Hurricane Idalia Takes a Detour to Valdosta after Wrecking Gulf Coast

In spite of the dire predictions and projections I'd been seeing for the previous several days about "Invest-93"...later Hurricane Idalia, rising up from its birthplace in the western Caribbean and making a beeline as it intensified for a direct strike on Gainesville as a major hurricane, turns out the storm had different plans as it picked up yesterday and struck Valdosta, Georgia on its way across to the Atlantic Ocean.  To be sure, Idalia caused a lot of flooding and damage up and down the Gulf Coast, but as far as my hometown was concerned, not so much and certainly not to the near-panic level the media was laying out.  Being more or less a creature of routine and habit, I felt put out by all this hurricane fuss, something I would have loved in my youth when I'd have seen all this as an opportunity to escape going to school...but not now.  So back we go to our respective humdrum lives...whoopee!

Taking Brief Blog Break with Hurricane Idalia Approach

As Hurricane Idalia threatens us here in Gainesville with a projected Wednesday landing, I've decided to cool it with blog articles for at least a couple of days...see you (maybe) on Thursday...

Constellations of the Month: Scutum (the Shield) and Serpens Cauda (the Serpent's Tail)

 

Before August ends, I'd better get in another "constellation of the month".  I'm running out of the more prominent northern ones...this time I decided to combine two of them, although technically Serpens Cauda is only half a constellation.  Serpens Cauda, representing a serpent's tail, along with its counterpart Serpens Caput (the head), sandwich the large July constellation Ophiuchus, which plays the role of serpent handler.  But I'd rather group "Cauda" with a neighboring constellation, namely neighboring Scutum, and discuss the snake's other half next June (if I'm still doing this blog feature, that is).  Neither Serpens Cauda nor Scutum are distinguished by any bright stars, although the latter does contain two deep-sky Messier objects, M11 and M26...both open star clusters.  This relatively dim sector of the sky, however, does have two prominent constellations bordering it: Sagittarius to the south and Aquila to the east.  On a clear night, making out the above connected patterns of Serpens Cauda and Scutum should serve as a good vision test...maybe I'll do so myself if these damned tropical storms will just leave me alone.  

Idalia Threatens My Area in Northern Florida Wednesday

Looks sadly like north central Florida is about to be treated to a hurricane in a couple of days.  Idalia developed from an "Invest" system to a tropical depression to a tropical storm in the last few days, hovering around the western Caribbean Sea between Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and western Cuba.  But meteorologists predict it will pick up steam tomorrow and hit the western Florida coast around Cedar Key some time Wednesday morning, by then a hurricane with 90-100 mph sustained winds.  At least we're hoping it doesn't hang around the excessively warm northern Gulf of Mexico waters very long, else it will have time to strengthen to a more lethal level.  The question we here in the Gainesville vicinity are asking is whether Idalia will deal us a direct blow or only strong gusts.  And, naturally, there is also the matter of flash flooding.  No, I'm not looking forward to this...but supposedly by Thursday the storm's brunt will have passed our area and we'll be out inspecting the consequences...

Ran Gainesville's Depot Park 5K This Morning

I could tell this morning that the humidity had drastically dropped when I stepped out of the car at Gainesville's Depot Park, a few blocks south of downtown.  Each Saturday morning they hold a free, volunteer-driven 5K run/walk in this pretty park, starting at 7:30.  You participate by signing up online and they issue you barcodes that you print out and take with you to be scanned...I believe they also have an app you can use on the phone to scan, although I'd rather leave it in the car while I run.  This morning I ran my second straight Depot Parkrun, this experience better than the last because of the lessened mugginess, although the temperature was an unpleasant 77 degrees.  Although it started packed and crammed with runners and walkers, after about a half lap (there are four in the race) it thinned out enough to where I felt comfortable establishing a steady pace.  It was faster than last week's, reflected in my improved finishing time of 31:29...click HERE to view the results.  There were a lot of people here today...120 finishers...and a lot of "first-timers".  I'm looking forward to seeing what I'll do next week...

