My December 2012 Running Report

In December, my total mileage skyrocketed, far beyond my monthly goal of 100 miles.  I just finished a relatively short 3.25 mile run, giving me a month's total of 155.63 miles.  This means, of course, that I averaged just over five miles per day.  However, although I did put in some "long" runs (7.5 was my longest), much of the increase in mileage was due to me running twice on many days, in the morning and then late nights after work.  The convenience of a 24-hour workout gym with treadmills, combined with cooler temperatures and lower humidity for the outdoor runs, facilitated my increase.  I ran every day in December, now making my daily running streak 245 days. 

Although there were some public running races offered in December, I begged off entering them due to the simple lack of satisfaction I get anymore from participating in public races.  For one, I don't dig paying the progressively more expensive fees to register for them.  Also, the constraints imposed on me with the time and place of a race run counter to my freedom the rest of the time to choose when and where I will run.  But most of all, I discern a sense of unwillingness on the part of other participants to be more sociable.  Instead they seem emotionally insulated and clannish.  Who knows, though, maybe I just need to try a few more times and see if I can't break into some of their "circles".  That being said, I still have no plans for entering any races next month...

NFL Dolphins, Giants, Tebow, Season Ending

With one week left to go in the National Football League regular season, my two favorite teams both seem destined to miss the playoffs.  With the Miami Dolphins, this fate has sadly become the expected norm each year, although they very well could be sporting a 10-5 record instead of their actual mediocre 7-8 had some very close games not slipped away from them.  Yet I feel optimism, for a change, about their future because of their new coach Joe Philbin and rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill.  They also have a chance at finishing at .500 this year should they beat New England in their final game (but not likely).  We'll see how things go next year.  But the other team I support, the New York Giants, have gone into a tailspin after leading their division most of the season.  Now they are on the outside-looking-in as far as an available playoff position is concerned.  And yet, they were in the same improbable situation for getting into the playoffs last year and ended up winning the Super Bowl!  So I can't count them out until they are mathematically eliminated...

It looks as if Tim Tebow will be leaving the New York Jets after this season, possibly ending up at Jacksonville.  The Jaguars, who could have traded for him after Denver signed future Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning, would have filled their stadium for the Gator Heisman Trophy winner and two-time national champion.  Instead, the Jaguars chose to go with a second-rate quarterback in Chad Henne and now sport the worst record in the NFL.  I expect poor decisions from them in the future as well, so I'm a bit skeptical right now of Tebow ending up there.  As for Tim's short tenure with the Jets, I don't know what this franchise was thinking by trading for him and refusing to use him all season, even in the face of an extremely dismal year by their starting QB Mark Sanchez.  I used to like their coach Rex Ryan, but now I think the dude should be fired (doubtless to resurface on another team). Not only did he blow it with Tebow, but he also allows an atmosphere of open dissension on the team, with players commonly speaking out to the press against each other and their coaches...

Emphasizing Private Journaling Over Public Blogging

It's been a while since I've posted an entry to this blog.  There are various reasons for this, but the main one is that I have entered a more introspective period in my life.  I want to write, but not in such a public forum, as I have some personal issues I want to write about in a private journal.  The writing discipline continues for me, but the writing is taking place elsewhere.  This doesn't mean that I won't occasionally make an entry here from time to time.  But for this season, at least, I wouldn't count on seeing regular articles on this site.  Not that they won't pick up at some time in the future...

Lesson from Lord of the Rings

I have been watching my DVD collection of Lord of the Rings lately.  In a movie series of this scope, there are many new aspects to the story and its presentation that reveal themselves to me with each viewing, and it is fun to make new discoveries.  But one thing that struck me from the first time I ever saw it (and this isn't quite so apparent in the book) is the sense of epic importance that the present moment, the "now", so to speak, held for most of the story.  If the protagonists didn't focus intently on whatever happened to be immediately before them, then not only would their futures be in peril, but often also the future of Middle-Earth (author J.R.R. Tolkien's name for his fantasy planet).  The movies' extended version tended to mitigate this almost constant sense of urgent crisis by adding some scenes that gave some (usually humorous) respite to the drama.  But the more commonly-shown edited version is very, very intense.  And that brings to me a lesson of sorts that I can choose to follow.

The lesson is this: I may not be living in a time and place when and where the fate of the world hinges on my actions from one minute to the next.  But the fact still remains that this IS MY life, my one shot at it in fact, and it is only through this present moment that I can live through it and make a difference.  Maybe my choices won't have a gigantic instant effect on this often sorry world I live in, but they can contribute down the line to something better. Maybe I should just step up to the "now" and increase my intensity a couple of levels!

I am looking forward to watching The Hobbit when it comes out in theaters soon.  I hope that Peter Jackson, the movie's director, has been careful to include all of the book's events (something he failed in with his Lord of the Rings undertaking, as good as the final product was). For there is another big lesson from this tale as well, a lesson that the earlier animated version of The Hobbit completely omitted... 

I can't put off fulfilling my aspirations until "later": NOW is the only time guaranteed me, and it's "about time" I realize that on a deeper level...

News Flash: Found Empty Seat at My Nearby Starbucks

I am sitting here on a dreary, cool morning here at the Magnolia Parke Starbucks writing this, from my preferred seat at the long, narrow counter facing the parking lot window.  My routine, which used to entail early morning visits here to write and study, changed a few months ago.  Then it was relatively easy to find a seat.  Now, though, I usually stop by (and much less often) in the early afternoon and as often as not can't find anywhere to sit, with all of the coffee-shop-squatters and their laptops/notebooks dug in by that time.  So instead I've become a regular customer at Donut Connection just down the road and never have a seating problem there.  Their brewed coffee is just as good (I tend to stay away from the espresso bar concoctions anyway) and their sweets put Starbucks to shame.  Still, today the opportunity presented itself for me to get down here a little earlier and...lo and behold, my "spot" was available!

I love this weather, as long as it doesn't rain, that is.  This, to me, is prime running weather, so maybe I'll just climb down from this high chair and get ready for a nice jaunt around the neighborhood...

****
Three hours later...
I went out running like I said I would, only the dryness had changed to a light drizzle.  Still, it was a very pleasant four mile run...

December Mugginess, Leaves, and the Blowers

Just when I think that December will bring about cooler, wintry weather conditions favorable to outside running here in Gainesville, it gets warm and muggy.  Yesterday I was looking at my local 24-hour weather station and the screen gave the current temperature at 81 degrees, with the forecast high for the day of 78! They also predicted some light showers in the evening.  Instead, what really happened was torrential rain and a thunderstorm.  Not that we couldn't use some rain: in general, northern Florida has been more prone to drought in recent years, causing a forest fire hazard.  Still, I wonder what's going on with the weather forecasting here...

The trees at least seem to think that winter is approaching.  I was walking around the block with Melissa the other day when we passed a house possessing a large maple in its front yard.  The presumed owner was out there meticulously vacuuming up some of the myriad fallen maple leaves that he had carefully gathered up in a large pile.  I looked up, though, and saw that the tree was still loaded with many browned leaves, some of which were falling as we passed by.  I noted to Melissa that this guy's yard, after he had finished clearing it out for today, would be covered again with leaves tomorrow.  She confirmed this to me the next day when she went on another walk. 

Gathering leaves at this time, raking them in, and putting them in containers may seem like an exercise in futility, at least until the trees shedding them are completely bare.  But those doing this earn much more appreciation from me than those obnoxious leaf-blowers.  These folks have a limited, territorial view of their "home" that ends on the other side of the street in front of their house.  I have seen different neighbors blowing fallen leaves out of their own yards onto the street...and then stand there in the middle of the street with their leaf-blowers and blow them to the opposite curb, directly in front of their neighbors' houses!  I even once ran by one of these people and he continued blowing leaves directly at me as I passed!  Nice guy...

Proud of Son Graduating College

Yesterday my son Will graduated from the University of North Florida with his Bachelor of Arts degree, and doing so with magna cum laude honors.  I am very proud of him and know that, whatever he decides to do in the future, if he pursues his dreams with the perseverance and character which he exhibited with his undergraduate education, he will be successful and happy!  Way to go, Will!

December Business Picking Up

Once again, I've reached the time of the year when business drastically picks up where I work.  I may not be writing quite as often on this blog as I have been, at least until things settle back down.  In any event, I'm doing fine and hope you are too!

Tried a 7.5 Mile Run Today

Seeing that I just might be running in a 9.3-mile (15K) race next Saturday (see yesterday's article), I thought I'd see what it would be like to approach that distance, which I haven't run in many months.  So I ran 7.5 miles a few hours ago without too much difficulty.  But I didn't enjoy it and thought that pushing that kind of distance at this time in my life might just NOT be a good idea.  So I have decided to keep my distances at a lower level.  I may participate in 5K and 10K races in the near future (December has some 5K races around town).  But the main thing is that I will be going back to my earlier training regimen...

Upcoming 15K Race: Should I Enter?

This year I skipped Gainesville's Tom Walker Half-Marathon, which took place earlier this morning.  I ran it last year and enjoyed it, setting a personal record for half-marathons.  The race takes place on the Hawthorne Trail, southeast of Gainesville.  But next Saturday morning, the Season of Hope 15K (9.3 miles) will be held at the same location.  This distance, which would be a challenge, is still in my range of allowable distances, albeit on the far end.  Should I sign up and run it?

Since I am passing up on half-marathons for the foreseeable future, this type of event might represent a good substitute choice.  Still, it was such a grind getting up early in the morning this past Thanksgiving just to run that 10K race!  Is my memory beginning to erode on me?

Well, the registration deadline is December 6, so I have some time to mull it over.  I think I could handle the distance, even though I haven't covered nine miles in several months.  In the meantime, I'll continue to train on the same level I have been...

