Christopher Plover and Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman, literary critic for Time magazine and the author of the best-selling novel Codex, wrote The Magicians, a novel that reflects and expands upon the world of magic as revealed by J.K. Rowling in her successful Harry Potter series. Only with Grossman, his novel painted the characters (his own, not hers) with true humanity, each one a mixture of the good and bad, the weak and the strong; Rowling instead tended more to ascribe virtues and vices to distinctively mark her individual characters. For this reason and many more, I enjoyed reading The Magicians. After all, with Harry Potter, I kept identifying myself with protagonist Potter's adversary Draco Malfoy, who in retrospect was much more realistically human than any of the "good guys". With Quentin Coldwater, the main character in The Magicians, there is plenty of "dark" Draco to go around, not to mention a good dose of virtue as well.

Grossman also drew upon the fantasy genre of the earlier twentieth century, making frequent reference to Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. But his chief inspiration was a series of "lighter" fantasy novels written earlier by an American named Christopher Plover titled Fillory and Further. In the fantasy realm of Fillory, there were talking animals, a supposedly evil woman who froze time, and... are you thinking what I'm thinking? That damned C.S. Lewis totally ripped off Plover when he wrote Chronicles of Narnia! The outrage of it all! Well, I could see that good ol' Lev Grossman saw this as well, not wanting to miss a chance to elevate Plover to his proper place as a premier, trailblazing fantasy writer. So he made Plover's Fillory the centerpiece of The Magicians. Good for him, at least a little justice being done here...

I managed to find a website devoted to preserving the memory of Christopher Plover and promoting his books about Fillory. The books, pictured on the right-hand side of the page, corresponded to Grossman's depictions in his novel. This only made me more indignant at the injustice done to Plover's literary legacy. Then I looked at the bottom of Plover's website at a list of links. All of them referred back to Grossman and The Magicians. The website was a plant, a hoax.

There never really was a Christopher Plover nor a series of books about a fantasy land called Fillory. Grossman invented it all and even had a little fun with his hoax. I even found another site that gave a review on Plover and his series. What a chump, for that reviewer to be taken in like that (after all, I only bought into it for a few minutes)! But wait, I'll bet that review was also a plant by Grossman!

The Magicians is just the first book about Quentin Coldwater and his adventures through a life of magic. It is very, very adult-themed, so I don't think it will make the Scholastic Book-of-the-Month Club (if there really is such a thing) anytime soon. But it was fun and interesting reading. The sequel is reportedly due out sometime in 2011; but having already experienced firsthand how Lev Grossman can mess around with people's minds, I'll just let myself be pleasantly surprised if and when it comes out. And then make sure my local public library stocks up on it!

Hey Grossman---you da man!

National Party Leaders & Their Involvement in Partisan Primaries

Why are prominent national political figures involving themselves so heavily with the intra-party primary season this year? I can't remember this ever happening before, at least to this degree. Sarah Palin is flying around all over the country pulling for "her" candidates while rival Newt Gingrich is backing his choices, often in opposition to Palin's. In the Kentucky GOP senatorial primary, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell supported loser Trey Grayson while outgoing senator Jim Bunning strongly backed winner Rand Paul. In the Democratic side, we already witnessed the debacle in Pennsylvania, where the Obama administration actively tried to get incumbent Arlen Specter's opponent (and eventual winner) Joe Sestak to drop out of the race for the U.S. Senate. And here in Florida, Bill Clinton has flown down to campaign for Kendrick Meek against Jeff Greene. Why?

This all makes me a little bit uneasy somehow. It seems to me that the national figures should let their parties' state and local elections play out naturally. Only after a nominee has been chosen should they then get out and campaign against the "other side". I know that, being a Democrat, were I to decide to toss my hat into the ring for an elective office, it would really badly irk me to see Clinton, Obama, or another well-known figure visibly campaign for one of my opponents against me. Especially when I had grown to respect these people over the years for their sense of fairness and judgement. I imagine that the same is also true for those civic-minded Republicans running for office when they see party bigwigs stumping for their opponents. It is as if the parties are so heavily into top-to-bottom control that they feel that they can't allow the actual people to decide for themselves!

Pinyin vs. Radical-Based Chinese Dictionaries

There are basically two types of Chinese-English dictionaries out there. One is the traditional arrangement, by radicals. The other is by romanized transliteration, nowadays pretty much always using the pinyin system of transliteration. I have both kinds of dictionary. And a few thoughts to share.

Being a native English speaker, I grew up regarding language in primarily its spoken form, with the Latin script roughly (sometimes VERY roughly) reflecting pronunciation. Chinese is written using characters, each of which usually has a unique pronunciation (unlike with Japanese) and represents a concept or "idea" of sorts. Chinese makes tremendous use of compounding, usually with two characters combined, much in the same way that English forms "barnyard" or "sunshine". When I read Chinese and come across an unfamiliar character (quite a common occurrence), I don't know how it is pronounced, just from looking at it. Thus my dictionary arranged by pinyin order is useless, and I am left resorting to the radical-arranged dictionary. A radical is a character unto itself which comprises a part of other characters, albeit often in a distorted form. Which can make it a bit difficult at times looking up characters by radical. Within each radical category in the dictionary, characters are arranged in the order of number of strokes.

Also, the Internet Chinese keyboards I have seen so far rely on radicals. So with any character that I do know, I have to first know its radical and then browse down the list under that radical's heading to the character in order to type it. Pretty damned tedious! I would rather first browse through the character-in-question's pinyin spelling and then click on it. If there are any pinyin-based virtual keyboards like this, I haven't found them yet.

And of course, if I am just listening to someone speak Chinese and I want to look up a word in the dictionary, the pinyin dictionary is the must and the radical dictionary is useless.

What a bother!

Oh, on top of that, did I mention that Chinese is basically written with two different competing writing systems: the traditional and the simplified? No, I didn't.

Double bother!

Brett is Back: All is Well Again with NFL Football

Brett Favre cracks me up. In fact, he's so funny that I have come to be one of his major fans, wherever he decides (or has trouble deciding) where he wants to play (or if he really wants to play). During Favre's Super Bowl heydays in the mid-nineties with the Packers (while I was miserably following --and still do-- the Miami Dolphins), I was barely aware of the man. Now, in his early forties (such an old guy, not at all like me--wait, I'm 53), Favre is kicking ass all over the league as a Minnesota Viking quarterback and enjoying the accolades he so richly deserves. But there's one thing, the thing that really makes him funny (and so wise).

Brett Favre hates training camp and exhibition games. To him, they are complete B.S., and I don't mean Bachelor of Science. He knows what he has to do when he gets out on the field, so why waste time and possible career-ending injury with all of that high-contact activity? So for the past two seasons, he has either announced his retirement from the game or hinted at it, essentially with the view of avoiding that tedious and unnecessary part of the pre-season. And each time, he has come back. Hopefully, his coach won't put him out there on the field very much in the Packers' remaining exhibition schedule.

Football is an injury-intense sport. It becomes ridiculous when teams' starting rosters begin to become depleted because of injuries, even before the season starts. Take the University of Florida Gators. The website for AM 850/WRUF lists some of their players' injuries, which includes a concussion to star running back Jeff Demps. And they haven't even played any games yet! So I think that if you are a player and can get away with it, better to avoid that hazardous period. Which is what Brett Favre was able to pull off.

Once I was watching a sports channel and they were poking fun at how Favre would warm up before going out on the field: he would bend his legs and stretch each of them a couple of times and then trot off, doing nothing more. Which is exactly how I warm up before running! A kindred spirit, I would say!

Inception: My Take (with Plot Spoilers)

Again, here is my warning: I will reveal stuff that happened in the movie Inception, so reader beware...

Now that we've got that clear, let's go on.

Inception is the first movie that I can ever recall going to see in which I personally insisted on going back promptly and seeing it a second time. There's a good reason for this: there are little clues left at various parts of the movie (starting at its very beginning) which I believe go a long way toward explaining its very cryptic conclusion and I wanted to check them out. My suspicions were confirmed.

I'm presuming, since I have already taken great pains in stating that I will reveal plot details of Inception, that you either already saw it or couldn't care less about seeing it. If you're in the latter group, then what are you doing wasting your time reading this article, you turkey! And since you probably did see it and want to read a fellow viewer's reaction, I'm not going to waste your time and mine recounting the movie's outline and finer details. No, I'm interested in the "cliff-hanging" mystery at Inception's tail end. You know, the continually spinning top.

Inception begins with dream-thief-for-hire Dom Cobb (played by Leo DiCaprio) washed up bloodied and tired on a beach, where he is taken to the opulent house of an very old, oriental man. We discover at the movie's end (when this opening scene's conclusion is shown) that this man is Saito, a powerful Japanese businessman (played by Ken Watanabe). Saito, at this advanced age, is seen taking one of Cobb's possessions, a small top, stating that he'd seen it long before in the past, and then spinning it on the tabletop. Then, we are suddenly taken in the film to what seems to be (at first glance) the past, when Saito is much younger, although now the same age as Cobb (if you didn't see the movie, I think I already lost you).

