My October 2013 Running Report

This past month I have been maintaining my level of running and attained my monthly mileage goal, passing 100 total miles and finishing at 103.28. My longest run was for 6.4 miles, and I ran on 30 out of October's 31 days...taking a day off on the 12th when I was sick.  Toward the end of the month, I was encouraged by a cooling trend in the weather, but now it's heated back up.  Hopefully, typically cooler conditions will settle in during November.  I need those conditions in order to build up my road running endurance for a November 16 half-marathon race...

Running and Yard Work

After about three or four days of pleasant autumn weather, the temperatures have once again, for the last three or so, crept back up into the eighties, making outdoor running more of a chore again.  So instead, I decided to actually DO a chore...which is cutting down the many overgrown bushes around my yard.  Accustomed to doing this with a manual saw, I finally joined with the "technology" group of yard maintenance workers and bought a chainsaw.  Because of its heaviness, using it was as strenuous of an upper-body workout as using the manual saw.  But wow, the quickness with which I went down the row of shrubbery was astounding.  I hope it keeps functioning well, for I have a lot more to do.  Speaking of running, I'm still doing it but indoors...

This Blog's New Name

Once again I have decided to rename this blog, now appropriately calling it "W.M. Irwin's Blog" after my own name (with the URL reflecting this change).  I was tempted to follow the example of literary whizzes like J.R.R. Tolkien and George R.R. Martin and call it "W.M.M. Irwin's" Blog, but I think I'll wait until I actually start SELLING my literary output!  In any event, this marks my fourth blog name.  I think it's the best.  If you try to reach me at the previous "Mobehonabojalo" site, it will direct you to this one.  Other than that, it's the same old blog, still plugging away after six and a half years and more than 2,000 articles (all readily accessible in the archives section on the left).

Encouraging Road Runs Last Two Days

Yesterday I had a very encouraging 3.95 mile run around my neighborhood.  The temperature was a cool 71 degrees with a humidity of 37%.  I didn't go fast, but at the end I felt that I could easily have run a few miles more...however, nighttime was quickly descending and I had other things I needed to do.

Now I just got inside after another twilight neighborhood road run, this one for 3.25 miles.  My pace was slower as well, but that is to be expected after not running on the road very much recently.  It was warmer than during yesterday's run: 77 degrees with 41% humidity.

On November 16, the Tom Walker Memorial Half-Marathon will take place here in Gainesville.  I still have hopes of running in it, but I need to get my road-running legs back in gear, after an excruciatingly hot, humid, and protracted summer that had me fleeing to the treadmill for my running.  And running on a treadmill just isn't the same as running on the road! Also, if I do run this race, I won't be trying to set any personal records: just finishing it and having a good recovery will mark it as a success to me...

Finished Reading Stephen King's Doctor Sleep

Earlier today I finished reading Stephen King's latest novel Doctor Sleep.  It also happened to the first book I finished on my new Kindle e-reader.  I'm not sure yet whether it was because reading on the Kindle is so much easier than with paper books, or because Stephen King is such an easy author for me to read...but I flew through it with very little effort.  Doctor Sleep was typical King: a geographical focus in New England (with the slight variance of New Hampshire instead of Maine), a largely Biblically allegorical view of evil, guilt, repentance, and a (albeit impersonal) divine brand of justice and mercy.  It centers around Dan Torrance, the child protagonist of one of King's famous early works, The Shining, who is now grown up and dealing with the consequences of his own failings with alcohol, which ended up destroying his father in the first story.  Dan encounters a girl named Abra who, liked him, is blessed (or cursed, depending on one's point of view) with the "shining", a special psychic ability spread very thinly across the population in varying degrees.  That Abra is very strong with it poses a danger in that, in this same Stephen King "universe", are a group of people/monsters who band together and feed off the "steam" these psychically gifted children give off when they die.  Once they are aware of Abra, the story progresses to see who survives and who perishes.  There are two subplots to Doctor Sleep: the recovery process from addiction, in Dan's case alcoholism, and the inevitability of death, focusing on those in hospices on the brink of dying.  King treats these topics with great compassion and insight.  Still, for those with squeamish natures, this novel may not be appropriate as some pretty gory language is presented.  But that's also Stephen King!

I managed to get hold of an audio version of King's next-to-last novel Joyland and plan to start it very soon...

