Ran Gainesville's Newnan's Lake 15K Race This Morning

After missing out on the Ocala Half-Marathon last week, I was looking forward to quickly bouncing back with my running by participating in Gainesville's Newnan's Lake 15K this morning.   My intention was simple with this race: go out and run the 9.3-mile course like it's a regular training run.  Of course, that strategy usually lasts just a few miles into the race before I get overcome with competition fever.  But this morning, at least for a little while, I was content with just going my usual pace, which hovers around nine minutes per mile...

When I first pulled into the race site's crowded parking lot (a park with a ramp for fishing boats into Newnan's Lake), the temperature had spiked downward for this race day and was around 37.  However, I was fortunate to find the last available space in the paved lot, which also happened to be about twenty feet from the starting line.  After registering for the race, I returned to the car and bundled up until just before race time at 8:30.  I stood near the front of the crowd, which the announcer claimed was a record, approaching 400 entrants.  I've stood near the rear at the start of  some previous races and have had a lot of difficulty trying to pass by excessively slow runners (and a few walkers), so I thought the passing would be kept to a minimum this way.  But during the first few minutes after the race started, it was other runners passing me...by the droves.  I began to wonder if maybe I wasn't in good enough shape to run this race.  As it turned out, after about three miles or so, I found myself in the midst of a number of runners who kept with my pace.  But at about that same time I began to experience some cramping on my right side, and I wondered whether it would worsen.  Fortunately, it didn't, but the pain still lingered on for a few miles.  I kept pushing on, not wanting to fade within my own group, and thinking that this just wasn't my day.  But I managed to hold on and finish the race, with a couple of runners passing me at the end and me passing another.  When I saw my final finishing time, I had to do a double take.  At my usual pace, I had been anticipating something around 1 hour, 23 minutes, but I felt as if it would be slower.  Instead, though, my final time was 1:18:21.  I'd been burning it up all along!  Which goes to show you that you can't always tell how well you're doing by comparing yourself to the runners around you or by how you physically feel during the race.  Gainesville is packed with talented, fast, and yes, fanatical long-distance runners...it's easy to come down with an inferiority complex in the middle of a race with them.  I finished seventh in my age group (55-59), so there was no point in hanging around the area for award time.

I liked the course for this race, which in places bordered on the swampy part of Newnan's Lake, but mostly went down woodsy roads or by a few houses in this sparsely populated area a few miles east of Gainesville.  Once the race had finally begun and I was running, the weather stopped being a factor and once again I wondered how some of the overdressed runners around me were able to withstand it.

My recovery from the run seems to be going very well, and I was able to close out the month of January, 2015 with a total running mileage of 342.  I ran on every day of the month, and my longest single run was 10.2 miles. On one day, though, I managed to accumulate 20 miles through multiple runs.

In a couple of weeks, Gainesville will hold the FivePoints Marathon/Half-Marathon race.  I still want to participate in it, but will definitely stick with the half-marathon event.  Also, having learned my lesson from the Ocala Half-Marathon, I plan to wait until the very last minute to sign up for it..

Just Finished Reading Franz Kafka's Short Story Metamorphosis

The German-Bohemian early twentieth-century writer Franz Kafka wrote a short story, published in 1915, titled Metamorphosis, and which I just read.  Its overt theme is preposterous: a young man wakes up one morning to discover that he has suddenly and completely transformed into a huge, human-sized bug.  His parents and sister, with whom he is living and whom he has been supporting through his employment, are more disgusted and horrified at his transformation than surprised...which is a clue leading the reader to assume that this is an analogy to something else the author wants to discuss. This unfortunate young man, Gregor Samsa, is still fully in possession of his reasoning faculties, but his efforts to communicate his thoughts to others around him fall on deaf ears: all they can hear are his insect sounds.  Gregor soon finds himself locked in his room, with only his sister showing the compassion to care for his needs.  But eventually even she tires of dealing with him, and he ends up wasting away by himself while his family stigmatizes and hates him.  So what is the analogy, anyway?

Some believe that this all has something to do with the persecution that Jews experienced in Europe, persecution that led to concentration camps and the Holocaust in later years. The sudden change in the story, this way, relates to the change in which Jews were suddenly viewed in society. I tend to disagree with this interpretation because the analogy breaks down too much.  Gregor has actually changed, not just others' interpretation of his status, and recognizes it himself.  Instead, as I see it, this tale has a two-fold meaning...