Well, to refresh your memory, my dear Inception fellow viewer, through a convolution of events Cobb ends up working for Saito on a project to insert an idea into a rival company's heir while he is dreaming. This process is called "inception", hence the movie's title. In one scene, Cobb, having just come out of a very disturbing dream, is frantically spinning his top because he uses it to ascertain that he is no longer dreaming (in dreams, it keeps spinning; in reality, it eventually stops). Who should walk in on him suddenly but Saito, seeing the top (which Cobb calls his "totem") and what Cobb is doing with it. This very short scene, lasting only a few seconds, makes no sense to me being in the movie unless it had some special significance. And I picked up on that instantly when I saw Inception the first time.

Well, Cobb, Saito (whom I regard as the story's "wild card" character), and the rest of their team ensue on their adventurous project, which involves going through deeper and deeper dream states, each state embedded within a "higher" dream. During this, it is revealed that Cobb's totem used to be his wife's and that while they were in an extremely deep dream state (for fifty years of "dream time"), she hid it. Cobb searched around and found it, then using it somehow to plant an unintentionally tragic idea in his wife's mind. So with that it was established in the movie that someone possessing someone else's totem within a dream could perform inception on them.

During the dream adventure, Saito gets shot and dies (within the dreams). He descends to the same dream level (called in the movie "limbo") where Cobb and his wife had spent so much time. Near the movie's end, Cobb tells a colleague he is going to bring Saito back. And then that opening scene reoccurs, with Cobb adding to it his plea for Saito to return back to the real world with him.

Suddenly, without having to pass through the process of awakening in each of the embedded "higher" dream states (which his other team members had to experience to return to awakened reality), Cobb finds himself fully awake in the presence of all of his colleagues. Including Saito, who promptly makes a phone call that would enable Cobb to come back to his country (the U.S.) and be reunited with his children. Everything from that moment on in the movie works in Cobb's favor without a hitch. In the final scene, Cobb is back in his house and he fishes out his totem-top, spinning it on his desktop. He then sees his children outside and rushes to greet them. The camera then focuses on the top, which continues spinning, long after (in my opinion) it should have stopped. The movie then abruptly ends.

So I think that the "young, real" Saito saw Cobb's totem and, recognizing it for what it was, later, in that limbo dream state, used it to perform an inception within Cobb's mind. Which was that everything was a success, Cobb was back home (as was Saito), and reunited with his beloved children. Because the "elderly, dream" Saito knew he could never himself return and neither could Cobb. So this inception was actually an act of compassion on his part.

Well, that's MY take on it, anyway. What's yours?

My Amazon Kindle WTF Moment

I tend to be a little behind the times when it comes to the latest advances in digital consumer technology. Such is the case with the Amazon Kindle portable digital reader, which I understand can hold up to 3,500 books. As with MP3 technology for music, though, I have one outstanding problem with Kindle and its competitors: what to do with my extensive and space-consuming personal library of books. As was the case with my extensive, lower-tech record and cassette collection, I don't want to have to purchase a digitalized version of a book that I already have in book form. And anyway, much of what I have is out of print. So until I can economically (and legally) copy my own material and put it on a Kindle (or a similar product), I probably will hold back on purchasing one.

Having said that, I'm still pretty interested in Kindle, as I would dearly love to cut back on the clutter in my home by reducing book space. So I naturally noticed and read a Kindle ad on the back of a magazine recently. And it was then that my "World Trade Fenter moment" jumped off the page at me.

Maybe you can explain this to me in a way that makes sense. According to the ad, you can either buy Kindle with wi-fi only for $139 or you can buy it with "free 3G + wi-fi" for $189. Do you see anything a little incongruous with that last sentence, or am I missing something here? If the only difference between the two versions is the "free 3G", then why does this version cost $50 more?

.....I'm waiting.....

Alachua County School Board and Creationism

For the three open Alachua County School Board seats to be voted on August 24, I have had a difficult time distinguishing the candidates from each other, based on their comments about their philosophies concerning public education. Apparently though, others in my community have their own ideas as to who would best fill these posts, as I have seen an unprecedented plethora of school board campaign signs in people's yards and along the roadside. But Friday, that indecision dramatically changed for me.

In Friday's Gainesville Sun, staff writer Kimberly Moore wrote about a recent candidate forum for the school board candidates, held at a local retirement community. One of the questions was how the candidates felt about having creationism taught in public school alongside evolution. The answers startled me.

Of the candidates running in the three-district field, Bonnie Burgess, April Griffin, Felicia Moss, Wayne Gabb, and Jodi Wood all expressed a desire to see creationism taught in public school science classes as an alternative to evolution. Opposed to this were Gunnar Paulson, Carol Oyenarte, Jancie Vinson, and Rick Nesbit. And then there was a fence-straddling third group (the true politicians), composed of David Palpaut, Jennifer Deachin, and Christopher Smiley [who has submitted a comment correcting this report and stating his opposition to teaching creationism in public schools]. Their expressed view was that creationism should be taught, but in a religion or philosophy class instead of science.

I don't see those in the third group as being on my side with this issue; they are liable to side with the pro-creationism group on important votes. This leads me with four [correction: five, with Smiley's correction] possible candidates to choose from in the three districts. I'm not sure, but I think that MY district is Nesbit's. Or do I get to vote for all three districts? I guess I'll find out in the voting booth. Better that I research all three districts!

Is teaching creationism in public schools that big of a deal to me? Yes. Creationism is a branch of Christian apologetics designed to "paper" over principles of modern biological and cosmological science which appear to literally contradict that religion's scriptures and doctrine. It results in the demonization of honest and significant scientific work and of those who perform it. Making legitimate science controversial is nonsensical to me, and electing candidates who would impose their religion on the public at taxpayer expense just isn't the way to go. Anyone is free to believe whatever they want to believe. They can worship at the religious institution of their choice and give religious instruction to their own children. There are also the options of private religious schools and home-schooling for those parents who think that modern established science is somehow "of the devil". But public schools should be free of religious tampering with their science curriculum.

Misdirection: World Travel for Missionary Work

I am suspicious of people who always seem to be catching a plane to this place or that, never staying in one location very long. They always seems to have the most legitimate reasons for their almost constant travel. They project to me (and most likely to others) an air of the utmost importance. After all, people who travel a lot are important people, doing important, useful things. Right? RIGHT?

I have no problem, really, with those who either have the means to travel for enjoyment and self-fulfillment or who, in the course of their work, quite understandably take in the sights and experiences of their travels (like my friend in New York). I would, too! But sometimes I wonder whether, with some, they use whatever the stated purpose of their travel is to justify their addiction to it. And here I am primarily thinking of church missions work.

It seems that the latest "big thing" in churches nowadays is to spread the Gospel message abroad by planting churches in as many countries as possible, with the expenses incurred by this being paid for by the church's membership in the form of offerings and fund drives. I know from personal experience of church leaders who seem to be in an almost continual state of travel to and from various countries scattered across the world. The churches they helped to establish have pretty much become self-sustaining, run by those countries' own people. Those who travel like this have others foot their bill, but don't have the needed accountability to justify what seems to me to be an excessive amount of plane-hopping. They will always be able to cite those in far-distant churches and communities who ask for their help, and what better God-honoring way than to deliver it to them in person? And after all, we're not talking about staying in ritzy hotels, but rather in often squalid conditions. But to me, that's just a rationalization obscuring the point. And the point is the "perpetual motion" buzz delivered by the travel.

As with any other thing, travel for travel's sake can get to be habitual, with the travel addict searching out excuses to set out again and again. Being someone who doesn't travel that much, I believe I can more readily observe this trait in others. Those who travel to excess, though, turn things around and try to paint themselves as somehow being self-sacrificial for the sake of others.

I'm not decrying the use of travel for overseas missions work; after all, the Great Commission in the book of Matthew commands missions work for believers. I just think that, as with any worthwhile endeavor, care needs to be taken to discern what constitutes reasonable travel and what constitutes travel for travel's sake. Otherwise, those in missions who are addicted to travel can always pull the wool over others' eyes through misdirection.

Summer Campaigning Down and Dirty

Is it just me, or is this year's (still only summer) campaign season the dirtiest in recent memory? It's bad enough that the division between the two major political parties has become so polarized; now, within each party, the primary battles have reached a new nadir in mudslinging.

This is particularly true in my home state of Florida. For the governor's race, on the Republican side, Bill McCollum, currently the state's attorney general and an established party figure, is trailing in the polls to upstart Tea Party candidate Rick Scott. And the attacks have been frequent and severe from both sides. In the Democratic primary campaign for the Senate, Kendrick Meek and Jeff Greene are likewise slinging too much mud at each other with their ads (particularly by Greene against Meek).

I can see how the GOP candidates for governor might get a little heavy with their ads, seeing how the winner of the nomination stands a pretty good chance to win the general election against Democrat Alex Sink (who also stands a reasonable chance of winning). But neither of the Democrats for the Senate seat is remotely close in the polls to Independent (and current governor) Charlie Crist or Republican Marco Rubio. So with the Dems, the attacks are actually much worse to witness as they have assumed a very hateful, vindictive nature, reminding me a bit of Frodo and Gollum's irrational and vicious struggle for the ring at Mount Doom.