Quote of the Week...from Gary Player

The more I practice the luckier I get.                                   ---Gary Player

Gary Player was a great golfer during the Arnold Palmer/Jack Nicklaus era of the sixties and seventies when I grew up, and at his prime he was at the top of the game. I picked his above quote because it capsulizes what seems to be the case with any challenging project or endeavor: the more diligently and consistently you work at getting better, then the more scenarios and results will seem to mysteriously materialize as if by "luck".  I think this is partially because of how the brain learns new things and develops its complex neural networks behind the scenes...it certainly applies to language learning as well.  Player also made another quote: "Golf is a puzzle without an answer.  I've played the game for 40 years and I still haven't the slightest idea how to play." At first read that seems strange coming from such a celebrated player in this sport. But although Gary Player is known for his humor and modesty, here I think he's referring to his conscious approach to the game, while so much he takes for granted unconsciously, after all those years of practice and experience, he doesn't have to think about...but you or I would. Still, the bottom line is that no matter how much others might tell you that you've "arrived" in a personal endeavor, there's usually much more beyond that embedded in mystery and wonder.  Maybe that's why I like learning so much... 

PGA Championship Starts Today, Goes Through Sunday

Having followed the Professional Golfers' Association for the past few weeks, more or less, I've come to recognize the biggest names on the tour, as well as a few who have made their mark in recent weeks.  Starting today and lasting through Sunday, it is holding its PGA Championship tournament in Atlanta, Georgia.  Headlining the event are names like Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy.  Also present in the exclusive field of thirty premier golfers are Brian Palmer and Lucas Glover, both seasoned golfers on the tour who just recently established their star credentials with impressive tournament wins, the latter coming out first two weeks in a row.  I will be at work today and tomorrow but come the weekend I will be watching to see who prevails.  Although I like Scheffler and Hovland, my favorites are the upstart underdogs Palmer and Glover.  In any event it should be fun to watch.  I don't play golf, but it seems like a fun activity, that is if you don't get carried away with it.  Maybe I should start to look at getting some inexpensive clubs and persuade Melissa to try it out with me on a nearby course.  Maybe I should check out some instructional videos on YouTube as well to avoid hitting innocent bystanders...

Weekly Short Stories: 1992 Science Fiction, Part 6

Here is another round of reviews of 1992 sci-fi tales appearing in the Gardner Dozois-edited anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Tenth Annual Collection.  At that time...and for years before and after...I mentioned before that I worked essentially an early morning graveyard shift at the post office processing plant here in Gainesville.  Also, during this time I often rode my bicycle the nearly eight miles to work and back, something that I would never do these days...not because of the physical demands but rather because I've grown to distrust other drivers with their myriad sources of distractions when they're supposed to be focused on the road (and my very vulnerable presence on the side).  But back to those stories...

THE ELVIS NATIONAL THEATER OF OKINAWA by Jonathan Lethem and Lukas Jaeger

A futuristic story, as are so many in this genre, it's also brief, but to the point. It distills what we see in our current popular media culture of celebrities into the absurdity of elevating shock over artistic substance. A musical band seeking recognition thinks its big moment has arrived, only to find itself shunted aside by an influential agent who only sees a future in one of its quirky members.

THE TERRITORY by Bradley Denton

This is an alternative history story about the passage through the American Civil War of perhaps our best-known writer, Samuel Clemons...who later wrote under the pseudonym Mark Twain.  There is a crucial moment when "our" history changes and it involves the fate of Clemens' brother Orion as they face the marauding Kansas Redlegs.  The story to me was true to Sam Clemens' incredible sardonic wit and theorized that sometimes alternate scenarios can return to their original paths, more or less.  I enjoyed it...

THE BEST AND REST OF JAMES JOYCE by Ian MacLeod

Four years ago, I read Irish writer James Joyce's chief defining work, Ulysses...click on the title to read my reactions.  Subsequently I picked up a copy of his later piece Finnegans Wake and was instantly befuddled.  Joyce likes to present "stream of consciousness" narratives, if you can call them narratives, and this can be difficult for the reader who is trying to discern what is real and what is imagined. This story by MacLeod puts Joyce the artist in an array of alternative history universes...with time travel thrown in for good measure just to complicate things further.  In one passage the United Kingdom isn't in northern Europe but just off the coast of Africa, in another it's been at war against Tsarist Russia for more than a century.  Joyce for his part slips in and out of different roles, one as a physicist on a dirigible and another as a popular poetic recording artist fusing the hip Moroccan music scene with Irish traditions...it's all a little too much to take. My suggestion: read this story like you would one of James Joyce's novels and just try to flow with it all...it may be all you can do with it...

Next week I conclude my look at the year 1992 in short science fiction...  

