Hike to Natural Bridge, Kentucky

Last Monday I hiked up to the top of Natural Bridge, a large sandstone formation in eastern Kentucky on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains. Accompanying me were my children Rebecca and Will. The hike was between 2-3 miles long, but was pretty steep climbing at times. But not, I understand, as steep as the original trail to the summit, which was only .75 miles long! There were other, longer trails crisscrossing the park; the map that the park provided of the different trails was unreadable, looking more like a little kid's scribbling than a usable trail map.

Along the climb we would stop every few minutes or so for rest and some water. It was hot, but we had helpful tree cover shading us from the sun. Upon reaching the top, though, we were exposed to the hot summer sun which beat down on us mercilessly as we stood there looking down from the Natural Bridge at the landscape below. Melissa, who had taken the sky lift ride up ahead of us (with some Kentucky relatives), rode back down on it again, this time with all of us together.

We were planning to go to the neighboring Red River Gorge and try out "zip-lining", but an approaching huge severe thunderstorm stretching all the way back to Lexington canceled that plan. Still, the Natural Bridge hike and sky lift ride back down were fun experiences.

I enjoy hiking like this and could have gone much further. But when you're with a group, you have to stick together and look out for anyone who may be reacting to the hike unfavorably. And sometimes that means that you have to curtail a hike or slow it down. But that's the way it should be...

Foolish Hollywood Run in Humidity

Yesterday I was down in Hollywood, Florida visiting my father. I decided to go on a run around my childhood neighborhood, something that I had never felt comfortable doing before. The running course was easy enough to devise: I planned it looking at my cellphone map of the area while at a turnpike rest stop on the way. Still, without using my MapMyRun application, I wouldn't know the exact distance I covered until I got back to Gainesville.

I made an enormous, stupid mistake by choosing the morning hours to do my run. The temperature ranged from 80 to 83 degrees, an acceptable range. But I allowed myself to run with the humidity an unbearable 82-85%. Very foolish. I finished my 4.14 mile run in 38:08, but my recovery was difficult. The humidity caused excessive sweating and cramping, and I couldn't hold down the G2 drink I had consumed during the run to rehydrate myself. Eventually I improved, but I was still more tired than usual throughout the day. I had better not try running under hot, excessively humid conditions anymore!

Still, having said that, I also am happy to report that I enjoyed the actual run through my old neighborhood...well, maybe not so happy: the humidity was starting to get to me badly there at the end. And although I have run much further recently in Gainesville, Sunday morning's run was the longest distance I had covered in south Florida since 1976. I think that my future trips to Hollywood will feature the same general running course, but under vastly different weather conditions. I doubt that I would have had any problem yesterday had I done what I do in Gainesville: wait for the humidity to inevitably drop over the course of the morning...

Japanese, Lexington, Television

One of the surprises I experienced while visiting Lexington, Kentucky last week was the presence there of a substantial Japanese minority. For whatever reason, perhaps a nearby Japanese auto plant...whatever...I saw (and heard) quite a few Japanese people around in public (and I have a degree of familiarity with the language). At my hotel, one channel was exclusively devoted to Japanese-language programming. A weekly Japanese-language business newspaper was available as well in the lobby. Strangely to me (from Florida), there was no attempt to cater to Spanish-speaking visitors as there were no Spanish TV channels or Spanish newspapers (at least in my hotel). This in spite of the fact that I heard Spanish spoken around me in public.

My son, who had visited Japan during the summer of 2010, kept the TV pretty much on that Japanese channel in the hotel. Mornings were devoted to children's programming, once again making it seem that all those little children on the shows were such geniuses to be able to speak such a difficult language as Japanese so effortlessly. Later in the morning, the programming shifted to a more adult focus: a panel discussion of people sitting around reading and analyzing haiku poetry! It remotely reminded me of the oft-interesting Book TV shows presented on C-Span during the weekend, but that is just about the only thing on my sorry television channel lineup that can claim to have literature-friendly content. Later in the day, the Japanese station presented cartoons, business discussion, news, and entertainment shows.

A few years ago there was a TV channel called "AZN" that presented shows in various East Asian languages, including Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese. I used to watch it a lot, especially the morning news shows in Chinese and Vietnamese. Alas, though, they went out of business, leaving me to have to resort to Univision to get some linguistic diversity out of my hometown television.

I wish that cable television companies would try to supply major population centers with at least one channel devoted to programming in each of the major world languages. Especially in places with large universities that enroll many international students. In Gainesville, we have very sizeable Chinese and Indian communities. Let's at least get Chinese and Hindi channels!

Travel, Constraints

I'm sitting here in a Forsyth, Georgia hotel on this Friday morning. My family and I are on our way back home from visiting relatives in Lexington, Kentucky. Yesterday was a pretty intensive driving day, and part of today will involve a considerable amount as well. But I don't mind the driving, and Melissa has shared the chores.

No, I have to admit it, I just don't care that much for travel. I know some are crazy about it, but I would much rather just stick to my daily routine. I think one major reason for my lack of enthusiasm for going places is that my travel itinerary almost always has a particular agenda, and the people I travel with have their own priorities for the trip that require a degree of negotiation in the limited time (and expense) available.

Take this Lexington trip, for example. I love Melissa's relatives there and enjoyed visiting them. But I also wanted to go see Frankfort, the state capital, just a few miles down the road. I wanted to walk around the University of Kentucky campus. There was a park down the road featuring a cave. These are just a few of the places I wanted to visit but couldn't due to the constraints that my family role imposed on me.

I did go visit the Natural Bridge east of Lexington and hiked the 2+ miles to the top with my "kids" Will and Rebecca, and that was a lot of fun. There was some shopping and eating out. We did manage to drive through downtown Lexington and past the nearby UK campus just before leaving. At the hotel, I did get some swimming and running in to keep my fitness "continuity" going. And yes, spending time in the company of others was pretty cool, too.

I'm looking forward to getting back home to Gainesville later today. Then tomorrow I plan to embark on a trip to Hollywood in south Florida to visit my father for a couple of days. Another trip with possibilities that won't be realized because of the constraints...

Entropy-Challenged Me

I admit it: I am an entropy-challenged person. Fighting increasing disorder and uncleanliness around my home seems to be an insurmountable task. My yard is a travesty of weeds, ants, molehills, and overgrown trees, vines, bushes, and grass. It seems that everywhere I look around me, something is in a state of disrepair. It is a struggle to keep the cars in good working order. Even my clothes not only seem to be becoming more and more tattered, but also from time to time some of them mysteriously disappear, I suspect into the midst of the disorder around me. Yes, losing things is another symptom of being entropy-challenged.

When I visit a friend's house, I usually get taken aback at the extraordinary level of cleanliness and tidiness of the place. I can't imagine the owners doing much of anything with their lives besides being in a constant state of cleaning and repairing. Yet I know that these people are also active in other areas of their lives. They are just more effective in fighting the entropy around them.

I suppose the most dangerous form of entropy is the breakdown of one's own body through disease. At my age (54), I need to at least put my efforts into caring for my health, be it through better eating, better hygiene, or seeking necessary medical procedures and regular examinations.

I think that, as long as I can keep my health going strong, I can put up with a "reasonable" level of disorder around me. But I'd like to get better at keeping things clean, in a state of good repair, and enjoy a relatively uncluttered home environment.

Easier "written" than done, though...

Super-Aging Presidents

I don't understand why anyone would want to be president of the United States. The act of serving seems to have an accelerating affect on the aging process. Sometimes with past presidents like Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, or George H.W. Bush, the effect wasn't as noticeable because they (fortunately for themselves) lost their re-election campaigns (or with Ford, his "first" election campaign). But for those (un)lucky dogs who, like Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, made it past one term, all appeared much older and more haggard after completing their tenures than at their start. And now we come to our current president Barack Obama.

I was recently looking at the CNN website, which featured Obama's changing, aging appearance after only two and a half years in office. He really does look as if the job is getting to him. That's sad, because I genuinely like the guy and believe that he is trying to the best of his ability to serve the American people responsibly. Instead of showing the respect that the president's office demands, though, his political opponents have resorted to personal vilification campaigns against him while holding the American people hostage to their narrow, extremist ideological agenda. It seems that no matter what our president does nowadays, somebody from one side or another (or as is usually the case, both) is severely critical of him.

I have my own criticisms of some of President Obama's decisions, which I have clearly expressed in earlier articles here. But as was the case with President Bush in his own time before him (and whom I came to politically oppose), I recognize the fact that at this time in history in the year 2011, Barack Obama is my president and I support my president's efforts on behalf of our country, regardless of which political philosophy he subscribes to. Now come election time, I'll naturally vote for the candidate whose views and plans appeal more to me. But I think one thing that wears on this president more than others is the fact that his opponents seem to personally loathe him, and that they have treated him as an enemy ever since he took the presidential oath. I find that to be distinctly unamerican and unpatriotic. Respect the office of president by showing respect to its current occupant; you can still vote him out in 2012 if you want! Frankly, that may just be the best thing for Mr. Obama that could happen (but not necessarily for the rest of the country)...

Unbearable Heat and Humidity

When I walked out of my workplace late last night (just a couple of hours ago) it felt as if I were on another planet, with the extreme heat and humidity present. The instant I stepped outside, my glasses fogged up. These conditions are worse than I usually find midday in the hot August summer. But then I remembered that the temperature approached 100 earlier today.

