My June 2014 Running Report

In June 2014 I managed to keep my running at a reasonable level despite some personal hardships.  I ran a total for the month of 100.6 miles, and my longest single run was for 5.4 miles.  I ran on 27 of the 30 days as well.   Most of my running was indoors, and I made extensive use of the treadmill.  The main thing to be said for my running in June was that I maintained my level of fitness and endurance without doing anything to appreciably elevate it.  But sometimes just keeping things the same is what is called for...

Writing Errors on This Blog

This blog has been around for a while...for more than seven years, as a matter of fact.  Every now and then, I go back into my archives and read what I had written in some bygone era.  Most of the time, though, when I read through back-articles, it is usually what I have recently written, in the past month or so.  But regardless of where (or more suitably, "when") I choose to read, I almost invariably run across little mistakes of spelling, punctuation, and grammar that make me shake my head.  How could I have let them slip by? After all, I reread each article usually at least a couple of times before I publish it...and again afterwards after I post its link on Facebook. I even take the pains to read it aloud to myself, for the mind often fills in or corrects errors...errors that are more readily noticed when heard but are often passed over in silence.  And yet, even with this precaution, I commit all sorts of mistakes with my writing. Some are intentional, like when I use the slang "gonna" instead of the more formal and proper "going to".  Also, I sometimes deliberately use sentence fragments, something that no doubt would earn me the ire of my past English teachers.  But in writing this blog, my intention is to convey a sense of the language as it is spoken and not to exasperate the reader with overly literary expressions and structures.    I suppose that one item, though, that I need some work on is my tendency to repeat the same word too often instead of using synonyms or alternative ways of expressing the same meaning.  This usually happens on the first draft of whatever I've been writing and gets cleared up, but sometimes I'll go back several days to a previously published article and grimace to myself how I not only would repeat individual words too much, but even whole phrases. Ouch!

Today's World Cup Matches Worth Watching

The so-called "knockout" round of the FIFA World Cup in men's soccer began today, and today's two matches lived up to their advance billing.  Both games pitted teams exclusively from South America: Brazil vs. Chile in the early game and Colombia vs. Uruguay in the latter.  I had gone to my local gym and was running on the treadmill, which conveniently has a television built into it.  So I watched a good portion of the early first half in the Brazil-Chile match, witnessing both goals that left the two teams tied one-to-one. I could tell by the way they were playing aggressively on offense (especially Brazil) that there would be a lot more goals scored in this match, but I had other things to do as I stepped off the treadmill, finished up in the gym, and then went grocery shopping.  As the afternoon wore on, I completely forgot about the World Cup.  Suddenly, though, it dawned on me that the first game should be over by then...so I checked it out on TV to see what the final score was.  To my amazement, it was still one-to-one...and this was after the thirty-minute overtime period following the ninety-minute regulation time!  It was my luck to witness the very beginning of the shootout that would ultimately determine the winner.  In such a shootout, which wasn't part of the previous group stage of the tournament since ties were allowed then, each team gets five shots on the opponent's goal (using a different player for each kick), with the ball placed just a few yards from the goal with only the goalie left to defend. As I watched it unfold, I could see that the whole process was more or less a guessing game on the part of the goalie to try to anticipate where the kicker would aim the shot...except for the couple of errant kicks that occurred. For the most part I didn't like this way of deciding such a hard-fought effort that emphasized teamwork to the extent that it did...although it WAS admittedly exciting.  Anyway, Brazil managed to prevail by one goal in the shootout when the final Chilean kicker hit the goalpost with his shot, which bounced narrowly away from the net and led to mass celebration among the Brazilians, on the field and off...  

The second game featured Colombia, led by young James Rodriguez, beating a Uruguay team that had lost its scoring leader Luis Suarez, who had been suspended for biting an Italian player in their previous game.  Still, Uruguay impressed me with their character as they came close to scoring several times in the closing minutes. Just as impressive was the Colombian goalie, who made several difficult saves...

I didn't just sit there all day today glued to the TV set watching soccer...I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it so much had I done so.  I just happened to be fortunate to have picked some of the most opportune moments in today's matches.  I wonder if my luck will hold up in tomorrow's games between the Netherlands and Mexico, and between Costa Rica and Greece.  I seem to have fallen into the pattern of rooting for teams from the Americas, so go Mexico and Costa Rica!

A couple more observations: in past World Cup tournaments, I had come to expect countries like Italy, England, and Spain to be powerful entrants challenging for the title.  Yet none of these made it past the group stage this time around! Startling.  Also, Colombia and the United States, two of the surprisingly successful teams so far, have coaches from Argentina and Germany, both strong soccer countries...

About to Start Reading Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes

When I found out a several weeks ago that Stephen King, currently my favorite author, was coming out with a new book, titled Mr. Mercedes, I went to my local public library's website and placed a hold on the book.  Even though the book hadn't yet been published, I still initially found myself far down on the waiting list.  Well, the book's been out for a few weeks and, apparently, my county library system had ordered several copies of it because I was notified yesterday that it was ready for me to check out.  Today I got it and plan to read a good portion during the weekend.

