Gators Football Opener on Saturday

This Saturday evening will see the new edition of the University of Florida football team unveiled against Florida Atlantic University in the 2011 season opener, to be held here in Gainesville. FAU is coached by old Gator nemesis Howard Schnellenberger, who carried on an intense, bitter rivalry as University of Miami head coach during the early 1980's against Charlie Pell's UF teams. Florida has a brand-new head coach in Will Muschamp. From his history on the sidelines working for other schools, I expect Muschamp to be quite an animated, funny, and overall entertaining spectacle. Good...I miss ol' Steve Spurrier and his visor! And we'll see how much Charlie Weis, the new almost-legendary offensive coordinator, has succeeded in transforming the Gators' lame offense from last year into something more explosive and exciting. All hinges on how quarterback John Brantley does...and if his center can figure out how to hike the ball this time around...

Coach Muschamp is in his first role as a major college football head coach. All of his other jobs on this level have been as defensive coach or coordinator. So it will also be interesting how Florida's defense will perform this Saturday...

I like seasons like this one, when expectations are relatively low and there is a great feeling of uncertainty about how successful the home team will be. It got to be a little tedious during the Spurrier and Meyer tenures at UF when they were expected to compete for the national championship every year, and the Southeastern Conference championship came to be regarded lightly as something of a stepping stone to that national title. No way is that happening this year, though! Or will it?

Just a little reminder: a couple of years ago, Alabama wasn't picked to storm their way to a strong undefeated season and the national championship. As a matter of fact, it was Florida who carried the designation of "favorite" for most of the season. And, like the Gators this year, Alabama wasn't even picked by most to even win their division. But once the season begins, the ball is finally in play, and people see what the teams are actually made of, perspectives can change in a hurry...

College Sports Rules, Enforcement Fall Short

I don't particularly agree with the way that college athletics sets and enforces its rules for schools, student athletes, and their supporters in the community. Not only are the rules unfair in and of themselves, but they are also enforced in an almost arbitrary and retroactive manner.

Considering the enormous amount of revenue that major college sports like football and basketball generate for their school, community businesses, and the local and national media, combined with the hefty salaries given to coaches and athletic directors, it is unbelievably outrageous to me, in this day and age, for the athletes who are actually playing the sports to be prohibited from receiving any money or material compensation for their efforts. No, they aren't being forced into playing, the way that ancient slaves were conscripted into being gladiators. And yes, most of them receive academic scholarships, something that carries with it some financial value and at least the hope of a better future after leaving college. But that simply isn't good enough, considering the enormous amount of economic value that these players generate. They should all be paid, above and beyond any scholarships. After all, very few of them are going to be paid professional players after leaving college, so this is their chance in life to use their enormous athletic talents to set up a future for themselves.

I also have problems with the way that some colleges are allowed to violate the standing rules willy-nilly until, after several years of this, a big scandal erupts and penalties are retroactively imposed, including title and game forfeitures. A couple of years ago this happened with Southern Cal, and now the University of Miami is being rocked with a scandal for improperly paying as many as 70 of its players from 2002-2010. In 2003, Florida played UM, no doubt against some of these players. Having built up a 33-10 lead, though, Florida fell to a furious Miami comeback and lost 38-33. This loss in a nationally televised game also did enormous damage to Ron Zook's reputation as an effective coach for Florida. Now if some of Miami's players had been played in violation of the same rules that Florida had to abide by, shouldn't that game be forfeited? I think so, but only if Florida also gets credited with a win. And Zook should also get credit for a career head coaching victory. Unfortunately, when these retroactive forfeitures are imposed, they are only against the offending school and don't help those schools they victimized by their violations. This to me is wrong of the rule enforcers.

Of course, it also gets a bit problematic to go too far into retroactively altering the outcomes of games and seasons, anyway. The argument could be made that, as is the case in pro football, all game and season outcomes should be final and any needed penalties would affect the future, not rewrite the past. After all, fans want to believe that the game that they just invested time and possible expense to watch, either at the stadium or through TV, is significant, not some cloudy thing that can be tweaked around sometime in the future. On the other hand, maybe this is just what these people need: a wake-up call to reality, to just get up and do something productive instead of wallowing in vicarious passivity!

Finished Reading The Magician King

Well, I just completed reading Lev Grossman's novel The Magician King (while sleepily sitting and waiting for my hot water heater to be replaced). Good story, good characters, good ending. If you read The Magicians and liked it, then you will definitely enjoy this sequel. And future offerings in this series, which as far as I am concerned is welcome to go on indefinitely...

While reading these books, one needs to get over the fact that Grossman's fantasy structures are lifted rather deliberately and openly from other famous works. The main source is C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. In both Narnia and Fillory, the magical fantasy land of Grossman, there are:

--Talking animals
--Humans from Earth ruling as 2 kings and 2 queens
--A white stag to be hunted
--A middle land between worlds
--An island-hopping voyage on the eastern sea
--Severe time-discrepancies between Earth and the fantasy land for visitors
--Human visitors summoned in different ways to the fantasy land for special quests

Besides C.S. Lewis, Stephen King is apparently a source for Grossman's series as well, with his Dark Tower and Talisman (in collaboration with Peter Straub) stories employing special doors and windows from one world to another. Philip Pullman, another fantasy writer that Lev Grossman reminds me of, also employs this device in the His Dark Materials series.