My November 2012 Running Report

In November, my running mileage increased dramatically.  I easily topped my 100-mile goal with 136.84 total miles for the month.  My longest run was 6.27 miles, and I ran on every day, bringing my personal record running streak to 214 straight days of running.  During November, I participated in one race: Gainesville's Thanksgiving morning Turkey Trot, a 10K run held at Tacachale. 

I credit the cooler temperatures, along with easier access to a 24-hour gym, with enabling me to increase my running.   I look ahead to December, though, and see all kinds of obstacles laid before me that could inhibit my running.  But we'll see where the upcoming month takes me, one run at a time...

The Movie Lincoln: My Reaction

Thanksgiving evening I saw the movie Lincoln.  Here's my reaction...

I thought that, generally speaking, the movie successfully conveyed both the personality of Abraham Lincoln and his surroundings:  the tension involved in being a wartime president, a war inside his own country (as opposed to the trend the past several decades), and dealing with problematic elements within his own family life.  I thought that Daniel Day-Lewis, whose other movies I missed seeing, was wonderful and compelling in his portrayal of the sixteenth president.  On the other hand, Sally Field just looked like Sally Field pretending to be Mary Todd Lincoln.  Similarly, Tommy Lee Jones played firebrand Radical Republican congressman Thaddeus Stevens with (unintentionally) humorous results.  The African-American characters in the movie were one-dimensional holy paragons of civil rights virtue, making pronouncements and speeches left and right.  I get it: the focus in Lincoln was the waning weeks of his first term when he was pushing Congress to pass the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a provision that would abolish slavery nationwide. 

The politics of the time, combined with the winding down of the Civil War and various sometimes colorful and obstinate personalities, are woven into the movie around the central character: Abraham Lincoln, of course.  I enjoyed the experience and feel I learned some history as well.  The only problem with presentations like this, though, is in determining which parts were history and which parts were fictional embellishments...

Planning on Longer Training Runs

I feel like increasing my daily running distance, and consequently my monthly goals.  Part of the reason for this may be the cooler, more hospitable weather.  Part may be the better access I have to a gym with a treadmill (this current one open 168 hours/week).  And part just may be that, dang it, I simply like to run longer distances!  In November, I am already running longer.

I'm not talking about a major change to much longer runs...just a mile more per day, more or less.  But sure, every now and then I'd like to do a long run...maybe a ten miler down some of the old course that I had devised a couple of years ago when I trained for the marathon.  I doubt that I'll ever return to marathon running or training, but something more modest like half-marathons is still a strong dream to look forward to...

Gators Go 11-1, Expect Sugar Bowl Berth

The final weekend of the regular season in college football has come and gone, and with mixed (but still overall favorable) results for the University of Florida.  The Gators, although ranked ahead of their opponent, cross-state rival Florida State, were listed as seven point underdogs to the Seminoles.  Florida, however, overcame the odds and beat FSU Saturday afternoon 37-26, virtually guaranteeing them a major BCS bowl game (probably the Sugar Bowl) and keeping them at least temporarily in the hunt for a spot in the national championship game.  But alas, Notre Dame, which had to lose to USC in the evening game to keep this hope going, played a good game and won 22-13.  This set up a title contest between them and whoever wins the SEC championship game this coming Saturday between Alabama and Georgia. 

My congratulations go out to Florida head coach Will Muschamp and the entire Gator team for this fine 11-1 season.  They certainly exceeded my expectations for them. 

Mathematics: The Art of Being Careful

Lately I have been reviewing some of the old mathematics that I learned (and subsequently forgot) in decades gone by.  I'm going chapter-by-chapter in the Schaums series, right now appropriately at a "beginner's" level for me: pre-calculus.  I have been making a daily routine of doing problem(s) from the book and am now on the fourth chapter.  The problems in the Schaums series are explained and solved, so should I have difficulty in one of them, I can read the solution and return to it, (re)learning in the process.  But besides becoming reacquainted with math, I have also found that I derive the same degree of pleasure from successfully solving a problem that I get from doing sudoku, kakuro, cryptograms, Jumbles, or other puzzles.  And in all of these, there is one overriding principle: in order to solve any of them, I have to be very careful in the steps I take!

As a matter of fact, I might just argue that mathematics in itself is the art of being careful. Back when I was in mathematics classes at school, careless mistakes in my assignments counted against me, but the teacher also usually gave "partial credit" if it appeared that I had grasped the general principles of the concepts involved.  Looking back on it, I think that was a mistake.  One cannot truly develop a skill in anything, especially mathematics, without making accuracy and mistake avoidance an absolute priority.  Carefulness must become an ingrained habit.  On the other hand, whizzing through problems and dismissing sections of instruction because they seem intuitively obvious are not only counterproductive: they are in themselves examples of carelessness!

Big Day in Football Tomorrow for Gators, Noles, Irish

Tomorrow afternoon Florida will play Florida State (football) in Tallahassee to essentially see which team gets to go to one of the major BCS bowls around New Year's.  Should the Gators prevail, they would most likely get an invitation to play in the Sugar Bowl.  I don't know where the Seminoles would go...it could also be the Sugar Bowl, against some SEC team like LSU, the Alabama/Georgia loser, or Texas A&M.  But maybe the winner won't go to one of these bowls, because...

Later Saturday night, undefeated and #1 ranked Notre Dame plays USC to finish out their regular season.  Should the Fighting Irish win, they will almost certainly play the Alabama/Georgia winner in the national championship game.  But should the Trojans pull off the upset, the other team playing for the title would be the highest ranked team left in the BCS polls.  And the consensus is that Florida, with a win against FSU, would be that team.  Florida State fans also entertain some hope that by beating UF, they would leapfrog in the polls over other SEC teams and Oregon to be in that exalted contest. 

Regardless of the outcomes tomorrow, both Florida and Florida State have had excellent seasons.  Will Muschamp and Jimbo Fisher are good coaches who know how to build competitive teams from the inside out, emphasizing control of the line of scrimmage.  The fans should support them both and be patient through the inevitably tough seasons that will crop up from time to time in the future...

Ran 10K Turkey Trot in Gainesville

This morning I ran the 10K Turkey Trot running race at Tacachale here in Gainesville.  Tacachale, formerly known as Sunland Training Center, is a spacious residential center for the disabled.  It is also gated, meaning that although the course I ran there today is wonderful, it is off-limits to me for training runs.  Still, I enjoyed this race, which I ran at my usual pace, finishing at 53:10.  The starting temperature was about 45 degrees with 80% humidity.  

Well, enjoying it may not have exactly been the appropriate word.  I actually felt pretty tired and out of sorts before the race, wondering to myself at the time why I was putting myself through such torture.  But the race itself came off pretty well...

I may not be in such a big hurry to enter any more races anytime soon.  I think it's a personality thing.  I by nature am a solitary runner and relish it that way.  I also don't feel that I have to prove anything to anyone.  I couldn't care less whether anyone thinks that I am a fast runner or not.  Plus, I don't care to spend $25-35 each race in entry fees, basically in order to do something that I could just as easily accomplish by stepping out of my front door and running down my neighborhood streets...

Companies Getting Too Political Against "Obamacare"

I have expressed my views before about the Affordable Care Act, President Obama's signature piece of legislative accomplishment during his first term in office.  Although I felt that health insurance reform was necessary and that everyone needed access to affordable health care in order to have preventive screenings and regular physician visits while not being denied service due to pre-existing conditions, I was disappointed with the final, signed bill for being too burdensome on businesses.  Other countries have a marked competitive advantage over us because they have lifted the burden of providing health insurance off the backs of business and put it in the proper place of a government-run operation, funded by (the taboo word) taxes.  But since we're not allowed to utter that awful word anymore in the good ol' U.S.A., except immediately following the word "lower",  the lawmakers had to mandate that the business community expand its obligations in this area.  So I sympathize a bit with the business owners and management.  But what has been going on recently in the media, this close following the 2012 presidential election results, is another matter entirely...

I am a little taken aback at the very highly politicized and publicized outcry against Obama by different businesses that depend on positive advertising and the general public's goodwill for their survival.  Companies like Papa John's, Dairy Queen, Applebee's, and Denny's, either through their centralized command structure or franchisees in various locations, are strongly coming out against "Obamacare", and in a very hurtful manner.  These companies apparently were gaining a competitive advantage over others for years by exploiting their own work force with poor benefits.  Now they have to own up and don't want to.  The Denny's franchisee in Palm Beach County, Florida has declared that his restaurants will add an "Obamacare surcharge" to be printed on every bill.  H-m-m...wasn't it Denny's who has suffered public scandal in different places for not serving blacks who came into their places for a meal?  I have an idea: let's just make it easy on Denny's and the other aggrieved companies:

FLAT-OUT BOYCOTT THEM!

I don't care whether the whiners are local franchise owners or not: they are benefiting from the parent company's name and product.  So the parent company needs to step up and assert themselves.

No more Applebee's, Papa John's, Dairy Queen, or Denny's for me.  Not that I've ever cared that much for Papa John's or Dairy Queen, but I have been a pretty good customer for the other two (especially Applebee's). No longer. Any other businesses want to join the list?  I'm ready to sign them up and spread the word against them...

Sixty-two million Americans just reaffirmed the presidency of Barack Obama, the first term of whom was marked by his Affordable Care Act, and these business people can't handle it.  I don't have a problem with price hikes; new laws often dictate such a necessary course of action.  But I will not play along with the political manipulation here.  I've had to put up with enough during the past election campaign!  So these people lost their precious election and didn't get their boy Romney in there to coddle them and suck up to their interests.  Ironically, had the business community wised up and supported the government-run single payer system being proposed a few years ago, they could have been relieved of health insurance burdens for their employees.  I say give all these babies pacifiers and put them on extended quiet time!