Others can worry about the economy; my concern is this killer mass heat wave affecting half the country. And no relief is in sight. In fact, meteorologists are now predicting even hotter conditions in the next few days as Tropical Storm Emily passes eastern Florida in the Atlantic and draws some of that overheated air in over us from the west.

I vividly remember (and actually own) that great old Twilight Zone episode titled Midnight Sun. In it, the Earth had altered its orbit to cause it to approach the Sun. Temperatures soared, and the global population tried to make it to the poles where conditions were still tolerable. Still, everyone knew that it was just a matter of time before the heat would overcome the entire planet. Incredibly, my wife Melissa, who has recently taken up knitting (and is quite good at it) has been making winter scarfs for everybody. Ha, as if it will ever get cold again!

I think that we seem to be in a social climate when it is somehow politically incorrect to attribute record hot conditions and extremely aberrant weather to global warming. But I'm going to say it anyway: it's global warming!

But this year's unpleasant summer is distinguishable from last year's also unpleasant summer in another respect. Yes, the temperatures are higher. But what is really getting to me is the excessively high humidity as well. If the temperature gets into the nineties, than the humidity needs to drop below fifty for conditions to be bearable. But it ain't happenin', folks...and the nighttime, with steambath conditions of 80-plus degrees and 80-plus percent humidity, is harder to withstand than the day!

I remember once watching an interview on C-Span featuring a scientist who denied global warming. He said that instead of trying to bring the (supposedly) rising temperatures under control through sound environmental policy, we should instead step up production of air conditioners and distribute them globally. And yes, he said this with a straight face. Well, dude, I'm placing my order now for a half-dozen!

Coming Vacation, Anticipated Blog Gaps

I'll be going on vacation soon, and for this blog that means a bit of uncertainty for the next couple of weeks. If I have access to a computer I may submit some short articles here and there, but for the most part I anticipate some gaps for a few days. I'm looking forward both to the vacation and resuming this blog afterward.

Debt Ceiling Raised; The Adapting Society

The national debt ceiling was raised yesterday, with the politicians now preparing themselves for more important things: namely, their own vacations! And I will be embarking in a few days on mine as well. But unlike many of my compatriots, I have not been spending the last few days agonizing over whether we will fall into economic calamity or how terrible the terms of any deal would be to appease the extremists in the Republican Party (who seem to think, apparently with some justification now, that they hold the reins of power in our country). Truth be told, we all have to deal with the parameters, boundaries, and rules of things as they exist in the present. Sometimes economic conditions are expansive and broadening in nature, and sometimes, like now (unless you are rich), they shrink and narrow. And as a species, you can't beat the ability of humans to adapt. Sometimes this is good during periods of adversity. Sometimes, though, with prosperity the reverse is true.

I have noticed, as our society has become so much more fast-paced with the Internet and cellphone technology and the accompanying social networking and texting, people have become less and less patient. They expect, it seems, instant gratification on just about every level. And with this impatience has come an incredible shortening of the average attention span. Along with, it seems, a loss of historical memory. Which maybe goes to explain why a state like Florida can vote for a liberal Democrat as president and two years later vote in extreme conservative teabaggers for senator and governor. Or how nobody seems to remember that it was a Democratic president who last (repeatedly) balanced the federal budget while his Republican successor, with the repeated blessings of the GOP in Congress, sent the deficit spiraling out of control.

So maybe as the government scales back on its programs and spending, there will be a lot of initial shock and pain. But as I said, people tend to adapt to whatever is out there, and this may be an instance of that. The downside is that when you are always adapting to new things going on around you, for better or for worse, that means that you are in a state of passive reaction instead of actively engaging in the process of creating better foundational conditions. But I think that those in the latter category are relatively few in number compared to our predominant "adapting society", with its concomitant lack of attention span and memory.

Cryptograms and Discouragement

From time to time, I like to engage in the game of solving cryptograms. In case you might not know what I'm talking about, a cryptogram is a puzzle usually containing a sentence or long phrase in which each alphabetical letter is arbitrarily replaced by another in a one-to-one, unique fashion. Hence "A" may be signified, for example, by "Q" in every word displayed (and by no other letter). Knowing how words tend to be structured with suffixes and conjugations, knowing the short words, knowing consonant clusters and vowel combinations, and using relative frequency of letters to your advantage are all paramount in being able to solve a particular puzzle. But even after considering everything, sometimes a little old-fashioned guesswork is needed as well.

In almost every cryptogram I've successfully completed, I have come to a point in the solution process when, although I know some of the letters, it looks as if there is no way that they could fit and form actual words. This is what I call "the crisis" and often immediately precedes a breakthrough that quickly develops and cascades to the final, solved message.

I think it works that way, too, with a lot of things, not just cryptograms. You work hard at something, maybe improving some. But your progress just isn't satisfactory and it looks as if you have reached a plateau beyond which the only apparent direction is either stagnation or decline. This is also a "crisis", which I call the "crisis of confidence". And sometimes it happens just before a major breakthrough, which is often triggered by something that at the time seems insignificant.

I guess what I'm trying to convey in all of this is that, if you're going to embark on an endeavor of any sort, try to enjoy the process itself and don't be discouraged by those inevitable times when all of your travail seems to be for nought. Victory may instead be just around the corner!

And here, for your amusement, discouragement, and eventual victory, is my own cryptogram...

R ZRPB VK AGOJA MCZPQJQCD GEECDCU J UJRAK ODKQLGNDJV RMPLCJU GE LBJL HGDRMN ZGDU PCJDB QTSSAC GE LBCRDP.

Third Reich Documentary on The History Channel

Yesterday afternoon, while unsuccessfully trying to digest my exercise in culinary overindulgence (heartburn after eating deep-fried food at a restaurant), I sat back in my comfy recliner and began to surf channels on my TV. Nothing, nothing, ... wait, what was that? Yes, unbelievably the History Channel was showing a program out of line with their usual line-up: an actual show about history. They were showing a four-hour-long video record of the rise and fall of Nazi Germany, presented mainly in the form of home movies made chiefly by Germans living through the time. It wasn't directed at the political and military events, leaders, and decisions, but rather at how the people living through this strange and brutal period of history reacted and adapted to it. I had seen this presentation in fragments before on TV, but was mesmerized by how quickly people will change their sense of values, ideology and humanity based on fear of retribution, the desire to conform, and the feeling that prosperity is the great justifier of everything. And just how easy it is to quickly make a scapegoat out of a demographic group with all of the above factors in play...

Third Reich: the Rise and Third Reich: the Fall reminded me of the film adaptation of Günter Grass's novel The Tin Drum, which depicted the same era (and the attitudes of ordinary people) through the eyes of a boy who reacted to the duplicity and phoniness of the adults around him by willing himself not to grow.

One thing about Third Reich: the Fall that WAS somewhat new to me was at the very end, when it was mentioned that millions of Germans died of starvation and disease AFTER the war had ended. I hadn't been aware of this and need to investigate this disturbing allegation further...

If you can hack your way through The History Channel's sordid schedule, past either non-historical or non-reality-based shows like Ancient Aliens, Pawn Stars, Ice Road Truckers, and Swamp People, you might just luck out and come up with a gem like the important documentary Third Reich. Please watch it if you have the chance. It carries some somber lessons and warnings for today in America, I'm afraid. Especially how suddenly a society can transform itself from something benign to something very, very hideous...

Recent Running, Future Swimming, and Deep-Fried Onions

My plan to train daily by doing runs and elliptical cross-trainer workouts on alternate days has now reached the two-week mark without any signs that my body is suffering from overstrain. My knees seem fine (which was my main concern about overrunning). Yes, my muscles feel a little sore, but that's actually something I expected as a sign of working hard. My main problem continues to be the stifling heat and humidity here in northern Florida. The mornings are so humid that I have to wait until around noon to run, and by then the temperature has soared. Sometimes I have no other option than to go to the YMCA and run on their treadmill, which I did today in the middle of a welcome strong rainstorm.

Next week I plan to practice my swimming form while staying at a hotel in Lexington, Kentucky. The two targeted strokes are freestyle and breaststroke. I think I "jumped the gun" a little earlier this year by trying to do too much with relatively poor form, especially since I have a lot of work to do with my breathing. After all of the kiddies start back with their school classes in a couple of weeks, the YMCA pool should be more available for practice as well.

Right now, though, my main physical problem is this heartburn I've incurred eating batter-fried onions during my lunch earlier today at Chili's restaurant with Melissa and Will. There are some foods that I'm just going to have to completely stay away from, and deep-fried foods are at the top of the list. When am I ever going to learn: I already knew they were bad for me and I ate them anyway...

Unwinding After Work at Archer Road Starbucks

I am currently sitting in the Archer Road Starbucks near SW 34th Street in Gainesville, right after getting off a little early from work in the evening. Open until midnight seven days a week, it is a very noisy place right now, with many international students from the University of Florida hanging out here. The police will be by as well a little later. Not that there will be any anticipated trouble: they come for the free coffee Starbucks offers them. So there's quite a mix in this place, and I am probably the only one here with a full-time regular job outside law enforcement. Besides the Starbucks employees, that is. As for the noise, I can only say that I'm grateful for these earplugs I'm wearing!