I personally like Crist and Sink for the respective races, due in large part to the fact that they are both political moderates who seem to understand that with their elections they would represent ALL of the state, not just those who share their personal political ideologies. And they do try to bring people together in consensus whenever possible (easier said than done).

Overall, this has been a very depressing election campaign season to follow. Hopefully, we can somehow get the bad feelings behind us after it is all over and work together to make a better society for ourselves.

Reality check: Sure, like hell we can!

Google Maps and Reality

The other day I checked out Google Maps to chart out a new addition to my running course as I gradually increase my mileage. My goal is to eventually have a full marathon-length course relatively close to home that doesn't involve repetition. A subdivision near Devil's Millhopper looked appealing. I noticed on my map that a long, winding road went northward from NW 53rd Avenue and eventually would deposit me quite a distance away on NW 43rd Street. Then I could run back and reconnect with my original course.

In practice, through, as I rode by bicycle through this neighborhood, I discovered that the "long and winding road" was just a cartographic fantasy. My map had connections showing between neighborhoods that simply did not exist (the connections, that is); I encountered multiple dead ends. Finally, on my disappointed way back through this subdivision, I decided to investigate one of those "dead ends", only to discover that it led into a park that didn't allow motorized traffic but did allow bicyclists (and runners) through. And that path through the park did enable me to get onto 43rd Street anyway, albeit in a different location. Cool, but my Google Map just had a street featured there.

Don't get me wrong: I am very grateful and happy in general with my "maps" feature on Google. It really is quite amazing, actually. And the maps are usually pretty accurate, especially when trying to navigate down established major roads. But sometimes that accuracy breaks down in neighborhoods and can cause some consternation on the part of the frustrated traveller!

Summer Running Mileage Milestone

Earlier today I ran 10.47 miles around my neighborhood. This is the first time that I have ever covered that distance during the summertime. And it represents an important step in my training to complete a marathon sometime this year (the sooner the better).

An important factor in today's accomplishment was a tropical low in the southern Gulf of Mexico, whose outer bands passed over Gainesville. It was breezy, the temperatures stayed in the low eighties throughout my run, and I enjoyed running at times through refreshing showers.

Blog Lull

I have once again entered a period of a lull in my blog writing, for various reasons. I'm not sure how long this will last, but I still plan to write articles from time to time. Thanks for reading!

Weekend Beach Trip

If the above pix look a little familiar to my loyal readers, it's because we stayed at the same hotel in Daytona Beach Shores that we did last year! It was a brief but enjoyable stay, highlighted by my three-mile beach run earlier today in the middle of a torrential lightning storm!

Are We Becoming a Police State?

I just finished reading a very disturbing article from the Gizmodo website revealing how ordinary citizens are being arrested, jailed, and criminally charged for videotaping their public encounters with on-duty police officers. The rationale for this persecution is a wiretapping law designed to protect people's privacy. How completely upside-down to apply it in this manner, especially when it is often the privacy of the ordinary citizen that is being threatened by the officer!

Video-taping public encounters with the police is the only sure way that a citizen has for protection against harassment or false accusations on the part of our public "protectors". Some of the cases that have occurred are being challenged in court, but the overall effect of prosecuting those who are only trying to protect their own civil rights is to intimidate people in the presence of the police and to aggravate distrust of civil authority. Not a very good way to promote law and order, in my opinion.

After all, police testimony against a defendant is still almost automatically accepted by juries. Unless, of course, the defendant can produce contradictory audio/visual evidence that clearly refutes that testimony. It seems to be a blatant violation of the US Constitution to deprive people of the right to defend themselves in the best way possible. Otherwise, if this prohibition against taping police encounters stands, police can arbitrarily trump up any kind of charge against people that they disapprove of, based on lies about them creating a "public disturbance" or "resisting a police officer".

I hope that we are NOT becoming a police state, but right now the prospects don't look so bright. This is the sort of situation that I would have expected in closed, authoritarian third world countries, not the good ol' freedom-loving, flag-waving USA!

Swim or Bowl, I Need Better Technique

Today I had planned to go swimming in the early evening hours at my nearby YMCA, but threatening thunderclouds caused me to change my plans. Instead, I went bowling with my family. Not as much of a workout, but it was a good family event and very enjoyable.

I am neither a good bowler nor a good swimmer, lacking crucial elements in my technique for each. But help is on the way! While I still thought I was going swimming, I went on the Internet and got some good pointers (and some video) on how to properly swim. Similarly, I'm looking for some good bowling tips, particularly in the area of my release of the ball to put a good rotation and "hook" into it.

Before the seventh grade, I neither swam nor bowled. But in one of the rare times of actual nurturing that I experienced at school, I had the opportunity to learn both. My swimming was deplorable and slow for many years afterward, however, with no one (including within my family) bothering to help me with my technique. Over the years, though, I did get to where I could "get around" in a reasonable span of time with my swimming. But I know I could do much better if only I improved my form. The same goes with bowling.

I'm more motivated with improving my swimming than improving my bowling. What I really want is to be able to swim distances on a comparable level with my running, without worrying too much about my times. But I do need to get my form down first.

Humidity Big Factor in Summer Running

Today, around noon, I ran my convoluted course around my home neighborhood, totaling exactly nine miles. In 90 degree weather, with the humidity hovering around 60%. I perspired a lot, but took some safety measures: I walked for about a minute every seven minutes, chugging down a little refrigerated Powerade Zero during each walking period (I finished the 20-ounce bottle by the run's end, the last drops by then being warm). After the run, I downed another cold bottle of Powerade Zero and stepped into a cold shower for several minutes, these steps helping to cool both the exterior and interior of my body. Then, I downed a large cold protein shake to further aid in my recovery.

All of those measures notwithstanding, had the humidity been, say, 10-15 % higher, I would have probably had to cut my run short of 9 miles. For once the temperature reaches a certain threshold, it is the humidity that plays a dramatically important role in my training.

In the summertime here in northern Florida, the evening temperature (without thunderstorms) usually is around the 80 degree mark, more or less. That in itself can be quite uncomfortable to run any appreciable distance in, but what's worse is that the humidity here tends to skyrocket after sunset, sometimes reaching 85-90%. I have seen many runners wait for the nighttime and they look as if they are about to have a heatstroke in the humidity and darkness!

In order to be able to properly perspire, the air has to be dry enough to bring out the sweat. High humidity has an effect of blocking perspiration, which can contribute to the body's overheating and health dangers. So I would much rather run in hotter temperatures with a relatively low humidity. Which is why I never did take to night running.

That being said, I'm not sure my loved ones know what to make of me running nine miles in 90 degree weather with the sun beating down on me!

Wife's 30-Year High School Reunion

My wife and I just came back today from attending her thirty-year high school reunion in Leesburg, Florida. I actually lived there during a seven/eight month stretch in 1987, so I was also looking forward to seeing how much the place had changed (or stayed the same). Melissa got to meet up with several old friends from her high school days, with the spirit of the event being very positive.

I heard it remarked that, for at least this graduating class reunion, the old social cliques had dissolved with a high level of friendliness cutting across the old divisions. Would that it be so in all reunions! That's probably the one thing that most stands in my way of attending one of my old high school reunions. I can't imagine people letting go of the old artificial social divisions that gave them a sense of security and/or superiority in those long bygone years.

Of course, if there are still those kinds of "subdivisions" within my own high school's graduating class ('74), then that really isn't my problem, is it? I would probably be most interested anyway in seeing how those who were my friends back then are doing now.

Being pretty much the quintessential tag-along spouse for someone else's event, I still had a rather good time at Melissa's reunion. Plus, I got to run down the streets of Leesburg, something that I had never done before (I wasn't into running back in '87). All in all, a really nice experience with some really nice folks. And that's saying a lot, since I tend to avoid using the word "nice" on this blog!

I still have frozen mental pictures of my old classmates as they were in the early 70's, although they have obviously aged just like me. Once I was able to get on a reunion website of my old high school and looked at some pictures of my old classmates, none of whom I could recognize (the fact that the pictures weren't captioned didn't help). With Melissa's reunion, I had the reverse problem: without ingrained memories, I easily accepted the present relatively aged appearance of her classmates, trying instead to guess (with difficulty) how they must have appeared during their more youthful "glory days". Well, I guess it's about time to fish out her old yearbook to find out!

My Top Three (or Four) TV Shows: Cartoons

I am suffering from a disconnect with reality, as all three of my top favorite television shows are cartoons. But is it really so unrealistic of me, considering what is really being offered out there?

First, let me say that I don't care for either The Simpsons, Family Guy, or King of the Hill. I don't know, they just rub me the wrong way, that's all (although the father character in Family Guy thoroughly cracks me up). And perhaps my favorites rub you the wrong way as well: South Park, Beavis and Butthead, and SpongeBob SquarePants.

When each of these shows first came out, I had negative impressions of them, keeping me from taking the time to watch them and let their characters settle in. And in each program, it is the strong characters who carry the show. All three are also skillfully satirical, doing so in a way that "leaves no prisoners".

