bruce did not have an official time recorded at the end of the race, suggesting that he never registered to wear a timing chip.

However, based on the official results that were made public, Coach Bruce came in fifth in the medium old fart (men 55-59) division. Coach used his daughters' time of 53:40, claiming that his ankle chip did not register the time as he was right behind Katay at the finish line.

Way to go (finally) Bruce.

Susan sprints to the finish!

Race photos taken by Pat Fruin (for Magnum Masters Director of Fun and Games Guy Newmark who was nowhere to be seen)

David, fastest Magnum Swimmer (note time of 52:53 in background):
















Coach Bruce (note foot chip, yet no number on arm, hence no official time):






















Dan:





















Tom:





















Teresa:





















View of incoming swimmers, looking south from MB Pier:
















Teresa and her paddler:
















Finish line at north side of MB Pier:

Time

As requested, time stamp is now California time.
Aloha, y'all. Susan and I are off to Maui for a week.
To make up for lost practices and save money on airfare, Susan is planning to swim home.

Teresa with her reward...Blueberry pancakes from Koffee Kart.

Susan with paddler, Jeremy. Balloon not included.

Pier to Pier Swim Results - Posted Twice to include Tom Bourke

The site for meet results is www.surffestival.org. Out of the 1017 registered swimmers, times were issued for 829. The fastest time was 39:30 and the last place finisher came in at a staggering, ultra long time to be in the ocean, 2:09:54:

Overall Finish-Age Group Finish-Time-Men/Women Finish

Dave Barnes 135 21st Place 52;51 96
Glen Lucas 137 13 52:56 98
Katay Kocsis 157 9 53:40 48
Chuck Milam 189 2 55:43 129
Dan Muth 220 20 57:01 149
Mike Geller 321 29 1:02.04 218
Molly McCormick 331 25 1:02.46 108
Tom Bourke 334 9 1:02:51 225
Bob Kapust 386 18 1:05.31 262
Teresa McCormick 408 13 1:06.49 132
Frank Buckley 470 51 1:09.58 316
Don Nelson 544 18 1:13.56 364
Jim Hallett 629 24 1:20:52 422
Susan Goodlerner 710 6 1:28:52 246

2- Mile Pier to Pier Ocean Swim - International Surf Festival, Aug 3, 2008

Start of Race:


Sardines in the water:


Andrew Myers, Molly McCormick, Tom Bourke, Christian Collins:

Andrew, paddler for Teresa, Molly and her paddler Christian:


From left - Coach Bruce, Tom, Teresa, Katay, Molly, Christian, Ryan, and Andrew:


Teresa and Daughter Molly:


Dan and Coach Bruce before swim:


Dan at finish - his facial expression is a common one for the two-milers - Thank God it's Over:


Glen, Chuck and Dan - it's interesting to note that Glen had the fastest time, then Chuck and Dan (the picture taken was also timely - Glen was still sober):


Chuck with his ISF ocean swim T shirt and second place medal in the old fart group - men over the age of 60:


Chuck with Hammerhead (Bruce's Beach Camp) 2008 Challenge T-Shirt - it should be noted that International Fiber Corporation (IFC - Dan's company listed at the top in green) is the primary sponsor of Hammerhead Beach Camp:

The Muth Family: Frederick, Dan and Charlotte - Frederick processed this photo as well as the previous five pictures. Not shown is the photographer, Dan's wife Gigi:

200 Fly - Chuck's Start and view of Quest Harbor

Beginning of Chuck's 200 butterfly race (Dan Muth responsible for shutting down video camera after Chuck's dive) and view of Quest Harbor:

400 meter Free

Chuck:

100 meter butterfly

Chuck:

After viewing the confusion by my team members filming crew in this video, I can now understand why my 200 meter butterfly race was inadvertently not recorded.

