15 Kilometer Race

This morning I ran the 15 kilometer race in the Climb for Cancer Tri-Distance run held here in Gainesville. The course went around Haile Plantation, an upscale residential community southwest of the city and which featured its own little upscale shopping center, called Haile Village Center. It was here that the race began and ended. The weather for the race, which started at 8, was perfect: clear and very mild in the low fifties with a light breeze.

The registration went smoothly, and I received with it my complimentary Climb for Cancer Tri-Distance Run tee shirt, light tote bag, and race timing chip. There were stands around offering water, Gatorade, tangerines, apples, and bananas. Before the race began, I walked around the "village" but didn't see what I really wanted at the time, which was a coffee shop. Oh well. Maybe there was one there and I missed it (I usually don't run this early in the morning and I like my coffee).

My goal for this race was to improve on my pacing, keeping it around 9:00 per mile. I expected to still finish in the bottom half of the overall standings, but kept in mind that at 53 I was one of the older runners there and was definitely ready to cover this distance competitively.

When the race began, we were all bunched up together and had to work around each other before we could establish our own preferred individual paces. Once there was more room, though, I was able to hover around 9:00 for the duration of the race. There were times, though (other than the race's start) when my pace slowed too much for me. It always seemed to happen when I was grouped with other runners. For some reason, their pacing slowed me down.

The course itself was 5K long. 10K runners did two laps and 15K three. Near the end of the first lap, I found myself in an irritating situation by being close to some 5K runners, with me first passing them and then them passing me. And then them tiring and slowing down, boxing me in. Eventually though, their race ended and only we 10K and 15K runners were left. Then it became more fun.

Throughout the final lap, all I did was pass other runners and slightly speed up. At race's end, I felt as if I were almost sprinting. I finished the 15K run with a time of 1:23:55 at exactly a 9:00 pace, precisely the result I wanted! Here are the race results, furnished by altavistasports.com, which was the company that was in charge of timing the race.

Recovery after the race was easy and fast. The race organizers and volunteers presented awards and medals for top overall finishers and top age group finishers for men and women. I got a second-place medal for the "men's 50-54" group (there were only two in the category). I didn't really like having to hang around to receive an award; I liked it more in February's Five Points of Life half-marathon when they presented me (and all other finishers) a participation medal immediately after I crossed the finish line. But I guess some runners prefer the individual attention and recognition.

I have run in a race longer than 5K for each of the past two months. I wonder if I can keep this going for April. I'll have to check out what's going on in this region for the weeks to come.

Full Circle Stuff

The year has come around full circle and once again we are presented with a Saturday of "free beer" (only costing $30 up front) and a local church with an apparent continuing "mission from God" to offend.

Tomorrow afternoon I need to avoid the Magnolia Parke shopping center where I am now sitting sipping coffee as their ridiculous annual "free" beer-tasting festival will be held in the currently-empty field at which I am currently gazing. The parking lots around here will be packed and there will be a long line of people prepared to shell out dough to sample different types of beer. Whoopee. And I suppose we'll get another stupid article about it in my often worthless Gainesville Sun newspaper. Probably once again quoting some fool extolling the "free beer".

Down the road a ways and a couple of turns later, the Dove World Outreach Center has put its tax-exempt status in jeopardy. Not only has it been running a for-profit furniture store on its property, but now it has posted on its property a sign stating "No Homo for Mayor", referring to the fact that candidate and current city commissioner Craig Lowe happens to be gay. Since our law makes tax-exemption for churches subject to them staying out of electoral politics, this is a blatant infringement that should cause them to have to pay their fair share for city services. It's not a First Amendment issue, either: as a private citizen I can speak my mind as well, and I have my share of taxes!

And also, once again the Climb-for-Cancer 5K, 10K, and 15K runs are to be held, taking place tomorrow morning. Last year I preregistered, paying in advance and even picking up my race packet complete with tee shirt, timing chip, and assorted coupons. And then skipped out on the actual race due to the facts that (1) I didn't feel good and (2) I had doubts about being able to cover the distance I had registered for (15K, about 9.3 miles). Covering that distance now is a "yawner" for me. This year, I didn't preregister, instead opting to appear at 7 AM tomorrow and signing up then. Climb-for-Cancer's registration website has a feature that I find objectionable. In order to sign up for the race, besides paying the up-front fee, one had to commit to a fundraising goal of at least $100 in order for the registration to go through. I had never seen this degree of arm-twisting with online registration, in spite of the fact that virtually all of the races I have participated in during the past two years were in essence fundraisers for charitable causes. So I'm wondering whether they will try something similar when I try to register in person. Not that raising $100 is inherently bad, you see. But I just dislike the manipulative nature of what they're doing. I even e-mailed their director and tactfully explained my objections without ever receiving any reply. Also not good. So I'm going into this race with low expectations from this organization. Still, if I can just run the race and get my finishing time, it should be a fun experience. I would have preferred to be heading to Knoxville to participate in their marathon on March 28, but I was neither physically prepared yet for a marathon nor logistically prepared with the travel and limited time.

GOP in 2010: 1994 or 1964?

There has been a great deal of comparison lately between the political situation nowadays in the first (and now second) year of a new Democratic administration, along with a Congress run by that party. Tough issues, most notably health care reform, are once again being addressed, and the Republican opposition, as before, has been fierce. In the 1994 congressional elections, the GOP, under the banner of representative Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America" swept itself into the legislative majority of both houses. In this fall's elections, there are similar hopes (or fears, depending on which side you are on). But there is an added element to this year's election that may complicate the Republicans' aspirations this year.

The Tea Party movement, an extreme right-wing political movement based partially on corporate-fed right-wing talk radio and television, partially on sour grapes on the part of the losers of the 2008 election, and partially on the paranoid, racist, and anti-Semitic conspiracist/militia movement that has been festering in this country for the past couple of decades, threatens to knock off more moderate Republicans in their party's primary elections. Even John McCain may be defeated in his senatorial reelection bid, not by the Democrats but by his own party. Should teabaggers run directly against Democrats in the general election, the Dems should have the upper hand for most of the contests. This should help to offset other Democratic losses caused by their declining general popularity over the past year and a half.

We have already witnessed an event of this nature, when a New York congressional seat held by the Republicans for decades went Democratic because a teabagger independent candidate siphoned off votes from the official GOP candidate. If the Republicans become more hard-line right wing, the scenario may be more like that of 1964, when Barry Goldwater's conservative wing took over the party and drove the more moderate and liberal elements to the sidelines. And that year, the GOP suffered one of its worst electoral defeats ever.

In 1994, the Democrats were caught off guard by the Republican surge. I remember the astonishment as the election results poured in that year. This year, they have plenty of advance warning. Prepare yourself for a political media blitz (from both sides), the likes of which have never before been witnessed!

Health Care Reform Passed & Signed

On Sunday, the House of Representatives passed (again) the health care reform bill. Later this week, the Senate will pass it (again). And our president has just signed the House bill. All after a very ugly, protracted media campaign in which incivility and paranoia in political discourse reached new extremes. After the House passage, Fox News extreme right-winger (of many there) Glenn Beck compared the health care reform passage to past historic disasters like the Hindenburg crash, Chamberlain's peace treaty with Hitler, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Wait, I think Beck's on board with nuking 200,000 people!

Already several states are filing lawsuits claiming that the bill is unconstitutional by mandating that citizens purchase health insurance. I initially had similar concerns, but after reading the opinions of a few legal scholars, this doesn't appear to be the case. But that doesn't make it right, either.

Still, the bill does have some good features. It allows young adults to remain on their parents' policies to age 26. It should help entrepreneurs to obtain affordable health insurance for themselves and their families. And the specter of pre-existing conditions will diminish greatly, enabling people to more freely change jobs and careers (even possibly starting their own businesses) without the fear of becoming uninsurable because they may have one or more of them. That should help our economic growth and innovation greatly.

So we'll see how the health care reform legislation translates into real world application. I feel better about it than before, but still would have much preferred for there to have been a public option to keep insurance companies honest with their pricing. Especially since the health insurance industry, for some reason, has a special exemption for federal anti-trust laws.

Yesterday's Half-Marathon Run

Yesterday I ran my fifth half-marathon in two months, setting a personal record time of 1:55:19. The most striking thing about this feat is that I was recovering from a strain in my right lower rear calf, something that I believe may have come about because of faulty foot placement. I slightly adjusted my foot landings over the past week and the pain diminished. It never did slow me down, though, and my speed and endurance continue to improve. After the run, I experienced no leg or foot cramps, something common to me after long runs.

Yesterday I was forced by externally-imposed time limitations to limit my run to 13.1 miles. Other than the usual foot and leg pains, I was in great shape to keep on running. I was full of energy and felt not the least bit winded, even as I stepped it up a little toward the end of my run.

This was a needed, encouraging experience. I feel good about future progress, including accomplishing a run of marathon length. It looks, though, as if I will probably have to first accomplish this on just a personal level by running around my neighborhood (as I first did with the half-marathon). I'm still looking at a possible marathon to run before summer, but I'm not sure how the logistics of that will play out.

As I have written before, I don't run on consecutive days. This gives me the time I need to recover and grow stronger. In the other days, I have been working out with weights on my upper body and abdomen, along with the no-impact cross-trainer machine. Now, though, I am switching my off-days (from running) to a more mundane and homebound activity: lawn work. Yes, spring has arrived and I'd better get busy before my home gets inundated with fast-growing weeds, grass, and bushes!