SpongBob SquarePants, set on the bottom of the sea in a place called "Bikini Bottom", features the title character, a Gomer Pyle-like "innocent-but-irritating" yellow kitchen sponge, along with his friends: a stupid starfish, a skinflint crab, a supersmart tomboy squirrel (usually in a diving suit), and my favorite, a supercynical and vain octopus. I tend to root for this last character, named Squidward, and usually feel that an episode without his presence is just not up to the standards of the others.

In like fashion, I dig not only the title characters in Beavis and Butthead, two thoroughly clueless teenage boys, but also the way the show pokes merciless fun at the way schools are run, especially with regard to their teachers and administration.

The same holds for South Park, a show about fourth-graders "growing up" in the title fictional town, located somewhere in Colorado. Stan is the main character, but my favorites are the evil Eric Cartman (a rotund pal of Stan's), tag-along naive Butters, and Stan's father, who epitomizes the often ridiculous pretensions permeating adult society.

Oh, I might want to include my fourth favorite show, also a cartoon: The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. But I'm referring to the classically-animated cartoon, not the marionette or computer-animated spinoffs (avoid these at all costs). Another show with rock-solid characters, my favorites being the fastidious Rabbit and the gloomy-but-wise Eeyore. And like B & B, The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is no longer anywhere to be found on my TV "dial".

Nothing on TV is for real anymore, I'm afraid. Not even "reality television". Not even much of the news, for the large part (especially on Fox). So if you don't mind, I'll stick with Beavis and Butthead on DVD (it is no longer aired), South Park, and SpongeBob. And maybe it's time for me to begin amassing my Winnie the Pooh collection as well.

The Never Done Before Day (Or Week)

I am suffering from an imagination deficit. The thought occurred to me that it would be cool if I were to do or experience at least one completely new thing each day and keep a personal record of my journey. But as I go through my routines, I find few opportunities around me to accomplish this, other than trying out variations on what I am already doing.

For example, I tend to sit at coffee shops. Why not try the Latin Cafe, which probably serves Cuban coffee? Or maybe a similar place elsewhere that enables me to sit and study without spending too much money at a time? But would this really qualify as a new experience?

I could do something like rollerskating, skateboard, skydiving, or rock climbing. There, that takes care of four days! Ultimately, it seems that in the final analysis that I would indeed have to include variations on what I already do.

For example, take dancing, which I just don't do. There are many different types of dancing and dabbling in each would constitute a "new" activity. Visiting different parks and attractions could also constitute different activities. Volunteer projects abound, and each could count as something different to do.

Still, it might be a bit too much to pressure myself to do something different every day. Better maybe to extend the span to each week, enabling me to plan better and to enjoy more substantial experiences.

It seems to me that there are three kinds of "new" activities. The first is what I would call "initiative", i.e. something that I truly haven't done before that will build upon itself as I subsequently engage in it again and again, growing in the process. My earlier examples are largely within this group. The second is "transformational", meaning it may be an activity I had been doing but I take it to a brand-new level of engagement and achievement. And the third is "punctuated": an activity that is new but is more experiential than accomplishment-oriented (e.g. visiting places like NYC).

What I will do is just write down on a blank paper all of the things and places I want to do and visit. And make some plans!

Religious Huddling From the Big Bad World

For a religion as predominant in our American culture as evangelical Christianity, it astounds me how its adherents go to great pains to characterize themselves as being persecuted. But then again, that shouldn't come as a surprise; they probably don't want to recognize the many centuries of Christian persecution of others, instead blindly reverting to "first-century" Christianity as a blueprint for their worldview.

The New Testament clearly paints a picture of persecuted Christians, either from the ruling pagan Romans or the Jewish religious ruling class in Judea. In order to escape arrest, they would secretly meet in believers' homes or in hidden underground locations. The meetings were a kind of "huddling", within which participants could discuss their various attempts to withstand the pressures of the evil outside world to make them renounce their faith. I have to admit to a degree of admiration for these brave early believers.

But it is nothing short of comical to attend family groups of evangelical Christians nowadays and hear people sit around in in elegant living rooms throwing out the same spiel about being persecuted. What they are really saying is that they don't want to have to see or hear anything in the so-called "outside world" that contradicts their religious dogma. So "secular" music, television, and movies are somehow persecuting them by existing. Even science (like evolutionary biology and cosmology) is a threat; hence a whole new branch of religious apologetics called "creation science". And if our democracy puts into office politicians whose priorities don't include discriminating against groups of people evangelicals disapprove of (like gays), then oh, how they are so persecuted!

Today's Evangelical Christianity Gnostic

I remember seeing in the backs of magazines advertisements for books revealing the secrets of certain special, closed societies that have reputedly been around for centuries. Secrets that told of principles for health, prosperity, and even supernatural powers...including the ability to live forever. This idea that there is a secret formula, hidden from most of the world, leading its practitioners to a better life apart from the rest, is the embodiment of a religious philosophy called "gnosticism". It was recently expressed in the Matrix movie trilogy with those escaping the false world of the Matrix (representing what we would call "reality") discovering the truth that set them free from the control of forces detrimental to humanity (the "machines"). The transformational moment came quickly ( by swallowing the "red" pill) and was irreversible. But away from the cinema, we don't need science fiction or secret societies to discover gnosticism: it surrounds us in our culturally powerful religion of evangelical Christianity.

You see, the key to "success" within evangelical Christianity is not to do good deeds or live a moral life. According to the "rules", it is to have passed through an irreversible barrier by at least once having sincerely recognized one's sinful nature and prayed for Jesus to enter one's life and grant eternal life. This is called "salvation" and once obtained, cannot be lost, no matter how dissolutely the saved individual subsequently lives. So we continually read news reports about professed Christians getting into the same criminal trouble as non-Christians. The divorce rate is as high among the evangelical community as it is among the "lost". But you see, that isn't the important thing. The important thing is that the special formula was worked out successfully at a moment in time, somehow obligating God to bestow eternal life and escape from hell on the transformed individual.

There is a reason, I believe, why kingdoms and empires during the first few centuries of Christianity worked hard to eradicate gnosticism and brand it a heresy. For a ruler who proclaimed himself a Christian would essentially decree that his people were consequently Christian, with their eternal fate linked to their loyalty to him and good conduct on this earth during their mortal lives. The idea that people could bypass their obligations to their political leaders with a few catch-phrases, a heartfelt prayer, and (with some a necessity) a dunking in water, seemed bogus.

Well, when I first heard of the salvation method being pushed in evangelical Christianity in 1967, it seemed pretty bogus to me as well. That's because it was presented (and still is) as a formula that needs to be sincerely practiced at a moment in time to work. This is similar to the function of a key, and in the Matrix series the symbolism of keys plays strongly in their gnostic story line. The salvation formula in evangelical Christianity isn't a big secret, but it nevertheless resembles gnosticism in that it IS a formula that purports to drastically and permanently change the nature of one's life (and afterlife). It also sharply separates, in the eyes of the initiates, themselves from those living in the "outside" world.

List Madness: I Rank Led Zeppelin's Songs

I like lists of all kinds. Perhaps the favorite is my own personal list of favorites. To that end, I will sometimes take a break from writing and just put out a "favorites" list. And today: my rating of Led Zeppelin songs, from top to bottom.

Making a list like this is problematic, since such a list is bound to change from time to time. But for general purposes, here is my list of studio Zep recordings according to my liking (with some of the titles probably imprecise). I indicated each song's album, abbreviated in the following manner: Led Zeppelin "I" (eponymous), II, III,and "IV" (untitled) are self-evident. Houses of the Holy: HH, Physical Graffiti: PG, Presence: P, In Throught the Out Door: ITOD, and Coda: C.

Here's my list:

1 When the Levee Breaks [IV]
2 Misty Mountain Hop [IV]
3 Dazed and Confused [I]
4 Over the Hills and Far Away [HH]
5 Friends [III]
6 Going to California [IV]
7 Stairway to Heaven [IV]
8 No Quarter [HH]
9 In the Evening [ITOD]
10 Ramble On [II]
11 Bron-Yr-Aur [PG]
12 Four Sticks [IV]
13 The Crunge [HH]
14 The Song Remains the Same [HH]
15 Hey Hey What Can I Do [Box Set]
16 Your Time is Gonna Come [I]
17 Wearing and Tearing [Coda]
18 Bron-Y-Aur Stomp [III]
19 Gallows Pole [III]
20 Kashmir [PG]
21 Bring It On Home [II]
22 Poor Tom [C]
23 Dancing Days [HH]
24 Black Mountain Side [I]
25 Living Loving Maid [II]
26 Battle of Evermore [IV]
27 Candy Store Rock [P]
28 Ten Years Gone [PG]
29 The Ocean [HH]
30 Travelling Riverside Blues [Box Set]
31 Achilles' Last Stand [P]
32 How Many More Times [I]
33 Rain Song [HH]
34 Rock n' Roll [IV]
35 Black Country Woman [PG]
36 Wanton Song [PG]
37 Heartbreaker [II]
38 Hats Off to Roy Harper [III]
39 Carouselambra [ITOD]
40 Royal Orleans [P]
41 In the Light [PG]
42 Houses of the Holy [PG]
43 That's the Way [III]
44 Communication Breakdown [I]
45 South Bound Saurez [ITOD]
46 All My Love [ITOD]
47 Since I've Been Loving You [III]
48 Nobody's Fault But Mine [P]
49 Trampled Under Foot [PG]
50 D'Yer Maker [HH]
51 Immigrant Song [III]
52 Sick Again [PG]
53 I'm Gonna Crawl [ITOD]
54 Hots On for Nowhere [P]
55 Celebration Day [III]
56 What Is and What Should Never Be [II]
57 Ozone Baby [C]
58 Tea for One [P]
59 Out on the Tiles [III]
60 We're Gonna Groove [C]
61 Boogie With Stu [PG]
62 In My Time of Dying [PG]
63 Tangerine [III]
64 Custard Pie [PG]
65 Thank You [II]
66 Lemon Song [II]
67 Good Times Bad Times [I]
68 Black Dog [IV]
69 Walter's Walk [C]
70 Bonzo's Montreux [C]
71 You Shook Me [I]
72 Down By the Seaside [PG]
73 Moby Dick [II]
74 Baby Come On Home [released 1996]
75 The Rover [PG]
76 I Can't Quit You Baby [I,C]
77 Night Flight [PG]
78 Whole Lotta Love [II]
79 Babe I'm Gonna Leave You [I]
80 Fool in the Rain [ITOD]
81 For Your Life [P]
82 Darlene [C]
83 Hot Dog [ITOD] (actually much worse than #83, more like #999,999)

Five Guys and a Duck

A few weeks ago, while in Jacksonville to drop my son off at college, I stopped off with my family at a popular new fast food chain that he recommended: Five Guys.

Five Guys claims to make better hamburgers than other chains, and apparently a lot of people agree with them. A restaurant just recently opened in southwest Gainesville on Archer Road, with such an instant following that people trying to find parking in adjacent lots have come back to their cars finding them booted (Gainesville parking badly sucks, as I have written previously). Well, I have my own experience about Five Guys.

The Five Guys we went to in Jacksonville was located in Town Center, site of many stores and restaurants. Inside, it was very noisy with poor seating. We decided we would take our food outside where there was more room. But the noise level was still high, with their oldies rock music blaring at us wherever we went. The prices were much higher than McDonald's or Burger King but lower than sit-in places like Chili's or TGIF. But I wasn't at all impressed with the burgers and thought that their fries were actually quite lousy.

I resented paying five bucks for a hamburger that I could have gotten for less than half the price at other places. At least in a sit-in restaurant, someone seats you and you can relax, appreciate the surroundings, and have others serve you. That merits the higher tab at the end. But we had to wait at Five Guys for our high-priced order standing there just like we would at Mac or BK. And their menu was pretty much limited to burgers and fries, with few other choices.

Trying to find something positive out of the experience while sitting there wolfing down my lunch, I noticed a little brown duck waddle through an opening and begin to cover the floor around the outdoor diners, looking for scraps. It was quite tame, as newly seated customers would attract its attention and it would make its way over to them. I kept looking back at that opening to see if more ducks would enter, but this guy apparently had his own personal territory marked out!

Unfortunately, the Five Guys in Gainesville doesn't have their own resident duck to entertain the suckers--I mean customers-- who patronize them. I wonder whether this fad will wear off, or whether other people really do have a different sense as to what tastes good and what constitutes a good dining experience.

MLB Standings at This Stage

I am interested in how the major league baseball standings are unfolding this year. I suppose that, at this late date in July, this would be a good time to assess where we are, especially regarding those teams I tend to follow and root for.

In the American League East, the defending World Series champions New York Yankees have a 3-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays, with Boston still in the playoff hunt 7.5 back. Tampa Bay, although in 2nd place, does enjoy a 7-game margin over the other 2nd place teams in the league for the final wild-card playoff position. In the Central division, there is an interesting 3-way struggle for the lead going on between the currently-leading Chicago White Sox ("my" team here), the Detroit Tigers, and the Minnesota Twins (last year's divisional champions). In the West, Texas is 6 games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels.

Looking at the National League East, my Atlanta Braves are surprising everyone by enjoying a 7-game lead over the NY Mets and Philly, along with the best record in the league. The Florida Marlins are experiencing a difficult season, languishing in 5th place at 47-48 (although they are showing signs of a surge). The Central division is a two-team contest between the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals with the latter enjoying a narrow 1.5 game lead due to a recent 8-game winning streak. The West has San Diego surprisingly in front, with San Francisco, Colorado, and the disappointing Los Angeles Dodgers still in the race.

For the rest of the season, I see the standings pretty much holding to the way they are now. I'd like to see the Chicago White Sox hold on to win their division, but I suspect that Minnesota will pull ahead at the end. St. Louis should put some distance between themselves and Cincinnati, while anyone could win in the West.

I may do this a month from now to see where things stand.

Communicating Means Listening, Too

The pastor at the church I attend has quite a gift with public speaking. His sermons are at the same time witty and profound, balancing well the religious message he is trying to convey with his personal life experiences. A lot of times I come out of there saying that he did a great job of communicating what he was trying to express. But not too long ago, I had a personal experience with him that gave me pause for reflection.

This pastor, who is about my age, had decided to train to run in the Sarasota Half-Marathon that was held in March earlier this year. He and an associate pastor in the church were quite public about what they were going to do (neither had run a half-marathon before), and the a.p. actually incorporated it into one of his own sermons. Well, I had thought at first that the half-marathon that they were going to run in would naturally be the LifeSouth Five Points race held right here in Gainesville on February 14. A race, incidentally that I had trained to run (and did). So when that day came and went without any sign of my two religious acquaintances, I wondered whether they might have skipped out. But no, they had decided to run in Sarasota instead. Fine, I thought, maybe I'll have the chance to "compare notes" about our experiences someday.

When that day came, it was after church and the pastor walked out and, noticing me standing there with my two children, walked over to warmly greet me. That's when I brought up his half-marathon race and asked him how it went for him. But he was very terse and quickly let himself be distracted by someone else. In mid-conversation. I was left feeling like someone who had just been insulted. And then it hit me.

If you know you have a more-or-less captive audience for a specific block of time (like with Sunday sermons), then you can plan elaborately textured speeches that leave the listeners impressed with your abilities. But most of the time, you are in informal situations where it can be a struggle to hold someone's attention for more than just a few seconds. It is not your fault that people don't have the courtesy or attention span to hear out your ideas; it is more due to their bad habits as poor, selfish, and inattentive listeners. In that stunted after-church "conversation" with the pastor, his discourteous behavior cast a shadow on the subsequent times I sat through his sermons; if he won't listen to me for a couple of minutes, why does he think I should listen at all to him?

So from now on, when I hear that someone is a great "communicator", I understand that this usually means that they have a good speaking delivery and methodology. But to truly warrant that kind of praise, the great speaker also needs to be a great listener. And I have discovered that, in spite of the relative scarcity of good speakers, there are even fewer good listeners, my proud running pastor included.

Major Story: Lohan in the Slammer, 2A

I have my Gainesville Sun delivered to me every morning, between 6 and 7. It comes rolled up in a plastic wrapper, landing in my driveway behind my car. This morning Melissa got up before me and brought the paper up to the front door before she left for errands. I got up, dressed, and set out for my nearest Starbucks to try to conjure up something for a blog article. I picked up the paper as I stepped out, hoping that today there would be something of interest to write about. When I arrived at Starbucks, I bought my usual tall "bold" roast coffee, pulled my still-wrapped Gainesville Sun out of my backpack along with my AlphaSmart word processor, and glanced at the headline on the upper-left corner of the front page. I may not take the paper out of the wrapper after all.

This is the news headline I saw: "Lindsay Lohan Begins Serving Sentence, 2A". Newspaper. News. Paper. O.K., I get the paper part, I put it down on the floor and my dog understands that as well. But news? Who is Lindsay Lohan? An actress, though not a very prominent one anymore, who for years has gotten herself into one legal predicament after another. I'm sorry that she's going to jail now. But does that rate as a news headline? NEWS??!!

.....Oh what the heck, I took the plunge and pulled the paper out of the plastic and opened it. Sure enough, on page 2, was a long article about Lindsay Lohan's ordeals. On the next page was a shorter article reporting that the jobless-benefits bill had advanced through the Senate, with the Democrats managing to break a GOP filibuster. Thumbing through to page 7, I discovered that Elena Kagan passed the Senate Judiciary Committee's vote on her nomination 13-6 (my Republican pal Lindsay Graham of South Carolina displaying his customary classy deference to tradition and voting "aye"), with the final debate and vote to go through to the Senate floor. Neither the jobless-benefits bill nor Kagan's committee vote had any front-page indicators. Nor did the lengthy, important article on 5A with the title "British PM says BP not behind bomber's release". Or how about the informative and interesting analysis in the adjacent article about how China has surpassed the U.S. as the world's largest energy consumer?

