Finally Over Nick Saban's Desertion of the Dolphins

Although I have no intention of becoming a University of Alabama Crimson Tide football fan, I have finally gotten over my sense of betrayal at their current head coach, Nick Saban.  He abandoned his job of coaching the Miami Dolphins in mid-contract to take on the Alabama post when the latter offered him a shamelessly exorbitant offer.  I still have a problem with coaches who hop from job to job, never staying in one place long enough to establish any sense of tradition there.  With Saban, the effect was compounded by the way he framed himself as a man of character, even writing a book on the subject.  But he has at least stuck with his present position at Alabama (this is his sixth year there) and harping on him doesn't do anything to change the past.  Besides, he and his team may have unknowingly done my Florida Gators a favor last night...

In order for Florida to get to go to a major bowl game (like the Sugar Bowl), they would have to be the second-highest ranked team in the Southeastern Conference.  Had Alabama not made their dramatic last-minute comeback to defeat LSU last night, the Gators would probably have ended up behind both Alabama and the probable LSU/Georgia conference title game winner.  As it now stands, though, Alabama will most likely win the rest of their games, including the one against Georgia in that title game (Georgia has only to beat an unusually bad Auburn team to win their division).  Should this happen, Florida will in all likelihood be that #2 team, assuming they manage to beat cross-state rival Florida State in a few weeks.  Sounds complicated, right?

So maybe UF can avoid playing Saban's Crimson Tide and end up with a great final ranking.  I didn't like Saban, a great coach, leaving Miami like that in late 2006.  But I wish he had at least gone on to a school that wasn't in the same conference as Florida (Urban Meyer "correctly" went on to coach the Big Ten's Ohio State while Steve Spurrier "incorrectly" landed at UF's divisional rival South Carolina).   Still, I have made my peace about the matter and have forgiven the dude, who never really ever did anything against me, anyway...

NYC Marathon Just Cancelled

Last night, while I was at work, New York City's mayor Michael Bloomberg finally came to his senses and cancelled the New York City Marathon that was going to take place this Sunday. It would have been a strange sight, with many locals cut off with no transportation and needing food and water...while thousands of runners pour in to the town, accompanied by volunteers helping them (not the people living around in dire need).  I guess they couldn't just postpone the event to another day, but to cancel or postpone it was obviously the way to go.  Why it took this long for the mayor to "get it" is beyond me.

They are still holding pro basketball and football games in the area.  I question this as well, but that doesn't make the marathon a good idea at this time...

NYC Marathon a Go in the Middle of Storm Recovery Efforts

I am a running enthusiast, a fact you should know if you've gotten anything from this blog.  And the New York City Marathon is an event that I would like to participate in some day, although the special circumstances of my health prohibit this in the immediate future.  Still, I share in the excitement others feel about preparing and running in this race, which goes through several of the boroughs in NYC for 26.2 miles. This year's marathon is scheduled for this coming Sunday, and I don't have to tell you that currently the effects of Hurricane Sandy are being felt in the Big Apple in a devastating way, with power still out in much of the city, widespread flooding, an inoperative subway system, a backlog of cancelled flights, and worst of all, thousands of residents stuck where they are without access to food and water.  Not a pretty picture.  Yet I understand that come hell or high water, the New York City Marathon WILL be held anyway in two days, dammit.

If this had been a terrorist attack on the order of 9/11 instead of a natural disaster, do you think anyone would think twice about postponing this race? Yet a hurricane of record monstrosity that directly and physically affected the entire northeastern section of the country is apparently nothing more than an inconvenience, as far as those organizing and promoting the marathon are concerned.  I have a two-part concern here.  One, how can a race participant run down streets in a city past buildings where people are suffering the effects of this storm?  And two, if I were a resident, even one who has had basic services restored and hadn't suffered personal loss, how could I look upon these runners as they pass by with anything less than scorn?

I don't understand New York's Mayor Bloomberg, who didn't even want the President to visit there "post-Sandy" because his presence might well interfere with recovery operations, if only unwittingly.  Yet he gives the go-ahead to this event, which will tie up already scarce resources and distract from efforts to help residents return to more normal, sustaining lives.

I just don't get it.

Bicycling and Running to Work

I have been riding my bicycle the eight miles to work for most of the last few Thursdays, and today was no exception.  So far, the weather has held up with no rainstorms around to drench me (although there have been a couple of close calls).  Today was more pleasant as the temperature was hovering around the 70 degree mark (noontime), a sign of autumn finally asserting its presence.  My renewing of bicycle riding, though, is due more to transportation glitches within my family that necessitate me lending my car out than to any resurgence of my enthusiasm in the activity.  Still, it is kind of fun to do this, although I have a lower back ache today that took away some of my enjoyment.

I always stop off, at around the six-mile mark on my route, at the Panera restaurant located at Archer Road near SW 34th Street.  There I order the same thing each time: coffee (I drink their hazelnut flavored brew), french onion soup, Caesar salad, and a cheese danish.  While I slowly consume my way through all this, I study foreign languages, read, plan things out...and even write an occasional blog article. 

I have entertained, at least in my mind, that is, the idea of running to work instead of bicycling.  I can always take a change of clothes to my workplace locker the night before so that I can freshen up after the run, just before starting work.  It's feasible, but with one potential snag: I haven't run for eight miles at a time in several months, although I feel that I am fully capable of it.  Anyway, there would be rest times built into the run since I'd have to stop and wait for green lights at various busy intersections from time to time...

My October '12 Running Report

Once again we've reached the end of a month and, as usual, here I am with my monthly running report.  I passed my goal of 100 miles/month with a total of 105.69 miles.  I also ran every day in October, bringing my personal record consecutive day running streak now to 184 days.  My longest run was a mere 5.3 miles, while the overwhelming number of runs were between 3 and 4 miles.

The weather, which for most of the month was unseasonably warm and (ugh) humid, took a much more pleasant turn in the last few days.  Today, for example, it was around noontime when I ran, with the temperature just 64 degrees and the humidity a blissful 29%.  Oh, for more of the same!  But alas, I AM in Florida, so most likely we'll go back into some unpleasantly warm weather...

Sandy About to Strike Northeastern U.S.

The massive three-headed storm now collectively known as Sandy is about to slam into the heavily populated northeastern U.S. coast in a few hours.  The storm rivals, even possibly exceeds, the scope of 1993's Storm of the Century that swept up the eastern American seaboard in March of that year.  I'm very concerned about this storm, which will be affecting an area and population that is certain to suffer severe damage, and tragically worse, casualties and possibly even deaths.  But even with just the sweeping and lengthy power outages, life may be very difficult is this massively urban area...

Weekend Sports, Downside and Upside

Being a follower of football and baseball, I had a few big games to keep up with this weekend.  Yesterday the undefeated and favored University of Florida Gators turned the ball over six times to rival Georgia en route to a tough 17-9 loss. Too bad, but they're a good team and should do well for the remainder of the season.   On the plus side, the San Francisco Giants, the team I'm pulling for in this year's baseball World Series, won and gained a 3-0 lead, with only a win to go to sweep their opponent the Detroit Tigers.  Then today came and with it two NFL contests concerning my favorite teams, the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants.

Both teams were involved in contests with divisional rivals... and they won! The Dolphins' 30-9 victory over the New York Jets was more surprising because of their unexpected dominance.  Now Miami is solidly in second place in the AFC with a 4-3 record with good playoff prospects so far.  And the Giants outlasted their rival the Dallas Cowboys in a close game 29-24.  They are leading the NFC East with a 6-2 record.

Finally, the fourth World Series game just ended.  San Francisco's ten-inning win over Detroit gave them a Series sweep.  Whoopee!

I wouldn't be too concerned about the Gators with their loss, even though it may eventually keep them from playing Alabama for the SEC championship.  After all, just avoiding having to play Alabama may have been a desirable result...

Third Debate Raises My Doubts

Having already gone off against the exasperating still-undecided voter after all of this time they could have used to research and get to know the candidates in this 2012 presidential race, I got a taste of my own medicine a couple of days ago when I questioned my own voting decision.  The final debate between Obama and Romney had taken place the night before and I was surfing my radio in the early afternoon before work, searching desperately for SOMETHING decent to listen to.  Finally, I landed on 94.7, which was the frequency of a local low-powered station that offered alternative talk radio programming at that time of day.  In progress was a replay of that final debate, with one alteration. The show had two candidates from minor parties (a third,  the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson had declined) who answered each question after the president and etch-a-sketcher's responses.  They were Jill Stein of the Green Party and Rocky Anderson of the newly-formed Justice Party.  The "debate" wasn't between these two; they could have been each other's running mates for the mutual agreement in their responses, making me wonder why those forming the Justice Party didn't just join and strengthen the longer-established Green Party.

The upshot of it all was that I found myself wholeheartedly agreeing with the alternative candidates, dismayed that they will amass between them probably less than one per cent of the vote.  They both opposed the Affordable Care Act for pandering to insurance companies and overburdening private businesses, instead of the single payer system that I had long preferred.  They both decried the excessive militarism of our foreign policy, noting that the difference between the major two political parties was just a matter of degree.  I liked Stein more and thought that maybe I should just switch my vote over to her.  But then I thought that by doing so, I would be aiding Romney in this close swing state I'm living in.  Noam Chomsky decided to endorse the Green Party candidate, but then again Michael Moore and Howard Dean are enthusiastically supporting Obama's reelection.  So, for a little while I have been experiencing a little of this undecided fog myself, but in the end I think I'll just stick with my original intention.

