My Running During the Past Few Months

The past few months have seen me both increase my overall running mileage and participate more in middle-to-long distance races.  Here are the races I've run during the last four months (three of the four in Gainesville):

11/27.....10K Turkey Trot...Time 56:56

12/21.....Starlight Half-Marathon (in Palm Coast)...Time 2:03:30

1/31.....Newnan's Lake 15K...Time 1:18:21

2/15.....Five Points Half-Marathon...Time 1:58:48

Now that I have unwittingly set a pattern of one race per month, I now feel compelled to continue it.  The obvious choice for March is a 10K Saturday afternoon race to be held on the 14th in Tioga, a small community a few miles west of Gainesville.  As for any more half-marathons, I'll have to think about a possible late March or April race that would be held within a reasonable driving perimeter. Let's see...there's a combination marathon, half-marathon, and 5K race March 29 in Ormond Beach and also a combo half-marathon, 12K, and 5K race in Clermont on April 25.  Well, I'll have to see how things stand as these dates approach, I suppose...

Looking back on the four races I've done recently, I have to state that they all tended to be rather frustrating efforts, at least at the start of each event.  This is because of the problem of "runner congestion", when I repeatedly found myself boxed in due to slow runners around me who also would make no effort to offer any opening for me to get around them.  In the last half-marathon, I was nearly halfway through it before the path finally opened up for me! As for how I physically felt during these races, I seemed to hold up well, although I experienced some aches and cramps at various moments...the most serious being the leg cramps near the end of the Five Points race.  Perhaps better electrolytes/hydration (i.e. more Gatorade) will alleviate this problem in the future.

After April, the prospects for long-distance races in the northern Florida area disappear with only the 3.1-mile 5K event available from time to time. If I continue running monthly races from May through September, I'll have to stick with this shorter distance...unless I begin to travel to places further north and/or west where the longer races are held that time of year...

Reading Sue Grafton's Series from "A" to "Z"

As I had mentioned in a blog entry a few weeks ago, I have begun reading mystery writer Sue Grafton's "Alphabet Mystery" novels...this time in alphabetical order.  I've been hopping around the "letters" indiscriminately, beginning several years ago with the book "L" is for Lawless.  Since each book's story is complete in itself, jumping around the series out of order isn't in itself such a bad thing, although its main protagonist, Santa Teresa, California private detective Kinsey Millhone, does undergo changes in her personal life and relationships progressively with each successive book.  The main drawback with what I've been doing is that I have lost track as to which books I've already read and which ones I haven't.  And since I truly love Grafton's writing in this series and like the Kinsey Millhone character a lot, I decided to just go back to the beginning, to "A" is for Alibi, and read on through "W" is for Whatever (I don't know the title offhand), her latest book.  Grafton plans to end the series with "Z" is for Zero.

As it turns out, I had already read "A" is for Alibi a while back and knew who the main culprit is (there is more than one guilty party in this story).  So although I knew roughly how it would turn out as I reread it, it was interesting to see how the author introduced the villain early into the story and how she laid down hints of his culpability at various points while at the same point inserting other suspicious characters into the narrative.  All in all, I enjoyed the second time around as much as the first!  Oh, and I counted in it four different times that Kinsey went out jogging, something I particularly identify with...

Now it's one to the next book, titled "B" is for Burglar...

MercyMe Concert at Yesterday's Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City

Yesterday, Melissa and I drove down a few miles west of Tampa to Plant City, where they have been holding their Florida Strawberry Festival.  Naturally, strawberries are a big focus of the event, but as is the case with county fairs elsewhere, there's a lot going on.  Rides, stands selling food of any kind you can imagine, and crafts exhibits dominate the landscape.  Also, there's a stadium there where they hold concerts.  That's convenient, because at 3:30 yesterday afternoon the Christian contemporary band MercyMe held a concert there that we attended.  I've heard them before, especially that big hit of theirs If I Could Only Imagine from a few years back, but I didn't realize what good musicians they truly are.  The selection of songs they performed during the slightly more than one hour they were up there went across the spectrum of musical styles...I was impressed!  I'm going to have to get hold of some of their material to listen to on my MP3 player...