200 Individual Medley

Tom:

50 Meter Free

Frank:

Dan:

Bob:

Dan - 200 Free

Dan:

100 Meter Free

Bob:

Frank:

Dan:

200 Meter Backstroke

Bob Kapust then Tom Bourke, April 19, 2008:

Australian Sheila Finally Found

Ever since Tom Bourke started asking questions upon his arrival in Perth as to "What is a Sheila," there have been a number of varying answers. Since I was able to research this question further, having toured the Australian continent over a three week period, attached are images further defining what is a Sheila.

Post_Meet, Sydney

I spent Sat walking miles and miles throughout Sydney, finding two great pools: Boy Charlton on the bay edge of the Botanical Gardens, a 50m outdoor pool, open daily tot he public; and the new Ian Thorpe Aquatic Center. I had to swim there, so i did an easy 2000m for a post-meet/post-season recovery swim. Great place, highly recommend it. Would also be funt to try the Boy Charlton, Chuck and Tom, when you go through Sydney.

Rather than take a tourist trap boat cruise, take the ferry from Circular Quay to Manly Beach - you'll see the city from the water coming and going, and can check out the Pacific Ocean at Surfer Beach at Manly. I also got a quick 50m swim in the Pacific (within the shark net enclosure!), so i have now swum on both sides of this continent - in the Indian and the Pacific Oceans - and have also now swum on both sides of the Pacific!

Got to run for my plane to Singapore - an 8 hour flight. Ug!

See you in Manhattan Beach!
Dan

WHY???

I like the lessons learned. We need to keep these for Sweden. Does anyone know why you didn't have these issues at Stanford? Is it possible that we, the women, were not there to keep you all in line??
Just Kidding!!
All of you have safe and fun travels!! We're thinking about you and look forward to your return.

12 Lessons learned

12 learning and discovery lessons:

1. Keep your keys, cell phone, and wallet in the zippable pocket of your MCC sweatshirt and zip it up.

2. Let someone else drive, so you can just back-seat drive and criticize and make fun of the windshield wipers going instead of the turn signals, the near misses, the wrong turns, the left-side-of-the-road curb brushes,and the wrong-side-of-the-road, right-hand drivers-wheel parallel-parking attempts.

4. Trade sweat shirts by watching the master trader, Dan (pretty easy since our long- sleeve, high-quality, colorful, good-artwork shirts were the classiest around).

4. Have redundancy of cameras, that is, if you really want a video of your killer, body-breaking 200 fly, and train the cameraman, even if he is a highpowered CEO;

5. Go to the bathroom immediately before every race.

6. For relays, practice starts and handoffs many times with the exact team you pick, so that your fastest and most-experienced swimmers are not too quick off the blocks.

7. Have at least 5 males and 5 femals register as MMM. Enter five A, B,CD and E MMM teams per free and medley relays so that if there is another Jim Hallett or Frank Buckley type cop out, we can choose relay teams with all MMM team members present.

8. If the above cannot be completed for relays, add some ringers from other teams in advance of the meet who are of the right age to substitute for our regulars and who register as Manhattan Magnums as well registering for their water-polo team. (Forget about trying to reason with FINA).

9. Learn to blog earlier rather than later, and post results when the readers are hungry for information, take more pictures, and post more pictures,

10. Get in better shape.

11. Start workouts with Pat.

GRAND FINALE

Now I know why we haven't seen Jim Hallett!

The recent posts really convey the flavor of the meet! Not sure now if I regret the decision not to go!
Chuck, no medal on that 200 fly? I had noted the amazing time posted for Tom's 200 IM, and mentioned it
to Dick--knew it had to be a typo since no headlines on the sports page.

It's been fun to hear about your successes--now that you've gotten into the swing of sending dispatches
home, it's a shame it's all over! We look forward to more stories when you return to the Magnum pool!

Update on Jim Hallett

Rather than bore you with official results, we want to update you on very serious developments on the Jim Hallett FINA investigation.

Your magnificent teammates initiated an appeal to FINA's rash action. When we threatened that Jim Hallett would sue FINA, it turned UGLY. In addition now to being barred from any future Master swim venues for life (including SPMA and USMS),FINA has stripped Jim of any official or unofficial swim results (NT's in Jim's case). In effect, Jim has disappeared completely from the record books and is now among the "disappeared" as in the dirty war in Peru and Argentina. It is as if he never existed.