I liked the ideas I heard on that debate, not by the main speakers but rather by the candidates who were denied nationwide exposure.  Maybe, though, a presidential election isn't the forum for me to express myself by voting for a minor party.  Instead, I can look at how the tea party movement formed and strengthened as a more ideological branch of the Republican Party during the electoral off-season (not that I would have any interest in pursuing their agenda).  Perhaps instead, this is the better way for me to make my beliefs known...

Solar Powered Runner

Last Friday, I tried a predawn morning run, about 3.25 miles around my neighborhood.  I wore a cap with an imbedded flashlight in the visor, which was important because some of the street lighting where I live leaves a lot to be desired.  It was a pleasurable experience.  I could see the stars clearly, even including my favorite, Canopus, which was peaking low above the southern horizon.  Yes, I liked it.  And I felt the same degree of energy I usually have during my late morning runs.  But get this: my final time was about a minute slower than when I run the same distance in the middle of the day, under much warmer conditions.

Then early Sunday evening, as the skies were gradually darkening, I ran the same course.  Once again, I thought I was pacing myself like I usually did and felt energized.  But also once again, my time was slower than usual.  In between and after these two runs, I ran in the middle of the day.  I perspired more and it was less pleasant, but I ran faster nevertheless.  So I wonder...

Does exposure to the sun have some kind of positive effect on my running, making me faster?  Am I a solar-powered runner?  This would seem to run counter to the conventional wisdom, which states that I would be better off under cooler nighttime or twilight conditions.  Of course, indoor treadmill running is away from the sun.  But with that, my pace is set by what I enter on the machine and not by my inner sense of how fast I'm running.

Despite my puzzling slower pace at night, I'd like to do more nighttime runs.  The streets are pretty deserted in my neighborhood between 5 and 6 AM, so if I can just rouse myself up and hit the pavement, I should be able to pull this off...

World Series '12 Set Between Det and SF

Last night the San Francisco Giants did a "number" on the St. Louis Cardinals in their final divisional series game with a 9-0 and a 4-3 series victory, giving them a ticket to the World Series against the Detroit Tigers, who swept the New York Yankees 4-0 with merciless pitching.  Although the Series pairing doesn't evoke memories of earlier times and the geography isn't intriguing, I still look forward to it, especially since the Giants, my "runner-up" favorite in the National League playoffs after the Atlanta Braves were eliminated, made it this far.  Not that I have anything against Detroit, though...

Kinky October Weather

Meteorologically speaking, I can't help but be amused at the computer projections for the predicted trajectory of the current tropical disturbance out in the central Caribbean.  They are all over the place, with the paths taking the storm either over the Bahamas, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, or Central America!  In other words, the forecasters are clueless!  To be fair, this is late October, and the typical, more predictable late summer hurricane tracks tend to break down when the more northern weather begins its autumnal descent into the south.  We've finally been experiencing early morning lows into the 50's, thankfully, and maybe...just maybe...we're done for the year with 90+-degree afternoons.  Still, the wind direction can change suddenly, and the next thing you know, there is a tropical storm knocking at your door...

10/18, 39 Years Ago and Today

October 18, 1973.  Many of my devoted readers probably weren't even born yet then, but to me it represents a "last time": the last time (as well as the first time) I had surgery performed on me while I was under general anesthesia.  On that day, I had an inguinal hernia repaired and recovered quickly.  I was seventeen then, so surgery wasn't that big a deal to me (although it worried the others in my family).  And, amazingly, through the decades that followed, leading to this very moment, the only invasive medical procedures I've undergone have been in the endoscopy/colonoscopy department.  Not even a broken bone to repair.  That's fortunate, but I'm savvy enough to know that I should just count my blessings and not be so self-assured about the future in this regard.  Actually...

Actually, there's a reasonable chance that, sometime during the next few years, I'll have to have some major corrective surgery done on me regarding a birth defect affecting my circulatory system in a potentially critical way.  But then again, maybe I won't ever need it, who knows.  It all depends on regular CT scans of the area in question, as well as my specialist/physician/surgeon's recommendations.

Oh, by the way, on a rather disconcerting note, it was while I was mostly bedridden at the hospital for my surgery and recovery back in '73 that I came to love listening to Led Zeppelin's oft-played masterpiece Stairway to Heaven on a local rock station (the one on 100.7 if memory serves me correctly). I didn't make the morbid connection between the song and my hospitalization until years later, but it was the first Zep song I truly loved...

Debate Nonsense

As I mentioned on October 4, the millions of voters who haven't yet been able to make up their minds who to vote for president and have been waiting for the debates to make their decision are a little scary to me.  After all, every four years I have to place my hopes (often dashed) on these dunderheads to somehow get swayed by some irrelevant side issue and vote for MY candidate.  This year is certainly a classic example of this, with the debate results accounting for ridiculous swings in the public opinion polls.  Romney supposedly won the first debate and Obama the second, while for the Veep post Biden is reported to have laughed Ryan off the stage.  Of course, it all depends on your point of view.  The winner, if he was your candidate, was confident, assertive and humorous.  But if he was the "bad" guy, then he was offensive and lied through his teeth.

The point I'd like to make is that these debates are so contrived and manipulated that it is impossible to gain any measure of the candidates' worth through them.  But with all of the information and exposure for the past several years in the media about Romney and Obama, anyone with half a brain could have figured out by now who they wanted to lead them and the country.  Instead, we're being treated to what amounts to an American Idol/Dance With the Stars-caliber entertainment spectacle, where the audience (through the polls) determines winner and loser.   Oh joy, we still have another debate to go...

The March of Time

Sometimes, during my walk through the day, I stop and reflect on how time seems to be flowing.  In this, my 57th year of life on Earth, it definitely seems to be going a lot faster than during my childhood, when a day was very long and a year seemed an eternity.  That having been said, though, even for 2012 and my advancing age, time seems to be hurtling ahead.  And it's pretty disturbing.

In sheer numerical terms, I look ahead at my future years and see a possibility of living a few more decades...let's throw out thirty years as a feasible scenario (my father is still puttering around with all of his faculties at 86).  That sounds like a lot of time to do and experience things, doesn't it?  But even if I factor out increasing limitations on myself due to physical aging, I still have to deal with the bothersome fact that time is flying by faster and faster.  Those thirty years I see ahead of me are most likely going to come and go in a flash, especially in comparison with my first thirty years. 

I am finding myself lately having to grapple with this accelerating time flow, and the only solution I can offer is to deliberately, consciously seize the present moment and live for now.  No dwelling in the past, be it for pleasant reflection or regret.  And no undue emphasis on the future either; let that take care of itself.  NO, the present moment, which does seem to be the one constant, changing thread throughout my life, is where I will make my home and live.  I can't control the clock or calendar, but I can control where I place my focus.

That doesn't mean that memories and plans don't have their places in my life.  After all, this blog is loaded with them and I'll continue to draw upon them.  But they can't rule me, either...

2012 MLB League Championship Pairings Set

The Major League Baseball playoffs have now whittled the pool of contenders to four teams, and finally we're going to have some best-of-seven series. And lo and behold, the two teams I was rooting for the most in the last round, the New York Yankees in the American League, and the San Francisco Giants in the National, made it to this round.  The Yankees will face Detroit and the Giants the St. Louis Cardinals, by now almost universally recognized as the "cardiac kids" of baseball with their amazing "two-outs and two-strikes in the ninth" heroic comebacks. 

I sure do wish New York can make it to the World Series but I am a bit dismayed that right now their only consistently good starting pitcher is CC Sabathia.  They will need to do better than that to get past the Tigers, whose ace starter Justin Verlander is nearly unhittable...

The only potential World Series pairing that I wouldn't find terribly interesting would be Detroit and San Francisco.  But at this point, it looks more as if the Yankees and Cardinals will be facing off instead.  We'll see...

Avoiding Election Results

I wonder what would happen if, for this year's general election, I went out of my way on Election Day (and possibly beyond) to avoid hearing or reading about the results.  I realize that, ultimately, I would find out one way or another who won this extraordinarily depressing election.  After all, I'll be working that Tuesday night and will be surrounded by colleagues who are intimately concerned about who gets elected, especially in the presidential race.  And if, by some wonder of wonders, I should make it home from work still blissfully ignorant of the results, I have no doubt that my family would be only too happy to fill me in on what I had deliberately been missing.  Of course, I could tell them not to "give it away" and see how long I could then remain uninformed.  This would entail me deliberately avoiding TV, radio, the Internet, newspapers, and even other people out in public...

I've tried this little "Ignore" game two other times in my life, but they both involved football scores, not election results.  The first time was the 1984 Super Bowl (for the '83 season) between the (then) Los Angeles Raiders and the Washington Redskins. I was successful at avoiding the result until the next morning when I inadvertently caught the score on a newspaper in a rack I was passing by on the way to work.  The other was the college national championship game a few years ago between the Florida Gators and the Oklahoma Sooners.  My cheering co-workers gave this one away before the game was even officially over...

Of course, if this year's presidential election goes the way that 2000's did, it won't matter whether or not I avoid seeking the results! 