Usually at this time of day I am not all that sharp with my thinking. When I do come here for some late-night coffee and study, I usually end up doing something rote and easy, like working on my Chinese character notebook. But I haven't written a blog article yet today, so...

It's interesting how much this area has changed over the years. The building that houses this Starbucks also has Moe's, Panera, and Coldstone Creamery. It was built on the site originally (at least when I first came here in 1977) occupied by a Sambo's restaurant, one of those great old 24-hour chains. We still have a couple of these relics in Perkins and the Clock Restaurant. IHOP used to be 24 hours but now their hours are unpredictable. Steak n' Shake has a couple of all-night establishments in town. And there's still Waffle House, although the one I used to frequent on SW 13th Street (US 441) has been shut down for years.

Behind Sambo's used to be a rather large strip mall with a Winn Dixie in its center. Now that's been completely torn down and replaced with a Kohl's department store. The large field across Archer Road from where I'm sitting and from where I once observed Halley's Comet through my binoculars in late 1985, has been completely filled in for decades, with Wal-Mart, Lowes, a larger movie theater, and many shops and restaurants. I suppose, though, that as long as I no longer live in this now-congested zone, that's O.K.: there are a lot of choices of places to go around here, especially if I'm hungry!

Well, I'm nearing the end of my drink and this article as well. Hopefully, I'll have something more substantial to offer tomorrow! Then again, maybe I won't. Time to go home anyhow...

Pigskin Pontifications

To show that I'm a good sport about pro football (and the sport in general) after the way that the public was manipulated up to the last minute in collective bargaining negotiations, here are some (sometimes) disconnected comments...

--In my old high school during the early 1970's, going out for the football team was almost regarded by a lot of the boys as a rite of passage into manhood. Now if you were a little kid, it was generally understood, though, if you didn't try out. But when one these small-framers went out for football conditioning in the 9th grade, he became an instant celebrity/hero for several weeks. Funny though, he kind of "faded" away from the sports scene quickly after that experience...

--In the 10th grade, my history teacher stunned our class when he went off on a long rant against football one day. He correctly noted the very high injury rate in the sport and how it isn't rare for some injuries to plague people for the remainder of their lives. And some injuries paralyze, even kill...

--Toward the end of my track team season in the 11th grade (early spring 1973), we were outside at our track doing our track "stuff". At the same time, the next year's varsity football team was undergoing conditioning training. The coach was a complete hard-ass (and a few other things that are unprintable) who insisted on very tough discipline and even tougher, aggressive, heavy-hitting workouts. I would be in the locker room after practice when some of these players would come in and be so worked up after conditioning that they would go around trying to pick fights with anyone they saw. Later that fall, this "tough" team went 0-9-1 with a large percentage of the starters out due to season-ending injuries. That genius coach didn't return the following year...

--I still have issues with Tim Tebow on the sideline at the end of Florida's SEC championship game against Alabama, crying his head off because they were losing (badly) to the eventual national champions for that season. To me this was and is poor sportsmanship. When you lose, you man up and congratulate the winner with your head held high...

--I was reading today's sports section in my local paper where an article rated and analyzed some of the college quarterbacks in the state of Florida this season. Among them was the University of Florida's John Brantley, who as the article pointed out, needed to stop locking his gaze on the receiver he planned to throw to. When a passer does this, he is telling the opposing defense whom to cover and also frees players covering other receivers to go after the quarterback. I see quarterbacks doing this in pro ball as well, and I can't for the life of me figure out why they never made the effort to overcome this glaring handicap in their game. Let's see if John has what it takes...

--The Miami Dolphins acquired running back Reggie Bush from New Orleans to try to revamp their hurting running game. Now they need to find a good quarterback to add to that mix, someone like Denver's Kyle Orton, for example...

--Speaking of Orton, he is currently being mentioned as a trading possibility. That the Broncos refer to him as the "incumbent starter" sounds like a very weak endorsement of his status. But he is a very smart passer and would be a tremendous asset to the Dolphins or any team he ends up with. I personally can't believe that Denver would trade him away when their backup quarterbacks Tim Tebow and Brady Quinn have yet to show their versatility in the position that the game demands over a season at this level of competition. Tebow does have that short-yardage running angle to his game, but his playing experience as a starter last year happened when the season was for all practical purposes over, with the Broncos deep in last place and the pressure off Tebow. When the pressure's on, what will happen? Pro football can be a pretty unforgiving business, and past successes are quickly forgotten. It's "what have you done lately", taken to extremes...

Future Manned Asteroid Mission Iffy

So the next major task for NASA in the development of manned space exploration is to successfully send astronauts to an asteroid (and, I presume, safely back to Earth). By 2025. By presidential order. Some like this idea in that it would be more of an intermediate step to a future longer trip to Mars and would give NASA, scientists, and engineers the opportunity to develop the kind of long-term life-sustaining technology for deep space travel. Detractors of the plan say that the low-gravity moon would have been a much better location to establish a base and an optimal platform to launch later deep space flights. That idea, generated by our previous president George W. Bush, was cancelled by our current president Barack Obama, who stated that we didn't need to go to the moon because we've "already been there". And hence HIS presidential order to go to an asteroid (pick an asteroid, any asteroid) by 2025.

But what makes Barack Obama so much higher, mightier, and more authoritative in his orders and decisions regarding space exploration than George W. Bush? And what's keeping his successor to the presidency, possibly Mitt Romney, from canceling HIS agenda and laying out a new one (or nothing at all)?

Obama erred badly, in my opinion, by scrapping Bush's plan to return to the moon. For one, it has created a completely avoidable brain drain of talented scientists and engineers who see our space priorities unsupported by the government. Why hang around if you're not wanted, and why embark on a long-term, intricate, and very demanding project when some politician down the line can just arbitrarily cancel it with some flippant language? I wouldn't blame anyone for not sticking around...

But supposing, against my suspicions, that Obama's successors stick with his space exploration agenda and actually support an asteroid mission to its completion, I'm all aboard with it. But the problem is, how will anyone know for sure that succeeding presidents WILL support the mission? After all, THIS president completely rejected the previous one's proposed mission! For some reason, Obama decided to maintain close continuity with Bush's war efforts but rip apart his predecessor's worthy goals for space exploration.

Like I said, I think Obama messed up on this one...

Orlando International Airport Visit

On a recent trip to Orlando International Airport, I found myself sitting, waiting in the food court area in the "unsecured" zone of the terminal. On "my" side was a McDonalds; I later found out that the preferred Burger King was the reward on the "other side" for those who had to submit to the indignity and hassle of security searches.

But still, I was looking forward, just before 7 AM, to getting one of my favorites: a McGriddle breakfast sandwich. And although the service left a lot to be desired, I was happy with the eventual result. My son, who accompanied me on the trip (with my wife and daughter, who were on the "Burger King" side), celebrated our breakfast with me by walking across the court and enjoying a couple of Krispy Kreme doughnuts as well. As we sat there facing a huge cylindrical fish tank in our comfortable chairs, I noticed someone apparently sleeping nearby. I told Will I was going to shut my own eyes for a few minutes, too. And then I thought that finally, here is a public place where they don't mind people just loitering around and even sleeping. Then reality hit me: I'm paying a buck every half hour for parking, up to a $17 maximum bill per day I'm here. So just sitting here I'm paying the airport for "loitering" and "sleeping". Heck, for that price they should give me a small room as well!

Will and I later walked around the shops surrounding the food court. Aside from the bookstores and newsstands (reading material always somehow seems more interesting in airports), we visited their Universal Studios and Disney stores. Apparently, they are there for folks who had just attended these parks and needed mementos before boarding their return flights home (there was a Sea World store as well). I felt pleasant vibes just walking around in them. Part of this was the merchandise, part was the professional, friendly employees working there. Universal's store was the more interesting of the two: half of it was completely devoted to Harry Potter merchandise, almost complete with even Tri-Wizard Cups and Monster Books. I say "almost complete" because I sadly saw no Sorting Hats. But then I thought, the airlines probably don't want anyone bringing onto a plane a hat that they can draw a sword from!

Eventually, my daughter left on her flight to her destination (where we plan to join her in a couple of weeks via the highway) and Melissa came back to our "Mac" side. And off we went, homeward bound.

Waking up at three in the morning to catch an early flight from an airport more than a hundred miles away completely threw off my sleep patterns and sense of time. Fortunately, I had the rest of the day off and slept until late in the afternoon. Let's see, I think I've gotten myself back in sync now. Well, kind of...

Impasse Resolved, Impasses Continued

So it looks as if we are actually going to have NFL football this year after all, with a new ten-year deal between the owners and players just having been sealed. Whoopee! Now those football gamblers can lose even more money while fantasy players and spectator sports addicts don't have to get a life, after all...for at least ten more years, that is. Well...at least for the fall and early winter, until they wake up and realize that they won't have any pro basketball. And once again, I get to squirm as my pathetic Miami Dolphins get their ever-suffering fans' hopes up about a playoff run and then fall flat on their faces...

The National Basketball Association may still cancel their upcoming season, anyway. The fact that many of their star players have already signed up with overseas teams in other leagues points to this possibility. Oh well...