The Old Ball Coach Comes Through For Me

Last night was a pretty depressing experience as I surfed the TV from one channel to another searching for a football game (or the baseball World Series) that showed the team I was rooting for actually winning.  But sadly, all seemed to be on the short end of the score.  True, "my team" (at least for this series)  the Boston Red Sox had gamely fought back for a 4-4 tie with St. Louis, but that was in vain when the Cardinals won in the bottom of the 9th inning with two out on a freakish, highly improbable and controversial play.  However, at the same time that those two were playing out the end of that contest, another game was going on between Steve Spurrier's South Carolina team and undefeated Missouri, who had humiliated Florida last week 36-17.  The Tigers, for most of the game, that is, seemed to be repeating that level of performance as they ran up a 17-0 lead over the Gamecocks.  But Spurrier then did something he used to do a lot when he was the Florida coach.  He replaced the ineffective starting quarterback with the backup, who then proceeded to lead a furious fourth quarter rally resulting in a 17-17 tie at the end of regulation.  In overtime, the two teams first traded touchdowns (score 24-24) and SC got the ball first in the second round, culminating in a field goal and a three-point lead.  Getting the ball back, all Missouri had to do to win outright was get a touchdown, which they appeared to be doing easily.  Then the drive unexpectedly stalled close to the goal line and they sent in the kicker to make an almost automatic field goal to extend the overtime to another round.  Only the ball was poorly placed and the placekicker kicked it off the goalpost bar, giving the Gamecocks and a surprised and jubilant Steve Spurrier the win.

Watching Steve Spurrier in that immediate short post-game interview brought back fond memories of his twelve-year stint as the Gator football coach.  I usually root against his South Carolina team since they're divisional rivals of the Gators, and Florida will be playing against them a little later from now.  But it sure was fun to watch them pull victory out of a hat this time...even more so on a night that, at least sports-wise, went the wrong way for me so many times...

Attended the 2013 Alachua County Fair Thursday Evening

Yesterday evening I did something special to my home town of Gainesville that I could have done during each of the last 36 years but never did: I went to the Alachua County Fair, taking my son and daughter along for the experience.  It was a good opportunity to visit this event, held northeast of town just south of the airport: the autumn cool had finally set in and temperatures were in the comfortable fifties, with no mosquito in sight. The parking was only $3, admission per person was $5, and the rides and refreshments were quite reasonably priced.

Upon entering the grounds, we found ourselves facing a building. We found that it housed assorted vehicles on display and a line of tables promoting various causes.  We finally made our way through it and were back outside, walking toward the main part of the fair.  On the right was a little arena for a show we would later attend featuring two baboons, a baby monkey wearing a diaper, a dollar-snatching bird, a dog trained as a mailman, the able host trainer, and his trainer wife, whose English could barely be understood behind her incredibly thick Russian accent.  Good little show.  Further down from this was an alligator-wrestling show that we missed and an ongoing karaoke contest.  We passed them by and went deeper into the park.  As we walked further, we saw booths all over the place selling different kinds of refreshment.  One type that particularly stood out was the one that sold deep-fried foods of seemingly any kind: deep-fried Oreos, Milky Ways, other candy bars, apples, pickles, butter...even Pepsi was available in this weird form.  Later the three of us would sample some of the deep-fried Oreos, to a wide range of reaction (I didn't care for them).  We also got a funnel cake which I thought was scrumptious.  But the eating actually came at the end of our visit.  The main thing there was the rides. 

I expected a Ferris Wheel, which there was (and we all rode together).  I didn't know what more to expect in the area of rides and was quite surprised to see so many quality ones there.  There was the typical swinging boat ride, a straight-up-and-down pole ride, some that played with your sense of gravity, an O-shaped looping ride, some peewee rollercoasters, and some rides that were very similar to those I had encountered at the Wild Adventures theme park in Valdosta, Georgia.  They even had a small version of that park's "Yo-Yo" swinging ride...unfortunately down for repairs.  But I guess I was ultimately the most disappointed in the broken down state of my favorite ride, Power Surge, which was there!  So close, and yet so far...

I ended up going on just a couple of rides, while my "kids" (ages 18 and 23 now) went on several more.  I had a lot of fun watching them have fun on their rides, though.  Maybe next time I go to a county fair I'll try out some more (and maybe Power Surge will be there, actually functioning).

Oh, and what would a county fair be without the farm animals? There was, on this evening, a small section devoted to them.  Cows, goats, and ducks abounded.  I saw one horse, and one pen contained the following strange assortment of animals, all of which seemed to be getting along quite well together: one mother cow, one calf she was nursing, one calf that was sleeping, one white duck off in the far corner, one cute little black pot-bellied pig incessantly sniffing and wagging its tail, and one big ol' turkey that seemed intent on having a staring contest with me up close.  The animals were fun to look at, although I think the main animal contests and displays which typify county fairs must have been scheduled for a different date...

I felt that the people working at this fair were friendly and contributed to the festive atmosphere.  We went on a Thursday evening, and although there were a few families with little children sprinkled in along with seniors, most of those attending seemed to be high school students.  Most also seemed to be having a pretty good time!    Here are a few pics (one showing a view from atop the Ferris Wheel)...