I read somewhere recently that Stephen King plans to make Mr. Mercedes the first book of a trilogy...I'm not so sure that I like that idea very much.  No offense to the "King" intended, but his track record in this area in somewhat inconsistent.  He stretched out the first four volumes of his seven-part Dark Tower series over more than twenty years...and then finished it by rushing through the last three in a two-year span!  And his collaboration with Peter Straub of the connected novels The Talisman and Dark House was even more unsettling: their publications were seventeen years apart!  But more than that, the ending to Dark House clearly sets the stage for a sequel, which thirteen years later I am still looking for and see no sign of. 

Yes, I'm a little bit dubious of Stephen King's track record with series...at least pertaining to the regularity of their publication through time... but I also understand that he was engaged in writing a lot of other high quality books in the interim periods.  It was a lot different for someone like J.K. Rowling, who was focused on writing the Harry Potter series to the general exclusion of other books...

U.S.A. Advances in World Cup by Goal Differential

I awoke late this afternoon (my sleeping hours conform to a late night work schedule) to discover that the two World Cup soccer games just held resulted in the United States squeaking through, on the basis of goal differential, to the next, so-called "knockout" round of the tournament.  The Americans, who lost a close 1-0 match with group winner Germany today, finished at 1-1-1, tied with Portugal, who narrowly edged last place Ghana 2-1.  But because Portugal had been routed by Germany 4-0 in their first World Cup game, they had been at a disadvantage to other teams with tiebreakers.  So Portugal sadly goes home, but the U.S. advances to play Belgium, the winner of their group.  I haven't seen Belgium play, but any group winner has to be pretty good...

The Germany-United States match was held in Pernambuco in northeastern Brazil, which being closer to the Equator than, say Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paolo, does not enjoy the more temperate winter weather that the latter do in late June (we're talking the southern hemisphere, so the seasons are reversed).  Hot and muggy conditions...I hear the field was soggy...hampered the scoring.  This unpleasant environment may have aided the Americans by suppressing the scoring and keeping the Germans from piling it on as they had done with Portugal.  But I don't think a match has to be played near the Equator to cause this effect; I experienced much the same kind of stifling, humid weather yesterday afternoon when I went outside here in Gainesville to trim some bushes...

Tim Lincecum Pitches Another No-Hitter

I was in the process of e-mailing my home restoration contractor when, on my AOL site, they were reporting that San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum had gone seven innings against the San Diego Padres without yet giving up a hit.  So I quickly ended the necessary e-mailing and turned my TV on to the MLB channel, which naturally was focusing on the ongoing event at San Francisco's ball park.  Lincecum was the epitome of coolness, in spite of the overwhelming cheering and standing ovation of the home crowd, as he confidently mixed up his pitches against the hapless Padres batters in the eighth and ninth innings and quickly got out of the game, on only 113 pitches, with his second no-hitter in two years...both against San Diego.  He also shone at the bat, scoring two of San Francisco's four runs and getting a hit in the seventh inning.

Lincecum is both a two-time World Series champion (2010 and 2012) and a two-time Cy Young Award winner for best pitcher (2008 and 2009).  Now he can add "two-time no-hitter" to that impressive list of accomplishments.  He is one of those pitchers, though, that can go out the next time he's due to pitch and give up several runs. So you never quite know what you're gonna get when Tim is out there! But although I'm not exactly a Giants fan, Tim Lincecum is one of my favorite players to watch.  He sure came through today...

Just Finished Reading Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins, is fun to read.  Not only is it well written, but it is also relatively short!  Catching Fire, the second book in this dystopian futuristic young adult series, showcases protagonist Katniss Everdeen as she becomes a target for persecution by the malevolent Capitol cental government, headed by possibly the most evil antagonist I've ever read in President Snow.  You see, in the previous book she defied the Capitol and Snow by forcing them to allow not one, but two final surviving "victors" in the annual Hunger Games that are designed to intimidate the resentful, oppressed districts by forcing each of them to send two young people from each of them to fight each other to the death.  In Catching Fire, although Katniss is supposed to be enjoying the benefits associated with winning those "Games" the previous year, in fact President Snow has stepped up the persecution of its residents and is threatening her with retaliation for her actions in the Games.  And then Snow announces that the Hunger Games this year will feature entrants who were previous winners...throwing both Katniss and her partner/friend Peeta back into another version of the deadly games.  Only this time around, she notices that rebellions are beginning to take place in various districts against the Capitol.  Within the games themselves, she also discovers alliances that have been arranged behind her back with some of her opponents, leading her to an inner conflict between having to trust others and going it alone with Peeta. The Hunger Games go on in spite of all the rebellions on the outside, although the outcome is quite a surprise...as well as the book's ending, which naturally should lead directly into the final volume in the trilogy, titled Mockingjay.  I'm looking forward to getting hold of it and finding out what happens to Katniss and her friends and family...as well as the bad guys...