So if you're just looking to read some new original material just for the sake of the fantasy, you might be disappointed with The Magician King and its predecessor. But it was the intensive character development and the author's ability to flood the reader with countless cultural associations that won me over. And make me look forward impatiently to the next installment, even though the book I have just read hasn't even been out for a month!

I did something after finishing The Magician King that I should have been doing after reading other stories: I wrote down a very general outline of the characters and plot and filed it away, so that when I eventually pick up the next book in the series I'll be able to refresh my memory without having to reread anything...

Garage Cleaning Day

This is a post that I would expect to encounter on somebody's Facebook page. I have spent most of today clearing and cleaning out my garage, where my ancient hot water heater sprang a leak and flooded the floor. Tomorrow morning it will be replaced, but before that happens I had to clear the area of all the stacked up junk that has been accumulating. It hasn't been much fun, but hopefully the end result will be an uncluttered garage that I will do a better job maintaining in the future.

Unfortunately, this room has traditionally been the "room of requirement" (if you ever read or watched Harry Potter) where people in my family have habitually put stuff that they didn't want to throw away but also didn't want to keep in the main part of the house. In other words, we tend to hoard. So keeping this area from deteriorating again will require a concerted team effort from all, with me probably having to be hawkish with the others about piling things up there...

My new slogan: THROWING AWAY IS O.K.!

Books I'm Reading Now

I am currently in the process of reading four books: The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum, The First World War by John Keegan, and The Magicians (a reread) and The Magician King, both by Lev Grossman with the latter being the sequel to the former. My focus is on Grossman's novels and may be just as well, for I am having an awful time forming any kind of sympathetic bond with Ludlum's protagonist Jason Bourne so far. Then again, I'm not too crazy about Quentin Coldwater, the "hero" in the Magicians series. On many levels I have difficulty forming any feelings of empathy with this character. As for World War I, the book I'm reading about it is also a reread for me: it is a very good account of this terrible conflict, especially regarding the forces that led up to it.

I have been surprised by author Grossman's shift in emphasis in The Magician King, which actually was just released earlier this month. Although Quentin is still the main character, another character, Julia, who was given very little attention in the initial story, has now become a very integral part of the series. Quentin and Julia are both endowed with the talent of being able to draw upon magical forces, but they differ as to how the magical establishment treated them. Quentin was allowed to attend a special school of magic and given special benefits from it while Julia was rejected by the same institution and left bewildered and troubled on her own, trying to cope with her magical abilities in a world that denied their existence. Julia, it turns out, is a totally cool person in my estimation and has some life experiences that I can relate to strongly (although magic ain't one of 'em, bro'). An example:

Once Julia was exploring the Internet to find kindred spirits, i.e. people who could relate to her thinking. This seemed like an impossible task for she felt that no one on Earth seemed to understand her or even remotely think like her. But she managed to stumble upon an intricate, difficult test that eventually led her to be accepted into a small and anonymous private circle on the Net with other people who shared enough of her perspective to give her some sense of social stability, a very welcome break from her longstanding feeling of complete alienation. Now that's something that I would like...and have yet to find for myself!

When I first read The Magicians, I had no idea it was just the first in a series. With The Magician King, I now wonder how many volumes Lev Grossman is planning to take this story! I admire his writing style, which in a good way reminds me of how Stephen King also has an uncanny ability to get into the minds of his characters and express how they feel...

Self-Service Grocery Scanning

I noticed something unsettling during my visit to Lexington, Kentucky a couple of weeks ago. There was a Meijers superstore conveniently located right across the street from our hotel, so we decided to go there and stock up on our groceries for the stay. When we finished loading up our cart and walked up to the check-out lines, we noticed that most of them were self-service, with no cashier. The customers in these lines simply did pretty much what the paid cashiers do, which was to scan their own items and pass them down the conveyor belt for bagging (which more often than not the customer also had to do). There was a menu on the screen for items without scanning codes such as produce or bakery items, instructing the customers to key in special codes or click on designated places on the screen. Once I learned the system, it was much easier and faster for me to "self-scan". The few lines remaining with human cashiers were always hopelessly long and I learned to avoid them, which was probably the intent of the corporate bigwigs who also probably want to eventually eliminate the remaining cashier jobs as well.

I discussed this phenomenon with others and found out that this do-it-yourself scanning is pervasive in Lexington stores. I know that it is going on in Gainesville as well, but on a much smaller scale in places like Home Depot, which offers a self-service checkout option. But so far Publix, the predominant grocer in north Florida, has yet to institute it, preferring instead the friendly interaction of cashiers and baggers with the paying customers. But I suppose it is only a matter of time before "self-scanning" takes over Gainesville retail stores too, much in the same way that self-service gasoline pumping replaced the (sometimes) friendly service station attendant in the early 1970's.

Although I liked the speed at which I could go through the check-out line while scanning my purchases myself, I also noticed on a couple of trips to Meijers that I completed the entire process through the store without talking to anyone. That's just a little too creepy to somebody like me who is used to being doted upon by the fine employees at Publix.

