First Senior's Discount

I am rapidly approaching my 54th birthday. I like to joke with my family (actually, it is only a half-joke) that with this birthday the countdown begins to the real milestone: #55, when I can begin to take advantage of the discounted "senior's menu" at various restaurants. But I recently got a head start, which didn't set too well with my vanity.

I was driving home from Jacksonville last Sunday evening and I thought it would be a nice treat to stop off at the Arby's in Starke and have a couple of their cheap Arby Melt sandwiches, along with some sweet tea. Only after I ordered the Melts, I discovered that their prices had gone up a lot. so I told the young man at the cash register to please change my order to something else I found on the menu that was cheaper. Oh, and just cancel the tea, please. But, sir, he pleaded, the "senior's tea" is really inexpensive. And so, still at 53, I unwittingly received my first senior's discount at a restaurant, feeling like a complete old fogey in the process. Still, I enjoyed it, the down-sized meal, and my rediscovered capacity to be extraordinarily cheap!

Actually, though, I believe that had I been a little less than honest with my age, I might have been able to partake of a senior's discount a couple of years ago. My daughter had just finished playing in a school basketball game down in Ocala and the whole family attended. Afterward, we went to the Golden Corral Steak House there for dinner (they have a very complete buffet with all sorts of mouth-watering selections). When initially placing our orders with the cashier, she looked at me and asked whether I wanted to see the senior's menu. That was the opening shot at my age-vanity.

Well, I might as well get used to people thinking I'm older than I am, especially when I can tweak the system to my advantage. And eventually, they will all be right anyway: I will someday be an old dude!

14.65 Mile Training Run

Yesterday I went out to run on my personally designed course through my neighborhood and the adjoining NW 53 Avenue/Mile Run area, initially intending to cover about 7 miles. The temperatures had fallen to the upper 70s and the humidity was bearable, so I gave myself the option of going a little further if I felt up to it. I did.

I ended up covering my entire 14.65 mile course, the third longest distance I have ever covered, in the time of 2:23:29. This time, which encompassed periodic short walking breaks interspersed throughout the run, was still at a faster pace than the LifeSouth half-marathon (13.1 miles) I ran back in February, then under much more runner-friendly climatic conditions. I intend to maintain this pace (along with the walking breaks) all the way into the marathons I plan to run, starting with the December 19 marathon in Jacksonville.

My recovery period after the 14.65 run was outstanding. No cramping or aches occurred during the run or thereafter, and I went on to work a very physically-active nine-hour shift with no problem. There was a little soreness in my legs toward the workday's end. Today even that soreness has gone, although I will still take a break from running until tomorrow.

I'm ready to extend my course further...say, to about 17 miles. Maybe I'll try it out next week. Eventually, I intend to cover the full marathon distance (26.2 miles) on at least one of these training runs before I run in the December Jax event. Accompanying, substantially lower temperatures will be greatly appreciated!

Mr. Andrea Mitchell Gets It

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, first appointed to the post by conservative president Ronald Reagan and supported over the years by both Republican and Democratic administrations, has come out with what I consider to be reasonable criticisms of how both main political parties are mishandling the national economy, particularly the national debt. Greenspan believes that too much federal deficit spending at the current relatively low interest rates can eventually create an unsustainable situation in the not-so-distant future where inevitably-higher interest rates would combine with the incurred national debt to compound it and possibly even shut down the economy. His reasoning seems sound to me.

The Republicans keep insisting on making across-the-board tax cuts permanent and are primarily responsible for the enormous deficit spending for most of the previous decade through the Iraq invasion and occupation, while the Democrats are holding on tightly to the old Keynesian concept of deficit spending to stimulate the economy as well as preventing various institutions from going under. To me, seeing these parties criticize each other for skyrocketing the national debt while each one is substantially responsible for it may be one reason why some otherwise reasonable, tolerant, and skeptical people are embracing the Tea Party movement.

Not that either Greenspan are I are teabaggers, by any stretch of the imagination. But both of us (notice how I'm associating myself with Greenspan as if we're equals in economic expertise, hah) are worried that no one in Washington seems to grasp that fiscal responsibility is a combination of maintaining a sustainable, regular influx of revenue to match up with a cautious and appropriate dispersal of funds. I don't think it takes an economic whiz like Alan Greenspan, an honest and thoughtful man who has been candid about his own mistakes while Federal Reserve chairman, to see this. Is there anyone else besides me and Mr. Andrea Mitchell who gets this?

No More Rooting Against My Teams' Rivals

I'm sitting here in my living room in Gainesville, Florida, watching the New York Yankees play the Boston Red Sox on ESPN. It has come around full circle for me with the baseball season: we're nearing the end of the regular season, but I remember watching the Yankees play the Red Sox in the season opener. From a TV screen inside Junior's on 45th and Broadway near Times Square in Manhattan while I was chomping down on a half-pound hot dog loaded with sauerkraut (with cheesecake for dessert). Back then I rooted for New York, and I am rooting for them now. This I do in spite of the fact that I want Tampa Bay to beat out the Yankees for the American League East title.

