http://www.perimeterbicycling.com/%21ETT/ETThome.html

Participants may cycle 111, 85, 60 or 42 miles, plus the 6, 3 & 1/4- mile Diamond Children’s El Tour Fun Ride presented by McDonald’s, open to all abilities.

New this year:

The 111-mile startline (and finish line for all events) is located at Armory Park, across the street from the Tucson Children’s Museum in downtown Tucson at the corner of S. 6th Avenue at 13th Street. Upon crossing the finishline at the end of their ride, cyclists collect a special finisher’s medallion to commemorate their accomplishment. El Tour’s Downtown Fiesta will be in Armory park featuring food vendors, kids activities, the Michelob Ultra Beer Garden, El Tour Perimeter Store merchandise booth, and non-stop music and celebration throughout the day!

Don’t forget the “El Tour Bike, Fitness & Health Expo”

Tucson Convention Center (TCC)
260 South Church Avenue, Tucson
Downstairs in Exhibition Hall

Registration & Packet Pick-Up

Wednesday, November 16, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Thursday, November 17, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday, November 18, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The El Tour Expo is the exclusive packet pickup location for over 9,000 cyclists.
◦It is free and open to the public.
The Expo offers something for cyclists and non-cyclists alike with over 100 booths offering:

•Sports and fitness products
•Athletic apparel
•Cycling gear
•Exercise equipment
•Recreational activity displays
•Nutritional products
•Free samples

For exhibit information contact Expo Director Kristi Wagner at (520) 745-2033 or development@perimeterbicycling.com.

I volunteer at the El Tour Expo every year, to assist Perimeter Bicycling’s efforts to fundraise for Tu Nidito Children & Family Services, a non profict agency. The 11 year old daughter of a friend of mine, Sydney Clanagan, was a Tu Nidito child and she passed away in April, 2003. Who they are:

Tu Nidito Children and Family Services provides comfort, hope and support for children and families whose lives have been impacted by a serious medical condition or death. Through its array of support groups and individual services Tu Nidito provides emotional, social, and educational tools to children and families and empowers them with strength and skills for the future.

Enjoy El Tour for the 29th year!

If you missed the Tucson Festival of Books today, don’t despair as you can attend all day tomorrow, 9:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the University of Arizona Mall. Thousands of people were on the campus today enjoying the author talks, children’s activities, science exhibits, book sales, information booths, food, etc. etc.

I went to 3 talks in just 4 hours (amazing) and heard historian Douglas Brinkley (“The Great Deluge”) talk about failed politics and economic recovery in New Orleans. He also said that “inaction was the policy” in Louisiana. He had a conversation at this talk with State Democratic Party Chair Andrei Cherny, also an author (“The Next Deal: the Future of Public Life in the Information Age”). I especially appreciated how Brinkley said that we all needed to “preserve Wild America” and save our state parks for our grandchildren, to carry on the vision of President Teddy Roosevelt.

Then I listened to two very powerful women/feminists. The first was Dr. Connie Mariano (“White House Doctor: My Patients were Presidents”) who spoke of being a Filipina-American in the U.S. Navy and then becoming the White House doctor, advocating for change in their policies. She said that always striving to be better was one of her life’s goals. Along with her in that talk was Gloria Feldt (“No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think about Power”), who has been a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood. She said that women had the “power to choose, and should choose power”, and were capable of doing anything.

Finally, I listened to hilarious author/blogger Amy Alkon speak about civility (or the lack thereof) in modern society. Her book is entitled “I see Rude People: The Collapse of Civility and What We Want To Do About it”. She related very humorous stories of how she embarrasses people who are rude, and how she makes a “hobby of righteous indignation” when confronted by uncivil individuals in our so-called “strangerhoods”. She attributed today’s rudeness to mobility and not knowing your community and neighbors, like in the past. But she also advocated “paying it forward” when someone was rude to you, to try to be nicer to the next person.

Amy also mentioned the lack of civliity & name calling from anonymous readers– and I could identify with that right here online.

Check out the schedule for tomorrow Sunday March 13 at www.tucsonfestivalofbooks.org.
And drop by our Tucsoncitizen.com booth (click here for Editor Mark Evan’s blog). We’re on the West mall area, just north of the Star Pavilion.

There’s even a free strawberry/banana real fruit smoothie sample at the McDonald’s wagon.

Enjoy reading!

“And now for something completely different”. Before reading further, I highly recommend that you take the time to view the hilarious Monty Python You Tube video about spam:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwy2MPT5RE

I know that many people think that eating spam is “gross”, but believe me it is a staple food in Hawaii, where we grow up eating a LOT of spam. I’ve defended spam in the past, but suffice it to say, that I love spam (not the email version, which is bothersome, but the food variety, in all its many forms):

spam & eggs
spam sandwiches (cold)
glazed baked spam
spam musubi (wrapped in rice & seaweed, a local favorite in Hawaii)
chopped spam in ramen/saimin soup (even offered at McDonald’s)
fried spam with rice (in boxed lunches, called bento)
spam slices in somen salads (noodles with vegetables)

Gotta love that spam. And if you’re wondering why it’s so popular in the 50th State, I hear it was because during WWII food was scarce and had to be shipped in by boat, so spam was a big hit due to it being canned & long lasting.

Go to www.spam.com for recipes/products/info/even a fan club about Spam.

Did you know there’s a free SPAM Museum located at 1101 N. Main Street in Austin, Minnesota? Their phone number is 1-800-LUV-SPAM (what else?) One of my friends gave me a brochure from the Spam Museum, and I hope to visit it someday…

the ubiquitous can of Spam in Hawaii