I am sure that Meijers could have chosen to employ more cashiers and open up more lines, which would have made them more attractive for me to go through. But they might argue that this would force them to raise their prices. Besides, they were apparently just following the general practice of pushing self-service checkout that seems to rule this part of the country. But I decry this trend that seems to involve saving expense by eliminating jobs that REAL PEOPLE had made a living from. This sort of thing, though, is going on everywhere and has been for a long, long time actually. I remember my mother talking to me about her job back in the 1940's as an operator for the phone company, a very common job back then. Find me an operator now, but also tell me how bringing them back would improve the telephone industry or my service. And the US Postal Service has gone through stages over the years with its mail processing, going from manual sorting to mechanized sorting to barcode and optical character reading by scanning. This has drastically reduced the number of people needed to sort the nation's mail.

I read or heard somewhere that good jobs in America are plentiful but aren't being filled because the people themselves are either unqualified or incapable of filling them. Personally, I think that there is a bigger underlying problem involving the relative lack of employment these days: the glaring need to reinstitute the concept of apprenticing in all of the fields and businesses employing skilled labor and adapt it to the modern world. Because unskilled labor seems to be going, going, gone and, frankly, colleges don't seem to be adequately filling the need for training skilled labor to meet the marketplace's demands...

News and Comments

Some news commentary...

--Perhaps my comments yesterday about Hurricane Irene being "forgettable" are a little premature: maybe for the state of Florida it will be, but those northeastern states that will undergo flooding, wind damage, and widespread and possibly lengthy power outages will probably remember it. Then again, people these days don't seem to put much stock in holding on to memories. Still, the storm will be more severe because of a cold front stalling out over the northeast, drawing Irene toward it in a merger of two completely nasty weather systems reminiscent of Agnes in 1972. So the forecast track of Irene, which had been gradually moving eastward, is now moving westward, projecting its center to pass over the most densely populated part of the northeast, including New York City...

--Five months and reportedly more than 700 NATO bombing sorties over Libya later, It looks as if the rebels are finally going to wrest control of the northern African giant oil-producer from terrorist-sponsoring dictator Gadhafi (or is it Kaddafy, or Qaddafi, every news network seems to have a different spelling). Two reactions from me: (1) I agree with John McCain's assessment: it's good that the jerk is finally being deposed, but it could have been done back in March with prompt action on the part of Obama instead of him dawdling around for weeks while the rebels were put so far on the defensive that they were in danger of being completely overrun. And (2): Notice that Syria, not known for its oil exports, has a despot who is cruelly massacring his own rebelling population wholesale, and no one is lifting a hand to stop him. Except to impose that meaningless face-saving ploy of "sanctions"...

--The Gainesville City Commission backed down from their plan to eliminate free parking downtown after widespread criticism over the proposal. It still doesn't change anything for me since I have little reason to go there anyway (no attractive businesses). Except, that is, for the possibility of jury duty, in which case my parking is paid for anyway...

--Cofounder and CEO of Apple, Inc Steve Jobs is resigning his post at the top of the trailblazing computer company due to health concerns. He is staying on in a less taxing position in more of an advisory role. I don't see this affecting Apple's products, at least for the near future...

--Open since 1976, the Gainesville Albertsons grocery store on NW 13th Street is closing after 35 years of business. Earlier a popular 24-hour place for college students to go shopping late at night, "Skaggs" (as it was called way back when the name used to be Skaggs-Albertsons) had been situated in the middle of a popular all-night zone that had in the past included another grocer, two all-night restaurants, a doughnut shop, and a 24-hour pharmacy. All of these businesses are gone now, and the general area will be further depleted of stores when the adjacent Wal-Mart closes soon. Sad, maybe they should pay customers to park there in that entrepreneurial black hole; I rarely go there for anything anymore...

--After the final scrimmage before the season begins September 3, University of Florida football coach Will Muschamp expressed great disappointment at his team's performance and stated that no starting job is secured by any player. Of course, the first two "real" games are the real scrimmages as UF traditionally faces pushover smaller schools in its first couple of games before the season "really" begins against Tennessee in mid-September...

Another Scary, Forgettable Hurricane

Not that I'm complaining, but once again, like a repelling magnet, another enormous, powerful hurricane is being deflected away from the Florida coast. This one is called "Irene" and, after successive trajectories over the past few days keep placing it slightly more east, now they have it barely touching upon the U.S. mainland at places like Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and coastal New England. The storm's maximum sustained winds around its eye keep increasing, at this writing being 115 mph. It is still only in the middle of the Bahamas and is moving pretty slowly right now. A meteorologist on The Weather Channel pointed out that even without a direct hit, Irene could be one of the most devastating storms to hit the northeastern U.S. in decades due to its large size. But if it keeps tracking eastward, weakens and shrinks as hurricanes inevitably do when they reach colder waters up north, and speeds up on its course (another likely occurrence), this dire prediction may also come to naught. Hopefully. Right now I'm a little more concerned for the folks in far eastern North Carolina than I am for points further up north. Still, states all up the eastern coast from North Carolina to Maine (and Canada beyond) need to take necessary hurricane preparations to help avert any disaster scenario.