In the past, as the season would wind down in whatever team sport I was following, I would begin to follow my team's main rivals in the standings or polls and automatically root for their opponents, so that my team would benefit from their losses. There are two problems with this tactic. One, I have at times pulled for teams that I really didn't care for and against teams that I really liked. Two, while concerning myself with how everyone else was doing, my own team often floundered and ended up eliminating itself from post-season glory, without the aid of anyone else. So now I don't care how opponents of the Tampa Bay Rays or the Atlanta Braves are doing in baseball, nor am I concerned how divisional and conference rivals of the Miami Dolphins and Florida Gators are shaping up in football. The way I see it, if these teams can't cut the mustard on their own, then I don't care whether or not they back into the playoffs or championship contention through their rivals' misfortunes. So that's why I'm pulling for the Yankees, my traditional favorite when they're playing the Red Sox.

Will UF Finally Change Rock-104's Programming?

Once again, talk is brewing about the University of Florida changing the format of one of its radio stations. WRUF-AM (850) has already switched to all-sports programming while WUFT-AM (89.1) ditched its classical music become all-talk/news last year, with much dissent from music aficionados. Now the "big guy on the block", mainstream/boring WRUF-FM (103.7), may be seeing the next change.

The driving controversy at WRUF-FM is its morning Lex and Terry show, which features two obnoxious and offensive men ridiculing other demographic groups of people for laughs. Ha-ha-ha. Apparently, there are enough hateful, cruel listeners out there to have sustained their show for many years. But for me, it is the #1 reason I reject listening to that station. Now, though, Lex and Terry appear to be the main focus of programming change for this station.

I also have a very, very big problem with "Rock 104", as they like to call themselves, regarding their lousy playlists of songs. It isn't that I object to screaming hard rock, you see; I like a lot of such music, listening with pleasure to groups like Linkin Park, System of a Down, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tool, and Korn. I would just like to see some other genres mixed in, as well as "deep" album tracks mixed in from the aforementioned groups. There are many great artists in alternative/independent rock to draw upon, including Regina Spektor, Sufjan Stevens, Metric, Neko Case, Fanfarlo, Silversun Pickups, Gomez, Andrew Byrd, Kings of Leon, Kasabian, the Strokes, Broken Social Scene, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Iron and Wine, and many, many more.

It would be a mistake, in my opinion, for UF to drastically change WRUF-FM's format to something like jazz or classical music. Better to make it more of a station befitting its college environment and play ground-breaking popular music that is currently being virtually ignored on the broadcast radio band but which is being avidly followed on the Internet and the concert circuits.

Hockey Season Catches Me Off-Guard

Every year, still early in the football season, it surprises me to open my newspaper sports section and begin to see that, at least on the exhibition game level, the National Hockey League has begun another season. This year I got a "heads-up" of sorts when I looked at the cover of this week's ESPN magazine: a complete preview for the upcoming NHL season.

I don't live that far from Tampa, home of the 2004 NHL champions Lightning (another of those stupid conceptual team nicknames like "Heat", "Storm", and "Magic"). Having recently forced myself to sit through some World Cup soccer games on TV, I think I now have a greater tolerance for sports that have low scoring, albeit with continuous and fast-paced action. So maybe now is the time to see if I wouldn't enjoy watching some ice hockey.

The Versus channel has been carrying NHL games on TV, but I was wondering how cheap the ticket prices go for individual Lightning games. After all, I could take my family down there on a day off and combine a hockey experience with a Busch Gardens visit, reacquainting myself with all of my old roller coaster friends there (especially Montu, Kumba, and Gwazi)!

The Tampa Bay Lightning surprised everyone when they won that championship a few years ago. I like to joke that the league was so traumatized by it that they cancelled the following season (actually they did, but because of irreconcilable management-labor issues). But since then the Lightning have settled back into their old mediocre pattern of play. Which for me doesn't really matter: I just want to see the puck zipping back and forth, the players crashing into each other and swishing around on the ice, and the general feel of the event. We'll see; the hockey season is long and there should be opportunities to go down there to see a game.

O'Donnell Witchcraft Nonsense

I really don't like having to be the one to say this, but this nonsense being drummed up by some on the left about Christine O'Donnell, the absurd Republican nominee for the Delaware U.S. Senate seat up for grabs this November, and her supposedly past "involvement" with witchcraft, sums up to me the abject level to which our national political discourse has fallen. If she wants to go along with the other teabaggers and dismantle social security and medicare while kowtowing to corporate interests, well then full speed ahead, as far as this year's "angry" hordes of brainless lemmings (I mean "voters") are concerned. But if she is instead rejected because she had some kind of completely irrelevant short-term experience with Wicca or something related to it many years ago, then that pretty much settles it for me. Maybe those 1st Century, C.E., Essenes in Judea had the right idea after all, completely isolating themselves in remote caves far from the rest of the idiots! Maybe, though, all I have to do is just keep my television, radio, and computer off. And avoid reading the paper. After all, it is still about six weeks until the election. It can only get worse! But it's bad enough when I'm beginning to feel sympathy for a nutcase like O'Donnell...especially when she, along with several other teabaggers, could well be voting on my future (or lack thereof) during the ensuing six years.

One side note to this supposedly "grassroots" Tea Party movement. Have you noticed recently how, near the end of the Republican Senate campaigns in Alaska and Delaware, OUTSIDE endorsements and money mysteriously suddenly flooded in supporting the teabaggers against the more established Republican candidates? How is that "grassroots" politics?!

Summer to Fall: Yippee!

Just a short post celebrating the beginning of autumn today, after an excessively hot summer. Yes, I know that the temperatures will continue to spike into the nineties for a while, but the official change of season is still a pleasant fact that I can wrap my hopes around!