The good news is while we could not appeal the permanent disbarrment, we were able to negotiate the one million Euro fine (FINA does not accept American dollars anymore) down to reimbursement by Jim to FINA of 10,000 euros and his reimbursement of all reasonable and necessary expenses to MMM competitors in Perth.

In addition, FINA has ordered Jim Hallett to pay the full cost of the MMM Banner, Marquee, FINA registration, and $220 for Tom losing the key to his room.

Tom Bourke pointed out the unfair adverse impact on the totally innocent spouse of Jim Hallett. FINA thanked Tom for the information and imposed the E10,000 euro fine and restitution amounts on Mary Ellen and ordered the remaining team members to notify her in case the aforementioned notificationis not provided to her directly by her formerly beloved spouse.

We decided to buy Jim a souvenir of Australia to assuage his undoubted massive guilt. We found a T-shirt being worn by many fashiunable swimmers with the Perth FINA Masters World Championship logo on it. I has the names of all male FINA world championship competitors on it, including all MCC registrants, incluidng one James Hallett. So the concept was to buy the shirt, cut out Jim's name and present him with both his name and the shirt with a small hole in it. But the concept failed for two reasons, one the shirt got sold out, and two, the shirt cost %50 and Jim is not worth it.

Next to last day

We are winding down, with only the 400 free left for Chuck.

Chuck will come by in a few minutes to give official results but in the back I got 17th and beat my qualifying time by about 10 seconds, so I am pleased to have hit 5 for 5 in qualifying times and tied Bob in the 50 free split on our relay (down to the nearest 100th of a second, of course I surely would have won if our timers simply had more precision, say down to a thousanth or 10 thousanth of a second. I will let Chuck tell about today's little catastophe (the filming of his 200 fly not coming out), the lesson to be learned in Sweden is that we need redundancy (2 cameras) because if something can go wrong it will, go wrong, and that we need some training in using other people's cameras.

So I will leave the official blog to Chuck.

P.S. we took the Beach Reporter photos with three views of Chuck, Dan, and me and our banner, the pool, and a Perth banner, taken by an Australian mate of ours who won a gold medal in the freestyle relay. (So I have a picture of me with a gold medal, which Chuck accused me of intending to pass it off as my own in classic Jim Hallett/MCC tradition.)

OUCH!!!

Sorry about the disqualifications!! Thanks for the times anyway.
Jim,
You may want to stay MIA for awhile.

Relay results

Here are our relay results (such as they are).

A-team (Age group 160-199)
200-meter freestyle relay
Heat 10, lane 4
Dan Muth 27.35
Bryan Weaver
Frank Buckley
Bruce Kocsis (early start,according to referees, Bruce said he conservatively waited a bit too long just to be on the safe side) BTW this team won its heat by a lot, despite Bruce cruising in due to huge lead and water polo next day)
Final 1:55.22
Entered time: 1:58
Qualifying time 1:58

B-team (240-279)
200-meter freestyle relay
Heat 4, lane 8
Chuck Milam 31.96
Tom Bourke 34.72
Bob Kapust 34.72
Richard (busted Jim Hallett imposter, but hellava-lot-faster) 30.38
Final 2:11.78
Qualifying time: 2:22
Entered time: 2:22

A-team (Age group 200-239)
200-meter medley relay
Heat 7, lane 34
Bruce Kocsis 33.24 (third in heat surprisingly, first race he has lost in years)
Bryan Weaver 37.17
Chuck Milam 35.90
Dan Muth 26.34 (trigger-happy, Dangerous Dan, probably should add half second to this split)
Final 2:12.65
Entered time 2:13.00

B-team (Age group 200-239)
200-meter medley relay
Heat
Tom Bourke 0.00
Richard (unsccesful Jim Hallett) 0:00
John, a Freo Freemantle swimmer (successful Frank Buckley) 0:00
Bob Kapust 0.00
Final 0.00 [never to be broken world record]
Entered time:
Qualifying time: 2:45.89

MMM team sets world record

You will be proud to hear that your team has set a world record that may someday be equalled but will never be broken.