The first aspect I see is that the people one is closest to and most familiar with in life tend to be almost reactionary in their resistance to personal change...and if that change comes suddenly then a breakdown in communication can lead to shunning and a break in the relationship.  So if someone suddenly changes their religious belief system (or completely renounces religion) or succumbs to a form of mental illness such as schizophrenia, they may (at least to themselves) still remain in full possession of their faculties.  But the unwelcome rift caused by the draconian change will impede their ability to communicate effectively.  The fact that Gregor's transformation is so massive makes me believe that this may be an allegory for the descent into severe mental illness...and the prejudice against those so afflicted that ran so rampant through society back then (and even now, to a lesser extent).  Remember that just twenty years after the publication of this story, Hitler's Holocaust would begin with the rooting out and extermination of Germany's mentally ill, along with the physically and mentally handicapped.

A second aspect to Metamorphosis, as I see it, is how, once someone like Gregor, who has been holding his family together with his work supporting them, is taken out of the picture, the other members will adapt, grow, and become stronger and more self-reliant.  So this may also have been an early study on the phenomenon of co-dependence.

That's my own reaction to Kafka's Metamorphosis.  But as many writers will tell you, their own intentions behind their stories are not carved in granite and that what each reader takes away from the material carries its own validity...

My Two Cents Worth About the Upcoming Super Bowl

I'd better put in my two cents worth about the approaching Super Bowl game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots before I forget.  First of all, I like Seattle but am not at all happy to see New England in there.  Being a Miami Dolphins fan and remembering the infamous "snow plow" incident that cost them a game against the Patriots, long before the most recent scandals tagged to this franchise, I have never viewed them as a team that plays fairly.  So this "Deflategate" story doesn't surprise me a bit.  But now I'm hearing that the New England players are so angry about the accusations flying around and the negative media attention they are getting that they may be extra-motivated against the Seahawks and end up beating them badly.  This sounds to me a lot like the way the Seattle players went around last year with a chip on their shoulders, acting as if they weren't getting enough respect in comparison to their then-opponent, the Denver Broncos.  And they pulverized their Super Bowl opponent, 43-8.  Now I have a problem with this...

If you and your team suddenly find yourselves "motivated" due to a perceived slight and proceed to play at a high level in a particular game, doesn't that in turn imply, in more normal circumstances, that you are holding back your efforts and NOT playing at an optimal level?  Furthermore, these NFL players are professionals and are reaping in the money at a rate most people would find difficult to imagine.  Yet they behave as if the quality of their performance isn't due to their own ingrained character, talent, and training but rather is something somewhat whimsical, dependent on outside factors.  This makes me wonder whether any of these teams are worth rooting for, and after discovering during the Deflategate scandal what monumental prima donnas NFL quarterbacks are about "their" footballs, my doubts about their worthiness have only increased...

Just Finished Reading Tad Williams' Shadowrise

As I find myself increasingly suffering from fantasy fiction overload, I continue to make progress plodding through the remaining series I'm still reading...after which I plan to take a vacation from the genre.  One of these is the tetralogy by Tad Williams titled Shadowmarch (also the name of its first book).  I just finished reading part three, titled Shadowrise.  Only one more book left to go!  That's good, because the characters in this series all seem to be undergoing extreme, chronic suffering...that is, except the bad guys (who I suppose will receive their comeuppance at the end of the last book).  This is especially true for protagonist Prince Barrick Eddon of Southmarch to the point that whenever the book channels off into his story line, I automatically start groaning to myself...anticipating my own suffering as a reader alongside the young prince's unceasing ordeals.  It's almost comical, the relentless and almost universal suffering in this series. Also, Williams has so many loose threads going on with the plot and diverse characters that I anticipate much of the final book will be an effort on his part to explain it all.  Good luck with that...I already plan to go into book four with the idea that, at least at its conclusion, everyone will finally be put out of their misery.  I know I'll be...

My Running Back in Swing, 15K Gainesville Race This Saturday

Although I didn't run as planned in last Sunday's Ocala Half-Marathon because I felt horrendous the previous night, it looks as if another race has made itself available to me...one which is much closer and less expensive.  This coming Saturday morning, a few miles east of Gainesville, will be the Newnan's Lake 15K (9.3 miles).  I have never run it before since its scheduled time usually conflicts with the Ocala race.  But I'm feeling much better now...as a matter of fact, this morning I had a 10.2 mile run and have amassed, over the day, a total of 14.4 miles.  Still, I think I'll wait until raceday morning before I sign up, just to be on the safe side.  It should be fun to run this event, which seems to be very popular with Gainesville's running community...