When I was a kid in south Florida, I was always fervently hoping for hurricanes to hit us and consequently give me some time off from school, which I generally hated. Alas, after Betsy hit in 1965 no large storm hit the area throughout my primary and secondary "career". After I "retired", David scared a lot of people in 1979 and Andrew devastated the area in 1992. But by that time in my life I was hoping for those storms to miss...

It will be interesting, after all of the modifications in Irene's projected path, to see where it actually goes and how hard its fury affects the closest states as it passes by. Of course, those living right on the coast will have to evacuate to avoid storm surge. Still,I predict and hope that there will just be some minor-to-moderate wind damage, little flooding, and heavy rains for a few hours and then those conditions will subside. But then again, I'm not a meteorologist; the damned hurricane could fool everyone and start tracking more to the west, anyway...

Finished Reading Twilight Saga

I just finished reading Breaking Dawn, the final book in Stephenie Meyer's four-volume vampire romance The Twilight Saga. I'm glad I persevered to the end, for I left the oft rocky reading experience with an overall positive impression. What initially bothered me about Twilight, especially the same-titled first book, was the attitude of its protagonist Bella Swan. And if you can't relate in some way to the main character, it can sometimes be a chore to keep reading. So there have been times when I would just put a book down and not get back to it for weeks. But with Breaking Dawn, everything came together well and I found myself much more in sync with the characters, even Bella.

It's very hard for me to describe how this series develops without giving away the story, and I don't want to do that. But I think it is already common knowledge that the drama centers around teenager Bella Swan's love for fellow student, vampire Edward Cullen, and how this completely disrupts the lives of those around her in the setting, a northwestern peninsular Washington state community called Forks (which really exists). Meyer, like J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series, created an entire special world within the supernatural realm, with its own special rules. And like Rowling, Meyer succeeded in creating durable, compelling, and unforgettable characters. Bella, Edward, Jacob, Alice, Carlisle... these are names that will stick with me for a long time just as Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco, and Severus have. Or Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf, Gimli, etc, for that matter...

I have yet to watch a Twilight movie, and I understand that the final installment of Breaking Dawn is in the works for release in two parts: November this year and then a year later. Maybe now that I've read the books, I'll enjoy these movies. Maybe not, but I suppose I won't know until I try, right?

Rick Perry, You're No Ronald Reagan

I always liked Ronald Reagan, even when I voted against him in 1984 (I supported his initial election in 1980 although I didn't make it to the polls that year). Agree or disagree with his viewpoints or political philosophy, I greatly respected his oratory skill and his capacity to not only convey a sense that he wanted to unify the country behind him, with the greater national welfare being his aim, but also to bear that out in his public service. In other words, Ronald Reagan was no phony. And quite unlike the latest pretender to his legacy, Texas governor and presidential wannabe Rick Perry, Reagan was civil and respectful to his political opponents. Perry, by contrast, delights in accusing those whose policies he disagrees with of "treason" or of not loving America.

Do you want to know how bad Rick Perry is? Even respected conservative Texans like President George W. Bush and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison can't stand him. But because he knows how to play the cameras onstage, there seems to be a groundswell of momentum within the once-honorable Republican Party to hoist him onward to nomination in 2012. Damn. I've always said that whoever serves as president deserves a modicum of respect, if only for the sake of the important office they hold. A Perry presidency might well put a strain on that notion for me.

I have voted for Republicans in past elections (Dole in 1996 and Bush in 2000 when he presented himself as more of a centrist who could work with the Democrats). So I am one of those voters out there whom the Republican Party should be courting for support. I wanted more than anything to arrive at the 2012 presidential election in November with a difficult time deciding between President Obama and a worthy GOP challenger, someone like Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman (whom Dubya is currently supporting). Instead, though, it looks like we're in for a complete bozo like Perry. I use "bozo" to avoid using the long list of unprintable designations that would more accurately convey my impressions of this malevolent clown.

Then again, what am I thinking? It's still only August 2011, and I think at least Mitt Romney can get in there and get that nomination. The funny thing is that conservative talk show hosts like Laura Ingraham were extolling him in 2008 while blasting the eventual nominee John McCain. Now the same dude that the right wing preferred three years ago is apparently too "liberal" now. No, Romney hasn't changed: the Republican Party itself has shifted way over to the extreme right.

Say it ain't so, party of Lincoln!

Pro-Life Billboards

You can't drive for very long down the open Interstate Highway System without coming across one of the myriad billboards urging pregnant women not to get abortions. The message is usually targeted at those who have just discovered their condition and are uncertain as to what to do, usually in the very first few weeks of pregnancy. The strategy of many who put out these billboard ads is to convince the women that what they are carrying is a fully-developed human being, often by pointing out that the heart is already beating. As I drive past sign after tedious sign, it starts to bother me a bit: I dislike them as much as I dislike all those billboards proclaiming some strip joint or adult triple-X store down the road. However...