True to form, the herd of cats known as the Manhattan Magnum Masters manged to get disqualified in all four of its relays Tuesday, April 22nd, at the Challenge Swim Stadium. Not only was its A team disqualified (twice), the B medley team was also disqualified twice and on the second occasion uncerimoniously escorted out of the indoor swimming stadium pool by FINA security in front of 1,000 spectators and not allowed to swim the race because of the illegal substitution of Richard (last name withheld to protect the innocent) of the Tri Valley hybrid water polo team (Bruce's team).

As a result, FINA is lauching an investigation of Jim Hallett and will most likely bar Jim from further FINA competition on a lifetime basis. Jim may face tougher sanctions (say four to five lifetime bars) since it is rumored that the other members of the disqualified B relays are singing like canaries in order to achieve leniency. But it should be noted the surviving MMM team members are looking to hire an incompetent criminal defense attorney to remove the disbarment of Jim Hallett. On the advice of an unnamed MB School Board Member, we are in the process of locating his homeless attorney who is still registered to practice law to appeal Jim Hallett's FINA suspension.

We will keep you posted as to future developments. The real Jim Hallett is free to offer his own defense (undoubtely unsuccssful, as he probably won't get the papers in on time) since we plan on registering relays again for Sweden FINA 2010. We are hoping Jim registers with one of our competitors since they will undoubtedly will be disqualified. Jim you are in our prayers, which so far have been answered with your 10-day illness.

By the way, Frank Buckley pulled a Jim Hallett at the last minute too, copping the excuse that he wanted to actually catch his flight out of Perth, but he got a substitute who was undetected -- unlike the Jim Hallet wannabe who actually fessed up to his deception and thus got all of us in trouble. Frank's wanting to get out of town would carry more water with us if he had not stayed in the stands to watch the relay swim. Nuff said.

Departing Magnums

Well things are wrapping up now. Last night Frank left (a bit early just before the medley relay, joining Jim Hallett in the hall of shame). One of my Australian mates (competittors who became friendly) said that he would substitute for Frank if possible, but that franlkly we should piss on him. So Frank just missed the big excitement (that I'm sure Chuck will relate later) that happened in front of thousands of our mates, Sheilas, and the international community. Bob and Sherry left last night too so the only swimmers left are Chuck (2 events) and Dan and I (with 1 event each.) Dan is predicting a 2:14 and I am entered at 2:41 in the 100 back, so my goal is to finish within that 27-second margin. Dan is performing at a very high level, but Chuck is still our best hope for a medal here. (Of course, Pat in Sweden is a shoo in.)
Posted by Tom (despite what it says as to who posted it.)

THANKS!!!

Thanks for the results!!
You all are doing GREAT!!! Hope Dan's fingers are ok. Congrats to Bob on his breaststroke swim. Good job Tom, with those goggles around your neck. Great swims by Frank and Chuck. I feel a medal in Chuck's future in that 200m fly. GO HARD!! You'll have to fill us in about the water polo when you all come home. Hope the relays went well, and you were able to swim/survive without Jim.
BE SAFE DRIVING!!

THANK YOU!

Thanks for the update. Hope the relays were winners. Details?

We are training hard in the Magnum home pool--except for Jim (he's not been seen since Teresa's party).
Jen has given us drills in backstroke and turns.

Meet Highlights

Well Chuck was up before daybreak after a big dinner and wine at Little Creatures Restaurant down the road from Quest Harbor. Present were Bob and Sherry, Frank, Tom and Paula, Dan and Bruce to celebrate and get ready for the relays this afternoon (well, in reality, Bruce was not a happy camper, but that is a different water polo story and could improve this morning). Chuck is posting the individual results on Frank's laptop. So here it goes:

Integrity Award goes to Bob for his 49.06 50 meter breaststroke swim. He not only did a PB (personal best), he was under the qualifying time, and, for his first time, actually did not, I repeat, did not get disqualified for his obvious illegal frog kick. This makes up for his NT (no time) for the 200 backstroke in 3:58. I will have to add the reason later because I forgot what Bob told me after the race results were published. NT means the time is not reported and NT'ers are put on the bottom of the results sheet. On a more positive note, Bob's 50 free time was 34.78, another pb, and 1:20.76 for the 100 free and all official times.