Physical Therapy and My Reactions

Over the course of my adult life, I have had the occasion to use the physical therapy services provided by UF Health on three different occasions.  In 2003, after I strained my right shoulder trying to change a flat tire, I went to their office at Magnolia Parke off NW 39th Avenue and submitted to their plan, which largely involved resistance training with plastic bands...very low tech and portable.  Then, following my open-heart surgery in 2021 in which my chest was literally sawed through and then fastened to fuse back together, I had to regain upper body strength and movement...for this they sent a physical therapist to my home.  He worked out yet another low-tech program of both upper and lower body exercises designed to restore flexibility and strength, and I use it to this day, incorporating elements into my stretching and exercise routine.  My latest foray into the world of physical therapy is ongoing, a product of my lower back spasms back in June.  Once again, I am back at the physical therapy office, but this time around the program seems to be more athletically oriented, with me working out on exercise machines that I have to go to my gym to access.  Now I am a member of a local gym, but it's not the easiest place to get to and it's usually pretty crowded, too, while the ever-changing machines I'm referred to are hard to find among the many types they have there.  I appreciate my physical therapist's knowledge of what needs to be strengthened with me in order to avoid further problems, but at the same time wonder whether he couldn't fashion a varied routine that I could more easily practice at home without all the fancy equipment.  Also, with my current regimen everything seems to change each time I go there...that, I understand, is called "progression", but it's difficult to keep on track with what I'm supposed to be doing from one week to the next.  Oh well, I have just a few more weeks of this...I'll go along with the program but think I'll suggest a more convenient and enduring set of exercises that I can more readily perform at home...

Podcaster Rob Dial Discusses Ways to Deal with Stress and Anxiety

On a recent Mindset Mentor podcast, personal development coach Rob Dial cited the Mayo Clinic's "Four A's" to deal with anxiety, expanding upon each of them.  As Dial says, stressful situations are a natural part of living and in today's time of accelerating information, the Internet and smartphones, it is only going to intensify.  Stress in itself isn't bad, but rather the anxiety it can produce.  How to get around it? Dial points to the Mayo Clinic's suggestions, explaining that you go through each "A" in order to meet the situation.  They are Avoid, Alter, Accept and Adapt.  First, if you can avoid unwelcome stressful situations, then by all means do so.  If that isn't possible, then try to alter the worst parts of the situation to make it more manageable.  If you still don't get relief, then try to accept what is going on, and ask yourself whether your resistance to it isn't contributing in large part to your anxiety while feeling forgiveness toward anyone playing a role in it.  Finally, if you're still experiencing anxiety-producing stress, then consider adapting by changing yourself and your attitude toward it all, asking yourself why it is causing such trouble and working to see it in a more positive light.  Dial also recommends starting a personal stress management journal, writing down about such situations you may encounter and your strategies and progress for dealing with them.  Concluding his show, he added that practicing mindfulness of your present physical surroundings can aid in interrupting the ongoing pattern of stress and allow you to refocus in a more positive way.  Ultimately, it's all a matter of breaking things down to more manageable habits of thinking and action.  I thought it was one of his better podcasts...

Just Finished Reading Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

Our Missing Hearts, the 2022 novel by Celeste Ng, is the third book I've read of hers since Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You...click on the titles to read my previous reviews on this blog. In this latest work of hers, it is sometime in the near future in an America painfully recovering from an abrupt economic downtown as Chinese people are unfairly targeted as scapegoats for the crisis. And a new set of repressive laws, P.A.C.T., has been enacted that justify discrimination and censorship against Asian-Americans, even to the point of the government taking away their children as punishment for dissent.  It's a dreary, heartbreaking world as young Bird, a little boy whose mother Margaret, a Chinese-American dissident poet, has protected him from being taken away by leaving him and his father.  But Bird wants to find her, and she leaves a clue that he follows with the aid of his local librarian, a sympathizer to the resistance.  It became quickly clear to me not far into the book that this story is a combined reaction by Ng to (1) the way after 9/11 that Muslims and Middle Eastern people in America were often stigmatized following that traumatic event, and (2) the tendency for China...and by irrational inference, Chinese people in general...to be blamed for the Covid-19 pandemic that broke out in 2020.  The big difference as I see it between the two is that the American president at the time of 9/11, George W. Bush, took great pains to prevent any kind of bigoted reactions while during Covid, then-president Donald Trump made a repeated point of scapegoating China and the Chinese.  It's very clear that Celeste Ng, of Chinese ancestry but born and raised here in the United States, had a message to convey regarding what is ultimately not just an American problem with prejudice and scapegoating but a human problem of which history over the ages has provided extensive examples.  Yes, it's a depressing tale, this book, and I'm afraid that just about every society on Earth has elements within it that will gladly trample on someone else's rights because of their own fears and willful ignorance.  I didn't enjoy reading Our Missing Hearts, but I don't think that was the author's intention anyway...