Rooting for Dolphins' Divisional Rivals in NFL

I was watching the Houston Texans (or is it the Texas Houstons) playing the New York Jets on Monday Night Football.  Normally I'd root against the Jets during the regular season as they are divisional rivals to my Miami Dolphins, but right now there is another "important" factor in play that compelled me to root for them instead.  Every year in the NFL, I go through the process of pulling against any team (other than the Dolphins, of course) that looks like it might go undefeated.  That's because Miami, back in 1972, was the only team to accomplish this feat, winning all of their games in both the regular and post-season.  The scariest moment I've had was New England's near perfect season in 2007, remedied only by the New York Giants' amazing last-minute come-from-behind upset of them in the Super Bowl.  This year only the Atlanta Falcons and the Houston Texans are left, and I want them to lose.  After that happens, they can win the rest of their games, for all I care (except when playing the Dolphins, that is).

Unfortunately, both teams won their games this past weekend and I'll have to put off my annual celebration for at least another week.  What struck me during the Texans/Jets game was how dominant Houston's defensive line was...except when New York (rarely) put in their backup Tim Tebow as quarterback.  Tebow would get in for a play, make a good gain, get everybody excited...and then leave.  After which starter Mark Sanchez would return and get overwhelmed by the Texas pass rush (especially by that incredible J.J. Watt).  And the drive would stall.  Once they were at the Houston goal line after Tebow had a big running gain.  They let him run just one more play, took him out, and the drive then stalled.  I don't get what the Jets coaches are thinking, anyway. Why did they trade for him if they are going to use this relatively expensive player so sparingly?

I recently had another curious situation when I rooted for a team I normally oppose.  This time I pulled for the New England Patriots, another divisional rival of Miami, against my new "unfavorite" team the Denver Broncos, with their Dolphins-rejecting star quarterback Peyton Manning.  Turn down an offer to play for Miami and you incur my wrath, dude.  Plus, I'm not too happy with the way Denver used Tebow last year to lead them into the playoffs and then eagerly dumped him as soon as they signed Manning.  Oh, let's see...so far this season with the great, exalted Peyton Manning as their starting quarterback, the Broncos are 2-3 (.400) while the "untalented" Tebow took them to the divisional title last year with a 7-4 (.637) record as starter, and with essentially the same surrounding personnel.  So I was happy (at least for this past weekend) to see the Patriots knock 'em off. May the "high" and holy Broncos finish DEAD LAST...

Road Birds Win One-Game Baseball Playoffs

After grinding it out for a long, 162-game regular season, two of the wild card baseball teams found themselves suddenly booted out of the playoffs after losing the one and only game they had against their opponent.  The Texas Rangers, last year's American League champion, and the Atlanta Braves, the team in the National League that I was pulling for the most, lost their respective games to the Baltimore Orioles and the St. Louis Cardinals.  So now I am left with trying to decide who to root for on the National side.  I think I'll pick the San Francisco Giants, who begin their series against the Cincinnati Reds today.  And my second choice will be the Washington Nationals, who are still trying for their first World Series appearance going back throughout the franchise's years as the Montreal Expos. They will be playing against last year's Series champs the Cardinals.

On the American side, my New York Yankees are going on strong and will begin their series against those Orioles tomorrow.  Meanwhile, the surprising Oakland Athletics will face off against the Detroit Tigers.  I like the Athletics here.

I am looking at potential World Series match-ups and see a few interesting possibilities:

New York Yankees vs. Cincinnati Reds: rematch of the 1976 Series swept by the Reds.

New York Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants: rematch of the 1962 series won by NY in seven games.  Also, the Giants, formerly in New York, have a Series history against the Yanks.

New York Yankees vs. St. Louis Cardinals: the Cards won an exciting seven-game series in 1964 against the Bronx Bombers, after which the Yanks hired the victors' manager and then went into an instant decline, not returning to the World Series until 1976.

Baltimore Orioles vs. St. Louis Cardinals: battle of the bird teams.

Baltimore Orioles vs. Cincinnati Reds: rematch of the 1971 Series convincingly won by Baltimore in five games.

Baltimore Orioles vs. Washington Nationals: the I-95 Series, just a short drive down this road connects these two cities.

Detroit  Tigers vs. St. Louis Cardinals: rematch of the 1968 Series won by Detroit in seven.

Oakland Athletics vs. Cincinnati Reds: this would be the "rubber" rematch series between the two, with Oakland winning 4-3 in 1972 and Cincy winning 4-0 in 1990.

Oakland Athletics vs. San Francisco Giants: another match-up between two close teams, this time separated by a bay.

The Scariest Voters

Having deliberately avoided the Robamney debate yesterday, I still couldn't avoid the general media reaction, which was that Chameleon Mitt had won hands down, largely by deftly employing his Etch-a-Sketch strategy as he portrayed himself smack dab in the political middle after trying to out-extreme the extremists in his party for years.  (Nausea creeping in on me...)  From what I heard, Obama let him get away with everything he said.

I have long been a little scared at the people in this country who subscribe to politically fringe ideas.  The political left has its extremists, to be sure, but there seems to be an explosion on the right in the number of people walking around with a delusional view of the world.  I credit extremist/right talk radio, a regrettably highly politicized faction of evangelical Christianity, and conservative ultra-wealthy fatcat ideologues with much of this.  And this burgeoning number does scare me some.  But not as much as...

Not as much as the large number of people in our electorate who, after all these years of exposure to Obama and Romney and their views and actions, still haven't made up their minds who to vote for and are using these debates as a tool to accomplish this.  In other words the dude who gets in the most "zingers" gets their vote.  And the history of my country (and, to a great extent, the world) hinges on how millions of these morons decide to vote every four years.  Yes, to paraphrase Michael Corleone at the beginning of The Godfather, "They are very scary people." Al Pacino's character may have been referring to a single, terrifying person in Luca Brasi, but the cumulative effect of these easily swayed, shallow voters can be terrifying as well.  And in case you've haven't yet connected the dots, they are also the reason untold millions of dollars are being spent in this year's campaign, with more and more to come.  Just to persuade these knuckleheads...

The Day We've Been Waiting For

Well, finally, October the Third, 2012, has come, a day that people across this great nation of ours have been waiting for.  Yes, it is today that we can witness....the end of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season (what else would I reasonably be talking about).  Here are the teams that made the playoffs and who's playing whom:

American League
Wild-Card Playoff game (not series!!!): Baltimore at Texas
Then: Baltimore/Texas single game winner vs. New York Yankees (yippee!)
and Detroit vs. Oakland

National League
Wild-Card Playoff game (just one, unbelievable): St.Louis  at (my) Atlanta Braves
Then St.Louis/Atlanta winner vs. Washington
and Cincinnati vs. San Francisco

The wild card playoff games are both being held on Friday, which disappoints me greatly.  Surely, with only one crucial game to decide these worthy teams' playoff futures, they could have at least waited until Saturday to hold them, when more people would have been in a position to watch them.  But I know, it's all about money, and they probably didn't want to compete head-on with college football...

Major League Baseball Regular Season Nearing End

We're nearing the tail end of this 2012 edition of major league baseball, and there are still some positions up in the air for the playoffs.  The New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles are IN, vying between themselves for the AL East championship with the loser being one of the league's two wild card entries.  The AL Central has the Detroit Tigers three games ahead of the Chicago White Sox, with three games left to play and thus on the verge of clinching that division.  In the AL West, the there are still three teams alive: the Texas Rangers, already in the playoffs but not yet champs of that division, the Oakland Athletics, with the inside track to the playoffs as a wild card team (they could clinch a spot with a win later tonight) and a chance to overtake Texas, and the Los Angeles Angels, just barely hanging on to a remote shot at the playoffs.

In the National League, the divisional winners have been decided: Washington Nationals, Cincinnati Reds, and San Francisco Giants.  The Atlanta Braves are also as the best wild card team, leaving the last wild card spot open between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The Cards, last year's World Series champions, have a two game lead over LA with three games to go.  But if they make the playoffs, St. Louis could go the distance once again, in my opinion.

My favorites this year are the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves.  Not only are they my personal favorites, but they are also strong enough to make it to the World Series, for a fourth Series match-up between the Yankees and Braves (the last one being in 1996).  Then again, there are some other intriguing possibilities, which I may examine soon in a future article...

My September 2012 Running Report

September, 2012 saw me continuing to comply with my stated monthly running goals.  I barely surpassed my monthly goal of 100 total running miles with 100.9 miles.  I kept my personal record consecutive running streak going as well, now standing at 153 straight days.  My longest run was a measly 5.0 miles, but that's all right since I am now going for consistency instead of distance on my daily runs.

I had thought of entering two local running races in September, but other matters changed my mind and I let them pass by.  I'm still open to running in some events in October should the opportunity arise.

Hopefully, the cooler autumn weather will make my running more enjoyable.  I generally prefer outdoor running over the treadmill, but the combined heat and humidity has been pretty bad, especially for September.  Maybe we'll get some relief from that.

Hurricane Season Turning Mild...For Now

I just finished a phone conversation with my 86 year old father who lives down in Hollywood, near Miami.  He has been closely following this hurricane season, which started out with a bang but seems to be drastically slowing down...at least on the Atlantic side.  To be sure, they seem to be ticking off at a fast rate (what letter is it now, "N" or "O").  But almost all of the latest ones are purely Atlantic Ocean storms, hardly of any interest to us landlubbers in Florida.  This is in spite of the fact that right now is usually considered to be the most intense time of the season. 