Saw The Imitation Game Recently

The Imitation Game, starring rising actor Benedict Cumberbatch as English mathematician Alan Turing, is a great historical/biographical drama focusing on a period during World War II when Germany had the upper hand over the Allies...in particular Great Britain...and the latter was desperately trying to crack the German Enigma code that the Third Reich universally used in its naval transmissions.  Turing, as he was portrayed, was a difficult, socially incompetent individual who was nevertheless one of the foremost mathematical minds of his time.  He was able, along with the help of the team assigned to him, to construct a prototype computer, called the Turing Machine, that was able to finally crack the code.  The struggles between great minds under great stress, with deadlines, the struggle to obtain needed resources, and conflicts with the base's military commander, to invent what seemed to be an impossible solution out of thin air made The Imitation Game a masterpiece of suspense...even when we know in advance the outcome of the project.

During the project, as the movie depicts it, Turing goes out and selects two people to add to his team.  One of them is Joan Clarke, whom others around her belittle because of her sex but whose brilliance Turing totally recognizes as they work out many of the assignment's problems together.  Their relationship becomes rather personal, although it is known between them that Turing was homosexual...which at the time was a crime in Britain.  Later it was implied that, years after the war when the police investigated a burglary at Turing's home and his homosexuality was revealed, leading to a choice between incarceration and chemical castration, the great mathematician and savior of the Allies during World War II committed suicide not long after undergoing the latter.  It was important that the film covered this, if only to show the brutal persecution that gays have suffered, even (or especially) in recent history.

Because of the top-secret nature of his code-breaking project, it wasn't until decades after Alan Turing's death that the scope of his accomplishments were revealed, both in terms of his contribution to the defeat of the Nazi empire and the foundation of the computer era.  What an major, indispensable figure in history he turned out to be!  I don't know whether or not the Oscar-nominated movie The Imitation Game is the best picture of last year, since I haven't seen all of the others, but I highly recommend it as it is well acted and directed and provides an eye-opening perspective on a crucial aspect of modern history that had been hidden from us for so long...

Skipped Planned Ocala Half-Marathon This Morning

This morning I passed up on running my planned Ocala Half-Marathon due to either a severe food allergy reaction or a viral attack yesterday...most likely the former.  The problem with either of these is that they cause general inflammation throughout my body, and I have been advised by my physician to be on guard with this sort of thing when considering stressing out my body on long runs.  It is disappointing that I missed this race, which I had been looking forward to for a while.  Still, I'd rather err on the side of caution and not be foolhardy with my actions. This morning, as it turned out, I felt much better and have already run 3.5 miles.  I'll still have the opportunity to run in Gainesville's FivePoints Half-Marathon next month...but I think I'm going to delay my registration until the last possible moment...these races aren't cheap to enter!

Oh, by the way, my prediction (in an earlier article) of a downward spike in temperature was borne out, with it getting down to around 35 this morning at race time...

Worst NFL Teams Shouldn't Be Rewarded in Draft

In professional sports such as football and basketball, much attention is given to the annual draft of new talent into the league, and which teams have the top picks.  For the purpose of advancing parity, the policy is to reward the teams having the worst records with the best picks, something that I feel takes away from the integrity of the sport, especially in football (in pro basketball, a weighted lottery decides the final order of draft selection).  This past season's worst team in the National Football League, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will get the top pick.  But poor play should not be rewarded, and knowing that your team is in the running for that top draft pick is a disincentive to play your hardest to win in late season games that might have an important bearing on where other teams end up placing in the playoff picture.  Well, there is, in my opinion, a reasonable solution to this problem...and it comes from international soccer.

In many soccer-avid countries like England, Mexico, France,  Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and  Italy, to just name some of the most prominent, the teams that finish the worst each year aren't rewarded for that...no, instead  they are demoted to the next lower league!  Conversely, the same number of teams from that next lower league who have the most successful seasons get to be promoted to the next higher league.  The number of teams that yearly rise and fall varies for  each league (in Mexico it's just one team, in England it's three).  But the result is that, for the teams that find themselves near the bottom of the standings as the season progresses, there is a great incentive to continue playing competitively in order to avoid the humiliation and financial setback associated with demotion (or "relegation", as it is officially called).  So how would the NFL look under such a system?

Since American football is structured differently here with its well-developed system of college football, we don't have the multitude of professional leagues that could use promotion and relegation.  So what I propose is to create a second-tier league under the regular NFL, with ten-to-twelve expansion teams distributed among cities with promising pro football markets (including, of course, Los Angeles).  They would play their regular season parallel to the regular league.  At the end, the champion of this "junior" league would be promoted to the NFL AND get the top draft pick, while the NFL's worst finishing team would be demoted (relegated) to this second-tier league.  Or, the number of teams promoted and relegated could be increased to two or three.  Other than the promoted team(s) getting the top draft picks, the order of the rest of the draft could be randomized into a lottery unweighted by order of finish.  This would finish the prospect of any hint of a team writing off the season midway through it in order to enhance the following year's lineup through a higher draft position...