Ran Gainesville's Weekly Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

This morning I somehow got out of bed early and make my way to Gainesville's pretty Depot Park, a few blocks south of downtown.  There they hold their weekly Saturday morning 5K (3.1 miles) Parkrun, which is free and volunteer-run, having originated from England which is loaded with such events.  It's the 20th time I have participated in it since 2019, running the four-lap course 19 times and walking it once.  And it's the first time I've been there in two months, due mainly to successive lower back and illness issues.  The weather at race time (7:30) wasn't very hospitable, but being in the middle of summer I wasn't surprised: 75 degrees and 85% humidity.  They had a higher number of participants than usual, and I always like seeing more "seasoned" elderly athletes there like I did this morning.  I decided to run this one and finished 38th in the crowd with a time of 32:52: a good finish considering the unpleasant warmth and mugginess.  On the drive back home, I decided to cut closer to the University of Florida campus, where I saw a number of students moving into their respective apartments for the upcoming term...that has to be exciting for them!  Yesterday I was entertaining the notion of spending this morning down in the Ocala area...Baseline Trailhead Park off SE 58th Avenue to be exact...where they regularly hold (NOT free) races of 5K, 10K and half-marathon distances.  Although the course there is a there-and-back path, repeated to fit the distance and might seem a little tedious, this is still a good way to get in a half-marathon.  Only I don't think I'd run it during the summer...no, I'd like to try walking the distance at an elevated pace.  And then I thought, why not first try it on my already created training course around my neighborhood?  So that's my upcoming goal, to do just that.  You can see the online posted results of today's Depot Parkrun by clicking HERE...

Quote of the Week...from Dean Karnazes

To call running "fun" would be a misuse of the word.  Running can be "enjoyable". Running can be "rejuvenating." But in a pure sense of the word, running is not fun.                  ---Dean Karnazes

Dean Karnazes is a popular ultra-long-distance runner and has extensively publicized the sport. The above quote is from his autobiographical book Marathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner, which I bought on my Kindle. The setting is his first-ever ultra race, the Western States Endurance Run of 100 miles.  Not one who even remotely sees covering this type of distance for myself...even on a bicycle...I tend to take Dean's philosophical ramblings and apply them to shorter distances...much shorter distances, but still distance running all the same.  And he's right about running not being fun although I think he's a little nit-picky about distinguishing that from "enjoyable".  All the same, it's an activity more than a sport to me, although I have entered a number of races since I resumed running in 2007 at age 51. Dean Karnazes in his book describes how he would train in the wee hours of the morning running out on the streets, past businesses and through neighborhoods.  Now in this world full of busybody "Karens", skittish armed residents and near-vigilante neighborhood watchers I'm not about to try to emulate that early morning routine of Karnazes, in spite of the fact that in this foul, excessively hot and humid stretch of the summer, at least weather-wise that would be the best time to run.  No, I think I'll continue to train indoors, at the gym, and in broad daylight whenever I do venture down a neighborhood street.  I'm still running, though, and continue to derive inspiration...as well as amusement...from Dean Karnazes' compelling personal story...  

My Own Take on Ukraine, for What It's Worth

Just a brief piece here on the war in Ukraine, a full-blown invasion by Putin's Russia (with the help of Lukaschenko's Belarus) since February of last year.  I get the Russian leadership's problem with a large, instrumental part of the previous Soviet Union...broken up in 1991 after a failed military coup...now an independent nation outside the realm of its control.  A very large component of the former USSR's economy was in Ukraine, both agriculture and industry...as well as many Russians themselves. The political landscape there was evenly divided between pro-Russian parties and those favoring closer ties to western Europe to the point that Putin felt he could try to manipulate outcomes of elections.  When that ultimately failed, he invaded Crimea...initially a part of Russia proper until Soviet boss Khrushchev assigned it to Ukraine in the 1950s...and instigated armed revolts in the country's eastern sections.  It is those areas that Russia has succeeded in occupying and holding on to, already annexing them and insisting that they regard any recovery of land there by Ukraine as an invasion...talk about the pot calling the kettle black!  Russia to me...and I am only referring to the autocratic government behind the invasion of Ukraine, not Russia or Russians in general...is completely responsible for this war in which their military has targeted civilian sites like apartments, hospitals and schools.  Still, the two countries will always be neighbors and I want them to arrive at a cease-fire arrangement that will allow their people to resume a peaceful and civil life.  Right now, whenever I read that someone or some country has proposed a plan to end the conflict, almost immediately they receive a torrent of criticism from different sources.  As for me, I think that blessed are the peacemakers, but often it's the ones trying to break up the fight who end up with no appreciation for their efforts.  The only viable outcome for this, in my opinion (and you're free to disagree, but that's your opinion) will be an accord that ultimately neither side is very happy with, folks on both ends afterwards rising up to claim that it is a betrayal of their own side's interests...

