The Meaning of a Communication is the Response You Get

I'm a bit skeptical of organizations that tout how comprehensively benevolent their agenda is for humankind...Neuro-linguistic Programming, or NLP...which sounds super-scientific, doesn't it...is an example.  You can look them up if you'd like...I'm not interested.  But I did indirectly pick up one of this self-help group's precepts...through Tony Robbins...which is very profound and true when it comes to interpersonal relationships: The meaning of a communication is the response you get...

If a mother or father tells their child to do something, it may not be enough to just say it and walk away.  Instead, asking the child to repeat what was said and to say whether they understood completes the communication while imparting a sense of personal responsibility to the child.  Likewise, I have personally discovered in my workplace that expressed expectations of employees need to be accompanied with their acknowledgement of those expectations.  Yet when it came to my own experiences throughout the elementary and high school years, nothing of the sort ever happened between any of my teachers and myself...

The responsibility for seeing that a communication is effective is on the communicator to be proactive in seeking a response from the party receiving it...and it needs to be done on an individual basis, not just in a large group setting.  In a classroom setting, the tendency from my own experiences in school was for the teacher to hand out "learning activity packages"...i.e. enhanced syllabi...and speak to the students as a collective body from the front of the class, if at all.  To be sure, students were accorded time to meet with teachers and ask questions if they took the initiative to do so, but NOT ONCE in my twelve years from the first grade in 1962 to graduation in 1974 did any teacher approach me one-to-one to establish that I knew what the class was about and what was expected of me.  Furthermore, NOT ONCE in those twelve years did any teacher ever approach me as an individual human being to encourage me or tactfully ask if I had any difficulties I wanted to share with them.  I DID experience, on a number of occasions sprinkled throughout those years, teachers angrily coming to me and chastising me about something or another...often with me being totally innocent while in the process humiliating me in front of classmates...but even then they weren't interested in my point of view: my role apparently was to keep my mouth shut and stay out of their attention range...

Once I saw a Twilight Zone episode titled Changing of the Guard that featured an elderly teacher forced into retirement.  He had spent his entire adult life teaching his pupils and remembered every one and their idiosyncrasies.  In despair he feared he had wasted his life to no effect, but his old students from years back returned one day and assembled...from the "twilight zone"...each telling him what a difference he had made in their lives.  I wonder about all of the teachers I had...and whether they could even get a row of students to speak for them, much less a full classroom.  If I sound bitter, I am: I think that there were crucial periods in my childhood when a positive, encouraging word from a teacher would have made all the difference and have changed my life...but it never came.  Yet I'll bet each and every one of the teachers I had were confident that THEY were doing their job well as it pertained to me, who was to them merely a name attached to a face that I doubt hardly any of them remembered (or cared to) only a few years later.  To them I say: if you think you taught me something but never knew me as a distinct person with my own identity and personality...and viewpoint...then you have failed at your job.  I sincerely hope that my readers' school experiences with their teachers were different from mine...maybe you had some of those great interactive teachers like in those NEA television ads...

So direct interactions would be more effective if the speaker asked for pertinent feedback from the one spoken to.  But what about writing?  After all, I am communicating here and that's true whether or not the reader agrees with me.  Obviously, people can choose whether or not to read what I write...but if they do, then wouldn't it seem appropriate to offer at least some perfunctory acknowledgment that they had done so?  I post links to this blog on Facebook, which offers this sort of feedback system to postings.  And while I tend to skip over others' posts that may contain interesting content but are merely copy-and-paste exercises on their part, when I read something that is original and relatively coherent...and I believe to be directed either at me or the general reader...I have a tendency to click on "like" and sometimes even volunteer a comment.   Some of my articles are likewise directed at certain folks I have "befriended" on Facebook.  Now many don't read my writings but for those who do, wouldn't it be an act of constructive friendship to at least acknowledge me...or better yet...write your own reactions in a comment? 

Speaking of blog comments, there are two ways to accomplish this: one is if you are getting it through my Facebook link...just use this site's comments feature as you would any other post.  But you can also bypass Facebook and submit a comment directly to this blog by clicking on the "Number of Comments"  or "Post a Comment" links after the end of the individual article.  It won't be printed until I have read it...you can even request it remain unprinted or even write anonymously...and would finally appear on the blogsite right after the article.  A little more of a roundabout way, but it gives you more flexibility and enables those not on my Facebook page to communicate as well...

From Star 99.5 to Party 99.5

One of the more interesting radio stations we've had here in Gainesville is on 99.5: WBXY.  Until just a few days ago it had an all-talk format, branding itself as "Star 99.5".  Its owners, however, did not see their expected return on their investment and dramatically changed the programming to around-the-clock electronic dance music, with the new appellation "Party 99.5".  I have mixed feelings about this change, which on the surface seems to cater to the more vacuous, bubble-headed elements of the listening community.

Ever since I switched in March to graveyard shift at work, I have been listening more to talk radio.  One station, 97.3 WSKY, broadcasts George Noory's Coast-to-Coast AM show.  Depending on the guest and topic, I might listen in...but usually I switch over to 99.5 (until the change, that is).  Opposite Noory, at least until 3 AM, is Jim Bohannon, a conservative talk show host who nevertheless is more typified by his rationalism than by any ideology.  But from 3 to 5 was when I REALLY tuned in to this station, because that was when one of this age's truly amazing radio acts was on: Phil Hendrie.  Hendrie has had a show for several years in which he interviews a variety of guests, with the aid of his studio on-air assistants...and some of the guests substitute for him on the air as well.  These people have very idiosyncratic views, to say the least, and their personalities can be a little over the top.  But the amazing thing about all of these people is that they are ALL Phil Hendrie himself, casting his voice around seamlessly from one character to another without arousing any indication that he is up to this grand subterfuge of impersonation.  What a talent!  My favorite of his many characters is the overly sensitive, lawsuit-compulsive Steve Bosell.  I'll miss Phil with the programming change.  Ditto to a lesser degree for Jim Bohannon.  But WBXY also had some folks that, in my opinion, were little more than vile hate-mongers: Michael Savage and Mark Levin.  And the FoxNews hack for the Republicans, Sean Hannity, also had his show as well.  Maybe these extremist right-wing "stars" will soon get back on in Gainesville on other stations, but for now I feel no loss at their current absence.

As for the new programming, I like it.  The driving, pounding music is very energetic and fun to listen to.  I think that if one just wanted to get a good exercise workout in their own home, they could just turn on this station at any time of the day or night and just dance to it!

June Starts With Run

I began the month of June with a couple of runs, one being for 2.28 miles around my neighborhood.  My foot felt fine and I could have gone further, although I clearly wasn't in my earlier fitness level.  Nevertheless, I ran the same pace I usually do.  Hopefully, I'll be able to resume regular running again, albeit with rest times interposed between runs.

My May 2013 Running Report

This past month, my right foot had some pain issues, and I laid off the running for much of the month.  I ended my 370-day streak of running on the 6th, and won't be consciously trying to run on consecutive days for a protracted period anymore!  During the period away from running, I tried some alternative cross-training activities, to which I assigned "miles-equivalent" values, or MECT.  My total actual running mileage was 28.54 miles, my MECT was 13.36 miles...so the total in May was 41.90 miles.  I ran on 13 days, but with cross-training I ended up working out on a total of 19 days.  My longest run was for 4.51 miles.

I am trying some medically-suggested strategies for dealing with my foot problem, and perhaps this will enable me to resume a reasonable, albeit more moderate running regimen.  But only time will tell...  

Rush and Styx on Palladia

The other night on Palladia Channel I was watching a couple of concerts.   The first was by the Canadian band Rush, a trio that has amassed a very impressive amount of recorded work over the past 39 years.  The other featured Styx, also a band with its own resume of very popular music.  With the latter, I have enjoyed several of their songs but never got around to buying any of their albums.  I liked Too Much Time on My Hands, Come Sail Away, and most of all...Mister Roboto.  It was this last 1983 hit and the subsequent concert tour that year that reportedly caused a severe rift between front singer and creative force Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw, leading to a permanent, very acrimonious split.  So I was surprise to see them back together.  But wait, that wasn't DeYoung up there singing, was it?  No, as it turned out, the rest of the band, seeing the cash cow in keeping their name and trading in on it, just played on, pretending that this integral member had never existed.  That would be like the Beatles acting like Lennon never had been there.

In stark contrast was Rush, with their members bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Geddy Lee, lead guitar Alex Lifeson, and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart bringing down the house with a closing finale performance of their first hit Working Man.  These are people who knew how to stay together over the years and work out the inevitable issues that arose between them.  I have a special respect for them and others who have persevered like this (the Rolling Stones prominently come to mind).

I already have several of Rush's albums.  My favorite songs of theirs are the aforementioned Working Man, Spirit of Radio, Red Barchetta, Vital Signs, Subdivisions, and New World Man.  And the 1981 album Moving Pictures is one of the very best rock albums ever made, in my opinion. 

And they're still together, no doubt planning to come up with another album!