Florida Gators Still in National Title Hunt

Continuing along with the theme of my last article, the national title hopes of the Florida Gators football team are still alive.  I can't say that about many other teams, either.  The new BCS poll came out today and Florida is now ranked #4, behind Notre Dame, Alabama, and Georgia in that order.  If Florida should manage to beat cross-state rival Florida State next Saturday, then they will automatically move up at least one spot since (1) they would have beaten another top ten-ranked team, giving them a stronger strength of schedule and (2) Alabama and Georgia will play for the conference title, insuring that one of them would lose and fall behind the Gators in the rankings.  That would leave only undefeated Notre Dame, who would have to lose to Southern Cal on the road next Saturday in order for the scenario to give Florida a national championship game opportunity come true.  And should it happen, in all improbability, that they made it that far, UF would be facing another Southeastern Conference school, either Alabama or Georgia in that national championship game.

But they have to beat FSU next week to have any chance at all...

Gator Pigskin Title Hopes Still Alive

Today my University of Florida football team once again showed its inclination to plod on through unimpressively against opponents that it should have no trouble with whatsoever.  This time it was against small college Jacksonville State, whom the Gators defeated 23-0.  But although the victory was clear, the way Florida did it wasn't very awe-inspiring.  In fact, when you consider that they could only score one offensive touchdown the entire game, it gets a bit scary...

Still, amazingly, after four straight games in which they showed little beyond a second-division level of mediocrity, Florida stands at 10-1, is #6 in the BCS rankings, and has a chance to play in a major bowl should they beat #10 Florida State (on the road) in their final regular season game (good luck with that).  What is extremely amazing, though, is that after today's other major college games, they actually (believe it or not) still have a shot at playing for the national championship!

Before today, I said to others that for the Gators to get a shot at the national title, five things had to happen:

1: Kansas State had to lose
2: Oregon had to lose
3: Notre Dame had to lose
4: Alabama had to win out and beat Georgia in the SEC title game
5: Florida had to beat FSU

Well, numbers one and two incredibly came true as the top two ranked teams went down to upset defeats tonight.  That leaves Notre Dame as the only undefeated team (not on probation, sorry Ohio State) in the major college football pool.  They could, though, lose their final game to USC next week (in Los Angeles, hooray)...well, maybe, USC isn't all that good.  Alabama probably WILL keep winning, a good thing for Florida.  And can Florida beat Florida State on the road?  Who knows, we'll just have to see...

Covered 10K Distance in Training Run

I'm still planning on running the 10K (6.2 miles) Turkey Trot race here in Gainesville this coming Thanksgiving morning.  On my training run this morning, I started out with the intention of just doing 3.34 miles.  But the conditions were very pleasant (56 degrees, 74% humidity) and I felt energetic.  So I decided to try to cover my upcoming race distance.  I ended up running 6.27 miles with a time of 53:37 (at my usual pace).  Although I've run much longer distances regularly in the past, this run represents the longest I've covered since July.  So I now feel very confident and enthusiastic about Thanksgiving's race on November 22.

Secession and Racism

If there ever was any doubt that racism is a factor in the hostility against Barack Obama for having the nerve to become president, and then doubly so for getting himself reelected, there shouldn't be any more after citizens from forty states petitioned for secession from the United States.  In case you're not up on your history, the other time anything like this happened was during James Buchanan's lame duck period as president in the weeks following Abraham Lincoln's election.  You know, the Abraham Lincoln who was opposed to slavery and regarded blacks as human beings (see Spielberg's movie if this is confusing you).  Those opposed to seeing blacks as human beings with legitimate human rights weren't taking any chances with a Lincoln presidency and most of the slaveholding states seceded before he had even entered office. 

So let me try to put myself in the position of today's secessionists: let's see...Jimmy Carter gets elected and we don't like his typically liberal Democratic Party policies.  O.K., we'll oppose him next election but we'll respect the recent election results because he's wh___. Bill Clinton gets elected and we don't like his typically liberal Democratic Party policies. O.K., we'll oppose him next election but we'll accept the recent election results because he's wh___.  Barack Obama gets elected and pursues typically liberal Democratic Party policies.  But wait a minute, he's not wh___ and we can't say that "other" word about "his kind" anymore so we'll say he's a muslimsocialistforeigner.  And we're leaving the country!

How else could anyone read our modern-time secessionists' motives?

Loose Dog Alley

I like dogs.  They are cute and usually emotionally bonded to people.  I've owned at least one since 1987 and grew up with another. But I know that dogs are sometimes violent and attack people.  Around my neighborhood, some residents keep their very scary, nasty sounding (and looking) ferocious animals behind fences.  When I am on one of my runs, they usually remind me of their presence with some threatening growls and barks.  But they are restrained...and I feel safe.  There is one block in my neighborhood, however, that, practically every time I run down it, has a dog running around loose.  This stretch of residential road apparently has some incredibly indifferent dog-owners who have personal issues about inflicting their beasts on anyone happening to pass by their house.  First, there's Jake, a large grey mixed breed dog with a scary appearance but a friendly disposition.  Still, when he sees me and he is out loose, Jake tries to jump on me, follows me home, and even tries to come into my house.  Not fun.  There is another house where I saw a man walking by on the public street  having a scare from a large white dog loose in the front yard, who looked as if he were going to attack him.  Then I ran by and the angry dog turned its attention to me.  Fortunately, both of us managed to slip on by without somehow enraging this already disturbed animal into action.  Thanks a lot, inconsiderate owner!  And then there is another dog, if it really is a dog.  This guy I've seen a couple of times.  It looks like an overweight chihuahua mutant, has a very angry bark, and when it notices that whoever it is barking at isn't impressed and is still walking or running by, it suddenly sprints away full-speed down the very long block (and around the corner).  I think that's pretty smart on its part, for a dog like that has no business confronting anyone in public. 

We have a law in our area requiring dog owners to restrain their pets, but unfortunately some of my neighbors either don't care or deliberately want to set their dog out on people passing by their house.  But it's not THEIR street; it's everyone's, and they damned better keep their precious little monsters restrained if they don't want animal control knocking on their doors in the future...

Aggressively Loud People I Encounter

There is a certain individual in my life, someone whose presence I could probably do well without.  The good thing is that there is usually only a very brief period in my day that I encounter him.  The bad thing is that this individual is completely out of control with his speech, going off on loud, obnoxious and insulting rants about politics.  That I am diametrically opposed to his political "philosophy", which he seems to have assembled from FoxRepublicanNews talking points, makes this necessary exposure to his drivel that much more unpleasant.  And he's loud, one of those people who think that EVERYONE in the room needs to hear what he's saying, to the point where no one can even hear their own thoughts.  Yes, this is one obnoxious, unpleasant dude.  Yet...

Today I was sitting in a local fast food eatery having lunch and trying to read a little before having to go to work (and probably have to listen to the aforementioned jerk).  I didn't expect quiet conditions, but still it was very unpleasant because another person in the back of the dining area was loudly shooting off his opinions to someone standing right next to him.  There was no need to bellow out his words; he was obviously imposing his opinions on everyone present whether they wanted to hear them or not.  As it turned out with this guy, I happened to agree with almost everything he said.  But I was still offended at his attitude and verbal aggression.

"Avoid loud and aggressive people: they are vexatious to the spirit."  That is a line from Max Erhmann's celebrated Desiderata and is advice well worth taking.  I could have taken my food outside today, but I cannot completely avoid this other character...

2004 and 2012 Elections Show Similar Reactions By Losers

There is shock, shock I say, spread throughout the conservatives in this country who voted for Mitt Romney and were convinced that their "guy" was going to be swept into office in a landslide over Barack Obama.  After all, their media sources predicted it, didn't they?  Yes, that's an example of what can happen if you get yourself into a feedback loop and keep getting the same information from "supportive" sources without any independent verification (or refutation).  But I'm not looking down on my fellow conservatives, some of whom seem to be quite distraught.  After all, I got myself caught up in a similar experience in 2004.

Toward election day in 2004, the Democratic Party challenger to incumbent George W. Bush, John Kerry, was mounting a heroic, tough final campaign surge.  And the polls seem to bear out (at least some of them) that he may have caught up with his Republican rival.  On election day, especially in the decisive swing state of Ohio, positive voter exit polls further gave the impression that Kerry indeed was on his way to victory.  But, as was the case with Romney, a funny thing happened on the way to Kerry's election: it didn't happen, and the incumbent edged him out.  Yes, I was very discouraged over this turn of events.  But I accepted the results and wanted for Mr. Bush to do better in his second term (I was later disappointed).

All I can say is that you win some and you lose some.  I believe that both candidates in both elections loved America and sincerely thought that they had the best program for the nation.  I also believe that this should be recognized by ALL, even those who voted against them.  Instead, I sadly see an increasing polarization among the people: when their party is out of power (regardless which party that happens to be), somehow, for too many, they act as if their country has been taken over by the enemy.  And that, my dear friends, is a very unpatriotic and antidemocratic attitude to foster!

Champagne Time for '72 Dolphins Old-Timers

In the National Football League, the Atlanta Falcons lost to the New Orleans Saints today, 31-27.  So what does that have to do with the Miami Dolphins, my "favorite" team?  Everything, especially seeing that the 2012 edition of the Dolphins just got their butts kicked, at home, by a supposedly inferior Tennessee Titans team, 37-3.  So the Falcons loss just increases in importance as I desperately try to cling to something positive about my team.

In 1972, the Dolphins went undefeated both in the regular season and the playoffs.  No team has since accomplished this, although the New England Patriots came too damned close in 2007.  This year, the last undefeated team left was Atlanta...that is, until New Orleans took care of them a few hours ago.  So, the '72 old-timers on the Dolphins are probably somewhere celebrating with their champagne, like they've been doing on an annual basis whenever the last undefeated team goes down to defeat for the first time. 