Resisting the Urge to Crash

I think we all need a little break at appropriate times in the middle of our often hectic, demanding, and stressful days.  Knowing that we'll have a time at the end of each day to rest and sleep some may not be enough: not only are midday short naps a good idea (if feasible) but it's good to just take a break from whatever you are doing by engaging in things like simply sitting still, taking a short walk, or reading a book.  And then jumping back into the "fray".  But all too often, as I look back on my life and old habits, I have had a tendency to reach a point when I felt like just crashing and withdrawing from everything instead of taking things in stride and taking reasonable breaks.  Now when I was at work on my job, I had enough self-discipline and a work ethic to plow on through the shift in spite of my feelings.  But once off from work, I tended to crash...plop down in front of the TV, get loaded up on food, and vegetate for hours on end.  That's not healthy.

I think that excessive alcohol use, as well as drug abuse, are symptoms of crashing, where the user is hiding from his or her often difficult life behind chemically mind-altering substances.  But you don't have to be on anything to "crash", or even to become an inveterate couch potato.  Crashing is a negative, unhealthy state of mind which presumes that one is "entitled" to give up on the world as a passive-aggressive form of response.  I know all of this, yet the temptation is always there for me to withdraw into a more comfortable environment, removed from demands for me to be responsible for my own life and address problems which are sometimes troublesome but which need to be resolved...

2013 World Series: "My" Team

I have come to a decision about which team to support in this year's World Series, which begins tonight.  Drum roll, please....

The Boston Red Sox!

Part of this decision is based on the fact that I generally have good feelings about the city of Boston and New England.  Part is that I remember the second World Series I ever followed, back when I had just turned eleven years old in 1967.  At that time, 46 years ago, the teams were the same: Boston versus the St. Louis Cardinals.  That series, in which I also pulled for the Red Sox, went the full seven games and was very exciting.  Sadly, the Cardinals won it.  I think there's a tiny, tiny part of me, buried for all these years in the deep recesses of my memory, that clamors for REVENGE!  That's pretty irrational, I suppose.  Especially when you consider that my two favorite teams in baseball are the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays, not only divisional rivals of each other but also of Boston.  But then again, I like all of the American League East and have gradually come to focus my baseball interest on it. 

I suppose I could instead just say to myself that I dislike both teams and therefore don't give a hoot who wins.  But what fun would that be???!!!

Sudoku Benefits Mind Three Ways

While sitting in a waiting room for about an hour today, I went through a flurry of Sudoku puzzles, all of medium difficulty.  I've discovered that I can derive enjoyment from even the easier puzzles by setting rules about solving them.  For example, with the moderately difficult ones I don't put those little intermediary numbers in the boxes that show the "possible" solutions, instead only writing in final numbers.  This helps me develop my short term memory.  Also, I am still employing logical problem-solving skills.  There is one other skill I've been developing with these Sudoku puzzles as well...

Toward the end of solving a Sudoku puzzle, when momentum builds up and the task of filling in the remaining few boxes becomes more mechanical and obvious, it can get to be a little tedious and boring.  I deal with this by quickly visually scanning rows, columns, and 3X3 squares, letting the appropriate solution for each box pop into my head without going through any calculation or logical inference.  It works, and almost feels like magic of a sort.  Of course, when I do this my mind is working overtime behind the scenes quickly processing the scanned material.  It makes fun out of a game while developing a part of my thinking process...

My Running Currently in Holding Pattern

My running right now seems to be in a holding pattern, with me maintaining an average of three to four miles a day.  I don't feel as if I am getting better with this, but then again I'm not backsliding either...at least I hope I'm not.  I was planning to run a half-marathon on November 16, anticipating some substantially cooler weather by then.  But even if the weather was that cool right now, I seriously doubt my ability to finish the race, much less run well in it.  So I might be waiting until January next year to run a half-marathon...presuming I get my motivation back.  I also think that I could probably do better with my eating, probably consuming too much food in the past few weeks...

Strange Day in College Football

Yesterday was pretty strange as far as college football goes.  Although it wasn't an upset by any means when Florida went up to Missouri and got manhandled 36-17, it was the clear disparity between the two teams on both offense and defense that was shocking.  The rest of the day was full of upsets.  Already, previously undefeated Louisville had succumbed to Central Florida.  But then, on Saturday, came a torrent of surprises.  Georgia loses to Vanderbilt, South Carolina loses to Tennessee, Texas A&M loses to Auburn, LSU loses to Mississippi...and that's just in one conference!  In the evening, 5th ranked FSU clobbered 3rd ranked Clemson on the road, 51-14.  And previously undefeated UCLA lost to Stanford. 

Some things kept to their pattern, though.  Alabama blew out Arkansas while Ohio State struggled early and then pulled it out late against Iowa, both teams sticking to their "methods" of winning.  And Oregon once again drubbed whoever their hapless opponent was unfortunate to be this weekend.