I suppose I should be happy that the Gainesville Sun at least did have the relevant news articles somewhere in their paper. And perhaps it isn't all their fault that they thought Lindsay Lohan might mean more to people at large than jobless benefits or a new Supreme Court Justice. Because, sadly, with people at large, the Sun probably sized up the situation correctly.

Foreign Language Geniuses

The acquisition of language is truly a remarkable phenomenon and is one of the main traits that set humanity apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. We tend to take our native language for granted, but encounter a wall of incomprehension when confronted with someone speaking a different language. When I hear someone rattling off in any other tongue than English, he or she seems like an incredible genius. The effect becomes very bizarre when I am watching a TV show and the "geniuses" are displaying behaviors that are anything but intelligent. My primary source of this on TV is my Spanish-language station Univision.

Univision has a good variety of programming on it, and I am glad that my local cable TV company chose to include it on their channel lineup. I tend to watch their morning show Despierta America and their late night news broadcast, usually still on the air when I get home from work. They also have campy comedy shows, reality/talk shows resembling Oprah Winfrey and Maury Povich, and many novelas (soap operas). It is in these genres of programming where I find the "genius bubble" frequently popping!

The final straw came recently when I was watching commercials and a Rosetta Stone ad came on, in Spanish of course. Genius after genius came on the commercial (speaking fluent native Spanish) relating what a great program of language instruction Rosetta Stone had been for them. Finally, they revealed the great product that most of those applauding this company were talking about: Rosetta Stone English! Suddenly I got real smug (for a few seconds at least) and reminded myself that to many I was the one who seemed like a genius. At least until people actually learned English and understood what I was saying!

I Support the Muslim Center Near WTC

I keep hearing of this mosque that will supposedly be built on the World Trade Center site. Those bringing this to the forefront of attention usually are vehemently opposed and even outraged, claiming that since it was Muslims who committed the acts bringing down the World Trade Center buildings on 9/11, Islam itself is responsible with its presence somehow desecrating the "sacred" site where so many died.

Well, it's true that God has been conveniently used by different parties throughout history to justify their atrocities, whatever religion their usurped "God" happened to be fronting. But the proposed mosque and Muslim cultural center will neither be on the World Trade Center site nor on public land. It will go on private property nearby. And as far as I know, we still live in a country that does not establish a state religion. Nor does it favor one religion over another, or least it isn't supposed to!

If the Muslim center is prevented from being established in its proposed Lower Manhattan location, then we need to go across our country and uproot the myriad Christian churches that had been built on the heels of ethnic cleansing of native Americans during the 18th and 19th centuries. Otherwise, let's show some social maturity and celebrate the spirit of diversity and tolerance that is the true antidote for the narrow-minded and intolerant mindset that beset the 9/11 terrorists and led to their unspeakable acts of inhumanity.

Not surprisingly, Sarah Palin, who seems determined to demagogue any issue that she feels she can gain political leverage out of, has come down strongly against the mosque being built. Palin, who quit her one position of elected government responsibility in Alaska to go to other parts of the country and tell others how to run their own business, has managed to get Zondervan, a Christian publisher, to publish and promote her memoirs. Christian bookstore chains prominently stock and advertise her political book Going Rogue. Palin is part of the "Christians are of God and are the good guys, Muslims are of the devil and are the bad guys" simplistic worldview that appeals to so many in the Christian right. The 9/11 terrorists, for their part, were part of the group saying "Muslims are of God and are the good guys, Christians are of the devil and are the bad guys". I don't know about you, but there is too much similarity between the two for me to feel comfortable following "Sister Sarah"!

Running Race Doldrums

I had the opportunity yesterday to run a 5K race in scenic and historic St. Augustine, one of my favorite cities in Florida. Instead, I decided to pass it by, having come up with some new parameters regarding my participation in races.

Having repeatedly endured unpleasant starts to previous 5K (3.1 miles) races because of other runners pushing ahead and blocking me from establishing any kind of reasonable early pace, I have decided to avoid this short type of race and instead have established 5 miles as the absolute minimum distance that I will run in a public race. And I'm not so keen at 5 miles either. Secondly, I have decided to ALWAYS avoid the tedious and drawn-out awards ceremony after races as they are almost always held too long after the race. And I will rely on my own timing to clock myself, having seen in three of the last four races either no timing done on the part of the race's organizers, no times posted, or the wrong times posted.

Yes, I will henceforth tailor my participation in running races to my own standards and make events work for me. I may even decide, after a race's finish, to just keep on running for a longer workout!

I e-mailed a letter to my Florida Track Club (I say "my" even though they readily deposited my entry check by July 8 but have yet to acknowledge my membership, even with my e-mail address provided on the application form) about their mishandled timing on their July 4 Melon Run. In reply I got a sickly sweet runaround e-mail letter written by a member who took great pains to let me know he was a "doctor" (as if that had ANYTHING to do with my question). Still nothing was ever done to correct the erroneous times, so I can only presume that this is a do-nothing good-ol' boy kind of club existing just to puff up certain of its members' egos. I didn't shell out very much money to join, so I'll just chalk it all up to a "live-and-learn" type of personal experience and move on.

When They're Not Playing the Gators...

I am rooting for the home team University of Florida Gators once again this year in football. I hope they go far with their very talented junior quarterback John Brantley. But within their same division is another school for which I feel a great amount of sympathy: the Tennessee Volunteers.

Last year, with The Twerp and his father coaching their team (for what turned out to be their ONE year of coaching the team), the Vols floundered amid losses and controversy regarding said Twerp's repeated verbal gaffes. Only I don't think HE ever thought they were gaffes. Many of them were directed at instigating hostility between Tennessee and Florida, and to that extent he was successful. Under Tennessee's previous coach Phillip Fulmer, who is a soft-spoken, dignified, and respectful man, I had grown to admire their program. Visiting Knoxville on occasion and seeing how much I liked it there didn't hurt, either.

Well, now The Twerp and his father have gone back to their old school, Southern Cal, to coach and possibly serve as scapegoats for that school's severe punishment for recent severe NCAA violations. The nature of his sudden abandonment of UT after he had pledged to build the program back up as a national contender left many Volunteer fans feeling deservedly betrayed. But they ended up with a better man after it was all over. Tennessee's new coach is Derek Dooley, a man who more accurately reflects their tradition of leaders like Coach Fulmer. I'm back on board with them, but not when they're playing the Gators!

Incidentally, in case you didn't know it, The Twerp also goes by the name of "Lane Kiffin".

Blog in a Lull

It looks like I've entered a period of time in which I am not keeping up with this blog as I would like. I'm sure this is only temporary; before you know it, I'll be churning out article after incredibly important article! But for now, I am at a loss for words.

Actually, there are a lot of topics I have lined up to explore. I just haven't found the time to explore them.

Give Skateboarders a Break

I recently bought a copy of the skateboarding magazine Thrasher after perusing it at the Jacksonville Barnes & Nobles (currently my favorite bookstore). It gives an interesting insight into the culture and mindset surrounding this activity, an insight that is a little disturbing but justified.

Skateboarders tend to be anti-establishment, and for a good reason: they are continually being harassed, even arrested, by local police who use local, state, and even federal laws that severely restrict skateboarding practically everywhere to pick on those whose appearance or lifestyle they don't happen to like. I've said it before: People need to be careful about pushing their own pet legislative agendas through to enactment because this often just increases the power of the police to selectively enforce those laws. According to the article "By the Time I Get to Arizona", appearing in the July 2010 issue of Thrasher, skateboarders entering Arizona for a sanctioned contest were repeatedly intimidated and even arrested by the police there.

In my own state of Florida, it is technically illegal to ride on a skateboard without a license. The federal government has reportedly passed legislation that both absolves property owners of any liability caused by skateboarders injured on their property and prohibits any skateboarding activity on any public property unless specifically authorized for that purpose. Guess what? That pretty much eliminates public streets, sidewalks, and bike paths. So kiss good-bye the idea of anyone legally riding a skateboard as a legitimate means of transportation (I've observed many ride skateboards to get around, and quite skillfully and fast). Unless of course one wants to "flout the law" and ride on anyway, giving our fabled public protectors the right to stop and harass them according to their own whims and prejudices.

I've grown a chip on my shoulder on behalf of skateboarders and I haven't even ridden a skateboard once. But sometimes, late at night I think I can hear that old board of my daughter's softly calling out from the garage, "C'mon, here I am, throw caution to the wind and take me for a spin; you know you want to"!

Running Progress Continues

As I continue to run in the midst of temperatures climbing into the nineties, I am discovering that I am becoming acclimated to the new challenges raised by the heat and humidity. I thank Jeff Galloway's "walk/run" system for much of my progress. I also carry Powerade Zero with me on my runs and chug down a gulp during each walking period. I also generally give myself a day to recuperate from training runs, choosing to either do upper-body workouts, work in the yard, or just take the day off. The results have been very encouraging so far.