This year wasn't too bad, with no undefeated season scares.  I like the Falcons and dislike the Saints, so it was a bit uncomfortable to go against my inclinations just to preserve the Dolphins' record.  Whew, now I can go back to rooting straight-out for the teams I like! Go Falcons and their great QB Matt Ryan!

Signed Up for 10K Race, Running Mileage Increasing

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I was considering entering an upcoming middle-distance running race, the 10K Turkey Trot to take place Thanksgiving morning here in Gainesville.  Today I went down to Lloyd Clarke Sports on NW 13th Street (US 441) and registered for it.  So I'll be doing only my third race of 2012 (although I believe I could have done more).  Of course, what I really want to do is start running half-marathons again.  But even if don't run in any official 13.1-mile races, I can still train on my own with longer-distance runs.  After all, the weather has become very runner-friendly of late.  Today I stepped out of my front door at one in the afternoon and ran 3.83 miles, immensely enjoying the 70 degree temperature and sub-40 % humidity.  Also, lately I have increased the use of my local 24-hour gym, often running on the treadmill there around the midnight hour after getting off from work. And later today I may go there for my second training run of the day, something else I am doing more of these days.

Without having initially intending it, I have greatly increased my running mileage so far in November, still running every day while averaging about 4.5 miles per day.  I don't know whether this rate will increase or not, but since I'm just taking things one day at a time, I'll let the future take care of itself...

Gone Are the Comments

I recently decided to disable comments on this blog.  There are some good (to me) reasons for this.  One, I am sick to death of getting saccharine, meaninglessly terse comments that are almost always linked to a business website.  Two, the few people who actually read this blog and have historically made pertinent comments either have my e-mail address or personally know me and can simply tell me person-to-person what their reaction is to any particular article.

Once, in a more naive and innocent time of my blogging adventure, I held the notion that readers who were even personal strangers to me, spread across the country or even the world, would read articles that interested them and would then express their own points in comments, to which I could then respond and thus establish a pretty cool open dialogue.  But after five-plus years with this blog, I have sadly concluded that there are NO such people in this sorry world of mine. 

So, gone are the comments!  Either you already know me or you don't: The way is shut (what movie is that from)...

Upcoming 10K Race in Gainesville on Thanksgiving

I am considering entering my first running race since July 4's three-mile Melon Run.  The Turkey Trot, appropriately being held on Thanksgiving morning, November 22, is a 10-kilometer (6.2 miles) event, well within my capabilities.  The location will be on the Tacachale campus in the northeastern part of Gainesville.  It should be fun.  Unless Michael Bloomberg decides to cancel it, that is.

The weather has finally turned to lower temperatures and humidity, with my running much more pleasant.  I still don't plan to run in half-marathons, but I should have plenty of opportunities in the next few months to participate in other events, up to 15K distances...

My "Swing" State Becoming Irrelevant to Election

I live in Florida, one of the crucial "swing" states in the presidential election, along with Ohio, Virginia, and Colorado.  As it happened this year, the election was decided by those other states with Florida's final result, which as of this writing has yet to be determined, only representing an interesting historical footnote.  But that's how it is with swing states.  Either you're the nation's focus in a close race, like Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, or nobody cares about which way you end up going after all the votes are tallied (this year).  On the other hand, the question of who ends up winning Florida will probably count in the future as people look back and try to discern voting trends.

I Voted: It is Done

At about nine this morning, I cast my ballot for president and the other assorted races and issues.  So as far as I'm concerned, it's done.  I only had to wait about an hour in line; had I come in a little later--say eleven--the wait would probably have been a lot shorter.  Still, no complaints here as I'm sure others either having to vote late in the afternoon/early evening or who live in less voter-friendly precincts will have experienced some tedious, especially long waits before the day is done. 

Like I said, as far as I'm concerned, it's done.  I am not going to get emotionally involved over the returns tonight, along with the accompanying mind-numbing analysis.  I've even entertained the notion of trying to see how long I can remain ignorant of the results!  Maybe my candidate will win, maybe not.  But I do know one thing: even though the election results will no doubt effect my life down the road, for better or for worse, how I personally choose to live each day will have a much greater impact on my future and that of my family than whether "Goofus" or "Gallant" gets in there...

My Election Recommendation

On this day before the big presidential election, it's time for me to give my recommendation: vote for ________ (YOU fill in the blank).  I myself have made up my mind a long time ago as to how I'll be voting.  My choice, in all honesty, is primarily based on my own, personal interests: the "other guy", if elected will in all likelihood work to destroy my job and retirement.  I can submerge this feeling and pretend to be voting based on some philosophical pretext or on a more general level of the "national interest", but I won't.  Maybe that's selfish of me, but then again, maybe that's how you should be voting, too. 

I'm hearing too much of this overgeneralized, ideological blather on the campaign trail.  Voters should ignore it and instead research how each candidate's election would directly affect THEM.  Not their neighbors, not the country in general, and not some abstracted, easily manipulated idea of "history". 

The biggest danger I see in this election is for people to ignore their own best interests and vote for a candidate and party based on either emotional factors, phony ideological constructs, or a misplaced sense of national patriotism that has been contrived to ultimately serve the ends of special interests.  Instead, vote for your own interests, which to you should be truly special!

Finally Over Nick Saban's Desertion of the Dolphins

Although I have no intention of becoming a University of Alabama Crimson Tide football fan, I have finally gotten over my sense of betrayal at their current head coach, Nick Saban.  He abandoned his job of coaching the Miami Dolphins in mid-contract to take on the Alabama post when the latter offered him a shamelessly exorbitant offer.  I still have a problem with coaches who hop from job to job, never staying in one place long enough to establish any sense of tradition there.  With Saban, the effect was compounded by the way he framed himself as a man of character, even writing a book on the subject.  But he has at least stuck with his present position at Alabama (this is his sixth year there) and harping on him doesn't do anything to change the past.  Besides, he and his team may have unknowingly done my Florida Gators a favor last night...

In order for Florida to get to go to a major bowl game (like the Sugar Bowl), they would have to be the second-highest ranked team in the Southeastern Conference.  Had Alabama not made their dramatic last-minute comeback to defeat LSU last night, the Gators would probably have ended up behind both Alabama and the probable LSU/Georgia conference title game winner.  As it now stands, though, Alabama will most likely win the rest of their games, including the one against Georgia in that title game (Georgia has only to beat an unusually bad Auburn team to win their division).  Should this happen, Florida will in all likelihood be that #2 team, assuming they manage to beat cross-state rival Florida State in a few weeks.  Sounds complicated, right?

So maybe UF can avoid playing Saban's Crimson Tide and end up with a great final ranking.  I didn't like Saban, a great coach, leaving Miami like that in late 2006.  But I wish he had at least gone on to a school that wasn't in the same conference as Florida (Urban Meyer "correctly" went on to coach the Big Ten's Ohio State while Steve Spurrier "incorrectly" landed at UF's divisional rival South Carolina).   Still, I have made my peace about the matter and have forgiven the dude, who never really ever did anything against me, anyway...

NYC Marathon Just Cancelled

Last night, while I was at work, New York City's mayor Michael Bloomberg finally came to his senses and cancelled the New York City Marathon that was going to take place this Sunday. It would have been a strange sight, with many locals cut off with no transportation and needing food and water...while thousands of runners pour in to the town, accompanied by volunteers helping them (not the people living around in dire need).  I guess they couldn't just postpone the event to another day, but to cancel or postpone it was obviously the way to go.  Why it took this long for the mayor to "get it" is beyond me.

They are still holding pro basketball and football games in the area.  I question this as well, but that doesn't make the marathon a good idea at this time...

NYC Marathon a Go in the Middle of Storm Recovery Efforts

I am a running enthusiast, a fact you should know if you've gotten anything from this blog.  And the New York City Marathon is an event that I would like to participate in some day, although the special circumstances of my health prohibit this in the immediate future.  Still, I share in the excitement others feel about preparing and running in this race, which goes through several of the boroughs in NYC for 26.2 miles. This year's marathon is scheduled for this coming Sunday, and I don't have to tell you that currently the effects of Hurricane Sandy are being felt in the Big Apple in a devastating way, with power still out in much of the city, widespread flooding, an inoperative subway system, a backlog of cancelled flights, and worst of all, thousands of residents stuck where they are without access to food and water.  Not a pretty picture.  Yet I understand that come hell or high water, the New York City Marathon WILL be held anyway in two days, dammit.

If this had been a terrorist attack on the order of 9/11 instead of a natural disaster, do you think anyone would think twice about postponing this race? Yet a hurricane of record monstrosity that directly and physically affected the entire northeastern section of the country is apparently nothing more than an inconvenience, as far as those organizing and promoting the marathon are concerned.  I have a two-part concern here.  One, how can a race participant run down streets in a city past buildings where people are suffering the effects of this storm?  And two, if I were a resident, even one who has had basic services restored and hadn't suffered personal loss, how could I look upon these runners as they pass by with anything less than scorn?

I don't understand New York's Mayor Bloomberg, who didn't even want the President to visit there "post-Sandy" because his presence might well interfere with recovery operations, if only unwittingly.  Yet he gives the go-ahead to this event, which will tie up already scarce resources and distract from efforts to help residents return to more normal, sustaining lives.

I just don't get it.

Bicycling and Running to Work

I have been riding my bicycle the eight miles to work for most of the last few Thursdays, and today was no exception.  So far, the weather has held up with no rainstorms around to drench me (although there have been a couple of close calls).  Today was more pleasant as the temperature was hovering around the 70 degree mark (noontime), a sign of autumn finally asserting its presence.  My renewing of bicycle riding, though, is due more to transportation glitches within my family that necessitate me lending my car out than to any resurgence of my enthusiasm in the activity.  Still, it is kind of fun to do this, although I have a lower back ache today that took away some of my enjoyment.

