Miami Dolphins Let Me Down Once Again With Year-End Choke

In the NFL, with today's 41-13 blowout loss to divisional rival New England, the Miami Dolphins, which I had been following and rooting for since 1968 (their third year in existence), have once again demonstrated that when the chips are down late in the season, they consistently opt for mediocrity.  Two weeks ago they were in the driver's seat for a wild card slot in the playoffs, but let themselves get beaten badly by Baltimore at home.  Now, with just two games left in the regular season, I'm seeing them again finishing at 8-8...certain that they'll blow at least one more game against their final two opponents Minnesota and the Jets.  Late in the 2013 regular season, the Dolphins were also in a a very advantageous position for the playoffs at 8-6, with them only having to win one out of their last two games (against inferior teams) to make the playoffs.  But they choked then, too, being beaten resoundingly in both games.  These past two years were supposed to be the start of a new, winning era in Miami Dolphins football, with them breaking through and making the playoffs...even possibly challenging to go to the Super Bowl.  Well, guess what?  They're not going anywhere for a while.  I probably should come to grips with the fact that this franchise simply does not have a winner's attitude and that I'm wasting my support for them...but most likely I'll foolishly go back to cheering them on next year in an unfounded hope for their improbable success.

Now that Miami is "out" for all practical purposes, I can go back to what I do around this time every year, which is look for other teams in the league to follow into the playoffs.  Let's see, the other two Florida teams are awful and the New York Giants are having a miserable season.  So of the teams who are in the playoff hunt right now, I'll probably stick with Seattle in the National Conference and pull for Baltimore in the American...

Fantasy Series I've Been Reading Over the Last Few Years

Here is a list of the fantasy series I've been reading over the past few years, with them ranked in order from my top favorite to least favorite.  And...yes, although I'm in my fifties (late fifties now), I do occasionally like to pick up a "young adult" series and read it.  Sometimes I find them better written and more profound than the more "mature" series. Following each title is the author [in brackets], followed by my reading progress with each series.  Also, I deliberately left out The Hunger Games (by Suzanne Collins), Divergent (by Veronica Roth), and Otherland (by Tad Williams) because I felt that these very worthy series belonged better in the science fiction genre...

1 The Magicians [Lev Grossman] finished trilogy recently
2 The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings [J.R.R. Tolkien] finished both long ago
3 Harry Potter [J.K. Rowling] finished series long ago
4 Mistborn [Brandon Sanderson] 1 trilogy finished, 1 book finished in 2nd trilogy, awaiting next installment
5 His Dark Materials [Philip Pullman] finished trilogy
6 The Dark Tower [Stephen King] finished 7-part series long ago
7 The Chronicles of Narnia [C.S. Lewis] finished 7-part series long ago
8 A Song of Ice and Fire [George R.R. Martin] 5 books finished, awaiting next installment
9 The Dagger and the Coin [Daniel Abraham] 1 book finished, 3 more already published, ongoing series
10 Shadowmarch [Tad Williams] 1 book finished, 1 currently being read in 4-part series (tetralogy)
11 The Sword of Truth [Terry Goodkind] 11 books finished, 0 to go (but author has started new series with same characters)
12 Bartimaeus [Jonathan Stroud] finished trilogy, but now fourth book out
13 Twilight [Stephanie Meyer] finished 4-part series long ago
14 Percy Jackson and the Olympians [Rick Riordan] finished 5-part series long ago
15 Inheritance [Christopher Paolini] finished 4-part series
16 The Wheel of Time [Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson] 6 books finished, 8 to go

I've written reviews on this blog for the great majority of these series, which you're welcome to read.  Just copy and paste the title of the series you're interested in to the search window present in the upper left corner on my blog page...

Soccer: Mexican Finale Correction and the Offside Penalty

I'd like to make a correction to my posting this past Monday about the Mexican Liga MX soccer playoff finals for the Apertura split season.  At the article's end, I had speculated that the Tigres of UANL could conceivably win the championship without a victory in a single game (they've advanced to the finals after four straight ties), but the format in the finals is different from the earlier rounds, something of which I was unaware.  True, there are two games involved between the finalists América and Tigres (game #1 tonight and game #2 on Sunday), with the aggregate goal total for both determining the champion.  But should a tie in total goals result at the end of regular play in the second game, there will be overtime and then a possible penalty kick shootout, much like it is in the knockout rounds of the World Cup.  So Tigres will definitely have to win at least ONE game to become champion!

That's one rule I think I've got right, finally.  Another one is the offside rule in soccer: many times I would see an attacking player close to the goal receive a pass from behind, apparently in an offside position, and go on to score a goal.  Later I found out that it is that player's position at the moment when the pass is kicked, not when he (or she) receives it, that determines whether the attacker is offside or not.  So the receiver of the pass in those instances that were actually legal were in the proper position as the pass was released to them...and then they ran ahead of the other defenders as they received it...

Now I'm trying to understand ice hockey's version of the offside penalty (as well as icing).  I think I have it down to the requirement, when an attacker skates across the blue line with the puck into the opponent's defensive zone, that there can't be any teammates already there.  Now that I intellectually know the rule, though, I'd like to see it applied in action...meaning I'll just have to sit down and try to follow a hockey game (good luck with that)...

By the way, you can see the Liga MX Aperatura season finals tonight and Sunday on TV by watching Univision Deportes (in Gainesville it's on Cox Cable Channel 410)...

Just Finished Reading JD Robb's Thankless in Death

Back in October a few weeks ago, my home county of Alachua, Florida held its twice-a-year Friends of the Library book sale here in Gainesville.  Sometimes I go to this event and sometimes I don't.  I went there this time around, looking for cheap paperback novels that weren't all tied into a series.  Among the books, I discovered one by J.D. Robb titled Thankless in Death.  Reading the cover, it didn't give a sign that this was part of a multi-volume series, so I paid the fifty cents and bought it.  Later, though, when I opened it and began to read, I discovered that, although the story in itself didn't directly hinge on earlier ones, it was still part of a very long (more than forty books) string of books featuring the same lead characters...the "in Death" series.  In this regard it reminded me of Sue Grafton's "A,B,C, etc. is For" series, where the protagonists stay the same from book to book but their lives and relationships develop.

With the "in Death" series of Robb, incidentally a pseudonym for Nora Roberts, the real author, the setting is a future (year 2060) New York City (Manhattan) and the main characters are police captain Eve Dallas, her immediate co-workers, and her husband Roarke, an Irish orphaned genius who became a super-wealthy builder in America.  Being set in the future a few decades, the vocabulary of speech has changed a little and it sometimes took me a little bit of effort to figure what they were talking about.  Also, there are innovations like servant robots (that can go out in town and buy stuff and bring it back) and a universal food/beverage device/system called "Autochef".  But besides this, what this series is about, as exemplified by the novel I read, is a police detective working hard to catch really very nasty, bad people....and you can infer from the series title that it focuses on the crime of murder.  Also, the employment climate of the future is one of great opportunity for women, for many of them figure heavily in the police force and story.

Thankless in Death is a crime novel in a series of crime novels...in retrospect it might have been better to start with the first book in order to better follow the character development from book to book.  Then again, I can't see myself following this series through more than forty books.  It's a pretty standard "catch the bad guy" detective story, once you factor out the futuristic gimmickry. Not that I particularly disliked it, mind you, but I was left feeling that there was little in what protagonist Eve Dallas did that distinguished her as a memorable character...and that's an important consideration for me as a potentially repeat reader...

Mexican Soccer: Tigres Advance in Playoffs Without Any Wins in Four Games

The premier Mexican professional soccer league, Liga MX, has finished the first half (the "Apertura") of its split 2014-15 regular season and the playoffs ("Liguilla") has already undergone two rounds with the initial eight teams whittled down to just two: América (based in Mexico City) and Tigres of UANL, one of the two Monterrey teams in the league.  América, the top-seeded team from the regualar season, has advanced in the playoffs the traditional way, mainly by winning.  This may sound like an obvious fact: how else would a team advance past its opponents?  Fancy you should ask that, for the Tigres represent an interesting case.

The UANL Tigres were seeded at #2, just behind América...so for the first two rounds, they were seeded higher than each of their opponents, Pachuca and Toluca.  This is crucial, because in the Liguilla, each round consists of two games between the same teams, with each game played at the other's stadium.  Whoever wins the aggregate goal total for the two games advances, which is pretty self-evident.  It gets a little strange, however, when the total is tied.  The first "tiebreaker" in such a case gives the team that scored the most "away" goals the series.  But if the total is still the same, then tiebreaker #2 kicks in: the higher-seeded team advances.  In the first round, each game saw Pachuca and Tigres drawing at 1-1, so Tigres advanced solely on the basis of their higher seeding.  In the next, semifinal round, Tigres played Toluca...and both games were scoreless.  Once again, Tigres advanced just because they were seeded higher.  And now, having played in these playoffs with ZERO victories to their credit so far in the first four games, Tigres has reached the finals!  But now they'd better get serious and score some goals, for they'll probably have to win at least one game to beat higher-seeded América.  Still, should both games end in draws and Tigres scores more "away" goals, they could conceivably win the Liguilla, and thus the Apertura championship, with not even one victory throughout the entire playoffs!