Dean Koontz's Novel Midnight

I recently finished reading Dean Koontz's novel Midnight. Quite a ride, if I do say so. If you've been reading this blog regularly, then you may already know how much of a fan I am of Stephen King's works. Midnight would stand up well to most of them, in my opinion.

Midnight is about how an FBI investigator comes across a mysterious, heretofore relatively sleepy coastal California town whose death rate has suddenly spiked over the previous few weeks. Upon arriving there, he also discovers that large segments of its population are behaving in unusual ways (this is difficult for me to describe, as I don't want to give away the story). He also comes to believe that this town's leaders, as well as its police, are "in" on what's going on. And so he finds himself isolated and eventually trapped while trying to uncover the increasingly sinister mystery there.

There is the usual mix of compelling, character-flawed, and evil characters in Midnight that is present is most other novels of this genre. When reading novels, I like to discover the "wild-card": a character whose allegiances are uncertain and unpredictable, and who ultimately determines the story's outcome. I wasn't disappointed with Midnight's wild-card character.

I have read one other Dean Koontz novel: Shattered. Midnight and Shattered are really two different kinds of stories, although both are suspenseful, life-and-death struggles with heroes and villains. I moderately like Shattered, although not enough for me to pursue Koontz's other novels. But Midnight has me interested in his now-vast library of stories. And my handy-dandy public library has a treasure trove of them for me to check out.

Move over, King, here comes Koontz!

Senate Primary Losers Go Independent

I recall, and apparently so do many others, how in 2006, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, having just lost the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont, decided to leave the party and run for reelection as an independent. Lieberman was wildly successful in the general election, mainly because the Republicans in Connecticut abandoned en masse their own weak candidate to vote for the incumbent, considered more conservative than the left-leaning Lamont. This year, we're seeing more of the same.

First, in Florida, centrist Governor Charlie Crist lost his bid for the Republican nomination for the Senate to right-wing teabagger Marco Rubio, a former state representative. Crist then left the GOP and started up his own independent run. And just recently in Alaska, incumbent Republican Senator Fran Murkowski has launched an independent write-in campaign for her reelection after losing to unknown teabagger Joe Miller in the primary election after quitter ex-governor Sarah Palin bestowed her endorsement on the latter.

I welcome both Crist and Murkowski's decisions to go independent and stay in their races, although I think each is facing difficulties that Lieberman didn't have to contend with. Crist's Democratic opponent, Kendrick Meek, although trailing in the polls, is still a viable candidate many of whose supporters Crist is going to be unlikely to win over (even if this results in Rubio's election). And Murkowski is going to have difficulties with the mechanics of voters having to take the extra step of writing in her name, much less educating them that they can actually do this.

I applaud Crist and Murkowski for their actions because I see our country slipping into two very ideologically polarized camps, with the moderate/centrist politicians being pushed out by each party. And it is the political center that best represents our country's (and my) sentiments! So I see these independent runs in the general election as a logical reaction to a flaw in the electoral process, a flaw that promotes ideologues and extremists over reasonable and pragmatic candidates.

I was earlier very dismayed to see such a distinguished public servant as Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter pushed out this way, first from the right by the Republicans after so many years of service and then from the left by the Democrats after he had joined their party and helped with their legislative agenda. Unfortunately, even if Specter, a great centrist senator, had wanted to launch his own independent run, I think his long-time struggle against cancer would have prevented it. It says something about the sad direction our country has turned when both parties abandon such an experienced, knowledgeable, and reasonable individual!

Pimsleur and Hungarian Study

In reference to my article from Friday, I have been studying the Hungarian language. I did this primarily after browsing through my local public library's on-line catalog under the topic of "Pimsleur" and, seeing a Basic Pimsleur being offered in Hungarian, decided to put it on hold and check it out. Why Pimsleur and why Hungarian?

It is very easy for me to find textbooks, phrasebooks, grammars, and dictionaries for foreign languages, both in bookstores and on the Internet (although strangely they are scarce in my library). I also have easy access to fluently spoken languages on the Net via its international radio and television programs. But what I am lacking is a gradual, step-by-step type of program that introduces me to the sounds and structure of an unfamiliar foreign language so that the part of my brain that processes audio can learn it. Pimsleur is completely audio-based (and inexpensive, compared with Rosetta Stone), so it seemed to be a good place to start. The lessons were presented in a programmed-teaching format, reinforcing concepts by continual review within the lessons as they progressed. As for Hungarian, this is a language of which I am pretty completely ignorant; it also bears little or no resemblance with any others (except for Finnish, Estonian, and a couple of minor languages in Asiatic Russia).

I followed the Pimsleur program and went through each lesson, one per day, until I had completed the final, tenth lesson, on this level (they provide higher levels,too). It worked for me as an introduction to Hungarian, enabling me to now be able to read unfamiliar Hungarian words and know how they are supposed to sound. I also learned some basic vocabulary and a smidgeon of grammar. But I'm not foolish enough to believe that I am have now mastered Hungarian with my ten lessons any more than humankind has mastered the moon just because they landed on it a few times.

I could spend some dough and go through the more advanced levels of Hungarian that Pimsleur offers (but which my library doesn't). But I think I know enough now that I recognize that the next steps to mastering Hungarian involve extensive reading, voracious vocabulary build-up, and practice in picking out familiar words and phrases from fluent speakers glinted from those radio and TV Internet stations.