On runs of any length, even those of more than 8 miles, I fail to discern any kind of leg or foot pain, something that was always a factor when I trained for the half-marathon earlier this year. My times have also improved to the point where, even with my walking breaks included, I am achieved times on the same level as when I would run straight through the same distance without walking. At this rate, I will be able to try to gradually increase the distance of my training runs, even in the midst of sweltering summer heat. Something that just a few weeks ago I would have thought to be impossible.

Later this year, I am planning to run at least one marathon: in Jacksonville on Sunday, December 19. But if the opportunity avails itself, I'd like to be able to run one or two more before that takes place. This, however, depends on me getting off from work on days which don't seem available right now. Early next year, there are several marathons offered here in Florida. I am definitely planning to run in the LifeSouth Five Points Marathon in February here in Gainesville and might venture in January down to Disney World to participate in their annual exercise in mass mob running. Just to see if I can avoid being trampled!

Right now, at this very moment, I feel confident that I could complete a 26.2 mile marathon. But someone would need to supply air and hotel fare for me to travel up north or out west where the only races are currently being held. Oh, and a little extra time off from work would help, too!

I Go With Holland in World Cup Final

Let me quickly get this in before it's too late.

The World Cup (excuse me, the "FIFA" World Cup, whatever the hell that is) has reached its final game, to be played tomorrow afternoon Eastern Time. The Netherlands and Spain, pre-tournament favorites, are the finalists. And this time there is no clear favorite. My own family is split on whom to root for: my daughter wants Spain and I'm pulling for Holland. I don't think the rest of my family could care less who wins, revealing naturally that they are more in tune with the pulse of American public opinion in general.

It's a lot more fun watching a game when you have people in the same room pulling for opposite sides. A couple of years ago, Rebecca and I did this watching the Super Bowl matchup between Pittsburgh and Arizona (she got the last laugh when the Steelers pulled it out). Last year's wasn't the same, as we both rooted for the New Orleans Saints. And now it's soccer time! [Oops, I mean "FIFA" soccer time]. Truth is, neither of us knows much about either team playing in the final. We made our choices somewhat arbitrarily, but in the thick of the game one's reasons for team allegiance get lost in the fervor anyway.

Hunker-Down Season Upon Us

In an Associated Press article appearing in the Gainesville Sun today, the federal Climate Prediction Center has affirmed predictions of a very active hurricane season this year by reporting on the observed emergence of a La Niña pattern. La Niña, which involves relatively cool waters in the Pacific, tends to spur develop of Atlantic hurricanes without the wind shear that helps to control their number and intensity. The result: seasons like 1995, 2004, and 2005. Add 2010 to that list and "hunker down"!

For Floridians, 2004 and 2005 were monster hurricane seasons. For us in Gainesville, 2004, with its triple threats of hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Jean, were a sign of things to come. Ivan, although not a threat to us, did crash into the Florida panhandle and caused a lot of damage. And 2005, with megastorms Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, only bore that notion out (not to mention that the named storms for that year wore out the traditional alphabet and went all the way to zeta in the Greek alphabet).

This year I predict we may not make it all the way through to "Zeta" or even "Z", but we will have some exciting and even scary times to contend with. Especially come August, September, and October. Not just for Florida, either. And not just for states bordering the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. I mean the entire eastern part of the United States.

LeBron James and His Oh-So-Important Decision

So this evening on ESPN, after weeks of unwarranted hype and excessive analysis and speculation, one of the National Basketball Association's all-time talents (and prima donnas), LeBron James, will reveal the team he has decided to bestow his grand presence on. James has been on the Cleveland Cavaliers and led them to great seasons recently, but never has been able to capture the league title. As if he were entitled to it. So the whole buzz around the sports media has been to guess how James will get other teams to assemble a lineup that will accommodate his championship hopes.

I don't know why LeBron James should feel "entitled" to an NBA championship. As talented as he is, James suffers from poor sportsmanship (refusing to congratulate Orlando Magic players after their 2009 playoff victory over his Cavaliers) as well as the bad habit of not giving it his all every time he goes out on the court. Had he put out a consistent effort in Cleveland's losing playoff series this year against the Boston Celtics, I have no doubt that he would have gotten his title shot against the Los Angeles Lakers.

LeBron James will most likely either go to New York or stay in Cleveland. Miami and Chicago have also been mentioned as possible destinations. If he truly does want to be on a championship team, then James needs a supporting cast of players that will help compensate for his own shortcomings (which he probably doesn't even recognize). To that end, Chicago or Miami would be better choices.

Whichever team he chooses, it will be nice to have LeBron James finally out of the sports headlines. My personal choice would be for him to pick the most obscure team, in the most obscure league, and in the most obscure location on the planet!

Enjoying Riding the Hurricane

My recent trip to Hollywood in south Florida gave me the opportunity to reacquaint myself with a pleasurable experience I have been lacking of late: the theme park thrill ride. In this case, the park was Boomer's in Dania and the ride was the Dania Beach Hurricane wooden roller coaster.

Boomer's, strictly speaking, isn't really a theme park; at least it isn't in the class of a Busch Gardens, Sea World, or Universal. As a matter of fact, the Hurricane is the only thrill ride they have. But to me it is enough, comparing favorably with Dollywood's Thunderhead coaster as my favorite wooden roller coaster so far. What I like the most about the Hurricane, besides its length, are the numerous times of "lift" caused by going over hills in the course.

I am still confounded by the fact that the Dania Beach Hurricane is the only roller coaster in the entire south Florida area, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach. For an area that touts itself as a vacationland and depends heavily on tourism, why hasn't a Six Flags been built there? Go figure. But even that is not as confounding as the fact that not many people down there seem interested in riding the one coaster there. I invite Boomer's to relocate here in Gainesville, with the outstanding Dania Beach Hurricane of course. But they'd have to rename it to something appropriate to my home town. How about the "Gainesville Road Work Adventure"?

Interstate, Denny's, South Florida

When I drove to Hollywood from Gainesville last week, I hit the Turnpike for a while. Then I decided to switch over at Orlando to I-95 and "free-way" it the rest of the trip. Although I-95 wasn't all that bad, the drive down Colonial Drive in Orlando was a monumental blunder. Endless sprawl and traffic, even on a Sunday evening---ugh!

I was very relieved to finally reach I-95, the interstate highway running along the Florida peninsula's eastern side to Miami (I-75 runs down the western side). I was tired and hungry as well, so I stopped off at the Denny's restaurant just off the Indiatlantic exit in Brevard County. My experience there was so pleasant, with the service, food, and price, that I ended up going to three other Denny's during my round trip. The first time (at the Indiatlantic exit) I order the (pictured) $4 breakfast. Next, at West Palm Beach, I just got a coffee (that Denny's was my least favorite; the coffee tasted old--like Starbucks always tastes-- but I wasn't in the mood to argue about it). Then, while I was in Hollywood I went out at 2:30 in the morning to the Denny's on University Drive, eating their $4 endless stack of pancakes. Finally, on my way back home I stopped off just south of Fort Myers and had a variation of my first meal, substituting sausage for bacon. I liked the friendly attitude of the people working at these restaurants. Maybe it was Denny's; maybe I was just lucky.

As you read this pretty insignificant article, you may have picked up on the fact that on the return trip I stopped off around Fort Myers. On the WEST side of Florida. Yes, I decided to try I-75 back to Gainesville. Actually, it was the first time I had ever traveled down this stretch of I-75 south of Tampa. And I must say that it was quite a pleasant experience, very different from I-95. No endless sprawl of urban traffic to contend with, even as the route passed by Fort Myers, Sarasota, and Tampa. All of the times during my teenage years in the 70's hearing classmates talking about speeding through Alligator Alley (which runs across the Everglades, specifically the Big Cypress Swamp) made me want to travel it, but I never got around to seeing for myself until just now. Now, in 2010, I saw nothing resembling the 100+ mph daredevils my classmates described. Rather, if anything, the traffic was pretty slow.

Yes, from now on I will be traveling I-75 to and from south Florida.

My Melon Run Experience

Yesterday I ran in the three-mile Melon Run, sponsored by the Florida Track Club and held here in Gainesville in the Westside Park vicinity. I enjoyed some of the run, but much of it was an exercise in futility.

Like every other race I have participated in, I was crowded out by aggressive, usually slower runners in the crowded pack at the race's start (even though I had lined up ahead of them). This cost me precious time as I tried to find openings around these runners, whose pushiness this way makes no sense to me. Most of us have a general sense of how fast we are going to run. The slower runners should understand that they are only creating traffic logjams by pushing to the front at the beginning (much like a slow driver insisting on occupying the left "fast" lane on the Interstate).

I spent the rest of the race catching up with and passing other runners, most of whom I should have been ahead of in the first place. At the very end, some hotshot popular elder runner, whose name bystanders were cheering (while ignoring me) pushed past me to the finish. Other than him, it was a typical pattern of me falling hopelessly behind pushy, slow runners at the race's start and then playing catchup and passing others the rest of the way. I finished with a time of 23:04. I probably would have had a 22:30 time or better had I been allowed to run without interference.

Also, unfortunately, the officially posted times were off, since the Florida Track Club uses an antiquated system that matches times with racing finish order. If there is any glitch along the line, than each runner is given the time of the runner ahead or behind him (or her). I was given the erroneous time of 23:15. They should institute the use of computer-chip timing and ditch the present flawed system.