Still, all it takes is for one strong storm to hit us and mess things up.  I don't think we're going to be presented with a hurricane threat, though, until it is later on, say in October, when the tropical storm pattern changes to storms developing in the western Caribbean and moving north into the Gulf of Mexico...

NFL Replacement Officials Offer Entertainment with Incompetence

Since I had last Monday night off from work, I happened to have my TV on ESPN, which was broadcasting the NFL Monday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks.  This was a pretty closely fought contest between two teams that I care little about.  But it was close, and that made the outcome somewhat interesting.  As well as the fact that the replacement referees, whom the league installed while carrying out a drawn-out labor dispute with the "regulars", were utterly incompetent throughout the game.  To me, that was entertainment in itself, much like watching the antics of the Three Stooges.  But I, like most other viewers, was completely unprepared for the game's closing play, a Green Bay pass interception of a desperation last-second Seattle pass that one official ruled as a touchdown, one ruled an interception, and the third in the vicinity just kept a distance from.  Ultimately the offensive receiver, who committed what was to me the most flagrant offensive pass interference penalty I have ever seen, was awarded the reception although the Packer defender was clearly in possession.  So Seattle was awarded the controversial touchdown and, as it turned out, the game as well, 14-12.

After the game, the media pundits were all abuzz about how bad this officiating was.  I agree.  But I remember a game back in 1980 between my Miami Dolphins and New Orleans and a similar scenario, this time with the regular officiating staff performing the duties.  The Dolphins were ahead, I believe, 21-16, but the Saints mounted a furious last-minute comeback. On the game's final play, the Saints quarterback heaved a clear touchdown pass to win the game, touching off celebrations on that side of the field.  But wait, there was a penalty flag and a New Orleans player was called for offensive pass interference.  Replay after replay of this play was shown on TV, with no hint whatsoever of the existence of this apparently phantom penalty. The game thus ended with a dubious Dolphin win.

So this sort of thing happens and is unavoidable.  Still, the replacement officials seem to be totally incapable of the controlling the game and are increasingly coming under the open scorn of both coaches and players alike on the field.  Not that I necessarily want them gone: this IS awfully entertaining, in a slapstick sort of way!

Bicycling to Work Again

Due to some transportation glitches in my family recently (due to good things going on), I found myself for the last two Thursdays with looking for an alternative way to get myself to my workplace besides driving my car there (or being let off by a family member).  The city bus, taxi, maybe asking a co-worker for a lift...these all come up as possibilities.  But instead I opted to return to an old tradition of mine that I had engaged in to a great extent in the late 1980's and early 1990's: I rode my bicycle the 7.8 miles to work.  I knew I would have transportation provided on my return home after work, so it wouldn't be quite as strenuous as the "good old days" when I would bike on a round-trip basis.

Both times I handled the ride quite well, stopping at a Panera's for lunch at about the 6-mile mark.  I'd get myself one of their wonderful hazelnut coffees (free refills) along with either a scrumptious cheese danish or a lunch special comprised of a sandwich, salad and (french onion) soup.  Panera's french onion soup and salad beat all, as does the friendly, helpful demeanor of their workers (at least that's the case in Gainesville's Panera). This may be the start of a new tradition...

This bicycle of mine is typical for me: I paid around $100 for it.  No, I don't plan to go into bicycle racing anytime soon, although I think it would be cool to make it through a triathlon sometime (without bankrupting myself buying an ultra-expensive racing bicycle).  Who knows what the future holds, right?

Bicycling does work out some muscles different than running, and I was a little sore after my rides (especially that first one).  But it surprised me how easily I took some of the rolling hills I encountered on my route, hills that seemed at times almost insurmountable back in years gone by.  So there is definitely an enormous crossover benefit from running to bicycling...

Cybersquatting Getting Old for Me

I'm sitting once again outside a Starbucks writing this.  This one is the closest of their stores to my house, and like most of the others this early Sunday afternoon, is packed to the hilt with "customers".  Most of them, admittedly like me, though, are what my local rag the Gainesville Sun has termed "cypersquatters" in a recent article.  These are people who avail themselves of the free wi-fi offered in coffee shops and pretty much camp out there, sometimes all day and/or all night.  Nothing bad about that except that soon there are no seats left and the circulation of new customers who'd like to sit a spell in the establishment gets stopped up. And explains why I am currently sitting OUTSIDE, at one of the few remaining available tables.  As for me, I almost never use my laptop in these places, rather taking along my portable AlphaSmart word processor, with no need for Internet service.  And although I may be here an hour or a little longer, I don't grow roots into the floor either like many of the others, some of whom I have noticed don't even bother to buy anything during their prolonged stay.

Actually, I have a perfectly good front porch to my house that can closely imitate this effect of sitting out in public.  I don't have to worry about not finding a seat, and I can save gobs of dough by brewing my own (better tasting) coffee.  And I have quick access to both wi-fi and the bathroom should the needs arise.  So what am I doing here at this Starbucks anyway?  Time to change my study locale, I think...

By the way, cybersquatting has a completely different meaning, apart from the Sun's particular application.  Parties who buy up web domain names just to make money selling them to other parties who would naturally be inclined to use them are called "cybersquatters" and are pretty heavily frowned upon.  Yeah, and I bet some of them hog up the space in coffee shops as well!

Assorted Comments Continue

More assorted comments...

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

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

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

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

Various Comments

Some more mixed comments...

--The anti-American protests in various Muslim countries, along with their often very violent outcomes, strike me as being, at least to a degree, contrived and premeditated.  Events like these are often based on something that has been in the media or Internet for a while, and one can always find something there to get offended about if there is an agenda involved.  There are forces in some of these countries (like Libya, Yemen, and Egypt) who want political power and see using the United States as a scapegoat as a means of corralling popular support. And of course, there are the allegations in Libya that Al-Qaeda directed the attack on the U.S. consulate that killed our ambassador there...

--Hurricane season, at least for my home area, has turned into a big yawner.  Since I am no longer in grade or high school, I have no vested interest in one of them striking (and getting me out of school).  So I'm not exactly complaining...

--The University of Florida football team travels today to Knoxville, Tennessee to play Tennessee early this evening.  This looks to be a very even match-up between two teams, each of which sees themselves on the rebound after some disappointing seasons.  I have absolutely no idea, though, about how this contest will play itself out, and which Gators team will show up to play.  I'm hoping that what they did in the second half of the Texas A&M game last week will stick with them, as they dominated the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense and ran the clock out with outstanding ball control...

Assorted Short Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blog Writing Slows Down for Now

I am currently in a period when I am not very motivated to write blog articles.  Sure, there are probably interesting topics to cover (as well many rather boring ones).  But I am feeling a bit introspective right now, and don't feel up to sharing my thoughts with the world.  We'll see how this plays out, but for now, don't expect very much here.  At least not on a daily basis...

My August 2012 Running Recap

This past month of August saw me continuing with my goals of consistent running over modest distance.  I met my monthly 100-mile target with a total of 109.48 miles.  I ran every day, extending my personal record streak to 123 days.  My longest run was 6 miles.  The running was split between outdoor runs in my neighborhood and the treadmill, depending largely on the weather and time constraints.

I intend to continue with my running goals in September, but, due to personal issues, may have a more difficult time meeting them.  Oh well, I'll do what I can...

Isaac, GOP Convention Stories

In the midst of two major ongoing news stories, namely "Hurricane" Isaac and the Republican National Convention, I find myself at a loss for words about them.  So writing ANYTHING here is a stretch. After all, in this day of almost instant information access, the idea of me using this forum to spew out redundant news makes no sense.  What's left are my opinions, pure and simple. So here goes...

There is no doubt that a storm like Isaac needs to be taken seriously.  But the news outlets, especially the Weather Channel, have gone overboard with their coverage and melodrama.  Isaac may have barely gotten into hurricane status just before striking land, and naturally there is always the damage caused by high winds, storm surge, and rain-induced flooding to take into account.  Not to mention the specter left over from 2005 with the catastrophic flooding caused by broken levees when Katrina passed by New Orleans. Still, the impression I got from the coverage of Isaac is that the media employees were overly anxious to cover a hurricane, and frankly, this year they weren't getting all that much...

As for the Republicans, I have been so dismayed and disgusted by the behavior on the political right against Obama for his entire presidency that it galls me that any of them would expect me to display any kind of respect toward their cardboard candidates should they (very possibly) get elected this November.  I have no desire whatsoever to watch Mitt "Etch-a-Sketch" Romney reframe himself as anything but a wealthy-coddling extremist on social issues after he went out of his way during his run for the GOP nomination to "out-right" his extremely ideological primary opponents.  So now I'm supposed to forget all that and think about the "human" Mitt, right?  I think someone from one of the major TV networks had it right, if unintentionally so, when she said that Anne Romney would have a big task ahead of her on opening night when she addressed the convention and tried to make her husband seem more "human".  Did she succeed?  Not with me, since this party has thoroughly blown any hint of credibility with me and I am boycotting their "rilly big shew". So screw their high and holy convention...
   
Gee, I guess I wasn't at a loss for words, after all.