Teamwork Trumps Individuals in Basketball

When I was in the seventh grade, my physical education class was going through its basketball phase of the program. The team I was put on was miserable, losing all of its games and finishing dead last in our class. Except for our last two games, that is. The last game we actually miraculously pulled out 18-16. That was important because it gave us a feeling of what it was like to win. Then, as an "extra" game, our coach/teacher scrambled up the other teams, but left ours intact. Our opponent for that game was an assembled group of "stars" from other teams, all of which had beaten us during the "regular season". The result? We destroyed them 34-6! And they couldn't figure out what happened. But it was clear to me: my team had been together game after game, each of us learning our teammates' strengths and weaknesses. We knew how we moved on the court and were much more likely to pass and set up plays, while the players on the other side pretty much engaged in individualistic, ball-hogging showboating. So we creamed them.

Now we come to the NCAA men's basketball tournament and a similar situation. Two smaller and lower-seeded teams, Cornell and Northern Iowa, have made it to the "Sweet Sixteen" by defeating more heavily-favored and talented teams. How? The successful smaller teams were able to keep their squads intact over the years, since the players were finishing through their senior years and not opting out early to enter the NBA. Cornell actually has eight seniors on its team! And Northern Iowa knocked out Kansas, the number one team in the country and the heavy favorite to win the tournament.

My own league, the Southeastern Conference, may carry this lesson one step further. The conference champions (and possible eventual national champions this year) are the Kentucky Wildcats, a team that sports media commentators often compare favorably to professional teams regarding their talent. Sports Illustrated magazine put freshman John Wall, at the beginning of the season, on the cover of one of its issues, calling him (in advance) the best college player in the country. And he has several teammates who doubtless are eagerly looking ahead to making a wad of money playing in the pros. So this team is very, very good. For this year, that is. Next year, they will have to aggressively regroup and rebuild to compensate for the loss of some of their star players. The University of Florida, on the other hand, has a complete lineup of starters slated to return next year. I doubt that any of them will enter the NBA draft and, after their success in reaching the NCAA tourney this year, none will probably transfer to another school. So we're looking at a very cohesive group who know each other and play as a unit.

Stars are important in basketball, but teamwork trumps that. So teams without stars but with continuity and cohesion will continue to knock off those with the big names. Kentucky may win it all this year, but then again maybe not. Their next game in the tournament is against Cornell!

Bill-O and Pinheads

I rarely watch Bill O'Reilly's show on Fox News Channel. Not necessarily because I always disagree with the guy; he makes some good points a lot of the time. No, I don't watch it because I am thoroughly repulsed by O'Reilly's bullying, overbearing personality. He has even boasted of being a bully in his youth, and with no remorse at having made life so unnecessarily miserable for others. I used to be able to partially get around my overwhelming aversion to his presence by listening to his radio show when I was at work (this kept me from actually having to look at him). But alas, his show wasn't caustic and hateful enough, and the station's producers decided to put a wingnut hatemonger extremist on in his place to suit the "choir" that this station wanted to preach its right-wing ideology to. Now you may ask, why not just listen to O'Reilly's TV show without actually looking at the jerk? Well, as long as I actually have access to television, there are many, many other channels that I would prefer to watch. So sorry, Bill-O, the only time I hear nowadays about what you're saying is when Keith Olbermann on MSNBC is ridiculing you!

Why even bring up Bill O'Reilly anyway? Because there is one recurring theme of his that resonates with me, which is his notion of another type of more subtle, insidious bully: the "pinhead". To O'Reilly, a pinhead is anyone who has characterized themselves as belonging to the social class of the intelligentsia and by so doing feels qualified to taut their views as if they had some kind of special aura of absolute truth to them. And if you disagree with them, then you are subject to being judged as stupid, ignorant, misled, bigoted, and/or biased. Much of the time, O'Reilly vents his wrath against those he labels as pinheads in the academic, judicial, and journalistic communities. And I tend to agree with him, with one significant modification.

Bill O'Reilly never calls a conservative a pinhead. I look at the US Supreme Court and see four glaring right-wing pinheads (Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito) who have decided to deliberately ignore precedent and drastically rewrite law to fit their political agendas. Alito's negative reaction during Obama's criticism of a recent radical and highly controversial Court decision during his State of the Union address is pure, condescending pinhead behavior. Fox is loaded with other examples, but Bill-O will never bite the hands that feed him (Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch) by calling THEM out. So my view of a pinhead is bit broader than his.

My disparagement of pinheads is strongest when I explore the blogosphere. I have encountered blog after blog where the authors go to enormous lengths to emphasize their high-and-mighty academic credentials, usually in some highly specialized, arcane field. And then go on to act as if this qualifies them to go off on any rant they want about any topic, as if their opinion matters more just because they may have a trail of letters following their names. I guess this may be a revelation of sorts: to me, the term "pinhead" is roughly equivalent to the term "academic snob". Not that having academic credentials makes one a pinhead. I also know several people whose grace and maturity regarding their accomplishments and intellect would put me to shame.

There was an elderly gentlemen who was a regular many years ago at one of my local doughnut shops. Almost every time he came in, he would talk incessantly, constantly peppering his monologue with the claim that he had earned "59 degrees". No one that I know of around there ever challenged the poor old fool; they all liked him and tactfully overlooked his vanity and insecurity. He obviously felt as if his words needed the backup of his "academic qualifications" in order for others to respect them. This guy was an extreme example of what I find myself doing a lot: finding people's "vanity point" and "overlooking" it in the interests of good will and getting along. The way I see it, if others want to make fools of themselves, then who am I to stand in the way? And so I tend to let the pinheads in my life continue to delude themselves with their own fantasies of self-importance and superiority.

Congratulations to UF Men's Hoops Team

Congratulatations are in order for the University of Florida men's basketball team, which made a valiant effort in their first (and only) NCAA Tournament game against favored Brigham Young. They stayed with their opponent, even coming back from a 13-point deficit in the second half to send the game into overtime. And then a second overtime. Finally fatigue, the fouling out of their lead scorer (freshman guard Kenny Boynton with 27 points), and excellent shooting on the part of BYU culminated in the Gators' 99-92 defeat.

The Gators by all accounts had a very successful season, making it to the NCAA tourney for the first time in three years. Coach Billy Donovan was full of praise for his team in spite of their "early" exit. And hopefully the starters will stay together for next year, as none were seniors. I doubt that any would try to go professional early, but then again I didn't think that Nick Calathes would do that last year. If they stick together for another year, I see them having a great season in 2010-11.

Why Run a Marathon?

Why do people run marathons? I have recently been asking myself this a little more than usual, since I am trying to achieve that 26.2 mile distance in one run. I checked out the book Ultramarathon Man by ultra-distance runner Dean Karnazes, which did shed some light on this question. But I had regarded Karnazes as a special case, something of a running fanatic/extremist. So I began to explore some runners' blogs to try to get a feel for their motivations.

I didn't access blogs of runners who were actually world-class marathon runners, the kind you usually see on the news breaking the tape at the finish line grimacing with their arms up in the air. No, my interest was in the overwhelming majority of marathon race entrants who are basically either running for personal records or to see if they can even complete the course. These are the runners that I identify myself with. And I noticed some generally common themes to how they recount their marathon race experiences.

For one, they seem to enjoy some social support and encouragement for their endeavor, both from family and friends. People around them express an active interest in their activity. If they have traveled to run in the event from a distant place, then the previous day's ritual of race packet pickup and hotel stay and dinner seems to be meaningful, as some runners touch base with each other that way. Also coming into play is the semantic connotation that gives the word "marathon" a psychological advantage over "half-marathon", implying that marathon runners are somehow doing a complete job while half-marathoners are only running a "partial" race (which is why I think they should call half-marathons something besides what it is called). But the most telling factor for me was in the pretty consistent accounts of what happened to runners when they got to around the 20-mile mark in their races.

A marathon run, above all else, is an ENDURANCE race. The overwhelming emphasis is on finishing it while maintaining an "honest" pace (former Van Halen front man David Lee Roth has been derided for once "completing" the New York Marathon in well over six and a half hours). It seems that, even with the most seasoned of runners, reaching the last six miles or so imposes a crisis of endurance, both mental and physical, that causes them to often have to slow down to a walk or even consider dropping out. Staying in and completing the race under these excruciating conditions can be exhilarating and addictive. And it's this element that I feel keeps those runners coming back for more punishment in race after race. I don't think that the squigglefrubink (my arbitrary replacement term for the half-marathon) is long enough to cause this endurance crisis (although it IS a pretty damned long run).

So, yeah, I want to experience all of that inner turmoil and triumph like the other fools who run in marathons. I would prefer to accomplish this sometime in a sanctioned race in an interesting city where I could gawk at the sights (with the traffic stopped for me). But even if it's just around my neighborhood, it would be quite an accomplishment of endurance. I'm continuing to plug away at it!

Stupid Security Procedures

My renovated public library, with all of the money, time, and planning expended on it, didn't even bother to include a secure indoor book drop. After it had reopened and I first walked through the front door, there was an open basket sitting right out in front of the entrance/exit, designated for returns. But as these returned materials had not been remagnitized yet (or whatever they do to make it "bing" the alarm again), anyone walking by could reach down, pick up a returned book or CD, and just walk right on through the exit with them without any alarms going off. And the patron who had checked them out would eventually be charged for them! I told one of the librarians about this flaw, and the next time I went in the basket had been moved to be part of the staff counter area and in a better spot. But that should have been a no-brainer to begin with!