Weekly Short Stories: 1992 Science Fiction, Part 5

It's Wednesday again, time for yet another look at bygone years in the realm of short stories as I continue my look at the year 1992 and the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Tenth Annual Collection.  That year our firstborn child, Will, was a toddler, turning two that spring...it was a pleasant chore loading up the car with all his assorted "furniture" for short excursions to relatives and the beach.  At work I was entrenched on the graveyard "Tour 1" shift at the post office, working their flat sorting machine.  And Steve Spurrier was beginning to hit his stride as Florida Gators football coach, on his eventual way to five Southeastern Conference championships.  But back to those stories...

THE LAST CARDINAL BIRD IN TENNESSEE by Neal Barrett, Jr.

This is a short piece, presented in the form of a play that mostly likely will never be performed.  A family is living in a future society based on high tech, but that technology has long run down while the people left over don't seem capable or willing to fix it.  The wife, her incapacitated husband and a friend dominate the dialogue...they display ignorance, prejudice, and the kind of downward-spirally adaptative behavior to their circumstances that, frankly, I see all around me these days.  Kind of chilling, actually...

BIRTH DAY by Robert Reed

Artificial intelligence one day in the story's not-so-distant past had united on Earth and transformed itself into an entity and force far beyond its original creators' ability to comprehend...and now humanity is living the consequences.  Sounds like Terminator or Matrix, right? But no, it is benevolent toward all of us, and to demonstrate that annually, it holds its own "Birth Day" celebration by providing on that date everyone with their own personal hearts' desires.  When I consider how Alexa, online search and social media algorithms and other contemporary manifestations of a budding AI, another chill envelopes me...

NAMING NAMES by Pat Cadigan

This tale treats the notion...going back to the yarn Rumpelstiltskin by Jacob Grimm of long ago, that each of us has a secret, true name, and that were another able to discover it then they would have complete control over us.  A woman with such an ability to extract others' secret names learns that her father possessed the same skill and that her mother, now his adversary, wants to lead her to confront him.  As this story progresses, the author inserts another idea, which I think is profound: that which you attain mastery over may well attain its own kind of mastery over you...

Next week, more sci-fi from '92...

Podcaster Lays Out Ideas for Focusing and Being More Productive

Personal development coach Rob Dial's latest Mindset Mentor podcast was about unlocking productivity and creating focus.  This is a recurring theme of his, and one that tends to attract my attention...so here goes.  He says that focus is saying yes for a set period of time to ONE thing while saying no to everything else.  In other words, eliminate distractions.  There's a lot of common sense distilled in Dial's message, which he breaks down to seven items: (1) remove your distractions, (2) prioritize your to-do list, (3) break down your large tasks into smaller tasks, (4) focus on your progress, (5) get enough sleep, (6) stay hydrated, and (7) take breaks.  I could do better with all of these...yet it's the first one, removing distractions, that is my most difficult.  There are two kinds of distractions as I see them, internally or externally imposed.  If I have the TV on in the background while I'm trying to study or write, then that's something I'm doing to myself.  If I'm around other people and haven't effectively communicated my own boundaries about my temporary need to be free of their interruptions, then that's on me as well.  Still, in those situations, distractions, however minor they may seem, can wreck concentration and focus and markedly set back progress.  Rob Dial is a big opponent of multi-tasking, which he claims greatly diminishes the value of any directed activity. I agree if they are similar in nature, but something like, say, running or walking while listening to an audiobook shouldn't cause any problem.  Better though, to focus on the one thing, as the Australian rock group INXS once sang about more than forty years ago...