Isaac Not a Major Disaster

Hurricane Isaac, which had already caused a lot of trouble in Florida earlier, has been sitting on southeastern Louisiana, dumping copious amounts of rain on New Orleans and surrounding areas.  But the levee that broke in 2005 under Katrina have been fortified and are holding strong.  That's not to say there isn't flooding: some areas still went under water.  But the situation is nothing like the scene there seven years ago...

Isaac Bearing Down on New Orleans

As I write this, Tropical Storm Isaac, expected to soon be upgraded to hurricane status, is bearing down on the New Orleans area of Louisiana, threatening to repeat the disaster of seven years ago with Katrina.  To be sure, Isaac will be just a minimal hurricane compared to its much stronger predecessor and the city seems to be undergoing a more orderly evacuation with the goal to avoid having so many trapped in massive flooding in an area that is mostly under sea level.  But forecasts have the storm slowing and even lingering there for a couple of days, dumping an enormous amount of water in the process.  Will the levees hold this time, or will they break once again and cause the city to go underwater? 

In the meantime, the Florida peninsula has been undergoing its own storms, as a huge section of Isaac seemed to separate and hang over the state just as its center turned westward toward Louisiana.  For the last couple of days, we have had copious amounts of rain, with more expected.  Still, the bulk of this stormy area has moved offshore into the Atlantic, sparing us extreme flooding.  South Florida seems to have gotten the worst so far; this is soon to change when the Louisiana coast and adjacent areas suffer Isaac's full onslaught...

70.3

Having completed both the half-marathon and marathon events in running, I feel a sense of connection while out driving when I see, on the back of a vehicle in front of me, a decal with the simple number of "13.1" or "26.2" on it.  For that means that the owner of that vehicle has run one of the two aforementioned distances, expressing their accomplishment, of course, in miles.  So the other day it intrigued me when I was on the road and saw a car with a decal that simply said "70.3".  Well, it took me a very, very short time to figure that this individual was referring to having completed a triathlon event (swimming, bicycling, and running), the total racing distance amounting to 70.3 miles.  H-m-m, maybe that's the Ironman triathlon I've heard so much about.

But after reading up on it in Wikipedia, I found out that I was only partially correct in my conclusion.  "70.3" is an Ironman triathlon, but not the full version.  No, this is an Ironman half-triathlon, with the distances covered breaking down to 1.2 miles of swimming, 56 miles of bicycling, and 13.1 miles of running.  Sounds like something I could build myself up to, after the current medical issue I am facing eventually is satisfactorily resolved.  After all, I have run many, many half-marathons and I could train up to the other two distances.  But a full Ironman triathlon? No way, dude...

By the way, since it is a "half-triathlon", why not get cute and perform some arithmetic on it? Then it would be the three-halves-athlon, or the one-and-one-half-athlon. Oh well...maybe we should just name it like the decal does: "70.3".

Cryptowisdom

Consider this statement:

"The amount of satisfaction you get from life depends largely on your own ingenuity, self-sufficiency, and resourcefulness."

Such was the result of one of the relatively easy cryptograms I recently solved out of a puzzle magazine.  Usually the sentence I get is something silly or irrelevant, but this one give me some food for thought.  And the more I thought about it, the more I had to agree with Mr. Crypto...

It all arises from the need within all healthy human beings to feel that they have control over their own lives.  Having a sense of independence forces people to devise personal strategies for maximizing their opportunities to decide how their own lives are structured.  This doesn't preclude limitations and challenges; in fact, these tend to enhance the enjoyment of finally "solving the puzzle", much in the same way pleasure can come from decoding an especially difficult cryptogram.

Of course, if you are the type who spends much time blaming others, past and present, for your woes, then you probably aren't going to appreciate the above words of cryptowisdom.  I know people who can never let go of the bitterness contained within their memories enough to enjoy the present moment and its challenges and opportunities.  Such people seem to stumble through their lives, continually being "assaulted" by events that just "happen" to them.  I don't want to be like them.

No, instead it's much better to be rooted in the present and focus on thriving in it, like the puzzle says, through ingenuity, self-sufficiency, and resourcefulness.  Sure, sometimes you may need to ask someone for a helping hand, but that should only be seen as using the available resources, not as a personal surrender to passive dependence. 

Upcoming Gainesville 5K Runs

I was thinking about running in an upcoming 5K race, but missed out on the Haiti 5K that was scheduled for tomorrow (in Gainesville, not Haiti).  So, at least locally speaking, I'll have to wait until next month.  On September 16 is something called "Ducky Dash", while on the 29th Dog Days 5K, which I once ran back in 2008, will take place.  Maybe one or both of those two might work...

Loud Ignoramus

I heard Obama's going to start attacking Mitt Romney's religion soon.  At least according to an elderly fellow sitting with another couple at McDonalds this morning.  They had been talking among themselves in a relatively subdued, pleasantly conversational mode until the one man suddenly went off into heated political banter and raised his volume several decibels.  The woman sitting across from him responded that she didn't like anyone attacking another's religion and the loud-mouthed old dude replied that this strategy would backfire on Obama.  The party at this table then batted the conversation around with the presumption that Obama and the Democrats had ALREADY been attacking Romney's religion.  Then the instigator of all this drawled on (very loudly, so that everyone in the restaurant could hear his exalted words) that he didn't know why the fuss about Mitt Romney refusing to produce his tax returns when Obama wouldn't produced his own birth certificate.

There is a huge segment of our population, folks, that lives in an insulated bubble.  If they don't like someone or something, they will take any negative insinuation or speculation, no matter how unsubstantiated or even in DIRECT CONTRADICTION to the truth, and adopt it as "their" own truth. It has been the conservative Christian evangelical wing of the Republican Party that has been attacking Mitt Romney for his Mormon faith, not Barack Obama.  This while our president has been mercilessly (and hatefully) mischaracterized as being a Muslim, not that being one is anything one should have to defend anyway.  And the loud ignoramus at McDonalds will never be convinced about Obama's birth certificate, which WAS produced and shown to the world.

I don't know what to do about people like this gentlemen and his deluded, convenient notions, other than to pity him and those who have to endure his claptrap. Because, for his own reasons, he is emotionally committed to hating our current president, pure and simple...

Here Comes University of Florida Football, 2012 Edition

The opening of the 2012 college football season is coming fast, and who knows what is in store of the University of Florida team, with its second-year coach Wil Muschamp.  They didn't do very well last year, but at least finished with a winning record and a bowl victory at the end.

It is hard to blame Coach Muschamp too much for the disappointing season in 2011, as he was dealing with players recruited during the Urban Meyer era.  That in itself might make you think that, having won two national championship under his predecessor's short tenure at UF, the current coach would have had an enormous well of talent to draw from.  But apparently, during Meyer's last two years, he had suffered through some health issues that may have impaired recruiting to an extent.  Also, the former coach abruptly retired and then decided to try coaching the team for another year, giving a sense of instability about the football program at Florida to potential recruits.  Giving just a little edge to other schools in this area can be enough to turn a good season into a mediocre one.  Also, the starting senior quarterback, John Brantley, suffered a season-ending injury in the Alabama game (the Gators had been undefeated up to that point) and his replacements simply did not have the poise that experience brings.  Besides, the offensive line had some major issues in 2011...

...As did the defensive secondary.  Muschamp feels, though, that the secondary is one of the team's strongest areas this season.  But I also know that, with a great offensive line you don't need a great quarterback to go far.  So do the Gators have what it takes?

The first game will be a pushover against a minor college.  Then Florida will be tested against Texas A&M, who will be playing their first season in the hyper-competitive Southeastern Conference.

I am not one of those fans who are only happy if the Gators win the conference title and compete for the national championship.  But I do want to see a team that is at least a couple of notches better than what has been out there for the past two years. I don't want schools like LSU and Alabama to begin looking at us the way we've grown accustomed to looking at Kentucky, whom we've beaten every year since the late 1980's, often by massively lopsided scores. And I certainly don't want to see Kentucky starting to beat US...

Tropical Storm Isaac Looking Ominous

Well, it looks as if the meteorologists weren't just crying wolf when they began to raise alarms about a tropical low in the eastern Atlantic, as I reported here a couple of days ago. We now have a named tropical storm, Isaac, that is expected to rapidly intensify to hurricane strength after it soon enters the Caribbean Sea.  And worse, the projected pathway so far has it veering in a northwestward direction when it nears Cuba, crossing that island nation and then...heading toward Florida.  Uh-oh, maybe this could be something really, really bad.

The worst hurricane scenario that Gainesville could face is for a strong hurricane to develop in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and then enter Florida at Cedar Key, heading straight for Gainesville.  This nightmare possibility almost happened in 1985, when hurricane Elena appeared to be headed straight toward Cedar Key but then suddenly stopped just going ashore there and changed direction to the WNW, away from us.  Tropical Storm Isaac, while still very far away, has the potential, at least at this early stage, to do what Elena didn't.  So I'm on high "TV weather" alert right now...

Phony "Bad" Dog Videos

While waiting for the air conditioning installers to finish putting in our new system, I was channel surfing during a time of day when I usually wouldn't be watching television. I came across the Animal Planet channel.  On it was a show titled "Bad Dog".  It was one of those cutesy home video shows that pet lovers are supposed to watch and get bowled over by the adorable antics of other people's little animal possessions.  The particular episode I was watching showed dogs supposedly behaving very lazily.  But after seeing just a couple of the videos, I disgustedly switched channels...