Football Playoff Committee Picks Best Four Teams, But Process Flawed

The college football playoff selection committee, composed of thirteen supposed "experts" in the sport, have made their decision on which teams are in...and which are out...for this year's inaugural major college football national championship playoffs.  As it incredibly turns out, the four teams I thought merited inclusion got in...but the process leading to this outcome was dismaying.  For one, I don't for the life of me understand why somebody with no football background like Condoleezza Rice was put on this committee other than that it was a cynical political choice.  If they had wanted a woman to be on it, there are many, many women out there much more knowledgeable and qualified in the sport.  That being what it was, though, I don't know how Ms. Rice voted; for all I know, she and I saw things eye-to-eye.  But what really bothered me about this committee was the whimsical, lackadaisical way in which they would elevate and demote teams over the weeks leading up to this final selection...in particular regarding Florida State (FSU) and Texas Christian University (TCU).  Even though FSU went the entire year undefeated and is the defending national champion, this committee, just the week before today's final vote, had lowered them to 4th in the rankings and placed TCU, which had already lost (to Baylor) this year, ahead of them.  Then this past Saturday, the Seminoles squeaked by 37-35 in their conference championship game and the Horned Frogs (of TCU) clobbered their conference opponent Iowa State 55-3.  In the meantime, Ohio State, which had been #5 the week before, demonstrated their worth to be in the playoffs by annihilating ranked Wisconsin 59-0 in their conference championship game...and with only their third-string quarterback, a truly impressive performance.  So Texas Christian once again fell behind Florida State, and also Ohio State, leaving them out of the playoffs.  But wait, Baylor jumped ahead of them, too!  So as far as TCU is concerned, they're in one week at #3, win their scheduled conference regular season game in a big rout, and then find themselves knocked down to #6!  Well, from my point of view, TCU never should have been ranked that high to begin with (and should have also always been behind Baylor, who had beaten them)...and letting them jump ahead of FSU was pure nonsense!  I actually was beginning to wonder to myself whether this committee wasn't going to exclude the undefeated national champions from the playoffs as well.  They may have come up with the correct final lineup, but the weekly committee-generated rankings leading up to this result have left me feeling very little confidence in the committee format.  I was left with the impression, right or wrong, that the committee members were full of themselves and their "power". Instead, I would have preferred that college football had retained the previous BCS ranking system and simply extended it from two to four teams for the playoffs.  Now we're going to have to wonder every year who's playing favorites or promoting special agendas...

Just Finished Reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

If Emily Brontë's 1847 novel Wuthering Heights shows the dark side of the lives of rural landed English families in the late 18th century, then Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice, which I just read, represents the light. Austen also injects a great deal of humor into this story, especially coming from its chief protagonist Elizabeth "Lizzy" Bennet.  Lizzy is the second oldest of five sisters in a family having no male heirs...a problem in that the archaic laws of that time "entail" an estate in such a case to the ownership of a more distant male relative upon the father's death (the mother has no inheritance rights, apparently).  Mrs. Bennet, the mother, is continually trying, with a marked lack of subtlety (to the constant consternation and embarrassment of Lizzy), to marry them off to suitably wealthy young men.  However, one young man, Mr. Darcy, who is the friend of a Mr. Bingley (who likes the eldest sister Jane) quickly incurs the wrath of both Mrs. Bennet and Lizzy through his prideful, arrogant behavior before them.  Because of this and other "information" about him that Lizzy picks up from others, she forms what turns out to be a prejudicial judgment against his character.  The story, in general, concerns how the two...Darcy with his pride and Elizabeth with her prejudice (hence the novel's title), are able to eventually remove the obstructing filters from themselves and finally see each other for what they really are.  Without trying to give away the ending, I suppose from this you might easily surmise the outcome.  After all, I've already said that this is no "dark" story!

The developing relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy dominates Pride and Prejudice, but what happens with the rest of the sisters figures into the story as well.  Still, it all comes back to the two main characters.

Having been made into movie and serial TV shows, I was tempted to first "watch" Pride and Prejudice before reading it.  But now that I have read it, I'm looking forward to seeing how it is depicted on the screen.  For one thing, I like to notice the discrepancies between book and film.  For another, I like to see how much (or little) my imagination painted a picture of the settings and characters in my own mind just from reading the book.  Still another thing I like to see is how the tone of the screen presentation resembles the book's...or is it vastly different...

Gators' New Coach Jim McElwain Looks Like a Good Fit

It looks as if the University of Florida, through their athletic director Jeremy Foley, has made a good decision in the selection and hiring of their next head football coach: Jim McElwain.  McElwain was offensive coordinator in Alabama under Nick Saban during their earlier two national championship seasons in 2009 and 2011 (including when he broke Tim Tebow's heart by beating the then-undefeated, #1 ranked Gators in 2009's SEC championship game).  Having played in college himself as quarterback, he reminds me a little of a former UF coaching great: Steve Spurrier (although the latter achieved much more renown for his passing abilities).  And McElwain, unlike his relatively unsuccessful predecessors Ron Zook and Will Muschamp...and like his resoundingly successful predecessors Spurrier and Urban Meyer, has amassed experience as the head coach of a college team, in his case at Colorado State.  He also was very successful in his short tenure there, turning around a habitually losing team into a winner.

I've heard it said that with Zook and Muschamp, they were considered "players'" coaches who were beloved by the team.  In fact, I believe at least a couple of the Florida underclassmen players under Muschamp have expressed their decision to leave the team were Muschamp fired...even before they knew of his replacement.  As a fan, I would rather have the Gators with a coach who emphasizes discipline and holds accountable the kind of sloppy play, with the fumbles, missed blocks and tackles, dropped passes, and very untimely, foolish penalties that epitomized Florida during the Zook and Muschamp eras.  I doubt that this school will have any trouble attracting top talent during the recruiting season, but they will need someone who is able and willing to mold them together into a winning unit.  And McElwain, I believe, seems like a good fit...

Good Eleven Mile Run Today

Today I had a solid run of eleven miles, which I ended at that distance not because I was too tired to go on, but rather because I had other things to do.  Still, this represents my longest single run since my Orange Blossom Half-Marathon in Tavares back in March, 2013...just before plantar fasciitis in my right foot "kicked" in.  Well, my feet now seem to be "hanging" in there O.K. so far, so I suppose I'll continue to press the mileage back up to a level that I feel reflects better on my identity as a runner.

In spite of my increasing mileage, I have not returned to my old pattern of running around designated courses on my neighborhood streets (and in nearby locations on longer runs).  Instead, I have marked off a running path in my rather sizable backyard and spend my longer runs there.  It's certainly not as interesting as road running, but at the same time I have quick access to the conveniences of home and can still listen to my MP3 player while running.  If there's rain in the forecast or it's already begun to drizzle, I can still go running until the rainfall gets too strong...and then step back into the house.  Also, in my backyard I feel much safer about running in the nighttime, something that I never felt at ease doing on the streets...for a couple of reasons: drivers tend not to see runners (or pedestrians in general, for that matter) and differences in the terrain may be harder to spot at night.  Still, I think that it would be a good idea to go back out on my old neighborhood courses every now and then...in the daytime in good weather, of course...

Just Finished Reading George Orwell's 1984

Nineteen Eighty-Four. which I just finished reading, was probably English writer George Orwell's most well-known novel, with many of its concepts and sayings in common use today ("Big brother is watching you", "Thought police", "War is peace", etc.).  It was first published in 1948, just a couple of years before its author's death.  Orwell was strongly aware of his era's rise of totalitarian governments and studied the tactics of political control used over the people in Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union.   And much of the material in the book, about the future totalitarian society of the mega-nation Oceania, appears to come straight out of these regimes' policies...as expressed through the words and actions of the "Party" that dominate every aspect of life.  But Nineteen Eighty-Four goes much further to display a society that has refined its totalitarianism to the point that even facial expressions are captured and analyzed through pervasive surveillance, even in people's homes.  People who diverge from the Party line in any way are subject to arrest, disappearance, and then any vestige of them ever having existed erased from the records. And those who personally knew anyone so eliminated must also speak and act as well as if they had never existed, lest they themselves be subject to "discipline".

Nineteen Eighty-Four's protagonist is Winston Smith, a low-level Party functionary employed in the Ministry of Truth, which like many other departments performs work in direct contradiction to its title.  His job is to take whatever the Party position currently is on any matter, be it war, economics...or the "disappeared", and revise all historical records and books to reflect that change...retroactively.  So Oceania, which had recently been allied with mega-nation Eurasia, is suddenly at war against it and Winston has to work feverishly with his colleagues to revise all records to show that Oceania has ALWAYS been at war with Eurasia.  For to reveal any change in policy would mean that the Party was fallible, and that wouldn't do.

Nineteen Eighty-Four introduces several concepts pertaining to the Party's all-oppressive control of society, including Newspeak, doublethink, and thoughtcrime.  The language is continually being revised in order to reduce the number of words needed for expression...along with any usage that could express criminalized concepts like "liberty", "equality", or "democracy".   Winston's journey through this story is based on his doubts about the society he lives in and his desire to find others sharing his skepticism who are willing to oppose it.  To this end he meets and forms a romantic relationship with a young woman named Julia and comes under the leadership of a higher Party member named O'Brien.  It is the interplay between these three characters that drives the book's story to its rather sobering end...

There are many elements to Nineteen Eighty-Four that I could discuss: a couple of them, the rewriting of history to suit the Party's current position and the selective framing of narratives, accepting only the information that supports their policies and eliminating any that runs against them, demonstrate the Party line that truth is not objective, based on facts, but rather subjective, originating in the mind...and that the only valid truth is in the Party's mind.  Today we don't live here in a totalitarian society, but it struck me as I was reading Nineteen Eighty-Four that in the past few decades, many people have freely come to embrace this subjective outlook on reality...especially when you see the different social, political and religious camps out there, each with their own "facts" and histories. Unlike with Nineteen Eighty-Four, you're free to join up with whichever group you choose, but once you're in you're expected to embrace their "reality"...