Getting the Victim and Aggressor Backward with Political Correctness

One of the big sticking points causing a lot of griping in the conservative media, be it talk radio, FoxNews Channel, the Internet, or print, is that whenever a terrorist attack happens anywhere in the world, be it in America, India, the Philippines, Nigeria, Iraq, France, Great Britain, Russia, Israel, Belgium, Libya, Spain, Pakistan, Canada...whew, I have to catch my breath...let's just say anywhere there's a country, and the violent act that takes innocent lives is openly described by the perpetrator(s) as being inspired by their interpretation of Islam, then our government simply will refuse to say the word "Islamic" or "Muslim" to describe the terrorists.  The chief guilty party in this is President Obama himself.  Instead, the population at-large is treated to a condescending lesson about how WE are not supposed to be prejudiced against other groups...including of course Islam...as if WE were the bad guys and were hell-bent on retaliating or discriminating against them...instead of the true haters, which are the terrorists and those within their faith (not the faith as a whole) who support them.  In fact, behind this "politically correct" self-censoring on the part of some of our political leadership is their own prejudicial assumption, which is that we the people are just a bunch of ignorant, emotionally immature and bigoted yahoos who have to be restrained and "taught".  I, for one, feel a bit insulted by all this when I can see what is going on before my very eyes.  No, Islam as a whole isn't responsible for terrorism that certain violent adherents within it perpetrate...but without certain doctrines and tenets of that faith that are being interpreted and acted on in an extreme and violent way, we would not have the overwhelming number of cases of terrorist attacks in the news that we have been sadly witnessing in recent times.  Sure, there are other extremist groups as well as lone-wolf nutcases and you hear about them from time to time in news.  But with them, it's apparently OK to dwell on the causes and possible belief systems underpinning THEIR deplorable actions...

President Obama Gives State of the Union Speech

Yesterday President Obama laid out his vision for the rest of his term in office in his State of the Union address, given before a joint session of Congress.  I did not watch it, but caught most of it from the radio. It was a good speech, as this president is so adept at when presenting prepared material to a group.  Although the President covered many topics, his salient points, as I saw it, were (1) the economic recovery is going full swing, but that it is important that the middle class and poor be able to enjoy the benefits as well as the rich (meaning raise taxes on the higher-income brackets), (2) our foreign policy should be carefully crafted so that we explore and implement a variety of approaches when dealing with our enemies abroad...so that we don't allow ourselves to get mired down in wars, and (3) we should invest in education and infrastructure to keep America at the forefront of the world.  With regard to the last point, he alluded to his recent proposal of granting free community college education (I wonder if that includes soon-to-be old-timers like me who want to do something new as retirement approaches...no, I'm probably excluded) as well as diminishing the significance of the important Keystone XL Pipeline issue now before Congress by stating that the various needed infrastructure construction and repair projects for the country would generate thirty times more jobs than "one pipeline".  And he pushed all of the required liberal social issue buttons, including more than once supporting gay rights and same-sex marriage (which he opposed back in 2008 when that stance was more politically feasible for him).

I don't have a problem with a lot of President Obama's speech, but I do have a major one with this tendency of him to smugly dismiss issues that others consider to be important.  For example, in 2009, after single-handedly forcing NASA to abandon its worthy and ambitious project to establish a base on the moon (after he had promised during the 2008 campaign not to do this), he brushed away any criticism with the flippant comment "We've already been there".  That offended me somehow.  Now it's just this "one pipeline"... just a drop in the bucket, right?  But it is the number one item for consideration for the new Republican congressional majority in both houses and, regardless whether you're for or against the pipeline (I happen to be for it), his casual brushoff of the issue does not bode well for his relationship with either the Senate or the House in the next two years.  No, sadly, I see this speech, which might have been more constructive and conciliatory, to have been little more than oratorical posturing for the primary purpose of shoring up the Democratic Party base for the next election, in other words, the same old "stuff".  Perhaps the saddest thing of all, though, is that regarding this president, whom I have supported through two elections (though not wholeheartedly in the last one), he would still get my vote were he eligible to run again as I look at the sorry list of Republicans (especially Mr. Romney, the perennial candidate) who currently have their power-hungry eyes fixed on his job...