One video showed a bulldog that was into watching TV.  Sitting on the sofa.  Like a person sits.  Wearing clothes.  With the remote by its side. Bad, lazy, silly dog.  Another video showed a different "lazy" dog lying on the floor, with dry dog food morsels spread around its head.  In this clip, the dog just moved its head around to snap up the nearest morsels while continuing to lie on its side.  Wow, what a bad, lazy, silly dog (too).

In the first video, the unbelievably compliant dog suffered through the indignity of being dressed and unnaturally set up for a contrived video.  The second was equally contrived.  The whole show, it seems, is an exercise in pet owners drumming up different angles of portraying their "property" in silly situations.  Ha-ha, what a blast...NOT.

Of course, I'm sure that the dog owners here really, truly love their animals and care well for them.  But seeing dogs presented this way still makes me sympathetic to a degree with PETA's often extreme objections to animals being used in shows for human entertainment.  Sure, there's no abuse here...but it sure as all ain't funny, at least where I'm coming from...

Disproportionate Alarm over Atlantic Tropical Low

There is a peculiar "storm" brewing out in the Atlantic Ocean, heading westward toward the West Indies and Caribbean region.  At this writing, it is only a low pressure zone, not even a tropical depression.  But the meteorologists seem all abuzz over it, as if it will develop and eventually threaten to hit North America somewhere, around a week or so from now.  I wonder why the emphasis on this particular storm.

I've seen stronger storms, even named hurricanes, in this region without the kind of fuss being made over them that this one is eliciting.  But perhaps the weather experts are looking beyond the storm system itself and instead see, ahead of it, a clear pathway for extensive (and dangerous) development.  Then again, maybe, since we've just entered the second half of August and are now in the peak hurricane-spawning window of the season, they are automatically perked up at any system they see as a potential threat.  And then possibly exaggerate its danger to the public.  Who knows, possibly the truth is a mixture of the two.

This hurricane season has been very peculiar.  Very early on we had several named storms, with one of them passing over northern central Florida.  Then...nothing, except for the few hitting Mexico or staying way out in the Atlantic.  Not that I'm complaining, though: when I remember the power outages, flooding, and wind damage caused in our area by Frances and Jeanne in 2004, my hopes are that the meteorology folks are just being a little melodramatic and that this new disturbance, which hasn't even developed into anything yet, won't and will quietly go away...

More About My Running of Late

I don't know whether this is a good thing or not, but lately, when I go out for a run in my neighborhood, I disregard the humidity level.  To be sure, I haven't been running the same distances that I had in the past.  But I regularly now run in conditions of 80+...even 90+ humidity, something that I had carefully avoided previously. 

High humidity, coupled with heat, prevents the body from perspiring, which can cause heat stroke.  Not good.  Still, the temperatures are usually around 73-80 when I run, so it's not exactly sweltering. 

The fact that I have been splitting my days up into two runs has released me a lot from my dependence on the weather.  If conditions outside are poor (or I am just pressured for time), I can make up my distance later at the 24-hour gym down the road.  So I'm less likely to push myself too hard under adverse weather.

Ultimately, I would like to get my total running distance increased to a 150 mile/month level.  I can do this with twice-a-day runs, each one at a modest mileage...

My Morning/Evening Running Split, Then and Now

My running routine seems to be changing to something I hadn't done since the 11th grade in high school, when I was a dubious member of its track team as a mile and two-mile runner.  Starting in March of that year, our coach decided to have the runners come in before school in the morning and run about three miles.  Then we would have our regular practice in the afternoon: more running, of course.  And within the past few days, I have begun to repeat this process: a morning run around my neighborhood and an evening treadmill session at my gym.  So far it seems to be working well; maybe it will become a permanent routine.

Thinking about those old times before school in early 1973 brought back some fond memories to me.  I would finish my pleasant, low-stress run with my teammates, shower, dress, and then go get a couple of doughnuts.  Then I'd trudge over to my first period chemistry class, which was open before the official start of school.  My chemistry teacher, whose name escapes me but which is probably in one of my yearbooks, was a little man with a lot of big opinions about things.  One of his main areas of interest was politics, and if you were around in that period the main political event was the Watergate scandal of the Nixon administration with the star attraction being the Senate Watergate hearings, presided over by North Carolina senator Sam Ervin.  My chem teacher would have the chemistry lab's television constantly tuned in to the hearings, and he would hang around our counter watching the proceedings while making off-hand derogatory comments about Nixon; chemistry was a distraction to him.  Aah, those were the days, as another character from that era, Archie Bunker, would sing...

Stephen King, Isaac Asimov, and Their Universes

As I wrote a couple of days ago, I just finished reading Stephen King's latest novel release The Wind Through the Keyhole.  As I pondered his long seven-volume Dark Tower series, it struck me just how far he went in establishing his own fictional universe.  It not only encompasses the actual books in the series: besides  this "extra" novel I just read and a short story or two, King also injected strong references to the Dark Tower in some of his longer works (Hearts in Atlantis, Insomnia) while making references within the series to other novels (Salem's Lot, It, Pet Sematary).  I wonder how many other writers of fiction have done something on this order.

In the realm of science fiction, I recall reading several intertwined short stories by Cordwainer Smith that involved deep space exploration and the overcoming of the barriers involved (including the use of ordinary household-variety cats on spaceships to kill off monstrous psychic predators haunting the vast darkness).  But I can't think of anyone who tied together so many novels and short stories into a cohesive chronological and narrative fabric as the late Isaac Asimov.

Asimov is probably best known for his Foundation series of novels, as well as his stories involving robots (such as Bicentennial Man).  But this prolific author has all of them interwoven.  And I have read most of them.  One thing that I haven't done, though, is read his stories in the chronological order that they occur in his fictional historical narrative.  It starts with the robot tales, mostly in the form of short stories.  Then the Empire novels (three of them), and finally the many Foundation books (some of which were written after Asimov's death in 1992 by other authors).  Speaking of this series, I don't have any inclination to read the stories written by anyone other than Isaac Asimov.  Maybe that's unfair of me, but I like to think, while reading his works, that the two of us are having an interesting (albeit long-distance in space and time) dialogue.  There are two Foundation novels that I have yet to read but which were written by Asimov toward the end of his all-too-brief life: Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation.  Like Stephen King's Wind Through the Keyhole, they were written after the culminating book in the series (in this case, the fifth book Foundation and Earth) but are chronologically set earlier, more as side stories rather than essential drivers of the narrative.  But before I read them, I'd like to pinpoint for myself their locations on Asimov's Foundation timeline and then read EVERYTHING, robots/empire/foundation (and some other assorted stories), in the chronological order that they are supposed to take place.  Quite an undertaking, but one that I already know is also quite pleasurable reading.

Parallel to this, I think I'll undertake a rereading of King's Dark Tower series as well.

Well, THAT should keep me busy for a while...   

Some Thoughts on Romney's Pick for VP

Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's pick for running mate this presidential election, has Republican and Democratic media operatives struggling to frame his image and the campaign according to their liking.  In 2008, at least at first glance, John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin looked as if it would catapult him to victory, with Palin potentially drawing away disaffected Hillary supporters from the Democrats.  But then the half-term Alaskan governor began to speak, and from then on the framing went the Democrats' way as she was portrayed be ignorant and and was lampooned on Saturday Night Live.  I don't see the same thing happening with Ryan in 2012, though.  I mean, can there be anyone more colorless than him? 

The latest poll about the American public's opinion about Congress just came out, with that institution garnering a whopping 10 % approval rating.  Wow.  And Romney picks one of its leaders, actually one of the representatives most responsible for the ideological logjam preventing hardly anything of substance from being passed.  Paul Ryan, however Mitt Romney may verbally dance around it, is on the same page as him regarding the most important issue for the presumptive Republican nominee: they both believe that rich people are better than others and deserve and need to pay less taxes, since they will serve the economy better with the extra money they have.  And that people who are in the poorer segments of the society, more than anything, need a swift kick to get themselves off their butts and work harder. 

I also think that Mitt Romney, after his primary battles with Catholic theocratic conservative Rick Santorum, realized that having someone who was a Catholic with essentially the identical views as Santorum on "moral" issues like women's reproductive rights and gay rights would energize voters in some of those midwestern states like Ohio and Pennsylvania to go to the polls in large numbers in November to vote for one of their "kind".  Gee, I hope that wasn't what Romney was thinking when he picked Ryan, but it does make the same kind of political sense, at least initially, as McCain's choice of Palin in '08, doesn't it...

I can't tell what the effect of Ryan's selection will be in the long run, but I really, really don't ever want him to find himself sitting in the Oval Office as President of my country.  Because, you see, I am neither a super-rich snob about my wealth nor a holier-than-thou religious bigot who feels empowered to hide behind my faith to justify my prejudices against others...

Finished Stephen King's The Wind Through the Keyhole

I just finished reading Stephen King's latest novel, titled The Wind Through the Keyhole.  It is actually a part of the Dark Tower family of King stories, although not "officially" one of the seven books in the series.  The story here takes place between the fourth book Wizard and Glass and the fifth, Wolves of the Calla.  Once again, the "ka-tet" family of characters en route to the Dark Tower, including Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy have returned...and I felt happy, as if I were meeting up with old friends again.  But the meat of this novel is actually in two tales that the main protagonist Roland Deschain spins for his companions while huddled together inside a shelter, shielded from a vicious cold windstorm called a "starkblast".  The tales are not told in succession: the second is embedded within the first, as the story Roland initially relates has his much younger self, within that story, tell the second story!  A pretty "novel" twist, I might say...