So now we're left with four strong undefeated teams in Alabama, Oregon, Florida State, and Ohio State.  All think they're good enough to play for the national championship, but only two will make it to that game (if indeed the final two come from this pool).  If this were 2014, when the four-team playoff system commences, that wouldn't be a problem.  But this year, I'm afraid we're going to have some very angry schools, along with their fans, after their unblemished seasons are ignored when it comes to being able to complete for a national title...

Accident In Bad Weather Sighted on I-75 NB Near #374

This afternoon, around 2:30 pm, I was driving my wife and daughter down I-75 back to Gainesville, in the northbound lane just north in the Micanopy exit (around mile marker 374).  We suddenly came up a dazzling, severe outbreak of rain that lasted only a few seconds and then was gone.  I don't remember ever having driven through anything like that before...it was as if we had driven beneath a waterfall.  For the brief time that we were under this rush of falling water, it was nearly impossible to see the road in front of us.  After we came out from under it, my wife told me that she just saw a car wrapped around a tree off the road and that there seemed to be an accident back there involving a semi truck.  Wow.

After getting back home, I checked the computer and got this story.  It mentioned nothing, though, about the bizarre weather that may well have contributed to this accident (although the "precipitating" event seems to have been a tire blowout).  I'll see what I can do to follow up on it.  I'm just glad that we were able to miss whatever had happened to the involved vehicles, and wish the passengers on them to be unharmed and safe. Also, I'm glad that I managed to just get through the area before it became hopelessly backed up, especially when two trucks collided further back...

My New Kindle Working Just Fine For Me

I am continuing, at a relatively and typically (for me) subdued pace, to get to know my new Kindle e-reader.  I have found, as I read on into Stephen King's latest novel Doctor Sleep, that reading an e-reader is much easier on my eyes...and somehow my mind.  I can position it anywhere without, as is the case of a book, the pages either flapping around off, making me lose my spot in it or needing to bookmark it.  Also, this model has a built-in light, so I have been liberated from ever depending on outside lighting.  Besides Doctor Sleep, I recently purchased a Schaum's Outline Series Pre-Calculus Mathematics workbook on Kindle, something that I've been wanting to have conveniently at hand as I'd like to get my ever-aging brain back into a more mathematically-literate mode.  As a matter of fact, it seems that just about every Schaum's Outline Series book has a Kindle counterpart.  I plan to put some more of their mathematics guides on it, as well as some of their foreign language books.

But for now, I'm enjoying this fine new Stephen King novel, which I'm about halfway through reading.  It will be fun to add more stuff to my little reader in the future...

Finished Reading The Bourne Identity

The other day I finally got around to finish reading Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Identity.  More Bourne will follow: I just have to find which one is next in this series of cloak and dagger exploits and identity screwups.  Also, I feel free now to watch the movie version, which I had been avoiding due to the inevitable and sometimes considerable divergence from the book whenever a cinematic adaptation is undertaken.  It was O.K. as novels went, although I can guess that the protagonist, who may or may not be a person named Jason Bourne...or Cain...or David, will survive, much as Ian Fleming's James Bond, to fill up the next book (or movie).  In fact, it's pretty obvious to me that Ludlum deliberately chose his hero's name to mimic Agent 007 of the British Secret Service. 

Hopefully, the next Bourne book I read won't fall into the category of disappointing follow-ups.  However, Robert Ludlum clearly wrote The Bourne Identity with the full intention of making a series, as the final confrontation in it between "Bourne" and the antagonist, along with the book's final scene, clearly demonstrate.  I'll give book #2, titled The Bourne Supremacy, a chance, anyway...

Boehner Ultimately to Blame for Funding and Debt Ceiling Impasse

It looks as if the extremists on the political right in Congress won't get their way after all, as ineffectual Republican House Speaker John Boehner finally decided to allow a vote to continue government funding and raise the debt ceiling...at least for a few months, that is.  But I can't really blame the ideologues, exemplified by tea party senator Ted Cruz, for causing the crisis.  He is entitled to express his views within the Senate rules, and actually was quite friendly and respectable during the whole process.  It is the mainstream establishment Republican leaders like Speaker Boehner with whom I have issues.  For his part, this individual, who is supposed to be Speaker of the ENTIRE House of Representatives, not just the extreme right faction within his own party, displayed rudeness and open arrogance to the press and other leaders.  He ignored the interests, not only of the Democratic minority in the House (which I suppose can be excused) but also those of a large section of his own GOP caucus in blocking a resolution.  I personally cannot see him continuing in such an important leadership position when he has so clearly demonstrated his complete lack of competency in it...