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday.  It's January 19, although the late civil rights leader's birthday is on the 15th.  I'm off from work today, or should I say I WAS off for earlier this morning (I work on one of those problematic late night "graveyard" shifts). To many, I suppose, these "Monday" holidays can be seen as some extra free time.  But I think that the intent with the establishment of these special days on our calendar is for each of us to step back and reflect, at least a little, on their meaning and whom they are honoring...

Into the 1960s, even after the United States Supreme Court had, in 1954, unanimously nullified the "separate-but-equal" policy enacted after the ill-advised Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 that officially legalized and institutionalized racial segregation (and consequently, racial discrimination) in America, blacks were being prevented from sharing the same rights as citizens that whites had, especially in the Deep South.  Dr. King's struggle on behalf of blacks...and ultimately, us all...started in 1955 when he organized a boycott of Montgomery, Alabama's bus system after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger and was arrested for it.  For the next several years, King and others marched and pushed for integration and equal rights for all.  He was a strong voice in favor of peaceful protest, and during the 1960s when others were promoting a more violent agenda for revolution, he played the role of peacemaker.  Martin Luther King, Jr. was also very clear in his denunciation of the U.S. military involvement in Vietnam from its outset, and this refusal on his part to compromise his own principles cost him much popularity at the time with those who had supported his civil rights activism but also supported the war effort.  At the end of his bitterly short life (assassinated at age 39), he was working hard to expose the poverty conditions of millions in this country and improve them.  Never fully understood and respected during his lifetime, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by no means a perfect person (as none of us can honestly claim to be, either), has shown himself to have been a visionary whose compassion and stances on behalf of the downtrodden will go down through history...

Signed Up to Run Next Sunday's Ocala Half-Marathon

Get ready for a downward spike in temperatures next Sunday morning here in the Gainesville-Ocala area, for once again I am running in Ocala's distance running event then...and it ALWAYS is super-cold (i.e. below freezing) whenever I run one of these races in Gainesville or Ocala, for some perverse reason.  Just once I'd like the temperature at race time to be around 45 degrees or so... still somewhat cold...but pleasantly so.  But maybe, just maybe, this time around it will be a little bit warmer.

I had a good ten-mile run yesterday and have a lot of confidence in running this upcoming race, especially after doing better than I expected in December's Palm Coast Starlight Half-Marathon.  I've run this course twice before, in 2011 and 2013...and 2011's race was a full 26.2-mile marathon (in which I suffered an IT band injury under my right knee and had to walk the last seven miles).  I would have preferred to be a regular marathon runner, but the training for this long distance seems to predispose me to injury.  It's too bad they instead don't have 20-mile races, or even 30K races (18.6 miles)...I think I could regularly handle those distances.  Still, I'd like to run another marathon, even considering the upcoming Gainesville FivePoints event in February for this.  But it will depend greatly on how I feel as I approach the online registration deadline and have to decide whether to run the full marathon or the half-marathon (which I've done here in 2010 and 2014)...

NFL Playoffs Down to Four Teams

The National Football League playoffs are now down to the final four teams, with the conference championship games taking place tomorrow afternoon and evening.  The first contest will be for the NFC championship, with the Green Bay Packers visiting the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.  The second one has the New England Patriots hosting the Indianapolis Colts for the AFC title.  My preferences for these games lie with favorite Seattle and underdog Indianapolis.  With these four teams my best possible scenario would be for the Seahawks to repeat as Super Bowl Champs and the worst for the Dolphins' divisional nemesis Patriots to win it all. I'm a little bit concerned about New England because, regarding the two teams that have beaten them in the playoffs during recent years, Baltimore and the New York Giants, the Ravens were beaten by the Pats in last week's game...and the Giants never did manage to make the playoffs.  So somebody else will have to step up and perform the necessary deed.

And why to I like Seattle? This is a complete team whose members "get it" regarding working together as a unit...and those who don't are gone.  Their head coach, Pete Carroll, imparts a very infectious enthusiasm while maintaining a high level of team discipline, something that "players' coaches" like Rex Ryan (or my own Florida Gators former coaches Ron Zook and Will Muschamp) couldn't.  Not that the Seahawks players don't like their head coach: there's nothing like monumental success to breed affection.  I find that balance in Carroll's coaching philosophy to be fascinating...he could be the best head coach out there right now...