NBA Playoffs Down to Four

I have been following the NBA playoffs, and I have to say that so far I'm pretty pleased with the results.  However, I am a bit dismayed that key star players have missed out, no doubt skewing the results.  After all, I was all enthusiastic about rooting for the Lakers this year, what with Steve Nash joining the team and all.  But Nash was injured for much of the year and Kobe Bryant likewise got hurt, just at the very end.  Still, I like the four remaining teams, most of all the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. If these two, generally regarded as slight favorites to win their current conference series against Indiana and Memphis respectively, prevail and meet each other for the championship round, then I'll have a problem deciding who to pull for.  But that would be a pleasant problem to have...

Health Snags Recently

I am right now in the middle of some health woes.  One is the right foot problem, probably plantar fasciitis, that I had mentioned earlier.  My plan now is to just avoiding stressing that foot and resume training after it has completely healed.  Otherwise, I'm afraid I'm going to be repeatedly reinjuring the tear(s) in that heel.  Also, a couple of days ago I came down with a rather severe viral cold, which even necessitated me missing work (something I very rarely do).  So now I'm feeling pretty doggone crappy and look forward to brighter days ahead of me...

NBA Playoffs Getting Further Along

Now that the NBA professional basketball playoffs are getting closer to the end this year, that means that the almost daily opportunity to view games on TV is also getting closer to the end.  Right now, the only series we have left to follow is the Indiana-New York one, with game #6 on tonight.  If the Pacers pull that one out, then it's the divisional finals starting Sunday with San Antonio matched up against Memphis in the West.  So if the TV/NBA schedulers are smart, they'll alternate East finals/West finals games so that there will usually be an evening game to watch.  But maybe I'm expecting too much common sense from them.

Once we get to the final championship series, I'll probably begin to switch to baseball as the primary sport to focus on.  Then again, I might just go back to watching more Netflix: I have a lot of Star Trek episodes and movies to catch up on!

True Conservatism a Good Thing

I feel that there is a compelling case for a conservative political outlook.  Unfortunately, whenever I tune in on the radio or television to conservative-leaning shows, I am almost instantly revolted by the disgusting vituperative, hateful tone of the host and guests.  I remember watching William F. Buckley time after time years ago as he adroitly promoted his conservative belief system on his popular PBS show Firing Line.  He didn't demonize his ideological opponents; on the contrary, many of them were his friends, some being repeat guests on his show.  Nowadays, though, conservative-based shows remind me more of a circle of kids at a bus stop, with the chief bully insulting an unpopular boy or girl and the other toadies piling on, truth rarely ever being expressed, much less respectful and constructive criticism.  Rusty Humphrey, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Ted Nugent, John Gibson, Neil Boortz (who supposedly retired but keeps resurfacing)...these people and others repel me by their hateful, derisive tone. And that's not including my own hometown's locally-produced variety, one of whom has just recently (and regrettably) been elected mayor of my city.  God help us.  To be sure, the political left has its bomb-throwers as well...Bill Maher and Keith Olbermann come to mind.  But the overwhelming trend with this ugliness is to the right...

The government should be careful about spending the money it forces from taxpayers.  I agree with that essentially conservative notion, but the above-mentioned hacks selectively apply this principle only to Democrats while allowing Republican politicians to run up the tab with impunity whenever they are in power.  I also believe in the conservative idea of a strong national defense, wisely and cautiously employed in necessary situations. Ironically, though, it was the previous "conservative" administration that bogged us down in a pointless conflict in Iraq that overstretched our national defenses, wrecked our national budget, and brought death and horrible injury to thousands of our finest and bravest young people with very little in the way of a positive return for their sacrifices. And I believe that our court system should respect precedent in making their decisions instead of legislating from the bench, a charge that conservatives in the media and politics often level at "liberal" judges.  Yet the current recent crop of Supreme Court justices appointed by the last three GOP presidents are more committed to changing the law in order to promote their right-wing ideological views than they are about making sure the law is properly followed as it was written and according to the Constitution. 

So sure, conservatism sounds good to me, at least in theory.  The terrible irony is that I am seeing more of it being practiced by the Democrats than by the Republicans, who so loudly claim it for themselves...

Miles-Equivalent Cross Training

I have been quite an avid runner during the past six years.  It's an old activity from my youth, interrupted for the most part by three decades (although in 1998 I did revive running for about a three-month period).  In 2007 I began to run short distances at a fast clip on my local YMCA's treadmill but began to tire of it, wanting to get to longer distances (and eventually a race or two...or more).  So I began to venture out on the road, increasing my distance and endurance to the point where I have run the marathon and now pretty much specialize in half-marathon races.  But unfortunately, lately my right foot has been bothering me and I've felt the need to lay off the running for a brief season.  This doesn't keep me from engaging in other activities, though, in an attempt to maintain my general level of fitness while recovering.  My problem is that it's hard to put numerical values on them that are comparable to the running mileage standard I've grown so accustomed to.  But I've come up with my own personal solution that should work for me (and not necessarily for you or anyone else).

My concept (which others have in all likelihood developed independently) is something I call "miles-equivalent cross-training", or MECT.  I  take different activities and assign them MECT "miles" based on the criteria I assign to them.  Here are a few:

--Bicycle riding-while keeping myself honest and riding at a brisk pace, I take my total riding time and multiple by a factor of .06 to get the MECT mileage.  For example, earlier this afternoon I biked for 63 minutes.  My MECT miles are thus 63 x .06 = 3.76 miles.  That seems about right for me.

--On the elliptical cross-trainer machine at my local gym, I also multiply total time times .06, while making sure I am putting out an honest effort.  The other day I worked out on it for 15 minutes.  That translates into 15 x .06 = .9 miles.

--I haven't used my gym's indoor swimming pool, but I already have a formula in place.  Each 25 m lap I cross I assign .1 MECT miles.  And it doesn't matter how I do it, whether by swimming any style, paddling, or even just walking across.

--I own a nifty little portable step exercise machine that puts out a strenuous workout.  I simply multiply minutes time .1.  Yesterday I was on it for 30 minutes, meaning I get credit for 3 miles.  And it felt like it, too!

--I have a push lawn mower, not one of those self-propelled types.  When I mow the front yard, I give myself 1 MECT mile.  The back yard is a lot larger, so I get 2 miles for doing that.

By assigning equivalence miles for alternate activities to running, I hope to help myself cope better with my temporary withdrawal from it.  But even upon recovery, I know I need to intersperse some of these other activities in between my running days so that future injuries are less likely to happen...

Elliptical Cross-Trainer My Alternative Choice for Training

On Monday evening, I went down to the local gym of which I'm a member.  For the first time in quite a long time, though, I didn't go there to run on the treadmill: I'm taking a break from that activity to give my right foot a chance to heal up.  Instead, I tried out one of their elliptical cross-trainer machines, which I worked out on for ten minutes at "level five".  For the first six or seven minutes on it, I used the wide handlebars that allowed me to work out my upper body.  Mistake.  I haven't done that in well over a year, and I now have some soreness up there because of that.  But at least I had enough presence of mind to realize at the end of my short workout that I could just hold on to the machine's stationary central handle that focused the workout on my legs.  From now on I'll be doing that: I get enough of an upper-body workout at my paid job, anyway.

My foot already feels better after just a couple of days of not running on it, and I'll be going back to the gym tonight to use their elliptical machine (without the upper-body workout).  As far as the idea of using their swimming pool is concerned, the time of day that I go there, with my new work schedule, puts me when the pool tends to be crowded.  Using the cross-trainer is instead much closer to the old treadmill routine.  I can even watch the NBA playoffs or Univision on the TV while I train!

My Daily Running Streak Ends at 370

After yesterday's pleasant 4.51 mile run around my neighborhood (relatively low temperature and humidity for this time of year), I decided to deliberately end my personal record streak of consecutive running days at 370.  I had been thinking of doing this earlier, but wanted to get past that one-year mark first.  Today I'll be taking my first break in a long time from running.  I have been feeling a recurring ache in my right foot anyway, and I think that just giving it a rest for a few days will be helpful.  Also, I  ordered some new running shoes online (I prefer the Reebok brand) and should get them in about a week.  When I go back "on the road", I'll have some better supporting footwear.  In the meantime, I'm thinking of going back to the swimming pool to do laps, for the first time as a matter of fact since August of 2011.  The gym I'm a member of has a nice indoor pool but I never got around to using it.  Now's a good opportunity!

When I go back to running, I plan to run for longer distances at a time and take more breaks throughout the week.  And running twice a day, which I had been doing a lot of during the past few months, is not a good idea.  So in essence I'll be returning to the training pattern I used back in 2010 when I built up my endurance for the marathon.  But I think I'll just stick to half-marathons, just the same...

Writing Sparse, Hope to Write More

I still haven't given up on this blog, although the entries have recently been few and far between.  I'm thinking of doing different things on it, transforming it into a different kind of blog.  But right now, I am distracted by other things in my life, and writing has been put on the back burner.  I have to review this blog's archives to see the topics I used to write freely about, and then see if I can continue along the same lines.  Unfortunately, about politics I am completely spent and discouraged; perhaps I can write an article or two explaining why I am coming to believe that our political leaders have betrayed us, the people, with their polarizing partisanship and their kowtowing to media ideologues/hacks.  Well, there are plenty of other areas about which I can write, but I need to get myself back into the right frame of mind for this.  Keep checking in on me!