Iraq and the U.S., Leading to the Present

I don't think it would be much of an understatement to say that America is a war-weary country.  We have been actively involved in warfare abroad ever since the horrific 9/11 Muslim extremist terrorist attacks in 2001.  Our efforts have been concentrated in two countries: Afghanistan, whose then-Taliban-run government had given sanctuary to the Al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for planning the attacks...and Iraq, a country that, albeit run by a brutal anti-American dictator, had nothing to do with 9/11.  Most of our casualties in these conflicts, however, have arisen from Iraq...and not the invasion and initial takeover, per se, but rather the prolonged occupation and "nation-building" phase lasting several years.  In early 2003, as an ordinary citizen with neither access to classified information and analysis nor the authority to act on it, I was in a position where I felt the need to give my elected president the benefit of the doubt as he exercised his constitutional mandate as Commander-in-Chief to defend our country.  But once dictator Saddam Hussein was dislodged and no mass destruction weapons found, to stay there as long as we did...especially considering the fractured and mutually hostile ethnic and religious groups in Iraq...made very little sense to me.  As a soldier, it is very important to believe in the success of whatever mission they are given to perform. Unfortunately, due to no fault of their own, they were given a mission that involved creating a type of democratic civil society in a form which had never existed in that society and was alien to its people...something beyond their scope to handle.  Our troops were valiant and brave and deserve the highest of accolades (and post-combat support) for their service.  But our civilian leaders should be subject to criticism for having allowed this costly (both in terms of money and human lives) and ill-conceived occupation.

Now a Sunni extremist army has swept down from the northwest in Iraq and taken over much of the Sunni lands.  The Kurds and Shiites are mobilizing to defend their lands from invasion.  These groups seem to be thoroughly incapable of reconciliation with each other .  The only way they were able to get along before was under harsh authoritarian, dictatorial rule with a pervasive network of secret police and informants.  It looks to me as if these folks just need to split up and look after their own affairs...without imposing on each other under the guise of national politics.  I'd like to think that people with different ethnic backgrounds and religious customs can co-exist, but sadly there are some places on this planet where this simply isn't going to happen anytime soon. So, like Yugoslavia after dictator Tito died and that multiethnic and multireligious nation broke up into several smaller countries, Iraq may well be on a similar road...and if bloodshed can be minimized in the process, it may be the best solution for a very difficult situation...

Home Restoration Ongoing

This month we have been preoccupied with problems regarding our house.  The interior was flooded in some areas, which have to be restored.  The process is very time and attention-consuming, and the main work is yet to come.  We are using a contractor to do the work, which will take a few weeks to finish.  During this time we are making some improvements as well, especially in the area of space efficiency.  I'm not looking forward to the contractor performing the noisy work during the day when I have to get my sleep (I work a late night/early morning shift at my job), but after it's all over the house should be in a lot better shape...

Just Finished Reading Paolini's Brisingr

A few years ago, after putting down a book I was reading in frustration and walking away from it , I decided to give it another try...and just finished reading to completion Christopher Paolini's Brisingr, the third of four volumes in his Inheritance series.  This fantasy undertaking borrows greatly from established epics like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, but still manages to establish clearly definable characters, a workable fantasy world geography and history, and its own peculiar set of rules that govern the use of magic.  The hero, in this case a teenager named Eragon, is the typical fantasy-land reluctant savior figure: he just wants to live in peace, but circumstances and the enemy have set him up as the "one" on which rests the hopes of the rest of the world to live in freedom and justice.  I've read others who have criticized Paolini for sticking to this common formula in fantasy writing, but to me it's just standard fare, an accepted feature of the genre.  What does bother me with this Inheritance series of his is how it has become overbloated with excessive introspection and explanations among its characters to the detriment of the ongoing narrative.  This bogging down of the plot is why I abandoned Brisingr back then...but I came back to at least see the story through.  And now, there's only one more book left: Inheritance. 

The unusual name Brisingr, by the way, refers to a fire-starting magical utterance that Eragon learned from his mentor Brom in book # 1.  It gains a further usage in this book...toward its end.  Eragon is the last of the free dragon riders and has a close telepathic bond to his dragon Saphira.  Together they support a rebel group called the Varden, which is fighting to overthrow brutal King Galbatorix.  Eragon loves an elf woman named Arya who does not return his affections.  He also has a cousin named Roran, whose story stands as an interesting subplot.  Also, an enigmatic young man named Murtagh looks to be a "wild-card" character whose actions may ultimately determine the outcome of the struggle.  Is he on the enemy's side or is he with Eragon?  I'm sure the next book will tell all...I just wish it wouldn't beat around the bush in the process...

World Cup Getting More Interesting

A few days ago I remarked in an article that watching soccer on television wasn't very interesting.  But some of the recent games in the FIFA World Cup group stage have been exciting to behold.  That 2-1 American victory over Ghana on Monday was high drama, as well as the 0-0 defensive draw between Brazil and Mexico.  But I just finished watching what may have been the best match so far, as Uruguay scored a breakaway late goal to edge England 2-1.  Also interesting is that Luis Suarez, who scored both of Uruguay's goals,  has played on Liverpool in England's Barclay's Premier League.  Now it looks unlikely that England will advance and is destined, like Spain and Australia, to make an early exit from the World Cup. 

The United States will better learn whether or not it has a good chance to continue beyond the round-robin group stage when it plays Portugal this Sunday.  But although I naturally pull for the Americans, I am more interested in following the tournament and getting to know the sport better.  So even if the U.S. doesn't manage to advance, I'm still watching...