In past years, I have been in two completely different situations where I would regularly enter (different) hospitals from the back or side entrance and find myself walking down unguarded corridors with access (if I had wanted) to patients in their rooms. In other words, there was no security. My business was always legitimate, but others had no way of knowing that! Yet in each of these hospitals, the main entrance was painstakingly guarded, in the bigger hospital by a cast of what looked like secret service agents swarming around eyeballing and challenging everyone. Yet in that same hospital anyone could come and go with impunity from an easily-accessible side entrance without any security presence whatsoever.

I know someone who works at a place that is going all-out to bolster up their security. The entrance door has a lock needing a combination to enter. A company is on contract to construct two more outer layers of security, including a camera that takes in whoever enters the facility. For that one entrance. The only problem is that there is another entrance, easily accessible and visible from the open public street and through which any Tom, Dick, or Osama can just pull over and enter unchallenged. This friend of mine is beside himself about the foolishness of this situation, but it doesn't surprise me at all.

The French were notorious for their security lapses against the Germans last century, first with the Germans circumventing their heavy border fortifications by simply going around through neutral Belgium in World War I and then with their lack of defenses in the supposedly impregnable Ardennes (which the Germans obliged by pouring their forces through) in World War II, although France had gone to great lengths to build the supposedly impassable Maginot Line between the wars.

Whether on a grand or a small scale, a security system can't be piecemeal, nor can assumptions be made concerning what a potential adversary will or won't do. But it happens all the time anyway.

Then again, there was that scene in the first James Bond flick Doctor No. Supervillain and supergenius Doctor No has captured our hero, who is stuck in a jail cell. He looks up and, lo and behold, there is a gigantic air vent in the wall above him. He simply neutralizes the electric charge on it, kicks out the cover, climbs in, and goes on to kick Mr. Supergenius's butt! Which brought me to the conclusion that the smarter people think they are, the dumber they really are when it comes to security!

Gainesville Mayoral Election Today

Five candidates are on the ballot for today's nonpartisan election for Gainesville's mayor. The mayor is also officially one of the seven city commissioners. One of those commissioners, Craig Lowe, has been in office for several years and is now trying his hand at the top post. Lowe, considered to be the favorite, has come under some criticism from opponents on different counts, particularly for wasteful spending as well as a controversial transgender anti-discrimination ordinance passed (that he sponsored and I supported) a couple of years ago.

Of the three other principal candidates (the fifth candidate, Ozzy Angulo, has spent very little and is not considered to be a serious contender), two are conservatives and one is a moderate. The moderate, Monica Leadon Cooper, is campaigning to rein in financial waste as well as keep in place (and further) Gainesville's pro-environment laws and to plan growth cautiously.

The conservatives are represented by Don Marsh and Richard Selwach, both previously in losing campaigns for the commission. Selwach's main issue seems to be the repeal of the transgender ordinance, which he claims allows male sexual predators into women's restrooms under the legal cover of claiming to be transgender. Personally, I think his case is pretty lame as there has been nothing of this sort falling out from either the Gainesville ordinance or from other towns that passed similar laws over the past few years. I do resent the fact that Commissioner Lowe initially reacted to the ordinance's critics by openly labeling them as "bigots" instead of respectfully working with them to assuage their concerns. This smacks of a condescending elitism on the part of Lowe, a "we're going to do what is good for you because WE SAID SO" attitude that runs contrary to the spirit of public service that should characterize elected officeholders (this was also one of the main reasons I turned sharply against former president George W. Bush just a few months after he took office in 2001). It's too bad, because I generally like Craig Lowe's political leanings. That's why I'm supporting Cooper, his "closest" opponent and who seems to "get" the idea of a commissioner serving the people, not the reverse.

Anyway, Selwach seems to be obsessed with the transgender issue and strikes me as someone who would promote unrestrained and unregulated growth. As would Don Marsh, a self-proclaimed avid supporter of the wacko Tea Party movement.

Craig Lowe will probably either win outright or face one of the others in a runoff at a later date. Should Monica Leadon Cooper be that runoff opponent, I think she has an excellent chance of toppling career politician and (in my opinion) elitist Lowe. If she doesn't win, though, I'll be very happy to settle for Lowe over either of the two wingnuts.

Well, out to the polling station I go!

***************************************

Later that night...

My candidate, Monica Leadon Cooper, could only muster a third place finish with about 25% of the vote. The runoff, to be held on April 13, will be between lead vote-getter Craig Lowe (at 40%) and second place Don Marsh (at 29%). So I guess I'll be forced to vote for the elitist know-it-all Lowe in the runoff. Because I'm sure as hell not going with a teabagger!

UF Men's Hoops Finally Make NCAA

Congratulations are in order for the University of Florida men's basketball team, which yesterday evening was selected to go to the NCAA championship tournament. For a while, after the Gators lost in the SEC tourney 75-69 to Mississippi State (another borderline "bubble" team), it looked as if they would be passed over for the third year in a row. But the MSU Bulldogs blew a late lead against Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference championship game and lost their possible automatic bid when they lost in overtime. Due to Florida playing a much tougher non-conference schedule, they were given preference by the NCAA selection committee. But the Gators might have been selected anyway, as they were seeded ahead of Minnesota, another "bubble" team.

Florida is seeded #10 in the West Region. Their first opponent will be seventh seeded Brigham Young. The game will take place in Oklahoma City this Thursday, beginning at 12:40 PM EDT.
Should Florida win this first game, they will be hard-pressed for a second win as their next opponent would in all likelihood be #2 seed Kansas State. But first things first.

Kudos to UF!

Compassion and Respect

Which comes first, respect or compassion? Or do they necessarily have to simultaneously exist? Let's take some examples.

I like animals. I feel compassion for them as individuals trying to make a successful go at their one shot at life. And they have their own ideas about what they want to do and be without me trying to dictate or force them into what I believe to be a better "life". I don't feel compassion for animals in the sense that I want to be a scientist and learn more about them by performing experiments on them. Nor do I feel compassion for animals in the sense that I am a naturalist and only see their worth in the context of them contributing to the welfare of their species in the wild. Those who hold these views and positions may claim to feel compassion for animals, but they don't respect them. At least not as sentient individuals with rights to live out their lives with some dignity. The way I see it, if you want to demonstrate your respect for animals, you need to take each one as an individual and respect its background without trying to drastically change it. That means not introducing domesticated (or partially domesticated) animals into the wild or experimenting on them in ways ostensibly designed to further the long-term interests
of their species. Instead, leave the wild animals as undisturbed and protected in their environments as practicable and allow those who have been raised or removed from the wild to retire in a more protected area that reflects their state of domestication (like that wonderful chimpanzee retirement community in Shreveport, Louisiana).

Suppose you are a believer in a religion whose creed states that insiders/believers go to heaven after death and everyone else goes for eternity to hell. And you then encounter one of those "unbelievers". The "compassionate" attitude would dictate that you say and do everything you can to make that individual a believer to avert eternal damnation, right? But doing this implies a complete lack of respect on your part for that person's present lifestyle and belief system. The commonly occurring result of this is that the believer comes across as judgemental, intolerant, and condescending. All three are traits which, incidentally, derive from a lack of respect for others. On the other hand, I have known people whom I was attracted to by their compassionate character and ethical behavior, without them ever once trying to proselytize their religious belief system to me. And then I would later discover their beliefs, making me wonder whether there wasn't something to that belief system. Compassion and respect, working together, and resulting in a much more favorable outcome.

I think possibly the greatest way to show (and receive) respect among others is to show interest in them and listen sympathetically to their stories and opinions. And remember their faces and names. And show them at later meetings that you esteem them by remembering their words and commenting (favorably) on them! Many...no, ALL friends have their personality and character flaws, with all sorts of ugly things and nasty habits that you can confront them with if you want to "compassionately" change them. But people in general need friends and allies, not another parent! Changing one's negative traits and habits for the better can seem most difficult, but it is more likely to come about if that person is confident of having a network of friends who show their respect and support. And unsolicited advice and correction is, believe me, quite overrated!

As you might have surmised from the previous three examples, I am a more than a little sensitive to "do-gooders" who push their values on others "for their own good" and disguise it as "compassion". Each of us has the built-in capacity to determine our own paths in life. We could use the company of respectful co-travelers, not those who want to change our destination for us!

Running Through the Rain

Yesterday was my planned day to run. It was to be a relatively short run for me (6.8 total miles) lasting about an hour. I had already "rested" the previous day (rested for running, not other activities) and was ready for another road session. But it was raining. And raining. And raining.

I turned the TV on the 24-radar local radar channel and could see that, at least until I had to go on to work, there would be no letup in the rain. It was raining moderately at 10 AM, so I decided to wait until about 11 and then go from there. At 11 it was raining, although lightly. I knew the roads would be very wet and full of puddles, and that the rain could pick up and get stronger as it had been doing all day (and Thursday). But I knew what I had to do. Leaving my MP3 at home this time, I donned my usual running outfit, put on an old pair of running shoes that I didn't mind (too much) getting wet, and bolted out of the door into the elements.