I always stop off, at around the six-mile mark on my route, at the Panera restaurant located at Archer Road near SW 34th Street.  There I order the same thing each time: coffee (I drink their hazelnut flavored brew), french onion soup, Caesar salad, and a cheese danish.  While I slowly consume my way through all this, I study foreign languages, read, plan things out...and even write an occasional blog article. 

I have entertained, at least in my mind, that is, the idea of running to work instead of bicycling.  I can always take a change of clothes to my workplace locker the night before so that I can freshen up after the run, just before starting work.  It's feasible, but with one potential snag: I haven't run for eight miles at a time in several months, although I feel that I am fully capable of it.  Anyway, there would be rest times built into the run since I'd have to stop and wait for green lights at various busy intersections from time to time...

My October '12 Running Report

Once again we've reached the end of a month and, as usual, here I am with my monthly running report.  I passed my goal of 100 miles/month with a total of 105.69 miles.  I also ran every day in October, bringing my personal record consecutive day running streak now to 184 days.  My longest run was a mere 5.3 miles, while the overwhelming number of runs were between 3 and 4 miles.

The weather, which for most of the month was unseasonably warm and (ugh) humid, took a much more pleasant turn in the last few days.  Today, for example, it was around noontime when I ran, with the temperature just 64 degrees and the humidity a blissful 29%.  Oh, for more of the same!  But alas, I AM in Florida, so most likely we'll go back into some unpleasantly warm weather...

Sandy About to Strike Northeastern U.S.

The massive three-headed storm now collectively known as Sandy is about to slam into the heavily populated northeastern U.S. coast in a few hours.  The storm rivals, even possibly exceeds, the scope of 1993's Storm of the Century that swept up the eastern American seaboard in March of that year.  I'm very concerned about this storm, which will be affecting an area and population that is certain to suffer severe damage, and tragically worse, casualties and possibly even deaths.  But even with just the sweeping and lengthy power outages, life may be very difficult is this massively urban area...

Weekend Sports, Downside and Upside

Being a follower of football and baseball, I had a few big games to keep up with this weekend.  Yesterday the undefeated and favored University of Florida Gators turned the ball over six times to rival Georgia en route to a tough 17-9 loss. Too bad, but they're a good team and should do well for the remainder of the season.   On the plus side, the San Francisco Giants, the team I'm pulling for in this year's baseball World Series, won and gained a 3-0 lead, with only a win to go to sweep their opponent the Detroit Tigers.  Then today came and with it two NFL contests concerning my favorite teams, the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants.

Both teams were involved in contests with divisional rivals... and they won! The Dolphins' 30-9 victory over the New York Jets was more surprising because of their unexpected dominance.  Now Miami is solidly in second place in the AFC with a 4-3 record with good playoff prospects so far.  And the Giants outlasted their rival the Dallas Cowboys in a close game 29-24.  They are leading the NFC East with a 6-2 record.

Finally, the fourth World Series game just ended.  San Francisco's ten-inning win over Detroit gave them a Series sweep.  Whoopee!

I wouldn't be too concerned about the Gators with their loss, even though it may eventually keep them from playing Alabama for the SEC championship.  After all, just avoiding having to play Alabama may have been a desirable result...

Third Debate Raises My Doubts

Having already gone off against the exasperating still-undecided voter after all of this time they could have used to research and get to know the candidates in this 2012 presidential race, I got a taste of my own medicine a couple of days ago when I questioned my own voting decision.  The final debate between Obama and Romney had taken place the night before and I was surfing my radio in the early afternoon before work, searching desperately for SOMETHING decent to listen to.  Finally, I landed on 94.7, which was the frequency of a local low-powered station that offered alternative talk radio programming at that time of day.  In progress was a replay of that final debate, with one alteration. The show had two candidates from minor parties (a third,  the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson had declined) who answered each question after the president and etch-a-sketcher's responses.  They were Jill Stein of the Green Party and Rocky Anderson of the newly-formed Justice Party.  The "debate" wasn't between these two; they could have been each other's running mates for the mutual agreement in their responses, making me wonder why those forming the Justice Party didn't just join and strengthen the longer-established Green Party.

The upshot of it all was that I found myself wholeheartedly agreeing with the alternative candidates, dismayed that they will amass between them probably less than one per cent of the vote.  They both opposed the Affordable Care Act for pandering to insurance companies and overburdening private businesses, instead of the single payer system that I had long preferred.  They both decried the excessive militarism of our foreign policy, noting that the difference between the major two political parties was just a matter of degree.  I liked Stein more and thought that maybe I should just switch my vote over to her.  But then I thought that by doing so, I would be aiding Romney in this close swing state I'm living in.  Noam Chomsky decided to endorse the Green Party candidate, but then again Michael Moore and Howard Dean are enthusiastically supporting Obama's reelection.  So, for a little while I have been experiencing a little of this undecided fog myself, but in the end I think I'll just stick with my original intention.

I liked the ideas I heard on that debate, not by the main speakers but rather by the candidates who were denied nationwide exposure.  Maybe, though, a presidential election isn't the forum for me to express myself by voting for a minor party.  Instead, I can look at how the tea party movement formed and strengthened as a more ideological branch of the Republican Party during the electoral off-season (not that I would have any interest in pursuing their agenda).  Perhaps instead, this is the better way for me to make my beliefs known...

Solar Powered Runner

Last Friday, I tried a predawn morning run, about 3.25 miles around my neighborhood.  I wore a cap with an imbedded flashlight in the visor, which was important because some of the street lighting where I live leaves a lot to be desired.  It was a pleasurable experience.  I could see the stars clearly, even including my favorite, Canopus, which was peaking low above the southern horizon.  Yes, I liked it.  And I felt the same degree of energy I usually have during my late morning runs.  But get this: my final time was about a minute slower than when I run the same distance in the middle of the day, under much warmer conditions.

Then early Sunday evening, as the skies were gradually darkening, I ran the same course.  Once again, I thought I was pacing myself like I usually did and felt energized.  But also once again, my time was slower than usual.  In between and after these two runs, I ran in the middle of the day.  I perspired more and it was less pleasant, but I ran faster nevertheless.  So I wonder...

Does exposure to the sun have some kind of positive effect on my running, making me faster?  Am I a solar-powered runner?  This would seem to run counter to the conventional wisdom, which states that I would be better off under cooler nighttime or twilight conditions.  Of course, indoor treadmill running is away from the sun.  But with that, my pace is set by what I enter on the machine and not by my inner sense of how fast I'm running.

Despite my puzzling slower pace at night, I'd like to do more nighttime runs.  The streets are pretty deserted in my neighborhood between 5 and 6 AM, so if I can just rouse myself up and hit the pavement, I should be able to pull this off...

World Series '12 Set Between Det and SF

Last night the San Francisco Giants did a "number" on the St. Louis Cardinals in their final divisional series game with a 9-0 and a 4-3 series victory, giving them a ticket to the World Series against the Detroit Tigers, who swept the New York Yankees 4-0 with merciless pitching.  Although the Series pairing doesn't evoke memories of earlier times and the geography isn't intriguing, I still look forward to it, especially since the Giants, my "runner-up" favorite in the National League playoffs after the Atlanta Braves were eliminated, made it this far.  Not that I have anything against Detroit, though...

Kinky October Weather

Meteorologically speaking, I can't help but be amused at the computer projections for the predicted trajectory of the current tropical disturbance out in the central Caribbean.  They are all over the place, with the paths taking the storm either over the Bahamas, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, or Central America!  In other words, the forecasters are clueless!  To be fair, this is late October, and the typical, more predictable late summer hurricane tracks tend to break down when the more northern weather begins its autumnal descent into the south.  We've finally been experiencing early morning lows into the 50's, thankfully, and maybe...just maybe...we're done for the year with 90+-degree afternoons.  Still, the wind direction can change suddenly, and the next thing you know, there is a tropical storm knocking at your door...

10/18, 39 Years Ago and Today

October 18, 1973.  Many of my devoted readers probably weren't even born yet then, but to me it represents a "last time": the last time (as well as the first time) I had surgery performed on me while I was under general anesthesia.  On that day, I had an inguinal hernia repaired and recovered quickly.  I was seventeen then, so surgery wasn't that big a deal to me (although it worried the others in my family).  And, amazingly, through the decades that followed, leading to this very moment, the only invasive medical procedures I've undergone have been in the endoscopy/colonoscopy department.  Not even a broken bone to repair.  That's fortunate, but I'm savvy enough to know that I should just count my blessings and not be so self-assured about the future in this regard.  Actually...

Actually, there's a reasonable chance that, sometime during the next few years, I'll have to have some major corrective surgery done on me regarding a birth defect affecting my circulatory system in a potentially critical way.  But then again, maybe I won't ever need it, who knows.  It all depends on regular CT scans of the area in question, as well as my specialist/physician/surgeon's recommendations.

Oh, by the way, on a rather disconcerting note, it was while I was mostly bedridden at the hospital for my surgery and recovery back in '73 that I came to love listening to Led Zeppelin's oft-played masterpiece Stairway to Heaven on a local rock station (the one on 100.7 if memory serves me correctly). I didn't make the morbid connection between the song and my hospitalization until years later, but it was the first Zep song I truly loved...

Debate Nonsense

As I mentioned on October 4, the millions of voters who haven't yet been able to make up their minds who to vote for president and have been waiting for the debates to make their decision are a little scary to me.  After all, every four years I have to place my hopes (often dashed) on these dunderheads to somehow get swayed by some irrelevant side issue and vote for MY candidate.  This year is certainly a classic example of this, with the debate results accounting for ridiculous swings in the public opinion polls.  Romney supposedly won the first debate and Obama the second, while for the Veep post Biden is reported to have laughed Ryan off the stage.  Of course, it all depends on your point of view.  The winner, if he was your candidate, was confident, assertive and humorous.  But if he was the "bad" guy, then he was offensive and lied through his teeth.