Miami Dolphins Thick in Playoff Hunt

Well, there are only four games left in the National Football League sixteen-game regular season and, incredibly, the Miami Dolphins are thick in the playoff hunt with a 7-5 record.  Were the season to end today, they would actually be in the playoffs, winning the tiebreakers with the several other 7-5 teams in the American Conference.  This is a team that, if anything, should have a better record...with them losing three close games late in the fourth quarter this year against playoff-caliber teams (Green Bay, Detroit, and Denver).  And they've already beaten New England in their first contest! However, the return match with the Patriots will be a road game.  Still, there is a scenario here that, should New England lose this week's road game against the very capable San Diego Chargers and Miami win their final four games, the Dolphins would be AFC East Division champions, with even a shot at a first round bye in the playoffs.  Well, I can dream, can't I?

Miami's remaining games are against Baltimore, New England, Minnesota, and New York (Jets).  All are important, but this coming weekend's game against the Ravens is crucial, seeing that both teams have identical 7-5 records.  Fortunately, the Dolphins will be playing them at home, where they will also be when they face the Vikings and Jets...

My November 2014 Running Report

November marked a continuation from October with my dramatic rise in running mileage.  I amassed a total of 313 miles run, as I would often run several times over the course of a day.  My longest single run of the month was 10.3 miles, on Saturday the 15th.  This was also the date of my greatest ever total of miles run over the course of a single day: 31 miles.  Also, I ran on every day of the month...although taking a break every now and then is probably advisable.

As for public running races, I  skipped the St. Augustine Half-Marathon on the 16th I had been considering entering and instead ran the 10K Gainesville Turkey Trot race on Thanksgiving morning, the 27th.  I finished 5th out of 13 in my age group with a time of 56:56, a slower time by more than three minutes than my effort in the same race a couple of years earlier but understandable due largely to the marshy and muddy grounds at the race site (there was very heavy rainfall the previous day).

Next month I wish to continue my running as I have done in November, and try out at least one half-marathon race.  The most likely candidate for this is an early Saturday evening race being held in Palm Coast, Florida on the 20th...

Soccer: Mexico's Liga MX "Liguilla" Playoffs Underway

As I mentioned on this blog the other day, North American sports leagues seem to have this predilection for post-season playoffs to determine their champions, as opposed to other places which just let the regular season champions reign supreme.  Mexican soccer is no exception, and even goes one step further...their premier league, Liga MX, divides the year up into two split seasons: the Apertura in the fall and the Clausura in winter/spring.  The regular season for the Apertura is over...so here come the playoffs!

The eight highest finishing teams in the regular season standings (out of a total of 18 league teams) make the playoffs.  Each round has the paired off teams playing each other twice (at each other's home field) with the one amassing the highest two-game cumulative goal total advancing to the next round.  The quarterfinals began a couple of days ago, with their second games starting today.  So far, the first four games have all been very close, with two decided by one goal and two ending up in draws.  The big surprise so far has been with "superlider" regular season champion América losing 1-0 to its Mexico City cross-town rival UNAM "Pumas", seeded 8th.  But with the concluding games of this round, it's all up in the air as to which teams will advance...the regular season champ is clearly still in the running.  I've been following the talk on the Spanish-language television sports channel Univision Deportes and there's a lot of excitement in the air.  América, as I said before, is playing Pumas.  Also, it's Toluca vs. Chiapas "Jaguares", UANL "Tigres" vs. Pachuca, and Atlas vs. Monterrey.  I'm rooting for Pachuca in the championship series, but fear that they won't get past Tigres in this weekend's game (they drew 1-1 in the first game)...my gut feeling also tells me that Tigres, based in Nuevo Leon, will eventually win the Apertura championship this year...

Just Finished Reading Tad Williams' Shadowmarch

I was already familiar with the writing of Tad Williams, as a few years ago I read his four-part science fiction series Otherland (here is a link to my 2007 review of Otherland).  Having thoroughly enjoyed it, as I now consider it an important look into our our future, I decided to try out one of his fantasy series.  As Shadowmarch, the first of the also four-part Shadowmarch series, was available, I dove into it.  Not as fun to read as Otherland (I think this shows I'm more of a sci-fi enthusiast), it was nevertheless worth the effort as Williams is a master at character development, something on which I judge books heavily.  He actually has several characters whose stories he is concurrently telling from their viewpoints (much like George R.R. Martin has been doing in his ongoing A Song of Ice and Fire series).  The chief protagonists are offspring of abducted King Olin Eddon: teenage twins Princess Briony and Prince Barrick.  Of the two, Briony is the focus of Williams' attention, which reminds me of how another fantasy writer, Brandon Sanderson, used another teenage girl, Vin, for his protagonist in the Mistborn series.  There are typical fantasy genre elements in this series: a completely different world with its own continents and difficult-to-follow map, an aboriginal, mystical people (the Qar) who were overrun centuries before by humans but still present a challenge from the north, a strange emerging religion with evil connotations invading from the south, an established history with all sorts of arcane "facts" that I (as I usually do) have difficulty filtering out the relevant from the irrelevant, rival noble families competing for territory through marriage and war similar to Martin's Game of Thrones, and much revealed through usually very disturbing dreams.  Oh, and there is the wise "wizard" type in the physician Chaven, the soldier/guard hero type Ferras Vansen (besotted with Briony), an innocent and brave commoner (the diminutive Chert), and what I call the "wild-card" character of the boy "Flint", whose ultimate effect on the story, be it positive or negative, is a mystery...

As saturated as I am with fantasy literature, I have to admit that Tad Williams' Shadowmarch series is a winner so far, and knowing that it won't drag on for 11 or 14 volumes as did Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth and Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, respectively, gives me added impetus to read on to the end...

Finished Running Gainesville's 10K Turkey Trot Race at Tacachale

This morning the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 10K (6.2 miles) running race was held here in Gainesville on the woody grounds of Tacachale, a residential institution for the developmentally disabled.  Having just recently performed, without any extra exertion, a 10.3 mile training run, I felt that this would be a good "short-distance" race to prepare me for running in a public setting as I consider which half-marathons to enter in the near future.  A very rainy, stormy cold front had just swept through northern Florida the day before and the grounds were saturated.  Plus, the temperature overnight had plummeted down to around 40 as I left the house to drive the short distance to the race.  Although I knew I would be uncomfortable in the few minutes standing outside before the beginning of the race, I decided to stick to my time-tested formula of wearing a short-sleeved tee-shirt with shorts...and a very old, expendable pair of running shoes.  As I gathered with the many (it seemed like several hundred) other runners behind the starting line, I couldn't help chuckling to myself as I saw many wearing jackets and long pants: they'd be dying in those clothes before they got past the first mile!  Anyway, by the race's start the temperature had climbed up into the upper forties...it would be in the mid-fifties by race's end.  As for my shoes, I wisely foresaw the possibility of encountering some marshy areas on the race course, and sure enough, we were all warned about their existence before the race began.  But even with that, I was unprepared for the poor footing and many, many areas of standing water that we would need to slosh through...or look for a detour around.  This, I'm sure, ended up slowing down my final time, as well as the fact that I began the race toward the back of the pack and spent the first mile or two repeatedly being boxed in by slow runners and having to squeeze around them.  That all having been said, I enjoyed the race...although I was disappointed at the finish line when there was no clock showing the time as the runners passed though it.  Not having timed myself on my watch like I usually do, I'll just have to wait for the results to be posted online.  When they ARE finally posted, I'll put a link to them here.  There was an awards ceremony scheduled, but I decided to go on back home...from past experience and results, I don't think I had finished anywhere near the top three in my age group (55-59)...

Later...the final results have been posted. I finished 5th in my age group out of 13 runners with a time of 56:56.  It was a bit slower than my 2012 Turkey Trot time of 53:18, but as I wrote earlier, I had expected it.  Here is the link to the race results.

Watching Some European Soccer Analysis on ESPN Yesterday

Yesterday I was watching a soccer show (analysis, not actual games) on ESPN.  The topic was the UEFA Champions League, where top European league teams cross their respective league boundaries and play each other, setting up intriguing speculation as to which leagues are the most competitive.  So far, teams like Bundesliga's Bayern Munich, (Barclay's) English Premier League's Chelsea, La Liga's Real Madrid and Barcelona, La Ligue's PSG (Paris-St.Germain), and other teams like Italy's Roma and Portugal's Porto are doing well (although Roma is in a very competitive group and struggling for advancement into the next "knockout" round).  Although I prefer to watch full games as they are being played, I did enjoy the highlights that this show presented...expecially the games between Manchester City and Bayern Munich, and between Barcelona and APOEL (of Cyprus).  The former, between two major league champions from last year, featured an upset comeback win for "City", while Barcelona, with its superstar lineup of Messi, Neymar, and Suarez, won easily (with Messi performing another hat trick while making it all look like a walk in the park).  It made me once again wish that I had regular access to the Bundesliga and La Liga games besides the MLS, Liga MX (Mexico), and English Premier League games that I do get.

Speaking of MLS and Liga MX, the two major soccer organizations for North America, they have features to their seasons that bother me: post-season playoffs.  It reminds me of the other sports over here like football, baseball, basketball, and hockey, where teams can clearly demonstrate their superiority (or inferiority) in the long regular season over a span of many games and then essentially have to start all over in the league championship playoffs.  I like the fact that the winner of the regular season across the Atlantic in the Premier League or Bundesliga IS the league champion...as it should be...

