Another month has come and gone, and once again I am happy to report success in my running training. I attained my 100-mile-per-month goal with a total of 109.1 miles. Also, I ran on every day in June, extending my personal record consecutive running day streak to 61. My longest run was 6.2 miles. But the hallmark for this month was my consistency, with distances within the range of 3.3 to 4.3 miles accounting for 24 of the 30 days. And I seem to doing fine with that regimen.
As expected for this time of the year, the weather is definitely turning hotter. Still, I am managing to get my runs in while the temperature is below 90. But in July, that might be problematic, unless I stick with indoor treadmill running or run earlier in the morning when the temperature is lower but the humidity is much, much higher. On the other hand, since I don't plan to attempt outdoor runs longer than five miles, the hot weather shouldn't present much of a problem as long as the air is relatively dry.
I did sign up to run (not race) in the local Melon Run in July 4, so I'll just go out there and treat my participation as a three-mile training run for that day. Who knows, maybe later that afternoon, being off from work, I might run a couple of laps around the block in my home neighborhood as well...
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
ACA Unexpectedly Ruled Constitutional by SCOTUS
As was the case with many other observers, yesterday's United States Supreme Court ruling upholding the 2010 Affordable Care Act, in particular its mandate provision, completely threw me off guard. I expected this Roberts Court, which never sides with the regular guy against the rich and powerful when the latter's financial interests are in play, nevertheless did just that by a 5-4 vote. The four justices on the more liberal side (Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagen) went for upholding the law while three of the predictably hard-rock right-wing pro-business justices (Scalia, Thomas, and Alito) were for striking it down. This left Chief Justice John Roberts, expected all along to side with his arch-conservative colleagues, and the "wild-card" perennially deciding vote, Justice Anthony Kennedy. I saw no reason for Kennedy to change his pro-big-business ways on this case, and I had given up on Roberts long ago as just a "robe" rubberstamping everything Scalia said. So no, I didn't think the ACA had a snowball's chance in hell of not being ruled unconstitutional by the court because of its mandated coverage provision. And it turns out I was completely right about Kennedy. But Roberts' vote? That's what astonished me (and many others).
John Roberts, like the court's conservative wing, dismissed the claim that Congress had the constitutional right to pass the mandate due to the Commerce Clause. Frankly, I agreed with him about his skepticism of the argument that an individual not buying something was an act of interstate commerce and thus gave an opening for the federal government to impose the mandate to purchase health insurance. Instead, Roberts broke with his right-wing colleagues by holding that the mandate was constitutionally valid rather as a tax, implicitly upholding it (and thus the core of the law).
Suddenly, Chief Justice Roberts has become the unexpected star of this "show". I had been very disappointed in him for his first few years on the high bench as he appeared to be towing a very biased ideological line. But with this decision, he seems to be returning to what he stated during his confirmation hearing when he used a baseball analogy to describe the appropriate role of the Court: the Supreme Court isn't supposed to be a player. Instead its proper role is akin to that of an umpire, calling balls and strikes. He did a pretty good job of umpiring with this case, although I still think he has some work to do with his political impartiality...
My objection to the mandated insurance clause of the bill was that by simply being alive, one became obligated by law to purchase private health insurance. That didn't sound constitutional or democratic to me, but rather fascist. I still have problems with it, but I also understand that simply raising taxes to pay for the program instead of this mandate (the fine for a violation thereof is a de facto tax anyway, according to the Chief Justice) would never have passed Congress. So we're left with this law, which is at least a less-than-ideal improvement over the previous situation...
John Roberts, like the court's conservative wing, dismissed the claim that Congress had the constitutional right to pass the mandate due to the Commerce Clause. Frankly, I agreed with him about his skepticism of the argument that an individual not buying something was an act of interstate commerce and thus gave an opening for the federal government to impose the mandate to purchase health insurance. Instead, Roberts broke with his right-wing colleagues by holding that the mandate was constitutionally valid rather as a tax, implicitly upholding it (and thus the core of the law).
Suddenly, Chief Justice Roberts has become the unexpected star of this "show". I had been very disappointed in him for his first few years on the high bench as he appeared to be towing a very biased ideological line. But with this decision, he seems to be returning to what he stated during his confirmation hearing when he used a baseball analogy to describe the appropriate role of the Court: the Supreme Court isn't supposed to be a player. Instead its proper role is akin to that of an umpire, calling balls and strikes. He did a pretty good job of umpiring with this case, although I still think he has some work to do with his political impartiality...
My objection to the mandated insurance clause of the bill was that by simply being alive, one became obligated by law to purchase private health insurance. That didn't sound constitutional or democratic to me, but rather fascist. I still have problems with it, but I also understand that simply raising taxes to pay for the program instead of this mandate (the fine for a violation thereof is a de facto tax anyway, according to the Chief Justice) would never have passed Congress. So we're left with this law, which is at least a less-than-ideal improvement over the previous situation...
Thursday, June 28, 2012
कल: A Suspicious Word
In studying some Hindi recently, I came across an intriguing word: कल (kal),
which translates into either "yesterday" or "tomorrow" depending on
its context. Initially, I thought that this was pretty strange that a
word could essentially mean its own opposite according its usage. Then,
this morning I looked at the header for an article in the local section
of my newspaper The Gainesville Sun: "Suspicious pawn shop owner foiled
theft, officials say." Well, it wasn't quite 6 AM when I glanced at
this, so naturally I read it wrong in my bleary-eyed sleepiness. After
all, I tend to, justified or not, associate the idea of "pawn shop
owners" with "suspicious people", i.e. people meriting suspicion from
others. But no, the news here was that the owner was suspicious of
someone else and foiled a theft.
"Suspicious", like कल, is one of those words whose context can drastically change its meaning. In Hindi, one needs to either read the appropriate verb tense form to determine whether "yesterday" or "tomorrow" is indicated or get a sense of the intended meaning from the surrounding text. Likewise, I'm "suspicious" that something very similar holds true for my English example. But I am a native speaker of English and still have a problem with "suspicious" and its ambiguity. I wonder if native Hindi speakers feel the same about कल...
"Suspicious", like कल, is one of those words whose context can drastically change its meaning. In Hindi, one needs to either read the appropriate verb tense form to determine whether "yesterday" or "tomorrow" is indicated or get a sense of the intended meaning from the surrounding text. Likewise, I'm "suspicious" that something very similar holds true for my English example. But I am a native speaker of English and still have a problem with "suspicious" and its ambiguity. I wonder if native Hindi speakers feel the same about कल...
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Debby Lingers, Drops Load of Rain Over Area
I did not anticipate this current tropical storm, Debby, hanging around and dumping so much rain. In fact, the expert meteorologists didn't either, blowing one forecast for its trajectory and movement after another. First it was predicted to veer westward and eventually hit Texas around Houston. Then that model was scrubbed in favor of the idea that it would move north into Georgia and merge with a frontal system, speeding up in the process. Instead, though, the damned thing just stayed stationary for about three days, dumping flood-level rains over the panhandle...and my Gainesville. But...
Apparently, we have been spared catastrophic flooding around Gainesville by dint of another previously developing problem: chronic drought, which had pretty much parched our ground dry. Yes, there is a lot of standing water around right now as it keeps on and on with the rain. But I look at a nearby drainage ditch and see its water level far below what I've seen on many other occasions when the rainfall was more consistent, if not as intense, over the span of weeks. So the soil has a long, long, way to go before it's saturated. In fact, I have a prediction...
I predict that, before August rolls around, they'll be lamenting the drought we're back in, probably accompanied by scattered brush fires sending noxious smoky haze over us. Why can't we instead have a "normal" summer? Seems like, if memory serves me correctly, we did have one back in 2003...
Apparently, we have been spared catastrophic flooding around Gainesville by dint of another previously developing problem: chronic drought, which had pretty much parched our ground dry. Yes, there is a lot of standing water around right now as it keeps on and on with the rain. But I look at a nearby drainage ditch and see its water level far below what I've seen on many other occasions when the rainfall was more consistent, if not as intense, over the span of weeks. So the soil has a long, long, way to go before it's saturated. In fact, I have a prediction...