US Senate Offering Vigorous Debate, For a Change

The other day I found myself watching a TV channel that I used to regularly follow but had in recent years become accustomed to avoiding due to lack of stated content: C-Span2 (channel 81 on my local Cox cable lineup), which broadcasts live the floor proceedings of the United States Senate. Throughout the previous decade during the Bush administration, I enjoyed watching the debates on the various issues.  Sometimes the Democratic Party controlled the Senate and sometimes it was the Republicans, but things there seemed to hum along pretty smoothly, especially considering the partisan vitriol outside in the media.  However, ever since Obama was elected President, both sides have taken a strongly negative and, in my opinion, indecorous attitude toward each other in this body of Congress that has a longtime reputation for being polite and amicable in the midst of political disagreement.  Part of this problem rests with the Republicans' stated goal of bringing down Obama's legislative agenda by massively slowing down the Senate proceedings through technical objections... and part rests with the Democrats and their choice of contentious senator Harry Reid as majority leader.  So for the most part, whenever I did tune in to C-Span2 I would either see that the Senate had adjourned, had never met for that day, or was being indefinitely held up due to procedural wrangles.  This year, though, there seems, at least at the start, a change in how business is conducted that corresponds to a change in party control.  Now the Republican Party, under the leadership of formerly obstructionist Mitch McConnell, are running the show and, for now at least, have once again opened the floor for open debate with amendments for the various legislation.  Yes, I think it is a bit hypocritical for them to be touting their own openness now that THEY are in power...but I still welcome the change.  As a member of the voting public who actually consistently participates in this democracy during elections and is interested in the issues before us, watching such debates is both educational and fascinating.  For example, the first bill up for consideration this term is for the approval of the proposed Keystone XL [oil] Pipeline to extend through the country from the Canada-Montana border down to Port Arthur, Texas.  Hearing the two sides in this debate has helped me to come to my own conclusion on this issue.

Let's hope that the US Senate will continue to offer open debate on the various issues facing us.  One thing I noticed was that many of the senators I had been following before have either passed on, retired, resigned for various reasons, or been defeated in elections.  So there are many new faces for me to get to know and match with their names and states. Moreover, whichever senator happens to be sitting up front, presiding with the gavel as designated "president", is usually among the most junior,  newly elected senators of the majority party, and they are never identified on CSpan2.  No problem, Wikipedia offers a comprehensive list of the current senators, complete with all of the necessary information about each (including the crucial identifying pictures)...

Recently Saw The Theory of Everything

I don't know who directed or produced it, nor do I know almost all of the actors (one noted exception is the dude who played Professor Lupin in the Harry Potter movies), but I thought that movie The Theory of Everything, focusing on the life story of Stephen Hawking, was quite interesting. Hawking, as you may already know, is a renown theoretical physicist whose specialty has been cosmology...in particular, black holes.  He has expressed a strong desire to unify Einstein's General Theory Relativity with Quantum Mechanics to formulate a "theory of everything": hence the movie's title.  You may also be aware that during his early adulthood, while a graduate student at Cambridge, he became afflicted with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease), which almost completely incapacitated him and left him with a poor prognosis for survival.  But over the years he has endured and is a worldwide symbol of courage, determination, and scientific genius.

As for this movie, it didn't delve into the content of Hawking's scientific endeavors as much as it did his relationship with Jane Wilde, from their initial courtship through the traumatic diagnosis...and into their marriage.  She is portrayed as having sacrificed a lot in her devotion to him...yet they had three healthy children together and seemed to be doing well.  However, after Hawking's enormous success and celebrity following the publication of his best-selling book A Brief History of Time, he left her for another woman, with a divorce ensuing.  He and his ex-wife both remarried (others).

For those like me who had expected a personal angle given to Stephen Hawking's life but wanted more attention to his scientific exploits, there is bound to be a sense of letdown with this film, which in large part turns out more to be the story of his wife, from her perspective, as she goes through her trials with him and his illness. Still, I recommend The Theory of Everything, which did not sugarcoat his personal life but which did overlook some of the controversies surrounding him within the scientific community...

Some Thoughts on Football

At this moment I am right between what has just happened in the National Football League divisional playoffs this past weekend and tonight's college football championship game between Oregon and Ohio State.  With the NFL playoffs, I was generally pleased, especially in the National Conference with Seattle and Green Bay winning over Carolina and Dallas, respectively.  I was disappointed, though, that Baltimore couldn't hang on against New England.  And for once I was rooting for Denver, whose offense sputtered against Indianapolis in their loss.  However, between the Broncos and Colts I want the stronger team to go up against the Patriots...and Andrew Luck & Co. seem to be the outfit best suited for this.  Next week's matchups will see me rooting for Seattle against Green Bay and Indianapolis against New England.  Best ultimate outcome? Seahawks win the Super Bowl.  Worst? Pats!