Sticking With Treadmill Running for Now

My running has remained indoors and probably will be for some time to come.  I have gotten myself into the routine of stopping by my local gym (Gainesville Health and Fitness) in the evening before going in to work my late night/early morning graveyard shift.  Perhaps the treadmill running isn't quite the same thing as pounding the pavement around my neighborhood, but at least for the time being, I have a couple of reasons of my own as to why sticking to the indoor treadmill is a better choice.  I am glad to have a place like this to go to, as it is usually open 24x7 (with some schedule adjustments for some major holidays), the treadmills are in great abundance with some available even during the busiest times, and unlike the previous gym I frequented, there is no time limit for use.  A bonus to this is that I can watch television while I run...usually a sporting event, like baseball, is on one of the channels.  Also, I have noticed that I generally tend to feel better reporting for work after a good treadmill run an hour or two beforehand...

Spurs Convincingly Beat Heat for NBA Title

The Miami Heat, in the just-finished National Basketball Association Championship Series against the San Antonio Spurs, were going for their third straight title and second straight series win against the Spurs.  But after the first two games, which the teams split and both of which were highly competitive, San Antonio shifted into a higher gear and routed Miami in the next three games, winning the series four games to one.  I was hoping that, in the last contest, the Heat would rise up to the occasion and would turn the series around.  It certainly started that way, with Miami, behind the efforts of their standout Lebron James, built up an impressive early 22-6 lead.  I watched that part of the game and then switched over to baseball on ESPN.  But at the bottom of the screen were game updates...which showed a strong Spurs comeback and, then, lead.  In the final three games, Miami seemed tired out by the speedy passing attack of San Antonio and too many times were just a step behind their opponents.  Dwyane Wade, one of Miami's "big three", seemed tired for much of the series.  Maybe he needs to examine where he's at after this season with his future.  I appreciate the three titles he helped bring to Miami, especially that exciting series in 2006 against Dallas in the pre-Lebron era.  There is a lot of speculation floating around as well as to whether James or Chris Bosh will remain on the team or try out their talents elsewhere.  But anyway I look at it, it's been a great run.  Speaking of great runs, the San Antonio Spurs have been incredible over the past several years, consistently winning at least 50 games every season and winning five titles.  Names like Duncan, Parker, and Ginobli now have a new addition: Kawhi Leonard, who sparked the Spurs series victory over the Heat...

Just Finished Reading Robert Jordan's The Shadow Rising

The other day I finally got around to completing my reading journey through Robert Jordan's long fantasy novel The Shadow Rising, which constitutes book four in his fourteen-volume The Wheel of Time series.  The Shadow Rising, as I had written a few days ago here, is a mix of interesting plot narrative and mired-down magical/historical/prophetic dogma, with different characters bringing out one emphasis over the other.  The main characters are divided into four different stories: the White Tower, where there is division about the Aes Sedai leadership (this is basically Min's story), the journey by Rand, Mat, Egwene, Moiraine, and company to the Aiel Wasteland to firmly establish Rand's status as the Dragon Reborn, the clandestine trip of Aes Sedai members Elayne and Nynaeve to a city where they suspect traitors within their sect to be active, and the attempt by Perrin and his love Faile to return to Perrin's original homeland of the Two Rivers to save the area from devastation by dark forces and a group calling itself Children of the Light.  For the most part, it was easy reading until I got to sections about Rand's adventures...I wonder how much more arcane information I'm going to be expected to ingest!  My favorite subplot was the one with Perrin and Faile, and how they relate to each other and eventually fall in love.

Originally pitting main hero Rand against main bad guy Ba'alzamon in the first couple of books, Jordan has introduced a layer of antagonists called the Forsaken, each of whom, although originally squarely on the Dark One's side, has his or her own individual agenda...and some even come to Rand's aid.  This naturally confuses the situation for Rand and his allies, for it's hard to discern where these people truly stand on things.  And it also, I'm beginning to suspect, conveniently enables Jordan to prolong his series by a few more books!

Not Quite Up to Speed Moving Around Facebook

Facebook is a very interesting application on my computer, without a doubt.  Different people have different uses for it, to be sure, but for most it is used as it was originally intended: a social network that allows friends from the present and past, as well as family, to keep in touch.  I haven't begun to explore all of the possible ways to use it, as others obviously have.  I know next to nothing about how others post videos or those "posters" with all the pithy sayings.  And all of the special little devices that Facebook provides its members to specialize in how they want to communicate...it's all beyond me.  Not that I won't eventually get around to knowing my way around Facebook, but for now I'm somewhat of a long-term novice.  And it doesn't get any better whenever I'm invited to play in one of the many games it features.

Maybe those games on Facebook are pretty fun to play, but I never got around to it.  The last time I tried to play one of them, which was yesterday, I must have pressed the wrong button and it went off my screen.  Oh well, better luck next time!  I'm curious, though...are these games of an interactive nature between the various participants or does each player just play independently and accumulate scores to later compare against other players?  I suppose that I can play one to find out, assuming I'm not so klutzy next time and wipe out the game again!

Right now, besides enjoying what others put out on Facebook, my main focus is to write daily blog articles and post links to them on Facebook.  You don't really need Facebook, though, to read it as it's published on Google's Blogger service.  But Facebook makes it much easier to access...