The point I'd like to make is that these debates are so contrived and manipulated that it is impossible to gain any measure of the candidates' worth through them.  But with all of the information and exposure for the past several years in the media about Romney and Obama, anyone with half a brain could have figured out by now who they wanted to lead them and the country.  Instead, we're being treated to what amounts to an American Idol/Dance With the Stars-caliber entertainment spectacle, where the audience (through the polls) determines winner and loser.   Oh joy, we still have another debate to go...

The March of Time

Sometimes, during my walk through the day, I stop and reflect on how time seems to be flowing.  In this, my 57th year of life on Earth, it definitely seems to be going a lot faster than during my childhood, when a day was very long and a year seemed an eternity.  That having been said, though, even for 2012 and my advancing age, time seems to be hurtling ahead.  And it's pretty disturbing.

In sheer numerical terms, I look ahead at my future years and see a possibility of living a few more decades...let's throw out thirty years as a feasible scenario (my father is still puttering around with all of his faculties at 86).  That sounds like a lot of time to do and experience things, doesn't it?  But even if I factor out increasing limitations on myself due to physical aging, I still have to deal with the bothersome fact that time is flying by faster and faster.  Those thirty years I see ahead of me are most likely going to come and go in a flash, especially in comparison with my first thirty years. 

I am finding myself lately having to grapple with this accelerating time flow, and the only solution I can offer is to deliberately, consciously seize the present moment and live for now.  No dwelling in the past, be it for pleasant reflection or regret.  And no undue emphasis on the future either; let that take care of itself.  NO, the present moment, which does seem to be the one constant, changing thread throughout my life, is where I will make my home and live.  I can't control the clock or calendar, but I can control where I place my focus.

That doesn't mean that memories and plans don't have their places in my life.  After all, this blog is loaded with them and I'll continue to draw upon them.  But they can't rule me, either...

2012 MLB League Championship Pairings Set

The Major League Baseball playoffs have now whittled the pool of contenders to four teams, and finally we're going to have some best-of-seven series. And lo and behold, the two teams I was rooting for the most in the last round, the New York Yankees in the American League, and the San Francisco Giants in the National, made it to this round.  The Yankees will face Detroit and the Giants the St. Louis Cardinals, by now almost universally recognized as the "cardiac kids" of baseball with their amazing "two-outs and two-strikes in the ninth" heroic comebacks. 

I sure do wish New York can make it to the World Series but I am a bit dismayed that right now their only consistently good starting pitcher is CC Sabathia.  They will need to do better than that to get past the Tigers, whose ace starter Justin Verlander is nearly unhittable...

The only potential World Series pairing that I wouldn't find terribly interesting would be Detroit and San Francisco.  But at this point, it looks more as if the Yankees and Cardinals will be facing off instead.  We'll see...

Avoiding Election Results

I wonder what would happen if, for this year's general election, I went out of my way on Election Day (and possibly beyond) to avoid hearing or reading about the results.  I realize that, ultimately, I would find out one way or another who won this extraordinarily depressing election.  After all, I'll be working that Tuesday night and will be surrounded by colleagues who are intimately concerned about who gets elected, especially in the presidential race.  And if, by some wonder of wonders, I should make it home from work still blissfully ignorant of the results, I have no doubt that my family would be only too happy to fill me in on what I had deliberately been missing.  Of course, I could tell them not to "give it away" and see how long I could then remain uninformed.  This would entail me deliberately avoiding TV, radio, the Internet, newspapers, and even other people out in public...

I've tried this little "Ignore" game two other times in my life, but they both involved football scores, not election results.  The first time was the 1984 Super Bowl (for the '83 season) between the (then) Los Angeles Raiders and the Washington Redskins. I was successful at avoiding the result until the next morning when I inadvertently caught the score on a newspaper in a rack I was passing by on the way to work.  The other was the college national championship game a few years ago between the Florida Gators and the Oklahoma Sooners.  My cheering co-workers gave this one away before the game was even officially over...

Of course, if this year's presidential election goes the way that 2000's did, it won't matter whether or not I avoid seeking the results! 

Rooting for Dolphins' Divisional Rivals in NFL

I was watching the Houston Texans (or is it the Texas Houstons) playing the New York Jets on Monday Night Football.  Normally I'd root against the Jets during the regular season as they are divisional rivals to my Miami Dolphins, but right now there is another "important" factor in play that compelled me to root for them instead.  Every year in the NFL, I go through the process of pulling against any team (other than the Dolphins, of course) that looks like it might go undefeated.  That's because Miami, back in 1972, was the only team to accomplish this feat, winning all of their games in both the regular and post-season.  The scariest moment I've had was New England's near perfect season in 2007, remedied only by the New York Giants' amazing last-minute come-from-behind upset of them in the Super Bowl.  This year only the Atlanta Falcons and the Houston Texans are left, and I want them to lose.  After that happens, they can win the rest of their games, for all I care (except when playing the Dolphins, that is).

Unfortunately, both teams won their games this past weekend and I'll have to put off my annual celebration for at least another week.  What struck me during the Texans/Jets game was how dominant Houston's defensive line was...except when New York (rarely) put in their backup Tim Tebow as quarterback.  Tebow would get in for a play, make a good gain, get everybody excited...and then leave.  After which starter Mark Sanchez would return and get overwhelmed by the Texas pass rush (especially by that incredible J.J. Watt).  And the drive would stall.  Once they were at the Houston goal line after Tebow had a big running gain.  They let him run just one more play, took him out, and the drive then stalled.  I don't get what the Jets coaches are thinking, anyway. Why did they trade for him if they are going to use this relatively expensive player so sparingly?

I recently had another curious situation when I rooted for a team I normally oppose.  This time I pulled for the New England Patriots, another divisional rival of Miami, against my new "unfavorite" team the Denver Broncos, with their Dolphins-rejecting star quarterback Peyton Manning.  Turn down an offer to play for Miami and you incur my wrath, dude.  Plus, I'm not too happy with the way Denver used Tebow last year to lead them into the playoffs and then eagerly dumped him as soon as they signed Manning.  Oh, let's see...so far this season with the great, exalted Peyton Manning as their starting quarterback, the Broncos are 2-3 (.400) while the "untalented" Tebow took them to the divisional title last year with a 7-4 (.637) record as starter, and with essentially the same surrounding personnel.  So I was happy (at least for this past weekend) to see the Patriots knock 'em off. May the "high" and holy Broncos finish DEAD LAST...

Road Birds Win One-Game Baseball Playoffs

After grinding it out for a long, 162-game regular season, two of the wild card baseball teams found themselves suddenly booted out of the playoffs after losing the one and only game they had against their opponent.  The Texas Rangers, last year's American League champion, and the Atlanta Braves, the team in the National League that I was pulling for the most, lost their respective games to the Baltimore Orioles and the St. Louis Cardinals.  So now I am left with trying to decide who to root for on the National side.  I think I'll pick the San Francisco Giants, who begin their series against the Cincinnati Reds today.  And my second choice will be the Washington Nationals, who are still trying for their first World Series appearance going back throughout the franchise's years as the Montreal Expos. They will be playing against last year's Series champs the Cardinals.

On the American side, my New York Yankees are going on strong and will begin their series against those Orioles tomorrow.  Meanwhile, the surprising Oakland Athletics will face off against the Detroit Tigers.  I like the Athletics here.

I am looking at potential World Series match-ups and see a few interesting possibilities:

New York Yankees vs. Cincinnati Reds: rematch of the 1976 Series swept by the Reds.

New York Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants: rematch of the 1962 series won by NY in seven games.  Also, the Giants, formerly in New York, have a Series history against the Yanks.

New York Yankees vs. St. Louis Cardinals: the Cards won an exciting seven-game series in 1964 against the Bronx Bombers, after which the Yanks hired the victors' manager and then went into an instant decline, not returning to the World Series until 1976.

Baltimore Orioles vs. St. Louis Cardinals: battle of the bird teams.

Baltimore Orioles vs. Cincinnati Reds: rematch of the 1971 Series convincingly won by Baltimore in five games.

Baltimore Orioles vs. Washington Nationals: the I-95 Series, just a short drive down this road connects these two cities.

Detroit  Tigers vs. St. Louis Cardinals: rematch of the 1968 Series won by Detroit in seven.

Oakland Athletics vs. Cincinnati Reds: this would be the "rubber" rematch series between the two, with Oakland winning 4-3 in 1972 and Cincy winning 4-0 in 1990.

Oakland Athletics vs. San Francisco Giants: another match-up between two close teams, this time separated by a bay.

The Scariest Voters

Having deliberately avoided the Robamney debate yesterday, I still couldn't avoid the general media reaction, which was that Chameleon Mitt had won hands down, largely by deftly employing his Etch-a-Sketch strategy as he portrayed himself smack dab in the political middle after trying to out-extreme the extremists in his party for years.  (Nausea creeping in on me...)  From what I heard, Obama let him get away with everything he said.

I have long been a little scared at the people in this country who subscribe to politically fringe ideas.  The political left has its extremists, to be sure, but there seems to be an explosion on the right in the number of people walking around with a delusional view of the world.  I credit extremist/right talk radio, a regrettably highly politicized faction of evangelical Christianity, and conservative ultra-wealthy fatcat ideologues with much of this.  And this burgeoning number does scare me some.  But not as much as...