It was a liberating experience to run through the rain, something that I had erected a mental barrier against doing. There was even a stretch of my run when it stop raining, but mostly I got soaked. My main concern was watching where my feet were landing as I wanted to avoid puddles and those treacherous, slippery oil slicks on the road. I think my carefulness, along with the fact that the water on the road altered its surface effect to slow me down, contributed to a slower time (but not significantly). The run went quite well although I missed my MP3.

I don't think, though, that I am ready to run through those torrential rainstorms we often get here when the road surface takes on so much water that it begins to resemble a stream, even with a current. Nor do I want to venture out into a thunderstorm. But at least I have surmounted the obstacle of rain in its usual form. And that's good, considering that we are expecting much of it here in Gainesville during the next few months.

Factotum: the Movie

Sometimes I'll watch a movie on TV and discover that, although it didn't impress me that much at the time, later it sticks in my mind on different levels and causes a lot of reflection. Such is the case with Factotum, a 2005 film based partially on writer Charles Bukowski's life (and based on his book with the same title),starring Matt Dillon in what I regard as a "career performance". Dillon's unforgettable character, aspiring and frustrated writer Henry Chinaski, is a chronic drinker and smoker, living at the bottom of society in Los Angeles, and who can never hold a job for more than a few days at a time (if that long) because he simply refuses to conform to any authority. He also is very adept at picking up women in spite of his perpetual poverty, largely due to his suave mannerisms and his ability to portray himself as an important writer/artist to them. And he reminds me of someone I used to know.

About thirty years ago, one of my colleagues at the restaurant I worked at displayed almost the identical mannerisms and personality as Chinaski. He pretty much faked his way through his workday and spent his nights going out to bars and getting drunk (despite being married to a beautiful woman with a small baby). I know this because I would go out drinking with him a few times (back during my drinking period). I would sit there at the bar privately marvelling how he seemed to come alive there, suavely handling his cigarette and drink. And how he knew just the right kind of expression and small talk to make with those around him. This was his life. And like Chinaski in the movie, this guy was rooted (or self-justified) in a legitimate career: he was "studying" to be admitted into medical school! Yet all he really wanted to do in life was to drink, smoke, hang out in bars, and pick up women. Ultimately, he was arrested on a DUI and then one day just stopped showing up for work. My employer showed much more patience with him than she ever did to anyone else, but finally had to let him go. And he reportedly moved on to another town to start the whole process all over again.

Henry Chinaski stated his personal creed in Factotum's closing scene when he monologued, "If you're going to try, go all the way.". Yet his rock-solid "principle" was only applied in a negative sense that he used to justify his deliberate stagnation and to reject any assistance from others by judging it to be manipulation. He was in a perpetual rut, partially because he completely oblivious to the fact that he was in a rut to begin with!

Factotum was at times quite funny to me, as I would brace myself each time that Chinaski got a new job and then figured out a new way to get himself unceremoniously fired. In one scene, he went to a former employer's office to collect a delayed final paycheck. He sat there and told his old boss that he was going to use the money to get drunk. Then the old boss gave him his money, after which he pulled his own bottle of liquor out from his desk and took a big swig. Implying that there is a kind a "society" among alcoholics in which, on some level, they recognize and look out for each other. Interesting.

Rain New Weather Theme

It looks as if a new extreme form of weather is descending on my area, with rain being the predominant feature. Yes, we are in for quite a wet spring this year. I'm all for that, as long as it doesn't interfere with my running. After all, my main concern in springs-gone-by was the danger of brush fires starting and developing into disastrous forest fires, which in turn poison the air and sometimes threaten to engulf homes and even whole communities. So having a lot of moisture in the ground should do a lot to prevent any such calamity, although I can forget about parking my car on the grass (soon to be marshy wetlands) for several weeks. Yes, being able to breath the air and not be in fear of burning up sounds like a great deal to me!

But then again, I am still not 100% confident that we're completely done with the cold weather. They SAY that it will stay temperate for at least the next few days, but what about afterwards? This has to be one of those wacky weather years that come along every now and then and mess with people. I've heard that the bigshot weather folks are predicting a monster hurricane season as well. I hope that means we won't be traveling into Greek alphabet territory again!

With this shift in weather will come a shift in our flora and fauna. Alas, my grass, weeds, and bushes will explode in growth and I'll soon have to get out in my yard and reckon with them. Also, out go the robins (northward) and in come the frogs (loud, and everywhere). Speaking of robins, I have never experienced them hanging around here for over a month, as they did this year. Usually I see them for a week at the most and then they're gone.

Avatar Loses at Oscars

Those I know who saw Avatar say it's a great movie. But all I see when I watch snippets of it on TV is something resembling a video game. I don't think it looks all that realistic. And I'm not in any hurry to go see the movie.

Avatar was up for best picture and best director (James Cameron) at the Academy Awards Sunday night, but it was bested by the low-budget war movie The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow (the first female Oscar win for director). I'm not so hot on seeing that one, either. Maybe I'm just not an avid movie-goer, I don't know.

Sometimes I feel like that sinister lead character of Alex DeLarge, played by Malcom McDowell in the movie A Clockwork Orange. As part of the violent hoodlum's "rehabilitation", DeLarge is tied up facing a movie screen, with his eyelids held back and his head held fast so that he HAD TO watch the movie ahead of him. That's kind of the feeling that I (without DeLarge's violent tendencies) get when sitting in a full theatre with the big screen in front of me. I sit there and feel like I'm the captive target of hundreds, if not thousands of career individuals and teams whose main goal is to bombard my mind with their agendas and make me walk out of the experience changed, according to their purposes.

My family all loves having a wide-screen television, but it frankly does very little for me. I think they like something that emulates the movie theatre effect, but even the widest of these television screens doesn't approach the captivating (and quite disturbing) effect of being essentially confined at stretches to a seat in a theatre in the darkness, with people generally unreceptive to distractions. The idea there is complete mesmerization and immersion into the media's message. At home, distractions to viewing, even when unwelcome, are ubiquitous and conducive to critical reaction. In the theatre, the viewer just sits there soaking it all in.

Having said all that, I have to note that the ultimate mind-melding medium, virtual reality, has yet to be realized. When it does come into fruition, all of these high-tech movies that marvel so many will be laughed at like those primitive science fiction movies of the fifties and sixties are now. But at least with virtual reality, viewer participation may be possible. Of course, at some point that technology may become so "real" that the participant may reach the state of not knowing whether he or she is in reality or still "plugged in".

Maybe I'll go see Avatar; my family seems pumped up to go see it a second time and I might tag along. Then again, maybe I won't. I am already just a little peeved at James Cameron for so publicly coming out in support of President Obama's recent decision to essentially abandon our manned space program. What makes Cameron so high and mighty? Let someone else have my seat at his grand movie's showing. Hey, I bet it didn't even make runner-up for the Oscar! [I know, I'm guilty of sour grapes: read Aesop's Fables]

Ratcheting Up the Distance

For thirty-five years after I had run 14.35 miles late one afternoon in early March 1975, that mark had stood as a personal distance record. Last Wednesday I broke it with a 15.26 mile run. That record lasted all of four days, with me surpassing it yesterday. I ran 16.74 miles as I continue to "ratchet up the distance" toward my goal of completing a marathon, race or no race.

The weather finally began to heat up after several cold mornings (I was premature in my earlier pronouncement of spring's arrival). Although my run took place in warmer temperatures (upper 60s and low 70s), the humidity was unusually low (and helpful) at around 20%. I did have some residual negative effects after the run, with cramping in my feet and legs. But today I am doing quite well, looking forward to going on a middle-distance run tomorrow (I don't run on consecutive days).

This new distance record of mine may not last much longer than my previous one. I would like to get at least above twenty miles before the real hot and humid climate sets in here in north central Florida. But then again, I may be able to continue with my long distance runs at night, although I do need to pick up some night gear to help me survive the dark conditions.

Speaking of night running, I drove around Gainesville and noticed that, on most streets, the streetlights were usually placed in a row on one side only and completely absent on the other. So depending on them for my lighting is not such a "bright" idea. Instead, I think I'll get one of those headband flashlights that will light up the path in front of me regardless of its darkness. Also, I will pick up some reflective gear as well as a belt/water bottle apparatus so that I can rehydrate in the middle of my runs without having to stop by my house. Should be another fun adventure. And it's finally coming, with the record winter we've been experiencing (average temperature eight degrees below normal) coming to an end. At least I think it's coming to an end!

Dems on Right Track With Reconciliation

As I have said before on this blog a number of times, I have some serious reservations about the current health care reform bill being pushed through Congress by President Obama and the Democrats. I oppose people at large being coerced to purchase health insurance from private companies that have been exempted from federal anti-trust laws that would have increased competition and lowered prices. I also doubt that provisions within the legislation intended to help those with preexisting conditions to procure insurance at reasonable prices will have their desired effect. That having been said, I think that the Democrats are on the right track by finally deciding to get this bill enacted through the process of reconciliation.

Reconciliation is a complicated procedure through which a bill can bypass the usual 60-vote supermajority needed in the Senate to get anything done. It has been used in the past by both parties, most notably by George W. Bush and his Republican colleagues to enact tax cuts and fund the Iraq War. So this is nothing new.