For this race at least, I decided to wait for the awards ceremony. Bad decision. I had to wait an hour and a half, just standing around with the other runners. I tried to make conversation with some, but for the most part they were tightly corralled into their own private circles of family and friends. I felt almost like an unwelcome stranger, here in my home town of 33 years!

The race's organizers, the Florida Track Club, had an irritating manner of being very warm and encouraging to their select group of "buddies" while displaying a rather strict formality to "outsiders" (like 33-year resident "me"). Equally irritating was during the awards ceremony when the presenter would take great pains to recognize UF professors by calling them "doctor" so-and-so. For crying out loud, we only ran a fun race. Am I expected to kiss up to these people all of the time?

You might think that I am down on the Florida Track Club and Gainesville races. But I just sent the FTC my membership application and one year's dues. Maybe by becoming a part of the picture, I can exert a positive influence on running here in Gainesville, especially towards the aim of eliminating the kind of cliquish behavior I perceive going on. We'll see. In any event, I ran my July public race. I can't wait to resume running in longer events. Events timed by computer chips!

Oh by the way, this time I did carry my little digital camera with me for the race. Not much to show, but hey, it was my first venture into "running tourism"! The blurry picture was due to me trying to photograph while running, not a good idea.

Obama Deserves Respect as Country's President

It has disturbed me seeing how many currently in opposition to President Obama have spewed what is essentially a message of hatred toward this gentle, public-minded man who has consistently conducted himself with a degree of grace and dignity that is truly remarkable. The critics who bother me the most are those who claim that Obama's election was illegitimate, that he either was born outside of the U.S. or that something in the process itself unfairly manipulated people into voting for him.

I had heard the same sort of stuff about George W. Bush, with the notion that he had been able to unfairly manipulate the process to claim two close election victories in 2000 and 2004. And that those who voted for his reelection in 2004 were somehow flimflammed into doing so.

What nonsense. In both 2000 and 2004, both Republicans and Democrats did whatever they could to influence the election outcome, including the intense no-holds-barred legal struggles in Florida following the 2000 election. I remember listening to Air America in 2006, hearing program hosts regularly claiming that Bush stole both the 2000 and 2004 elections.

I always recognized the election results of 2000, 2004, and 2008. When Bush was president, he was MY president as well as president of those who voted for him. And while he pursued a political agenda that I often disagreed with (often very strongly), I felt then and feel now that he understood that he, too, was everyone's president, not just his supporters'. In the same vein I feel that Barack Obama, while pursuing his particular political agenda, also sees himself as the entire country's president.

If only his opponents would just respect him for that and that he is our legitimately elected president, I would be much more willing to listen to their ideas. Hearing some of the anti-Bush venom being pushed back in the Air America days did nothing to predispose me toward their opinions, instead only discrediting them.

Drinking Coffee, Running, and Parking in Davie

While down in Broward County last week, I drove over to the "block" comprising the Nova public schools and Broward {Community} College to do my 2.87 mile run (actually, I had planned to double it this time to 5.74). Pulling into the B{C}C parking lot, once again almost empty, I encountered this time a sign warning me that I needed a decal to park in one of their many neglected spaces. Off in the distance I saw a huge parking garage (it was the building under construction last year when I visited). So now that they have so much more room for parking than they know what to do with, they're going to start clamping down!

No problem, I just drove northward to Nova Drive, where I pulled into a Publix parking lot. After all, even in Gainesville with its insane, nitpicking enforcement of parking, nobody there gets uptight about anyone using Publix parking lots. But no, I looked and there was a sign saying "roam towing" for those who parked there but didn't immediately jump out and patronize the stores. I drove past row after row of empty parking spaces to the far corner of the lot, where I quickly got out and crossed the street to begin my run. Knowing that I might not have a car there when I returned.

So I decided on that first lap that it would be my only lap. The temperature was hot as usual at 90 degrees, but it didn't bother me. Upon returning to the Publix area, I saw a young man walking around the lot with a red shirt on, looking a lot as if he were the one responsible for determining "towable" cars. I slipped into my car and drove off, wondering what had happened to the formerly liberal parking attitude that had made Davie an attractive place to visit as recently as last year.

Oh, did I mention that Nova High School was completely fenced and locked off, included its publicly funded track? No, I didn't.

I won't be returning there to run. But...

West of all this, on Nova Drive near University Drive, is a great place to drink coffee and study: the Havana Coffee Company. I visited there twice, purchasing each time one of their Café Cubano Doble's. Excellent, although I think the next time I go there I will get something a little larger.

Trivia Not Trivial, To Me

Around work, sometimes we get caught up with asking each other trivia questions, just to help pass the time of day. Usually, I'm pretty quick with trivia, seeing how I have had this propensity to pick up "useless" knowledge over the years with unconscious ease. But I have to admit that these trivia games have begun to wear on me.

The reason I remember so much trivia is that it all takes place within context. Musically, I can almost visualize the times and places when and where I heard various songs. Furthermore, I make this connection even when I am just playing them in my head. Songs like Paul Simon's Loves Me Like a Rock, the Beatles' Don't Pass Me By, Harry Chapin's W-O-L-D, Chicago's I've Been Searching For So Long, and Bette Midler's Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy were all tunes going on in my mind while running in my late teens around the Nova/BCC complex in Davie, Florida. Isao Tomita's remarkable 1974 album Snowflakes Are Dancing places me at a place I worked in Miami Shores during the same period. Country and western songs tend to draw me back to my first year at the post office, when the only headset radio I had, a real "cheapie", could only pick up the powerful GC-101 country and western station. Every time I see the stylized "D" on official Detroit Tigers items, it takes me back to a baseball card I had that displayed it when I was about six. And me standing in front of my house on the north side looking at it. Young Frankenstein I first viewed on the Reitz Union lawn at the University of Florida. Find Your Place in the Sun, a 1977 hit by Pablo Cruz, was played before a movie showing in that Reitz Union's theater. I know the video games I have played over the years by when and where I played them (and with whom). And so on. If someone asks me a trivia question touching upon any of these items or a myriad of others, a chain of associations and memories ensues. And that's what I dig the most about trivia, not just getting the answers right.

I tend to cluster my memories together into settings. When I am prompted by one item, the others fall into place as well. So someone at work asking me a trivia question is begging to be bored by my very long, drawn-out response as I explore the significance that the supposedly insignificant trivia carries to me. But I am tired of simply barking out the answers to show what a smartass I am. There is more to it than that for me.

What makes trivia enjoyable to me are those associations and dug-up memories that create a picture of my own personal past. I like to listen to others relate in a personal way like this, but apparently I tend to do it much more intensely than others.

The Independent Huddling Elderly

Clifford Simak, one of my all-time favorite science fiction writers, once wrote a short story titled The Huddling Place. It examined the negative consequences for someone who was able to fashion his own private environment to the point that the outside world was so effectively filtered that it was essentially shut out. It has one of those profound endings that keep creeping into my thoughts from time to time, reminding me of other things going on in my life.

I admit to having been a habitual "huddler": one who can't wait for the moment in the day when privacy rules and others are barred from entry into my life. This has usually occurred at the end of my workday and I am finally home, late at night. The others in my family have all usually gone off to bed by then, and I pretty much have the run of the living room/kitchen all to myself. But then again, the hour or two I enjoy snacking and "surfing" my TV are no longer typical for how I now spend my free time. For late at night after work, I am often mentally fatigued and just need some "alone" time to relax and lighten up. Yet at other times I go out into the world and mix with it with no problem and to my enjoyment.

But I do know some people who, like the main character in Simak's The Huddling Place, at some point in their lives decided to create their own little "private: no trespassing" cocoon of privacy. All outsiders, almost always strangers, become potential intruders to them. Unfortunately, with elderly people possessing this bent who live independently, this can also mean cutting off one's connections with people whom they find themselves needing at times to depend on for their needs.

It's a fact of life: as we age, our physical abilities diminish, often to the point where we can't function without outside help. We can't see or hear as well as before, we can't walk like we did when younger, and our injuries are both more severe and serious, as well as slower to heal. Our ability to react is also slowed, making driving that more difficult, if not impossible. Yes, the expression "independent elderly" could be termed an oxymoron since it is the sad, though unvarnished truth that aging goes hand in hand with increasingly greater dependence on others.

Instead what happens is that some elderly cut themselves so completely off from their neighbors that, when they finally become so desperate in their needs, they become prey to con artists and even violent crime.

Let's face it, we all like our privacy, even the more gregarious of us. But we also need to take care to make some effort to connect with others around us. In a city environment, having someone on our block or in our apartment complex who occasionally checks in on us to see how we're doing is "priceless", as that old worn-out commercial puts it. Beyond that, there are social and religious organizations that are eager to invite the elderly into its halls and help them with transportation or other relevant matters (belief in their creed is usually not required). Of course, nearby family can make a huge difference. And even those relatives living at a distance can help profoundly. But the base of social connections has to be local, and to accomplish this one's "huddling place" needs to have "occasional", not "permanent" status.