I predict that, before August rolls around, they'll be lamenting the drought we're back in, probably accompanied by scattered brush fires sending noxious smoky haze over us. Why can't we instead have a "normal" summer? Seems like, if memory serves me correctly, we did have one back in 2003...
Monday, June 25, 2012
Baseball Sheds Other Sports' Distractions
Well, suddenly I find myself without basketball, and so baseball has finely shed the distractions of other sports and I can now concentrate on it. But not as far as ESPN is concerned, for I know better about how they run their shows...
The obsessive, often hysterical commentators on that channel can't get enough of talking about LeBron James right now. One was visibly ANGRY that Miami had won the championship and that the evil James had his moment of glory. After the interest in this topic begins to fade, I have no doubt that the talking head-cases on ESPN will get back to the sport at hand, as far as they are concerned: razzing Tim Tebow and in the course of doing so, complaining that everyone is talking about such an untalented backup quarterback. But I think I have one way to filter out at least some of this crap...
If an ESPN "talk" show features people sitting around a behind a counter, then although the discussion may be at times unbearable, there at least stands the chance of someone coming out with something interesting that reflects professional journalism. On the other hand, if there is no special guest present and they are just sitting back in their comfy cushiony chairs, I say quick, change channels! All you will get from this type of forum is a lot of garbage.
But I just want to follow baseball right now. It is strange to see the Phillies struggling in the National League East while the erstwhile cellar-dwelling Nationals are setting that division on fire with their incredible pitching rotation. I like how my Yankees are doing, especially how they are able to compensate as well as they have for the absence of their legendary-but-injured relief closer Mairano Rivera. But although New York is out in front of the American League East, that division is very tight from top to bottom.
I guess we're getting closer and closer to the All-Star game, something about which I care next to nothing. As a matter of fact, to be perfectly honest about it, I don't really care all that much about the standings and how "my" teams are going, even the Yankees. For my interest in this game is more on the situational level, with me in from of my TV watching the pitcher face the batter in the context of that particular inning. Not even the overall score of the game at hand compares to that, as far as I am concerned...
The obsessive, often hysterical commentators on that channel can't get enough of talking about LeBron James right now. One was visibly ANGRY that Miami had won the championship and that the evil James had his moment of glory. After the interest in this topic begins to fade, I have no doubt that the talking head-cases on ESPN will get back to the sport at hand, as far as they are concerned: razzing Tim Tebow and in the course of doing so, complaining that everyone is talking about such an untalented backup quarterback. But I think I have one way to filter out at least some of this crap...
If an ESPN "talk" show features people sitting around a behind a counter, then although the discussion may be at times unbearable, there at least stands the chance of someone coming out with something interesting that reflects professional journalism. On the other hand, if there is no special guest present and they are just sitting back in their comfy cushiony chairs, I say quick, change channels! All you will get from this type of forum is a lot of garbage.
But I just want to follow baseball right now. It is strange to see the Phillies struggling in the National League East while the erstwhile cellar-dwelling Nationals are setting that division on fire with their incredible pitching rotation. I like how my Yankees are doing, especially how they are able to compensate as well as they have for the absence of their legendary-but-injured relief closer Mairano Rivera. But although New York is out in front of the American League East, that division is very tight from top to bottom.
I guess we're getting closer and closer to the All-Star game, something about which I care next to nothing. As a matter of fact, to be perfectly honest about it, I don't really care all that much about the standings and how "my" teams are going, even the Yankees. For my interest in this game is more on the situational level, with me in from of my TV watching the pitcher face the batter in the context of that particular inning. Not even the overall score of the game at hand compares to that, as far as I am concerned...
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Tropical Storm Debby Soaking My Area
Right now I am sitting huddled in my living room, avoiding the continuous heavy rains outside. Tropical Storm Debby, currently centered in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico just west of north central Florida, is one of those asymmetrical systems whose most intense bands of rain are on one side. Florida's side, with almost the entire state under water right now. The Tampa-St. Petersburg area is now getting the worst band, but I'm afraid this one is headed our way.
Originally, the computer models most favored by the meteorologists indicated that Debby would slowly move westward and eventually hit Texas around Houston. But now another set of models shows it instead moving into Florida. Slowly. With lots and lots and lots of heavy rain. So today and tomorrow that's what we will get. And that's O.K., but I would have preferred this not to be happening on my days off from work!
Originally, the computer models most favored by the meteorologists indicated that Debby would slowly move westward and eventually hit Texas around Houston. But now another set of models shows it instead moving into Florida. Slowly. With lots and lots and lots of heavy rain. So today and tomorrow that's what we will get. And that's O.K., but I would have preferred this not to be happening on my days off from work!
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Congrats to Heat, Help Sonics Find Way Back Home
The Miami Heat won their NBA championship playoff series against the Seattle Supersonics by handily defeating their opponents in the fifth game 121-106. It was a great team effort, with the bench being a big factor in the victory. Much is being made of the fact that LeBron James finally won a championship. That must be an awful burden to place on someone: you'd better win it all or you're a loser (and if you do win we'll hate you anyway). But that was the same kind of label that Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki was saddled with until his team won the championship last year. I couldn't care less that James left Cleveland for Miami, or that the Heat were an assembled, artificial team. Well, if they were, than so were the Boston Celtics a few years earlier. But I didn't hear the negative outcry against them for this that has been so vehemently directed against Miami. Last year I rooted against Miami because I was tired of LeBron James giving up in the middle of games and showing poor sportsmanship toward opposing teams. He has certainly come a long way and matured a great deal. I wish him only the best.
As for the Supersonics, it is a shame that they lost their way and got stuck playing in a place like Oklahoma. I'll be happy to help them find their way back home, though, with my Google Maps feature. But even if they just go west until they run into the Pacific Ocean, and then turn right and keep going in a generally northward direction hugging the coast, they're bound to run into western Washington state. And I bet the good folks up there would then be only too glad to guide their returning hoops heroes back home to Coffeetown...
As for the Supersonics, it is a shame that they lost their way and got stuck playing in a place like Oklahoma. I'll be happy to help them find their way back home, though, with my Google Maps feature. But even if they just go west until they run into the Pacific Ocean, and then turn right and keep going in a generally northward direction hugging the coast, they're bound to run into western Washington state. And I bet the good folks up there would then be only too glad to guide their returning hoops heroes back home to Coffeetown...
Friday, June 22, 2012
My Travels Few and Far Between
I have written before on this blog that I have a tendency to be a homebody, seldom traveling. That doesn't mean that I dislike travel, though. But I tend to regard my "voyages" as adventures akin to the mythical Sinbad's, when he would tire of his mundane, humdrum life in Baghdad and then do set out on an adventure. Naturally, my adventures probably haven't been as dangerous as those of this fictional character, but then again I don't think Sinbad ever rode the Interstate down a curving, steep mountain gorge in the middle of a driving storm at night or ran down the beach in the middle of a severe lightning storm with bolts crashing down all around. Well, we all have our own little personal "danger" memories, don't we? Well, at least those of us do who survived them, I suppose...
It's nice to go someplace interesting every now and then, and of course visiting relatives (who from my experience almost never live anywhere interesting) is always on the agenda of things to try to get around doing (occasionally). But all things said, I usually would just as soon stay at home.
The late legendary science fiction writer Clifford Simak wrote a short story, one of my all-time favorites, about this tendency on the part of people like me to avoid travel. Titled The Huddling Place, the story's setting is a future where people can surround themselves with all of the creature comforts and necessities they could use without ever leaving their home estates, making extensive use of automation, environmental controls, and robots. The Huddling Place had one of the most significant and sobering endings that I have ever read, and its lesson has never left me. Instead, it has prodded me to try to resist this instinctive tendency of mine to stay put, at home, and in the "security" of my routine day-to-day existence (not that I have to concern myself with fending off any presumptuous robots, at least not yet). Try to read Simak's tale if you can find it somehow.