In spite of the fact that I dislike these anti-abortion signs cluttering up my drive, I actually support the fact that they are a legitimate expression of an important debate about the rights of the unborn vs. the rights of women to make their own reproductive decisions about their own bodies. The debate takes place in the context of abortions being legal nationwide due to the 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling. If they weren't, there wouldn't be the need for those signs: it wouldn't be a matter of persuasion but rather a matter of reporting lawbreakers to the authorities. Unfortunately, I think that those behind these billboards would like nothing more than to end the debate by simply criminalizing any reproductive choice that they disagree with.

The pro-choice/pro-life debate will still continue in our country regardless of the law. But I would rather the debate be one of persuasion out in the fresh, open air of free speech rather than with the hard edge of coercion and the need to take the conversation "underground". Unfortunately, the political trends in the U.S. seem to be moving in the latter direction.

In a perfect world, there would be no unwelcome pregnancies and therefore no abortions done on an elective basis. Going to term with a pregnancy completely transforms the biochemistry within a woman and exposes her to numerous risks, including the possibility of death. I know: this almost happened within my own family! To make an edict FORCING a woman to undergo this from the very early stages of pregnancy seems barbaric and should have no place within a civilized society. And it becomes worse than barbaric when those behind this deny any collective social responsibility to help care for that woman and her child after birth.

Oppressive Humidity Lingers

Last Sunday morning I had a horrible run and recovery in Hollywood, Florida. The humidity and temperature were both in the low-to-mid 80's, a very unfriendly environment to try to run any appreciable distance. Just standing outside under these conditions can be oppressive. A half hour ago I checked the temperature and humidity: the same hot, heavy blanket of air outside, back here in Gainesville. And it still hasn't changed much by now, either. I don't know why conditions are so humid when last year at this time of the day the sun had dried the air considerably (while heating up). I am used to very humid early mornings, but always by 10 it had dipped to under 70%. I can't wait for the afternoon to run as I have a job to report to. Oh well, I guess it's going to be the treadmill for a while...

Haven't Forgotten About Blog

Unfortunately, I have been a little remiss lately in the blog entry department. Hopefully, though, things will pick up again and I'll be showering the blogosphere with all sorts of articles, some of which may actually be interesting or pertinent. I suppose that everyone's life takes turns every now and then that temporarily lead them away from the things they enjoy doing. With me, writing is a fun activity that I'd like to do more than just putting out blog articles. Unfortunately, I haven't allowed myself to give it a higher priority in my daily walk through life. Maybe it's about time I did, though...

In any event, I haven't forgotten about this blog and still want to get back to daily entries. I just need to give the activity a time and place to accomplish this consistently.

'Bucks and 'Boks

A funny thing happened throughout my ten-day vacation. Although I had anticipated going to various Starbucks stores while traveling around the southeastern U.S., it turned out that I went to none of them, inadvertently avoiding this brand. Not that I avoided coffee: I probably drank as much of it as I usually do, but at hotels, restaurants, and relatives' homes instead. The Starbucks stores always seemed to either be in another part of town, an inconvenient location, or absent altogether. It wasn't until yesterday afternoon just before work, when I went to Gainesville's Oaks Mall to buy a new pair of Reebok running shoes, that I finally resumed the Starbucks habit.

Yes, it is a pleasant experience to sit down in a cool, air-conditioned Starbucks with its background music and customer chatter, alternately typing away on my keyboard and sipping a strong coffee of theirs. Yesterday doing this helped to put my mind back into "routine" mode, preparing me better for the week ahead. And although I think that it's probably healthy to take occasional vacations and break that routine, I tend to feel more comfortable and empowered when I have a more structured schedule. And familiar coffee shops to frequent!

Speaking of the running shoes, I purchased a pair that seems nearly identical to the ones that served me so well for more than a year. I'm looking forward to breaking them in, starting with just wearing them to work for a couple of weeks. I think I'll save my old pair of Reeboks for running in the rain or on the beach...

Hike to Natural Bridge, Kentucky

Last Monday I hiked up to the top of Natural Bridge, a large sandstone formation in eastern Kentucky on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains. Accompanying me were my children Rebecca and Will. The hike was between 2-3 miles long, but was pretty steep climbing at times. But not, I understand, as steep as the original trail to the summit, which was only .75 miles long! There were other, longer trails crisscrossing the park; the map that the park provided of the different trails was unreadable, looking more like a little kid's scribbling than a usable trail map.

Along the climb we would stop every few minutes or so for rest and some water. It was hot, but we had helpful tree cover shading us from the sun. Upon reaching the top, though, we were exposed to the hot summer sun which beat down on us mercilessly as we stood there looking down from the Natural Bridge at the landscape below. Melissa, who had taken the sky lift ride up ahead of us (with some Kentucky relatives), rode back down on it again, this time with all of us together.

We were planning to go to the neighboring Red River Gorge and try out "zip-lining", but an approaching huge severe thunderstorm stretching all the way back to Lexington canceled that plan. Still, the Natural Bridge hike and sky lift ride back down were fun experiences.

I enjoy hiking like this and could have gone much further. But when you're with a group, you have to stick together and look out for anyone who may be reacting to the hike unfavorably. And sometimes that means that you have to curtail a hike or slow it down. But that's the way it should be...