My April 2013 Running Report

With the close of April comes a personal milestone in my running, albeit one that I probably won't be repeating.  I have now gone an entire year...365 days...of daily running, with no gaps.  It's an accomplishment, to be sure, but then again I'm not sure that continuing this is in my best interests.  After all, the body sometimes needs a chance to recover from the stress of workouts.  So starting in May, I plan to go back to having rest days from my running.  To compensate for that, I may be trying out running for longer distances at a time.  This past month has seen my runs cap at a relatively low distance for me, the longest run being for a mere 5.5 miles.  My total mileage for April was 120.69 miles, continuing a deliberate decline as the Florida weather heats up in the spring.  On many days I ran twice, one usually around my neighborhood and the other later on at the gym on the treadmill.

I'm thinking of taking off a week or two from running, as I have developed some aches in my right foot.  Maybe I'll replace running during that period with another activity like swimming or biking.  Or maybe I'll just give the whole body a little break time!

Too Many NBA Injuries

It is getting to be pretty discouraging, following the National Basketball Association playoffs this year. Before the the playoffs even began, some of the contending teams had lost key players due to injury.  The Chicago Bulls were missing star guard Derrick Rose for the whole season, and although the doctors have cleared him to play now, he refuses, believing that he his knee isn't completely healed yet.  Another Bulls standout, Joakim Noah, was also out but is gamely playing so far in the playoffs through his foot injury.  The Boston Celtics have had their own trouble with guard Rajon Rondo out with an injury.  Likewise is the case with the Los Angeles Lakers and their legendary Kobe Bryant, who tore his Achilles tendon near the close of the regular season.  Besides Bryant, Laker Steve Nash, although back in the active lineup, is obviously not at full strength after he had been out with an injury.  But wait...he's out again! The Golden State Warriors also find themselves in the playoffs without their star performer, David Lee.  Jeremy Lin of the Houston Rockets is out, although he's pushing to be able to play the next game. And now we come to Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that could have very well won the championship this year.  But not now, as he, too, is out with a season-ending injury, this one to his knee.  Although I had generally rooted against the Thunder, I was fascinated by their one-two offensive punch of Westbrook and Kevin Durant.  And now it's gone. Could they still win it all?  I suppose, but only if other teams lose their key players as well.

Last year, late one game early in the playoffs, Miami Heat's Lebron James, the backbone of the franchise, suddenly erupted in serious pain while grabbing one of his legs.  He hobbled out the court in the closing minutes, just long enough to pull his team to victory in a tight contest.  Afterward, to my relief, it turned out only to be a leg cramp.  But still, what if the something more serious happens to him, something like what happened to Bryant, Rondo, or Westbrook?

When I watch the NBA playoffs, I naturally want my team to win.  But I also want to see all the great stars playing at full strength.  It is very dismaying to me to see the prevalence of terrible injuries sideling these players.  To me, this seems to be an almost epidemic phenomenon.  Sure, players got injured in the past, but not like this. I wonder what's going on here...

Medical Examination Good Results, Running Continues

I just went through some serious medical examinations today, along with a consultation with my physician/specialist/surgeon, concerning a condition I had been diagnosed with since October of 2011, but actually with which I had been afflicted with since birth.  The results of these examinations are that I am continuing in my relatively good health, with no change in instructions for me until the next one, to be scheduled a year from now.  This is very good news!  So the running continues, although lately I have been experiencing some aches in my right foot that I have to continue to monitor.  The funny thing is that I don't experience any problems while running...only when sitting or walking. 

I'm still on a projection to attain 100 miles this month and am only a week away from having run every single day for a whole year.  This is now within sight of attainment.  I just might take a break afterward, though, just to give that foot a better chance of recovery (although I don't exactly believe that running was the cause of the problem)...

Still Here

Just a note to let you know that I'm still here on this blog...

Heat Shine, Lakers in Doubt for Playoffs

At the beginning of this year's edition of the National Basketball Association season, I was fully prepared to sit back and relax, enjoying while two teams I had formerly disliked, the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers, made easy runs through the regular season and then breezed through the playoffs, with the expected culmination being an unforgettable championship series against each other.  Uh, well, something else instead happened.

The Miami Heat, a "super" team composed of great players like Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen, and Chris Bosh, did indeed fly through their regular season and will finish with the league's best record.  They also enjoyed a phenomenal 27-game winning streak at one point.  Being the NBA's defending champion, other franchises sought out ways to compose their own unstoppable "super teams", chief among them the Lakers.  During the off-season they signed my favorite player, Steve Nash, from the Phoenix Suns as well as Dwight Howard, who left the Orlando Magic.  With standouts like Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, winning the Western Conference seemed like a sure bet.  But a combination of injuries that kept circulating through the team and poor coordination between the superstars (especially with Howard) caused them to falter badly in the first half of the season.  To their credit, they rebounded and are actually at this writing in a position to inch into the playoffs as a conference eighth (and last) seed.  But Nash is still out with another injury, another starter Metta World Peace is out for the season injured, and, dammit, now it looks as if Bryant is out.  Unbelievable.  Well, if after all this they still make the playoffs, that will be a minor miracle in itself.  But I don't expect them to go very far.

If the Los Angeles Lakers don't make it, there are still plenty of teams for me to root for.  The "sleeper" team that could win the conference title (but would still most likely to lose to Miami) is the very, very fast Denver Nuggets.  We'll just have to see, should be exciting to watch these playoffs...

Visit to Cedar Key

Yesterday Melissa and I drove out to Cedar Key (about 60 miles from our home), had dinner, and then walked around the place a bit around twilight.  The place we ate at was Tony's, which boasts of being a "world champion" something-or-other, but which I'm satisfied describing as a pleasant seafood restaurant.  The dining room was cramped and small, but the food was fresh, well-prepared, and delicious.  I recommend it to others.  Afterwards, we strolled around the fishing area overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, and then made our way, as the night fell, down the strip of restaurants composing this small town's "night life".  We stopped at a place (downstairs from a well-lit restaurant called "Steamers") for some ice cream, and I peered at the TV inside another (ignoring the live singer/guitarist there) at the close of the NCAA Final Four game between Louisville and Wichita State. Melissa, on the other hand, enjoyed the musical performance.

Other than have a seafood dinner there, we didn't have any special agenda for our visit other than just enjoying the ambiance and each other's company.  A very, very, pleasant experience.  Here are some sometimes blurred photos I took there...

NCAA Final Four Men's Hoops Start Tomorrow

Tomorrow the NCAA men's basketball tournament will feature the first Final Four round.  Heavily favored Louisville faces off against upstart Wichita State while, in a more evenly paired up contest, Michigan squares off against Syracuse.  I am rooting for Louisville to win it all, so although that game may not be all that close, it should be fun to watch the Cardinals, with their standout guards Russ Smith and Peyton Siva demonstrating why they will be the clear favorite to win the championship game on Monday.  As for their opponent (I know, Louisville has to first get by Wichita State, but...c'mon!), although I have no clear preference between Michigan and Syracuse, that game should prove to be close and exciting.  In any event, I like the Final Four field, even though the Florida Gators just missed out on it, and for the third year in a row...

Public Service Announcement About Stroke

There is a very compelling, stirring public service announcement on the radio about the dangers of stroke, and how it disproportionately affects the African-American population.  As a matter of fact, as the announcement reports, it affects this demographic group at twice the rate of the general population.  So there is a very legitimate concern here that needs addressing.  And the way the announcement was produced, with a speech-impaired stroke victim describing his plight, made a big impact on me.  Yes, this was one of the best-done PSAs I've heard.  But I have a qualm with one claim made on it.

The announcer, immediately following the stroke victim's words, stated that the odds were that he was black, since this affliction affects that group at twice the rate, as I have stated.  But wait, blacks are only 13% of the general population, so at even only half the stroke rate of the African-Americans, the "others" with strokes would still easily outnumber them.  So the odds WOULDN'T be that the stroke victim was black.  But the point that WAS validly being pressed was that, if you belong to this high-risk group, then you need to be especially careful about both getting medical screens to detect any stroke warning signs as well as engage in a more healthful lifestyle.  But then again, this applies to EVERYONE, not just one group with a higher prevalence of stroke...

Struggle with New Work Hours

I am about halfway through my fourth week at my new work shift, which has me essentially working (11pm-7:30 am) when I used to be in bed sleeping.  Now I get off from work, go home, and sleep for the late morning and early afternoon.  It doesn't feel right, with this change, but I didn't think it would...at least for a while.  All I can do right now is focus on seizing each moment as it comes and making deliberate choices that foster good habits of time management.  Two things I am doing:  (1) blocking out specific times for specific activities, and (2) making a daily "shopping list" of things to do, crossing out items as I accomplish them.  Still, I tend to find days going by without me achieving what I had planned.  It is a struggle right now, but the main thing is for me to press forward, have a positive attitude, and keep my focus.