I have been a Florida resident since 1957. I have never been abroad. The furthest west I have been was Dallas, Texas in 1994 (retracing JFK's assassination route) and the furthest north was in Manhattan's Central Park just north of the Metropolitan Museum of Art a couple of years ago. I have flown on planes on two different trips. In my lifetime (well, maybe once I was on a plane in infancy, but forgive me for not remembering). As far as the states in which I have ever been (on the ground), here they are: Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. Thirteen states in 55 years: that's it, and with the last one on the list I was there only for a few months during infancy and remember nothing. Not that I'm complaining ...
It's nice to go someplace interesting every now and then, and of course visiting relatives (who from my experience almost never live anywhere interesting) is always on the agenda of things to try to get around doing (occasionally). But all things said, I usually would just as soon stay at home.
The late legendary science fiction writer Clifford Simak wrote a short story, one of my all-time favorites, about this tendency on the part of people like me to avoid travel. Titled The Huddling Place, the story's setting is a future where people can surround themselves with all of the creature comforts and necessities they could use without ever leaving their home estates, making extensive use of automation, environmental controls, and robots. The Huddling Place had one of the most significant and sobering endings that I have ever read, and its lesson has never left me. Instead, it has prodded me to try to resist this instinctive tendency of mine to stay put, at home, and in the "security" of my routine day-to-day existence (not that I have to concern myself with fending off any presumptuous robots, at least not yet). Try to read Simak's tale if you can find it somehow.
I have been a Florida resident since 1957. I have never been abroad. The furthest west I have been was Dallas, Texas in 1994 (retracing JFK's assassination route) and the furthest north was in Manhattan's Central Park just north of the Metropolitan Museum of Art a couple of years ago. I have flown on planes on two different trips. In my lifetime (well, maybe once I was on a plane in infancy, but forgive me for not remembering). As far as the states in which I have ever been (on the ground), here they are: Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. Thirteen states in 55 years: that's it, and with the last one on the list I was there only for a few months during infancy and remember nothing. Not that I'm complaining ...
Thursday, June 21, 2012
A Very Generalized Lesson
A long time ago, I wrote an article about bully coaches, in particular adults who seem to get off on browbeating and humiliating little children in the setting of organized sports. I can now expand that category to driver's education, as I have discovered some apparently sick individuals are "instructors". One student inevitably hits one of the countless orange cones lined around the very demanding driving course as obstacles and one of these types, riding on a bicycle, chases after the young teenage driver, yelling at her, "You're dragging around a child!" How utterly tasteless and mean to say that, when the young students are trying their hardest to develop the motor and coordination skills needed to become safe and courteous drivers. Another bully instructor, when a student notifies him that she hasn't had the opportunity that others have been given to practice some of the more difficult elements of the course that she would soon be tested and graded on, decides to ridicule her for being upset in front of the whole class, eliciting derisive laughter from other students. Or how about sticking a couple of instructors-in-training together in the back seat of a training car and let them take turns almost constantly yelling at a poor student driver to do this and not do that...
I am very, very disappointed at what I am hearing about the unprofessional, overly aggressive and even cruel behavior on the part of paid workers who are supposed to be teaching our children how to drive, at least in this backwoods town of mine with its pathetic pretensions of academic and cultural sophistication. I wonder how in the world anyone in these classes will learn the crucial values of courtesy and respect toward others while behind the wheel. And then I look around me on the road at the epidemic rudeness coming from other drivers and realize that perhaps I am picking on these instructors too much. Maybe instead, they just represent a random sample from the general population regarding their (lack of) character and I should finally just cut to the chase and admit it to myself: these people, these bullies, are thickly spread throughout the population. But there ARE some awfully nice people, thankfully...
I am very, very disappointed at what I am hearing about the unprofessional, overly aggressive and even cruel behavior on the part of paid workers who are supposed to be teaching our children how to drive, at least in this backwoods town of mine with its pathetic pretensions of academic and cultural sophistication. I wonder how in the world anyone in these classes will learn the crucial values of courtesy and respect toward others while behind the wheel. And then I look around me on the road at the epidemic rudeness coming from other drivers and realize that perhaps I am picking on these instructors too much. Maybe instead, they just represent a random sample from the general population regarding their (lack of) character and I should finally just cut to the chase and admit it to myself: these people, these bullies, are thickly spread throughout the population. But there ARE some awfully nice people, thankfully...
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Happy, Scary Moments in Heat/Sonics Game
Last night I was watching the close of the fourth game in the NBA championship series between the Miami Heat and the Seattle Supersonics. After Game #1, curiously played in wild, wacky, and okie-hokey Oklahoma City, of all the places you'd expect to see a national-level game (the goofball fans there all dress alike, even more than in slightly less goofy Miami), it looked as if the Sonics would decimate the Heat. But in the last three games, Miami has turned the tables around with three close victories to take a three to one series lead, with only one more win needed to secure the title. But last night's Heat win didn't come without a heart-stopping moment for its fans.
Miami and Seattle were tied at 94 with only a couple of minutes left in regulation. It looked as if the game could go either way. Then Miami's superstar franchise forward LeBron James began to seriously limp around the court, and he was clearly in pain. Oh-no, would this be another Derrick Rose moment when one team's indispensable player would go out with a season-ending injury, dooming their chances? James initially played it brave and tried to play on, even hitting a monster clutch three-point shot to put them ahead for good 97-94. But finally he had to leave the game, putting the Heat's fate into the hands of his teammates. Led by Dwyane Wade, the rest of the Heat took the challenge to the Supersonics as they took control at the end of the game and won 104-98.
The series isn't over, and the injury suffered by LeBron James apparently wasn't an injury after all, but rather leg cramps. James vowed to keep himself rehydrated from here on as a precaution against this known recurring problem of his returning. Well, dude, why haven't you been doing this all along? Even a pseudo/pretend athlete like me carries along a bottle of Gatorade while I run...
And yes, I think I'll just continue with my happy delusion about Seattle still having their NBA team. Somehow I could picture myself visiting there one day, getting a cup of java at some streetside cafe, and then slipping in to see a good Sonics game. On the other hand I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to ever set foot in the usurping, politically hyper-reactionary state of Oklahoma, much less its capital city. They say that the Miami Heat is such an unpopular franchise these days that only those living around South Florida are rooting for them to win this championship series. Oh, and those in the Seattle area, too: apparently, they aren't quite as able as I am to revel in self-delusion...
...and how about those spunky Seattle Pilots winning baseball's National League Central Division last year?!
Miami and Seattle were tied at 94 with only a couple of minutes left in regulation. It looked as if the game could go either way. Then Miami's superstar franchise forward LeBron James began to seriously limp around the court, and he was clearly in pain. Oh-no, would this be another Derrick Rose moment when one team's indispensable player would go out with a season-ending injury, dooming their chances? James initially played it brave and tried to play on, even hitting a monster clutch three-point shot to put them ahead for good 97-94. But finally he had to leave the game, putting the Heat's fate into the hands of his teammates. Led by Dwyane Wade, the rest of the Heat took the challenge to the Supersonics as they took control at the end of the game and won 104-98.
The series isn't over, and the injury suffered by LeBron James apparently wasn't an injury after all, but rather leg cramps. James vowed to keep himself rehydrated from here on as a precaution against this known recurring problem of his returning. Well, dude, why haven't you been doing this all along? Even a pseudo/pretend athlete like me carries along a bottle of Gatorade while I run...
And yes, I think I'll just continue with my happy delusion about Seattle still having their NBA team. Somehow I could picture myself visiting there one day, getting a cup of java at some streetside cafe, and then slipping in to see a good Sonics game. On the other hand I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to ever set foot in the usurping, politically hyper-reactionary state of Oklahoma, much less its capital city. They say that the Miami Heat is such an unpopular franchise these days that only those living around South Florida are rooting for them to win this championship series. Oh, and those in the Seattle area, too: apparently, they aren't quite as able as I am to revel in self-delusion...