Not as much as the large number of people in our electorate who, after all these years of exposure to Obama and Romney and their views and actions, still haven't made up their minds who to vote for and are using these debates as a tool to accomplish this.  In other words the dude who gets in the most "zingers" gets their vote.  And the history of my country (and, to a great extent, the world) hinges on how millions of these morons decide to vote every four years.  Yes, to paraphrase Michael Corleone at the beginning of The Godfather, "They are very scary people." Al Pacino's character may have been referring to a single, terrifying person in Luca Brasi, but the cumulative effect of these easily swayed, shallow voters can be terrifying as well.  And in case you've haven't yet connected the dots, they are also the reason untold millions of dollars are being spent in this year's campaign, with more and more to come.  Just to persuade these knuckleheads...

The Day We've Been Waiting For

Well, finally, October the Third, 2012, has come, a day that people across this great nation of ours have been waiting for.  Yes, it is today that we can witness....the end of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season (what else would I reasonably be talking about).  Here are the teams that made the playoffs and who's playing whom:

American League
Wild-Card Playoff game (not series!!!): Baltimore at Texas
Then: Baltimore/Texas single game winner vs. New York Yankees (yippee!)
and Detroit vs. Oakland

National League
Wild-Card Playoff game (just one, unbelievable): St.Louis  at (my) Atlanta Braves
Then St.Louis/Atlanta winner vs. Washington
and Cincinnati vs. San Francisco

The wild card playoff games are both being held on Friday, which disappoints me greatly.  Surely, with only one crucial game to decide these worthy teams' playoff futures, they could have at least waited until Saturday to hold them, when more people would have been in a position to watch them.  But I know, it's all about money, and they probably didn't want to compete head-on with college football...

Major League Baseball Regular Season Nearing End

We're nearing the tail end of this 2012 edition of major league baseball, and there are still some positions up in the air for the playoffs.  The New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles are IN, vying between themselves for the AL East championship with the loser being one of the league's two wild card entries.  The AL Central has the Detroit Tigers three games ahead of the Chicago White Sox, with three games left to play and thus on the verge of clinching that division.  In the AL West, the there are still three teams alive: the Texas Rangers, already in the playoffs but not yet champs of that division, the Oakland Athletics, with the inside track to the playoffs as a wild card team (they could clinch a spot with a win later tonight) and a chance to overtake Texas, and the Los Angeles Angels, just barely hanging on to a remote shot at the playoffs.

In the National League, the divisional winners have been decided: Washington Nationals, Cincinnati Reds, and San Francisco Giants.  The Atlanta Braves are also as the best wild card team, leaving the last wild card spot open between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The Cards, last year's World Series champions, have a two game lead over LA with three games to go.  But if they make the playoffs, St. Louis could go the distance once again, in my opinion.

My favorites this year are the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves.  Not only are they my personal favorites, but they are also strong enough to make it to the World Series, for a fourth Series match-up between the Yankees and Braves (the last one being in 1996).  Then again, there are some other intriguing possibilities, which I may examine soon in a future article...

My September 2012 Running Report

September, 2012 saw me continuing to comply with my stated monthly running goals.  I barely surpassed my monthly goal of 100 total running miles with 100.9 miles.  I kept my personal record consecutive running streak going as well, now standing at 153 straight days.  My longest run was a measly 5.0 miles, but that's all right since I am now going for consistency instead of distance on my daily runs.

I had thought of entering two local running races in September, but other matters changed my mind and I let them pass by.  I'm still open to running in some events in October should the opportunity arise.

Hopefully, the cooler autumn weather will make my running more enjoyable.  I generally prefer outdoor running over the treadmill, but the combined heat and humidity has been pretty bad, especially for September.  Maybe we'll get some relief from that.

Hurricane Season Turning Mild...For Now

I just finished a phone conversation with my 86 year old father who lives down in Hollywood, near Miami.  He has been closely following this hurricane season, which started out with a bang but seems to be drastically slowing down...at least on the Atlantic side.  To be sure, they seem to be ticking off at a fast rate (what letter is it now, "N" or "O").  But almost all of the latest ones are purely Atlantic Ocean storms, hardly of any interest to us landlubbers in Florida.  This is in spite of the fact that right now is usually considered to be the most intense time of the season. 

Still, all it takes is for one strong storm to hit us and mess things up.  I don't think we're going to be presented with a hurricane threat, though, until it is later on, say in October, when the tropical storm pattern changes to storms developing in the western Caribbean and moving north into the Gulf of Mexico...

NFL Replacement Officials Offer Entertainment with Incompetence

Since I had last Monday night off from work, I happened to have my TV on ESPN, which was broadcasting the NFL Monday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks.  This was a pretty closely fought contest between two teams that I care little about.  But it was close, and that made the outcome somewhat interesting.  As well as the fact that the replacement referees, whom the league installed while carrying out a drawn-out labor dispute with the "regulars", were utterly incompetent throughout the game.  To me, that was entertainment in itself, much like watching the antics of the Three Stooges.  But I, like most other viewers, was completely unprepared for the game's closing play, a Green Bay pass interception of a desperation last-second Seattle pass that one official ruled as a touchdown, one ruled an interception, and the third in the vicinity just kept a distance from.  Ultimately the offensive receiver, who committed what was to me the most flagrant offensive pass interference penalty I have ever seen, was awarded the reception although the Packer defender was clearly in possession.  So Seattle was awarded the controversial touchdown and, as it turned out, the game as well, 14-12.

After the game, the media pundits were all abuzz about how bad this officiating was.  I agree.  But I remember a game back in 1980 between my Miami Dolphins and New Orleans and a similar scenario, this time with the regular officiating staff performing the duties.  The Dolphins were ahead, I believe, 21-16, but the Saints mounted a furious last-minute comeback. On the game's final play, the Saints quarterback heaved a clear touchdown pass to win the game, touching off celebrations on that side of the field.  But wait, there was a penalty flag and a New Orleans player was called for offensive pass interference.  Replay after replay of this play was shown on TV, with no hint whatsoever of the existence of this apparently phantom penalty. The game thus ended with a dubious Dolphin win.

So this sort of thing happens and is unavoidable.  Still, the replacement officials seem to be totally incapable of the controlling the game and are increasingly coming under the open scorn of both coaches and players alike on the field.  Not that I necessarily want them gone: this IS awfully entertaining, in a slapstick sort of way!

Bicycling to Work Again

Due to some transportation glitches in my family recently (due to good things going on), I found myself for the last two Thursdays with looking for an alternative way to get myself to my workplace besides driving my car there (or being let off by a family member).  The city bus, taxi, maybe asking a co-worker for a lift...these all come up as possibilities.  But instead I opted to return to an old tradition of mine that I had engaged in to a great extent in the late 1980's and early 1990's: I rode my bicycle the 7.8 miles to work.  I knew I would have transportation provided on my return home after work, so it wouldn't be quite as strenuous as the "good old days" when I would bike on a round-trip basis.

Both times I handled the ride quite well, stopping at a Panera's for lunch at about the 6-mile mark.  I'd get myself one of their wonderful hazelnut coffees (free refills) along with either a scrumptious cheese danish or a lunch special comprised of a sandwich, salad and (french onion) soup.  Panera's french onion soup and salad beat all, as does the friendly, helpful demeanor of their workers (at least that's the case in Gainesville's Panera). This may be the start of a new tradition...

This bicycle of mine is typical for me: I paid around $100 for it.  No, I don't plan to go into bicycle racing anytime soon, although I think it would be cool to make it through a triathlon sometime (without bankrupting myself buying an ultra-expensive racing bicycle).  Who knows what the future holds, right?

Bicycling does work out some muscles different than running, and I was a little sore after my rides (especially that first one).  But it surprised me how easily I took some of the rolling hills I encountered on my route, hills that seemed at times almost insurmountable back in years gone by.  So there is definitely an enormous crossover benefit from running to bicycling...

Cybersquatting Getting Old for Me

I'm sitting once again outside a Starbucks writing this.  This one is the closest of their stores to my house, and like most of the others this early Sunday afternoon, is packed to the hilt with "customers".  Most of them, admittedly like me, though, are what my local rag the Gainesville Sun has termed "cypersquatters" in a recent article.  These are people who avail themselves of the free wi-fi offered in coffee shops and pretty much camp out there, sometimes all day and/or all night.  Nothing bad about that except that soon there are no seats left and the circulation of new customers who'd like to sit a spell in the establishment gets stopped up. And explains why I am currently sitting OUTSIDE, at one of the few remaining available tables.  As for me, I almost never use my laptop in these places, rather taking along my portable AlphaSmart word processor, with no need for Internet service.  And although I may be here an hour or a little longer, I don't grow roots into the floor either like many of the others, some of whom I have noticed don't even bother to buy anything during their prolonged stay.

Actually, I have a perfectly good front porch to my house that can closely imitate this effect of sitting out in public.  I don't have to worry about not finding a seat, and I can save gobs of dough by brewing my own (better tasting) coffee.  And I have quick access to both wi-fi and the bathroom should the needs arise.  So what am I doing here at this Starbucks anyway?  Time to change my study locale, I think...

By the way, cybersquatting has a completely different meaning, apart from the Sun's particular application.  Parties who buy up web domain names just to make money selling them to other parties who would naturally be inclined to use them are called "cybersquatters" and are pretty heavily frowned upon.  Yeah, and I bet some of them hog up the space in coffee shops as well!

Assorted Comments Continue

More assorted comments...

--My two favorite football teams from college and the pros, the Florida Gators and Miami Dolphins respectively, surprised me this past weekend with two impressive victories, both highlighted by big plays, ball control, and surging from midway in the third quarter to the game's end.  And both teams have young, relatively inexperienced quarterbacks.  Yes, pretty impressive...

--Oh my gahhh, will this incredibly painful election campaign season EVER be over? I cannot stand watching the news anymore with all of the bull flying around...

--The running is continuing as usual, with me often resorting to creative means to get my daily dose of running in.  And I'm still on target for 100 miles this month, with no break yet in my streak, which stands now at 144 straight running days...