In the college championship contest, which I'll miss completely because I now have to report to work an hour and a half earlier on my shift, I will be pulling for Urban Meyer's Ohio State team against Oregon.  I'm happy that Meyer, who brought two national championships to Gainesville while at Florida, is enjoying his success with the Buckeyes and don't at all begrudge him the opportunity to continue on in Columbus.  And as for the Ducks, I don't especially like that hurry-up offense of theirs: if anyone should be able to figure out a way to shut it down, Meyer's the man...

Melissa Off to India

India definitely ranks as one of the most important countries in the world.  Close to China in population, it is now also booming economically...although the benefits of that upsurge have yet to touch upon the population at-large enough to eliminate its problems of poverty and disease.  My wife Melissa is going there today for a two-week class with her seminary.  Being the first time for her out of the country, this is sure to be a great adventure for her...beginning with the multi-stage airplane flights hopping from one location to the next halfway around the world.  My hopes and prayers are with her, along with her teachers and fellow students.

Just Finished Reading Sue Grafton's "I" is for Innocent

For a long time I have been a fan of mystery writer Sue Grafton's "alphabet" series of novels featuring Californian private detective Kinsey Millhone.  starting with "A" is for Alibi and proceeding down the alphabet. Grafton is approaching the end: I thinks she's gotten past "V" at last check.  And I haven't read most of them.  The problem, though, is that I have trouble remembering which books I've already read and which ones I haven't.  This is especially true with the titles at the head of the alphabet.  I checked out "I" is for Innocent because I thought it was an unfamiliar title...turns out I was right, so I proceeded to enjoy a fresh mystery story.  Grafton's heroine Millhone is a very compelling protagonist with whom I feel no difficulty establishing strong empathy...there are definitely some personality similarities here between her and me (I'm probably closer to where she's at than you know, even if you think that you know me).  This story I just finished was one of those whodunnit murder mysteries with various characters presented at stages as possible suspects.  The "innocent" angle concerns a man, David Barney,who received a not-guilty verdict after being accused of murdering his wife...a verdict that many around him believe was erroneous.  Now, much like what happened with O.J. Simpson in the mid-1990's, he is having to undergo a wrongful death civil lawsuit trial. The plaintiff is the victim's earlier husband...as well as Kinsey Millhone's client.  The story develops as doubts about her case against Barney keep piling up and others start to look awfully suspicious.  Grafton's story, looking back on it, is pretty complicated.  But she is masterful at telling it (always in the first person from Millhone's point of view) in such a way as not to overburden me, the reader, with information overload.

Now I just have to remember that I read Sue Grafton's "I" book.  I'm thinking, though, of going back to "A" and reading each book in order...even if I already read it before.  It certainly wouldn't be the first time I reread well-written fiction.  Besides, there is, from book to book, a development of Kinsey Millhone's character with changes in her personal life and relationships...changes that make more sense if they are read in chronological (i.e. "alphabetic") order...

Just Finished Reading Stephen King's Revival

I just finished reading Stephen King's latest novel, titled Revival.  Opening with a short excerpt from classic horror fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft, this book definitely goes down the same path he went in so many of his stories.  This, however, isn't so obvious at the beginning...Jamie Morton, a six-year old boy living in Maine (ah, another Stephen King novel set there) who just so happens to be my age, is in the first grade around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis (I remember what I was doing then, too...although I wasn't aware of why we were led out of our South Florida classroom by our teacher one afternoon to line up crouched against the hallway wall with our heads down and our hands covering them).  A new young pastor, Charles Jacobs, has just started work at the family's church and strikes up a friendship with the boy...a friendship that will transform itself in the ensuing years into a curious relationship combining enmity and salvation.  Jacobs is also an amateur tinkerer in electricity, in fact an Edison-like genius in the field, and has discovered a "secret" form of it that has miraculous healing properties...as one of the Jamie's older brothers discovers when he loses his voice from an accident and is taken to him.  But is there a price to be paid for this kind of healing, and where does it lead?  Well, if you've been paying attention, you know that this novel has a lot in common with Lovecraft's horror stories, so you just might guess that there's something or someone "behind the door" and that this isn't going to remain a sentimental, nostalgic tale for very long.  Still, the full impact isn't realized until the end of the novel, an impact that can hit the reader with its force and brutality.  So I guess I'm saying that if you are faint of heart or tend to have nightmares after reading scary stories (and this eventually turns into a very, very scary story), then please avoid Revival.  Still, it is masterfully written and, to me, is one of King's best works...probably his best since his 11/22/63 story a few years ago.  But if you do happen to pick up a copy and start to read it, don't say I didn't warn you...