...and how about those spunky Seattle Pilots winning baseball's National League Central Division last year?!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Upcoming Running Race in Gainesville
Well, it's been a while since I ran in a public running race. Actually, it's pretty easy to tell how long it's been: my last race, the DeLeon Springs Half-Marathon, took place this past New Year's Day! So we're talking six months, although I have still been filling that time up with 100 mile/month training runs, including my current personal record streak of 50 straight days of running. Still, a little social context might do me well. So...
The Melon Run, taking place on Wednesday, July 4 and presented by the Florida Track Club, may be just the hot summer running event for me. It is a 5 kilometer race, but should I enter it, I won't be doing any racing. No, I just want to hang out for a little while with some others who share this interest while performing a training run at my usual training pace.
I ran in this race two years ago and was a little disappointed. But this time around, my priorities have changed and it should be a fun experience. I know one thing: I won't be lingering around the place for the "awards" ceremony, which largely consists of volunteers unloading watermelons from the back of a truck and handing them over to top finishers in the various age/sex categories. And if they screw up the finishing times like they did last time, then so be it: like I said, my priorities have changed...
The race course is very familiar to me: the starting and finishing point is Westside Park, with much of the run taking place east of it, going down sidewalks on 8th and 16th Avenues and connecting them on a trail through Loblolly Woods Park (North).
Registration for this race doesn't close until June 30, so I have a little time to mull over my participation. If I sign up, though, I think I'll forgo the cotton tee shirt, which I will probably never wear and represents $10 tacked on to the basic registration fee.
The Melon Run, taking place on Wednesday, July 4 and presented by the Florida Track Club, may be just the hot summer running event for me. It is a 5 kilometer race, but should I enter it, I won't be doing any racing. No, I just want to hang out for a little while with some others who share this interest while performing a training run at my usual training pace.
I ran in this race two years ago and was a little disappointed. But this time around, my priorities have changed and it should be a fun experience. I know one thing: I won't be lingering around the place for the "awards" ceremony, which largely consists of volunteers unloading watermelons from the back of a truck and handing them over to top finishers in the various age/sex categories. And if they screw up the finishing times like they did last time, then so be it: like I said, my priorities have changed...
The race course is very familiar to me: the starting and finishing point is Westside Park, with much of the run taking place east of it, going down sidewalks on 8th and 16th Avenues and connecting them on a trail through Loblolly Woods Park (North).
Registration for this race doesn't close until June 30, so I have a little time to mull over my participation. If I sign up, though, I think I'll forgo the cotton tee shirt, which I will probably never wear and represents $10 tacked on to the basic registration fee.
Monday, June 18, 2012
My President
Since I have been eligible to vote, I have voted in eight of the past nine presidential elections. In four of the eight, my choice won; in four he lost. The election I missed saw the candidate I was leaning toward winning. But get this: win or lose, I always carried the attitude that the individual holding that high office was MY president. Now this doesn't mean that I agreed with his decisions; often, much too often I found myself shaking my head in disbelief, readying myself to support someone else with a more agreeable political philosophy in the next election. On three different occasions, I supported a candidate's initial election to the presidency and voted against him for reelection (all three times unsuccessfully). So I have not been ideologically monolithic, instead going back and forth from one party to the other. I suppose this might imply that I am a centrist, or a political moderate. This tends to bear out in conversations I have with liberals who say I am conservative, or with conservatives who say I am liberal. But that doesn't mean that I am devoid of strong opinions on the issues. I just believe that some of the ideologically-based positions on them tend to be short-sighted and lacking a sense of the greater needs of the nation and its people.
Each and every president in my memory has been MY president. Unfortunately, the trend increasingly seems to take presidents one opposes and regard them as not legitimately belonging in office. According to this type of narrative, depending on your perspective, Bush stole the 2000 and 2004 elections and Obama wasn't really born in the good old United States of America, so he wasn't really elected in 2008 (in some people's universes). So instead of having a leader one recognizes as the leader, whether for better or for worse, we're left with a much lower discussion of whether the individual is really legally president.
We desperately need to get away from this destructive way of thinking if we are going to survive as a viable, civil democracy in the future. Barack Obama is my president, and he's yours, too, if you are an American. It matters not how conservative or liberal you are, or whether or not Mr. Obama has said or done (or been alleged to have said or done) something that offended you. He is your president. Mitt Romney isn't exactly my first choice for the presidency. But should he win the election this November, guess what? He's gonna be MY president!
Each and every president in my memory has been MY president. Unfortunately, the trend increasingly seems to take presidents one opposes and regard them as not legitimately belonging in office. According to this type of narrative, depending on your perspective, Bush stole the 2000 and 2004 elections and Obama wasn't really born in the good old United States of America, so he wasn't really elected in 2008 (in some people's universes). So instead of having a leader one recognizes as the leader, whether for better or for worse, we're left with a much lower discussion of whether the individual is really legally president.
We desperately need to get away from this destructive way of thinking if we are going to survive as a viable, civil democracy in the future. Barack Obama is my president, and he's yours, too, if you are an American. It matters not how conservative or liberal you are, or whether or not Mr. Obama has said or done (or been alleged to have said or done) something that offended you. He is your president. Mitt Romney isn't exactly my first choice for the presidency. But should he win the election this November, guess what? He's gonna be MY president!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Basketball and Bond Tonight
I was enjoying the Miami Heat-Oklahoma City Thunder NBA Championship Series game tonight when, during one of the endless commercials, I checked out what was going on elsewhere on my TV set. And lo and behold, the BBC America channel was airing a James Bond marathon, specifically a Pierce Brosnan James Bond marathon. When the game was over, I switched channels and enjoyed Goldeneye (and am still doing so). The next movie will be Die Another Day. Ah, the joy of these holiday marathons. Well, it IS a holiday in a manner of speaking...
Saturday, June 16, 2012
What Are They Looking At?
I don't often have the occasion to pass through the University of Florida campus around twilight. That's just how my life is structured: it seems to be somehow designed for me to avoid UF, although I am always passing by it on one side or the other, on the way to somewhere else. The only recent exceptions to this have been the unavoidable doctor and medical examination appointments I've had at Shands Hospital, an incredibly huge, sprawling, and fast-growing complex dominating the south side of the campus. But then again, Shands is so separated from the rest of the University that I tend to think of it as a completely separate entity.
Tonight I happened to get off a little early from work and decided NOT to pass right by UF, but instead turn into campus and get a sense of what's going on there. I drove from the west past Lake Alice on Museum Road and veered around a curve to the right, toward the main heart of the campus. Suddenly, to my left I noticed a crowd of people congregating at a fence, looking inward at what appeared to be an empty field. So what was the show? I didn't see any sign of a sports game going on. Anyway, the student recreational complex was further back, south of me. This crowd was intently watching something completely different. I was flummoxed about the source of their interest. Then, just as I had almost completely passed the field, I saw it. Something that I remember from pictures. Bat towers were situated back in the field. The spectators were obviously waiting for the bats to come out and join the night!
I can't recall seeing any bats in the wild around Gainesville myself, but my daughter has seen them flying around my own neighborhood, which is in far northern Gainesville, quite distant from the University of Florida and these towers. I am very happy to know that we have a thriving bat population around us, if for just one reason: they help curb the horrendous onslaught of mosquitoes this time of year by feasting on them!
Maybe I should set aside some time to watch the bats myself at UF. It's funny to me, though, how the towers are just right out there by the street, for anyone to see. I would have thought that they would have been placed in a more secluded spot, if only for the sake of the bats themselves. Shows how little I know about bats, I suppose...