Gators Left With Big Chance to Upset 'Noles

The University of Florida and Florida State University football games have had very different football seasons this year.  The Gators, having suffered through a miserable 4-8 season last year, were looking forward to a reasonably successful year this time around, even with many expecting them to win their SEC East Division.  Instead, they stumbled and fumbled around to the point where they are now left with a 6-4 mark and out of the running in their division, but already qualified for a minor post-season bowl game in late December or early January.  They have only one game left before then: next Saturday in Tallahassee against FSU. The Seminoles, on the other hand, are coming off a perfect, undefeated national championship season in 2013 and are still unbeaten so far this year.  They are thick in the running for the national championship playoffs, but because their strength of schedule in the Atlantic Coast Conference is relatively low, they probably need to win both of their next two games to stay in the hunt.  The first of these is the aforementioned matchup against Florida and the second is the ACC Championship game.  Florida has nothing to lose against FSU; even Will Muschamp, their head coach, is leaving after the game regardless of the outcome.  But Florida State has everything to lose in this game..and they already have come excruciatingly close to losing earlier games against Clemson, Louisville, and Miami. They are very clearly, despite having won all of their games so far in 2014, not anywhere near as impressive as last year's team.  Florida has what it takes to beat their cross-state rival, which may be looking ahead to their conference championship game the following week.  I give the Gators a good chance to pull out all the stops and pull off the upset...

Just Finished Reading Lev Grossman's The Magician's Land

The Magician's Land is the final book in Lev Grossman's Magicians series.  Having thoroughly enjoyed the first two books of this very irreverent and adult foray into the fantasy genre, I was eager enough to start into the final book as soon as I was aware of its publication (I don't keep up too well with when new books come out).  But first I felt the need to go back through the first two books to refresh my memory (I wonder how many other readers of series do this).  Now, I've finished The Magician's Land and have to admit to a sense of satisfaction about it all.  The only problem is, there is no way I can adequately describe the plot to the story in this book without not only giving it away, but also giving away what happened in the first book (The Magicians) and the second (The Magician King).  But I can still provide some general reactions I got from it...

The chief protagonist in the Magicians series is a young man named Quentin Coldwater.  Early in the first book, while thinking that he was going to a Manhattan-based interview for admission into an Ivy League college, Quentin suddenly finds himself whisked off to a mysterious campus in upstate New York, where he is tested for admission into Brakebills, an academy designed for training magicians.  And by magicians, I don't mean the showmen who ply their tricks before an audience, but rather people who possess magical abilities, like the wizards in the Harry Potter series.  For a while, it looked as if Grossman was going to provide a more adult counterpart of Rowling's Hogwarts Academy, but as the story progresses a different target of imitation is revealed: C.S. Lewis and his fantasy world of Narnia.  Only in Quentin's world, the stories he grew up loving were about an imaginary land called Fillory.  And now I'm at the point where I feel a little reticent about describing what happens next.  But you might well imagine that Quentin has his friends, enemies, mentors, love interests, and many, many mysteries to solve.  Through his losses, as well as his victories, he grows up and discovers himself and what's important in life (and what isn't).  So in an important respect, this series is about someone growing up from an immature adolescent mindset into a caring, mature adult.  Only with Quentin, what he does has an enormous impact on his friends, foes, and surroundings...after all, he turns out to be no mediocre magician.

I think you'd enjoy Lev Grossman's Magicians series if you liked reading through the Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia series (and I mean READING, not just watching the movies)...in an important sense, these three series are not as much about the "magic" as much as they are about how people's characters, especially as they pertain to aspects of personality like jealousy, loyalty, regret, courage, sacrificial love, idealism, cynicism, timidity, and boldness, affect each other and the world...and how they can change within individuals over time, especially after they endure personal storms, some of them devastating in nature...

I will make one comment about the ending to The Magician's Land: I don't know whether Lev Grossman intended it to be this way, but it did bring a satisfying sense of closure to the series for me...although it did leave the door open wide enough to start a new one based on where things left off, should the author wish it.  After all, it wouldn't be the first time a writer came back to tack on additional books to an already-concluded series (Terry Goodkind and Brandon Sanderson are doing this as I write)...

College Football Full of Disappointments

Please forgive me for a little cynicism here...but college football, as in all other sports, produces an unpleasant side effect among its fans.  After all, since it's no fun watching a game without caring who wins, it stands to reason that people eventually start rooting for their favorite teams.  The biggest prize of all at the end of the season is the national championship, so disappointment #1 occurs usually very early on when one's team has already suffered a couple of losses and that lofty goal seems to have passed by.  For them, the next goal is for their team to win their conference's division...which they probably won't, resulting in  disappointment #2.  Then their hopes fall back on at least mustering up a non-losing record, which will give them a post-season bowl bid.  And then maybe they don't get that far, either: disappointment #3.  But for the teams that at least get a bowl bid, half of them will lose that game, ending their season on a disappointing (#4) note.  For the teams that are fortunate and skillful enough to win a conference division title, half of them will spend the off-season ruminating about losing the championship game (disappointment #5).  Then, for the fans of the conference champions, those who are excluded from the four-team national championship playoff will be disappointed (#6).  Of the four remaining teams, three will lose (#7,8, and 9) leaving only one team each year that the fans can fully celebrate without disappointment.  But no, although they may temporarily feel great, even these are now burdened with unrealistically high expectations for their team in the future...anything short of a national championship will now feel something like a failed season, a disappointment for years to come...

Just Finished Reading Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontë wrote one famous book before her sad, premature death at age 30: it was the 1847 novel Wuthering Heights, set in rural England in the late 18th century and the start of the 19th.  It is a curiously presented story, told in the first person by an outside character named Lockwood who happens to be residing for a short period on the estate that the story centers around.  However, most of the tale comes out, once again in the first person, as housekeeper Nelly Dean lays out the history of the families involved.  Lockwood, a new tenant on the property, is entranced by her story, as his first impression of his host, a Mister Heathcliff, is traumatic from his poor treatment after a visit to the latter's home on Wuthering Heights...being attacked by his dogs and treated disrespectfully, both by Heathcliff and his employees and relations.  Among these are Healthcliff's sullen daughter-in-law Cathy, an uncouth young man named Hareton Earnshaw, and a cranky old man named Joseph. Nelly herself works at the house Lockwood is staying at, but her personal history is all about Wuthering Heights, having grown up there with Heathcliff and his family...if you can honestly call it "his" family.  Oh, and there also seems to be a ghost lurking around the place named "Catherine"...and Heathcliff knows all about it after Lockwood loudly screams out in his sleep, thinking he dreamed about seeing her. Yes, there is a rather complicated background to the present circumstances...and why exactly is Heathcliff such a vindictive and viciously rude man?  Nelly lays it all out in her tale to Lockwood...

Wuthering Heights is a story about two neighboring families, the Earnshaws and Lintons.  They both have a sense of nobility about themselves, which contributes to the developing problem as the elder Earnshaw one day brings home from Liverpool a homeless "gypsy-like" little boy (Heathcliff) that he adopts as his own son and showers favoritism upon, to the disadvantage and envy of his biological son.  The resentment between the two boys grows into full-blown mutual hatred, and the two spend the remainder of their lives deliberately undermining the dreams and hopes of the other, purely out of spite.  Then Heathcliff has to deal with his affections for Catherine, his "sister", who has gone over to the Linton's and married into that family.  More resentment, hatred, jealousy, regret, revenge...a vicious cycle that consumes Heathcliff and condemns him to being seen as something of a monster to those around him ...and ultimately destroys him.

There's something rather easy about looking about how other people dwell upon the past in their lives in an unhealthy manner, but it's often hard to see the same thing in one's own life.  But this book definitely made me wonder if maybe I had better take a hard look at my own life and see if I might be holding on to some negative, harmful (to me) grudges...

B-r-r-r, Cold Nights Ahead in Northern Florida

Winter is descending on us early this year, with a severe cold front sweeping through yesterday, featuring a strong squall line putting everyone on alert at about 1:10 in the afternoon.  Since then, the forecast lows for the upcoming days and nights have gradually tilted toward colder conditions.  This morning it got down into the low 40's, which wasn't so bad...I wish that's as low as it would go, though.  Tonight here in Gainesville we're going to have a hard freeze, with a predicted low of 24-25 (for my millions of European readers, that's Fahrenheit, not Celsius).  Another hard freeze is due again the following night, and possibly the next as well.  All of this coldness will be dry, though, as it usually is this far south.

I like cold weather, but not past the freezing point.  I imagine that the folks living up north are due for their annual laugh at the expense of us southerners who complain about conditions that they would regard as mild, especially considering the complete absence of snow or ice here.  And a little further up north, where there is precipitation? No doubt, once again the news shows will soon be highlighting the numerous traffic accidents around Atlanta that take place this time of year when drivers unprepared for wet wintertime conditions encounter icy, frozen roads and begin to slip and slide...

Just Finished Reading Ray Bradbury's Farewell Summer

First of all, let me warn the reader that, although I usually try to leave the ending of books I read out of my reviews in order to avoid "giving it away", this time around I made an exception.  So if you haven't yet read Ray Bradbury's novel Farewell Summer and are thinking of doing so, you might want to put off reading this article until afterward...