I recommend Pimsleur as a good introduction to the sounds of another language and to get one's ears attuned to its flow. It's relatively cheap, and even cheaper if it is available at the public library! But I wouldn't harbor any delusions of attaining any degree of fluency just because I completed its program (or a part thereof).

Now I've been introduced to Hungarian. I bought the paperback textbook Teach Yourself Hungarian, which promises to greatly enrich my vocabulary for this pretty cool language. I have already watched television from Hungary on my computer and, yes, those casually fluent native Hungarian speakers all seem like superhuman geniuses to me. The experiment continues!

My Second Half-Marathon in Four Days

Today I didn't set out to run another 13+ miles as I had done last Wednesday. The idea was for me to extend my course another .95 mile and then listen to my body as it reacted to the running and the surrounding conditions (most notably the weather). The temperature was high, in the upper 80s, but the humidity was relatively low around 50%. My workout was faster-paced than the 13.78 miles I ran earlier, but I felt more energized throughout it without feeling the need to slow down. Originally planning to run 8-9 miles, I kept pushing it a little further until, presto, I was running back into my driveway having covered 13.75 miles, at a time of 2:12::16 (in the previous 13.78 mile run, I deviated a little from my established course).

As a sidelight to the run, I have to mention something regarding that .95 mile extension. I had driven my car down it a couple of days earlier, only to discover a big, potentially dangerous dog sitting happily in one of the front yards I would be passing by, unfenced, completely unrestrained, and unsupervised by any humans. The thought fleetingly occurred to me that I should reroute my planned run to avoid this dog, but then I decided to "chance" running by the next chance I got. Today there was no dog out there, so I'm glad I didn't limit myself due to fear of being attacked. I know there's got to be a lesson or moral to this, but if I get a big chunk bitten out of my leg the next time I run by there it probably doesn't amount to much!

Will I keep up this pace of increasing my running distances? Probably not until the temperatures begin to substantially drop as autumn finally establishes itself in northern Florida, usually much later than next week's offical beginning. Autumn IS going to come, isn't it? Pretty please?

Blog Writing Momentum

For the past few weeks, my writing on this blog has been more sketchy and sporadic. That doesn't mean that, from time to time, something won't come up that piques my interest and drives me to write something substantial. But those occurrences have diminished in frequency lately.

And I think I know why. In the past (especially in 2007-2008), I had given priority in my life to setting aside a time and place exclusively devoted to writing my blog articles. The fact that I had done this and made a daily habit of it spread to my life throughout each day, as I would be always coming up with new ideas for articles and jotting them down in my pocket notebook for later exploration. In other words, I was, in a sense, always writing.

I also need to follow J.K. Rowling's creed and write for myself. Ultimately, I am my own blog's most avid reader, anyway. It would be interesting, though, to let some others in on this blog to see their reactions.

I don't think that I have to make writing articles for my blog such a priority that it overshadows everything else going on in my life. All that really needs to be done right now is to establish a set time and place for me to focus on writing. That means when I go to Starbucks I put away the Hungarian textbook and the Dean Koontz or Sue Grafton novel and take out my trusty AlphaSmart ever-portable word processor. And pound away at the keys! Oh, and keep my notebook handy as well.

In any event, I'm ready, I believe, to reestablish some momentum with writing this blog. As usual, comments are always welcome and encouraged.

The Recent American-Muslim Controversies

Toward the end of this ridiculous double controversy surrounding the Muslim center in Lower Manhattan and the Exalted and Most Disturbed Individual's threat to burn Qur'ans here in good ol' Gainesville on September 11, the idea was floating around the media (stirred up in part by the EMDI himself) that there could be a trade-off that could resolve the problems.

It sounded simple: in exchange for the Muslim center not to be built in its proposed location a couple of (substantial) blocks from the World Trade Center construction site, the EMDI wouldn't burn Qur'ans as promised. Sounds equitable, doesn't it? Uh...only one problem with that...

In both cases (Manhattan and Gainesville), it was Muslims who were under attack from others. The "deal" would have been for them to yield to one attack (in Manhattan) "in exchange" for the other attack (in Gainesville) to be called off. So how is that equitable?

Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush went to great pains to repeatedly emphasize that Islam was not to blame for those tragic events. Now, nine years later, much of our attention-span-challenged nation seems to have forgotten this (assuming they were ever paying attention in the first place). But that really shouldn't surprise me: they're about to vote a whole slate of loony-bird Tea Party politicos into power without giving the current administration the needed time for his policies to work for the nation. The book Dude, Where's My Country? was Michael Moore's attempt to try and make some sense out of the irrational public mood of America during the Bush Administration. We seem to be collectively slipping back down into another of those "dude, where's my country" periods, I'm sorry to say.

Of course, the bigots (oops, I mean "concerned citizens") protesting against the Muslim center in New York think they are just being "reasonable" about their objections to anything Islamic being located in the vicinity of the "sacred" Ground Zero. But as it has been pointed out, there is a strip club and a betting parlor right next to the supposedly "hallowed ground". I walked through this area back in April and was dismayed to find only heavy construction work going on (for the new buildings on the site), with a memorial several blocks away. Ground Zero wasn't at all like the way it is being currently portrayed on television. This entire controversy is nothing more than a whipped-up media event on the part of political/media interests to emotionally stir up enough irrational people to rush to the polls and vote "their" guys into power this November. You know, the same kinds of folks mobilized to vote on all of those anti-gay-rights referendums conveniently placed on state ballots (including Ohio's) during the 2004 presidential election.