Gloveless Glover Wins FedEx St. Jude Golf Championship Sunday

Yesterday I enjoyed watching the FedEx/St. Jude PGA golf tournament, held in Memphis, Tennesse. In it Lucas Glover, a 43-year-old veteran of the circuit for decades without many victories to show for it, overcame the putting difficulties of his previous years and won his second straight tournament.  I was rooting for him to succeed, although it did get a bit "old" for me to repeatedly hear announcers bring up his age...I'm 23 years older!  But I get it, this is sports, and when you start getting into your late thirties, folks begin to diminish your future prospects for success.  The course at Memphis is loaded with water traps that tend to destroy golfers' rounds...yet even the best of them can't seem to be able to realize this when they're driving the ball.  Glover ended the regulation 72 holes yesterday evening tied with Patrick Cantlay for the lead.  On the very first sudden death hole, Cantlay drove his shot straight into the water, pretty much handing the tourney to his more methodical and cautious opponent.  I was impressed more than anything at Lucas Glover's consistency from hole to hole...it reminded me of how Brian Palmer managed to run away with the (British) Open a few weeks ago while his more known competitors floundered on the course with their mistakes.  I'm looking forward to next weekend, for I am not only a fan of the men's PGA regular circuit but also of the second-tier Korn Ferry tournaments, the seniors' "Champions" tour, and the LPGA. Go golf! By the way, the temperatures in Memphis yesterday mirrored that here in Gainesville.  Glover, who in spite of his name doesn't wear gloves while golfing, had to repeatedly dunk his hands in ice as he struggled to withstand the hot conditions...

Walked a "Hot" Neighborbood 5K This Evening

It's been an incredibly hot summer, and the heat doesn't seem to be letting up.  I haven't run much outdoors during the past few months...yesterday I even skipped the weekly free local 5K race because it was 80 degrees and 93% humidity at just past 6:00 AM.  Today I decided to go on a fast walk at sunset around my neighborhood, for just a little more than a 5K distance.  Only problem was that, at 7:40 PM with shadows draping everything outdoors, the temperature was a staggering 98 (heat index of 106), with at least a reasonably dry humidity of 41%.  I walked a fast (for me) pace for the duration...my Runkeeper phone app recorded my record of 3.23 miles covered in 51 minutes, 2 seconds...a 15:49 minutes/mile pace, much slower than the treadmill walks I have been doing at my gym.  But treadmills usually give you faster times, and the indoor, cooled temperature there is usually around 70.  So, I'm happy with this effort and plan to try inserting more neighborhood fast walks into my schedule, and for longer distances when the time permits.  In any event, I don't think I'm as susceptible to the heat as some others are, although I wasn't about to run my neighborhood course under these conditions.  As it was, I felt good for this entire walk although the heat was clearly evident...

Skipped Today's Depot Parkrun Because of Mugginess and Heat

This morning I got up at six and took the dog out in the backyard to do her stuff, checking to see my cellphone confirm what I was already experiencing with the weather: it was 80 degrees with 93% humidity...ugh! I had intended to drive down to Depot Park just south of downtown Gainesville to participate in yet another of their free weekly 5K "parkruns", but experience has taught me that distance running over such a temperature/humidity combination is a formula for disaster. So, after I brought Daisy back into the house, I went back to bed...incidentally sleeping for another four hours. In retrospect, though, I probably should have gone anyway and just walked the course.  And walking is something I'd like to do more and more of, whether I'm just going around the neighborhood or doing a race.  Since it doesn't seem like it's going to get cooler around here anytime soon, I think that's a prudent move on my part...although I can still run within my nice, air-conditioned house or at my local gym until things get more tolerable outdoors.  Well, as far as the Depot Parkrun is concerned, there's always next week.  Yes, I really should get out there on Saturday mornings and make a habit of covering the distance, be it by running, walking...or crawling...

Quote of the Week...from Jimmy Conway in the movie Goodfellas

You learned the two greatest things in life: never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.             ---Jimmy Conway (played by Robert Deniro) in the movie Goodfellas

Goodfellas is one of my favorite gangster movies, right up there just behind The Godfather.  In it, young Henry Hill, the narrator character, says that ever since he could remember he always wanted to be a gangster.  Working for a local mafia group, one day he gets arrested, jailed, and appears before a judge...with his boss's lawyer standing at his side.  Released, Henry expects to be rebuked for having been arrested, but instead everyone...including the Head Honcho (played by Paul Sorvino), celebrates and congratulates him: why?  Well, Hill's mentor in organized crime, Conway, explains it in the above line: the young lad didn't rat, and he kept his mouth shut.  Later in the film a grown-up Ray Liotta plays the narrator character...a sterling performance, along with those of Deniro and Joe Pesci.  For me, you don't necessarily have to be in a criminal gang for the above "code" to apply...to partially steal Hill's line, ever since I can remember there have been at least two "societies" with their respective rules: the official one where official authority figures like schoolteachers and police enforce the official rules and laws, and the other societies under the surface that others dominate to circumvent the official society.  To get "in" one needs a connection and an invitation...and once you're in, then you'd better follow their code because they have their own means of enforcement, and it usually doesn't involve due process.  I've never been one to follow either the straight or crooked paths, so with me regarding underground or underworld groups, ignorance is bliss although it's intuitively evident that there's something else underlying the aboveground social order.  I see an analogy in the science fiction Matrix movie series: the Matrix is everywhere: it's where you work, shop, go to church, go to school...even when you pay your taxes.  I believe there are a lot of people who crave that kind of connection and, when they are in a new social setting, quickly set out to find the "cool" people in order to get "in".  But not me: I think I'll just remain an individual and flow with the passing scene...and keep my mouth shut...