Back when I was in high school, I read Ray Bradbury's short novel Dandelion Wine.  For some reason, the paperback book cover depicted it as some kind of scary science fiction/horror story.  Nothing could be further from the truth: it was a nostalgic journey by Bradbury back to his childhood days, about a boy like himself growing up in a small Illinois town back in the late 1920's.  To this day I regard it as one of my favorites.  Dandelion Wine was published in 1957, and a sequel, titled Farewell Summer, came out in 2006.  In it, the protagonist, Douglas Spaulding, has aged a few years and is now 14.  His younger brother, Tom, is 12.  The two, along with their buddies, are waging "war" against the old people, who they suspect of never having never been young and of conspiring against the children.  So, in this "war" of theirs, they do foolish things like steal the chess pieces which Douglas says the elderly are using to control them, as well as break the town clock in order to keep time from making them older.  The elderly folk in town are largely unaware of the kids' concerns...except for Quartermain, who thinks that Douglas murdered his elderly hypochondriac friend by shooting a cap gun at him (causing a heart attack) and was trying to kill him by running over him with his bicycle.  Quartermain, after open hostility and suspicion toward Douglas and his friends, eventually decides to try a different tactic and be nice to them.  As the book draws to an end, he realizes that, never having married or had children of his own, he has missed out and forgotten what it is like to be young like the boys.  Finally, in an enigmatic twist at the book's end, Bradbury implies that there is a mysterious "spirit" of sexuality that the outgoing generation transfers to the emerging one.  I found this part at the end to be somewhat weird...and ultimately hilarious.  I think a lot of that was in the wording Bradbury used.  Another, rather serious flaw I saw in the book was how he made children in the 12-14 age range think and speak more like 6-8 year olds...

If you have read Dandelion Wine, which to me is a complete story in itself, and think that you're going to get the same quality story in Farewell Summer, be forewarned: it isn't.  Instead, it is a more philosophical discussion on aging, generation gaps, and the passing on of the "torch of life", so to speak, from one generation to another.  Not a bad topic for discussion, but in my opinion Bradbury went about it in the most annoying way possible.  Then again, you may think differently if you read it...

Gators' "Swamp" a Nemesis for Home Team

It used to be that playing football games at the University of Florida's home Ben Hill Griffin stadium, nicknamed "The Swamp", was an almost insurmountable obstacle for the visiting team.  Now it seems that the home team is having issues with it.  In the Gators' last four games, one was on the road (Florida win, 34-10), one was at a neutral site (Florida win, 38-20), and two were at home (both Florida losses, 42-13 and today's overtime loss to South Carolina, 23-20).  And it's not a matter of opposing teams coming in here and playing over their heads: their play, if anything, has been unimpressive.  Instead, it's been Florida that has stumbled and faltered with turnovers, penalties, and disastrous lapses in special teams play.  To me, that's a sign of slipshod coaching...

I wrote a couple of days ago that Florida still had a shot at the SEC title...now they're left just trying to finish with a winning season and a bowl invitation.  To accomplish this, they only need to win over their second small-college "pushover" opponent, which is their next scheduled game.  But a couple of points here: (1) two years ago the Gators very nearly lost their late season "easy" game and last year they did lose it...and (2) the upcoming game next Saturday against Eastern Kentucky is being played in "The Swamp".  Maybe they can reschedule it to take place somewhere else...

Sleep, Saturday Starbucks, Running

Last night, after sleeping for much of the day after I finally arrived home around eight in the morning, following a full work week, I had planned to devote much of that evening to assorted projects...including some running.  Instead, I passed out and slept on into Saturday morning, having spent most of Friday after work in an unconscious state.  I have more than once heard it said that you can't make up for sleep deficits by sleeping for long stretches, but those who maintain that viewpoint obviously never met me.  I feel much, much better now and know that sometimes my body knows better and will wisely pull that "off" switch as soon as it realizes that I am safe and sound, off the road and in my home.

Now I'm enjoying my weekly late Saturday morning visit to my local Magnolia Parke Starbucks.  This is apparently the "happening" place in town, as the line of customers is going outside the shop, and every seat is taken up...except the shaded outdoor ones on this cold November morning.  It reminds me of our Midtown Manhattan visit back in '10 when everything was wall-to-wall people, with the only thing missing being the curb-to-curb yellow taxicabs (and, oh yeah, those monstrous skyscrapers blotting out the sky)...

As I had written on this blog a few days ago, I had been seriously considering entering the St. Augustine Half-Marathon, which is scheduled for tomorrow morning.  But there were factors that ultimately made me decide to delay my reentry into "half-marathoning": I would have had to get up around three in the morning and drive out there, run the race, stand around for an hour or two for the awards ceremony (if the posted results showed me eligible for one), and then drive back to Gainesville, all tired and sore.  Add to that the steep entry fees charged for these races ($85 if registered online or $100 on race day) and I decided that this would have to wait until another day.  Instead, yesterday, during my brief interlude of consciousness between long sleeps, I went out to my Lloyd Clarke Sports store on 13th Street (US 441) and signed up for the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 10K (6.2 miles) Race that will be held here in town on the grounds of Tacachale, an institution for the developmentally disabled.  The price tag for entering? Just $25, and only $15 had I not wanted a tee-shirt.  Now, that's much, much better...

Recently Read Spencer Johnson's Book, Titled Who Moved My Cheese?

There's a little book out there, first published in 1998, that big corporations like Exxon, General Motors, Goodyear, Kodak, and the like are embracing and distributing among its employees to read: Who Moved My Cheese?, by Spencer Johnson. Johnson also co-wrote, along with Kenneth Blanchard, the famous book The One Minute Manager.  Although the inside jacket of the hardcover copy of Who Moved My Cheese? states the price at a hefty $19.95, the book itself is only 94 pages long...with large print.

Melissa had read it and liked the message, so one evening recently she handed her copy to me to see what I thought of it.  I put it to the side (immediately engrossed at the time with a Mexican soccer match on TV), thinking of coming back to it on some future date. But later on, around midnight, I reached over, picked it up, and breezed through it.  The message contained in it focuses on a childish, childlike story of two mice and two mice-sized people in a maze looking for cheese and how the attitudes of each one affect its chances of success as change comes along and challenges them each to adapt in order to keeping getting their cheese.  Each of the mice reacts instinctively when one (named Sniff) discovers the supply they had initially found by running through the maze to be dwindling (through consumption) and the other (Scurry) immediately sets back off in the maze to look for more.  The two people both linger about the old cheese as it gradually disappears and ponder what to do about it.  One is stubborn and opposed to change and stays put, refusing to go anywhere because this is his territory, by gosh, and it's his cheese that's he's entitled to...and more should be brought here for him.  The other person initially goes along with Hem's resistance to change, but eventually reasons out what the mice knew instinctively: more cheese probably isn't going to come soon, and survival dictates action in the form of following the mice down the maze in pursuit of more cheese.  As Haw, the wise human, leaves behind Hem, the stubborn one, in his stagnation, he discovers some wise principles during his quest...which the book presents every few pages (e.g. "If you do not move, you can become extinct", "Noticing small changes early helps you adapt to the bigger changes that are to come.") Eventually, Haw finds a wealth of cheese (as do the mice) and returns to tell Hem about it...but his erstwhile companion still refuses to budge.

Who Moved My Cheese? is so beloved by big corporations for an obvious reasons: they want to institute a large paradigm shift in their work force away from tradition and community and toward the flexibility pertaining to future job assignments and locations that the company demands.  Of course, the work force can go one step further and say that, if a particular company they are working for is not giving them the treatment they had been enjoying (i.e. "the cheese is dwindling"), they can go look for better work ("get back in the maze").  Still, the lesson here is a bit unsettling: the times we live in, as Alvin Toffler expressed in his decades-old book Future Shock, are accelerating us into ever-increasing demands for change while depriving us of the security of a stable job and home community.

Another aspect I noticed in this book is that all four characters are in agreement about what they all want the most, which is "cheese".  I'm assuming from this is that "cheese" is simply a simplified allegory of the basics for survival, like food, shelter, clothing, and medical care.  The implication that we are all going to have to struggle and scurry around continually for the remainder of our pathetic little lives just to "survive", though, is not a message that I feel marks an enlightened, civilized society...but it is the essence instead of an unregulated, wild-west-type free market capitalism that rejects any notion of safety nets provided by society in the form of government programs.  No wonder the big corporations love this book.  That having been said, though, I have to look at things from my own perspective as an individual person, just as other readers need to do as well.  And the question is not necessarily how things should be, but rather how things really are (for better or for worse)...and from this realization, what's the best course of action for me to take...

Football: Florida Gators Still in SEC Title Hunt

I'd better get this written before Saturday, because on that day this article's message may be a moot point.  But the fact remains...at this late point in the season approaching mid-November...that the University of Florida football team, incredibly, is still in the running to win the prestigious Southeastern Conference championship, despite having three losses.  But their win over Georgia three weeks ago gives them the tiebreaker if the two end up with same conference win-loss records.  And in a three-way tie with the Bulldogs and Missouri, Florida would prevail as long as the Tigers lose their upcoming game at Tennessee...a distinct possibility.  So right now, in terms of conference records, Missouri is 4-1, Georgia is 5-2, and Florida is 4-3.  This Saturday, if higher-ranked Auburn wins against Georgia and Florida beats South Carolina, the two East Division contenders will finish their conference schedule with 5-3 records.  That would leave Missouri, who plays Texas A&M on the road Saturday, Tennessee in Knoxville the following week, and then closes at home against Arkansas.  They could well lose all three games, although as far as Florida's title hopes are concerned they need only lose to Tennessee and to either Texas A&M or Arkansas.

If all this happens...and it very well could...Florida would be going to Atlanta to play the West Division winner, which at this point looks like either Mississippi State or Alabama (the two play each other this Saturday).  Naturally, if the Gators went on to a big upset victory in this speculative title game, they still wouldn't be in contention for the national championship playoffs.  But for head coach Will Muschamp, just getting to the title game would be a great turnaround from the desperate position he was in just a few weeks ago after losing a close game to LSU and being humiliated by Missouri in Florida's homecoming game...