As I said, "Dude,..."

My Summertime Half-Marathon in Florida

This morning I ran my first half-marathon in months. Actually, I went beyond that distance, reaching 13.78 miles in 2 hours 14 minutes 28 seconds. This was a lower time than my Gainesville LifeSouth half-marathon race in February, in spite of the facts (1) that the distance covered was .67 mile longer than a half-marathon, (2) the average temperature was forty degrees hotter today than for that February race, and (3) I walked for a minute every seven minutes throughout my run.

This wasn't a race, but rather my own personal training run. I have recently extended my course to cover some relatively hilly (for Florida) terrain. When I began at 9:15 am, the temperature was 69 and the humidity was 82%. At the end, at about 11:30, the temperature had climbed to 83 with the humidity dropping to 55%. Still, in spite of the heat, this was much more temperate than the excruciating summer conditions I had been experiencing.

My plan is to flow with the eventual cooling trend with the weather and gradually increase my training distance as I continue to redesign my course. In Jacksonville, there is a marathon in December that I am aiming for. Just three months ahead!

List Madness: A Few Personal Top Ten Lists

Soundgarden Songs
1-My Wave
2-Face Pollution
3-Mailman
4-Fresh Tendrils
5-Mind Riot
6-Boot Camp
7-Black Hole Sun
8-Room a Thousand Years Wide
9-Hands All Over
10-Searching With My Good Eye Closed

Rolling Stones Songs
1-Street Fighting Man
2-Jumping Jack Flash
3-It's All Over Now
4-Time is On My Side
5-Mother's Little Helper
6-Shattered
7-You Got Me Rockin'
8-Undercover of the Night
9-Prodigal Son
10-Ruby Tuesday

The Who Songs
1-The Good's Gone
2-Doctor Jimmy
3-I Can't Reach You
4-I Can't Explain
5-Magic Bus
6-Baba O'Riley
7-You Better You Bet
8-Tommy Can You Hear Me
9-My Wife
10-Bell Boy

Moody Blues Songs
1-For My Lady
2-Legend of a Mind
3-Floating
4-One Step Into the Light
5-Peak Hour
6-Are You Sitting Comfortably
7-The Day We Meet Again
8-Nights in White Satin
9-Lazy Day
10-Your Wildest Dreams

Yes Songs
1-Close to the Edge
2-The Gates of Delirium
3-Leave It
4-South Side of the Sky
5-Yours is No Disgrace
6-The Remembering
7-I've Seen All Good People
8-And You and I
9-Roundabout
10-No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed

Stephen King Stories (written, not the film versions)
1-The Mist
2-It
3-Crouch End
4-Insomnia
5-Lisey's Story
6-N.
7-Pet Sematary
8-Thinner
9-Hearts in Atlantis
10-Bag of Bones

Sixties Television Series
1-Star Trek (the original series)
2-Man from U.N.C.L.E.
3-The Prisoner
4-Twilight Zone
5-The Avengers
6-Beverly Hillbillies
7-Ed Sullivan
8-Outer Limits
9-Andy Griffith
10-Get Smart

McDonald's Menu
1-McGriddle c/Bacon (by far my favorite item)
2-Double Cheeseburger
3-Strawberry Shake
4-McRib
5-Egg McMuffin
6-Large Fries
7-Fish Sandwich
8-Big Mac
9-Quarter Pounder c/Cheese
10-Sweet Tea

About to Pursue Endurance Swimming

During the past few weeks, I have departed considerably from my "rule" of taking a day off between training runs. It's a wise rule, since this gives my body the time needed to recover, repair itself, and grow. The idea I had been pursuing was to take those "off" days and devote them to upper body workouts instead, such as weight training. But I had become disappointed in my progress, mainly because I wasn't able to enjoy the same overall effect that I was able to easily attain after running for long distances. So I have been running considerable distances on strings of consecutive days, something that is probably not in my best interests. I need to find an activity that mirrors the positive effects from running but which works out my upper body while giving my legs and feet a break of sorts. And I decided that endurance swimming may be the answer.

I didn't learn how to swim until I was in the seventh grade, and since then have received zero instruction to improve my form. But I want to eventually become an endurance swimmer just as I have become an endurance runner. My lack of expertise with swimming may be ending, though, as I may have discovered the answer while browsing through one of my local bookstores. I was in their (very small) section of books devoted to swimming and came across something by a guy named Terry Laughlin.

Terry Laughlin is a long-time swimming athlete who is has made it a commitment to study and teach swimming form. He calls his own technique "Total Immersion". It is a step-by-step program that I intend to pursue during the next few weeks at my local YMCA pool. If successful, I should ultimately be able to swim as comfortably as I run.

More on my progress as I learn more and practice Laughlin's techniques...

Voice-To-Text: Best Way?

This one I'm throwing out to my millions of adoring fans, eager no doubt to help me in my lifelong quest for more effective communication ability (it may take more than one lifetime, the way I'm going). I sometimes think that, on occasion, it would be tantalizing, if not outright provocative, if I were to simply put out an article based on me simply talking to myself about things in general (or specifically). To do that, though, I would need software/hardware that could pick up my spoken word and translate it into text for publishing. And now my question: What is the best way out there to accomplish this, optimizing the factors of quality and economy?