But I think that Ted Cruz instead is going to be served up as the "sacrificial lamb" in the press for somehow having instigated this funding and debt ceiling crisis.  In fact, though, his Senate wasn't really holding things up: it was Boehner's House of Representatives.  Cruz is just a very outspoken, very conservative freshman senator from the conservative state of Texas.  He is being held up as a presidential prospect in 2016...something that the Democratic Party is looking forward to with anticipation and enthusiasm.  He talks a lot on the Senate floor and on those media shows sympathetic to the tea party like Hannity, Mark Levin, and Rush Limbaugh.  There is room in Congress for Ted Cruz: talk all you want, Ted, and cast your ONE vote!  But Boehner, with his authority as Speaker to determine what gets to be voted on, should be replace by someone, albeit possibly more conservative in his or her politics, with a greater sense of responsibility and decorum.

Stop the Phony Imposed Civility in Sports

Many years ago, when there was such a team in baseball as the Montreal Expos, and the Houston Astros were considered a year-to-year contender, there was a reasonably successful manager who brought success to the teams he worked for.  His name was Bill Virdon.  Known for his perfunctory, no-nonsense style, Virdon seemed to bring a sense of discipline and a corresponding cohesion to the teams he managed.  Both the Expos and the Astros did well during his tenures with them, although neither was able to get to the World Series, much less win it.  Once Virdon had on his Montreal team the wildly exuberant and enthusiastic catcher Gary Carter.  Apparently, the two didn't exactly see eye to eye regarding what it took to make a team a winner, and when Virdon established himself there, Carter had to tone down his behavior.  I wonder, though, what the point of it all was, since often it seems that, in the heat of a pennant stretch run and in the playoffs, it is the most emotionally elevated team that prevails and sweeps through on momentum.  Virdon, to me, squelched that momentum instead of encouraging it.  And now we come to 2013 and Yasiel Puig...

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been blessed with an extraordinarily talented young hitter in rookie Yasiel Puig, only 22 years old and already a standout.  Yesterday, with his team down 2-0 in their National League Championship Series with St. Louis and himself mired in an 0-for-11 slump (with 7 strikeouts), Puig got an impressive hit for a triple, breaking out of his slump and substantially contributing to his team's 3-0 victory.  Some are criticizing him, though, for standing there for a moment and admiring and celebrating his hit.  The Dodgers fans in the ballpark, though, were beside themselves in glee and excitement. This celebration and showmanship, in my opinion, helped to turn the momentum around to the Dodgers for the game...and who knows, maybe eventually the series.

Emotion and celebration should be emphasized and encouraged in professional sports, not discouraged, criticized, or even penalized as it often is.  Pro sports is entertainment: it is a big SHOW, duh.  Let the fans have what they want.  Hitters admiring their hits, pitchers pumping their fists after strikeouts, end zone antics in football in all of their varieties,....whatever can serve to get everyone's interest and attention (and FUN) going a little stronger.  Stop boring me to death with all of this phony imposed civility...

Hollywood Beach Walk

Last Friday evening Melissa and I paid a brief visit to Hollywood (Florida) Beach, standing on the shore and then walking a bit up and down the "Broadwalk" as they call it (I've always called it the "Boardwalk").  Along the way, at the Hollywood Beach Theater, was a rock band performing called "Rockin' Jake".  They performed original music, which I liked.  Those two cute little kids dancing in front of the stage, though, stole the show!  It was an interesting walk as we passed by various shops and restaurants.  There were several live bands performing in different spots.  The people visiting the Broadwalk seemed to be a perfect mix of just about every ethic group, age, gender...you name it.  I even heard Russian spoken by people from three separate parties there.  There were a lot of joggers and bicycles/scooters/dog-walkers, etc...

As for the shoreline, this beach was the prettiest I've seen in a long time.  I took a picture of the gigantic and spooky Ramada Hotel (originally the Hollywood Beach Hotel; later, for a while, Florida Bible College).  We stayed there on a visit a few years ago, and it reminded me of a few Stephen King stories.  My sister says it has a reputation for being haunted: I'm not surprised.  Actually, come to think of it, the entire beach/"Broadwalk" experience, looking back on it, now seems a little on the "dark" side...

This Weekend in Sports As I Saw It

I missed out on the recent happenings in the sports world, partly due to travel and partly due to an acute allergic reaction.  Now that normality seems to be creeping back into my life, I can look back on what's been going on.  Let's see... in college football, the University of Florida Gators, as expected, went to Baton Rouge to play favored LSU and lost, this time by a score of 17-6.  That's all right, as far as I'm concerned.  I already knew that Florida wasn't a national champion-caliber team this year and just hoped for them to be able to win their own Eastern Division within their conference.  Losing to a Western Division school won't hurt them much as long as they do well in their own division.  Besides, Georgia, the Gators' arch rival, lost out to a surprisingly strong Missouri team on Saturday as well.  In the National Football League today, I was pleased to see previously unbeaten New Orleans lose, although I'd have preferred someone other than New England to have performed this task.  Miami was off this weekend, and the other two Florida franchises, both thinking themselves far too smart to hire someone like Tim Tebow to play for them, have each fallen to 0-6 records with predictable losses.  In the baseball playoffs, Detroit surprised Boston by beating them in the first game of their series while Los Angeles is disappointing me after having lost two close low-scoring games at St. Louis.