But since the Republicans have decided to play political hardball and stall anything and everything the majority Democrats are trying to accomplish, it is well past time for the party that clearly won the previous national election to finally assert itself. As for GOP outcries that the reconciliation process completely circumvents them, I can only reply that (1) the bill currently being pushed through contains much of their input (without their supporting votes) and (2) it has ALREADY BEEN PASSED by both houses of Congress!

We'll see how this legislation plays itself out once it is finally passed through reconciliation and signed by the President. They do need to go on to other pressing matters, though. And the Democrats, especially President Obama, need to stop pretending that there is anything remotely resembling bipartisanship left in either the House of Representatives or the Senate.

My Running Plans

I have decided to "go regional" for this year regarding my running activities. I will continue to focus on training, mostly in my own neighborhood, and occasionally enter some of the longer race events held in town and this part of the state of Florida. I doubt that I will be ready to run in a distance as long as a marathon (26.2 miles) until May at the earliest, and by that time the weather will definitely be hotter and more humid. So I will probably hold off on tackling this challenge until later in the year when various Florida cities begin to host autumn and winter marathons.

Still, I am working on increasing how long I can run at a time. Last Wednesday, I set a lifetime distance record of 15.26 miles (the previous record was 14.35 miles in March 1975). Tomorrow being Monday and a day off from work, I will have more time available to see how far I can run. So it should be an adventure. It wouldn't bother me at all to actually accomplish a marathon run just by running around my neighborhood (although I don't anticipate this happening anytime soon). After all, there's no steep registration fee, restrictive race packet pickup policy, or travel and lodging expense. No porta-potties are needed either, with my home serving as a convenient bathroom pit stop as well as a Gatorade rehydration hub. And I can freely listen to my MP3 during the experience. Not a bad deal at all!

As long as I settle for less-than-marathon distances, there is plenty going on around here for me to participate in. I am definitely going to enter in the Climb for Cancer 15K race to be held in Gainesville on March 27. And I will most likely join the Florida Track Club as a member some time this year. I may even go on some training runs with others.

This past weekend, the Albany (Georgia) Marathon was held. I had earlier decried the fact that I couldn't get time off from work to run in it, but now I see that it was all for the better since I wasn't physically prepared anyway. I had gotten the marathon "bug" just a little too late in the season this time around. Maybe next year (I have a strong personal connection with Albany). The same goes for the March 28 Knoxville Marathon, which would have been fun to run in had I been prepared, both physically and with more time for travel and a stay-over. Well, if all goes well and I continue to improve, 2011 could be a marathon-rich year for me. As for now, I will just stick with improving and enjoying my running while getting more involved in my area races.

My Take on Nirvana

The long-defunct grunge rock trio Nirvana is one of those bands that divide people when I mention it and how much I like their music. For lead singer, guitarist, and creative force Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994, when the band (including Krist Novoselic on bass guitar and Dave Grohl on drums) was at its height of popularity, with bright prospects for more future success.

Cobain had become addicted to heroin and was becoming more and more hopeless about his prospects for kicking this drug, as well as reportedly having what he termed stomach problems. Whatever the real reason for his death was, the fact that I am a big fan of his (and his band's) music just might convey the wrong message to some folks who are very sensitive to the issue of suicide.

I may well be the most anti-suicide dude in the world, in spite of my tendency to sink into some deep funks at times. The way I see it, this is my one shot at life and I might as well extend it as much as I can while doing what I can to make it better. And, ironically, one of the things that attracted me to Nirvana's music was its no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners intensity. This was a band that didn't pace itself; every song on their three studio albums (Bleach, Nevermind, and In Utero and their "extras" album Incesticide) was an exercise in complete commitment. I can't recall any artist who threw himself so unapologetically and deeply into his work as Kurt Cobain did, a good example for LIVING, as I see it. So that compounds the tragedy of his death.

I recommend that anyone interested in Nirvana take care to listen to their complete albums, not just their hit single releases. For I didn't care very much for what were probably their two biggest hits (Smells Like Teen Spirit and Heart-Shaped Box). Some of those deep tracks were much, much better. I must warn you, though: this music is very rough, and the lyrics even rougher! Not for the squeamish at all!

Here is my list of my personal top ten favorite Nirvana songs, with their albums in parentheses:

1-Scentless Apprentice (In Utero)
2-Dumb (In Utero)
3-Scoff (Bleach)
4-Stay Away (Nevermind)
5-Come As You Are (Nevermind)
6-Serve the Servants (In Utero)
7-Lithium (Nevermind)
8-Aneurysm (Incesticide)
9-Big Cheese (Bleach)
10-Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle (In Utero, love those long titles)

My Run This Past Wednesday

Wednesday morning I did not want to run. No, I would have preferred to go back to bed and sleep a couple of hours more. But I finally got myself going and stepped outside. Too cold!. I stepped back in and changed my clothes to something warmer. When I did start to run westward down my street I thought man,this wind is too strong, I'll just run my 3.4 mile route and then call it a day. But down the road, I got more used to the conditions and decided to run my 5.58 mile route. And then call it a day. As I kept running, though, I was still hanging in there, so I said to myself let's just see if I can fit another 5.58 cycle in there. Then after 11.16 miles, I said you know, you can set a personal distance record if you run a just few more miles. And I did, finally covering 15.26 miles before stopping. I felt that I could have gone longer, but I wanted some recovery time before I had to get ready to go to work. Although my legs and feet ached some during the last stages of the run, I suffered no cramping or aches after I stopped. And I ran it at a pretty brisk pace. So Wednesday turned out to be a very happy, happenin' day with my running despite its inauspicious beginning. Only eleven more miles to go for me to get to marathon distance!

I had written exactly one year ago on this blog an article about "runner's high" and how I would like to experience it again. And how I would need to begin to run longer distances to accomplish this. But although, for the past two months, I have dramatically increased the length of my runs, I have yet to experience any kind of exhilaration. Instead, I undergo a constant discomfort during my long runs, as if part of me is trying to convince the rest of me that I'd be much better off channel-surfing from my recliner at home. I've wondered why this is so, and I've come to one possible explanation. When I have done my long runs, I have been slightly pushing myself into that discomfort zone, as if another part of me understands what it takes to make substantial progress with my running. An instinct for progress: I like that!

Pedestrians, Yielding to Them

The school I drive my daughter to each weekday morning is pretty big, with a big parking lot area to go with it. When I enter it to let her off (and then turn around to leave), I often encounter students who walk right in front of my moving car. I always stop in time and show consideration for them. For the most part, I keep my eyes peeled for anyone who may be approaching my path from a distance and automatically yield to them. This is, to me, a normal standard practice that anyone in any parking lot needs to follow, for people walking in shopping center parking lots are also notorious for completely disregarding moving traffic and often step out in front of vehicles from spots hidden to the drivers. But when discussing what happens on the open road, the situation seems to get reversed.

At the traffic light near the same school that I am leaving, I wait to turn left at the green light (without a lead). There are usually students standing there waiting to cross when it turns green for them. And since I would be turning left into their path of crossing, I am required by law to yield to them. But I never see any students automatically start to cross when the light turns green. Instead, they just stand there waiting for all of the cars to turn left in front of them. I have tried on occasion to get a student's attention by waving him or her on, but my efforts have always been ignored. Those students, I'm sure, are quite aware from personal experience that most drivers will not respect their pedestrian rights and, since they don't want to get flattened by them on the way to school, they wait for everyone to pass first before crossing (if their light is still green, that is).

I read in yesterday's Gainesville Sun that a study done in January showed that only about 20% of drivers in Gainesville yield to pedestrians in crosswalks as they are legally required to do. The response? The police are instituting a "pedestrian patrol" to ticket pedestrians they catch jaywalking. Well, there are times when jaywalking may be the safest way to go, especially considering the tendency for drivers to ignore pedestrians at intersections! Why not instead concentrate on ticketing the jerks who won't properly yield to them?!

The common sense solution, of course, is for everyone, both drivers and pedestrians, to take a chill pill and demonstrate a little patience and courtesy for the other guy. This goes beyond what is legally required. It is an important element of simply being a well-functioning, civilized human being. Let's all consciously work at staying civilized, O.K.?

Gator Men Cagers So Far

I like this year's edition of the University of Florida men's basketball team. They are always competitive, they play as a cohesive unit, and different players step up from game to game to help compensate for those who are having "off" games. Their record is 20-10 with a 9-6 Southeastern Conference record. I'd say that is a pretty successful season, but a few around me are disappointed because the Gators may be destined to miss the NCAA championship tournament for the third year in a row.

In all likelihood, Florida will lose their final regular season game against powerhouse Kentucky and then go on to the conference playoffs. If they win a couple of games then, I think they still stand a good chance of being selected to participate in the NCAA tourney. If not, there is still the National Invitation Tournament.

Florida has very good players in Kenny Boynton, Alex Tyus, Vernon Macklin, Erving Walker, Chandler Parsons, and Dan Werner. Their main problem, as I see it, is their small roster and lack of depth beyond their #6 player Werner. This is a problem that head coach Billy Donovan has had even going back to his second national championship team of 2006-07. I really don't know why that is, either. It shouldn't be that hard for Donovan to recruit good players to fill his bench and to be able to step out on the court and play competitively, even if the "extras" are largely walk-ons. Then again, there may be something preventing this in the quirky NCAA's elaborate, complicated rules that are almost impossible not to violate.