Foolish Hollywood Run in Humidity

Yesterday I was down in Hollywood, Florida visiting my father. I decided to go on a run around my childhood neighborhood, something that I had never felt comfortable doing before. The running course was easy enough to devise: I planned it looking at my cellphone map of the area while at a turnpike rest stop on the way. Still, without using my MapMyRun application, I wouldn't know the exact distance I covered until I got back to Gainesville.

I made an enormous, stupid mistake by choosing the morning hours to do my run. The temperature ranged from 80 to 83 degrees, an acceptable range. But I allowed myself to run with the humidity an unbearable 82-85%. Very foolish. I finished my 4.14 mile run in 38:08, but my recovery was difficult. The humidity caused excessive sweating and cramping, and I couldn't hold down the G2 drink I had consumed during the run to rehydrate myself. Eventually I improved, but I was still more tired than usual throughout the day. I had better not try running under hot, excessively humid conditions anymore!

Still, having said that, I also am happy to report that I enjoyed the actual run through my old neighborhood...well, maybe not so happy: the humidity was starting to get to me badly there at the end. And although I have run much further recently in Gainesville, Sunday morning's run was the longest distance I had covered in south Florida since 1976. I think that my future trips to Hollywood will feature the same general running course, but under vastly different weather conditions. I doubt that I would have had any problem yesterday had I done what I do in Gainesville: wait for the humidity to inevitably drop over the course of the morning...

Japanese, Lexington, Television

One of the surprises I experienced while visiting Lexington, Kentucky last week was the presence there of a substantial Japanese minority. For whatever reason, perhaps a nearby Japanese auto plant...whatever...I saw (and heard) quite a few Japanese people around in public (and I have a degree of familiarity with the language). At my hotel, one channel was exclusively devoted to Japanese-language programming. A weekly Japanese-language business newspaper was available as well in the lobby. Strangely to me (from Florida), there was no attempt to cater to Spanish-speaking visitors as there were no Spanish TV channels or Spanish newspapers (at least in my hotel). This in spite of the fact that I heard Spanish spoken around me in public.

My son, who had visited Japan during the summer of 2010, kept the TV pretty much on that Japanese channel in the hotel. Mornings were devoted to children's programming, once again making it seem that all those little children on the shows were such geniuses to be able to speak such a difficult language as Japanese so effortlessly. Later in the morning, the programming shifted to a more adult focus: a panel discussion of people sitting around reading and analyzing haiku poetry! It remotely reminded me of the oft-interesting Book TV shows presented on C-Span during the weekend, but that is just about the only thing on my sorry television channel lineup that can claim to have literature-friendly content. Later in the day, the Japanese station presented cartoons, business discussion, news, and entertainment shows.

A few years ago there was a TV channel called "AZN" that presented shows in various East Asian languages, including Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese. I used to watch it a lot, especially the morning news shows in Chinese and Vietnamese. Alas, though, they went out of business, leaving me to have to resort to Univision to get some linguistic diversity out of my hometown television.

I wish that cable television companies would try to supply major population centers with at least one channel devoted to programming in each of the major world languages. Especially in places with large universities that enroll many international students. In Gainesville, we have very sizeable Chinese and Indian communities. Let's at least get Chinese and Hindi channels!

Travel, Constraints

I'm sitting here in a Forsyth, Georgia hotel on this Friday morning. My family and I are on our way back home from visiting relatives in Lexington, Kentucky. Yesterday was a pretty intensive driving day, and part of today will involve a considerable amount as well. But I don't mind the driving, and Melissa has shared the chores.

No, I have to admit it, I just don't care that much for travel. I know some are crazy about it, but I would much rather just stick to my daily routine. I think one major reason for my lack of enthusiasm for going places is that my travel itinerary almost always has a particular agenda, and the people I travel with have their own priorities for the trip that require a degree of negotiation in the limited time (and expense) available.

Take this Lexington trip, for example. I love Melissa's relatives there and enjoyed visiting them. But I also wanted to go see Frankfort, the state capital, just a few miles down the road. I wanted to walk around the University of Kentucky campus. There was a park down the road featuring a cave. These are just a few of the places I wanted to visit but couldn't due to the constraints that my family role imposed on me.

I did go visit the Natural Bridge east of Lexington and hiked the 2+ miles to the top with my "kids" Will and Rebecca, and that was a lot of fun. There was some shopping and eating out. We did manage to drive through downtown Lexington and past the nearby UK campus just before leaving. At the hotel, I did get some swimming and running in to keep my fitness "continuity" going. And yes, spending time in the company of others was pretty cool, too.

I'm looking forward to getting back home to Gainesville later today. Then tomorrow I plan to embark on a trip to Hollywood in south Florida to visit my father for a couple of days. Another trip with possibilities that won't be realized because of the constraints...

Entropy-Challenged Me

I admit it: I am an entropy-challenged person. Fighting increasing disorder and uncleanliness around my home seems to be an insurmountable task. My yard is a travesty of weeds, ants, molehills, and overgrown trees, vines, bushes, and grass. It seems that everywhere I look around me, something is in a state of disrepair. It is a struggle to keep the cars in good working order. Even my clothes not only seem to be becoming more and more tattered, but also from time to time some of them mysteriously disappear, I suspect into the midst of the disorder around me. Yes, losing things is another symptom of being entropy-challenged.