Just Finished Reading Brandon Sanderson's The Alloy of Law

I recently completed fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy...a series that I liked a lot and which ends as trilogies should end: "conclusively".  Yet, Sanderson has now seen fit to go back to this fantasy world of mist and allomancers (people with the inherited ability to burn metals that give them temporary superhuman powers).  Set a few centuries after the the original series, the world has changed.  It is now becoming more and more technologically advanced, and the original fantasy format is now changing to one more of a science fiction/alternate reality nature, with a remarkable similarity at times to Stephen King's celebrated Dark Tower series (especially regarding gunslinging and train riding).  As a matter of fact, the protagonists Wax (Waxillium Ladrian) and his sidekick Wayne are sharp-shooting lawmen in a wild west scenario.  The Alloy of Law centers on Wax's developing worldview as he comes to grip that Miles, one of his fellow lawmen, has turned outlaw and is leading a popular revolt.  However, there seems to be a mystery nobleman behind the scenes manipulating Miles.  Also thrown into the mix of the story are love interests for Wax: Lessie, Marasi, and Steris.  The story about Lessie really reminds me of  The Dark Tower...especially book number four.  As it turns out, not only is Wax an excellent shooter, but he, along with Wayne, Miles, and Marasi are all allomancers who possess special abilities to burn certain metals.  The story progresses to a showdown between Wax and Miles...guess who wins?  Hint: the next book is due out in a few months!

I have to admit that I didn't particularly enjoy The Alloy of Law as much as Sanderson's masterfully conceived and written first trilogy.  There is no special, new world here to discover...just variations of the old, which has evolved in accordance with the way that trilogy's final volume, The Hero of Ages, ended.  Still, this book was an interesting, fun story that often has more in common with the western genre of fiction than fantasy.  Well, western combined with sci fi, like, as I said before, The Dark Tower.  Or even The Wild, Wild, West...

Yes to Movie and TV Episode Reruns, No to Sports Reruns

I have a tendency to watch my favorite TV shows and movies over and over again, enough though I thoroughly know their outcomes and can often recite the dialogue word-for-word just before it is spoken.  But when it comes to watching sporting events, even those that feature my favorite teams or solo athletes, I dislike reruns and avoid them with a passion.  The only exception to this is if a rerun of a game is rebroadcast and I don't yet know the outcome.  Then it's like I'm watching it live.  Only one problem with that, though, and its a frustratingly recurring one...

I'll be on a channel showing such a rebroadcast, say, for example, of the English Premier League of soccer, with "my" team Arsenal playing in a game from the previous weekend that I haven't yet seen, and I'll sit down to watch it.  Everything will be fine for a few minutes, when suddenly the little scrolling "information" line at the bottom of the screen will start displaying final scores...and the final score of the game I've begun watching will prominently be shown!  I've seen this happen too many times and wonder why they don't just withhold the score of the one game they are showing...they can show still all the other final scores, for all the difference that makes.

Another gripe I have with sports reruns is that there is almost always enough going on that they don't have to keep showing the same game again.  I find this especially annoying when I'm on the Univision Deportes (Spanish language sports) channel and watch a live broadcast of one of Mexico's top-tier Liga MX soccer league games...say, pitting Pumas against Tigres.  I watch the game, enjoy it, and a few days later am ready to watch another soccer match on Univision Deportes...but find that they are showing a rerun of that same Pumas-Tigres contest.  Why not show a different game...it doesn't even have to be from Liga MX.  They could show a lower Mexican league game in that time slot...or even one from some other country's soccer league, for that matter.

It isn't just a "soccer" phenomenon, these sports reruns.  I regularly scan through the upcoming sports broadcasts on the many channels I get and often run across football, baseball, and basketball games that weren't just played recently, but rather months or even years earlier.  I don't get it with these reruns, but then again I imagine some people wouldn't get it about my own absorption with reruns of my favorite movie and TV episodes.  To each his own, I suppose...

Disparate Framing of Political Debate on Sensitive Issues

When I hear various political issues brought up in the media, the two main opposing sides of the debate will usually frame it in entirely different ways.  Often the two sides will engage in a verbal dance of sorts, with neither side coming to grips with what the other is actually saying.  One such recurring pattern to political debates is what I call the "rights vs. funding" argument.  Take an issue in which one side, usually on the political left (but not always), is pushing for what it perceives as a basic right to be promoted and recognized by society and law.  Without necessarily attacking the issue head-on, I often see the opponents of such efforts (usually on the political right) instead attacking the notion that, once a "right" has been established, then the party whose "right" needs to be respected has the "right" to expect others in society to subsidize their exercise of it...through government mandates and taxation.  This is especially true regarding anything that falls under the umbrella of "medical" or "health" care.  If you have a certain "right" that involves going to the doctor or pharmacy, then for some reason everyone in society is now obligated to collectively pay for your exercise of said "right", even if what you are doing is an elective choice and not medically necessary. From what I see, the main justification for the argument of government (and, ultimately, the taxpayer) stepping in to pay is that by not doing so, those in society who don't have enough money are in a disadvantageous position and that this makes things unfair...so we all have to pitch in.
   
So with issues like abortion or birth control, the left will argue about the right of people, especially women, to be able to freely make reproductive choices in their lives...which they say is none of the government's business, much less anyone else.  At the same time, the right will counter-argue that just because someone has a choice, that doesn't give them the right to make everyone else pay for it through the government.

Naturally, there are some very serious ethical, moral, and religious issues concerning abortion and birth control.  Those supporting choice and open access to birth control will argue that it is a matter of privacy and others should mind their own business while at the same time use the "inequality" issue to argue that the very same people who are supposed to mind their own business and respect their private choices have to fund those choices.  But the left will argue about restrictive laws and the closing of abortion clinics while the right will argue about making people pay through the government for what many of them see as the immoral behavior of others.

I see a similar pattern of argumentation when it comes to the issue of illegal immigration.  Proponents of the more liberal reform measures will argue that this is both a human and civil rights issue, while the more conservative viewpoints stress that others (namely, those already legally here) should not have to pay for what was obviously an elective, willful choice of people to flout the law and cross the border illegally.  Here again is the disparate framing.

I think I'm going to keep a separate little journal along my side whenever I watch C-Span (showing US House of Representatives proceedings) or C-Span2 (showing the US Senate) during the next year.  It will be interesting to see the different angles of the debates going on regarding various issues that the two sides take...along with their justifying arguments...and see how many of them focus on "rights" vs "funding"...

ESPN Analysts Display Lack of Probability Knowledge

Yesterday, on ESPN's Sport Center, they were going on about how badly the Los Angeles Lakers are doing so far this year, going winless in their first five games.  One point they brought up was the upcoming schedule for them, with Kobe Bryant and company favored to lose each of their  next eight games.  There were actual percentage probabilities given for the Lakers to win each game, with the figures hovering around the 30th and 40th percentiles.  Then one of the announcers got to the point of all this, which is that they may well lose all eight games and start the season off at 0-13.  I beg to differ...

I didn't get all of the percentage predictions of each game (I wonder how they even arrived at them), but I think I'm being pretty conservative at saying they averaged about a 35% winning probability given for each game (it's probably higher).  That means that the losing probability for each game is .65: for the Lakers to lose all eight of their next games, you would need to take that probability to the eighth power:

(,65)(.65)(.65)(.65)(.65)(.65)(.65)(.65)=.032 , or 3.2%

In other words, even though the Lakers may be heavy underdogs in each of the next eight games with only a 35% average chance of winning each one, the probability of them losing ALL eight games is only 3.2%!

This is a glaring example of how otherwise very intelligent and educated people can falter the minute they go any distance in interpreting statistical data or anything dealing with probability.  Will the Lakers actually lose their next eight games?  Maybe, but it's not very likely given the input data...

Just Finished Reading Joseph Heller's Catch-22

You know you've written something significant when a defining principle expressed within it becomes enshrined as an integral part of the culture.  That is what happened with Joseph Heller's 1961 novel Catch-22, which I understand was embraced by the anti-war counterculture movement of the late 1960s....not to mention becoming a standard high school/college English class reading assignment (groan) for millions.  The title words "Catch-22" refer to a situation in which, no matter what one does, the result will be unsatisfactory...and it is the process itself that always leads to the undesired ending.  It is a kind of "double-bind" that isn't necessarily personal in nature but often is embedded within official social institutions...like the Army of the author's World War II experiences.

During World War II, Heller served as a bomber pilot, based on a Mediterranean island off the coast of Italy.  Likewise, his protagonist, John Yossarian, is such a pilot with many missions already under his belt.  He is ready to go home, being certain that if he keeps flying missions over the enemy then he will be shot down and killed.  And, for most of the Army pilots, he would already have had enough flights to qualify to go home.  But his own commander, Colonel Cathcart, is trying to become a general by "volunteering" his men to more and more flights, continually raising the flight limit.

Yossarian visits the base's physician and tells him that he (Yossarian) is insane and therefore to please confirm this fact so that he can be sent back home.  Dr. Daneeka responds by saying that, for anyone to be sent home, they must make the request for it...but the act of making such a request reveals that they are rational and not insane...and hence ineligible to be sent home.  Yossarian then points out to Dr. D one of his fellow pilots and asks him whether this individual is insane.  The good doctor responds by agreeing that he is crazy and eligible to go home...and he can request it.  But the moment he does so, then he is committing a rational act and therefore is sane and ineligible.  This is the book's main illustration of the principle of "Catch-22": an algorithm of interaction and logic that always leads to an unsatisfactory outcome, regardless what information is given initially.  Certainly I've seen this process repeated in many, many situations over the course of my life: it's not just an "Army" thing...