Bohannon Refutes Ideological Guest

I was at work on my graveyard shift last night, which gave me some opportunities on late-night talk radio listening that I formerly wouldn't have availed myself of.  One show, Jim Bohannon, was on and he had as a guest a Republican anti-union businessman.  I mean, this dude was REALLY anti-union, above all else.  Bohannon, for his part, went along with his guest's rants, not necessarily agreeing with them...but I sensed that they both had a similar political philosophy during the interview.  Until something happened that brought me new-found respect for Mr. Bohannon.

The GOP losers in last year's elections have put out just about any reason they could as to why they lost...especially Mitt Romney to Barack Obama in the presidential contest.  Any reason, that is, except the obvious one: the American people rejected the Republicans' ideas in favor of the Democrats.  This show's guest was naturally also in denial.  He claimed that Obama won not just because they had a better "ground game" on election day.  The oh-so-evil labor unions were apparently intimidating voters to vote Democrat.  When Bohannon pressed him on this, he gave an example of a woman who was given a ride to the polling station by local union workers and given a sheet of paper describing how they thought she ought to vote.  After the election, this woman publicly came out and claimed to feel intimidated by the union's actions. So what, Bohannon posited: she could still vote any way she wanted after getting into the voting booth.  As a matter of fact, he continued, anyone who really felt pressured in a negative way like that would be more likely to vote AGAINST the prescribed ballot handed to them...and how would anyone really know for sure how they voted anyway.  The biased, union-hating guest said no, that didn't apply here...but couldn't refute Bohannon's argument.  In closing, Jim Bohannon laid out the closing kick to his argument.  How could this woman, who supposedly "felt" intimidated by imagined reprisals from the union if she voted wrong, then boldly go public in the media about it?  No answer from the guest.

From this point in the interview, it became apparent that this guest and Jim Bohannon had diverged.  Not in the sense of their similar general outlook, but rather in the sense that the latter was fair and reasonable about analyzing things while the former was completely ideology-driven.

Sadly, too many folks in the media don't practice the common-sense, decent type of fair, reasoned analysis of the news that typify Jim Bohannon's approach.  He truly does stand out alone in this respect, at least on the radio.  Find me someone else like this in this medium, I challenge you. I often disagree with Bohannon, and sometimes he is rude to callers.  But he does operate with a clear mind and doesn't seem a slave to an ideology.  How refreshing...

Florida Gators Lose in Elite Eight Round

The University of Florida men's basketball team, anxious to make the NCAA Tournament's Final Four after being eliminated in the "Elite Eight" round in each of the last two seasons, once again fell...this time to a surging Michigan team.  The Wolverines had mounted an improbable last minute comeback against top-seeded Kansas in the previous round and defeated them in overtime.  They obvious carried on their momentum to the game with the Gators.  Unfortunately, Florida didn't, missing shot after (easy) shot, repeatedly turning the ball over, failing to cover on defense, and falling behind quickly 13-0.  It was a blowout, with Michigan trouncing them by 20 points.  But still, I think the UF fans generally came away from this negative experience with a sense of finality: they really didn't deserve to be in the Final Four after all.  The previous two seasons had the Gators losing heartbreakers, leaving lingering "what if" scenarios in their distraught fans' imaginations.

The NCAA tournament began with 68 teams and is now down to four.  That means that 64 games have already been played, with 64 corresponding losers...disappointing ends to what in retrospect should be considered successful seasons by each of these teams.  Besides these were many, many more who felt that THEY deserved to be in the tournament but were slighted by the selection committee.  And three of the four top seeds in the tournament didn't make it to the Final Four either.

Sure, Florida and its fans, coaches, and players will feel a little down for a while.  But looking back, they should feel good about about extraordinarily well they did this year.  I wish those graduating Gators the best with their futures and for those staying on...there's always next year!

My March, 2013 Running Report

March, 2013 saw me continuing my running at a higher daily mileage average than in 2012, but also stepping it down a notch.  It didn't start out that way, though, when on the 3rd I completed the Orange Blossom Half-Marathon (in Tavares and Mount Dora, Florida) in 1:50:53.  That 13.1 mile run also represented my longest single run of the month.  All in all, though, I ran less, amassing a total for March of 157.09 miles.  Still, I managed to run at least a little on every day, extending my consecutive day running streak to 335 days. 

Part of my running cutback was due to my new work schedule, which has me working the graveyard shift and puts pressure on my other activities regarding how I can fit them into the day.  But even with that taken into account, I don't see myself training for any half-marathon race anytime soon...at the very earliest it would be early fall.  So I'm planning to go back to shorter runs, still planning to run daily (if possible) and keep my monthly running mileage at above 100.  Starting tomorrow!

Just Finished Reading David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas

Last year I was treated to some of the most intriguing previews to a movie that I have ever seen.  Cloud Atlas was depicted as a flurry of spectacular scenes and special effects, with a star-studded cast to boot.  It was a must-see, as far as I was concerned.  And then I read a couple of reviews and changed my mind.  It seemed that the movie was based on the same-titled novel by David Mitchell, and if you didn't read the book first...you'd probably find yourself completely lost watching the film.  Oh well, I thought, I guess I'd better first read the book!  And I did, just completing it.  I must say that I was impressed, now looking forward to seeing the movie version (the trailers now make sense to me).

Cloud Atlas is actually a series of six nested novellas, with all but the middle one interrupted and completed in reverse order.  They are set in chronological order and span the early nineteenth century to a time hundreds of years in the future.  Each tale is complete unto itself, but at the same time has connections with the others.  There is a very strong theme of reincarnation here, so you may or may not need to set aside some of your own beliefs in order to flow with the reading.  But the most interesting aspect of Cloud Atlas is the author's deft use of language in each story, usually told in the first person and in line with the literary usage and style of the time in question.  For example, in the first story The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing, Mitchell writes out the story in that era's predominantly literary language, something that made me frequently scurry to my dictionary.  As the stories advance in time, up to the present area, the narrative language becomes more colloquial and familiar until Cloud Atlas turns toward the future, at which point it's language once again becomes more obtuse.  The "final" tale, which actually takes up the middle section of the book, is written in a futuristic, greatly altered English ingeniously projected by Mitchell upon that speculative time.  A master work in language, I must say.   So, about the movie, then...

If part of the great appeal to me in Cloud Atlas was the narrative language, then how can the cinematic rendition keep that magic?  This is where the screenwriters, directors, actors,and  special effects people need to step in and try to match David Mitchell's vision with their own arts and skills.  I look forward to seeing how well they did!

Please read David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.  It beats anything else I've read recently. 

Personal Blogs in Decline, Facebook (Scarily) Dominant

My wife is an avid Facebook user while I, on the other hand, not only didn't use it...I stopped my account.  She has a whopping number of "friends" on it and the instant communication is, at times, a little frightening.  For example, one day a couple of months ago, after my Ocala Half-Marathon performance, I was sitting in our dining room at my laptop while she was using our desktop a few feet away in the living room.  I decided to check out the on-line Ocala results and found, to my pleasant surprise, that I had finished quite well relative to the other race participants (78th out of 262 total runners, 7th out of 18 in my gender/age group) .  I casually told my wife these exact figures, to which she responding by asking me if I wouldn't mind her bragging on me with them on her Facebook site.  Sure, I said.  I had hardly said so, it seemed, before she began to report several congratulatory comments from her Facebook friends, and even more "likes". These people are really hooked in to this network...and why isn't that so surprising, with the smart phones they carry around with them, alerting them instantly to any change in status in their various e-mail and networking accounts?  In the meantime, hardly anyone reads this blog, and even those whose blogs I used to follow have abandoned theirs.  The amateur, personal blogs have been declining while the "pros" are still out there, doing quite well for themselves.

When I first set out on this blog nearly six years ago, I felt that I was doing something pretty bold, setting out my thoughts in public like this, available for anyone with Internet access to read.  But in that span relatively few people have taken the effort to read any of it, in spite of the fact that my articles, which cover many varied topics, could be reached via search engines.  Now, with my blog's name and URL change, they haven't been available through these engines.  So I am in a relatively isolated position here...especially in contrast to the Facebook users.

I see no reason to end this blog...and I don't want to get into Facebook.  Perhaps at a future date the good people at Google will adjust their search engines and once again allow users to archive older articles of mine that match their search topics.  But for me, this is all ultimately a moot point, for I am doing this primarily neither for networking nor providing information for others.  I am doing this as a personal discipline of writing.  And making my writings publicly available gives me a sense of accountability and causes me to be more careful in expressing myself in a manner that respects and interests any potential reader...

NCAA Tourney So Far

The buzz going around the college basketball world right now is the upstart Florida Gulf Coast College team, in only its second year as an NCAA Division I school, not only making it to the championship tournament but also winning its first two games and getting all the way to the "Sweet Sixteen".  I'm impressed as well, but now its time for them to graciously bow out as they face my Florida Gators in the next round this Friday night.  Not that I believe that will happen, though.  It will probably be a very hard-fought contest; nevertheless I see the Gators prevailing, if for no other reason than that their coach Billy Donovan will have laid out some very effective strategies for his players to stop the Eagles.  It will be an interesting game for me to watch: with my new schedule in place, it'll be smack dab in the middle of my "weekend"!