When I visit a friend's house, I usually get taken aback at the extraordinary level of cleanliness and tidiness of the place. I can't imagine the owners doing much of anything with their lives besides being in a constant state of cleaning and repairing. Yet I know that these people are also active in other areas of their lives. They are just more effective in fighting the entropy around them.

I suppose the most dangerous form of entropy is the breakdown of one's own body through disease. At my age (54), I need to at least put my efforts into caring for my health, be it through better eating, better hygiene, or seeking necessary medical procedures and regular examinations.

I think that, as long as I can keep my health going strong, I can put up with a "reasonable" level of disorder around me. But I'd like to get better at keeping things clean, in a state of good repair, and enjoy a relatively uncluttered home environment.

Easier "written" than done, though...

Super-Aging Presidents

I don't understand why anyone would want to be president of the United States. The act of serving seems to have an accelerating affect on the aging process. Sometimes with past presidents like Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, or George H.W. Bush, the effect wasn't as noticeable because they (fortunately for themselves) lost their re-election campaigns (or with Ford, his "first" election campaign). But for those (un)lucky dogs who, like Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, made it past one term, all appeared much older and more haggard after completing their tenures than at their start. And now we come to our current president Barack Obama.

I was recently looking at the CNN website, which featured Obama's changing, aging appearance after only two and a half years in office. He really does look as if the job is getting to him. That's sad, because I genuinely like the guy and believe that he is trying to the best of his ability to serve the American people responsibly. Instead of showing the respect that the president's office demands, though, his political opponents have resorted to personal vilification campaigns against him while holding the American people hostage to their narrow, extremist ideological agenda. It seems that no matter what our president does nowadays, somebody from one side or another (or as is usually the case, both) is severely critical of him.

I have my own criticisms of some of President Obama's decisions, which I have clearly expressed in earlier articles here. But as was the case with President Bush in his own time before him (and whom I came to politically oppose), I recognize the fact that at this time in history in the year 2011, Barack Obama is my president and I support my president's efforts on behalf of our country, regardless of which political philosophy he subscribes to. Now come election time, I'll naturally vote for the candidate whose views and plans appeal more to me. But I think one thing that wears on this president more than others is the fact that his opponents seem to personally loathe him, and that they have treated him as an enemy ever since he took the presidential oath. I find that to be distinctly unamerican and unpatriotic. Respect the office of president by showing respect to its current occupant; you can still vote him out in 2012 if you want! Frankly, that may just be the best thing for Mr. Obama that could happen (but not necessarily for the rest of the country)...

Unbearable Heat and Humidity

When I walked out of my workplace late last night (just a couple of hours ago) it felt as if I were on another planet, with the extreme heat and humidity present. The instant I stepped outside, my glasses fogged up. These conditions are worse than I usually find midday in the hot August summer. But then I remembered that the temperature approached 100 earlier today.

Others can worry about the economy; my concern is this killer mass heat wave affecting half the country. And no relief is in sight. In fact, meteorologists are now predicting even hotter conditions in the next few days as Tropical Storm Emily passes eastern Florida in the Atlantic and draws some of that overheated air in over us from the west.

I vividly remember (and actually own) that great old Twilight Zone episode titled Midnight Sun. In it, the Earth had altered its orbit to cause it to approach the Sun. Temperatures soared, and the global population tried to make it to the poles where conditions were still tolerable. Still, everyone knew that it was just a matter of time before the heat would overcome the entire planet. Incredibly, my wife Melissa, who has recently taken up knitting (and is quite good at it) has been making winter scarfs for everybody. Ha, as if it will ever get cold again!

I think that we seem to be in a social climate when it is somehow politically incorrect to attribute record hot conditions and extremely aberrant weather to global warming. But I'm going to say it anyway: it's global warming!

But this year's unpleasant summer is distinguishable from last year's also unpleasant summer in another respect. Yes, the temperatures are higher. But what is really getting to me is the excessively high humidity as well. If the temperature gets into the nineties, than the humidity needs to drop below fifty for conditions to be bearable. But it ain't happenin', folks...and the nighttime, with steambath conditions of 80-plus degrees and 80-plus percent humidity, is harder to withstand than the day!

I remember once watching an interview on C-Span featuring a scientist who denied global warming. He said that instead of trying to bring the (supposedly) rising temperatures under control through sound environmental policy, we should instead step up production of air conditioners and distribute them globally. And yes, he said this with a straight face. Well, dude, I'm placing my order now for a half-dozen!

Coming Vacation, Anticipated Blog Gaps

I'll be going on vacation soon, and for this blog that means a bit of uncertainty for the next couple of weeks. If I have access to a computer I may submit some short articles here and there, but for the most part I anticipate some gaps for a few days. I'm looking forward both to the vacation and resuming this blog afterward.