In other words, I want voice-to-text capability.

My 2010 NFL Predictions and Preferences

Not that I really know what I'm talking about regarding football, but it's once again that time of year when I still like to pretend. So here I am, predicting the outcome of the 2010 National Football League season. But this time around, I'll just stick with which teams I think will be the best and forget about those "also-rans".

In the American Conference East, I honestly feel that this might be the year that Miami pulls it all together and goes far into the playoffs. So they get my nod in the East, with New England making the playoffs as a wild card team. In the AFC South, I feel that Indianapolis will continue their domination. The North will see Baltimore on top, with Pittsburgh making the playoffs as the other AFC wild card team. And San Diego will win the West.

In the National Conference, I see Dallas winning the East with the New York Giants getting into the playoffs as a wild card team. In the South, New Orleans will repeat as champions. The North will be won by Green Bay, with Minnesota making the playoffs as the second NFC wild card team. And San Francisco will win the NFC West.

As far as how the playoffs should go (presuming that they are composed of my picks), I see events leading up to Dallas playing Indianapolis in the Super Bowl. Indy should prevail. We'll see.

Of course, these are my predictions as to who will be the best, not necessarily the teams I want to do the best. Here is a list of the teams I actually support, in order of liking:

1-MIAMI DOLPHINS (by far)
2-Tampa Bay Buccaneers
3-Minnesota Vikings
4-Jacksonville Jaguars
5-Baltimore Ravens
6-Green Bay Packers
7-New York Giants

And my list of most hated teams?

1-New England Patriots
2-Buffalo Bills
3-Oakland Raiders
4-Pittsburgh Steelers
5-New York Jets
6-San Francisco 49ers
7-Seattle Seahawks

Well, I really only intensely dislike New England and Buffalo. With the others I may switch my allegiances (I found myself last year pulling for the Jets in the playoffs).

Dove Wacko Outreach Center's Stunt

There are so many different angles I could write about concerning this planned Qur'an burning by Dove World Outreach Center that I had been holding off doing anything on this blog about it. Well, here are a few, just to scratch the surface.

Yes, Dove pastor Terry Jones is a manipulative, controlling publicity seeker. After inflicting this charade on the world, he will no doubt concoct other obnoxious stunts that reflect his personal notions about who are the "good guys" and who are the "bad guys". There is already a line of media trucks parked at the church on NW 37th Street in anticipation of the Saturday night "event". Oh, don't they love a freak show!

Northwest 37th Street is, with the exception of Dove Wacko Outreach Center, a residential road, a side street off the heavily travelled NW 53rd Avenue. I personally use both as part of my running course. I keep hearing how this planned Lower Manhattan mosque, which seems to offend so many, is only a stone's throw from "sacred" Ground Zero. Well, as the DWOC is actually about the same distance from my home, as the crow flies. Fortunately, there is no street directly connecting my own personal "sacred" ground to this abomination of a church. But the poor folks residing on the same street as Dove will have to submit to identity checks in order to simply get to their homes Saturday night. I'm half tempted to try jogging through there Saturday morning just to see how far I get. And to watch the freaks assembling for the big show.

The scenario around here reminds me of that old South Park episode where the community, so afraid that Muslims around the world would blame them for a Family Guy episode showing Muhammad, collectively buried their heads in sand piles while that show was airing. Instead, in the "real" world, there will be a "A Gathering for Faith, Understanding, and Hope" rally Friday evening (the 10th) at the nearby Trinity United Methodist Church to show the world that we're not really like those losers down the road. Don't expect media trucks to line up for this rally, though: it's won't be sensationalist or negative enough to whip up television ratings!

Terry Jones has already expressed a lack of concern over possible fatalities resulting from his publicity stunt. He refused to respect General Petraeus by continuing with his plan after the general pointed out how American soldiers, serving and defending their country (and supposed Jones' country) and already risking their lives on its behalf, will be further endangered. And that their difficult mission will be hampered as this highly visible act will only play into the hands of their enemies the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

On the other hand, the fact that a church as small and insignificant as this can manipulate events worldwide says a lot about not only how hypersensitive people are to merely symbolic acts, but also how much more interested the media and population at-large are about the negative instead of the positive.

In the end, I suppose that with both this Qur'an-burning stunt and the Lower Manhattan mosque, we are confronted with the issue of our Constitution's First Amendment and whether public opinion can overturn it. It looks as if the First Amendment will prevail in both cases, with the State not buckling under to popular outcries. I suppose that's at least something. After all, the outcries can generate spirited, productive debate as long as they just remain outcries.

Happy Anniversary, Melissa

It's now been 24 years since I have married my dear wife Melissa. She has been a never-ending source of inspiration and encouragement to me, not to mention her beauty and compassion (after all, she married me). Wow, what a difference a wonderful, caring woman can make in a poor soul's life!

I love you, Melissa, and I look forward to many more years of repeating this wonderful tune!