It's hard to see the recently resolved impasse in the NFL without comparing it to the debt ceiling impasse in our federal government. The main difference between the two processes, as I see it, is that in football, both sides were eager for a resolution but serious about their own priorities being incorporated into the deal. With the debt ceiling, though, a huge swath of our Republican representatives DON'T WANT the debt ceiling raised and see ANY compromise deal that allows it as a betrayal. I can sit back and blame those politicians, I suppose. But, in the final analysis, it was the foolish American people who put them into office in the first place, either by swallowing the tea party bull in the last congressional election or by staying away from the polls when they could have voted for others with more reasonable agendas.

You WILL Do Business Downtown!

There is a controversy of sorts lately in Gainesville about the plan to eliminate all free public parking in the downtown area. The city government wants visitors to the area to shell out money to use the public parking garages specially built for them. This plan is in addition to decisions made in the past to limit road lanes of the main thoroughfares of University Avenue and Main Street to one going each way, in order to somehow make the area more attractive to potential paying customers of its businesses.

None of these decisions has any impact on what I do, as I have long forgone any hope of successfully going downtown to do business there. For one, there isn't any place I would want to go other than the library's main branch and a couple of coffee shops. And I can get whatever I want from that library by placing a hold online and having it delivered to my nearby, albeit smaller Millhopper branch. As for the coffee, well, one place (Maude's) is easy to get in and out of with a private parking lot, but their fare is overpriced and I resent the snooty unfriendliness I have repeatedly encountered behind the counter. The Starbucks across the street from it is O.K., I suppose, assuming I can find a parking spot (which I hardly ever can). But why bother anyway, with all of the Starbucks stores available elsewhere in town. The other businesses downtown tend to gravitate toward highbrow, expensive restaurants and night clubs, neither of which I care much about.

I, personally, am nobody special regarding my business preferences, which is actually the whole point: I think others are like me in that they see very little downtown that would draw them there to spend their money. In other words, regarding the local government's failed efforts to stimulate business by restricting access to traffic and parking: it's the businesses, stupid!

Of course, they could pass a law similar to the new national health care law: an individual mandate decreeing that anyone living in Gainesville spend X amount of dollars annually on its cruddy downtown businesses or face a fine! But, y'know, although I wrote the above suggestion tongue-in-cheek, I wonder whether some of my local politicos might not think it would actually be a good idea. Scary, but it would fit with the mindset behind the restricted traffic lanes and the elimination of free parking...

Baseball Standings Flaw in "WC" Column

In Major League Baseball, the post-season playoffs to determine the championship involves eight teams: the three divisional winners from each league along with the second-place team from each league with the best regular season win-loss record (designated as the wild card team). In the American League (from this morning's paper), Boston is leading the East at 61-37, Detroit is leading the Central at 53-47, and Texas is leading the West at 58-43. The best second-place team so far is the East's New York Yankees, with a 58-40 mark. For the sake of this article, I'll leave out the National League except to say that "my" Atlanta Braves would be a wild card team were the season to end today...

In the newspaper sports section standings, they have traditionally listed how many "games behind" each team is from the divisional leader, in the column designated "GB". For example, at 58-40, the Yanks are three games behind Boston's 61-37. But lately they've added a new column next to "GB": "WC", or "wild card". This tells how many games behind the current wild leader a team is in the regular season so far. So for example, Central's second place team Cleveland, at 51-47, is seven games behind New York for the wild card spot. This is interesting in that they are only one game behind Detroit for first place in their own division! Now, this is all well and fine until the printed standings show how far behind divisional-leader Detroit is in the wild card race: zero games!

Wait a minute, in strict terms of their regular season records, Central's Detroit, at 53-47, is six games behind East's New York's 58-40. Just because the Tigers happen to be leading their division RIGHT NOW doesn't alter this fact. Detroit could lose their next two games and suddenly find themselves in second place. And then the paper would list THEM as being substantially behind in the wild card race and new leader Cleveland as being zero games behind.

The point to all this is that those devising this "WC" column in the baseball standings would be better informing their readers were they to list how many (if any) games behind the current wild card team each divisional leader was, instead of showing a "-" indicating "zero games behind". For some divisions are simply stronger than others, and in those weak divisions the races can be tight with no room in the playoffs for finishing second. A reader would want to know how far out of the wild card race their team would be were they to slip out of their weak division's lead.

Of course, with me this is all beside the point: I don't need the WC column any more than I do the GB column: just looking at the teams' win-loss records tells me all I want to know. But some folks, I understand, aren't all that quick with numbers...

Sports Illustrated Women's World Cup Cover

Perhaps, if you have been following sports lately (or even just the news), you might have become aware that in international soccer, women on various national teams have been playing for their version of the World Cup. The American team looked to capture the title, but were surprised by Japan in the final, with the game decided in a shoot-out after a 2-2 tie in regulation. So Japan is the women's soccer World Cup champion for the next four years! Congratulations to them, right? I say so and think their players deserve international sports fame, in the same way that the stars of the U.S. team enjoyed renown after their own Cup title a few years ago. Only one problem, though...

I was glancing at the cover of our premier popular sports weekly magazine Sports Illustrated, which reported on the Women's World Cup final between the U.S. and Japan. Expecting to see triumphant Japanese players, I was surprised to instead see a doleful-looking American player. But wait, why should I be surprised at this: look at how obsessively nationalistic our media is about the Olympics. No matter what was happening and who was actually winning the events, the coverage was all about the Americans.

I am trying to get inside the mind of the editor of Sports Illustrated and determine the decision-making process for the cover. That the World Cup was THE event to picture for this particular issue was self-evident. If I had been the editor, I would have beforehand told my staff to run the best picture epitomizing the winning team, making it as emotionally compelling as possible. Instead, the editor apparently directed the staff to show the American side only, win-or-lose, with that emotionally-compelling angle reserved for them alone.

Whatever happened to sportsmanship, when the losing side would congratulate the champs and then discretely step into the background and accord the winners their moment of glory? Besides, I remember how people a couple of years ago were falling all over themselves about how great it was for the disaster-stricken city of New Orleans that their Saints won the Super Bowl. Why can't this feeling be transferred across our national borders to our friends in Japan, which has certainly suffered (and is continuing to suffer) its undue share of calamity and heartbreak?

Hot Florida Cooler Than Up North

I was running late this morning around my neighborhood in the summer heat and humidity, intending to complete my "standard" 7.18 mile course. I had to cut it short at 5.69 miles because, although the TV local weather channel had the temperature and humidity at manageable 87-degree, 67% levels, it seemed much, much more humid, closer to 80%. Well, I thought, that's Florida in the summer: I guess I got what I deserved deciding to continue living here. And then I turned on the news.

The reigning news story at the moment is the extreme heat wave crisis affecting much of the country NORTH of me. It is hitting the New York City area especially hard, with their power grid being taxed to the breaking point due to the high demand for air conditioning. And for those who decide to go to the beach and get in the water to cool off? Forget it: warnings are out there now about the presence of waste in the offshore water.

No, knowing how bad it is elsewhere still doesn't make it pleasant here. But I've seen this sort of phenomenon before, when excruciating conditions would affect places known more for their cooler conditions. What makes Florida an attractive place over others, though, is its wintertime weather conditions.

During the winter, it can get pretty cold here at times. But it is almost always a DRY cold, without the annoying and dangerous sleet and snowstorms that my friends living further up north (and hopefully not baking in the current heat) have to contend with. Still, there is that other place...

I have checked out the Pacific coastal northwest and have concluded that this is the ideal weather place to live. Never too hot, never too cold. Yes, Coos Bay in southwestern coastal Oregon, where track legend Steve Prefontaine grew up and went to school, sounds like the perfect spot. Well, maybe until that future offshore earthquake sends a tsunami ashore and wipes the town off the map!

...Maybe I should instead just "count my blessings" and appreciate the good things about northern Florida while realizing that every place has its down-side.

Lexington Trip Upcoming

A few days into August I will be traveling with my family to Lexington, Kentucky to visit relatives on Melissa's side of the family. She has gone there three times so far while I have been there just once (and briefly at that). We plan to drive our Toyota Sienna minivan on the Interstate there, which means that we will be going the length of Georgia (passing through Atlanta) and then crossing eastern Tennessee (and Knoxville) before finishing in eastern Kentucky. I look forward to both the ride and the stay. During our visit we will be staying at a Lexington hotel, one with a swimming pool that I plan to put to great use practicing my swimming form. I haven't figured out which places in the area I want to explore, but of course the University of Kentucky is a big attraction. I'll have to visit my local AAA office to pick up some brochures as well as explore the Internet. Maybe I can find some blogs about Lexington and vicinity!

Unlike our New York City visit last year, this trip we will be spending some time with relatives. That's cool: family matters, not just sightseeing! But I'd like to balance the two just the same...

I am in no way a travel addict like some others I know who are pretty jaded about hopping on a plane to go just about anywhere (and seem to have an endless source of money to fund their trips). For one, just getting in the car and driving ANYWHERE out of town is something of an event for me. So a trip to a relatively distant location (for me) is pretty major. Still, were it not for the extended family living there, I seriously doubt that I would even be remotely interested in singling out Lexington for a visit!