Soccer's World Cup Has Begun

The World Cup of soccer (for men), taking place every four years, started this past Thursday in Brazil, with matches in various stadiums across the country.  There are at this initial stage of the tournament 32 teams, distributed among eight four-team groups.  The United States made the field and shares a group with Germany, Portugal, and Ghana.  They will play their first game against Ghana on Monday.  Each team within the group will play the others, in round-robin fashion.  At the end of this, the top two in each group will advance in the Cup tournament to comprise the final 16.  Then, the winner of one group will be paired against the runner-up in another for the next round.  After that, the quarterfinals will narrow it down to four teams, the semi's down to two...and then the championship match will be held.

What I like about the World Cup's format...which distinguishes it, say, from our NCAA college basketball tournament, is that it doesn't have the "one-and-out" finality for teams suffering initial losses.  For example, the other day Spain suffered a very disappointing 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Netherlands.  But they're still in the running and can still advance if they play well in the remaining round-robin games.  I hear the U.S. is in a difficult group...but with this format they will at least get to play three games!

When I was a kid at school, we would have a time set aside each year in physical education class for playing soccer...although it was very loosely played.  It was my favorite sport in school, as I was pretty accurate with my kicking and could usually outrace the others to the goal.  I was a pretty decent goalie, too.  But then again, I never was involved in more organized soccer leagues that emphasized positions and enforced rules more strictly. 

As a spectator, though, I have to admit that I have trouble viewing soccer matches with anything resembling interest...and with more than a little confusion regarding some of the rules.  It looks to me as if the two teams just take turns kicking the ball back and forth down the field, with the very few goals that do occur looking almost accidental.  Of course, at the end of the day when they show the highlights of games, it looks like one endless stream of exciting goals, one after another...

About to Begin Reading Science Fiction Short Stories from 1961

I am about to start with another science fiction short story anthology, this one titled Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great SF Stories 23 (1961).  It is interesting that I drew this book at random out of my collection, for 1961 and the previous book's year, 1945, represent landmarks in recent history.  1961 was when President Eisenhower left office and John F. Kennedy began his term.  The very "hot" war, World War II, that was concluding in 1945 had transformed sixteen years later into an intense Cold War between the former allies, the US and USSR.  This competition extended into space, and the human presence out there began in 1961 with Alan B. Shepard and Yuri Gagarin from those respective countries.  President Kennedy then also proclaimed his famous goal of getting to the moon and back by the end of the decade.  It's too bad, but I can't see anything like this going on that could unite our country in these times.

With the different momentous news stories going on in 1961, it bears noting that I was thoroughly oblivious it all.  After all, I was only four years old when that year began...I didn't begin to become politically aware until JFK's assassination in November, 1963 (when I was at the ripe old age of seven).  At the start of 1961, my family (father, mother, my older sister Anita, and me) had just moved across the Dade/Broward county line from our former apartment in Opa-Locka (where my father worked as a letter carrier) to a modest little house in suburban West Hollywood, in a subdivision called Boulevard Heights.  Anita would attend Boulevard Heights Elementary School, which was only a couple of blocks from my house (both are still standing).  I had some friends around my block I would hang out with then, like Stevie and Jimmy and Danny (I was "Billy").  I didn't attend kindergarten and began the first grade in 1962, so in 1961 I stayed at home while Anita went to school.  I think during that time, if memory serves me correctly, my main fun activities were watching TV (especially game shows like Concentration), drawing on the walls with crayons, and leaving all of my toys lying around in disarray on the floor.  Good times, good times...

There are thirteen stories in The Great SF Stories 23 (1961); only one is written by an author from the 1945 edition: Isaac Asimov, who co-edited this series with Martin H. Greenberg.  However, I am familiar with some of the other authors, in particular Arthur C. Clarke of 2001: A Space Odyssey renown and Cordwainer Smith, who created what I regard as one of the most interesting and imaginative series of stories regarding future space exploration.  Also in the mix are familiar names like Poul Anderson, Anne McCaffrey, Frederick Pohl, and Cyril Kornbluth.  Kornbluth's, entry, a collaboration between him and Pohl, was published in 1961, three years after his death at the sadly young age of 35.  I have a collection of his short stories and may review it on this blog at a future date...

Baseball Bigger Than Rays Slump

This 2014 baseball season has reached the point when it is beginning to become a drag to follow my favorite team on its own radio or television network.  That team, the Tampa Bay Rays, is mired in a terrible slump and stands at 24-42 with the worst record in either league.  The main culprit in their slide has been a complete team collapse in hitting.  This is especially true when runners are in scoring position, with the Rays as a whole batting around .100 under those conditions during this time. This is essentially the same team that last year made a great late-season run to make the playoffs and then get to the American League Championship Series against eventual World Series winner Boston.  I commiserate with them about their troubles...but only up to a point.  In this game, you can't have winners without there being losers, and, well, it's well-nigh impossible to go on forever without having a dip every now and then.  I expect Tampa Bay to eventually get back on track, although probably the best they should be able to shoot for this season would be to get back to having a winning season...a formidable task at this point, to say the least.  But the main problem I have with their woes is the tendency of their play-by-play announcers and analysts to continually dwell on them instead of focusing on the game as it is being played.  I can handle the losses...what I don't want is this constant psychology of losing!