Back to Gym

After months untold of not availing myself of my local gym, back in May I resolved to make a determined point of getting out there following work (I get off at 10 PM) and spending a few minutes on the treadmill and occasionally the elliptical cross-trainer.  And I was pretty good about going there, too, resisting the temptation to just continue homeward and crash in front of the television. My main focus was building up my walking speed, as I am advancing in years (I will be 67 in October) and although I like to run long distances, I'm thinking that perhaps it would be better on my joints to mix in more low-impact walking with my running.  I was successful at that, getting a sustainable walking pace of 5 mph (12-minute mile) before two different health issues sidelined me from vigorous physical activity.  But now I am back in business again, Tuesday night using my Gainesville Health and Fitness gym after work and easily walking 1.6 miles on the treadmill at a more relaxed 4.4 mph pace. I plan to devote Tuesdays and Thursdays to gym visits, along with a resumption of my Saturday morning 5K racing at the Parkrun in Depot Park just south of downtown.  One observation that hit me hard while at the gym last night: everyone there was very, VERY young and I was the only one around my age.  I know that women have the option with GHF of using another location specifically designed for them: I don't suppose they could set aside some space somewhere for old folks like me...

Weekly Short Stories: 1992 Science Fiction, Part 4

Below are four more reviews of mine as I read through the 1992 sci-fi short story anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Tenth Annual Collection, edited by the late Gardner Dozois. In 1992 I was working at the post office in the "graveyard shift" processing flats (magazines and 8½ x 11 envelopes) on the flat sorter machine, both to specific Gainesville routes according to the addresses or to other offices in the area.  I liked this work, because it gave me the change to spend long stretches of time learning and reviewing different subjects of interest, and I also dug listening a bit to music, with Rock 104 being my favorite station that time.  I'm still working in the same building, but have things changed! But anyway, back to those stories...

 

THE GLOWING CLOUD by Steven Utley

This is a brilliant time travel story set during the days of the 1902 eruption of the volcano Mount Pelée on the West Indies island of Martinique.  The time traveler there from the future is on a mission to find and bring back a fellow time traveler, a fallen renegade.  During his ordeals on Martinique, he not only has to deal with his target, but also his missing companion on the assignment.  And of course, there is the volcano, spewing ash and rocks all over the area, ruining everything they touch, killing off the birds and livestock in the process.  The exact date and time of the most fatal part of the eruption is, of course, history to our hero...unfortunately the island's inhabitants, especially the local politicians in charge, are completely clueless regarding their grim fate.  A suspenseful, historically enlightening novella...

GRAVITY'S ANGEL by Tom Maddox

Set in a contemporary time in the American southwest, a supercollider has a full docket of projects for it.  But a woman physicist from a competing organization sneaks in a special one of her own design, regarding the creation of a singularity, and that's when the mayhem truly begins.  A good commentary on the economics of scientific research as well as the glass ceiling for women who make key discoveries but are denied proper recognition...

PROTECTION by Maureen F. McHugh

This story paints a dismal picture of a leftist totalitarian state taking over America, with criminals and political dissidents sent to "re-education" concentration camps much in the old Soviet and Chinese style of the previous century.  A woman inmate, uneducated and sent there for assault and petty thievery, befriends a man incarcerated for his political work.  It becomes clear that the authorities need information from him, which he refuses to divulge.  For me, it's always been assumed that this kind of future scenario would come from the political left, but I sadly see a large growth of authoritarian fascism from the right in recent years...regardless whichever direction you're looking, it's all ultimately a human failure...

Next week: more about science fiction short stories from 1992...