Debt Ceiling Raised; The Adapting Society

The national debt ceiling was raised yesterday, with the politicians now preparing themselves for more important things: namely, their own vacations! And I will be embarking in a few days on mine as well. But unlike many of my compatriots, I have not been spending the last few days agonizing over whether we will fall into economic calamity or how terrible the terms of any deal would be to appease the extremists in the Republican Party (who seem to think, apparently with some justification now, that they hold the reins of power in our country). Truth be told, we all have to deal with the parameters, boundaries, and rules of things as they exist in the present. Sometimes economic conditions are expansive and broadening in nature, and sometimes, like now (unless you are rich), they shrink and narrow. And as a species, you can't beat the ability of humans to adapt. Sometimes this is good during periods of adversity. Sometimes, though, with prosperity the reverse is true.

I have noticed, as our society has become so much more fast-paced with the Internet and cellphone technology and the accompanying social networking and texting, people have become less and less patient. They expect, it seems, instant gratification on just about every level. And with this impatience has come an incredible shortening of the average attention span. Along with, it seems, a loss of historical memory. Which maybe goes to explain why a state like Florida can vote for a liberal Democrat as president and two years later vote in extreme conservative teabaggers for senator and governor. Or how nobody seems to remember that it was a Democratic president who last (repeatedly) balanced the federal budget while his Republican successor, with the repeated blessings of the GOP in Congress, sent the deficit spiraling out of control.

So maybe as the government scales back on its programs and spending, there will be a lot of initial shock and pain. But as I said, people tend to adapt to whatever is out there, and this may be an instance of that. The downside is that when you are always adapting to new things going on around you, for better or for worse, that means that you are in a state of passive reaction instead of actively engaging in the process of creating better foundational conditions. But I think that those in the latter category are relatively few in number compared to our predominant "adapting society", with its concomitant lack of attention span and memory.

Cryptograms and Discouragement

From time to time, I like to engage in the game of solving cryptograms. In case you might not know what I'm talking about, a cryptogram is a puzzle usually containing a sentence or long phrase in which each alphabetical letter is arbitrarily replaced by another in a one-to-one, unique fashion. Hence "A" may be signified, for example, by "Q" in every word displayed (and by no other letter). Knowing how words tend to be structured with suffixes and conjugations, knowing the short words, knowing consonant clusters and vowel combinations, and using relative frequency of letters to your advantage are all paramount in being able to solve a particular puzzle. But even after considering everything, sometimes a little old-fashioned guesswork is needed as well.

In almost every cryptogram I've successfully completed, I have come to a point in the solution process when, although I know some of the letters, it looks as if there is no way that they could fit and form actual words. This is what I call "the crisis" and often immediately precedes a breakthrough that quickly develops and cascades to the final, solved message.

I think it works that way, too, with a lot of things, not just cryptograms. You work hard at something, maybe improving some. But your progress just isn't satisfactory and it looks as if you have reached a plateau beyond which the only apparent direction is either stagnation or decline. This is also a "crisis", which I call the "crisis of confidence". And sometimes it happens just before a major breakthrough, which is often triggered by something that at the time seems insignificant.

I guess what I'm trying to convey in all of this is that, if you're going to embark on an endeavor of any sort, try to enjoy the process itself and don't be discouraged by those inevitable times when all of your travail seems to be for nought. Victory may instead be just around the corner!

And here, for your amusement, discouragement, and eventual victory, is my own cryptogram...

R ZRPB VK AGOJA MCZPQJQCD GEECDCU J UJRAK ODKQLGNDJV RMPLCJU GE LBJL HGDRMN ZGDU PCJDB QTSSAC GE LBCRDP.

Third Reich Documentary on The History Channel

Yesterday afternoon, while unsuccessfully trying to digest my exercise in culinary overindulgence (heartburn after eating deep-fried food at a restaurant), I sat back in my comfy recliner and began to surf channels on my TV. Nothing, nothing, ... wait, what was that? Yes, unbelievably the History Channel was showing a program out of line with their usual line-up: an actual show about history. They were showing a four-hour-long video record of the rise and fall of Nazi Germany, presented mainly in the form of home movies made chiefly by Germans living through the time. It wasn't directed at the political and military events, leaders, and decisions, but rather at how the people living through this strange and brutal period of history reacted and adapted to it. I had seen this presentation in fragments before on TV, but was mesmerized by how quickly people will change their sense of values, ideology and humanity based on fear of retribution, the desire to conform, and the feeling that prosperity is the great justifier of everything. And just how easy it is to quickly make a scapegoat out of a demographic group with all of the above factors in play...

Third Reich: the Rise and Third Reich: the Fall reminded me of the film adaptation of Günter Grass's novel The Tin Drum, which depicted the same era (and the attitudes of ordinary people) through the eyes of a boy who reacted to the duplicity and phoniness of the adults around him by willing himself not to grow.

One thing about Third Reich: the Fall that WAS somewhat new to me was at the very end, when it was mentioned that millions of Germans died of starvation and disease AFTER the war had ended. I hadn't been aware of this and need to investigate this disturbing allegation further...

If you can hack your way through The History Channel's sordid schedule, past either non-historical or non-reality-based shows like Ancient Aliens, Pawn Stars, Ice Road Truckers, and Swamp People, you might just luck out and come up with a gem like the important documentary Third Reich. Please watch it if you have the chance. It carries some somber lessons and warnings for today in America, I'm afraid. Especially how suddenly a society can transform itself from something benign to something very, very hideous...