Miscellany: Coffee Shop, SCOTUS, Local Weather

Where I work, the policy is for my annual leave accumulation to cap out at a specific number of hours: at year's end any leave I have left over exceeding that cap will disappear...and I found that I needed to taken extra paid days off in order not to lose them.  So here I am in the middle of a three-day weekend, sitting at my nearby donut shop drinking iced coffee and writing this blog article.  Normally I would have been at the national coffee chain store down the road doing the same thing, but they've been behaving in a manner lately unbecoming to a business that purports to value the customer, closing their dining area in an almost random manner while the manager, when it is open with the necessarily limited number of seats due to COVID-19, always seems intent on occupying one of them.  Three times I've gone there recently and they were closed, and three times I've gone there with no available seating: enough is enough, I've crossed over to the "other side"...

The other day I felt compelled to write a "politics" article, something that I had been studiously intent on avoiding during this most disturbing and divisive presidential election campaign season. Yet I felt the topic, concerning Justice Ginsburg's replacement on the US Supreme Court, demanded that I address it.  Concerning a solidly conservative Court after Trump's pick, federal judge Amy Coney Barrett, is almost certainly destined for fast-track Senate confirmation, I have a different perspective than do many of my more liberal friends who are understandably concerned about this body's marked shift in ideology.  Maybe I'll express some of my thoughts in the future...I'm afraid it all might take up much more writing space than I'm accustomed to using in my daily blog articles...

Looks like the weather around my home Gainesville area is on the upswing, with the extreme precipitation, heat and humidity characterizing the previous several weeks diminishing substantially.  The ground throughout my neighborhood had become waterlogged: when stepping on any of it I would literally sink down into the dirt mud.  Now the ground is solid, weather conditions are more bearable, and I'm ready for more outdoor weekend distance runs: today seems like a pretty good day to get out there, so I think I'll "close up shop" here and head for home...     

Miscellany on My Day Off from Work

Today has been a welcome day for me to be off from work...physically resting at home is exactly what I need.  It's been enjoyable to watch some of the TV sports now available, and I've been observing the progress of tropical storms Laura and Marco as they approach the Gulf of Mexico, where both are expected to intensify to the level of Category One hurricanes...and hit land at about the same spot, in Louisiana if the current models hold. And the House of Representatives was holding a special session to debate and vote on funding the postal service and restricting what some regard as political interference in the organization during this presidential election season...as I've mentioned before, I need to write an article laying out my own more detailed opinions on the subject.  But mainly I've enjoyed watching sports...oh, Melissa introduced me to a series that Amazon Prime is showing about "great races"...the episode we watched featured the Pacific island nation of Fiji as the race site, with contestants on various international teams from across the world biking, hiking, swimming, rafting, climbing...you name it, they had to do it. The funny thing I noticed was that the Fijians observing these supercharged athletes in action seemed to have no problem themselves getting around and seemed fitter than the actual contestants...

Anyway, I've been watching sports today, and that includes Mexican Premier League soccer, the NBA playoffs, baseball, hockey, horse racing at Saratoga...speaking of horses yesterday they announced that the Kentucky Derby, postponed because of the pandemic to September 5th, will not be allowing live spectators after all.  And speaking of soccer, I hadn't realized that our Major League Soccer's recently completed playoffs weren't really for the 2020 championship but rather it was all only a prelude to the "real" regular season that has just begun...wow, that's a letdown. Still, I plan to continue following it as long as they keep showing entertaining matches. As for the title of this article, I don't think I've ever used the word "miscellany" before, either in speech or writing, yet I saw the word many times during my childhood: our family regularly read Life magazine and they had a page toward the back called "Miscellany" in which they would feature random topics.  Well, Miscellany is back, at least on this blog...

Assorted Comments Continue

More assorted comments...

--My two favorite football teams from college and the pros, the Florida Gators and Miami Dolphins respectively, surprised me this past weekend with two impressive victories, both highlighted by big plays, ball control, and surging from midway in the third quarter to the game's end.  And both teams have young, relatively inexperienced quarterbacks.  Yes, pretty impressive...

--Oh my gahhh, will this incredibly painful election campaign season EVER be over? I cannot stand watching the news anymore with all of the bull flying around...

--The running is continuing as usual, with me often resorting to creative means to get my daily dose of running in.  And I'm still on target for 100 miles this month, with no break yet in my streak, which stands now at 144 straight running days...

--No, I'm not writing much lately.  But maybe it's better that I draw back a bit instead of writing stuff on a daily basis that I don't have my heart into...

Assorted Short Comments

It's been a little while since I've written on this blog, but I think I'll give it a shot with some short comments on various topics...

--The presidential campaign continues its tedious journey toward the traumatic event (win or lose) on election day when one side claims victory and the other questions the validity of the results, crying foul.  You just know this is coming...

--The University of Florida football team under second-year head coach Will Muschamp has won its first two games, the last one an unexpectedly strong ball-control effort against Texas A&M on the road in the latter's very hostile stadium.  In my personal history of following my favorite teams during their "glory" years, the best teams always had a knack for controlling the ball on offense, and thus the tempo of the game, with long, time-consuming drives.  Being able to consistently get into third-and-short situations and then convert to first down is the hallmark of a true winner.  I'll take that over razzle-dazzle any day...

--I am currently in the process of reading several books at the same time.  They are scattered across my house and in my car.  And some I just read bits of when I stop by a store where they are on the rack.  This is probably not the best strategy in the world for reading, as I have the tendency to forget where I am in a story and what's been going on...

--My running continues as I attempt to reconcile some currently rather turbulent areas in my life with my need for regular routines.  Still, so far I have managed to keep my daily running streak alive, now standing at 133 straight days...

--Today marks the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in this country, and also lies on Tuesday, the same day of the week when they happened.  I wonder, after all this time, how far the rescue technology and procedures have progressed to save those trapped high up in skyscrapers during disasters...

--I was pleasantly surprised a couple of weeks ago when I tuned my radio in to 980/WDVH one evening and discovered they were broadcasting Alan Colmes' radio show.  Finally, at least one liberal radio talk show to stand up against the overwhelming number of conservative shows...

Rooftop Mystique

Today I went back to eastern Orlando with Melissa to help her with a graduate school class project of hers. This entailed us going to her school's main six-story building and making a video. While waiting to use the video room on the sixth floor there, I excused myself for a few minutes and went out into the empty hallway for a few minutes. I walked toward the end of the hall, where there were some tables, chairs, and a window presenting a nice view outside. On the way, though, I noticed a door marked "Stair Access to Roof". I turned the knob and it was unlocked. I picked up an eraser from a nearby whiteboard and used it to keep that door slightly ajar (having seen the movie Thank God It's Friday, I know how possible it is to get locked in stairwells...at least in movies, that is). Then I scurried up the last flight of stairs to the roof. To my surprise, the final door to the outside was unlocked, and I stepped through it. And, it felt, into another world.

Even though this building's roof was relatively clear and flat, I still somehow felt vulnerable being there. Not because I was doing anything illegal: there was nothing I could see prohibiting me from visiting up there. Rather, I was in a completely different type of environment, much more exposed to nature and the reality and hugeness of the surrounding earth and sky: the crest of a tall (for this area) building. I strode over to one of the edges, leaned over, and took a couple of pictures with my Blackberry. After a few minutes up there, I made my way back downstairs.

Walking around on the roof of a six-floor building shouldn't be that big of a deal, but it was for me. There is a kind of unexplainable mystique about it, perhaps akin to reaching the top of a mountain. I just remember it being almost dizzying standing there and wondered to myself how ridiculously excitable I can be at times from simple experiences!