Catch-22 is loaded with these types of circular arguments among its many characters.  The ultimate effect is that everything is a farce, and it would be hilarious were it not for the fact that all were in the midst of a brutal war where people were being killed and injured.  This story ruthlessly satirizes the command structure of the military, but could be applied to just about any group in society that depends on a hierarchy of authorities.  It also exposes, with the character of mess hall officer Milo, who has become rich by developing an intricate trade system in the region (and even making enemy nations Germany and Italy "shareholders"), the two-faced nature of business...quite willing to work against the national interests if there is a profit to be made...and how they are continually given a "free pass" and not held accountable for their seemingly treasonous acts because they are engaged in the high and noble act of "free enterprise"...

I heartily recommend Catch-22 and, unlike an English teacher, won't be grading you on your reactions.  It isn't long at all, but it does contain very much concentrated, intense dialogue...intense in the sense that there is a lot of reasoning going on here...albeit often very faulty reasoning.  It is also very big on humor...my favorite character is the misunderstood Major Major Major Major (continually accused of looking too much like Henry Fonda), who pulls his own brand of  "Catch-22" on others by refusing to see anyone unless he is out...

Voted Today, We'll See How It All Turns Out

After getting off from work this morning at 7:30, I drove over to my local precinct and voted on this Election Day.  The voting room (unlike with recent low-turnout elections) had other voters besides myself, but there still weren't that many.  Maybe now, with the polls open until 7 PM, there are more people casting their ballots.  Anyway, I made my voting choices exactly the way I said I would a few days ago on this blog.  I'm sure that some of my candidates and issues will win and some will lose, but regardless how the results tally up, I feel satisfied that I performed my civic duty and participated in this representative democracy of ours.  After I got home, I was getting pretty sleepy, it being at the end of my "day" as it was, but I thought I might write a short blog article urging people to vote and post it on Facebook.  But when I got on Facebook, I could easily see that there were already several postings from others exhorting people to vote.  So I waited until now...but at this posting there's still time for you to vote if you're registered!

There is a lot of talk on TV about the close US Senate races (in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Kansas, and Georgia) being decided today, and how the Republicans might well be on their way to the first Senate majority they have had in eight years.  It should be interesting watching the cable news channels tonight as the results start coming in.  Unfortunately, regardless whether the Democrats or Republicans end up controlling the Senate, we'll probably still be stuck with their old leaders: Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell both need to step down and allow more persuasive and less antagonistic leaders to step up.  But I seriously doubt that they will, seeing how much each one craves power...

Reviewing Lev Grossman's Magician Series Before Starting Third Book

Many of the different series of books that I have read over recent years were already completely written by the time I began with them, making the process of covering them all relatively quick, with little time between books for me to forget characters or various aspects of the story line...Stephen Kind's Dark Tower series is an example for me.  Then again, there are other series for which the author is still writing new books every few years or so...George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire is a case in point.  For these series, I have experienced the need to review the previous books before I begin on the next, newly published installment.  This also applies to the new (and presumably final) book in Lev Grossman's Magician series, the third book of which , titled The Magician's Land, has just come out and which I just got from Amazon on my Kindle.

I have just finished rereading the first book, titled The Magicians, and will start on book #2, The Magician King, tonight.  This is a great fantasy series with characters of depth and refreshingly rooted in our "real" world instead of the typical make-believe continents with the obscure, hard-to-read maps and "epic", convoluted history.  Not that Grossman hasn't inserted his own imaginary land into the story in Fillory (which he clearly and deliberately has fashioned after C.S. Lewis' Narnia), but the characters are based in our own world and time frame.

I'm glad I'm going through this review of the first two books in the series. Had I not, I know I would have been missing out on many details that will probably be referred back to in the new book...

Looking Ahead at Upcoming Half-Marathon Races

I'm looking ahead at the half-marathon calendar before me, specifically for the races available for the next few months here in northern Florida.  I see a few ahead that I might be interested in entering:

November 16 (Sunday): St. Augustine Half-Marathon
November 30 (Sunday): Space Coast Half-Marathon...in Cocoa
December 20 (Saturday evening): Starlight Half-Marathon...in Palm Coast

...and on New Years Day 2015, the annual John Walker Memorial Half-Marathon will take place here in Gainesville, on the Hawthorne Trail.

I think I did something like this preview on my blog last year, too, but didn't feel I was in good enough shape to run in a half-marathon at the time.  Now I feel differently, but I still have this sense of inertia about stepping forward, registering, and then getting out there and running them.  But I do have a good feeling about the November 16 and January 1 races...I'd love to run through St. Augustine!

Next January and February will feature the Ocala and FivePoints (Gainesville) Half-Marathons, respectively.  I'd like to run in both of these races.  Should I finish the winter half-marathon season down here in Florida will four more races to my "collection", that would be, at least for me, quite a feat.  So let's see how I do in the next few weeks...

Can't Figure Out This Game Called Football

Being an avid Southeastern Conference fan in college football, I was amazed three weeks ago how severely Georgia manhandled divisional rival Missouri 34-0.  After all, the Bulldogs were operating without the services of their star runner Todd Gurley, who has been (and still is) under suspension for alleged violations of NCAA rules concerning autographs.  If anything, the game was considered to be an evenly matched tossup, but the Tigers instead were humiliated.  So Missouri's next opponent, the Florida Gators, must have been thinking that they weren't all that tough after all...besides, this was a homecoming game for Florida, in that difficult stadium for visitors known as "The Swamp".  Instead, Missouri proceeded in turn to thoroughly humiliate the Gators, 42-13...a 29-point margin.  Ouch.  But who was Florida's next opponent?  Oh-no, it's Georgia, the team that, by 34 points, beat the team that beat Florida by 29...that sounds like they're 63 points ahead of the Gators.  This was going to be a blowout, right?

Well, that game finished early this evening, and it wasn't Georgia prevailing by nine touchdowns.  Or even one.  The final score? Florida 38, Georgia 20.

Go figure, if you can...

My October 2014 Running Report

In October, 2014, I ran a total of 310 miles, the most I have ever accomplished in a month.  I did it not by amassing great, long single runs, but rather by running several times during the course of the day...with my longest single run for the entire month coming in at just 6.3 miles.  But my longest "calendar day" running mileage was 26.7 miles, done over the span of October 4.  I ran on every day of the month.

By running more often instead of going on very long runs, I am endeavoring to achieve a balance between training for longer distance races while taking care of my body to avoid injury.  So far it's working, although I have yet to run in a race since my Five Points of Life Half-Marathon back in February, here in Gainesville.  I had been considering the recently held half-marathon in Apalachicola, Florida, but because they insisted on race packet pickup the day before...no exceptions...I passed up on it.  I could have made the drive over to the race and back, but I wasn't going to stay overnight at a hotel there, just because of their asinine policy...which was probably designed to make entrants stay overnight at one of their hotels!  In November, I'll have several opportunities to run in different races and will try to get in at least a couple...

Just Finished Reading Daniel Abraham's The Dragon's Path

Daniel Abraham is a prolific author of science fiction and fantasy stories who often collaborates with others...and likes to use pseudonyms.  Although his ongoing fantasy series The Dagger and the Coin is a solo project published under his own name, Abraham has nonetheless  been receiving much encouragement with it from his friend, George R.R. Martin, of A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) fame.  And as I have earlier written in another article, Abraham's series bears a remarkable resemblance to Martin's.  For one, the characters all have within their personalities...even those being presented as "heroic" protagonists...a rather objectionable brutality.  Also, there is a conflict going on in the central kingdom (with a weak king and serious questions about succession) between the protagonists, who want to suppress the common people and maintain strict authoritarian rule under the nobility, and the antagonists, who have allied themselves with the farmers and other commoners to push for more reforms.  So as a reader I feel that the author is persuading me to take the "good guy" Dawson's side and oppose "bad guy" Issandrian...but I prefer the latter.  Another "hero", Geder, is also extremely brutal and selfish...but he likes to read books, so I guess I'm supposed to like him, too!

In The Dragon's Path, the character Dawson reminds me of Martin's Ned Stark, Geder reminds me a bit of his Tyrion, and there is a subplot across the continent that features the characters Cithrin and Marcus.  Cithrin is like a cross between Martin's Daenerys and Arya, and Marcus resembles Jorah Mormont in that both men are feeling a growing love toward a young woman they are protecting who has a sense of destiny (with Marcus it's Cithrin and with Lord Mormont it's Daenerys).  There is also an extensive historical past with dragons ruling in both series, as well as an aggressive, strange religion that carries sinister foreboding as it spreads.  In a departure from Martin, though, Abraham's human population is divided into several extremely distinct "races", some with scales, some with heavy fur, some with tusks, etc,. and an ongoing mystery as to why it is so divided...

The series name The Dagger and the Coin refers to the great dynamic conquering forces in this fantasy world (and our own, for that matter): war and finance...and seems to be engaged in the question of which of the two truly reigns supreme.  In spite of the relative lack of innovation in The Dragon's Path, I like Daniel Abraham's writing and appreciate how he presents his characters, who already are memorable to me.  I want to know what happens next after this book, and the author has obliged with three more installments in the series, with more to come...