Ran at the Gym This Morning, Upcoming Races

This morning I went with Melissa to my local gym, which is Gainesville Health and Fitness (the facility at the 4800 block of Newberry Road).  It had been a while since I've gone there...all the way back to October 23rd last year, as a matter of fact.  But this morning, Melissa was going to one of the water aerobics classes there (the eight o'clock one) and I decided to come along and run on the treadmill while she worked out.  I was curious how I would handle running on the treadmill after avoiding it for so many weeks.  It was no problem finding one of the more preferable treadmills on the second floor: the University of Florida is still "off" for the holidays (but not for long) and many of the students who usually would be using the gym were still out of town.  Anyway, I set the machine at my usual 6.7 mph pace and started it up.  To my horror I felt it very difficult to keep up with it and could tell, after running for a little while, that it would be quite a chore to run much longer.  Could there be that much difference between the treadmill and running on the ground/road that a few weeks away from it would cause that effect?  Then it hit me: the incline setting was at "3"...once I lowered it I suddenly felt as if I were running downhill!  The rest of the run went flawlessly while I listened to music on my MP3 player.  I did have to stop after 7.5 miles, though...I ran out of time and didn't want to keep Melissa waiting!  My running for the day continues, though...so far I've amassed a total of 12 miles, with more to come...

The next race for me will be the Ocala Half-Marathon later this month on Sunday, the 25th.  Then in February, depending on how how things go for me and my running in the next few weeks, I'll either do the half-marathon or take a stab at the 26.2 mile marathon in the Five Points races here in Gainesville...

Just Finished Reading Robert Jordan's A Crown of Swords

A few days ago, I ranked the various fantasy series I have read over the years (or am still in process of reading).  Robert Jordan's extremely long The Wheel of Time series was my least favorite, not only because of its length (fourteen volumes), but also for the overly complicated story lines that have developed.  I simply cannot keep up with each character, always seemingly on a trip from one city to another for various arcane reasons...and the cities keep changing hands with their leaders.  I just finished his seventh book, titled A Crown of Swords, and the confusion continues unabated. However...

With The Wheel of Time, I am beginning to learn how to better like this series by not getting myself overwrought about trying to perform the near-impossible task of keeping abreast of everything going on.  Instead, I just sit back and enjoy how each character, with his or her special personality and outlook, experiences and reacts to the proceedings.  This ability for deeply developed characterization is, to me, Jordan's strong point with his writing.  I especially like following the character of Mat Cauthon, one of the main protagonist Rand al'Thor's best friends and someone who isn't caught up with how important he sees himself (unlike many of the other characters).  Since A Crown of Swords features him a lot, that contributed greatly to my enjoyment of the book.

There is a Wheel of Time Wikia on the Internet, but if you haven't yet completed the series, you are susceptible to plot spoilers should you frequent it.  That happened to me when I got on it and did a search on one of the characters...and then suddenly found out about her demise  in a later book and at whose hands...

Three Big College Football Bowl Games Today

There are three college football games that interest me on this New Year's Day, 2015.  One is the Birmingham Bowl featuring Florida against East Carolina.  The other two are obviously the championship playoff games: the Rose Bowl between Oregon and Florida State and the Sugar Bowl between Alabama and Ohio State.  The action begins with the Gators at 1 PM and continues on into the evening with the Sugar Bowl closing it.  I'm sure there are other games as well, but these three actually mean something (at least to me).  Not that I'm going to be sitting in front of the TV transfixed by football all day, mind you...I've got other things to do with my life as well today...

It would be sweet to see the Gators go out on a winning note and finish with a winning 7-5 record.  East Carolina has an incredibly explosive offense, though, and it should be interesting to see how they match up against Florida's good defense.  I'm finally done rooting against FSU this year, meaning that they'll probably lose this game against Oregon!  They just keep winning their games and extending their winning streak and the bigshot talking heads in the sports media keep degrading them and placing them below other teams.  I think their quarterback Jameis Winston has a professional's look about him when he stands behind the center before the snap and scans the defense...reminds me a bit of the Patriot's Tom Brady.  As for the Sugar Bowl game, I instinctively root against Nick Saban, the Alabama coach, anyway, and Ohio State's coach Urban Meyer is coaching the other side.  I'm siding with Meyer and his Buckeyes, largely out of appreciation for what he did when he was at Florida (two national championships)...

CORRECTION: OOOPS, the Birmingham Bowl is set for Saturday, not today...but except for that, the article stands...