Elsewhere in the NCAA men's hoops tourney, things have been generally going well for my teams, with Florida, Louisville, and Miami advancing to this round.  North Carolina, though, fought gamely but lost out to Kansas, a very possible Gator opponent in the following round should they get by Florida Gulf Coast...

Blog Name, URL Changed

It is indeed sad to have to report this, but I had to change my blog's URL and title because a soft porn website, for whatever perverse reasons of theirs, decided to adopt the almost identical designations I had, which were legitimately based on my name. Jerks.  Still, it doesn't bother me too much as not very many people read this blog, anyway.  As a matter of fact, the change to what is essentially a deliberate chain of nonsensical, random syllables for my blog's title and URL is an opportunity for me to see just who around me is really taking the time to read my blog. 

But no way am I going to let anyone confuse my own personal blog with a soft porn site...

10th Anniversary of Special Theme Park Visit

Today is the tenth anniversary of a fun, diversionary trip to a theme park with my two children.  My wife was busy at the time, so I took the kids to Wild Adventures theme park on the outskirts of Valdosta, Georgia.  Will and Rebecca were both pretty much fearless with the thrill rides there, but I wasn't.  But I resolved to tackle all of them, no matter how daunting. 

So I rode scary coasters like Boomerang, Cheetah, Hangman, and Bugout.  I went on the straight-up-and-down exercise in terror known as Double Shot (Universal's Islands of Adventure has a larger, but smoother version in their Doctor Doom's Fear Fall ride).  And I partook of what scared me the most, looking up from ground level: Power Surge, a "circle" ride quite like no other, being tossed about and inverted in my seat far above the ground.  Oh, and let's not forget the gut-wrenching gravity torture machine, Pharoah's Fury, a boat-shaped ride that swung back and forth in ever-increasing swoops.  All of this I conquered on that day, a day in which I repeatedly faced my primordial fears and pressed on.  To others, this may sound a bit laughable...but it was a big deal to me.

After that trip, for about two or three years, I made a point of visiting theme parks to ride roller coasters and other thrill rides.  I had a great time with my children...but they were growing up and weren't as interested in the thrill ride experience as before.  And Melissa NEVER was.  So here I am, now, having gone for a few years since going on a thrill ride at a park.  The last time was in south Florida, in the city of Dania on a fantastic wooden rollercoaster appropriately called the Dania Beach Hurricane.  But I've heard this this great ride has been dismantled...so sad.

I don't know about the future for me and theme park thrill rides, and I only got out to a few parks in the Southeast.  Plus, I have to keep in mind that one negative drag on my enjoyment was the often inexcusably long time I had to spend waiting in line just for one ride.  Also, I tired of the long driving to and from the parks.  O.K., so I'm getting old and impatient.  Wait, I've always been impatient!

Late Night Shift and Weirdo Radio

I have been working at my graveyard shift for about a week and a half, and frankly, I seem to be adapting reasonably well to it.  The key to my success so far has been my ability to get home after work and quickly into bed and asleep...for a good, solid block of time.  I have been consistently waking up in mid-afternoon and forcing myself into directed, purposeful activity. The only real problem I have been experiencing so far is that, toward the end of my shift, I can feel a little strung out.  I do tend to take a short catnap, though, during my lunch break around 5 AM.   

With me being awake all night long, I am once again reacquainting myself with a certain peculiar late night talk show: Coast-to-Coast AM, which I call "Weirdo Radio".  I used to listen to it back in the 1990's when Art Bell hosted it.  Now, George Noory interviews the variety of guests and, while not as personable as Bell, still competently pulls it off.  Still, I'm more than a little taken aback at all of the conspiracy crap being pushed on it. I prefer shows on the paranormal, frankly.  I don't necessarily buy what's being said, but I somehow get good vibes listening to it!

NCAA March Madness Back

We've once again come to the time in the year when basketball couch potatoes like me follow the "madness" that is the NCAA basketball tournament.  Not to try to sound sexist, but I have focused my attention on the men's tourney and have discovered some teams that I plan to follow.  First of all is my hometown college team, the Florida Gators.  Then, a traditional favorite: the North Carolina Tarheels.  The University of Miami Hurricanes is another one.  But if I just went by the players and how much I enjoyed watching a team play, my hands-down favorite would be the Louisville Cardinals, with their incredible point guard Peyton Siva, one of those rare players who not only are committed to working with the coach and his vision for the team, but who also are talented and outstanding both on offense and defense.  With him, Louisville could well go the distance and win it all.  Fortunately for them, UF, NC, and Miami are placed in other regions and won't have to face them unless they make the Final Four (and the Gators and Hurricanes both stand a reasonable chance of doing so).  One of my dream scenarios is a Lousiville/Florida game!

The so-called "first round" began today with two games pitting the very worst, lowest seeded teams against each other.  One of them, Liberty, actually sported a losing record at 15-20!  I do wish they wouldn't call this the first round when it is just a preliminary round to whittle the bloated 68-team field down to a manageable 64.

The true first round (naturally misnamed the "second" round) begins this Thursday.  I can't wait...

Restaurant Odors and the Sense of Smell

Over the past few months, I have had three disquieting experiences in local restaurants.  Each of the three is part of a different national chain...either franchised out or directly run by the corporation, I don't know.  The food is good and so is the service.  And they all seem to be popular, with customers coming in filling up the "joints" and reacting with favor to their dining experience.  But in each of these places, the minute I walk in I detect a nasty underlying odor.  It is an odor of decay and dirtiness, and is in all likelihood due to one factor: old, smelly carpeting.

In a way, though, I can understand why a lot of customers don't pick up on this unpleasant stench.  At one of the places, my wife had to point this out to me before I noticed.  But once she had, I wondered to myself how I could have missed it before, it was so bad.  It's as if, as humans, we've suppressed our sense of smell so much that someone else has to tell us when something doesn't smell right!  In any event, once I was alerted, I began to pick up the same disgusting odor elsewhere.

Could it be that people in general are losing their sense of smell, or like me, have they trained themselves not to recognize unpleasant odors when they arise?  Maybe it's a bit of both, I suppose.  But I don't want to frequent any of these places until they fix their problem!

My Substitute 10K Run

Yesterday I had an opportunity to run a 10 kilometer race in nearby Tioga, Florida.  I had thought of doing this more or less at the last minute, but I had some reservations about spending the money to enter it.  With a tee shirt and medal (and "free" admission to the post-race party I didn't want to attend), it would have cost me $35.  Without all of the above, they would have let me run in it and get my results posted on the Web for $20.  After giving the matter a little thought, I decided to step out of my own front door and run my own 10K course without spending a penny.  I deliberately timed the start of my private run to coincide with that event's starting time, 4:30 pm. Like much of the "official" race, my run went up and down residential streets.  I finished my run in 50:51, a personal best even though I stopped several times to drink Gatorade and walk a bit.  After it was over, I compared my times to comparable 10K races and found that in almost all of them, I would have finished at least third in my age group.  So I came away from the experience with a sense of satisfaction.

I like the social aspect of people getting together with a common interest and expressing that interest.  With running, of course, this manifests in the form of public road races.  Naturally, it costs money to organize and hold them, and participants should pay their share.  In the last few months, I ran a 10K race and two half-marathons.  But I don't need public affirmation as to how good a runner I am.  And even though I stood on the victory podium at the last half-marathon and received a prize for finishing second in my age group, during the actual race I had no idea which groups any of the runners around me were in.  So the competition factor in these public races tends to get a little abstract, anyway.

There is also a "tourism" factor that makes running in certain races more attractive than others.  For example, Tavares, with much of the run skirting pretty Lake Dora, was an interesting experience while Tioga, a place with which I am pretty familiar, promised little in this area.

In April there is a fun 5K walk/run, in Jacksonville, that Melissa and I are going to be in.  Other than that, though, I don't see me entering any more public running races for a while.  Maybe in the fall, we'll see... 

New Pope Hullabaloo

The hardly democratic "election" of Jorge Mario Bergoglio to be the next pope is rubbing me the wrong way.  For one, I was watching CNN's coverage of the news and was dismayed to find them completely abandoning any appearance whatsoever of objectivity, with excessive praise, even to the point of fawning, being the order of business.  That there might be some serious, controversial issues concerning this man and his past actions in Argentina has been completely glossed over.  And of course, completely forget about Fox"News" being objective, either.  But even on MSNBC, only Rachel Maddow, from what I can gather, has made any attempt to bring up some problematic points about the new Roman Catholic pope.  Chris Matthews, for example, was almost downright giddy about this selection.