Gator Football Offensive Woes

Saturday's game between the Florida Gators and the Miami University Redhawks turned out to be quite a surprise for those Gator fans (including me) who expected an offensive fireworks display from Florida's vaunted stars like John Brantley, Jeff Demps, and Chris Rainey. The fact that, through three quarters of play, UF only had 25 yards of total offense probably had more to do with the poor performance of the offensive line than anything else. Especially center Mike Pouncey, who suddenly seemed to have forgotten how to hike the football. Also, receivers seemed to have forgotten how to catch the ball and should they actually succeeded in catching it, what they were supposed to do next (which was to run down the field with it, duh). The entire scenario smacked of poor preparation and discipline with this year's edition.

The game was a grand exercise in frustration for Florida, with the only bright moments coming from the defensive team. Early in the fourth quarter, with Florida leading only 21-9 (all three Gator scores having been set up by the defense), Miami was prevented from getting a touchdown and had to settle for their fourth field goal. After that, and to the game's end, the offense woke up and behaved as it should have for all four quarters, coming up with two touchdowns.

Last year Miami University, a relatively minor football school from the obscure Mid-America Conference, went 1-11 with one of the worst (if not the absolute worst) defenses in the NCAA. Maybe they've improved this year, but probably not that much. This performance does not bode well for the Gators. Next week they play a much more highly-regarded opponent in the University of South Florida, which won their opening game with a 59-14 rout. Uh-oh!

Retroactive Name Changing

As I was passing through Starke (about 25 miles northeast of Gainesville) this morning on my way to pick up my son in Jacksonville for a Gainesville visit this Labor Day weekend, I looked over at the southbound side of US 301. It was bumper-to-bumper traffic, most of which I'm sure was destined for the University of Florida's season-opening home football game against Miami University (of Ohio), to begin at noon. I had planned my trip so that I would be driving against this flow. By the time we're on our way back, we should be pretty clear of extraneous traffic (I'm writing this just outside of Jacksonville).

Although you may think from the first paragraph that this article is about traffic and football, it is neither. Rather I was intrigued by the way that, when referring to Miami University, it almost always bears that parenthetic tag "of Ohio" dragging along behind it. This is, of course, to prevent any confusion between it and the University of Miami (which oddly never seems to need the tag "of Florida"). I'm sure that in the past, Miami University didn't have to be distinguished this way. And I think about other "modified" names as well.

Remember George Bush, our 41st president? Nobody ever referred to him as "George H.W. Bush" until his begotten namesake-with-a-dubya became president. Now, when discussing his record, it's "George H.W. Bush did this", "George H.W. Bush did that".

After being prodded by an influential producer/record manager, John Mellencamp originally launched his recording career under the name "Johnny Cougar". He later had misgivings and briefly changed to "John Cougar Mellencamp" before finally dropping "Cougar" altogether. But when discussing his early hits like Hurts So Good or Jack and Diane, it's now always "John Mellencamp" as the artist who recorded them, not "Johnny Cougar".

Or take how we have been designating our years. Charles Osgood notwithstanding, there has been the greatest resistance to referring to years in the 2000's according to the previous centuries' custom like, for example, "nineteen o-three" or "fourteen ninety-two". Instead of "the twenty-o-four election", it's "the two thousand and four election". But now we're starting to go back to form and say "twenty-ten" for 2010. So what, you say? Just that I wonder whether at some point in the future, when referring back to 2004, those looking back won't just refer to it as "twenty-o-four", something that almost no one (except of course Osgood) used to say.

I wonder what people, places, or anything else with which we are currently comfortable naming a certain way will end up bearing a modified designation, a modification that will be retroactively applied.

Perhaps you may think that I am nitpicking a little with this, but I don't think so. Of course, Miami U, Poppy Bush, John(ny) {(Cougar)[Mellencamp]}, and 2004 are all, in essence, the same regardless of how they were designated at different times. So are Beijing (formerly Peking, even more formerly Peiping), Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and Mumbai (formerly Bombay). But if you're going to go back and try to recreate a scenario from the past, you better get in line with the "old" way of naming things!

Charlie Crist's Caucusing Plan

If Florida's formerly-Republican and now-Independent sitting governor and current Senate candidate Charlie Crist somehow manages to pull out this election and make it to that legislative chamber, then how will he caucus? The question of whether Crist will side with the Republicans or the Democrats has been bandied about lately, with the somewhat cryptic answer being provided from somewhere within the governor's camp: he'll caucus with whichever party has the majority.

In a purely politically expedient sense, this is probably a very good idea. Although I wouldn't think that it is such a good idea that Crist should want it publicized in advance. Still, it does take away the excuse for a voter to reject him solely on whether or not he is going to somehow tip the Senate's balance of power against their party. Well, kind of... actually, not at all!

If Charlie Crist (is elected and) wants to caucus with whatever party is in "control" of the Senate (and I use the word "control" very loosely), then he will have more of a say with proposed legislation, especially at the committee level. But if he wants to reassure concerned voters against the notion that the balance of power is in his hands...well, that would be a fallacy.

For the sake of argument, let's assume that Charlie Crist is elected. If either party, aside from Crist's seat, has 51 seats, then it truly doesn't matter, for organizational purposes, which party he declares for. Also, if the split is 50-49 in favor of the Democrats, he would side with them as Vice-President Biden would be constitutionally empowered to cast the 51st vote for the Democrats. But what if the entirely possible scenario develops where the Republicans have a slim 50-49 margin?

In this case, Crist does hold the balance of power. If he sides with the GOP, they have a 51-49 margin. If he sides with the Dems, they have a 51-50 margin with Biden's tiebreaker. So I don't think it is unreasonable to keep probing him about his intentions regarding party affiliation should he win.