--No, I'm not writing much lately.  But maybe it's better that I draw back a bit instead of writing stuff on a daily basis that I don't have my heart into...

Various Comments

Some more mixed comments...

--The anti-American protests in various Muslim countries, along with their often very violent outcomes, strike me as being, at least to a degree, contrived and premeditated.  Events like these are often based on something that has been in the media or Internet for a while, and one can always find something there to get offended about if there is an agenda involved.  There are forces in some of these countries (like Libya, Yemen, and Egypt) who want political power and see using the United States as a scapegoat as a means of corralling popular support. And of course, there are the allegations in Libya that Al-Qaeda directed the attack on the U.S. consulate that killed our ambassador there...

--Hurricane season, at least for my home area, has turned into a big yawner.  Since I am no longer in grade or high school, I have no vested interest in one of them striking (and getting me out of school).  So I'm not exactly complaining...

--The University of Florida football team travels today to Knoxville, Tennessee to play Tennessee early this evening.  This looks to be a very even match-up between two teams, each of which sees themselves on the rebound after some disappointing seasons.  I have absolutely no idea, though, about how this contest will play itself out, and which Gators team will show up to play.  I'm hoping that what they did in the second half of the Texas A&M game last week will stick with them, as they dominated the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense and ran the clock out with outstanding ball control...

Assorted Short Comments

It's been a little while since I've written on this blog, but I think I'll give it a shot with some short comments on various topics...

--The presidential campaign continues its tedious journey toward the traumatic event (win or lose) on election day when one side claims victory and the other questions the validity of the results, crying foul.  You just know this is coming...

--The University of Florida football team under second-year head coach Will Muschamp has won its first two games, the last one an unexpectedly strong ball-control effort against Texas A&M on the road in the latter's very hostile stadium.  In my personal history of following my favorite teams during their "glory" years, the best teams always had a knack for controlling the ball on offense, and thus the tempo of the game, with long, time-consuming drives.  Being able to consistently get into third-and-short situations and then convert to first down is the hallmark of a true winner.  I'll take that over razzle-dazzle any day...

--I am currently in the process of reading several books at the same time.  They are scattered across my house and in my car.  And some I just read bits of when I stop by a store where they are on the rack.  This is probably not the best strategy in the world for reading, as I have the tendency to forget where I am in a story and what's been going on...

--My running continues as I attempt to reconcile some currently rather turbulent areas in my life with my need for regular routines.  Still, so far I have managed to keep my daily running streak alive, now standing at 133 straight days...

--Today marks the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in this country, and also lies on Tuesday, the same day of the week when they happened.  I wonder, after all this time, how far the rescue technology and procedures have progressed to save those trapped high up in skyscrapers during disasters...

--I was pleasantly surprised a couple of weeks ago when I tuned my radio in to 980/WDVH one evening and discovered they were broadcasting Alan Colmes' radio show.  Finally, at least one liberal radio talk show to stand up against the overwhelming number of conservative shows...

Blog Writing Slows Down for Now

I am currently in a period when I am not very motivated to write blog articles.  Sure, there are probably interesting topics to cover (as well many rather boring ones).  But I am feeling a bit introspective right now, and don't feel up to sharing my thoughts with the world.  We'll see how this plays out, but for now, don't expect very much here.  At least not on a daily basis...

My August 2012 Running Recap

This past month of August saw me continuing with my goals of consistent running over modest distance.  I met my monthly 100-mile target with a total of 109.48 miles.  I ran every day, extending my personal record streak to 123 days.  My longest run was 6 miles.  The running was split between outdoor runs in my neighborhood and the treadmill, depending largely on the weather and time constraints.

I intend to continue with my running goals in September, but, due to personal issues, may have a more difficult time meeting them.  Oh well, I'll do what I can...

Isaac, GOP Convention Stories

In the midst of two major ongoing news stories, namely "Hurricane" Isaac and the Republican National Convention, I find myself at a loss for words about them.  So writing ANYTHING here is a stretch. After all, in this day of almost instant information access, the idea of me using this forum to spew out redundant news makes no sense.  What's left are my opinions, pure and simple. So here goes...

There is no doubt that a storm like Isaac needs to be taken seriously.  But the news outlets, especially the Weather Channel, have gone overboard with their coverage and melodrama.  Isaac may have barely gotten into hurricane status just before striking land, and naturally there is always the damage caused by high winds, storm surge, and rain-induced flooding to take into account.  Not to mention the specter left over from 2005 with the catastrophic flooding caused by broken levees when Katrina passed by New Orleans. Still, the impression I got from the coverage of Isaac is that the media employees were overly anxious to cover a hurricane, and frankly, this year they weren't getting all that much...

As for the Republicans, I have been so dismayed and disgusted by the behavior on the political right against Obama for his entire presidency that it galls me that any of them would expect me to display any kind of respect toward their cardboard candidates should they (very possibly) get elected this November.  I have no desire whatsoever to watch Mitt "Etch-a-Sketch" Romney reframe himself as anything but a wealthy-coddling extremist on social issues after he went out of his way during his run for the GOP nomination to "out-right" his extremely ideological primary opponents.  So now I'm supposed to forget all that and think about the "human" Mitt, right?  I think someone from one of the major TV networks had it right, if unintentionally so, when she said that Anne Romney would have a big task ahead of her on opening night when she addressed the convention and tried to make her husband seem more "human".  Did she succeed?  Not with me, since this party has thoroughly blown any hint of credibility with me and I am boycotting their "rilly big shew". So screw their high and holy convention...
   
Gee, I guess I wasn't at a loss for words, after all.

Isaac Not a Major Disaster

Hurricane Isaac, which had already caused a lot of trouble in Florida earlier, has been sitting on southeastern Louisiana, dumping copious amounts of rain on New Orleans and surrounding areas.  But the levee that broke in 2005 under Katrina have been fortified and are holding strong.  That's not to say there isn't flooding: some areas still went under water.  But the situation is nothing like the scene there seven years ago...

Isaac Bearing Down on New Orleans

As I write this, Tropical Storm Isaac, expected to soon be upgraded to hurricane status, is bearing down on the New Orleans area of Louisiana, threatening to repeat the disaster of seven years ago with Katrina.  To be sure, Isaac will be just a minimal hurricane compared to its much stronger predecessor and the city seems to be undergoing a more orderly evacuation with the goal to avoid having so many trapped in massive flooding in an area that is mostly under sea level.  But forecasts have the storm slowing and even lingering there for a couple of days, dumping an enormous amount of water in the process.  Will the levees hold this time, or will they break once again and cause the city to go underwater? 

In the meantime, the Florida peninsula has been undergoing its own storms, as a huge section of Isaac seemed to separate and hang over the state just as its center turned westward toward Louisiana.  For the last couple of days, we have had copious amounts of rain, with more expected.  Still, the bulk of this stormy area has moved offshore into the Atlantic, sparing us extreme flooding.  South Florida seems to have gotten the worst so far; this is soon to change when the Louisiana coast and adjacent areas suffer Isaac's full onslaught...

70.3

Having completed both the half-marathon and marathon events in running, I feel a sense of connection while out driving when I see, on the back of a vehicle in front of me, a decal with the simple number of "13.1" or "26.2" on it.  For that means that the owner of that vehicle has run one of the two aforementioned distances, expressing their accomplishment, of course, in miles.  So the other day it intrigued me when I was on the road and saw a car with a decal that simply said "70.3".  Well, it took me a very, very short time to figure that this individual was referring to having completed a triathlon event (swimming, bicycling, and running), the total racing distance amounting to 70.3 miles.  H-m-m, maybe that's the Ironman triathlon I've heard so much about.

But after reading up on it in Wikipedia, I found out that I was only partially correct in my conclusion.  "70.3" is an Ironman triathlon, but not the full version.  No, this is an Ironman half-triathlon, with the distances covered breaking down to 1.2 miles of swimming, 56 miles of bicycling, and 13.1 miles of running.  Sounds like something I could build myself up to, after the current medical issue I am facing eventually is satisfactorily resolved.  After all, I have run many, many half-marathons and I could train up to the other two distances.  But a full Ironman triathlon? No way, dude...

By the way, since it is a "half-triathlon", why not get cute and perform some arithmetic on it? Then it would be the three-halves-athlon, or the one-and-one-half-athlon. Oh well...maybe we should just name it like the decal does: "70.3".

Cryptowisdom

Consider this statement:

"The amount of satisfaction you get from life depends largely on your own ingenuity, self-sufficiency, and resourcefulness."

Such was the result of one of the relatively easy cryptograms I recently solved out of a puzzle magazine.  Usually the sentence I get is something silly or irrelevant, but this one give me some food for thought.  And the more I thought about it, the more I had to agree with Mr. Crypto...

It all arises from the need within all healthy human beings to feel that they have control over their own lives.  Having a sense of independence forces people to devise personal strategies for maximizing their opportunities to decide how their own lives are structured.  This doesn't preclude limitations and challenges; in fact, these tend to enhance the enjoyment of finally "solving the puzzle", much in the same way pleasure can come from decoding an especially difficult cryptogram.

Of course, if you are the type who spends much time blaming others, past and present, for your woes, then you probably aren't going to appreciate the above words of cryptowisdom.  I know people who can never let go of the bitterness contained within their memories enough to enjoy the present moment and its challenges and opportunities.  Such people seem to stumble through their lives, continually being "assaulted" by events that just "happen" to them.  I don't want to be like them.

No, instead it's much better to be rooted in the present and focus on thriving in it, like the puzzle says, through ingenuity, self-sufficiency, and resourcefulness.  Sure, sometimes you may need to ask someone for a helping hand, but that should only be seen as using the available resources, not as a personal surrender to passive dependence.