Goggle on the nose Award goes to Frank for adjusting his swim goggles at the last moment before the gun went off and managing to swim a very fast 50m breaststroke swim of 41.88. Frank was able to breathe, however, and is still a living team member. He is to be congratulated for not getting out of the pool and calling it quits after his dive. Frank's 100 free time was 1:13 and 50 free at 32.20..

Another goggle award goes to Tom for keeping his goggles on for the first time ever for the entire 200 m individual medley (IM-4 laps). His time of 2:30 was a PB. Tom's goggle around the neck award for the entire 800 meter freestyle was 13:28.39 for 31st place. Tom's 400 IM (8 laps) was 7:40.87, another pb. Tom's best event was the 200 m backstroke at 3:25. 98 for 16th place.

The sprinter of the meet and team award goes to Dan for his 200 free, 2:22.55, 100 free, 1:02.70, and 50 free, 27.35 (good for 31st place out of 105 in his age group), and 50 fly, 32.77. Dan shaved down and swam in a very high tech body suit. Unfortunately, Dan jammed two fingers at the finish of his 50 fly yesterday, but iced his fingers all the rest of the day. He had no problem drinking his Bombay Sapphire (the best gin in the world) martini and wine at dinner. Dan is in training and is only drinking martinis since he has foregone his usual James Bond martini, stirred, not shaken, with 3 parts Bombay and 2 parts vodka and a dash of dry vermouth, maybe. As a result, we expect Dan to be fully recovered for the relays.

For the record, Chuck's 800 free (16 laps) was 11.51.24 , 15 place; 400 IM (that's the one where I literally and figuretively suck in the breaststroke leg) at 7:13.60, for 13th place in my age group; and 1:24.15 in the 100 m butterfly for 11 th place, one place from medalling. Oh well, I came in 11th at Stanford in 2006.

I think this covers most of the times to date. I suppose if I made a mistake, I will hear about it one way or another. Oh, I forgot, the hero of the meet award goes to me for being Tom's navigator for Tom's madhatter drive to Challenge Stadium and back. For that reason, I have also participated in Dan's martini sessions, every night. In addition, I want to thank Frank and Tom for letting me use their laptop computers and for driving.

RESULTS!!!

Guys,
How about some results from the weekend??? How are you doing??? Hope you weren't led astray by your new team members???

Swim Meet Update

It is monday morning and everyone is swimming today, including the coach in the 50 meter freestyle. Relays are tomorrow and Chuck initialy drafted two South Africans to swim as Jim Hallett number one and two in the old fart free and medley relays. Richard from Bruce's water polo team said he would like to swim in their place on the freestyle and breaststroke legs on the B relays. It probably will get the B team disqualified if they do the customary badge check and I am told that if this happens, Jim Hallett will be permanently banned from FINA competition (....just kidding Jim, maybe, but your reputation has been permantently damaged, again.....You were supposed to be the life of the party here and your absence has been felt).

I have told by one of swimmers from Sweden, that there are 4200 swimmers representing 72 countries (down from the 7500 and 89 countries at Stanford).

And you have probably been thinking what about the meet results. Yes, there is a backlog, and I or someone else eventually will get around to it. The one thing I can say about water polo results is that it is not looking good for Bruce's Tri Valleyites 55+ team. The referees here are Australian and very biased, not fair at all. The calls have gone against Bruce's team and taken away goals....

swim results

Nice swimming on Friday! Please keep us current on results, as the FINA site is slow.
GOOD LUCK!

Frank's pics

These pictures were taken at the Auckland space needle. The other pics are unknown and Frank needs to add the other pics that he has of Auckland on his overnight stay before Perth.....