Early Outbreak Convinces Me to Get Flu Shot

Yesterday I decided I had put it off long enough already and got my annual flu shot.  I usually don't get it until a little later in the year, but this year so far quite a few people have already come down with the flu...and my doctor has already told me that, due to a continuing medical condition, I need to get a shot each year.  That's no guarantee that I won't come down with it, though: the last time I caught the flu, a little more than ten years ago, I had gotten a flu shot but to no avail.  Still, the game here is to increase my odds...which also includes being careful to wash my hands often, especially before eating...and otherwise keeping my hands from my face.

You can choose to get all worried and excited about the Ebola virus and the latest news scoops about it. But while that's going on, the flu is quietly spreading through the population, debilitating many and even killing a few in the process.  It is much more of an immediate health threat than Ebola...and it's also something you can take effective action to help prevent for yourself and loved ones...

Just Finished Reading Tolstoy's Anna Karenina

I've just finished reading Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, published in 1878 and considered in literary circles to be among the very best novels ever written.  Its setting is primarily in Russia of that time period, specifically in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the countryside around them.  The main characters are of the noble class, still separated to a great degree from the peasantry and working class and with their own society and customs.  Naturally, the chief protagonist is the title character, a young woman named Anna Karenina, who is suffering through a marriage to a man much older than her, and for whom she feels no love.  Onto the scene strides young Count Vronsky, a free spirit with the habit of seeing women as potential conquests, and the two fall head over heels in love with each other...of course, placing her in a precarious situation with her marital infidelity.  But instead of continuing their affair confidentially, Anna decides to openly reveal everything to Karenin, her husband...which turns out to be a critical mistake.  For, it seems, extramarital affairs are quite commonplace among the Russian nobility...but the participants follow certain rules of discretion that serve to protect themselves with their marriages and social standing.  Because of Anna's outspokenness, though, she instead suffers public disgrace from her affair.  Vronsky wants to marry her, and eventually she also desires a divorce from her husband with the same aim...but by that time Karenin has changed his mind about granting her one.  What happens next? I leave that to you, good reader, to discover for yourself...

Although Anna Karenina is the "official" main character in this story, I feel rather that a rural land-owning nobleman named Constantin Levin truly fits that role.  I also believe that the author spoke his own philosophical beliefs and questions through this character.  I had earlier written on this blog that I could find no character in Anna Karenina with whom I could empathize.  Well, I did come to appreciate Levin, a character strongly reminiscent in his awkwardness regarding Russian noble society to Pierre, Tolstoy's protagonist in his earlier work War and Peace. Levin has his own love interest in young Kitty, who happens to be Anna's brother's niece (ultimately, it seems, everyone in nobility is related). One of the more humorous parts of the novel is when Levin, invited to participate in the government's nobility-run legislative assembly, finds himself completely baffled by the political process, stumbling through different proceedings without knowing what he is doing.

In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy explores in depth the feelings of his characters and their inner motivations for what they say and do.  So this is a psychological novel of the first order.  But also covered is the Russian society contemporary to Tolstoy's writing...not only the inner social dynamics of the nobility, but also the sometimes changing, sometimes stagnant relationship between that nobility and the "lower" classes, complete with the misunderstandings and mistrust separating them.  And on still another, and very significant level, religion and God's role in people's lives are discussed through various characters...mainly from Levin himself at the story's end.

I don't know whether Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is the best novel ever written, but I did enjoy it and recommend it.  But as for my own preferences, I liked his War and Peace more...

The 2014 General Election As I See It

The 2014 general election is in full swing here in Alachua County, Florida, with early voting now available.  For me, I cast an early ballot in an election a few years ago but greatly prefer the election day ritual at my local precinct (which this year is on November 4).  Besides, it gives me a chance to check up on what's going on at my precinct site, which just so happens to be the community senior recreational center (which I'll be eligible to use in less than two years).  This year it's no high-glamour presidential election...just the governorship of Florida at stake, along with some state cabinet positions, a U.S. house race, a couple of county commission races, a county tax collector race, five district judge retention questions, three state constitutional amendments, an Alachua County referendum...and an Alachua County nonbinding straw ballot question.  For me, that's plenty to vote on, but I predict that less than half of the eligible voters will cast their ballots this election...while a portion of the non-voters will complain that the Republican Party is trying to suppress the vote with their reasonable (to me) demand for adequate identification at the polling place.

However, my political alignment tends to fall on the Democratic side, so if you are one of those politically hysterical types who automatically equate the Democratic Party with evil and tyranny, you're welcome to stop reading now...and placidly continue on with your own conception of reality.  But at this point I don't see any compelling reason to side with the Republicans in any of the races...especially in the contest for governor between incumbent Rick Scott and his immediate predecessor, Charlie Crist.  After mudslinging at Crist in ad after ad for being a corrupt and flip-flopping politician while blaming him for the international recession that happened after the banking crisis of late 2008, Scott then had the nerve to put on an ad implying that he was above such mudslinging and that only Crist was showing attack ads.  What hypocrisy.  But none of this is why I'm planning to vote for Crist...I just feel he is a decent man (albeit, granted, a somewhat slick politician) who accepts that he would be the governor of ALL the people in Florida, not just those with his own narrow ideological perspective (which I feel is the case with Scott).  That's not an endorsement from me, though, and others are encouraged to follow their own convictions (or hunches, if they aren't sure) about how they will vote.

In one of the county commission races, I was going to go for the Republican there, since on the surface he sounded as if he would make road repair a top priority.  But actually, John Martin would rather hold back on needed repairs because he opposes a proposed sales surtax specifically earmarked for those projects (also on the ballot) and instead insist on doing everything within the budget as it is.  While an admirable stand at first glance, it is an unrealistic one that is destined to further delay needed road work.

Regarding the state constitutional amendments...No.1 is for water and land conservation.  On the surface it seems like a good idea, and I'm going for it.  No.2 is to legalize medical marijuana use and production.  I think this amendment is rather phony in that those supporting it the most are viewing it as a transition to the general legalization of pot (a transitional path that Colorado followed).  And since I have my own suspicions about certain potential producers of the plant wanting to get an inside track on the industry when that general legalization does occur, I'm opposing this amendment on principle.  Amendment No.3 gives the governor power to appoint vacancies to the judiciary.  But unlike the advise and consent requirement for presidential appointments on the federal level of government, I see in this amendment no checks provided on whomever the governor may choose to appoint...so I'm voting "no" on this question, too.

As for the remaining two questions on the ballot, I'm going to "hold my nose" and vote for the proposed Alachua County surtax, because our roads are truly in a deplorable state here.  And the straw ballot question is just political posturing about whether one would support a U.S. Constitutional Amendment only recognizing individual human beings as "persons" and not group entities such as corporations or labor unions...and that spending money is not an expression of free speech protected under the First Amendment.  Implied in this argument is the notion that people are too stupid to filter through the myriad campaign ads that inundate them during the campaign season, many financed by corporate interests.  My answer is that if they are that stupid, then they deserve the stupid government they end up electing: let us carefully avoid restricting our own precious freedom of association and the expressions that arise from them...  

Need Close Games in This Year's World Series

Major League Baseball's World Series continues tonight with a change of location to San Francisco, with it knotted up 1-1 between the Giants and the Kansas City Royals. I wonder, though... if the games continue to develop like the first two...whether anyone outside the two metropolitan areas involved will be interested.  For 7-1 and 7-2 scores are not exactly the kinds of games that tend to rivet one's attention up to the very final out.  And here's the paradox: the various playoff series that have led to this 2014 edition of the World Series have pretty much been blowouts...if you just look at the tally of games won and lost.  But almost every game comprising those "blowouts" has been very close and decided by one or two runs, with many having to go into extra innings to decide.  So, say instead of the 7-1 and 7-2 scores for the first two World Series games we had 4-3 and 5-4 scores.  Even if the same team had won both games...even if that team had gone on to sweep the Series four games to none...it would have been much more entertaining viewing than what we've had so far.

I'm rooting for San Francisco in this Series, but it would disappoint me if they won the next three games with lopsided scores.  I like those tight, tense games that bring in all the teams' extras and relief pitchers into the equation and can dramatically turn on just one pitch.  Of course, if a team I care for more, like the Tampa Bay Rays or Miami Marlins, had been in it this year, I would have been very happy with them routing their opponent each and every game, damn the boredom...

Personal Running Records As I Age

When I resumed running in earnest in 2007 after a thirty-year layoff from the activity, I was fifty years old.  In the seven years between then and now there have been two opposing processes at work regarding "personal records", as they pertained to my best running times for particular distances.  Since my earlier running "records" back in the 1970s were mainly about shorter distances like the quarter mile, mile, and two-mile race, those personal marks still stand and haven't been approached in recent years.  But for the distances I have now embraced, such as 5K, 10K, 15K, half-marathon, and full marathon, I have been working on personal record times for them (especially for the longer distances).  And the first of the aforementioned processes, which is the positive effect of my training and increased fitness and endurance, has given me a good sense of progress with those records.  The main event I'm focused on now, which is the 13.1 mile half-marathon, has my personal record time at 1 hour, 50 minutes, 53 seconds...which I ran in early March, 2013 in a race in Tavares, Florida (a few miles north of Orlando) when I was 56.  Since then, due in large part to plantar fasciitis in my right foot (drastically alleviated through more adequate running shoes) and an adverse employment shift change that has upset my sleeping patterns, my general endurance and running fitness had a setback...but in recent months I have been making a comeback.  My endurance is increasing as well as my speed for the longer distances.  But it is now here, as I just turned 58 and am getting no younger, that the second process is starting to kick in: I am aging and, as this happens, new personal records will be harder and harder to come by until, finally...regardless how fit and trained I am for my age, my best times will be a thing of the past and they will gradually decline.  So while personal records are always a good thing to pursue, I need to be realistic and run for other reasons...