Speaking of oral stories, most societies, before writing came into existence to make things "official" and "orthodox", depended on them to spread their cultural traditions and history from one generation to the next.  The stories themselves usually had elements rooted in real events, with embellishments added to make them more interesting and/or present a moral.  The second tale in the book, the actual "title" story The Wind Through the Keyhole, is related by Roland as simply a tale his mother told him when he was a child.  However, upon reading it, it became clear to me that, at least in the context of Roland's fictional world as created by Stephen King, there had to have been a historical basis to it. It made me wonder anew to myself why people can't see that the same sort of thing went on in what we call the "Biblical" world as well, and that many of the writings contained within what later became known as the Bible or Holy Scriptures are simply adaptations of oral traditions transmitted throughout many generations and even from other lands.  In these stories, it isn't the absolute truth of their content that matters: it is the message they convey that gives them value.  But things seem to get turned upside town once the words are made permanent on parchment or paper. Then the words by themselves, frozen in their visual presentation, are exalted as "the truth" and the originally intended message gets muddled. Strange, and sad...

I don't know how someone without the background in the Dark Tower series would handle reading The Wind Through the Keyhole.  But since I already read the series, it was an immense pleasure to delve back into this alternative universe with its peculiar and compelling characters.  Try it, it is Stephen King at his best...

Now when is that dude going to come out with the sequel to The Shining he promised on TV (C-Span) a few months ago?  I'm waiting.....



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

New Gym Becoming a Hit

As a follow up to yesterday's post, I'd like to report that I think I'm getting the hang of my new workout gym.  I just ran 3.3 miles a one of its treadmills at 10 PM, while watching Family Guy on the machine's built-in television.  What luxury!  Who knows, with this nasty hot and humid weather plaguing this area I may just switch to evening treadmill runs here.  After all, even after my work shift ends at 11 PM (tonight I was off) I can come here and run, it being an around-the-clock operation....

Not Using New Workout Gym Much Yet

After switching my family over to Gainesville Health and Fitness Center, I had curiously discovered a role reversal of sorts.  It seems that my daughter, who used the previous location little, now trains with great devotion and regularity there.  And my wife, who rarely "worked out", also attends GHFC often.  But the funny thing is that I have yet to go there on my own, as was the case many times with that "other place". Then again, the only kind of training I'm doing lately is running, and for the most part the streets of my neighborhood suffice for this purpose (even though the hot, sticky weather hasn't exactly been cooperating).  So today...

My daughter gets a ride and works out at GHFC with a friend for several hours.  Then, after shopping, my wife and I show up there.  She walks on the treadmill and I...just sit in a deep, cushioned chair and read...and drink coffee.  The irony of it all impressed me, especially when, after we got home, I changed clothes and went running around my neighborhood (in the hot and sticky weather, of course).  So what I am planning to do in a few minutes should be a breakthrough of sorts: I am about to return to my newly adopted workout center, this time by myself, and run some more, this time on a treadmill in the air conditioning.  And watch some TV in the process...

I do miss my old treadmill provider, which was only a mile down the road from my house.  But then again, I can use this new place any time I want, as it is a 24-hour/day operation.  So Sunday night at the gym looks to be pretty cool...

(Later in the evening)...I had a good run on the treadmill, covering 3.1 miles on it.  On the way to the gym, I had stopped off at a Starbucks, read a little, and wrote the top part of this article.  I suppose that it will be more likely for me to use GHFC if I combine the trip with other chores or use it as a convenient stop-off point when I am driving across town.

My Take on the Chick-fil-A Controversy

Now that this Chick-fil-A controversy seems to be settling down a bit, I would like to weigh in with my opinion on the matter.  The company's COO, Dan Cathy, had expressed his view in an interview that he believed that marriage should be between a man and a woman.  This prompted an uproar against him and his company by various parties on behalf of the LGBT community and those promoting legalized same-sex marriage.  A boycott of Chick-fil-A was called for and some mayors of major cities, including Rahm Emmanuel of Chicago, banned this chicken sandwich eatery from "his" city, apparently revealing that he (and his cohorts in other locales) see themselves as Ghaddafy-like dictators, ruling by decree as they see fit.  The reaction to this was predictable, but who would instigate it? None other than FoxRepublicanNews evangelical ideologue Mike Huckabee, who called for Cathy supporters to rally to Chick-fil-A on August 1 to show their appreciation for him.  Huckabee framed it all around respecting free speech; in essence, though, the event, marked by massive lines across the country, quickly became framed as a pro-gay/anti-gay referendum, with the "winners" (chicken sandwich buyers) drowning out the "losers" (those sinning gays and their ilk). A mass "Take that, bad guys...hurray for the good guys, we really showed them", if you will...

Here are some points from this I'd like to make:

--Dan Cathy is a rich, rich, super-rich dude who owes his good fortune to the fact that he is the SON of the company's founder and equally homophobic CEO, and now sits on top of his own little mountain making proclamations about what is morally acceptable to him about others' behavior.  That millions are so concerned about HIS "right" to run his mouth off as he likes without any negative consequence while gays in many locations in this "free" country still have to hide their sexual orientation in order to escape discrimination, intimidation, and even physical assault, speaks to me about what is wrong with this country.  The initial uproar against Cathy wasn't just for his comments about marriage, but also about the fact that he and his father, by dint of the money they make from their company, contribute massive amounts to organizations whose agendas are clearly homophobic.

--Having said that, it bears noting that the comments that Dan Cathy made did not explicitly put down gays or mock them in any way.  As a matter of fact, until just recently, liberals including John Kerry and Barack Obama had expressed their own personal opposition to gay marriage.  Now within those circles it has become politically correct to support it: good, I support gay marriage, too.  But it is wrong, in my opinion, to retroactively condemn an expressed opinion that was mainstream just a couple of years earlier and suddenly call it "hate", with boycotts and banning decreed by politicians.  Boycotting can serve as a valid protest strategy that people can choose to either participate in or not.  But for mayors to ban companies from their cities treads on free speech rights and is what triggered Huckabee's call to support this company the Wednesday before last.

--I don't believe, though, for one minute, that the mass of people who went out on that Wednesday to "support" Chick-fil-A had such highly principled notions that they were standing up for.  No, in the vast majority of these people's hearts is an intensely irrational hatred of gay people. I have seen it too many times in my life when others would display deep anger when the subject of homosexuality came up in conversations.  Ever since when, as a kid I had first heard of such a thing as homosexuality, I thought it was a little strange, something I had no personal interest in pro or con.  But I couldn't fathom why others held such a consuming, passionate hatred against homosexuals.  And I still don't.  So maybe there were some high-sounding words being thrown around on August 1, but my reaction to the throngs of "principled" Chick-fil-A customers was just plain disgust, especially at some people I personally knew who revealed their true colors to me by their action...

Look East in Sky Just Before Sunrise

A few months ago I wrote about how beautiful the evening sky was in the west, immediately after sunset, with the (projected) proximity of the moon, Jupiter, and Venus.  It was a sight to behold.  Well, the mirror effect is now going on in the east just before sunrise, and with the same celestial players.  This morning Venus was close to the horizon with Jupiter up from it and the waning crescent phase of the moon a little higher.  In the next couple of days we'll see the moon "shrinking" and approaching Venus' position.  Should be fun to watch, as I have recently gotten into the habit of going outdoors at this time to pick up my newspaper.  After all, I want to get a head start on the puzzles contained within...

Oohmahgahhh: Howard to Lakers, Bynum Gone

It's over, as far as I am concerned.  I have reported my feelings on this blog about how I felt about the Los Angeles Lakers and their bullying/thug "star" Andrew Bynum, who turned me against this storied franchise with his (what appeared to me as) criminal behavior in the 2011 playoffs against Dallas.  As I write this, Bynum is gone, to Philadelphia, a team that I automatically will NOT ever be supporting (as long as he is on its roster).  Instead, the Lakers are getting one of the premier players in the world in Dwight Howard who, adverse media notwithstanding, was an instrumental factor in the Orlando Magic's success over the past few years.  Nothing against them: I wish Orlando success in the future. But for the next year I am completely a Lakers fan: Steve Nash is my favorite player in the NBA and recently joined them, and with the likes of Kobe Bryant, Dwight  Howard, and Pau Gasol? Wow.  The only drawback to this dream scenario is the continuing presence of Metta World Peace, which is the name that Ron Artest, whose thuggish behavior rivals that of Bynum, likes to call himself.  The question is, can I deal with this and still support the Lakers? Probably, and for ONLY one reason: my respect and appreciation of Steve Nash outweighs everything else, including that "peaceful" Artest...

Musical Ripoff Hypocrisies, Part 2

The spring of 1970 was almost magical to me, at least in a musical sense.  There were many great songs that came out at this time, one among them being the first hit that the Supremes recorded without Diana Ross, who had left the group to pursue what would be a very successful solo career.  Still, somehow Up the Ladder to the Roof sounded like Diana was there anyway, and it was a very beautiful song.  I even bought it as a single (and still have it).  Yes, it was one of my favorites for that year, when I was still in my early teens.