Not that I am trying to insult the good city and people of Lexington, Kentucky. After all, I can't understand why anyone would ever want to visit my home city of Gainesville, Florida unless there were a special event (like a football game or concert) or friends and/or relatives lived here. But perhaps I should just make an effort to see what kind of fun I can have in this university town to the north! Who knows, I may be pleasantly surprised. And I also may be able to crank out a few blog articles about my visit as well!

My New Running Training Regimen

As part of my never-ending struggle to find some kind of effective-but-survivable running training regimen during the hot and humid north Florida summer months, I have hit upon a new strategy that shows some promise of success after four days. It came about after I had run for five consecutive days last week and was beginning to feel some knee pain again.

Being concerned about being sidelined from running again for weeks due to injury, I decided to lay off any activity for a couple of days. Then, Sunday afternoon I went to my YMCA's workout room and used their elliptical cross-trainer machine for 44 minutes. Only I began to do it differently this time: instead of using the handles that I could swing back and forth with my arms, I held on to the stationary handles and made my legs completely power the exercise. It was a more intense workout and closely resembled running in many ways. It also worked out supporting leg muscles not normally used much during running, which should help to forestall future injuries. And of course, the elliptical cross-trainer is a "non-impact" workout, with no jarring of joints that running produces.

So then I decided to alternate elliptical workouts with outdoor running workouts. Monday I ran my neighborhood course of 7.18 miles relatively quickly with no pain. Tuesday I was back on the elliptical for 46 minutes. And this morning I ran my 7.18 course even faster, with the temperature being 85-89 degrees.

So now I get a daily intensive workout to my legs but also get a break on alternate days from both the summer heat and the pounding that running produces on them. I wonder whether this will be "the way" to get through the summer with my running from now on!

Notice that I didn't mention anything about swimming. I simply don't have the confidence that I will have space to swim in at my YMCA pool when I get there. But the water at my YMCA's pool sure does look inviting when I am in the workout room, facing it...

Deathly Hallows Part 2: My Reaction

Yesterday afternoon I saw the final (I think) Harry Potter movie The Deathly Hallows Part 2. Already knowing how it would essentially turn out, I was interested in seeing the cinematic presentation as well as how the movie diverged from the book.

For the most part, the movie dovetailed quite well with the written account, although there were a few "forks" taken. And I understand why these happened: it was much the same way that those making Lord of the Rings into film changed the plot progression around to draw the main characters together in climactic scenes and to achieve the greatest dramatic effect. The Rings filmmakers changed Tolkien's written story way too much, though, but the Potter folks were much better at staying true to Rowling's writing. So I'm not at all unhappy with the movie.

Alan Rickman was very, very impressive with his final role as Severus Snape, the former Dark Arts professor who always seemed to have it in for Harry. In The Deathly Hallows he has been installed by the archvillain Voldemort to be the Hogwarts School of Wizardry's headmaster, succeeding beloved Albus Dumbledore. But as author J.K. Rowling has shown a penchant for in her writing, not all is as it seems. And this final installment shows both Snape and Dumbledore to be much more complex (and therefore real) than they had been painted to be. And I liked that.

I recommend the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, but only to those who have kept up with the story. If you haven't, you would be completely lost in the middle of the fast-paced action and would miss out on the significance of many background, transient events that would be meaningful only for those "in the know".

Now it's on to the other movie: Winnie the Pooh. I don't know how many people want to accompany me to see this one, though...

Hey, NFL and NBA: Go Cancel Yourselves!

It looks as if major professional sports in America has become so financially successful, so engorged on money, that it has collectively decided to implode on itself. The National Football League appears to be headed straight toward the cancellation of the 2011 season because of unrestrained greed on the part of both management and labor. And the National Basketball Association appears willing and ready to follow suit with a lockout already in place heralding its own impending season cancellation a few months later. NBA stars are already signing up to play for different countries' teams overseas in anticipation of this. The football players might have liked to be able to do the same, but...well, they just don't PLAY American football overseas!

I can see how no pro pigskins or hoops might bother a lot of people, and not just those who like to gamble on sports or play the fantasy versions. The franchises whose teams won't be playing won't also be paying supporting workers. Neither will those working in the stadiums and arenas have their usual seasonal employment. And surrounding local businesses will suffer greatly as well, especially the hotel and restaurant industry. But me, well...

I like to watch pro football and basketball if it happens to be on TV and I have nothing else to do. But I don't spend very much time or effort thinking about these sports on other days of the week. Besides, I'll still have college football and basketball to focus on should I suddenly feel a spectator sports obsession overtake me. As for those who are obsessed with following the pro leagues, they probably need to "get a life" anyway, an opportunity that the impending season cancellations just might provide for them.

No, I'm quite all right with there being no NFL or NBA seasons this year. Or next year. Or the following year. Etcetera. Hey, NFL and NBA: cancel yourselves forever, see if I care!

Medical Common Sense and Professional Pretense

A couple of times a week I go down to one of my favorite Chinese eateries in Gainesville (usually either China 88 on NW 16th Boulevard or First Wok on SW 34th Street near my workplace) and enjoy a small bowl of their excellent hot and sour soup. Each restaurant has a small counter in the dining area on which they provide free reading material for the customers. One of these publications that they both display, slanted heavily toward new age beliefs, is titled Natural Awakenings.

The other day I was swilling my soup and looking through Natural Awakenings when I came across an article giving what looked like authoritative medical information about how disturbances in one part of the body can cause health problems affecting other parts or the body as a whole. Seeing how I already knew this (doesn't pretty much everyone?), I was still interested in the topic. I know how a localized infection can cause widespread inflammatory and even flu-like symptoms from an almost-devastating illness I incurred at the very end of 1979 that was caused by a simple skin infection. So I wanted to check out what this piece had to say about the topic.

The article was titled "Blocks to Healing: The Problem of the Chronic Dominant Focus/Foci". Huh, say that again? ...and then I realized that I was about to be treated to something I have recognized in other areas: someone has either invented or adopted a different set of vocabulary to designate concepts that could be explained more simply. To further confirm this tendency for complexity on the author's part, I glanced at his name:

Dr. Michael Badanek, DC, BS, CNS, DABCN, DM(P), NMD, MD, MD(MA), MD(h)

I mean, this is obviously one completely together, cool dude: not only is he a lot of unfathomable things of which the letters give scant clues, but he is also an MD, plus extra MD's with parenthetical MA's and h's! Wow, an "unlettered", ordinary layman like me had better swallow everything he writes uncritically because of the alphabet soup trailing his name...

After hemming and hawing through the article discussing arcane concepts like "interference fields" and "dominant focus", the lettered author finally gets to the point in the article's final, relatively small paragraph: those suffering from undiagnosed chronic conditions should seek a qualified health care professional for evaluation and treatment.

Why couldn't he have said that to begin with and leave out the gobbledegook? Then again, why couldn't anyone say that without trying to impress the reader with their professional titles? I mean, isn't this just simple common sense?

However, perhaps I'm being a little unfair to the DC-BS-CNS-DABCN-DM(P)-NMD-MD-MD(MA)-MD(p). He did point to some specific areas in the body that he believed could be responsible for generalized malaise: appendix scars, root canals, sinuses, and the prostrate were given as possible "root" causes. Maybe, armed with these possibilities, someone who feels chronically bad can go to their doctor, (or DC, BS, CNS, ...) armed with a shopping list of possible causes, and tell that health care provider to "find it"! But this sounds unpractical in today's health care insurance environment, when it is still sometimes very difficult to get insurance companies to even cover medically-necessary diagnostic testing based on very specific symptoms. What the author is proposing amounts to more or less a potentially very expensive fishing expedition throughout the body by the medical profession for some small "disturbance", be it an infection, scar, or something else. Maybe as diagnostic technology becomes more advanced, this might become more feasible and affordable. But not as things stand right now!

Eleven Eleven

I think we've all had a little fun with numbers since the commencement of the new millennium. Every year there is a special date that runs the same across the board: 01/01/01, 02/02/02, and so on. Yippee, looks like I might make it all the way to 11/11/11! And then it will be 12/12/12 the following year. Subsequent fun will depend on adding extra months to 2013 and beyond. After 2030 or 2031 (depending on how long the extra months are), days would have to be added to the months to continue the merriment.

But back to "eleven eleven"...

The combination of the numbers 11 & 11 seems to have taken on some kind of mystical, superstitious importance over the past few years. George Noory, the conspiracist believe-anything-that's-loony talk radio host of late night's Coast-to-Coast AM, has repeatedly hammered home his experiences of impulsively looking at clocks when it is 11:11, as if this carried some kind of supernatural or paranormal significance. As for me, this phenomenon happens a lot, too. But truth but told, I never noticed it until I had heard Noory and others refer to it. Then my mind programmed itself to respond at the appropriate moment, in the same way that I have an uncanny ability, after sleeping for hours, to suddenly jump out of bed wide awake seconds before my wake-up alarm goes off. So there's nothing unusual about this for me. And since others are human like me and share similar physiologies, they probably also have allowed themselves to be conditioned by others to look out for this time of day, at least subconsciously. Nothing mysterious or supernatural about that...