There's more that happened, of course, but I'm just rattling off the major reactions to the stuff that interests me the most...

Tough Health Day on Saturday

Yesterday was a particularly disturbing day for me, healthwise.  The previous day (Friday) I found myself in a situation in which I was in a recently fumigated house, in a room full of old books, magazines, letters, and papers, trying to help clean up an accumulated mess that at one time had taken up the entire room.  There was dust all around, and I should have known better than to be there for the several hours I spent sorting out piles and piles of old material.  But that night and the entire day yesterday, I felt a bad sense of inflammation throughout my body.  Any point on my skin that had been broken and was healing suddenly felt painful upon touching it.  I felt weaker, coughed, ...but worst of all, I had an irregular heartbeat the entire day yesterday.  I stayed away from that place, though, having learned my lesson...and after a lengthy period of sleep, woke up Sunday morning with the symptoms gone...no pain, weakness, coughing...and a typically regular, strong heartbeat.  I think that, if I know what's good for me, I had better be very, very careful in the future about the type of environment I expose myself to...

Hotel Room Ramblings

Here I am late at night, sitting in a Hollywood, Florida hotel room watching the Los Angeles Dodgers play the St. Louis Cardinals in the first of their series to decide who gets to go to this year's World Series.  I really don't care who wins...I rooted for each team to lose its previous series.  Still, this is a good, close game (2-2 in the 7th inning).  I think I'm finding myself slightly leaning toward the Dodgers, but I can't figure out why.  About an hour ago I finished up my four-mile treadmill run in this hotel's exercise room (one treadmill, one elliptical...that's it). Oh, and from time to time the lights would go out for a second, right in the middle of my run.  Fortunately, there was a TV on in the room, which would provide a little light during the blackouts.  I guess I'll repeat this tonight, since I'm planning to stay here until Sunday.  My hotel is way out west, smack dab in the middle of what should be Everglades swampland and dominated by water, sawgrass, and alligators.  Instead, there's an Interstate and heavy development running through this thoroughly drained out area.  I don't know how they are capable of swinging this: aren't we supposed to be conserving our wetlands?  I guess the answer is yes, as long as it doesn't conflict with the almighty dollar!  And when isn't that really the case?!?!

2013 Baseball Playoff Results Disappointing So Far

In the Major League Baseball playoffs so far this 2013 season, I've been pretty disappointed.  My teams Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh all lost their series against Boston, Los Angeles, and St. Louis respectively.  The only series left, to be decided tonight between Detroit and Oakland, is one that I really didn't care who won.  But the funny thing is, whoever wins that game tonight, and with it the series, will by default become my favorite team for the rest of the playoffs.  That being said, with the five teams presently left in the run for the World Series, I see some potentially interesting prospects if certain combinations get there:

Boston-St. Louis: This would be a rematch of the great 1967 series that spotlighted the Red Sox great Carl Yastrzemski and Cardinals greats Bob Gibson and Lou Brock. 

Detroit-St. Louis: And this would be a rematch of the also great 1968 series, with essentially the same Cardinals lineup as the previous year and the Tigers with their aces Denny McLain and Mickey Lolich (and slugger Al Kaline).

Oakland-Los Angeles:  These two played against each other twice, with the Athletics winning 4-1 in 1974 and the Dodgers doing likewise in 1988.  Neither was a very exciting series, but this does have the added intrigue of being an intrastate rivalry.

Cooler Weather Auspicious for Running

Today, even late in the morning, the temperatures remained in the upper 60's, providing me an opportunity to run outside in the elements without exposure to excessive heat.  The humidity was still high, but with the lower temperatures all that did was to slow my running a bit.  In fact, it's been generally cooler for the last two days: yesterday I ran 3.5 miles outside and today it was for 4.05 miles.  I'll be out of town for a few days, going down to South Florida, so I'll probably be using the treadmill at whatever hotel I stay at until Saturday or Sunday.  Still, the cooler weather is an auspicious sign for me as I want to do more outdoor running as I train for the Tom Walker Memorial Half-Marathon scheduled on November 16 here in Gainesville.

The more runner-friendly weather couldn't have come at a better time, as my local gym, Gainesville Health and Fitness Center, in spite of its recent media blitz touting its expansion by several thousand square feet, is in reality restricting access to its machines by moving them over into tight, cramped spaces with some of them not functioning.  The last few times I've been there have not been very enjoyable, to say the least...