Fast forward to 1983.  MTV had been going on for nearly two years and cable TV mogul Ted Turner decided to present a similar format on weekend late nights on his TBS channel.  Having no MTV at the time, I greatly enjoyed watching the succession of videos (which were actually interesting back in those days).  One video was of a new, upcoming musician named Prince: Little Red Corvette.  This song instantly came across to me as a ripoff of Up the Ladder to the Roof, with the title lines sung in each song to almost the exact same melody.  I would even go as far as saying that I thought the copying was blatant.  Apparently, though, no one else did, and Prince went on to become the superstar that he is known for.  So far, so good...

Now we come to the latest LP released by Sufjan Stevens, titled The Age of Adz.  One track on it (in fact, one of my favorites) was a plaintive song called I Walked.  It sounded like an "original" to me, but later a reviewer of this album in Spin magazine wrote that he felt that Stevens had lifted part of Prince's Little Red Corvette.  I suppose I could discern some similarities in the instrumental background introducing both songs, but nothing more.  Still, that reviewer is entitled to his own opinion, and I never heard of Prince complaining.  And why should he, in our current age of sampling and wholesale copying?  What's been going on recently makes George Harrison's supposed infringement against the writers of He's So Fine with his wonderful My Sweet Lord look like an extreme example of nitpicking...

Musical Ripoff Hypocrisies, Part 1

I am sitting here, at 11:51 PM (just in time to make the cutoff for today) watching ABC Nightline.  One of the featured topics is Madonna, more specifically her criticism of Lady Gaga for the latter's supposed ripoff of her old hit Express Yourself in a recently released song (or maybe it's older, I dunno).  I am not a follower of Lady Gaga; I have only heard her first two hits, although I dug her debut Just Dance. O.K., maybe The Lady copied her, who knows.  But the idea that Madonna has any kind of beef with it floors me, because I remember...

In 1972, there was a new sensation in soul and "top forty" music: the Staple Singers. Known for their big hits Heavy Makes You Happy and I'll Take You There, they had another great blockbuster (that I used to sing to myself while sitting in my often demoralizing high school): Respect Yourself.  There is no doubt in my mind that Madonna, either consciously or unconsciously, lifted a large portion of this wonderful song when she created Express Yourself.  Don't get me wrong: I thoroughly dig Express Yourself and Madonna (especially during the later 1998-2001 period) has endeared herself to me with her music, if not her excessive showmanship (which her "rival" Lady Gaga has also emulated).  But c'mon, popular music is simple in nature and all songs feed off their predecessors to some degree.

Another example of a musical "ripoff hypocrisy" soon...

Hiroshima Anniversary: Grace Now, But for How Long?

Today marks the 67th anniversary of the first use of an atomic bomb over a human population: Hiroshima, in western Japan.  The American president then, Harry Truman, having been recently informed of this super-weapon's development and successful testing, saw it as a means to shorten the war against Japan and render a possibly disastrous invasion of the island nation unnecessary.  In his thinking, it would sacrifice lives with its dropping but would ultimately save manifold more by quickly ending this horrendous war.  Apparently, though, the response to Hiroshima by Japan wasn't fast enough as a second bomb was dropped over Nagasaki three days later.

I think everyone concerned was taken aback, not at the actual physical destruction these bombs wrought (bad enough), but rather at the horrible radiation sickness that spread through the exposed population.  By all accounts, war or no war, these bombings were an abomination, an ultimate violation of human rights.  But looking back on it from the convenient vantage point of an outsider's hindsight safely after World War II, instead of within that conflict as someone who, like Truman, was charged with deciding which course of action would save the most lives, isn't exactly fair, either.

Thankfully, no more nuclear bombs have been dropped on people since 1945 (at least not deliberately, I suppose), something few futurists or science fiction writers could have imagined in their wildest dreams. But how long will this grace period last with all of the bombs and the means to manufacture and deliver them proliferating across the world and potentially falling into the hands of despotic regimes ruled by paranoids with scores to settle against their enemies or terrorists hell-bent on sacrificing anyone and everyone for their high and holy causes?

Graphic Novel Version: Why?

For a change of scenery, I stopped in the other day at one of my two local Books-a-Million stores to use their cafe as a study site.  I've used this place a lot in the past and probably would have continued to do so had they run it in a more costumer-friendly manner.  Not that the employees aren't friendly...they are as nice as nice can be.  But there's usually only one of them attending the coffee bar, meaning that I have to wait until everyone in line in front of me is completely finished having their often involved orders prepared and served before I can get my simple cup of already-brewed coffee.  And, oh, sometimes there is nobody at all there. The store hours also have been cut back and the flavored coffee they always used to have is either unavailable or unbrewed.  But critiquing this company isn't what I set out to do here.  It was a book I saw on display as I entered...

Eoin Colfer is the author of the children's series Artemis Fowl.  I have taken to it myself because he is a very good storyteller, creating memorable, compelling characters as well as an alternative universe full of vivid imagery.  I am on the fourth book in this series.  On display was to be the final book in the series, with a substitute graphic novel edition available as well.  Graphic novel?

I enjoy creating my own images of what Artemis Fowl, Butler, Holly, Mulch Diggums, Opal Koboi, and the others look like, as well as the exotic settings of the series.  The last thing I want is to see is someone else's representations, even if they were with the author's blessings. Yet, apparently there are people who either have no imagination or don't want to use it and will jump at the graphic novel option.  Many of these no doubt skipped reading literary delights like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings (and soon-to-be The Hobbit) until the movie versions came out.  

I think Artemis Fowl would make a great movie series, not just some graphic novel versions.  But it's the reading that you want to immerse yourself in.  I read the Potter books as well as Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia before seeing their cinematic counterparts.  And I must say that you're missing an awful lot of these stories if you bypass the books.  This probably also applies to graphic novel versions. Sure, with them you're still reading, but they are co-opting much of your thinking...

Snide Leaders

It is easy, whether one is talking about politics, religion, the workplace, or anywhere else that involves evaluating the performance of people in authority positions, to overlook their shortcomings if those policies and beliefs dovetail with one's own.  On the other hand, those leaders with a more negative, "opposition" image tend to suffer much scrutiny about their style and appearance.  As I look at the two current leading candidates for president, I see this as well.  I have to admit it: having supported Barack Obama since early in the 2008 primary campaign season, I have generally ignored mannerisms of his that I have to describe as snide and flippant.  His curt dismissal of his predecessor's plan to establish a base on the moon because "we've already been there" was a brutal slap in the face to those who worked on this project and were about to face unemployment because of the new policy.  Obama also often jokes around in a half-assed, careless manner that can offend others.  Barack, take note: it isn't leadership you're displaying when you spew out this nonsense: it just ticks people off.

Mitt Romney is also snide and flippant.  As a matter of fact, other than protecting rich people's money (especially his own) from the "evil" government and whose interests they expect it to protect (by taxing the less rich more), Mr. Romney projects a air of snide apathy about any other issue presented to him.  Who knows what he REALLY thinks about health insurance reform, women's reproductive rights, gun control, or anything else on the table right now (except, of course, protecting rich people from paying their fair share of taxes): he has been on DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSITE sides of the mentioned issues at different times.  This amounts, in my opinion, to snide arrogance.  But it's easy for me to see this, because I never politically supported him.  In many ways, though, Obama can be pretty bad, too. By the way, do you think I'm being unduly harsh on one of these two?  Then chances are that he's your dude...

I have seen others in positions of leadership in other areas of society whose defining personality characteristic I can only describe as being snide.  I believe that it is good...even crucial, for a leader to project an image of confidence.  But snideness comes into play when that leader is openly and even sarcastically dismissive of possibly opposing opinions, choosing to tune out those expressing them with curtness and even derision instead of listening to them with patience and respect. Maybe their image advisers tell them to crack jokes as a way to show that they have personality.  And maybe that works for their followers.  But to those with questions about them, it often comes across as arrogant and insensitive.

I see snide behavior more locally, in leaders I personally know who should be displaying leadership qualities but instead fall far short of this.  I can forgive them for this, if this were the only factor involved.  After all, we're all human, prone to failings of all sorts.  But when one of them has the gall to continually hawk an upcoming  "leadership conference", well...

Switch to New Fitness Center

My family and I switched our "fitness" account today over to another facility across town: Gainesville Health and Fitness.  By doing this, we traded less expense and proximity for flexible hours and more options with training.  For me, all I am interested in is using their treadmill and swimming pool.  I now have the option of using them late at night after my work shift completes, something impossible with the former location, which would be closed at that time of day.

Hopefully, this new arrangement will suit all concerned...

Meany Passes On

I don't quite know what to say, when someone I love tells me that a beloved pet of theirs has died...with my 86-year old father, it can be quite devastating, considering that it was the last surviving cat of his, which he lovingly cared for so many years...after the very untimely and traumatic passing of my mother in 2002.  But such was the case as I found out earlier today. "Meany", which was the name my father gave to this scrapping, "survivor" feline, was in heart a "sweety", who finally warmed up to me during my most recent visit.  She had been suffering from some unknown malady, but had been making a recovery when she suffered a fatal accident some time after I had left last Saturday.  I have a picture of Meany I took just before I left that day.  She was an old cat and had lived a full, eventful live.  My heart goes out to my father, and I hope that he will find some source of solace and peace after this wonderful animal's passing...