XIII FINA in Sweden

Before posting further meet info, the cities of Gotenborg and Boras (no, not Borat), near Stockholm, will host the next World Maters in late July 2010. It is expected that Pat, Susan, Helen and Teresa's attendance will be mandatory, as well as significant others.

Congratulations!!

Chuck and Tom,
Congratulations on Great Swims!! Amazing times from you both! GOOD JOB!!

Slight correction, Chuck--personal best this year, right?

800-meter gods

Chuck and Tom, you guys are awesome. After a long trip, with only a couple days to adjust, sleeping fitfully in a foreign land, you both set personal bests by large margins in an endurance event. Go Magnums!

The 800 Swim

Chuck and Tom,
Swim hard today!!! We're thinking of you.
Teresa
PS If I have the time right, you should both be sleeping-resting up for the amazing swim you are going to do.

We made it - Frank, Chuck and Tom at Quest Harbor Condos

The Australian Emu

A man walks into a restaurant with a full-grown emu behind him. The waitress pretends not to notice and asks them for their orders. The man says, 'A hamburger, fries and a coke,' and turns to the emu, 'What's yours?' 'I'll have the same,' says the emu. A short time later the waitress returns with the order 'That will be $9.40 please,' and the man reaches into his pocket and pulls out the exact change for payment.The next day, the man and the emu come again and the man says, 'A hamburger, fries and a coke.' The emu says, 'I'll have the same.' Again, the man reaches into his pocket and pays with exact change. This becomes routine until the two enter again. 'The usual?' asks the waitress. 'No, this is Friday night, so I will have a steak, baked potato and a salad,' says the man. 'Same,' says the emu. Shortly the waitress brings the order and says, 'That will be $32.62.' Once again the man pulls the exact change out of his pocket and places it on the table.The waitress cannot hold back her curiosity any longer. 'Excuse me sir. How do you manage to always come up with the exact change in your pocket every time ?' 'Well,' says the man, 'several years ago I was cleaning the attic and found an old lamp. When I rubbed it, a Genie appeared and offered me two wishes.My first wish was that if I ever had to pay for anything, I would just put my hand in my pocket and the right amount of money would always be there.' 'That's brilliant!' says the waitress. 'Most people would ask for a million dollars or something, but you'll always be as rich as you want for as long as you live!' That's right. Whether it's a gallon of milk or a Rolls Royce, the exact money is always there,' says the man. The waitress asks, 'What's with the emu?' The man sighs, pauses and answers, 'My second wish was for a tall chick with a big ass and long legs who agrees with everything I say.'

Magnums,
I missed swimming this morning!! I actually overslept-very unusual for me. Anyway I was not able to properly wish Tom, Bruce and Chuck a fond farewell. GOOD LUCK!! I'm with you in spirit. You're going to do great. Bring back those medals and make us all proud. We, the girls, will be eagerly waiting for results. Keep us posted of all your WINS!!
Teresa
PS I plan to be at swimming tomorrow to wish Dan good luck too!!

Manhattan Magnum Masters Banner

Money and Politics

Magnums--

First, money:

I picked up the banner from Pat Donahue's Sign Shop at the corner of Aviation and Artesia. Pat did a great job. It's made of the soft, rubbery plastic material you've seen before, so it rolls up easily, is waterproof and bendable. It has holes in the corners for hanging. It's a large but manageable size. Jenifer gave Pat a beautiful design, not limited to Perth, so it will go with us for years to swim meets of any kind. I dropped the banner off at Chuck's at 9 this morning. Since Chuck is staying in the area for months, someone needs to volunteer to bring the banner home.

The banner cost a little over $100. The entire team will share in paying for it. That's the Perth Six of Bruce, Chuck, Dan, Frank, Bob and Tom, plus the Perth Flakes, namely Pat, Theresa, Susan and me. For right now, we'll let Greg, Tim, Dick, Patrick, Dave, Sippy, Rich, Jenifer and whoever else I'm missing off the hook, because 10 people into $100 is a nice round $10 each.