But I think that this year's edition of UF men's hoops is the best since that great repeating championship team a few years ago. Should they make it to the NCAA tourney, though, I don't see them winning more than a couple of games. They aren't THAT good. But they ARE good, nevertheless, and I congratulate them on having what I at least regard as a very successful season.

March Marathon for Me: Yes or No?

I am not sure that I will be ready to run a full-fledged marathon by March 28, when the Knoxville Marathon will take place. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. But although I did manage to get Saturday the 27th off from work, this trip would still be pretty rushed, as well as costing me a wad of money. Since I am working on my upcoming vacation in April, I may need to reexamine my priorities on this matter.

Looking at this marathon and my possible participation in it is really a fun exercise in event planning and contingencies. Here I am on March 2, looking ahead to March 27-28, a little less than four weeks away. The event is something that I at present am not physically prepared for, although at that same event I am already prepared to do something else (run a half-marathon). There is a deadline, but it is pretty late (March 24) for online registration. So I don't have to worry about financially committing myself for either the marathon or half-marathon until very near the event itself. That's a plus. Travel-wise, Knoxville is about 450 miles from Gainesville on the road map, so driving there and back would save money over flying. But then that crunches my already limited time, as I have to be in Knoxville before 8 PM Saturday evening when race packet pickup closes. So I would have to set out on my trip early Saturday morning. The event itself begins early Sunday morning, giving me little or no chance to scout out my running route beforehand. After the event (race) is over, I should have more free time available for sightseeing and the like, but I still would have to get back to Gainesville. And then what about the added expense of the venture, as we're also talking about a hotel stay. And that would demand some advance reservation.

So with all of this to consider, I have to ask myself whether it's such a wise idea to do this, considering as I have already said that I will be taking a vacation trip just the following month with my family. And then there is one added element to this: the alternative race.

On March 27, right here in my good old home town of Gainesville, will be an opportunity for me to run in a 15K (9.3 miles) race to benefit an organization fighting cancer. Sure, it's not a marathon or even a half-marathon, but it isn't one of those little 5K runs, either. Ironically, last year I had registered and paid for this same annual event, even going down and picking up my race packet, complete with timing chip and tee shirt. And then skipped the race, not feeling good at the time and concerned about covering such a "long" distance. Now, though, it seems relatively short! And I have also discovered that the race course may not be three laps like it was last year, but rather a much more interesting "tour" layout. The cops wouldn't be stopping traffic for us like in a "grand" marathon event, but that's all right with me. I may just opt for this run and more carefully plan out and train for another marathon race elsewhere and later in the year (and there are many to choose from, especially in November and December, with some being in Florida).

Logistically, I could manage to run in the Knoxville Marathon later this month, although it would probably involve some major hassles. But is it the optimal decision for me? I haven't yet ruled it out, and am still training AS IF I will run in it. One of my reasons for wanting to run in it is that it is one of the last marathons to be held relatively close to Florida before the hot and humid spring and summer climate patterns begin to set in around this region of the country. Once they do, running these lengthy races around here becomes very problematic. I am already planning to drastically increase my nighttime running once the temperatures inevitably skyrocket. But that's a topic for another article!

On the first of March, on the holiday...

So goes one of the final lines in the Sufjan Stevens song Casimir Pulaski Day, one of my all-time favorites now. And, sure, I'll be glad to answer you and tell you exactly what Casimir Pulaski Day is (thanks for asking)!

Casimir Pulaski was a renown Polish patriotic military leader who fought in his country's resistance against imperial Russia's hegemonistic efforts under Catherine II in the late eighteenth century. Finally forced to flee his native land, he was recruited by Lafayette in France to join the Americans in their struggle against the British during the American War of Independence. Pulaski is credited for making the American cavalry a formidable force and probably saved his commander George Washington's life when he led a brave charge during the ill-fated Battle of Brandywine. Ultimately, Pulaski died of a gunshot wound during the Battle of Savannah in 1779. Being that the state of Illinois, and in particular the city of Chicago, has a very large ethnic Polish population, this great hero in American history, who could barely speak English, was accorded an annual holiday by the state and city, respectively. Held in honor of Pulaski's March 4 birthday, the official observance is always on the first Monday of March. And this year, just like in the Sufjan Stevens song, it is today, March 1.

Interestingly (for me), in other locations around the country, Pulaski is celebrated not around his birthday but rather around the anniversary of his death in battle in October. This brings to my mind how some more contemporary fallen notables are remembered as well. Few people are aware of the birthdays of John F.Kennedy, Elvis Presley, or John Lennon. It is the anniversaries of their deaths that instead mark the times that their lives and accomplishments are recalled and celebrated. I tend to prefer the way that the great civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., has come to be honored, according to his birthday instead of his death day.

Casimir Pulaski Day, written and recorded by Sufjan Stevens as part of his 2005 album Illinois, doesn't directly refer to the fallen patriotic mercenary who gave his life for a new country whose language was largely a mystery to him. But it did whet my curiosity enough to investigate this interesting and important character in our history. Ironically, another American Revolutionary War hero, John Paul Jones, actually went over to Russia after the war and served for a time in the navy of the very same Catherine II against whom Casimir Pulaski had been fighting earlier on behalf of his Poland.

Confusing Animals is Cruelty

The shout "The circus is in town!" is bound nowadays to bring up an assortment of reactions from people, ranging from excitement and anticipation on to boredom and apathy, and finally to outrage and indignation. I tend to be one of the bored and apathetic, having come to the conclusion that the heyday of high quality circus shows has long passed us by. But an increasing number of people are concerned that the animals in circus acts, like elephants, tigers, and lions, are being abused or at least being treated in an undignified manner. The presumption is that they are wild animals and should be "in the wild", not under the domination of people. I would agree with them to the extent of how the animals were procured in the first place. Were they taken from the wild or were they born and raised in an already domesticated environment? Also, I tend to wince at anyone using a whip on any creature, human or beast, wild or domesticated. It not only riles me to see a lion tamer do this in a circus act, but also to see a jockey whipping his horse in the final stretch of a race. And then being showered with flowers and honors if his horse wins. Disgusting!

That having been said, I am having a problem with those well-intentioned people who try either to sustain captured and at least partially-domesticated animals in a wild setting or to try to train them to return to the wild (even when they were born into captivity). Take a couple of examples.

I recently heard on NPR radio the story of a woman who had cared for several chimpanzees and tried to release them into the wild in an uninhabited (by people) tropical island in western Africa. One chimp, Lucy, was especially fond of her and refused to break the strong personal bond between them and adapt to the "wild life". Finally, the woman, after staying on the island with the chimpanzees and experiencing the frustration that they just wanted to be around her, decided to leave and come back after a year. Upon returning, she discovered the chimpanzees to have adapted somewhat to the wild, although Lucy still remembered her enough to give her a strong, affectionate hug. After another year, she returned again only to discover Lucy's skeleton, with signs that poachers had killed her. Apparently, Lucy had boldly approached them as she hadn't the fear of humans which, as a truly wild creature, she would have carried as a crucial survival trait.

At Sea World in Orlando recently, a known-to-be-unpredictable killer whale pulled a trainer from out of the water down and to her death, violently thrashing her about in front of horrified spectators to as if she were prey. Officials at the park acted clueless as to the cause of this attack, even though this killer whale had long been considered too dangerous for anyone to be in the water with.

Although the last example is very tragic in that it ended with a person's death, the only objection I see is that the people working at Sea World tended to apply human models of behavior to killer whales: this person is cranky so we'll give him his "space" at work; that killer whale is cranky so we'll deal with him the same way and just give him his "space". When domesticated animals go into deviant, violent behavior patterns, their human caretakers need to exert exponentially greater caution with them, whether they be dogs, chimpanzees, killer whales, or another type. Instead, this killer whale had been kept on as part of the show! Foolish!

Of the circus, horse race, and chimpanzee examples, which are the cruelest? I say that taking already domesticated chimpanzees, who had even been taught intricate SIGN LANGUAGE COMMUNICATION with humans, and then throwing them back into the wild to fend for themselves, even if done gradually, is much worse than the traditionally rough treatment that show/sport animals like horses, tigers, lions, bears, or elephants typically receive. Once an animal has been either taken or rescued from the wild, or even born into captivity, it is an obligation on the part of those people responsible for that captivity to bring up that animal with compassion and discernment in its adopted environment, not to throw it back into the wild, grossly unprepared for survival. It is not enough to try to gradually try to train the animal for its new "life" by introducing new foods and abandoning it for stretches. Moreover, it's cruel to do this to animals as they have feelings of their own. They have already formed their own deeply ingrained views of what life is essentially about, only for some "do-gooders" to then decide that it's better to confuse the hell out of them to the point where they don't even know which way is up! Massively disgusting!

A Working Definition of Self-Respect

I am not a stoic by nature. Quite the opposite, in fact. I generally tend to look for the easiest paths in my daily walk that maximize my comfort and minimize my inconvenience. That pretty much puts me, in my opinion, right in line with the mainstream of American (and possibly generally human) culture. People want easy transportation, easy entertainment, easy food and drink, easy work, and easy relationships. And they want it all cheap and now!

Truth be told, though, this is not a very useful way to live my life. I am an individual human, but I also live in relation to others as a member of society. In both cases, life imposes limits on my freedom to "run my own show". The most obvious example is the need for me to go to work and earn a living.