Lately I haven't had as much of an opportunity as earlier to just sit back and enjoy watching the games, half-inning by half-inning.  And that is more to how I like to approach baseball: up close, pitch-by-pitch.  It matters little whether it's a close game, a rout, the first inning, fifth, or in the twelfth, or whether the teams playing are winners or losers.  Sure, I recognize that those factors play a role in the strategy and "flavor" of the game as it is unwinding, but the main pleasure I get is observing the developing strategies employed by the pitching/fielding team and the batting team against each other within an inning as one tries to get the third out before the other can score...

Jordan's Wheel of Time Series Guilty of Information Overload

I am currently in the midst of a very long fantasy novel, which in itself is just one of fourteen novels in a series.  The author is Robert Jordan, the series is The Wheel of Time, and the novel is The Shadow Rising, the fourth installment.  Jordan has this tendency to inundate the reader with copious amounts of obscure and esoteric knowledge about his version of magic, prophecy, and fantasy world history.  It can get to be overwhelming at times, but I am learning to anticipate sections in the story that are most prone to this...and am relishing those other sections that just concentrate on the plot and character development. The main indicator to all of this is whichever character Jordan happens to be using at any given time to tell the story.  If it's Mat or Perrin, then I enjoy the narrative...mostly free from all the pretentious mumbo jumbo.  But if the characters are Rand (the Dragon Reborn) or any of the Aes Sedai women, then watch out...here comes a new flood of very crucial "facts".  I understand that, in all fantasy series, the author is committed to creating a separate, special world with its own history and dynamics...and there is a need to communicate its essence to the reader.  But dude, I'm drowning in this stuff!

It used to be that the character of Mat Cauthon irritated me to no end...that is, until I began to realize in the third book that the passages that featured him were relatively free of the cumbersome weight of new information.  Now, he is the character I like and identify with the most...while Rand, who is the series' chief protagonist, now seems distant and unapproachable.  The development of his character seems to come in leaps and bounds, often with little to explain his change.  I wonder, since this IS a very long series, with ten more books after this, whether the situation I've described with these characters will ever change and maybe, just maybe, Jordan will give us readers a break from the layer upon layer of background material...

Finally Finished Reading 1945 Science Fiction Anthology

It took a while, but I got around to finishing reading Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great SF Stories 7 (1945), an anthology of that year's best science fiction short stories, edited by Asimov  and Martin H. Greenberg.  The final two stories in it are De Profundis by Murray Leinster and Pi in the Sky by Frederic Brown.  These two writers had other entries in this book.  De Profundis presents the narrative from the point of view of a completely alien, waterbound life form that describes its encounter with humans.  Leinster did a masterful job of creating a sense of what intelligent life could be like elsewhere, and how that intelligence did not automatically mean that it would abide by the same moral codes that we have.  It packed a lot of message for such a short tale.  Pi in the Sky was more of a commentary on our capitalistic society with its heavy emphasis on advertising...put into a science fiction context.  For unfathomable reasons, the brightest stars in the night sky are suddenly drastically changing their positions...in apparent total disregard to the laws of physics and the barrier of the speed of light.  This story could not have been written nowadays in the science fiction genre, since authors now feel the need to convince and impress the reader with the scientific viability of their speculations.  Older writers like Frederic Brown and Ray Bradbury often produced science fiction without taking the "science" part of it into full account, not having been trained in the area like other writers.  But Pi in the Sky, like so many of Brown's other pieces, has one of those endings with a "kick" to it...and a message about how we look at things in "our" world.

Well, I suppose I can go back to my book chest and randomly draw out another year in science fiction to explore.  Wonder which one's gonna be next...

Yesterday's Disturbing Belmont Stakes

Yesterday, like so many others who were watching the Belmont Stakes on television, , I was rooting for California Chrome to pull out a victory and win the first Triple Crown in horse racing since 1978.  But alas, it was not to be, and Tonalist won a very close, exciting race.  California Chrome made a good run at it, but did not have the energy to overtake the leaders at the end and finished tied for fourth place.  I had watched the horses in the few minutes before the race and thought somehow that Tonalist needed watching...and that California Chrome was unusually relaxed, in contrast to its behavior before the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.  It was what happened immediately following the race, though, that bothered me...

First of all, I understand that the media was all focused on California Chrome since it was going for the big Triple Crown prize.  But once it had lost, the attention should have been directed at the actual winner, which was Tonalist.  Instead, the cameras almost completely ignored Tonalist, its jockey, trainer, owner...and went into a quick interview with the jockey for loser California Chrome.  They eventually interviewed Tonalist's jockey, who was very dignified and respectful.  Then they went over and interviewed California Chrome co-owner Steve Coburn, who went on an angry rant, crying foul and accusing those who had entered horses just for the Belmont and not for the other two races as being cowardly.  Besides the very unsportsmanlike tone of his comments, I think that Coburn was a bit of a hypocrite, too.  His horse California Chrome had been running with the advantage of a special strip placed above his nose that helped with breathing.  The Kentucky Derby and Preakness had allowed it in their rules, but the Belmont would have prohibited it had it not changed its own rule on the subject just to placate the California Chrome people.  Yet Coburn, with this special favored treatment given him, chose to play the victim and self-righteous accuser...