Tonight I happened to get off a little early from work and decided NOT to pass right by UF, but instead turn into campus and get a sense of what's going on there. I drove from the west past Lake Alice on Museum Road and veered around a curve to the right, toward the main heart of the campus. Suddenly, to my left I noticed a crowd of people congregating at a fence, looking inward at what appeared to be an empty field. So what was the show? I didn't see any sign of a sports game going on. Anyway, the student recreational complex was further back, south of me. This crowd was intently watching something completely different. I was flummoxed about the source of their interest. Then, just as I had almost completely passed the field, I saw it. Something that I remember from pictures. Bat towers were situated back in the field. The spectators were obviously waiting for the bats to come out and join the night!
I can't recall seeing any bats in the wild around Gainesville myself, but my daughter has seen them flying around my own neighborhood, which is in far northern Gainesville, quite distant from the University of Florida and these towers. I am very happy to know that we have a thriving bat population around us, if for just one reason: they help curb the horrendous onslaught of mosquitoes this time of year by feasting on them!
Maybe I should set aside some time to watch the bats myself at UF. It's funny to me, though, how the towers are just right out there by the street, for anyone to see. I would have thought that they would have been placed in a more secluded spot, if only for the sake of the bats themselves. Shows how little I know about bats, I suppose...
Friday, June 15, 2012
My Running Pace Increasingly Consistent
I have had some interesting experiences lately with my running and pacing. A few days ago I ran my currently "regular" 3.34 mile course around my neighborhood at a good, steady pace and finished with a time of 29:05. Then this past Monday I ran it again, with a time of... 29:05. The next day I repeated the performance, down to the second. On none of these days was I trying to make the finishing times the same. The weather was different during each of them, not to mention how I was physically feeling. It's just that I have apparently developed a very keen, consistent pacing instinct. However...
Wednesday I ran it again, finishing off two seconds at 29:03. And then yesterday I was even faster at 28:58. So it's not always the same. Today was different in that I ran a modified 3.83 mile course.
Consistency is more important of a factor in my running to me than fast times, so I take my training results as a very positive indicator of my progress. I am at the halfway point of the month of June and am on pace to once again surpass the 100-mile mark, having amassed 54.55 miles so far, while running every day (my streak now stands at 46 straight days of running). I have been able to keep my total mileage up mainly by running reasonable distances consistently, not by setting any personal distance records. I think I'm on the right track with this strategy...
Wednesday I ran it again, finishing off two seconds at 29:03. And then yesterday I was even faster at 28:58. So it's not always the same. Today was different in that I ran a modified 3.83 mile course.
Consistency is more important of a factor in my running to me than fast times, so I take my training results as a very positive indicator of my progress. I am at the halfway point of the month of June and am on pace to once again surpass the 100-mile mark, having amassed 54.55 miles so far, while running every day (my streak now stands at 46 straight days of running). I have been able to keep my total mileage up mainly by running reasonable distances consistently, not by setting any personal distance records. I think I'm on the right track with this strategy...
Thursday, June 14, 2012
My Math Prowess Slipping
When I was younger (I am 55 now), I was considered to have a high aptitude in mathematics. Apparently, although I underachieved in math classes throughout high school, my "prowess" in this area only increased, since the mathematics component of my SAT scores (I took the test twice in order to increase my verbal score) were 780 and a perfect 800. And in college I went a pretty substantial way into a deeper level of mathematical instruction as well. So imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when I got on the SAT math practice questions website and got stumped, question after question. On the other hand, I was trying to answer them by working out the problems in my head!
Besides elementary-school-level arithmetic, the overwhelming majority of the population has very little use for even middle-school-level mathematics, much less the kind that prospective college students are grilled about on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Were I to take up mathematics as a self-improvement activity, I have no doubt that the people around me would be expecting me to go jumping off into a highly technical specialty field.
But although many, myself included, have allowed themselves to be intimidated in math classes and have developed failure complexes about this field, mathematics itself can be reframed as a fun, amusement activity akin to puzzle solving.
A few years ago I received as a gift a book of mathematical puzzles, one of those "calendar" books with a new problem to solve on each date of the year. The mathematics was like the more difficult SAT questions or the kind I would encounter on my statewide (Florida) mathematics contest exam. But there was no pressure. Some answers I got right, some I missed. But I learned something from all of them and left the experience with a more positive feeling about mathematics.
Unfortunately, most mathematics textbooks are written, it seems, to aid the instructor in judging the students instead of empowering those students with the material. Sometimes the material looks more like a peer review journal than the guide to an area of math that it purports to be. Well, if I'm not taking any math classes, I can just ignore them, figuratively tossing them into the trash can the way that John Nash literally did in front of his class in the movie A Beautiful Mind.
I'll have to think about this math thing. Should I try to get back into it, for fun's sake? Maybe if I do, I should keep it a secret. After all, people don't seem to mind if I just sit in front of the TV doing nothing, but if I take the initiative and do something new? Oh, cause for concern, what's he up to...
Besides elementary-school-level arithmetic, the overwhelming majority of the population has very little use for even middle-school-level mathematics, much less the kind that prospective college students are grilled about on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Were I to take up mathematics as a self-improvement activity, I have no doubt that the people around me would be expecting me to go jumping off into a highly technical specialty field.
But although many, myself included, have allowed themselves to be intimidated in math classes and have developed failure complexes about this field, mathematics itself can be reframed as a fun, amusement activity akin to puzzle solving.
A few years ago I received as a gift a book of mathematical puzzles, one of those "calendar" books with a new problem to solve on each date of the year. The mathematics was like the more difficult SAT questions or the kind I would encounter on my statewide (Florida) mathematics contest exam. But there was no pressure. Some answers I got right, some I missed. But I learned something from all of them and left the experience with a more positive feeling about mathematics.
Unfortunately, most mathematics textbooks are written, it seems, to aid the instructor in judging the students instead of empowering those students with the material. Sometimes the material looks more like a peer review journal than the guide to an area of math that it purports to be. Well, if I'm not taking any math classes, I can just ignore them, figuratively tossing them into the trash can the way that John Nash literally did in front of his class in the movie A Beautiful Mind.
I'll have to think about this math thing. Should I try to get back into it, for fun's sake? Maybe if I do, I should keep it a secret. After all, people don't seem to mind if I just sit in front of the TV doing nothing, but if I take the initiative and do something new? Oh, cause for concern, what's he up to...
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Looking for New Blogs to Follow
It is getting more difficult, it seems, for me to find interesting
blogs worth following. I like the personal touch in a blog, without the
pretentious overblown graphics and design. And I don't care at all for
photo album blogs. I want writing that expresses the writer's opinions
about various topics, along with an appropriate window into their
lives. In other words, I want to read blogs like mine! Apparently,
though, these blogs are too few and far between. I think that potential
writers of this genre have largely gone over to the Facebook
monstrosity. Facebook, in my opinion, homogenizes humanity, taking away
people's individuality and putting their lives into a formula that must
be adhered to in order to "fit". Keep your Facebook, sheep!
Instead, I am going to seriously use a Blogger feature that I have been neglecting lately: the Reader. I have only two blogs left that I follow on it, and one, well...I think the author may have decided to move on to other things in his life. The other one is usually only updated on the average about once of month. So I guess I had better set out to find some interesting, currently updated blogs that aren't trying to shock and awe me with their "perfection". Then I'll pick out the best of them and stick them on Reader. But Facebook? No way...
Instead, I am going to seriously use a Blogger feature that I have been neglecting lately: the Reader. I have only two blogs left that I follow on it, and one, well...I think the author may have decided to move on to other things in his life. The other one is usually only updated on the average about once of month. So I guess I had better set out to find some interesting, currently updated blogs that aren't trying to shock and awe me with their "perfection". Then I'll pick out the best of them and stick them on Reader. But Facebook? No way...