But this apparently won't stop some from trying to capitalize on 11-11, or I should say, 11/11/11. A group calling itself "One Breath One World" is staging on that date, apparently in Orlando, a stadium event grouping together 20,000 like-minded believers in this kind of numerology to try to create a miracle, for the sake of the planet, world peace, enlightenment, and all of those other cozy-sounding new age ideals. And how are they to accomplish this? At the signal, everyone is to breathe in unison! And that will change everything. But first, these miracle workers need to get online and purchase their tickets...

I'm not sure this won't possibly come back to bite these gullible do-gooders in the ass, though. I remember a science fiction short story by Orson Scott Card titled Deep Breathing Exercises. The premise expressed in this interesting tale was that, when people were grouped together in a setting in which they were about to collectively perish due to a calamity, they inexplicably began inhaling and exhaling in total unison. So maybe if you're of the gullible type who believes, as George Noory claims to believe, that there are no such things as coincidences, then you just might consider NOT hanging around Orlando on "miracle day" 11/11/11!

I don't believe in either scenario. But if people are looking for miracles, they need to look within themselves and recognize their amazing human capacity for change. These 20,000 will already be interested in miraculous change: now if they can only see that, by taking each day they live and treating the people they encounter with more compassion and respect than they did the previous day, there is the possibility of a miracle of sorts coming about after all. For human behavior is infectious: others copy successful models of behavior that they observe and internalize them to become a new part of their own personalities. A truly "kinder, gentler" society (without the political overtones) would be a miracle, and one accomplished without the need for pretense about supernatural forces causing it.

And without the need to buy a ticket!

Long-Awaited Fantasy Film Released Today

Well, today is the long-anticipated cinematic opening release of a movie that I am truly looking forward to seeing. A movie based on a very popular book series with unforgettable, compelling characters and a strong appeal to the imagination. Of course the movie I'm referring to is nothing other than... Winnie the Pooh!

With all due respects to the hairy pottery-maker, I have come to miss the great Disney cartoon animated version of A.A. Milne's classic Winnie the Pooh, including both the feature films and the television series. The other "Pooh programs" that Disney has put out, in my opinion, have been cheap imitations (although the classic cartoons were themselves a bit divergent from Milne's books).

From what I've read about this new movie, the stories were derived from Milne's original tales. That's good, because frankly some of the last few movies they made, which were original stories, were a bit too sappy and maudlin for me. Let's get back to the fun stuff!

And oh yeah, I'm also interested in Harry and Hermione and Ron and Severus and so on. But I read the final book in the Potter series long ago and know what's going to happen. The only mysteries left are how the movie will present the last half of The Deathly Hallows, which scenes they will add, and which scenes from the book they will omit (probably to my great consternation). And I am especially curious as to whether they include the book's epilogue at the movie's end (and how they present it if they do).

It sure would be nice for Disney or some other channel to air those great old Winnie the Pooh half-hour episodes again, at least for a little while. They have a subtly humorous aspect to a lot of their stories that can resonate with adults, and the characters are great archetypes of general human personalities. As for Harry Potter, it seems that I can hardly turn on my TV anymore and surf through the channels without spotting one of the movies.

I plan to go watch both of these escapist fantasy flicks. Hopefully the new Pooh movie will return to the spirit and mood of the TV series and the first two movies...

Debt Ceiling Crisis

I have been following the standoff going on in our national government regarding the debt ceiling crisis with increasing dismay. It looks like a completely unnecessary disaster in the making, with one side, President Obama and the Democrats, stepping up to the table willing to make compromises for the better good of the nation, while the Republicans on the other side are playing petty politics, sucking up to extremists in the right-wing talk show media, and refusing to budge on anything.

Yes, we have a problem with our national debt. When Democratic president Bill Clinton left office in January 2001 we had reached a point, though, when we were working on reducing it by having a string of annual surpluses. Then Republican George W. Bush stepped into the office and immediately began preaching that the government was holding the [rich] people's money and that they could do better things with it. And so began the shortfall of our revenue necessary to fund the government and keep it from having to borrow money from abroad to stay afloat. The 9/11 terrorist attacks, enhanced nationwide security efforts, and our subsequent incursion into Afghanistan to weed out Al-Qaeda and drive out their Taliban sponsors from power understandably involved increased spending and a higher deficit. But Bush's inexplicable decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and stage a massive military occupation for years hence broke the budget, with nary a Republican cry of protest. In fact, they voted en masse, including folks like congressional leaders Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, to lift the debt ceiling 19 times during Bush's two terms in office. But the moment a Democrat stepped in, even in the midst of an economic calamity unseen since the Great Depression, those same Republicans suddenly became budget hawks, treating federal spending as anathema now that it was largely in the hands of the hated Democrats.

I don't know how this crisis will play itself out or who will gain politically from it. Common sense would have told me that the contrived tea party crap that has been going on for the last couple of years would have fallen flat and that the Republicans would have been punished, not rewarded, at the polls for their intransigence in opposing practically everything that President Obama was trying to do for the country. In fact, several of their prominent members, including Senator McConnell, had publicly stated that their primary goal was to make our president a failure! And yet my fellow citizens, in their infinite foolishness, collectively gave those Republicans control of the U.S. House of Representatives, a net gain of six Senate seats, and a net gain of several state governorships (and, very sadly, a teabagger as governor in my home state of Florida).

So I can't control how other people will react to what's going on. But it sure would be nice for the politicians to stop acting like marionette puppets and begin to work for the interests of the people they were elected to serve. And that means ALL the people!

Comparing My Blog to Others is Pointless

When connecting to a blog that is part of the Blogger network, the user can hit a tab at the screentop titled "Next Blog" and view other blogs, usually grouped with a similar theme (I keep coming up with running and biking blogs). I do this from time to time and invariably come away from the experience with an embarrassing sense of my own blog's inferiority to most others. But...

I know that this self-judgement is really unduly harsh and that I should lighten up a bit on myself. This blog of mine is well-defined and deliberately limited. I'm not going for a dazzling visual display. I am not trying to promote what a cool dude I am or what an extravagant, exciting life I'm leading (which is good, because neither applies to me). Nor am I hawking my professional expertise in an effort to attract business and income (in fact, for discretion's sake I deliberately tend to shield my professional life from this blog). And I am not blogging in connection with any particular interests in order to increase my standing among others sharing those same interests. As a matter of fact, if anything, my relative lack of expertise about anything I discuss here should make others feel pretty good about their own expertise by comparison!

And comparison is really what this is all about. What I need to do instead is keep myself focused on my primary purpose here, which is to use this blog as a personal writing discipline. I don't need a lot of people patting me on my back, but a little interaction in the form of comments (including anonymous comments) is always welcome and appreciated!

Not that there won't be times when I get a little technical and write about topics that are of a more esoteric nature. But generally speaking, my format here is intended to more closely resemble what regular newspaper columnists do: pick a topic and expound on it to a reasonable extent in a way that is easy to read and understand, agree or disagree with the message. And like newspapers, which feature columns of different types (political, sports, "living", humor, entertainment), my articles try to capture the same sense of expression. I hope at least some of that intended expression reaches you, my valued reader!

More on My Running Now, Then, and the Near Future

One important difference between this year and 2010 concerning my running is that, after that January 23 Ocala Marathon that I hobbled to the finish line in, I haven't entered any public races. Last year by this time I had run several races: LifeSouth Half Marathon, the Climb for Cancer 15K Run, and several 5Ks. I reached the point where I did not enjoy five kilometer (3.1 miles) races for various reasons. And longer races were few and far between. Besides, for much of the beginning of the year I was recovering from a leg injury and didn't want to aggravate it.

So now here I am in the middle of July, with no races set ahead of me to run. Sure, there's that Tom Walker Memorial Half-Marathon that is held in November and which I ran in last year (and enjoyed), but at least in the Gainesville vicinity there is nothing else longer than those annoying 5K races. I am thinking, though, about trying to get over to Apalachicola (Florida) and run in their half-marathon in late October. But I'll need to get the day before the race off from work to swing this, not yet a done deal.

I am still wary of running full marathons. Frankly, I don't see the extra benefit that running 26.2 miles carries over sticking with the 13.1 mile half-marathon distance. 13.1 miles is in itself quite a chore to carry out and requires a good deal of training. Besides, just about every marathon event I see out there has an accompanying half-marathon, usually with the same starting times (and less expensive entry fees). Also, there are several half-marathon races without accompanying marathons, that Tom Walker Memorial event a good example.

So maybe now that I seem to be injury-free, I might just sit down at my computer and check out the upcoming cooler months for opportunities to participate in half-marathons. Of course, money doesn't grow on trees (at least for me) and I probably won't be hopping on any planes soon for distant events. But any place in the southeastern U.S. holding a half-marathon should be fair game...as long as I can get time off from work, that is. And December, due to the nature of my job, is problematic in that although it has a great selection of races in my area, I am also very, very busy then at my job with slim prospects of getting extra time off.

Comparing My Recent Running With 2010

I thought it might be interesting (to myself) to compare my running workouts during the "hot" months of May, June and July (up through today, the 11th). In May this year, I ran on 13 days of the month, totaling 94.61 miles with the longest run being 10.5 miles. Last May I ran on 15 days, totaling 82.64 miles, and enjoyed 8.44 miles as my longest run. In June 2011 I ran 13 days, totaled 87.13 miles, and had a long run of 9.0 miles. For June 2010 I ran on 14 days for 96.76 miles and had a peak run of 9.08 miles. And for July so far, I have run on 6 days (2010: 5), totaled 32.1 miles (2010: 40.64), and had a long run of 7.18 miles (2010: 8.53).