My Father Dies

My father has passed away earlier today, at the age of 87.  He had been sick for a while and was suffering through life for the past few years and especially during the last few weeks.  I am sad about his death, but am relieved to know that his pain has ended and that he is finally at peace.  I got to see him and be with him a little while about a week ago.  I know I'll miss him terribly, just like with my mother when she died nearly eleven years ago.  He was a decent, hardworking man who took care of his family.  He also was very mentally sharp until the very end, and was deeply aware of his health woes and misery, wishing only to be able to pass away with some dignity.  God Bless Him!

I love you, Daddy!

I Find an Indie/Alternative Show on Broadcast Radio

A couple of days ago I wrote about how I had gotten out of touch with the current music that is coming out in the genre of indie/alternative/rock, with several musical acts I like having released new albums of which I had been unaware.  Last night at work I was about to listen to the radio and, at little after two in the morning, tuned in to my local Public Radio station WUFT-AM, expecting some news, analysis, or a talk/magazine show.  Instead, I was treated to something called Earth Cafe, which presented music that targeted the same genre I'm interested in.  On this particular show, they featured Vampire Weekend, whose first two albums I have but evidently now have a new one out.  They were interviewed on the air, played some songs live in the radio studio and discussed various older hits of theirs as they were played.  Then, after their segment on the show was finished, I got to hear other independent/alternative songs, some brand new and some pretty old.  It was a pleasant listening experience.

I know I can go online to hear this type of music, but on regular broadcast radio there hasn't consistently been any programming since 2008.  I welcome this one show, although it IS only one show...

Now a Kindle Owner

Earlier today, as a sweet birthday present, my wife bought for me a Kindle electronic reader.  It's probably going to take me a while to figure out all of its "bells and whistles", but for now I'm happy with being able to download onto it and read books.  So far, I've obtained just one book...Stephen King's newly released novel Doctor Sleep, and have read 52 pages.  This particular type of Kindle was relatively inexpensive, but it does offer touchscreen control and lighting that enables reading in darkness.  It should be a fun project to see just how many different ways I can use it.  One of my major personal goals is to drastically reduce clutter and simplify my material surroundings.  Hopefully, this Kindle will do for me in the area of books much of what my MP3 players have done with CDs, cassettes, and phonograph records...

Now Out of Touch With New Indie Music

I was having lunch with Melissa earlier this afternoon at a TGI Friday restaurant on Bruce Downs Road just east of Tampa.  As usual, we thoroughly enjoyed our meals there and the service was great.  Once thing I noticed was the music being piped in to us.  It sounded like a college/alternative/indie rock station and I recognized several of the featured acts.  But although I really liked all of the music I heard, I didn't recognize a single song that was being played...bringing me to an interesting (to me) revelation.  I have lost touch with the indie/alternative rock scene that I had been so closely following for several years.  I'm sure that I am missing out on many of my favorite musical artists' latest releases, while at the same time I listen regularly to their older works on my MP3 player.  And I'm not exactly sure why I stopped keeping up with new releases, except for possibly the fact that I have enough material already that I enjoy listening to.  Still, I DO keep up with certain acts I like the most: Regina Spektor, Radiohead, and Sufjan Stevens.  But for most of them I am completely oblivious as to what they've been up to lately, or even if they are still making recordings.

Maybe I'll just tune in to one of those Internet indie stations from time to time to try to keep up.  I had forgotten how good most of this stuff sounds!

Gutfeld (Briefly) Spot On About Government Shutdown

Yesterday I was channel surfing the coverage of how the D.C police gunned down an unarmed, emotionally disturbed young woman, carrying a young child in her car,who had been driving erratically near the "fixtures" of national government the White House and Capitol.    I briefly touched upon Fox News Channel's show The Five, where there was some reporter stationed in Washington, D.C., stately scenery pictured behind him, discussing the goings-on among Congress and between it and the President regarding the shutdown of the federal government.  The reporter was mentioning that different parties to this dispute were starting to meet behind closed doors to try to find a compromise that would resolve it.  To which panelist Greg Gutfeld, with what appeared to me to be a mischievous gleam in his eyes, posed what he termed a couple of statements disquised as questions: first, about this "behind closed doors" strategy, why weren't they always doing that from the beginning, if they now think that it's useful to reaching a deal?  Second, reports keep coming out that the shutdown is costing the government X amount of dollars...so NOT doing things that would have had to be funded ALSO has to be funded??!!

Oh, to be in the "Beltway"!