The Perth marquee cost $100 also. That is paid for by the Perth Six plus me, since I said I would. That's $15 each (plus $10 for me plus whatever else I've shelled out).

Here is where I stand with money:

I'm even with Dan, my t-shirt balancing the marquee and banner.
Tom owes me $25.
Bruce owes me $25.
Bob owes me $5 (already gave me $20).
Frank owes me $10 (already gave me $15).
Chuck owes me $25.
Susan, Theresa and Pat each owes me $10.

I have no idea who purchased Jenifer's gift. Dan? Theresa? Please let me know so I can participate in that.

People, I'm not gonna chase you for the money. I will send a reminder when everyone returns, however.

Second, politics:

Richard Montgomery becomes mayor in mid-May. After Chuck returns around June 1, I'll arrange for our six Perth participants to be honored by the City Council, with special recognition for any medal winners. Richard was very excited about doing this. I told him the entire team would show up in uniform. I'll let you know.

I was so pleased by Richard's positive response that I sought comments from a range of political leaders. Here's what I got:

Hillary Clinton--Avoid sniper fire.
Barack Obama--God damn Australia.
John McCain--You are ordered to stay there for 100 years.
George W. Bush--Look for promiscuous nuculer weapons.
Condi Rice--Beware of mushroom clouds.
Don Rumsfeld--Not knowing your splits is not knowing what you don't know.
Jimmy Carter--I forgive your lusting after Brazilian girls.
Dick Cheney--What I think is none of your damn business.

Vaya con Dios.....Jim

Perth Champagne Team Sendoff Party- Teresa demonstrates sabre knife

Coach Bruce with his Xmas sabre knife gift

Tom's tennis swing at the sabre knife

You Tube or No You Tube???

Message From the Coach

Team,

As we depart the U.S.A. let us say goodbye to all of our bad habits! False starts, poorly executed flip-turns, drinking wine while on the starting block and smoking cigars before relays.

As we say G'day to the land of OZ, let us remember to put our best foot forward including relaxing before swimming, using nervous energy IN the pool, NOT on the deck and buying Coach lots of wine!

Thanks to everyone who has supported our Manhattan Magnums '08 Perth Team and let's win a few medals!

Cheers,
Coach (If you haven't guessed, I am using Nancy's gmail because I don't have a Google acct.)

P.S. Jim, we'll miss you but you're a pussy!

Pool Warmup

From left to right: Dr. Susan Goodlerner, Teresa McCormick, Pat Fruin, Frank Buckley, Jim Hallett, Bob (notice the team shirt) Kapust, Chuck Milam, Tom Bourke, and Coach Bruce Kocsis.

Our mighty Perth swimmers. Dan Muth was sleeping when this shot was taken.

From Right: Bob Kapust, Frank Buckley, Tom Bourke, Chuck Milam, and coach Bruce Kocsis

Ed,
This looks terrific!! Thanks for doing this!!
See everyone tomorrow night at my house 6:30ish.
Teresa

Check that, I"ve actually bogged sufficiently in my day, it is the act of "blogging" that I find to be of new interest.

Frank Buckley

Let the records reflect that this is my first experience at bogging..........dashing good fun! See ya'll Saturday! Ed, thanks for setting this up.

Welcome to Manhattan Magnums!

This site is intended to allow the free flow of intercontinental comments, musings, brags, insults, photos, scores, jokes and whatever your hearts desire. It can and should supplant mass emails.

There are two posting options:

• You can reply to an existing post by selecting the "comments" option at the end of the post.
• Or, you can initiate a post by clicking on "New Post" at the top of the page.If you want to add a photo to your posting instructions can be found at http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=41641&topic=12532

I'll try to monitor the blog. I can add results to a sidebar as they occur, or one of you in Perth can do so by posting them.

By the way, the time stamp for each posting is set to Perth time (Austraian Western Standard Time - GMT+8)- whether or not you post from Perth or the US.

If there is anything you'd like me to add, change, or modify, please let me know.

Enjoy your trip and best of luck to all.

Suggest you go light on the use of "mate" while you're there. Tacky!