It is an established feature of Judeo/Christian/Islamic dogma (in general) that homosexuality is "bad" and those such named deserve either second-class citizenship (in the more "civilized" parts where these religions predominate), banishment, or (in the more savage zones) even death.  And those promoting these views will always tell you that it isn't them...it's God (or Yahweh or Allah) saying this stuff within their scriptures.  Which were written down, of course, by PEOPLE with their own prejudices and agendas to promote.  Sorry, but I'm not buying into that bigotry.  Still, the incoming pope only recently engaged in a large-scale media blitz to prevent Argentina's president from being able to pass through their legislature a law allowing same-sex marriage in that country.  In other words, he robustly involved the Roman Catholic Church in the politics on an issue that said church wanted to impose on EVERYONE.  He has also clearly stated that, anywhere in the world where Catholic politicians hold office, if any of these politicians don't vote according to the positions on issues that the Church deems important, then priests are entitled to withhold giving Communion to them as a punishment.  Talk about interference in the affairs of other countries!

So I am quite a bit cynical about all the phony hullabaloo being generated about this "humble" pope, who took on the name of a venerated Catholic saint with the obvious intention, as I see it, of deceiving popular opinion as to his true intentions...which border on megalomania.  At least until someone shows me otherwise, that's going to be how I see this edition of the papacy...

Writing at Archer Road Starbucks

As part of the new routine I'm trying to develop, I am stopping by the Gainesville Starbucks on Archer Road near SW 34th Street after doing my treadmill run at the gym I'm a member of...all just before going in to work my graveyard shift. This Starbucks, though, is always so crowded with customers glued to their seats for hours, staring at their laptops (or other customers), that I find myself forced to sit outside. Fortunately, this little shopping center, of which Starbucks is just one store, has a huge outdoor food-court-style seating area. So that's cool, I suppose...as long as it isn't raining, that is, for the court is only partially covered over.

Still, sitting outside brings me to the old days back in 2007 when I would sit outside a different Starbucks (which no longer exists) just before going in to work and compose my blog articles. Back then, though, it was the middle of the day and I didn't seem to have too many other projects on my plate to occupy my attention.

Nevertheless, I would like to be able to choose to sit inside every now and then. I don't think, though, that whether I'm inside or outside really has much bearing on what I write. Instead, it's the feeling that, in a relatively short time, I'm going to have to get up and report to my job. So this isn't exactly conducive to speculation and imagination, two ingredients that I like to make use of in my writing. Tonight is only the second time I've tried this on my new schedule, though, so I should give myself a fighting chance to make a success out of it...

Trying to Establish Late Evening Blog Writing

This blog entry may seem a little shallow,  but my main purpose in writing it is to establish a disciplined routine of writing during the hour before I report to work at 11 pm (this is my second night on the graveyard shift).  I already did a 2.6 mile treadmill run at my local gym and plan to make pre-work/pre-writing runs a routine as well.  So far, so good...

It may well work out that I could get to sleep about an hour or so after I get off from work in the morning, so by late afternoon I could be fully functioning.  Today I was able to accomplish this, but I also know that each day at the beginning is a struggle as I try to change my sleeping/waking patterns.  Tonight I hope to not be as drowsy as last night...and then the next night even more awake.  We'll see, and I'll also keep my eyes open to any new job assignments that come up offering better working hours (along with good days off). But I don't think there will be very many opportunities in the future that don't involve working during the wee hours of the morning when most normal, sane people are happily tucked away in bed sleeping and dreaming...

Day One of New Graveyard Shift Behind Me

Well, I have crossed the first difficult hurdle in my attempted transition to working a new shift, one that has me returning after ten years to a late-night/early morning routine.  By the time I clocked out at 7:30 am, I was struggling, to say the least.  I managed to make my way back home driving the eight city miles through thick rush hour/school zone traffic, got a little bite to eat, jumped into bed...and promptly passed out for several hours.  That last part was auspicious: before, in the "old" days, I would have trouble getting myself to sleep after working the graveyard shift. 

Tonight is Step # 2 in my quest to accustom my mind and body to the change in schedule.  In the meantime, I still do what I can with the other routines in my life, wanting to keep up with my good studying and running projects.  The writing is important, too...maybe this change will actually step up my output...

President Obama Finally Sociable With Opposition

I have been hearing lately how President Obama, whom I have supported with my votes in each of his successful campaigns, is now inviting Republican opposition lawmakers to the White House where he is treating them with hospitality and friendliness.  While making his pitch, I'm sure, to try to persuade some of them to support some of his agenda against the unswerving, even irrational hostility generated by their leaders Mitch McConnell (Senate Minority Leader) and John Boehner (House Speaker). I've also been garnering reactions about this change of strategy from both conservative and liberal opinion makers.  The liberals seems to support Obama's sociable outreach, but some of the right-wing talk radio bigmouths are being critical of those GOP legislators who accepted the President's hospitality.  I have a deeper reaction, and it goes down to the heart of what I am currently feeling about Barack Obama as a leader.

Being a somewhat politically simple-minded soul, I have been naively believing for all these years that Obama was ALREADY reaching out and interacting with those Republican senators and congressmen.  All along...but no, apparently... he's had a "close door" policy against his opponents in Washington.  So if what I think that is coming out in the news is correct, then this president has long detached himself from the crucial process involved in political deal-making and arm-twisting.  Just take what perhaps the most successful president to get his programs passed by Congress, Lyndon Johnson, did all day, day after day.  He would be on the phone and directly communicating with those in Congress whose votes he needed to secure.  This necessary activity is something that our current president has thought himself to be too "above" to engage himself in.  Too bad.  And I wonder in retrospect how much of the obduracy of the Republican opposition in the Senate and House is due in large part to this...well, I'll say it...elitist attitude from the White House. 

I still support Obama, but my support has never been at the disturbing level of some others I've seen who act as he if were the Second Coming.  Now I am more skeptical of him, because it has taken more than four years in office for him to treat politicians whose outlooks on the issues are different with not only respect, but also an attitude of personal interest in their lives that anyone who isn't a complete imbecile should have been able to figure out was a necessary part of this nation's political process.  And what's even more incredible to me is that I used to watch him on C-Span2, the channel showing the deliberation of the U.S. Senate, when he used to be a senator (of Illinois) from 2005 to 2007...as he would show the most cordial, personable rapport with opposition-party senators during voting sessions.  How could he have forgotten this necessity?

My Work Hours Drastically Shift to Late Night

Today will be my final day on my afternoon/evening shift at my workplace, as I will be doing "graveyard shift" at the start of next week.  Since the summer of 2003, I have been reporting to work around 2:30-3:30 and walking out around 11 pm to midnight.  Starting this Sunday, though, I'll go back to reporting at 11 pm, which was pretty much the hours of day I worked for 15 out of the first 16 years I've worked here.  I changed my schedule for a few reasons, none of which being because I liked the hours; I've always had some difficulty with my sleeping patterns when working on the late night/early morning shift.  For one, it's difficult to get myself into a regular sleep routine over the course of the day.  For another, when I'm off I almost always revert back to the old "sleep at night" pattern instead of just sticking to the daytime sleeping I'm forced to do the rest of the week.  So I'm a little apprehensive about the hours.  Still, I'll have weekends off, I like the assignment location and duties, I'll have a better, more secure assignment status than the one I now have, and I can still bid (by seniority) on any other job assignment postings that I may prefer to the one I just got. 

Making such a change as the one I just made may see like a bit of risk-taking, but the way I see it is sometimes it's more risky to just stay where you are and do nothing.  Instead I chose proactivity. We'll see how it all goes in the next few weeks...

My Tavares Orange Blossom Half-Marathon Experience

Today I ran the Orange Blossom Half-Marathon in Tavares, Florida.  Tavares is in Lake County, located a few miles northwest of Orlando.  My wife grew up in that area and I even lived there a few months, back in 1987.  So the two of us made it a weekend down there, with Melissa entering their parallel 5K race, power-walking the distance in grand style.  The weather played a major, unexpected role as the temperatures plummeted while the wind whipped up strongly, with 30 mph-plus gusts.  I had a minor crisis trying to decided how much clothing I should put on for the race.  At the last minute I changed to something heavier, which I regretted soon after the start when my body predictably began to heat up from running.  So after a couple of miles I shed the long-sleeve shirt and then the run went on without a hitch.  The course began in Tavares' beautiful little downtown area, in Wooten Park on the shores of Lake Dora, and then more or less went eastward, into the town of Mount Dora and hugging the northern side of the lake. There were some loops in the course and a couple of "there-and-back" scenarios that I usually dislike; in this case, though, it gave Melissa and me the chance to touch base and encourage each other! And the sightseeing was great!

I physically did not feel as if I were running a very fast race, but feelings can often be deceptive.  I crossed the finish line with a time of 1 hour, 50 minutes, and 53 seconds, which bested my previous best by about four and a half minutes.  I finished 44th out of 229 finishers, but the most unexpected result was that I finished second in my men's 55-59 age category, garnering a little prize and a photo opportunity on their victory podium.  That was nice, but standing around in the cold park with the wind getting worse by the minute was an ordeal.  During the race, I was by myself most of the time, which was a bit different from all the others I've been in when I ran for long stretches around other runners.

I'm very glad that I did this race, and more so that Melissa accompanied me.  We had a great time driving around the area and visiting places that brought up old memories.  And, of course, we also noted how much things had changed in some respects...