While at work, I am under someone else's authority, expected to perform my duties and fill out my allotted time at my workplace with "gainful employment". This means furthering the business aims of my employer, not furthering my own particular, personal agenda. Now within the context of these limitations, I do quite well. I AM a productive, conscientious worker, making efficient use of my time and being attentive to the demands of my job. In other words, I respect my employer by actively and consistently attending to my job assignment. Once I clock out and leave my workplace, though, my time belongs to me (in a manner of speaking). So the question is, now that I have shown my respect to my employers by efficiently attending to their agenda in the time allotted for me, how am I going to show my respect to myself in the time allotted to me?

Well, for starters, I need an agenda for my own self. Unless it involves stuffing my face and slothfully staring for hours at the boob tube, this agenda will probably be composed of goals for me to invest my time in pursuing. And it will force me to make personal decisions about where to invest my time and efforts, decisions that will necessarily force me to impose some stoic-seeming discipline on myself.

I don't think anyone deliberately sets out to crash at home after work in front of their television, but it is probably the predominant behavior pattern in our country. People show their respect for others at their workplace, but when the day is done they won't show the same respect for themselves by pursuing their own interests. Instead, they seem to attribute positive traits like "responsibility" and "discipline" to their jobs as if they were burdens imposed on them from the big, bad, outside world that they have a right to shed when they have "free" time. But responsibility and discipline are traits of respect, be they aimed at others or one's self.

There is no need to always play the stoic and give up pleasures; pleasures are part of the "spice of life", as a friend of mine likes to put it on her radio spots. But our personal, "free" time needs to be governed by our own agendas. And we need to attend to them with the same degree of seriousness that we employ on our paid jobs. In other words, we need to respect ourselves.

The Lightning Thief: The Book

The other day I saw on TV a trailer for a new fantasy flick, titled Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. It looked like a fun movie to watch and reminded me (along with the title) of the Harry Potter series I have been so enamored with over recent years. Since this movie was based on the book, I checked it out and read it.

Rick Riordan, like Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, wrote about a boy who makes the sudden realization that although he had known over the course of his life that he was different from others, the difference was due to supernatural beings and his relationship with them. And that, like with young Potter, he was the focal point of a major conflict between these beings. Essentially putting his very life in danger. With Rowling, it was "magic" and wizards. With Riordan, it is Greek mythology and the various gods and assorted beings associated with it.

So twelve-year old Percy Jackson, continually being moved from one school to another as a disruptive and troubled student, discovers through the course of The Lightning Thief his proper place in the pantheon of that mythology, which he discovers is literally true and has moved its "homeland" from Greece to the United States (Mount Olympus is on the 600th floor of New York's Empire State Building). There is a missing item of one of the gods and Percy is suspected of having stolen it. He also is very protective of his mother, a theme very important to the story. And he gets (like Potter) two "sidekicks": Grover and Annabeth. Plus he has a mentor of sorts who reminds me a bit of Potter's Dumbledore.

There is no doubt that Riordan meant to capitalize on the phenomenal success of Harry Potter. The Lightning Thief was published in 2005, after the first five volumes of the Potter saga had already been out. But still, Riordan worked very hard to establish the characters' identities (especially that of Percy Jackson) as special and different from those in the more famous series. And a series this is as well, with already five books out in this relatively short time span. The books themselves are consistently reasonable in length, The Lightning Thief being only 375 pages in the paperback edition.

One element I liked a lot about The Lightning Thief, and a major difference from Harry Potter, is that the narrative is told in the first person from Percy Jackson's perspective. This gives me, as a reader, access to his sometimes quirky perspectives on events, people, and life in general. But Riordan doesn't go overboard with Jackson's thoughts; the book is driven by action.

So go read Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. It is good, fun entertainment. I plan to read the other books in the series, although right now I am plodding through Stephen King's excruciatingly long 2009 novel Under the Dome.

America's Increasing Fitness Gap

When I was standing around last Sunday morning about 7 AM at the starting line of the LifeSouth half-marathon, freezing my butt off in 28 degree weather waiting for the race to finally start, I took a little time off from my incessant shivering to look around me at the other contestants. And it struck me how incredibly fit everyone was. That may seem like a no-brainer, considering we all were about to run either a marathon or half-marathon, but it was the effect of being in the midst of a "society" of very-physically-fit people that struck me.

Later that day I went to my local grocery store and was struck again, this time by some of the incredibly "NOT" physically fit people there. This reminded me of what the media has been putting out of late: our country has a severe and increasing problem with obesity and its consequences, especially the growth in numbers of cases of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart and circulatory disease.

Meanwhile, I have been reading marathon calendars and websites, along with blogs written by marathon and long-distance runners. I was amazed to discover just how many marathons are now held annually across the country, and how well-attended they are. The Disney Marathon last month drew some 24,000 runners! These people are deeply into physical fitness, as are others such as hikers, swimmers, dancers, climbers, and various sports enthusiasts. Their interests are more than that; they are lifestyles that have irrevocably changed the lives and health of those who pursue them.

And then we have the ever-worsening demographic of the "unfit". It isn't surprising that there are so many of them, with the way that our social institutions tend to encourage overeating and sloth. I go to any number of restaurants and get served up with platters that a fairy-tale giant might find too much to eat at a sitting. And their desserts might as well be iced with "Welcome to the wonderful world of diabetes" for their sweetness and quantity. Our entertainment industry is set up, from video gaming to music to television to movies to computers, for "participants" to spend more and more of their "free" time in sedentary inactivity.

With me, I have long ago made my decision. I'm going over to the side of the "chronically fit". I still like my sedentary entertainment, but I am discovering some "motion-friendly" forms as well (for example, I listen to my MP3 on runs and at work when permitted).

I think the key to pursuing a life of fitness and health is to find one activity that you like and may actually be a little better at than many people. And to gradually work at it until it begins to take a greater hold of your interest and then becomes a part of what you consider to be your identity. But to reach that state, it is necessary to painfully resist negative habits and to inculcate new and initially-difficult good habits. Which goes a long way to explain why our society is generally going in the wrong direction on fitness and health, the rest of us fitness "goofballs" notwithstanding.

Oh, one other thing. I noticed that without exception those runners I was standing around were very happy! Even though they were obviously very uncomfortable in the cold. So comfort does not equate to happiness, and that is something that people who tend to be unfit simply have yet to understand.

Some Personal Running Chatter

Yesterday I ran 11.16 miles around my neighborhood at a 9:05 per mile pace. This was much faster than my tentative performance at the LifeSouth half-marathon and reflects my usual comfortable pacing (between 8:45 and 9:15 per mile). My original intention on this run was to see how far I could go, with 16.74 miles being my ultimate goal. But the humidity was high at 83% and I generally didn't feel as energetic as I would have liked. Still, I accomplished the fourth longest distance I have run since 1975.

The reason for the funny-sounding distances like 11.16 and 16.74 is that I designed a very good course through my subdivision and the neighboring one, after which I measured it on MapMyRun to be 5.58 miles long. When running longer distances (like yesterday), I run multiple cycles of this course in order to give me an opportunity every 5.58 miles to pass by my house and drink some Gatorade for a few seconds. Ultimately, I want to do five cycles, giving me the marathon-plus distance of 27.9 miles. But that is still a ways off. Alas, running longer distances consumes time, and the fact that my workplace has changed my schedule to report in an hour earlier each day cuts into the time available for me to run and recover.

One of my problems may be due to the fact that I tend not to eat a reasonable breakfast, possibly causing my energy level to be relatively low during yesterday's run, as well as during that LifeSouth half-marathon. So I will start, especially on "running days", forcing myself to eat something more substantial on those mornings. Also, I'm debating whether to go ahead and find some new shoes that reduce the stress (and pain) that long running seems to produce on my feet and ankles.

As far as planning out future marathons to participate in, the only viable one I see in the near future is the Knoxville Marathon, to be held on Sunday, March 28. But I would first need to secure Saturday the 27th off from work, no automatic deal. And I am still not yet in shape to run that distance. But having something specific like that placed ahead of me would definitely serve to mobilize my efforts more sharply! I should know by this weekend whether or not I'll be able to get time off to run in Knoxville, a city that I already thoroughly dig.

One other thing: after yesterday's long run, I experienced no lingering pain or cramping in my feet or legs. I had been surprised at my relatively fast recovery following the LifeSouth race on February 14, but this recovery was astounding! A very good sign, indeed.

James Cameron On Obama's Space Decision

Renown filmmaker James Cameron, responsible for such blockbuster visual extravaganza hits as Titanic and Avatar, has come out strongly in support of President Obama's plan to flat-out scrap the ambitious Constellation/Ares/Orion program started by President George W. Bush five years and $9 billion earlier. According to Cameron's article that appeared February 5 in the Washington Post and subsequently in the Gainesville Sun, it would be far better for private industry to be the party responsible for designing and constructing the hardware for our space program. NASA should instead focus on hard science and the development of propulsion and robotics technology.

Although I respect Mr. Cameron in his field of expertise, which is cinema, I have to disagree with his conclusion on a number of counts. And starting off, I have to underscore the vast difference between private industry that is tied in to government contracts (like Halliburton and Lockheed) and that which is subject to consumer market pressures (like Microsoft or Apple). But don't take it from some amateur like me: follow conscientious anti-waste senators from either party (like John McCain, Tom Coburn, or Russell Feingold) as they decry how private contractors rip off the government, and through it the American taxpayers.