Out of the eleven horses running in the Belmont, eight had run in neither the Kentucky Derby nor the Preakness.  So I suppose if Coburn had gotten what he wanted, it would have been a three-horse race!  But think about what he was proposing, which was that only horses that had run in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness could enter the Belmont: it would mean that the winner would only be facing horses it had already beaten...skewing the odds in its favor.

There is a big reason why winning the Triple Crown is a big deal.  It is because such an accomplishment is a rare event due to the difficulty involved.  Winning it means your three-year old thoroughbred is the de-facto world champion, beating all comers.  But were things rearranged to the way Coburn wanted it, we would end up with probably at least three to four Triple Crown winners a decade, making the feat virtually insignificant...

NBA Title Series: Lebron's Cramps Detract from Game One

I got to watch most of the first half of  Thursday's opening game in the NBA Championship Series between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs.  For the most part, the game was very exciting and evenly played...until with a little more than four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, that is.  For then, Heat MVP Lebron James went down with severe leg cramps and had to sit out the remainder of the game.  San Antonio was able to capitalize on James being out and go on a late-game run, winning going away by 15 points.

I like both the Spurs and the Heat, and have some trouble deciding whom to pull for in this series.  But regardless, I want for the star players on both teams to be healthy and playing at their peak level.  Before last night's game, there was concern that Spurs guard Tony Parker, although set to play in it, was recovering from a sprained ankle.  But as it turned out, if he was feeling any pain from that injury during the game, he did a good job of hiding it.  That's not taking anything away from Lebron James, though.  Once you're down with that kind of leg cramp (which I'm personally familiar with), you are incapacitated, period.  James has shown this problem in the past, though, and some are expressing concerns that he hasn't been attentive enough to keeping his body hydrated.  The air-conditioning in the San Antonio arena went out during the game and temperatures soared, becoming a possible factor in his cramps. 

Hopefully, this will be the last time in this series that we see an important player on either team being sidelined like that.  To me, it detracted from the hard-fought and well-deserved victory that San Antonio achieved Thursday night, giving some Heat fans the opportunity to use their superstar's physical woes as an excuse for Miami's loss.  For even had James not suffered leg cramps, the Spurs were still surging at the end of that game.  I just want to see the best playing the best and then see what happens...

Just Finished Reading Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment

First of all, it's important to emphasize that the edition I read of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment was a translation into English, not the original Russian version.  So what came out sounding a lot like Charles Dickens may not have originally been written that way.  Dostoyevsky was a contemporary of Dickens and Crime and Punishment came out in 1866.  It portrays a Russian society (the setting here is Saint Petersburg, the capital then) stratified along lines of class and education.  There is a lot of talk going around about radically transforming society according to whatever ideology one holds to.  The protagonist, Rodion Raskolnikov, who sees himself as an intellectual, has come to the conclusion that, for the truly great, historically significant people like Napoleon, laws that bind others in society don't apply to them.  In a very faulty twist of logic, he then concludes that, in order to be truly great (like a Napoleon), he needs to prove to himself that he isn't subject to law, either.  So he decides to commit murder, using as his target a an elderly miserly woman pawnbroker with whom he has done business.  How this all comes off, and how well Raskolnikov is able to escape the consequences of his deeds, is something that I will leave for you discover for yourself, should you be interested in reading it.  There is more to this story, though, and the subplots, while all centering around Raskolnikov, also deal with his loyal friend Razumikhin, Raskolnikov's mother and sister (who is in a difficult wedding engagement situation), a married man who once tried to seduce Raskolnikov's sister while she was employed at his estate as a nanny, and the family of an alcoholic clerk with whom Raskolnikov once had a chance meeting in a bar.  Their lives all intertwine as the novel progresses, and each character seems to come out of their experiences with Raskolnikov as a changed person.

For himself, Raskolnikov is vain, arrogant, and impulsive...not the most likeable protagonist I've read. Still, just when he seems to be utterly despicable, he then commits truly sacrificial acts of kindness toward others.  I can see how an actor might relish the prospect of portraying him in a screen or stage adaptation.  As a matter of fact, there is so much dialogue here that it almost reads as a Shakespearean-type play...

My favorite character, though, in Crime and Punishment is the wily investigator Porfiry Petrovich, who reminds me a lot of the old TV sleuth Columbo in how he alternately disarms Raskolnikov with friendly exuberance and then subtly communicates something incriminating him...making Raskolnikov more and more nervous and uneasy. It makes me wonder whether the premise of that Columbo series wasn't at least partially based on this unforgettable character...

I suppose that, were I in a high school English class and asked to produce what I saw as a theme to Crime and Punishment, I just might salvage a "C" on my report by saying something like...the novel delves into the moral question of how important are the means taken in order to accomplish ultimately benevolent ends. Raskolnikov was definitely an "ends justify the means" kind of guy!  But then again, you never could know exactly what those English teachers wanted to hear from their students...