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
NHL Finals Over, NBA's Starting
Last night I did something I haven't done in a long, long time: I sat down and watched a National Hockey League game. And why not? It was the most important game of the year: a finals matchup between the Los Angeles Kings and the New Jersey Devils, with the former ahead in the series 3-2 and with a chance to win the coveted Stanley Cup with a win at home. I missed the first period, and when I tuned in during the second, it was already 4-0 Kings. Then suddenly New Jersey scored and the announcers struggled as hard as possible to make it still look like a game whose outcome was in question. But even I, with as little hockey experience as I have, could easily tell that the Los Angeles goalie, appropriately named Jonathan Quick, wasn't about to carelessly let any Devil shots get by him. Time after time when a Devil would take a shot, he would almost casually reach up and grab the puck out of the air just as it appeared headed for a goal. The Kings ended up winning and Quick was (also) appropriately named playoff MVP.
Tonight begins the opening game in the National Basketball Association final series between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder, with the Thunder playing host. I prefer the Heat, but in all honesty have to say that I greatly admire the great teamwork and selfless talent comprising Oklahoma City (the basketball team, not the city or state). I see this series going six or seven games: both teams have an indomitable will and purpose to succeed. Should be exciting to watch. Unfortunately, I'll be at work tonight and will miss the opening game (which will be over by the time I post this article, which I am currently writing at 2 in the afternoon sitting outside a Dunkin Donuts near work).
Tonight begins the opening game in the National Basketball Association final series between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder, with the Thunder playing host. I prefer the Heat, but in all honesty have to say that I greatly admire the great teamwork and selfless talent comprising Oklahoma City (the basketball team, not the city or state). I see this series going six or seven games: both teams have an indomitable will and purpose to succeed. Should be exciting to watch. Unfortunately, I'll be at work tonight and will miss the opening game (which will be over by the time I post this article, which I am currently writing at 2 in the afternoon sitting outside a Dunkin Donuts near work).
Monday, June 11, 2012
They're Here...
Well, I suppose I knew it wouldn't last...Yesterday evening I sat out on my front porch to relax and enjoy the time of day. I didn't mind the heat or even the humidity around me too much. There was, however, a new feature to my experience, which was inevitable but sad: the mosquitoes have arrived. Quickly noticing that I was being eaten alive, I made my way back indoors, sighing...
We probably won't be rid of the little buggers until cold descends on us sometime in fall (should it even happen by then). That's one of the down sides to where I live: Gainesville lies just north of a vast wetlands basin called Paynes Prairie (perhaps you've heard of it: a terrible chain of accidents involving several vehicles occurred a few weeks ago out there on Interstate-75). The Prairie, the area of which is large enough to swallow up Gainesville, is a natural breeding ground for mosquitoes, and if the wind happens to be blowing our way, well, here comes trouble...
Still, I can enjoy the outdoors if I am just a little cautious. I can use mosquito repellent, to be sure. But I can also pick and choose when I am outdoors. No, I won't let them drive me indoors!
We probably won't be rid of the little buggers until cold descends on us sometime in fall (should it even happen by then). That's one of the down sides to where I live: Gainesville lies just north of a vast wetlands basin called Paynes Prairie (perhaps you've heard of it: a terrible chain of accidents involving several vehicles occurred a few weeks ago out there on Interstate-75). The Prairie, the area of which is large enough to swallow up Gainesville, is a natural breeding ground for mosquitoes, and if the wind happens to be blowing our way, well, here comes trouble...
Still, I can enjoy the outdoors if I am just a little cautious. I can use mosquito repellent, to be sure. But I can also pick and choose when I am outdoors. No, I won't let them drive me indoors!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
An Unintended Lesson from Caillou
The other night I was watching the Sprout Channel, which is actually targeted at little children. One of their staple late-night cartoons shows, Caillou, was on and I was too dang tired to change the channel (which is what I usually do when this show is on). Caillou, by the way, is the name of the little bald-headed boy in the cartoon. He lives in a nice suburban home with his nice suburban family of mother, father, little sister, and conveniently-appearing extended family and friends. Caillou tends to be very enthusiastic about life and learning new things, and his attitude is infectious in a good way. In other words, we're talking about the diametric opposite kind of role behavior than what you'd see on cynical, satirical South Park. Let me give you an example from the episode I just saw...
It's early in the day and Caillou has just come back from the library where he checked out a book he wants to read. The parents at home each tell him and his little sister that they are going to be too busy with other matters to attend to them, but they managed to conveniently coax dependable, useful ol' grandma over to the house to babysit them. That suits upbeat Caillou just fine, who promptly announces to everyone that he is going to make a priority of reading his book. Grandma can concentrate on playing with little sis while he reads. And thus the scene is set for this episode.
It becomes progressively clear over the course of the show that poor Caillou cannot find a quiet, undisturbed place in his house to read his book. If he stays in his bedroom, the pet cat bothers him. The playroom is a no-go as well, as his rambunctious, loud little sister is playing with grandma there. What bothers me is when he goes into the living room and sits on the sofa to read. His mother then walks right into the room and turns on the noisy vacuum cleaner, in essence asserting her presence and territorial authority over her young son. Apparently, vacuuming the floor is part of her important "busy" work that is keeping her from spending time with her little children today, don't you see. Caillou, unlike I'm sure any of the South Park boys (except possibly Butters), is O.K. with mom's brazen rudeness and happily looks elsewhere for quietness. Finally, he discovers the only place where he can read in peace: his own bedroom closet. He reads his book, about travel on the high seas, and imagines himself to be on a voyage of his own. Then his family members, collectively looking for him after discovering that they are no longer able to ruin his reading experience, finally find him in his one successful place of literary refuge. But it is too late: Caillou has finished the book!
Caillou is obviously, at least in this episode, a kid with no chips on his shoulders. But I'd still keep an eye on him (were he actually a real person, that is): with the passage of years and hindsight, benign memories, especially those of interactions with close family members, can easily "go south" and be reinterpreted in a much more critical and even unforgiving light. Sure, the intended message is to demonstrate the "proper" way for children to present themselves in the face of adversity on the part of others. But an unintended lesson may also be that one can usually expect arbitrary, selfish and rude behavior on the part of those in authority...
It's early in the day and Caillou has just come back from the library where he checked out a book he wants to read. The parents at home each tell him and his little sister that they are going to be too busy with other matters to attend to them, but they managed to conveniently coax dependable, useful ol' grandma over to the house to babysit them. That suits upbeat Caillou just fine, who promptly announces to everyone that he is going to make a priority of reading his book. Grandma can concentrate on playing with little sis while he reads. And thus the scene is set for this episode.
It becomes progressively clear over the course of the show that poor Caillou cannot find a quiet, undisturbed place in his house to read his book. If he stays in his bedroom, the pet cat bothers him. The playroom is a no-go as well, as his rambunctious, loud little sister is playing with grandma there. What bothers me is when he goes into the living room and sits on the sofa to read. His mother then walks right into the room and turns on the noisy vacuum cleaner, in essence asserting her presence and territorial authority over her young son. Apparently, vacuuming the floor is part of her important "busy" work that is keeping her from spending time with her little children today, don't you see. Caillou, unlike I'm sure any of the South Park boys (except possibly Butters), is O.K. with mom's brazen rudeness and happily looks elsewhere for quietness. Finally, he discovers the only place where he can read in peace: his own bedroom closet. He reads his book, about travel on the high seas, and imagines himself to be on a voyage of his own. Then his family members, collectively looking for him after discovering that they are no longer able to ruin his reading experience, finally find him in his one successful place of literary refuge. But it is too late: Caillou has finished the book!
Caillou is obviously, at least in this episode, a kid with no chips on his shoulders. But I'd still keep an eye on him (were he actually a real person, that is): with the passage of years and hindsight, benign memories, especially those of interactions with close family members, can easily "go south" and be reinterpreted in a much more critical and even unforgiving light. Sure, the intended message is to demonstrate the "proper" way for children to present themselves in the face of adversity on the part of others. But an unintended lesson may also be that one can usually expect arbitrary, selfish and rude behavior on the part of those in authority...
Saturday, June 9, 2012
List Madness: My Top 50 Beck Songs
For most of 2012 so far, I have been listening during my training runs on my MP3 player (in shuffle mode) to just one musical artist: Beck (aka Beck Hansen), an old favorite of mine. Lately, I have been listening to more of his material and now regard him as my top favorite musical act. This is in spite of the fact that he hasn't released any new albums in the last five years. Still, I have heard about 130 tracks spanning fourteen years and nine albums. The only album of his under general release that I haven't yet heard anything from is Stereopathetic Soulmanure, from 1993.