Moreover, Cameron himself should know better how important it is for our space program to have a "flagship" project with a name and vision. After all, it has been in the production of visions that has given him his fame (and great fortune). Instead, his (and Obama's) "vision" has NASA in some kind of shadowy background funneling its allotted funds through to various projects. Well, there are already well over fifty of these projects going on as it is. But none of them would have come about, at least to the degree that they have, if we hadn't enjoyed the success of the highly visionary manned Mercury/Gemini/Apollo program of the sixties. Which makes me wonder a little about our president, whom I generally support (and voted for).

The way this issue has been framed is that the President wanted a fair, objective, and informed assessment of our space program, so he had this independent commission study the issue and give its conclusions. To which he then completely signed off in complete agreement with little comment. In other words, space exploration, like bowling, doesn't pique Barack Obama's interest. So instead of delegating some real authority to another in his government who does care about our space efforts, he instead puts the whole issue on the back burner to twist in the wind (sorry about my horribly mixed metaphors). This is no way to run a country! At least with his sorry efforts at bowling, we could have a good laugh at his continual gutter balls.

Cameron did nothing to address the frustration and futility of American scientists and engineers who, after decades of stagnation with our manned deep space efforts, had finally mobilized to work on a tangible attainable project: returning to the moon, establishing a base there, and using that as a springboard to plan a Mars mission. What does trashing their efforts say to young scientists and engineers who are interested in space exploration? It tells me that they should stay away from the U.S. and seek employment elsewhere (like Europe or China)! And I doubt that this is something that our president, who is constantly talking about how important it is for us to revitalize our science and engineering in this country, wants as an unintended consequence of his actions.

The idea of private companies developing the rockets for profit only works in the context of low-Earth-orbit ventures of the kind that we have been engaging in since 1973 and Skylab. In order to create an infrastructure of travel and opportunity for places like the moon and beyond, the government needs to set the agenda, frame it, and present it to the public with great fanfare. Look at our Interstate Highway System and the Internet. These great highways of transportation and communications were directly brought about by centralized government that used its funding wisely to implement tangible visions. Likewise, our government needs to be directly involved in the design and implementation of the infrastructure of deep space. And its promotion to the public. Incredibly, it took a conservative president in George W. Bush to appreciate this and put it into motion. Only to be shot down before it could get off the ground by the present leader.

Which brings me to another point. It takes years to develop a new technology. The more ambitious and far-reaching that technology is, the more expensive and complex that transition will be. It is almost a foregone conclusion that there will be setbacks and cost overruns as development takes place and the scientists and engineers discover what works and what doesn't. This was case with the Constellation/Ares program as well. All the commission did was to overemphasize the naturally-occurring negative results which arise from ambitious projects like this one. That by itself is not a good reason to cancel the project. And due to the long time span needed by those putting projects like this together, it shouldn't be a political football subject to the whims of each new administration.

There is one other point that I'd like to make and involves an innate feature of the relationship between scientific research and innovation and its full implementation in the form of completed projects based on that research: with technology, production always lags behind understanding. When a new product comes out, the researchers have almost always already come up with something better in the works for the future. This is simply the way it is with anything involving science and engineering. To say that we shouldn't go ahead with our plans to go to the moon because we are working on better ways to do it is nonsense. Had we been operating on that premise in the 1960s, we never would have ever set foot on the moon in the first place!

So James Cameron is welcome to be all bubbly about Obama's decision. But the director should know above all others how instrumental it is to have a vision to promote that captures the public's imagination. We had one and our president just took it away. Now we're just scrambling to get off the ground!

Senator Cougar

I remember rock/folk musician Johnny Cougar as a young, tough Fonzie-like character in the very early 1980s, a kind of Bruce Springsteen-wannabe representing the American Midwest (instead of The Boss's "Joizzy"). He did pretty well, coming out with a string of career-building singles like Hurts So Good, I Need a Lover, and Jack and Diane. Then Johnny Cougar in 1983 decided to change his persona and name back to his original John Mellencamp, with the "Cougar" moniker inserted for a while as his middle name. But the good music continued, Cougar or Mellencamp. He's still coming out with good stuff, another example of an artist who simply will not decline.

Now fellow citizens of Mellencamp's home state of Indiana are encouraging him to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Evan Bayh, who is leaving after his term ends later this year. The renown singer/songwriter has recorded songs in the past that have been used by Republicans Ronald Reagan and John McCain in their respective presidential campaigns. With McCain, Mellencamp, who is an enthusiastic Obama supporter, put his foot down and publicly asked the Republican candidate to stop using his music at his rallies.

Will John Mellencamp take the plunge, as celebrities Arnold Schwarzenegger and Al Franken did, and throw his hat into the political ring? I think that he would do quite well if he set his mind to it, but I have my doubts.

Schwarzenegger had been tendering political aspirations for years and Franken had been on a personal mission to "rescue" Minnesota's Senate seat from Republican Norm Coleman, who Franken believed would have lost to his good friend incumbent Paul Wellstone had he not died in a plane crash just before the election in 2002. I think Mellencamp may be one of those impulsive, temporary celebrity "candidates" like Warren Beatty, Alec Baldwin, or George Clooney who ultimately find the prospect of both campaigning for and serving in elective office too confining for their jet set lifestyles.

But John Mellencamp could fool me. He is very politically outspoken, and this could be an opportunity for him to walk the walk, not just talk the talk (or with him, sing the song). If he does run, he gets my honorary, useless sympathy vote from here in Florida!

Spring Weather Finally Here

It looks as if the spring climate pattern may finally be descending upon Gainesville, delighting both the avian and human population. Although the winter robin residents may still linger around here for a few more days, I am detecting various signs that the unprecedented, consistent winter freeze (or near-freeze) we have daily been experiencing here in north-central Florida may have finally come to an end. Aside from the average daily high and low temperatures jumping up by about fifteen degrees, I am noticing more neighbors out in their yards mowing their lawns. I will (sigh) soon need to follow their example and mow some of my weeds that are destined for their customary growth explosion this time of the year. But most telling is the residue of pollen left on my car windshield this morning. Uh-Oh.

Pollen means one thing in particular to me: seasonal allergies. And I have been very susceptible to them in recent years. The only things that have helped are Zyrtec or Claritin. I don't like Zyrtec because it causes drowsiness. But Claritin, in the form of a cheaper store brand, is already on my medicine cabinet shelf just waiting for me to pop the tab and start popping pills.

I wonder how severe this spring will be for us in terms both of pollen and of rain and temperature. I have heard the meteorologists predict a pretty wet spring for us. This is a mixed bag for me. I like to run, but I only have fixed times to do it in (unless I begin to run in the wee hours of the morning, Dean Karnazes-style). Maybe I should just start adapting to rain and run right in the middle of it, obtaining shoes and clothing suited for it. My lawn and shrubbery are also going to grow quickly, making me have to get out in the yard to keep my residence from looking like the Addams Family home. But, on the positive side, I had been worrying about the spring fires that have plagued our region in recent years. Would we have a replay of the disastrous 1998 spring fire season? Well, a lot of rain would quickly put a "damper" on that fear.

Spring usually comes earlier to Florida than in other parts of the country. It looks like it's finally arrived. Robins, take flight! And self, get some rain-friendly running shoes!

MP3 Listening While Running

I credit the use of my MP3 player during my runs with some of the great progress I've made during the past few weeks. Listening to the enormous number and variety of songs with it on "shuffle" mode has provided some variety to my running experience. For after all, my training course has mostly been around my home neighborhood, with some runs involving multiple passes through the same course.

In past road races of 5K length, I have noticed some other runners listening to their MP3s (or IPods) during the events. I thought that was cool if it worked for them, although to me the race itself, along with the different course, provided well enough interest without added musical entertainment necessary. But upon investigating the good ol' Internet, I discovered that the super-official (I guess it's official) governing body of road races has said that MP3s would not be allowed. Some participants in marathons even reported having their IPods confiscated by racing officials!

I don't see how listening to an MP3 player during a marathon race would be a problem, so why prohibit it? If it works for those who use them, then good for them. The last thing that the athletes vying for victory want, anyway, would be the distractions caused by MP3s, or at least that's what I would imagine. As for the bulk of runners, who have already paid a good hunk of money (up front and well in advance) to be in the race, they are mainly concerned with either finishing it or producing a PR (personal record) and aren't really competing head-on against other runners.

On the LifeSouth half-marathon/marathon run I participated in last Sunday, I noticed several runners with MP3s and IPods. So if there was any rule against their use, it certainly wasn't being enforced then. Anyway, it's all a moot point with me, as I relish the experience of running through the course and observing everything going on around me. Why detract from the special experience with something that I could listen to anytime I wanted? Even though I was already very familiar with the course and its sights, having lived here in Gainesville for more than thirty years, I found the experience of reaquainting myself with my home town to be very interesting and wonderful. How much even more interesting it would be if I were to travel to another city where I've never been before and run their marathon! But to each his own, and some prefer listening to their MP3/IPod during races.

Those making rules against listening to MP3s during races need to get down off their high horses and begin to work for the sport's betterment, and this includes making it more accessible and enjoyable for the bulk of the people participating, especially considering the steep nonrefundable entry fees they are expected to shell out in advance.