Podcaster Steve Kaufmann's Compelling Views on Language Learning

Podcaster Steve Kaufmann, a 77-year old polyglot who has learned 20 languages, often has some good advice about learning foreign languages.  He stresses the need to build up a vast passive vocabulary of known words in whatever the target language happens to be...that Babbel commercial showing the woman proudly given directions to the Parisien taxi driver just won't cut it in real conversation.  Although some 80% of the words in a spoken language tend to arise from just 20% of its words, both Steven and I can guarantee you that you won't get very far in a regular conversation with a native speaker if you just know that 20%.  When I worked many decades ago at a local Chinese restaurant, much of its kitchen was staffed by Vietnamese people, several of whom I befriended. I decided to try to learn a little Vietnamese then and could engage in some conversation with them as we worked.  Of course, the big pressing need here was for them to learn...and quickly...how to speak English, and our talking was overwhelmingly in MY native language, for their sakes.  Kaufmann reiterates this important point of engaging with a native speaker of another language, especially if it takes place in their country.  According to his experiences, he must already be at a reasonably proficient level in that foreign language, else the native speaker may well revert to English if it is the best means for communication.  And many people across the world want to practice their English on travelers!  Kaufmann often exhorts people not to be so concerned about being perfect in their speaking efforts with others...communication is the goal, and you will make many mistakes, there's no getting around that.  But the flip side is that whoever you're trying to speak with in the foreign language may decide that the mistakes are too many.  For me, "speaking" a foreign language has never been my primary goal, but rather being able to fully understand it when I hear it, along with reading fluency.  What I like about Steve Kaufmann is that his expert observations over the years affirm my own: build up that large passive vocabulary first.  And if conversation opportunities arise, then fine: take advantage of them but don't let your speaking ability at any given time define your progress for you...

Podcaster Has Good Advice on Developing Good Habits and Skills

Last week in one of his Mindset Mentor podcasts, personal development coach Rob Dial touched upon a topic that he's covered in the past, and one that I've come to strongly believe in.  The importance of consistency in small things...establishing little by little the habits I want to develop in order to improve my life cannot be understated.  Dial suggests something he calls the "30-30" rule: take the next thirty days and focus on one specific habit to instill, devoting a pre-set thirty-minute block of time to it.  And then thirty days later, pick another desired habit to work on the next thirty days.  He doesn't recommend me loading my schedule up with multiple thirty-minute blocks...no...one habit at a time.  Dial says to select ONE specific skill or habit to work on and determine the resources I need to obtain in order to successfully pursue it.  I get his focus to avoid overloading the mind, but I already have a pretty elaborate routine of short daily activities in a multitude of areas...this doesn't mean that I will abandon working on them to just do one thing.  But yes, identifying one NEW area to work on improving and picking up good habits with it...the "new thing of the month" so to speak, makes a lot of sense.  Rob Dial also emphasizes keeping daily records of my level of progress, helping both to direct my focus better and to hold me more accountable to myself: I already do this.  He adds to this the importance of not being perfect all the time in what I do, but rather to "show up" whether I'm having a good or bad day.  Yeah, this particular podcast resonated with me.  As for podcasts in general, I consistently keep up with two programs, Dial's and Steve Kaufmann's.  Kaufmann is the polyglot who has a lot of sound, practical advice about language learning, and whose learning site LingQ I've subscribed to and faithfully study on a daily basis.  What podcasts do you like to regularly follow?

Enjoying Watching Golf on TV

During the last four days one of my "activities" has been to watch television coverage of different golf tournaments taking place at the time.  There were three: the Women's Scottish Open, usually presented live in the morning (my time), the Wyndham Championship Men's tourney from Greensboro, North Carolina, and finally the Utah Championship in the Korn Ferry tournament (professional golf's version of a minor league).  In all three I enjoyed how the different golfers tackled the holes with their strategies and felt a kind of peace watching the game that I don't experience watching team sports or even individual contests like tennis.  Like I've written before, I have never played actual golf...only the miniature variety.  One thing about golf: the best players seem to need a lot of careful instruction and nurturing from childhood, and this doesn't come cheap.  I'd like to try my hand at the game, but I don't think that at my age (66) with a recent history of back muscle spasms, I'd get very far: better to stick with the miniature circuit!  But this doesn't prevent me from enjoying watching others play golf.  Not only do I like seeing the same players from week to week, but I dig the different locales and the surrounding scenery.  During the recent (British) Open held just south of Liverpool that Georgian Brian Palmer won going away, the course design couldn't have looked more different than what the golfers went through this weekend in North Carolina.  Next week the PGA will hold its annual FedEx Cup Championship, this year at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.  The bigger names in the men's sport have been noticeably absent from today's action, but I'm sure they'll all be there for the "big" one...

Blog is Back, Vacation Good But Not as Planned

As my two-week vacation winds down...initially planned as an ambitious out-of-state (and country) excursion...Melissa and I find ourselves content with staying here in Gainesville.  We both experienced very untimely illness at its onset and had to cancel those plans, which we intend to follow through with at some future date.  Yet recovery has been good for both of us, and I am looking forward to resuming my active lifestyle at its previous level.  And yes, the blog is back after a two-week break from it...