My February 2013 Running Report

February turned out to be an unexpectedly good month for my running, in spite of its beginning with me suffering from an upper respiratory malady and having concerns regarding work and family.  In fact, although I didn't reach the pinnacle of 200 miles that I attained in 31-day January, I made full use of this 28-day month, piling up 180.41 miles in all.  I also was able to maintain my personal record consecutive day running streak, at month's end standing at 304 days.  My longest run in February was for 10 miles.  I didn't participate in any public races, though. 

I tended to continue my routine of splitting up my daily runs into morning/road and night/treadmill components, establishing the truth that you can get yourself to do practically anything if you can just get first habituated to it!  The weather in February generally sucked, with ridiculously warm temperatures and suffocating humidity, making me sometimes question myself what planet I live on, of course with a nod to Star Trek's Dr. McCoy (I wonder if you know what I'm talking about).  Good news, though: winter seems to be back, at least at the start of March.  It's getting back down into the thirties at night, and the race I plan to run on March 3 promises to have a shivery start.  But that's cool...I mean REAL cool.  Literally, dude...

Guy Fieri and My Favorite TV Show

My cable television company provides a wide assortment of specialty channels.  There are channels for auto racing, tennis, golf, animals, and home and garden, just to scratch the surface.  There are also some channels that USED TO be specialty channels (MTV, History, The Learning Channel) but now just program useless garbage.  Usually I avoid specialty channels regardless of the garbage level.  And this usually also applies to another one, the Food Channel, because I generally detest shows on cooking.  You can have your Rachael Ray and Paula Deen...just keep 'em off my TV when I am in front of it, thank you.  And I really, deeply, detest those shows that pit cooks against each other in competitions or involve "experts" insulting the dishes of contestants.  But out of all the uselessness, there still stands one show on this channel that is so, so much fun to watch that it has become my current number one favorite show in all of television: Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

In Diners, Drive-In, and Dives, chef-in-his-own-right Guy Fieri (or just "Guy", that'll do fine) travels the USA searching for local eateries that produce excellent food for its customers.  The show is set up to filter out the "losers" in advance: all we end up seeing are just the successes, with Guy amiably chumming up with different restaurant owner/cooks as they demonstrate how they prepare their more popular dishes.  Guy has an infectious personality, with an uncanny ability to hit it off well with just about every sort of character (some pretty offbeat) that one might encounter whipping up a delicious meal somewhere.  Part of each visit (usually to three different establishments per half-hour episode) involves filming how the food is prepared, usually from scratch, back in the kitchen. The other part involves going to the dining area and showing how the food is presented to the tables, with Guy eliciting the "customary" fawning approval of customers.  I love the positive vibes of this show, something you sometimes want when flicking on the boob tube after a hard, grueling day at the office.  ...And also, I used to be one of those cooks back in a restaurant kitchen (for eight years, actually), prepping ingredients, mixing them, cooking them up, and setting them out for the server to present in the dining area. 

If you want a respite from a lot of the negative crap polluting our television programming, then take a break and watch Guy do his magic.  I dare you to watch Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and not smile! 

Reading David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas

I am in the middle of reading David Mitchell's novel Cloud Atlas. And by that I mean I'm right smack in the middle of it, exactly halfway through.  You may have read this book, but most likely you've heard of it through last year's movie version.  When I saw the preview ads on television, I was instantly interested and wanted to see it upon its release.  However, I then read a couple of reviews that were a bit critical of the film.  The impression they gave me was that it would behoove me to first read the book in order to be able to properly follow and understand the movie.  So I skipped the cinematic run of Cloud Atlas and opted instead to obtain the book.  Good decision.

Already in the first 250 pages of this novel is enough material that I think would necessitate more than one movie...preferably three...to adequately give expression to the story's flow and character development.  I still, at this point, have no clue as to how the author will conclude what amounts to several nested, unfinished short tales that jump from the past through the present and then on to a speculative science fiction future.  There are subtle connections that tie the seemingly unrelated stories together, not to mention at least one character in each of them.  Each of them is written in a completely different writing style as well, which at first was cumbersome to plod through but which now I find to be delightful.

Except for the movie trailer and those two reviews, I went into reading Cloud Atlas cold, with no background knowledge of its author.  I'm sure David Mitchell is known in contemporary literary circles for this and other works, but when I tried to check out a copy of Cloud Atlas from my local public library (which serves the University of Florida community here in Alachua County), I discovered that they had no copies, but were in the process of ordering some in response to the high demand generated by the movie.  Well, finally I got to check out a copy...then began reading.  After reading a little of it, I then returned the book to the library and went down to a local bookstore and purchased a copy for my very own.

Cloud Atlas is a slow read, quite unlike books like the Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia series that I raced through.  I intend to write a more adequate review for it after I'm finished, but I will at this point say that I've already easily gotten my money's worth from this intriguing work. 

And yes, I plan to eventually watch that movie!

My Apathy with Sequester Issue

The news is focusing on the "sequester" possibility with our federal spending, when automatic drastic cuts with take place  across the board if an agreement cannot be reach by the rapidly approaching deadline between the President and Congress.  I know that this is something about which I should probably have a strong opinion to express on this blog, but instead all I can feel in this regard is a kind of numbed apathy.  Still, my instincts and discernment of the situation lead me to side with President Obama and the Democratic-led Senate against the Republican "controlled" House of Representatives.  I say "controlled" because this body seems out of control to me, with House Speaker John Boehner utterly incapable of convincing his own caucus to back any deal that he might reach with Obama.  Then the dude gets on TV and instead insults the President and the Democrats, as if that will accomplish anything constructive!  Personally, I think he should just resign from his leadership post since he has shown nothing resembling leadership.  Let another conservative get in there to try to work something out. Somebody who can actually behave like a leader instead of a whining crybaby!

No, I'm not even keeping up with how many days are left before the cuts kick in automatically.  But whatever happens, I'm sure that the two sides will put their own spins on it, complete with mutually contradicting alternative realities and "facts" with their eyes primarily focused on winning the next congressional election in 2014, not working together to solve the nation's problems.

Are you as sick of all this crap as I am?

Forget "Article of the Day" From Now On

Once I had this notion that my hordes of faithful readers out there would click onto my website each day to follow what I had written for that day.  The days of that notion are gone, regrettably, as I know now that folks are either into their little Facebook social networking feedback loops and completely miss this blog, or only access it via a search of their topic of interest.  In either case, taking the pains to put out a daily article makes no sense.  Therefore, from now on I'm publishing 'em when I write 'em...

This is why you're about to experience articles #2, #3, and #4 for this one date: I wrote all of them together, and in a very short time span (along with this one)...

Asssorted Thoughts

Just some random notes to keep up some semblance of continuity on this blog, which I'm still attached to.  Times have been busy for me of late, and all sorts of different things are going on in my personal life, most of which are for the better.  The family is doing fine as well. 

--I'm disappointed in this so-called "winter".  Right now, around 11:30 in the morning, the temperature is 80 degrees and expect to rise several more.  Ugh, I get enough of this the rest of the year here in northern Florida...why can 't I get a break from it for just a month or two?!

--The University of Florida men's basketball team this year is one of their all-time best.  Whether or not they can win the national championship, though, depends on how they can deal with pressure.  So far, though, each time they have surged in the national rankings, they quickly lost their next game.

--The Los Angeles Lakers are an enigma.  With all of their talent, at this writing they are still four games under .500.  The ultimate question the sports analysts are asking is whether Dwight Howard is finally getting into form and will play an important role in their success during the rest of the regular season.  He had a good game a couple of nights ago against Boston.  If the Lakers can play to that level the rest of the year, then they should be able to sneak into the playoffs.  And once they're able to accomplish that, who knows how far they will go...

--I am still running, with plans to enter a half-marathon race in Tavares, Florida, on March 3. 

--My workplace is undergoing draconian changes in employee assignments, reporting times, and days off.  Hopefully, my dear colleagues there will be able to adjust to the often very sudden demands put upon them with their altered schedules.  After all, we all have lives of our own, many of us with family members who depend on us to be there for them according to our availability.  A little more advance warning from the party making these changes would have been sheer, common courtesy.  But here we are and this is what we have to deal with...  

Re: Recent Sparcity of Blog Articles

In case you haven't noticed it (how couldn't you), this blog's entries have tended to be rather sparse in the past few days, even months.  I used to put out daily articles, but a combination of factors has slowed down my writing rate.  One is that my daily schedule is more full of other things, and any time I have left over to write often slips by or finds me too tired.  Another factor is that I have come to my wit's end with the nonsense I see going on in the news, particularly in the realm of politics.  I see a handful of folks on TV like the brilliant Rachel Maddow tackle and refute a lot of the worst head-on, but there is so much b.s. going on that I feel overcome should I  pay too much attention to it.  Of course, there are other things I can write about, but even with those I seem to have lost a crucial degree of interest in sharing my thoughts with others on the Web.  I don't know whether this will be permanent or is just short-term.  But that's how it is, anyway...

March Half-Marathon in the Works

It is looking more and more like I will be running in that Sunday, March 3 Orange Blossom Half-Marathon in Tavares/Mount Dora.  It also looks as if Melissa will be accompanying me; she plans to walk the 5K event when I run mine.  I just got that Satuday off so, we can make a weekend out of it! And that has special meaning because she grew up in that area in Lake County, while I myself lived there for a few months back in 1987.