For the most part, I have been keeping up with last year's numbers, but I did slip some in June largely due to the record high temperatures and sometimes almost unbearable smoky haze due to neighboring wildfires. Still, I find myself feeling more sensitive to the summer heat and humidity this year than I did in 2010, often resorting to the air-conditioned setting of the treadmill.

Also, I have been training in my current running shoes for more than a year, and it's time to get a new pair. I like the Reebok brand and plan to go see if my local Sears has some similar to what I have been running in. I'm a little hesitant to try a different brand, since the last new running shoes I got hurt my foot and may have been a contributing factor to my leg injury earlier this year. But I can't keep running with the shoes I currently have: they're starting to fall apart on me!

Last year, I was more regular in my workouts, with a set strategy: set the distance I wanted to run, wait until late in the morning for the humidity to lower, even as the temperatures rise (sometimes into the 90's), and just run my course. I tell you, though, neither in 2010, 2011, or in any other year is it easy running here in north-central Florida in the often almost intolerable summer heat and humidity.

Make Soccer and Bowling More Interesting

This past Saturday afternoon in eastern Orlando, Melissa and I decided to have lunch at the Ruby Tuesday on University Drive. During our excellent meal, I noticed what was on the TV sets ringing the dining area: sports. Specifically, soccer and bowling. Ugh! I can't think of two more boring sports to have on TV.

Soccer was fun to play during physical education class at school, but only because the coach would back off and let the kids freely run around playing without getting hung up on positions and strategy. I think the different youth soccer leagues around nowadays are full of adults who are so full of themselves and soccer's intricacies that they spoil the fun of the sport for the children. But back to TV...

When I watch soccer highlights, all I see is scoring and excited celebrations. This is the complete opposite, though, of how actual games develop. For the most part, the two teams just keep kicking the ball back and forth, rarely even getting near the others' goals. Boring, boring, boring. Heck, it's getting now so that the game highlights themselves are so predictable with all the goals that even they have become boring. How can the game be changed to add some "pizazz"? One suggestion I have is what we did in elementary school soccer: add a second ball to the game, creating all kinds of chaotic possibilities!

Bowling for me is not only extremely boring to watch, but it is also boring to play! And what is it anyway with having to shell out the extra dough at bowling alleys for (smelly) bowling shoe rentals? Dammit, just get off my back and let me bowl in my regular shoes! But returning to this sport as it is seen on TV, I recently saw a bowling tournament being held in a large football stadium. Incredibly, there were actually people sitting up in the nosebleed sections watching it! I just don't get it: the tournament was still just as predictably boring as ever and holding it outdoors on a football field didn't change anything.

I also have a suggestion for "sexing up" bowling: instead of giving strikes the highest score, give bowlers the opportunity to make even bigger scores by setting up splits and then sparing them out. This would give the game an extra, more tactical dimension instead of the tedious repeating spectacle of bowlers just stepping up to the line and rolling the ball in excruciatingly predictable patterns.

Then again, while chomping away on my delicious lunch at Ruby Tuesday (crab cake with onion rings and macaroni & cheese), I came up with an instant sure-fire way to make the annoying soccer and bowling that was on more interesting: switch balls! Watch the soccer players try to kick a bowling ball around and watch the bowlers try to roll a soccer ball down the lane straight and long enough to knock down pins!

Rooftop Mystique

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

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

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

List Madness: Arcade Fire Songs Ranked

In yet another installment of my continuing endeavor to list songs by artists according to my liking, I present my rankings of Arcade Fire's LP songs from top to bottom. Arcade Fire is an independent/alternative rock band that has captured much critical and popular acclaim for their their three albums Funeral (2004), Neon Bible (2007), and The Suburbs (2010). The Suburbs was so good that it won the best overall album award at the Grammys last year. Their music has an epic, grandiose, and urgent quality to it, with each individual song they do demanding the listener's undivided attention, as if the fate of the entire world hinged on its message. So yes, they're a bit on the dramatic side! There is also a good mix of male and female vocals on the songs, something I appreciate. Look them up on Wikipedia or their own site to find out more information about the members. Oh, one more thing: I like ALL of their songs, even my least favorite! (Note: they made an EP in 2003 titled Arcade Fire, but I'm not yet familiar with its songs.)

Here's my list, with the albums they belong to indicated by these abbreviations: Funeral [f], Neon Bible [nb], and The Suburbs [s].

1 Neon Bible [nb]
2 Rebellion (Lies) [f]
3 Windowsill [nb]
4 Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) [s]
5 Suburban War [s]
6 Black Mirror [nb]
7 Neighborhood 1 (Tunnels) [f]
8 We Used to Wait [s]
9 Neighborhood 3 (Power Out) [f]
10 Rococo [s]
11 Neighborhood 2 (Laika) [f]
12 Intervention [nb]
13 Modern Man [s]
14 The Suburbs [s]
15 Antichrist Television Blues [nb]
16 Wake Up [f]
17 City With No Children [s]
18 Black Wave/Bad Vibrations [nb]
19 No Cars Go [nb]
20 Empty Room [s]
21 Deep Blue [s]
22 Neighborhood 4 (7 Kettles) [f]
23 The Well and the Lighthouse [nb]
24 Haïti [f]
25 Half Light I [s]
26 Month of May [s]
27 Keep the Car Running [nb]
28 The Suburbs (Continued) [s]
29 Lenin [Dark Was the Night compilation]
30 Une Anneé Sans Lumière [f]
31 Ready to Start [s]
32 Half Light II (No Celebration) [s]
33 Ocean of Noise [nb]
34 Wasted Hours [s]
35 In the Backseat [f]
36 Sprawl I (Flatland) [s]
37 Crown of Love [f]
38 My Body is a Cage [nb]

Colmes Top Liberal Tweeter

Not being someone who has ever warmed up to Facebook, I recently began to reexamine my other "trendy" social Internet application: Twitter. And I discovered that Twitter is very fast-loading on my Blackberry, regardless of the general Internet conditions around me.

I decided to follow various political advocates, both liberal and conservative, on Twitter. On the liberal side, I had begun with Keith Olbermann but quickly realized that his use of it wasn't designed for the public in general. Bill Maher was good, although he was often promoting upcoming gigs of his and some of his jokes were way over the top. Michael Moore's was also interesting but definitely a little too hard-core left. But that's good; I need to know the spectrum of how people react to the news. Finally, I was engaging in one of my (very) rare viewings of The O'Reilly Factor on FoxRepublicanNews when lo and behold, there he was: Alan Colmes as the liberal in the forum that was going on. And he was pretty good, holding his own well against criticisms and succeeding in making his own points against the other side. He is quite a persuasive speaker, and also seems committed to his views. I checked him out on Twitter and found out that he sends out pertinent short messages every couple of hours or so throughout the course of each day. He quickly became my favorite on Twitter.

Al Franken once lambasted Alan Colmes as being a convenient, submissive, and ultimately insignificant foil for Sean Hannity and FoxNews. He also called Colmes a "moderate", which surprised me a bit. Alan Colmes isn't far left, but he isn't in the political center either. I don't think he deserved Franken's criticism, especially since he and Colmes have an almost identical political outlook on things. One thing that does distinguish Colmes from Franken was that the former has consistently been more respectful of those with whom he disagrees (although he tends to interrupt too much, don't they all), while the latter has (at least before becoming a senator) repeatedly personally attacked their character (a problem that I also have with Olbermann).

Although I use Twitter to pick up on what some others are thinking, I still think that it is an inappropriate forum for adequately expressing opinions in a comprehensive way. But as a starting point, it has its advantages. However, I still don't see myself using it to send messages anytime soon...

Make Me a Yearbook

One of the high school nostalgia websites has been putting out various complete yearbooks for sale, apparently the same versions that were originally published during the high school years (or in the case of my own senior yearbook, the year AFTER I had graduated, the turkeys). I can see some alumni jumping on this opportunity and picking up some yearbooks from their "favorite" years. I happen to own the 1972 and 1974 yearbooks from my sophomore and senior years, respectively. My sister owns the 1970 yearbook (her senior year and my eighth grade). Sorry, nostalgia website, I probably don't need 1971 or 1973. But how about...

How about 1994? Or 2005? Or 1983? Why not one of these years? Have a yearbook specially designed for someone who gives the necessary information about all of the events and circumstances going on in his or her life at the time. I worked in a Chinese restaurant in Gainesville in '83 and lived in a certain apartment complex nearby. Here are the businesses I frequented then. Who worked there? Did I go to a church? If so, who were the members and what happened there? What were the big local news and sports stories of 1983? Put the publicly-available pictures of the people involved in my life in 1983 according to their context, much in the same way that class directories are presented in yearbooks. Put it all in one very personalized book and you can kiss good-bye the idiotic notion that somehow your high school years were oh-so much more significant than anything that happened since.