Beck, many songs of whom are typified by insanely-catchy strings of unrelated words in their lyrics, is most famous for his breakout single Loser, as well as the follow-up album Odelay, which spawned several hit singles. But this was all in the mid-1990's. Although his four album releases over the past decade (condensed into a busy five-year period from 2002 to 2007) haven't generated hits on broadcast radio, that is no indictment against Beck, in my opinion: radio nowadays ignores too many quality acts, instead playing a lot of, well, let's just call it the crap that it is!
As is my custom on this blog, here is my list of personal favorite Beck songs. The album for each entry is indicated by the following abbreviations: One Foot in the Grave [OF], Mellow Gold [Mel], Odelay [O], Mutations [Mut], Midnite Vultures [MV], Sea Change [SC], Guero [G], The Information [I], and Modern Guilt [Mod]. Also listed are two singles and a beautiful cover Beck did of an old Korgis song. Well, here goes...
1--Timebomb [single]
2--Novacane [O]
3--Lost Cause [SC]
4--Pay No Mind [Mel]
5--Deadweight [single]
6--Cellphone's Dead [I]
7--Earthquake Weather [G]
8--Jack-Ass [O]
9--Mixed Bizness [MV]
10--Beercan [Mel]
11--Think I'm in Love [I]
12--Youthless [Mod]
13--Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime [cover]
14--Rental Car [G]
15--Motorcade [I]
16--Loser [Mel]
17--Whiskey Can Can [OF]
18--Get Real Paid [MV]
19--Gamma Ray [Mod]
20--Blackhole [Mel]
21--Teenage Wastebasket [OF]
22--Dead Melodies [Mut]
23--Missing [G]
24--Sexx Laws [MV]
25--Broken Train [MV]
26--Devils Haircut [O]
27--Ramshackle [O]
28--It's All in Your Mind [SC]
29--Lazy Flies [Mut]
30--Minus [O]
31--Woe on Me [OF]
32--Pressure Zone [MV]
33--The New Pollution [O]
34--Sissyneck [O]
35--Hollow Log [OF]
36--Profanity Prayers [Mod]
37--Soldier Jane [I]
38--Scarecrow [G]
39--Girl [G]
40--Movie Theme [I]
41--Nitemare Hippy Girl [Mel]
42--E-Pro [G]
43--Truckdrivin' Neighbors Downstairs [Mel]
44--Broken Drum [G]
45--Sunday Sun [SC]
46--Readymade [O]
47--F#%$ing With My Head [Mel]
48--Mattress [OF]
49--Nausea [I]
50--Where It's At [O]
Note: All of the above are songs that I like A LOT, even the old radio staple Where It's At at #50. Actually, there are only a handful of Beck tunes that I truly dislike. And just one that I abhor: Debra, from Midnite Vultures.
Beck, many songs of whom are typified by insanely-catchy strings of unrelated words in their lyrics, is most famous for his breakout single Loser, as well as the follow-up album Odelay, which spawned several hit singles. But this was all in the mid-1990's. Although his four album releases over the past decade (condensed into a busy five-year period from 2002 to 2007) haven't generated hits on broadcast radio, that is no indictment against Beck, in my opinion: radio nowadays ignores too many quality acts, instead playing a lot of, well, let's just call it the crap that it is!
As is my custom on this blog, here is my list of personal favorite Beck songs. The album for each entry is indicated by the following abbreviations: One Foot in the Grave [OF], Mellow Gold [Mel], Odelay [O], Mutations [Mut], Midnite Vultures [MV], Sea Change [SC], Guero [G], The Information [I], and Modern Guilt [Mod]. Also listed are two singles and a beautiful cover Beck did of an old Korgis song. Well, here goes...
1--Timebomb [single]
2--Novacane [O]
3--Lost Cause [SC]
4--Pay No Mind [Mel]
5--Deadweight [single]
6--Cellphone's Dead [I]
7--Earthquake Weather [G]
8--Jack-Ass [O]
9--Mixed Bizness [MV]
10--Beercan [Mel]
11--Think I'm in Love [I]
12--Youthless [Mod]
13--Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime [cover]
14--Rental Car [G]
15--Motorcade [I]
16--Loser [Mel]
17--Whiskey Can Can [OF]
18--Get Real Paid [MV]
19--Gamma Ray [Mod]
20--Blackhole [Mel]
21--Teenage Wastebasket [OF]
22--Dead Melodies [Mut]
23--Missing [G]
24--Sexx Laws [MV]
25--Broken Train [MV]
26--Devils Haircut [O]
27--Ramshackle [O]
28--It's All in Your Mind [SC]
29--Lazy Flies [Mut]
30--Minus [O]
31--Woe on Me [OF]
32--Pressure Zone [MV]
33--The New Pollution [O]
34--Sissyneck [O]
35--Hollow Log [OF]
36--Profanity Prayers [Mod]
37--Soldier Jane [I]
38--Scarecrow [G]
39--Girl [G]
40--Movie Theme [I]
41--Nitemare Hippy Girl [Mel]
42--E-Pro [G]
43--Truckdrivin' Neighbors Downstairs [Mel]
44--Broken Drum [G]
45--Sunday Sun [SC]
46--Readymade [O]
47--F#%$ing With My Head [Mel]
48--Mattress [OF]
49--Nausea [I]
50--Where It's At [O]
Note: All of the above are songs that I like A LOT, even the old radio staple Where It's At at #50. Actually, there are only a handful of Beck tunes that I truly dislike. And just one that I abhor: Debra, from Midnite Vultures.
Friday, June 8, 2012
LeBron James Takes Over a Game
I think that Miami Heat star LeBron James has come a long way in the past few years. I remember back while he was in Cleveland and trying to take that team to an NBA championship, unsuccessfully. Sometimes it seemed that he would just give up during a game. Then there was that time when Orlando beat Cleveland in a playoff series and James refused to congratulate the winners, instead storming off the court like a sulking baby. Yes, he has come a long way since then. And I have come to like him, both as a player and a person.
Miami signed LeBron James because they wanted a superstar franchise player who could take over a game and lead them to another league title. James saw the talent there and left his old Cleveland team; bad for them but good for Miami. Still, he would prefer to play team basketball, sharing the ball-handling and scoring with his teammates instead of dominating everything. But the fans are clamoring for just the opposite: they want to see LeBron James take over games and decimate the opposition. Well, yesterday against the Boston Celtics they got what they wanted as he strongly led the Heat to a seventh, deciding game with a 45-point performance. But the naysayers, instead of praising him for this, instead spin everything negative by implying that he didn't trust his own teammates anymore and had to do everything by himself.
Damned if he passes off the ball and damned if he keeps it and scores... I guess some folks just get a kick out of damning LeBron James.
Miami signed LeBron James because they wanted a superstar franchise player who could take over a game and lead them to another league title. James saw the talent there and left his old Cleveland team; bad for them but good for Miami. Still, he would prefer to play team basketball, sharing the ball-handling and scoring with his teammates instead of dominating everything. But the fans are clamoring for just the opposite: they want to see LeBron James take over games and decimate the opposition. Well, yesterday against the Boston Celtics they got what they wanted as he strongly led the Heat to a seventh, deciding game with a 45-point performance. But the naysayers, instead of praising him for this, instead spin everything negative by implying that he didn't trust his own teammates anymore and had to do everything by himself.