Meanwhile, much further south where I grew up, half-marathons abound year-round.  There are two events held regularly, both in northern Dade County.  One is just east of North Miami Beach and the other is in Hialeah.  Both are trail runs, too.  It might be fun to try one or both of them out on future visits.  But the only reason I still have to visit there is to attend to my 86-year-old father.  Maybe I can schedule a trip there around when they're holding a half-marathon. But I don't think I'll be running anything long in south Florida during the hot and humid summer months: I had a bad experience down there a couple of years ago when I was almost overcome by the heat and humidity, and on a relatively short four-mile jog at that. 

Attractive [Personality] Models, Part II

Back a couple of years, I ran across a book written by ultra-marathon distance runner Dean Karnazes about his passion for this sport, aptly titled Ultramarathon Runner.  The book is more or less a rough autobiography of "Karno", as he is popularly known, as it relates to his running.  One thing that stood out in this account was this individual's very strong sense of purpose and determination when it came to identifying his goals and then acting upon them, regardless what anyone around him said about their attainability.  His philosophy mirrored that of one of his early running coaches: go all out from the very beginning until the finish, and if you have anything left at the end...then you didn't try hard enough!  Well, I think in order to live my life in this matter, I would need heaping amounts of both courage and faith in my eventual success in the face of the inevitable pain, exhaustion, and discouragement that heady, even sometimes outrageously ambitious undertakings can  elicit.  But I think that it has been these very factors, which would filter out most of us, that has motivated Karnazes in his efforts.  For he believes that his courage and the triumph of his doggedness WILL achieve success.  Period.  Karnazes hasn't just done this with his running exploits: he has also overachieved both in college, as a corporate executive, and as an independent entrepreneur. 

Do I personally know others like Karno? Not exactly: I know many people whose determination to achieve a difficult goal has been inspirational, but I couldn't really say that it was a defining characteristic of their personality.  And perhaps this, realistically, is where I would want to emulate someone like Mr. Karnazes...by identifying some specific areas in my life that I strongly desire to achieve greatness in and then pouring on the effort to go full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes!   

Attractive [Personality] Models, Part I

There is a type of personality that I envy; not that I actually would want to exchange identities with those who possess it.  For the most part, I tend to be reserved, passive, and not a wee bit suspicious concerning my interactions with others.  For anyone who knows anything about my upbringing as a child, this should not come as a surprise.  After all, we grow up emulating those around us the most and tend to adopt their demeanor and outlook, including how we see and react to other people.  But from time to time in my life, I have run across others who approach their social dealings in an entirely different manner, cultivating each individual relationship in conversation with the theme almost always being getting to know the other and their experiences and views.  You might think that this personality type exhibits some degree of maturity, but I encountered more of them in my early, pre-adolescent childhood among some of my age-group peers.  Then, going through puberty seemed to change a lot of them into reserved, hypercompetitive types with whom an interaction was seen as a contest, if not a threat to them.  But even in high school, I would occasionally (not often, though) run across a refreshing, friendly soul whose attitude was positive and interested.  The most striking occurrence with this was back in my tenth grade chemistry class when, out of the blue, a kid a year older than me, Steve, introduced himself and instituted a friendship.  He displayed a mixture of that childlike (not childish) enthusiasm and friendliness... plus something I would later abruptly recognize on PBS Playhouse's version of a forties' hit movie...

In the early 1980's, I had pretty much isolated myself from the world at large, living alone like a hermit except when the need arose to go to work (where I pretty much kept to myself as well, with some notable exceptions).  One exquisitely solitary evening at home, I had my tiny b/w television tuned in to the local Public Broadcasting channel when "their" new version of the old cinematic classic You Can't Take It With You came on.  The starring role in this one (more so than in the original 1938 movie) was the oddball family's "Grandpa" Martin Vanderhof, perfectly played by Jason Robards.  This character captivated me by his interest in others and his relaxed demeanor about life in general.  Robards stole the movie with his portrayal and made this 1984 version of an already popular story something that all good pieces of art, music, and literature do: it began to effect a change within me, in this case with me looking more outward than inward. 

I don't possess Martin's personality...at least most of the time I don't.  But I do often find myself engaging others in the very same type of banter that he did in that unforgettable show I saw nearly thirty years ago.  But get this: this character, by his own admission, had undergone a transformational change himself and had made a decision to value things that were more important.  His choice was to abandon the pursuit of a high-stress career, leaving the rat race to others.  My change may not manifest in the exact same way as his, but we just might end up in the same place, anyway.  I hope so, at least: he seemed to be one happy dude!

Some Half-Marathons in My Area

After successfully completing the Ocala Half-Marathon on January 20, I began to look ahead on the calendar for more upcoming races of this distance taking place in my general area.  Since I work on Saturdays and am off on Sundays, I focused on the races offered on Sunday and ignored the rest.  One race stuck out: the Tallahassee Half-Marathon, held on February 3.  I had only been in my home state's capital city once in my life, in 1994, and I was only then driving through it on my way to Texas.  A visit and a run...yes, that sounded appealing, at least at the beginning...

I was hoping that the Tallahassee Half-Marathon's course would wind through the various interesting sites of this important city, including Florida State University, Florida A&M, and the downtown area which features various state government buildings such as the state capitol.  Instead, though, when I visited the event's website, I discovered that, although the race did begin and end at FSU, it quickly turned down a "rails-to-trails" path that ran out of the city: a "there-and-back" course, avoiding the more interesting sites I wanted to experience as a runner/tourist.  That's a shame, because I already have a race like that in Gainesville: the Tom Walker Memorial Half-Marathon, held in the late autumn on another converted railway-to-pathway (leading away from Gainesville...and then back).  It's fun to run in (I've done it twice so far), but I like the more tourist-friendly Five-Points event held in February, and which goes through the heart of Gainesville as well as the University of Florida.  Alas, though, I'm committed to something else (more important) this year when this race happens on February 17...

Well, my disappointment at the Tallahassee race course turned out to be a moot point as I had developed an annoying, nagging cough due to a cold combined with allergies.  I didn't feel up to running that distance anyway, so passing up on that race wasn't such a bad deal.  Besides...

On March 3, in Tavares, Florida, there will be a half-marathon race that goes by some pretty lakeside scenery.  It's on a Sunday morning, too.  In 1987, I lived for about seven months down there in Lake County, a few miles west of Tavares in Leesburg (in the general vicinity of Orlando).  It's not a very long drive there and back, and the race looks very interesting.  So if things keep looking positive and I keep up my health, then maybe I'll try this one more half-marathon before the temperatures here in Florida begin to heat up in the springtime. 

There is one additional point I'd like to make about the way some of these races are organized, one that has made me scratch some of them off my list of possibilities. The race packet pick-up is often mandated the day before in the race's city, which means that, unless I already live near or relatively close by, I would have to make an overnight commitment to stay at a hotel (I think that's their cynical idea behind this policy) or make two long trips.  To the credit of the Tallahassee and Tavares organizers, neither of them made packet pickup a requirement the day before the race, giving runners the option of picking them up on raceday morning before the start.  Others are rigid with this pack pickup policy: if the race is farther from my home than Ocala (about 40 miles distant), these folks can just forget about my participation.  So another race taking place near Live Oak next month that could have been fun to run in won't see me anywhere near there since they have this ridiculous "day-before" mandated packet pickup policy...

My General Political Stances

It's been quite a while since I've written about politics.  So let me recap my general views on things in that area.  I tend to support more liberal positions on the issues, so that usually lands me squarely in the Democratic camp as opposed to the Republicans.  I like health insurance reform, but I think the recently enacted Affordable Care Act didn't go far enough and should have been tax-supported instead of having an enormous competitive disadvantage placed on the backs of American businesses, which really don't have a logical connection with health insurance benefits other than that, in the beginning, some companies offered them as a lure to employees and the practice gradually expanded.  I support immigration reform, which is needed for different reasons, not the least of which being that we don't need a subclass walking our supposedly free streets too afraid to seek police protection from the real criminals out there.  I support firearms regulation and actually do something the so-called conservatives usually insist upon (but don't when discussing gun control): I read the United States Constitution, specifically its Second Amendment, in the context of the late eighteenth century when it was written and when the fledgling nation had no standing peacetime army.  It depended upon its citizenry, along with their ready arms, to be quickly available in response to a military necessity.  Now that we have the world's most powerful standing armed forces, that need is unnecessary and the amendment is outmoded.  I believe that deficits and the national debt should not be interpreted in terms of raw dollar amounts, but rather in relation to the amount of gross domestic product...and that the tax breaks given to the wealthy in essence amount to the rich being the biggest "takers" of government entitlements.  I believe that patience and diplomacy should accompany our use of military and that the sheer presence of our forces in an troubled region can sometimes be an effective deterrent to threats against us, without necessarily instituting open conflict.  There are other issues, some of which you may fault me for omitting... but what I'm done here is cover some of the more pressing, headline-grabbing issues affecting us now...