The way I see it, though, is that from the viewpoint of a Democrat noting how my own party's nominee is so hopelessly behind in the polls, it would be prudent for me to support moderate Crist just to prevent extremist (in my opinion) Republican Tea Party nominee Marco Rubio from "representing" me in the Senate. For six freaking years!

Running DX Back Up to 12 Miles

Yesterday I set out on my run around the neighborhood once again, determined to have a "long-mileage" day. I had extended my course by 1.14 miles, meaning that should I complete it I would attain 12 miles. And I did, while avoiding experiencing the kinds of lower leg and foot aches and cramps I regularly experienced in cooler weather early this year when covering similar distances. I attribute this to following renown marathon runner Jeff Galloway's sage advice to take periodic short walking breaks throughout the run.

I always run the first seven minutes and then walk for one. Then I run six, walk one, run six, etcera, until the run is completed. By doing this, I calculate that I actually run about 95% of the distance. I have noticed that I not only feel more refreshed and energized at the end of each walking break, but also I correct my stride to a more comfortable form upon resuming my running. And by doing this, it gives me the enormous psychological advantage of breaking up my run into shorter segments, with a walking break never too far off into the future, regardless of the ultimate length of that day's run.

In spite of my walking breaks during yesterday's 12-mile run, I still ran comfortably ahead of the pace I had set during this past February's LifeSouth Five Points Half-Marathon, held here in Gainesville. So I fully intend to take walking breaks throughout any future long-distance races I enter.

Speaking of future races, there is a half-marathon in Gainesville scheduled for November that I plan to enter. On December 19, Jacksonville will be holding its own marathon. On January 11, 2011, the wild-and-extremely-crowded (last year had 24,000 runners) Disney World Marathon happens. And in mid-February, I'm back to Gainesville's Five Points event, this time planning to go the full marathon distance.

Well, that's my agenda as far as upcoming long-distance races are concerned. As for September and October, there are also plenty of those painfully short 5K races in which I could run. But as I have written before, these have become too tedious in more ways than one. If I can find a race during the next two months that is reasonably long and not too far away from Gainesville, then I may just enter it. Otherwise, I'll just stick to my neighborhood running, gradually increasing my mileage over the next several weeks.

GOP Can Take the Senate

Unlike those Democrats who criticized Robert Gibbs for suggesting that the Republicans might take back both the House of Representatives and the Senate, I think that the White House Press Secretary was right on target with his comment. I'll leave the more complicated House picture for others to analyze (it's considered more likely to switch parties anyway). Instead, I'll look at the Senate, which currently favors the Democrats over the Republicans 59-41.

That margin means that the GOP would need to pick up ten seats in order to wrest away control, since as Vice-President, Joe Biden can cast tie-breaking votes should a 50-50 situation result (which happened briefly in the first few months of 2001, with VP Cheney making similar tie-breaking Senate appearances for the Republicans). Since about only a third of the seats are up for election, there would have to be a remarkable change in the Senate's party composition for the Democrats to lose ten seats. Let's look at this.

The website RealClearPolitics is very good at keeping abreast of the various public opinion polls for races nationwide. By looking at them on a state-by-state basis, I came to my first conclusion: the Republicans will probably hold on to all of the seats they currently hold (even though Ohio seems like a potential loss right now with it being relatively close). This might change during the last few weeks of the campaign as Tea Party GOP candidates Miller and Paul, although currently ahead of their Democratic opponents, appear to be vulnerable in their respective states of Alaska and Kentucky. Assuming though, that they win and retain their party's seats, then what about those currently-Democratic seats in play this year? In Arkansas, North Dakota, Delaware, and Indiana, it is a bygone near-certainty that they will go Republican, taking the Dem lead down to 55-45. But that's still a clear majority, right?

There are several other races where Democratic Senate seats are in trouble. Incumbent Bennet is behind in the Colorado polls. Now we're at 54-46. In California, Washington, Wisconsin, Illinois and Nevada, the polls have the two main candidates in each race pretty much even. That's five seats, and the Republicans are drawing a much higher, more enthusiastic voter turnout in this election season. So unless the trends reverse themselves, all of these seats could easily go Republican, giving them the 51-49 margin they need to run things as a majority party in the Senate.

Although personally a Democrat, I don't see Republican control of both houses of Congress as necessarily such a bad thing. For one, it would makes Obama's reelection in 2012 much more viable, given the almost constant "blame Congress first" mindset on the part of the American public no matter which party is in control. Secondly, losing control of Congress might just be the thing to wake up those inexplicably apathetic Democrats who apparently are destined to sit out this year's election (I don't get people who won't vote because of lack of enthusiasm).

On the down side, it would be harder for Obama to get his judicial nominations confirmed. I imagine that at least one more Supreme Court justice may retire during the President's first term. Also, whenever the opposition party takes control of Congress during an administration's tenure, they almost always begin to start probing around with investigations and "independent" prosecutors to uncover (or manufacture) scandals within that administration. I don't see any change from this pattern happening with Obama and the Republicans.

Still, it's only the beginning of September and we have two full months to go. But I have yet to see the Democrats show the kind of aggressive ads that they would need to have at least a fighting chance. Certainly they have enough material they can use to attack the Republicans. Why aren't they barraging the media with it?