Heat vs. Spurs in NBA Final Series

Well, another entire year has come and gone, and here we are in the National Basketball Association final championship series, after all the analysis, speculation, and controversy...with the same two teams facing off.  And that's how it should be, with little to be surprised about.  These are the two best teams in the league right now. The Miami Heat are looking for their third straight championship while the San Antonio Spurs are looking for some "redemption" for their very close loss in the series to the Heat in 2013.  Leading up to this, I had been looking forward to the exciting matchups between Miami and Indiana, and between San Antonio and Oklahoma.  But unfortunately, with only a couple of exceptions, the games were rather lop-sided with one team dominating the other.  I would have preferred game after game coming down to the final minute or two.  I'm especially disappointed with the Thunder, who had a bit of difficulty on defense containing the Spurs. 

The first game between the Heat and Spurs will take place on Thursday at San Antonio.  I probably won't get to see much or any of it, and I have no idea who'll win the game or the series...

Still More Great Science Fiction Short Stories from 1945

As I approach the end of my reading of The Great SF Stories 7 (1945), here are three more stories, two of which I've already discussed written by the same authors.  Murray Leinster, who also wrote First Contact, has his second (of three) entries in this anthology with Into Thy Hands.  It, to me, is an unsatisfactory account of how a very religiously dogmatic fifteenth-century people handle the concept of advanced extraterrestrial life and its advanced technology.  Of course, as predictable as it could be, they are close minded and call everything the works of the devil!  Ho-hum, once I saw the pattern developing here the story became pointless...it was a chore to read it through...but I did.  The next story, Giant Killer by A. Bertram Chandler, is more of a novella than a short story and relates the violent struggle for power of a very brutal society of "people" living in a very enclosed environment and how their leader finally comes to terms with their ultimate enemies, the "giants", who live out in the great open area.  In the introductory comments, co-editor Martin H. Greenberg refers to Giant Killer as an example of a "closed universe" story.  Ultimately, that "universe" is revealed, as well as the true nature of the protagonists.  Thumbs up from me, although it is a little long (but from no fault of the author).  The final tale is by Henry Kuttner and is titled What You Need.  If you're a fan of the old Twilight Zone television series, this title may ring a bell: this is actually the story that episode is based on...although the characters and plot are a bit different.  The same theme is present in both versions, though: a strange man has the knack for looking into the future and determining different people's needs for upcoming situations.  What he gives (on Twilight Zone) or sells (this short story) is often puzzling, like an egg or a pair of shears.  By the way, elsewhere in this anthology is Kuttner's story Camouflage and his collaboration with his wife Catherine L. Moore titled The Piper's Son (written under the pseudonym Lewis Padgett).

I have just two more stories to go before I finish 1945 and start on another year of great science fiction short stories...

What Really Bugs Me About Major League Baseball

It's getting to be the time of the year when some Major League Baseball teams are feeling the pressure of having their seasons start to slip away from them.  The Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, and Arizona Diamondbacks must all feel as if their backs are up against the wall.  Anything less than a solid winning trend over the course of the next few weeks will probably seal the season for them, with little hope for subsequently making the playoffs. I didn't put the Houston Astros or Chicago Cubs on that list because they most likely weren't expecting to be in the running anyway, and the defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox have already begun to dig themselves out of the bottom and back into the hunt.  And in the National League East, only five games separate all of the teams in that bunched-up division, so the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets don't need to panic yet. But I'm especially concerned about the Rays, who seem to be in an overall team slump, neither hitting, fielding, nor pitching well.  You can't explain it by saying that they had some injuries: EVERYBODY'S had injuries...but the winners are getting around them.  Still, the stress of the Rays and some other teams doesn't really detract from my enjoyment of the game...but I'll tell you what does...

I am sick and tired of these asinine petty little feuds going on between players and teams. Earlier, in a game between Tampa Bay and Boston, Rays shortstop Yunel Escobar stole third base late in a game that they were leading by five runs.  This instantly infuriated the Red Sox players, "unpleasantries" were loudly exchanged, and before you knew it, the benches were emptying out.  Then, during the yesterday's game as Escobar was completing an easy force-out on Boston reserve player Mike Carp at second base, Carp deliberately tried to slide in, off the base and at Escobar's legs, well after the play was over.  Escobar just leaped over this provocative maneuver and walked away as if nothing had happened.  Earlier in that same game, Rays pitcher David Price, very obviously in deliberate fashion, hit Boston slugger David Ortiz on the hip, most likely in retaliation for Ortiz having stood too long at the plate admiring his home run off Price in last years League Championship Series.  As a fan, I don't get either of the so-called offenses that had been "committed" by Escobar or Ortiz.  Having only a five-run lead, even going into the final inning, is no sure thing, and as a fan I expect the winning team-at-bat to do whatever it takes to add to that lead...and that means scrapping for every base they can get. I mean, why should anyone even remain in the ball park as a paying fan in the latter innings if the players are all just supposed to be sweet and cuddly with each other?  Now THAT'S offensive!  And regarding sluggers standing there for a moment at the plate admiring their home runs, what's wrong with that?  Ortiz wasn't rubbing it in on Price...he was putting on a show for the fans, which they love.  These players need to get off their collective high horse and begin to recognize that they are just coming off of their behavior looking like a bunch of touchy prima donna multimillionaire crybabies...