Damned if he passes off the ball and damned if he keeps it and scores... I guess some folks just get a kick out of damning LeBron James.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Ray Bradbury Passes On
Yesterday Ray Bradbury, one of my all-time favorite writers, died at age 91 after an undisclosed lengthy illness. Not only did I read many of his hundreds of short stories (possessing three collection volumes), but also I enjoyed his novels such as Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Dandelion Wine. The latter had a great influence on me and put a fitting perspective on childhood and the passage of time (and the passing of people). There was the sad chapter on the passing of the protagonist's grandmother, a gentle spirit who had an uncanny, mystical ability to cook the most tasty, elaborate feasts without ever measuring anything out or referring to any recipe. She would go entirely by her own instincts. I feel that this was the very same way that Bradbury wrote, and it showed in his magical, beautiful prose.
There will never be another Ray Bradbury, although there are many who have been deeply influenced by him. Among them is Stephen King, another favorite of mine, and who quickly commented following Bradbury's passing how important and influential he had been to him. Now excuse me while I go excavate one of my Ray Bradbury short story collections...
There will never be another Ray Bradbury, although there are many who have been deeply influenced by him. Among them is Stephen King, another favorite of mine, and who quickly commented following Bradbury's passing how important and influential he had been to him. Now excuse me while I go excavate one of my Ray Bradbury short story collections...
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Colds and Hand-Shaking
I have been pretty good for the past few years about avoiding catching colds. Until recently, that is. At the end of March, a cold-on-steroids invaded my body, giving me a lot of grief for a few days. And now I have a more benign but still very annoying cold that someone transmitted to me a few days ago.
I am finding myself becoming more like the television character Monk, an obsessive-compulsive detective who tries as hard as possible to avoid shaking people's hands. Personally, I find this cultural tradition to be loathsome and unsanitary. At church, the congregation at the service's start are asked (I mean told) to stand up and greet each other, and then here come the dreaded, germ/disease-coated hands extended out to me. I much prefer the Indian greeting of clasping one's hands together. Sometimes, just to avoid a hand-shaking "incident", I'll just give out a perfunctory wave of my hand, accompanied by a winsome smile and soothing words of friendliness. Before I see that dangblasted hand reaching out at me, in germ-attack mode!
I don't know for sure how I caught my current edition of the cold, but hand-shaking is my prime suspect. And I wonder to myself whether the reason so many people show up late at church isn't because they, like me (and Monk) want to discretely avoid hand contact during that ritual...
I am finding myself becoming more like the television character Monk, an obsessive-compulsive detective who tries as hard as possible to avoid shaking people's hands. Personally, I find this cultural tradition to be loathsome and unsanitary. At church, the congregation at the service's start are asked (I mean told) to stand up and greet each other, and then here come the dreaded, germ/disease-coated hands extended out to me. I much prefer the Indian greeting of clasping one's hands together. Sometimes, just to avoid a hand-shaking "incident", I'll just give out a perfunctory wave of my hand, accompanied by a winsome smile and soothing words of friendliness. Before I see that dangblasted hand reaching out at me, in germ-attack mode!
I don't know for sure how I caught my current edition of the cold, but hand-shaking is my prime suspect. And I wonder to myself whether the reason so many people show up late at church isn't because they, like me (and Monk) want to discretely avoid hand contact during that ritual...
Monday, June 4, 2012
Take a Break, Do Nothing
This evening after a pleasant dinner on my day off from
work, I decided to simply go out and sit on the front porch for a while, just
relaxing and being quiet. No agenda, no
goals. It’s a pleasure in life that I
have enjoyed since back in the mid 1960’s as a kid just sitting on the back
porch. Truth be told, though, I have
gone through periods when I was so caught up in the routines of my life that I
wouldn’t make time for this important non-activity.
Learn to be still…that’s an old Eagles song, didn’t Don
Henley write it? It seems to run counter
to the narrative that dominates our culture, though. We’re supposed to always be busy, aren’t we,
justifying our existence by the important, “relevant” things we do? But I like to take a page from the Hebrew
Scriptures, from the book of Ecclesiastes: it is all a chasing after the wind…
I like breaks, and not just so that I can fill the acquired
free time with purposeful activities.
There is something to be said for just quietly sitting there and
emptying yourself of all your concerns, at least for a little while…
Sunday, June 3, 2012
NBA Players Raging Crybabies with Foul Calls
I understand how fast-paced the action is in National Basketball Association games, so it is understandable that many of the fouls called in them are very close and often worthy of dispute. Still, it gets pretty tedious watching one player after another vehemently shaking his head in denial after being called for a foul. On some occasions, they go after the referee and whine like little babies. On the other hand, I could change my own negative attitude concerning their behavior and actually make a game of my own from this epidemic of poor sportsmanship on the court.
If a player called for a foul just shakes his head in denial (or the head coach on his behalf), that's one dubious point he has just scored for his team (to be the worst sports). The same goes for any contorted, pained facial expressions. If he starts to run his mouth off about it, that's two. And if his actions reap a technical foul, well...he has just scored a three-pointer in my contest to determine which team is composed of the worst crybabies masquerading as adult multimillionaire professional sportsmen...
If a player called for a foul just shakes his head in denial (or the head coach on his behalf), that's one dubious point he has just scored for his team (to be the worst sports). The same goes for any contorted, pained facial expressions. If he starts to run his mouth off about it, that's two. And if his actions reap a technical foul, well...he has just scored a three-pointer in my contest to determine which team is composed of the worst crybabies masquerading as adult multimillionaire professional sportsmen...
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Amusing NBA Playoff Prediction by Sports Radio Jock
I was listening to one of the sports talk radio stations the other day, and the announcer on duty was talking about the two NBA playoff series that had just begun. At the time, Miami was leading Boston in their series 1-0 and San Antonio had a 2-0 advantage over Oklahoma City in theirs. Each series will last until one team or another wins four games. Yet this announcer, who apparently draws a paycheck for running his mouth at this cushy radio job, flat-out decided that both series are ALREADY OVER. With home court advantage being important in basketball, it was to be expected that both Miami and San Antonio would win their home games. Yet this dude gave the series to Miami after only one game being played at the time...
Tonight we have progressed a little further with each series. And surprise, surprise, after each favorite winning their home contests, both of them lost on their opponents' court. So Miami and San Antonio each have a 2-1 lead in their respective series, with San Antonio playing again at Oklahoma City tonight. Don't be surprised if that series is knotted up at two wins apiece after that game is over. But, no... it doesn't matter what happens: San Antonio and Miami have ALREADY won their series. Sure thing, pal...
Tonight we have progressed a little further with each series. And surprise, surprise, after each favorite winning their home contests, both of them lost on their opponents' court. So Miami and San Antonio each have a 2-1 lead in their respective series, with San Antonio playing again at Oklahoma City tonight. Don't be surprised if that series is knotted up at two wins apiece after that game is over. But, no... it doesn't matter what happens: San Antonio and Miami have ALREADY won their series. Sure thing, pal...
Friday, June 1, 2012
Venus Scoots Across the Sun June 5
Next Tuesday, June 5, will be a special event for die-hard
amateur (and probably professional) astronomers: the planet Venus will make what
is going to be its last transit over the Sun this century. What that translates into is that, with the
proper (and expensive) telescope, filter, and assorted other equipment, one
should be able to make out the small circle of Venus as it crosses directly
between the Sun and Earth.
I picked up news about this upcoming event from an
advertisement (for telescopes, surprise) by Meade Instruments on the back of an
astronomy magazine (most likely Astronomy itself). Now I suppose that, were I already a dyed-in-the-wool,
no-holds-barred, and any-other-suitable-metaphor of an amateur astronomer
instead of the rank, barely part-time naked-eye star-planet-moon-clouds-planes-birds gazer
that I am, I might want to invest a little time and money in pursuing this
event. But that’s O.K., because…
I will simply wait until the Venus/Sun transit is over with
and the best photos are released to the public.
And I don’t mind waiting a little for that, either. After all, I already knew that our “sister”
planet was making the transition from Evening Star to Morning Star, but I didn’t
know about the transit (or how rare it was) until just a couple of days
ago. I wonder, though, what the
professionals in the field may be thinking and whether they will be able to
derive some new knowledge and understanding based on the transit event, which
according to the Meade ad will last only about six hours.
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