Baseball 2013: Rays Advance Past Indians

Last night the Tampa Bay Rays stopped the momentum-heavy run of the Cleveland Indians dead in its tracks with an impressive defensive effort, winning 4-0 in the one allotted wild card playoff game between them.  Now they can go back to playing in a real multiple-game series, the next opponent being division winner Boston.  It was a little harrowing, going through the strange final games in the regular season, as three teams were vying for the two available wild card spots.  Night after night, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, and the Texas Rangers played and won.  The Rays were interesting in that they swept the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees, both good teams that had been in the playoff picture.  Meanwhile, the Indians and Rangers would go off on their own winning streaks, but their opponents were weak, inferior teams.  I felt that it was an almost hopeless uphill battle for Tampa Bay, but finally for the last three games of the 162-game regular season, they got to play Toronto, which was in dead last place in their division.  The Rays, going into that series, were still one game ahead of Cleveland and two ahead of Texas.  I'll just go on to say that the latter two won the rest of their scheduled games.  But Toronto surprisingly beat Tampa Bay decisively in the first two games of their series, putting the Rays' playoff hopes in jeopardy.  Tampa Bay managed somehow to just barely squeak out a 7-6 win, though, in the final game, putting them in a tie with Texas for the final playoff spot.  The two played a tiebreaker game (in Texas) and "my" team prevailed.  Then they went on the road to Cleveland for another winner-advance-loser-go-home game and here we are, with the Rays being one of the "final eight" left in the running for World Series glory in 2013...

Jury Duty Blues

Last week I had the misfortune of having to serve on a jury.  Never mind who was on trial, what it was about, or how the trial ended.  It was, to me, utterly abysmal...comparable on my scale of personal suffering to having kidney stones, getting multiple fillings at the dentist, or undergoing a colonoscopy.  On Monday, when it was jury selection day, one of the interviewing attorneys asked the panel of prospective jurors one by one whether they enjoyed the previous times they served on a jury.  All who had served before assented...yes, they enjoyed it.  Until the hotshot prosecutor got to me, that is.  I told him no, I did not enjoy being on a jury.  I think the SOB held that answer of mine in the back of his mind as I was later selected, to my dismay, to be on a jury in a trial that lasted from Thursday morning to Friday evening. 

I dislike many things about jury duty, but I dislike the most how the jurists are bunched up together all of the time.  I couldn't even get away from the others for lunch. They seemed to be nice enough people to me, but they were not what I was there for, and I tired quickly of the few jurists who talked a lot, with me cooped in a small room with them, all of us seated facing one another around a circular table.  Yes, that got very old in a hurry...

When the trial began, the bailiff passed out blank yellow legal pads with pens to each of us serving on the jury.  The reason was to give us something to take notes on during the trial. The judge told us, though, that we didn't have to take notes if we didn't want to, and that suited me fine.  For I had discovered many years earlier that since I wasn't in the habit of ever reading my own notes, then writing them down would be pointless.  Besides, I listened to the attorneys present their evidence and was attentive to the different witnesses, remembering just about everything without needing to write anything down.  Unfortunately, it became clear to me that I was the only one who didn't take notes, while everyone else had written down copious amounts of stuff on their pads.  So I may have appeared to everyone else to not be engaged, while in fact the complete opposite was true. My ears and eyes were all wide open and I absorbed everything.

I felt bad about the eventual verdict, although I believe it was the correct and just one. I feel worse about the way the prosecutor and defense attorney went about manipulating the feelings of the jurists.  I disliked both of them and wondered how, under this system of justice, anyone could ever truly arrive at an accurate accounting of events with so much speculation and insinuation being thrown around.  On top of that, perhaps the most crucial witness in the entire case, one who was right there in the middle of the pertinent events and whose testimony could well have exonerated the accused, was mysteriously ignored by both sides. This reminded me of the previous time I had served on a jury in a trial.  That time it was the peculiar, unexplained behavior of the arresting police officer that left me scratching my head.  But what really left me wondering about last week's trial was the apparent rush to an arrest when matters could have been settled with neither party suffering any substantial harm.  Yes, that bothered me...although I ended up voting on the case based on the evidence, although incomplete, that WAS revealed to me.

After it was all over, the judge said that I would have at least one year before my name could once again be selected for jury duty.  Oh boy, I can hardly wait...

When in Boca Raton, Check Out This Restaurant

My wife and I were down in South Florida this past weekend, one of our destinations being Boca Raton.  I find that the Palm Beach County area is quite enough of a "South Florida" experience for someone like me who grew up further south, in southern Broward County.  Others can have Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Miami, and the countless suburbs surrounding them: it's all just one big nasty urban sprawl to me.  No, around places like Lake Worth or Boca Raton I get all of the trademark South Floridian semi-tropical climate and, while it is admittedly crowded there, it's doesn't seem quite as insanely congested as it is in points south.

While in Boca Raton Saturday night, we stopped off at an Asian-style restaurant on Yamato Street near the Turnpike that is called "5-Spice Asian Street Market".  It has Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai cuisine.  I ordered and thoroughly enjoyed something they call "Singapore Fried Rice", which has curry as one of the spices.  Delicious.  The menu had lots of items on it, and I found myself regretting that I probably would never get around to eating there again...seeing that the one reason I had for going to Boca Raton in the first place would end this coming Tuesday.