We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I'm no different.

Two-time Olympian Ryan Lochte is USA Swimming's athlete of the year for winning five medals at the world championships.

Lochte's medal haul in Rome included four golds.

Michael Phelps, a 14-time Olympic gold medalist, was honored with the performance of the year award for his dramatic win in the 100-meter butterfly at the world championships.

Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, was chosen coach of the quadrennial; Eddie Reese was coach of the year; Bill Rose was developmental coach of the year; and Jimi Flowers, who died in July, was the disability coach of the year.

Emily Brunemann was female open water swimmer of the year. Andrew Gemmel and Fran Crippen shared the men's open water award.

The awards, voted on by coaches, athletes and media, were presented Saturday night at USA Swimming's annual convention in Chicago.

Perusing the New York Times, I came across an article called "Is Bicycling Bad For Your Bones?"  Studies have shown a correlation between bicycling and brittle bones.  The bone density of 32 male, competitive bike riders, most in their late 20s and early 30s, was compared to that of age-matched controls, men who were active but not competitive athletes. Bone scans showed that almost all of the cyclists had significantly less bone density in the spine than the control group. Some of the racers, young men in their 20s, had osteopenia in their spines, a medical condition only one step below full-blown osteoporosis.

Interesting, to be sure, but I think you'd have to do an awful lot of cycling to have any ill effects.

I'm making an early night of it tonight because I'm participating in tomorrow's Eighth Annual Bike The Drive (I'm only doing the 15 miles...I'm not crazy!)  I'm feeling pretty good about it, but there are some butterflies.  It sounds like a lot of biking, but it should be ok.  After that, I'm relaxing at Uncle Fatty's.  Bring it on!

Interesting article in the New York Times about the merits of caffeine to enhance an athlete's performance.  Of course, it's only effective if you don't already drink a lot of caffeine, but studies have concluded that caffeine really does improve performance.  Check out the article, called "It's Time To Make A Coffee Run" by Gina Kolata.

Chicago and Illinois get high marks for the number of students completing college degree programs and the percentage of residents with degrees, but earns failing grades for the spiraling cost of higher education according to a new report by the National Center of Higher Education.

Chicago and Illinois colleges, like colleges across the nation, flunk when it comes to affordability, according to the report. Poor and working-class families must devote 37 percent of their income, even after aid, to pay for costs at two-year colleges, according to the report. For every dollar in Pell Grant aid to students, the state spends 82 cents - down from 89 cents in 1993, despite significant tuition increases.

Google sounds like it's up to something pretty cool. Thanks to SearchWiki, you can customize your search results whenever you're logged in to Google.  With just a single click you can move the results you like to the top or add a new site. You can also write notes attached to a particular site and remove results that you don't feel belong. These modifications will be shown to you every time you do the same search in the future.

Evidently Tony Romo's broken pinkie is worse than originally thought.  It turns out that he's not going to play for a couple more weeks, leaving the offense in back-up Brad Johnson's hands.

I'm guessing the Cowboys are going to have a tough couple of weeks.

I'm watching something on MSNBC about a free love cult. Weird stuff. I don't think I could ever be part of that, having sex with whomever, whenever, and knowing that the women I'm sleeping with are also sleeping with whomever, whenever. I'm too jealous for that.

I am listening to Oasis

WASHINGTON - Middle-aged men who ate seven or more eggs a week had a higher risk of earlier death, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

Men with diabetes who ate any eggs at all raised their risk of death during a 20-year period studied, according to the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study adds to an ever-growing body of evidence, much of it contradictory, about how safe eggs are to eat. It did not examine what about the eggs might affect the risk of death.

Men without diabetes could eat up to six eggs a week with no extra risk of death, Dr. Luc Djousse and Dr. J. Michael Gaziano of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School found.

"Whereas egg consumption of up to six eggs a week was not associated with the risk of all-cause mortality, consumption of (seven or more) eggs a week was associated with a 23 percent greater risk of death," they wrote.

"However, among male physicians with diabetes, any egg consumption is associated with a greater risk of all-cause mortality, and there was suggestive evidence for a greater risk of MI (heart attack) and stroke."

They urged more study in the general population.

1. Where is your cell phone?   Table

2. Your significant other? Annie

3. Your hair? Short

4. Your mother? Loving

5. Your father? Smart

6. Your favorite thing? Ocean

7. Your dream last night? Sexy

8. Your favorite drink? Vitamin Water

9. Your dream/goal? Financial Independence

10. The room you're in? Living room

11. Your ex? Allison

12. Your fear? Death

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here

14. Where were you last night? Home

15. What you're not? Mean

16. Muffins? Blueberry

17. One of your wish list items? TV

18. Where you grew up? Chicago

19. The last thing you did? Exercise

20. What are you wearing? Shorts

21. Your TV? Sony

22. Your pets? None

23. Your computer? Dell

24. Your life? Good

25. Your mood? Relaxed

26. Missing someone? No

27. Your car? Neon

28. Something you're not wearing? Socks

29. Favorite Store? Amazon

30. Your summer?  Fun

31. Like someone? Yes

32. Your favorite color? Red

33. When is the last time you laughed? Today

34. Last time you cried? Long time