For much of the time I was in high school, I was prevented in different ways from enjoying my experiences there to their fullest. It was not a happy time at all for me, and I harbor no paulsimonesque "Kodachrome" delusional false memories of my life then. Just opening up one of my yearbooks has been something I have come to avoid doing, since it just brings back more vivid, brutal memories of my generally miserable time back then. My years since then, especially since 1979, have all been much happier and more fulfilling by contrast. Pick a year since 1979, ANY YEAR, and make me a yearbook for it!

Or...hey, self, here's an idea...it's never too late: make up your own as you live through each year!

A Little Political Rant

There have been stretches of time on this blog when I have been more active commenting on what was going on in the news. Recently, though, I have stepped back a little with my reactions, especially regarding the political give-and-take (and grandstanding) that will most assuredly only intensify in the coming weeks as presidential campaign fever settles in on the media. I pretty much know where I stand on the issues, which more approximates the Democratic viewpoint than the Republican.

I find it extremely disingenuous of long-established GOP lawmakers, who scarcely raised a brow during the George W. Bush era of massive deficits and who rubber-stamped that deficit spending with their votes, suddenly "getting religion" on this issue the moment that a Democratic president was sworn into office. I resent the phony stances that the Republicans have taken over the years (flag-burning amendments, anti-gay rights ballot initiatives, the Terri Schiavo fiasco, opposing any reasonable immigration reform) that fly in the face of reasonable political debate. The idea fomented by a perverse alliance between libertarians and the Christian right that government is evil unless it is used to pass into law and enforce a particular moral/religious code on everyone is in itself evil, in my opinion. And don't get me started on the right-wing media and how it has taken over the Republican Party to the extent that otherwise reasonable politicians like John Huntsman, Tim Pawlenty, and Mitt Romney now feel the need to pander to the peculiar worldviews and egos of ideological talk jocks of the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

By contrast, I see the Democrats as representing more or less the status quo, the party that is more likely to keep things stable and predictable in America. I don't like everything they do, though, and there is an extremist wing of this party that I find unrealistic in their agenda. But compared to the extremists running the Republican party, they are much weaker and fewer in number.

As of now, I sadly see the Republicans as the party of ideology and the Democrats as the party of centrism and looking for practical solutions to the many difficult problems facing us today. I hear NONE of the Republican politicians speaking to my interests and concerns, only to the far right, be that the corporate far-right or the religious far-right. That's a shame, for I do think that conservatism is an important part of political debate but has been demagogued to the point where mainstream, reasonable conservatives have been marginalized within their own political party by the more extreme elements.

Ghost Town Holiday Runs

Last Christmas I ran an uncomfortably warm (outside temperature @ 70 degrees) 20 miles, trying to prepare for a couple of marathon races in January and February. Today, on another holiday six months later, I ran 7.18 miles in 84-88 degree conditions, just trying to maintain a consistent training routine without any particular races planned for the foreseeable future. In both runs, I was uncomfortable with the weather (the Christmas conditions were also humid) but acquitted myself well by covering the distances with "honest" pacing and having decent recoveries from both. Another factor tying these two runs together was what I observed around me.

I expected last Christmas to be a bit of an ordeal, anticipating a lot of families outside with children trying out their new toys and running out into the street (and annoyingly getting in my way). But instead, the whole area seemed like a ghost town, reaching the point where it was starting to feel creepy. Now fast forward to today: I began my run around noon, having waited for the customary morning humidity to dissipate. I expected to see a lot of families outside, including a lot of cookouts. But like Christmas, it seemed as if everyone had gone into hiding (except for a handful of souls outside doing yard work). It wasn't until the 35-minute mark in my run when I saw my first cookout: it turned out to be the last as well during my slightly more than an hour-long jaunt (1:05:44). Other than that, the only people I saw out anywhere were a couple of groups sitting together outside their homes near the end of my run.

I think, our so-called terrible economy notwithstanding, that people still like to pack up the car and do outings on holidays instead of celebrating at their homes. I wonder, though, if I had done today's run straight down Main Street in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, whether the streets wouldn't suddenly be empty of people as well (common sense tells me it would remain impossibly packed). The effect reminds me of the opening scene in Vanilla Sky, when Tom Cruise's character is driving straight through Midtown Manhattan...and finds the place utterly deserted, sending him into a panic. With me, though, the relative absence of people would send me into fits of joy!

Need Pocket Scanner/Translator

The other day I was astonished to find a high-quality Russian language magazine on sale at my local Barnes & Noble bookstore. Titled Сноб, it is full of interesting articles spanning the breadth of topics covering the human condition. Skimming the pages from article to article, I found myself partially understanding the material but was very, very frustrated at the many words that stumped me.

Seeing how readily entire pages of text can be almost instantly translated (sometimes admittedly with severe imperfections) on my computer screen, I thought wouldn't it be great to have a small scanning device that would highlight a word or phrase in a foreign language (like the Russian I was reading) and deliver a rough translation? That would really speed up my language learning and free me from my computer screen as well!

It isn't that difficult, at least for me, to handle the grammatical details of a different language. With Russian, I have pretty much cleared that hurdle. But learning and retaining its thousands of words can be daunting. I can learn word lists (which I do), but encountering new words in the more meaningful context of a sentence in an article or story is much more desirable. So if I can't procure one of those possibly-nonexistent pocket/scanner/translators, I'll have to improvise with the old fashioned pocket dictionaries and all of that time-consuming page-turning.

As far as Russian is concerned, you can't beat the Romanov's pocket dictionary that translates words between Russian and English both ways. Not only does it provide an extensive vocabulary, but it also presents grammatical constructions in a comprehensive, detailed manner that I haven't seen even in a larger dictionary. This is important for a language like Russian which, like Latin, relies heavily on verb conjugations and vowel and adjective declensions to convey meaning in a sentence. Unfortunately, this Romanov's dictionary may be out of print as I haven't seen it in any bookstores in years. Fortunately, I still have on old copy at home (and possibly even a second one up in the attic). But it would be nice to have a fresh Romanov's...

Today's 7.18 Mile Run

My idea of cooking cheap pasta at home and taking it to work for some moderate pre-run carbohydrate-loading worked perfectly. Friday afternoon I boiled a box of bow-tie pasta that I had just bought in a buy-one-get-one-free deal and mixed it with a jar of spaghetti sauce that I also got BOGO. I took a large portion of my concoction to work and ate it cold during my early evening lunch break there. Today I started out on my planned 7.18 mile run around noon, after waiting for the humidity to abate to a reasonable level. When I started my run, the temperature was 89 and the humidity was 63%, better than that 80% humidity I struggled through earlier this week. When I completed the 7.18 miles winding up and down through my neighbood streets, the heat had gone up to 89 and the humidity down to 55%.

Because of the summer heat, I couldn't characterize today's run as being pleasant. However, thanks largely to last night's pasta, I had plenty of energy, running at a pretty high (for me) pace and finishing it in 1:05:19. As usual, I kept myself hydrated throughout the run by carrying with me a bottle of G2 and taking a gulp every seven minutes or so. I also listened to my own personalized MP3 mix of favorite songs, which helped to take the edge off the run's severity. I felt no sign of the foot and leg pain that were problems in previous weeks and months. The post-run recovery is also going quite smoothly.

In spite of the heat-induced discomfort, today's run was successful in that it reestablished my ability to run in the heat of the summer without feeling the need to duck indoors and run on the treadmill. Not that I am forsaking the treadmill, which has served me well during the last few weeks: I just like outdoors running more!

Oh, it also helped that I was off from work today and could start my run later than usual, giving me the chance to better wait for that oppressive morning humidity to dissipate. It might be better in the long run, though, for me to run around sunrise, when the humidity is very high but the temperatures are more reasonable. For where I live, summer lasts a long, long time! And at least that way I wouldn't be concerning myself with "running" out of time before work. But it can be quite an ordeal trying to drag myself out of bed that time of day...

What Do You Do? (or Moment to Moment, Day by Day)

How do you define yourself? By your nationality, what you perceive your so-called "race" to be, gender, sexual preference, political alignment, philosophical creed, religious (or nonreligious) beliefs, biographical/childhood narrative, friends, or family? Do you say I like this music, that movie or TV show, or a particular author, a type of food or drink in order to reveal your nature to others? Or maybe you're one of those who plasters bumper stickers all over your car to broadcast your identity to the world.

I'd like to offer my own view of what constitutes one's identity. Any or all of the above-mentioned items can contribute to describing one's life, to be sure, and I engage in some of them on this blog (especially with my "favorites" lists). But there is something I believe is far more profound and telling about oneself: what you DO with your life. Specifically, how do you spend your day? Or more immediately, what do you do from moment to moment?

And isn't that really what people think defines one, anyway? Just think of all those popular behind-the-scenes biographies of celebrities: for example, I have enjoyed reading such accounts of the classic rock groups The Beatles and The Doors. Sure, their artistic accomplishments, staged public appearances, and news headlines defined them to an extent, but actually discovering how they spent most of the time in their daily lives was enlightening, to say the least.

We already tend to see those with whom we are more intimate, like family and close friends, by how they spend their time. Yes, we'll cheer with them when they reach their peaks and console them through their personal valleys. But we'll also be more likely to frame our view of who they really are as we observe them doing what all of us have to do: tackle a day, from moment to moment, from beginning to end... and then start afresh the next day!