Yesterday morning before we set off, I checked out the Weather Channel website on my computer and it had for the Plant City forecast a 25% chance of "showers" and a high of 72.  I looked at the radar map for central and northern Florida and saw a small band of clouds around the Tampa area, a very big clump of clouds heading for Gainesville...and a wide swath of clear skies in between.  Instead, though...in the real world...it rained all the way from Gainesville to Plant City...and throughout almost the entire MercyMe concert.  But speaking of "mercy", it did let up afterwards and Melissa and I spent the next hour or two walking around the fairgrounds...and of course we had to try out some strawberry shortcake!  Also, there was a stand selling fresh-popped kettle popcorn...you can see above a picture of me holding my "prize catch".

Almost from the moment we got back into the car to drive back home, it had resumed raining...all the way back to Gainesville with only minor periods of respite.  Well, the rain was tough, but the fair, and especially the company, was great!

My February 2015 Personal Running Report

In February 2015 I managed to run through a series of upper respiratory colds, somehow getting my total mileage for the month to 314 miles, despite physically feeling crappy much of the time.  I ran on every day of the month, and my longest single run at one time was during the Five Points Half-Marathon (here in Gainesville) on the 15th, when I covered 13.1 miles with a time of 1:58:48.  That was good enough in my Men's 55-59 age group for 5th place out of 23.  I felt pretty good about that, especially when, close to the end of the race, I was wondering whether I'd even be able to finish it due to leg cramps.  For an entire day, though (on the 21st), I managed once to cover 32 miles by spacing apart several smaller runs.

Starting the second week in March, my work schedule will change from the "graveyard" late night/early morning shift to a late afternoon/evening shift.  This should greatly aid with my sleeping patterns, and might help me to better withstand these viral cold attacks I've been suffering lately.  As a matter of fact, if my unscientific memory serves me correctly, I've generally been more healthy and less often sick when I used to work the hours that I'll soon be returning to.  Time will tell if that works for me again...

Just Finished Reading Tad Williams' Shadowheart

I just finished reading the book Shadowheart by Tad Williams, which is the concluding volume to the four-part Shadowmarch fantasy series.  This was a rather difficult series for me to get through because, although I normally expect fantasy series to contain a reasonable portion of magic and the supernatural (hence the name "fantasy"), Shadowmarch is overwhelmingly loaded with it.  As such, it was difficult to read it while keeping at least one foot set in reality.  Other writers like George R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Daniel Abraham seem to realize this need to primarily base the story line in some semblance of reality in order to make the occasional "magic" seem more special.  But when it's all out of the ordinary, at least for me, the reader's mind gets numbed to it after a while.  Nevertheless, in Shadowheart, Mr. Williams does manage to tie up all of the threads he had loosened earlier in the series, and the ending is quite satisfactory with the bad guys getting their comeuppances and the heroes and heroines largely receiving happy endings...if they weren't killed off earlier, that is.  Naturally, I'm not telling what happened since I want you to try this series out for yourself...and for you to give your own feedback to it...

I will give Tad Williams the credit for having the self-discipline, apparently lacking in Robert Jordan in his The Wheel of Time series and George R.R. Martin in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, to limit the scope of his characters and story.  I think there must be a temptation in fantasy fiction writing to want to keeping on creating and creating within your own devised "world"...but for readers this can get to get very cumbersome to keep up with.  With the Shadowmarch series, the core characters remain the same throughout...with the greatest focus given to the two preeminent ones: Princess Brienny and her twin brother Prince Barrick.  I'd also like to give Williams kudos for his well-done character development.  It's obvious to me that he put a lot of himself into writing this series, which can put the reader into a kind of funk in some of the tediously depressing sections but still represents a very interesting story with compelling protagonists (and very nasty villains)...

Unnecessary Homeland Security Bill Senate Filibuster

The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives has passed a  Department of Homeland Security authorization and funding bill to keep the crucial department fully funded through the end of the year.  However, included in the bill is a repudiation of President Obama's executive action giving partial amnesty to illegal aliens (or "undocumented immigrants", if you want to tip-toe through political correctness land).  This bill has now been brought up before the Senate, where Democrats are filibustering it to keep it from being submitted to the floor for debate, amendments, cloture, and a final vote.  As was the case tith the recently passed Keystone XL Pipeline bill, it has no chance of being signed into law by the President, and there is no hope of overriding a presidential veto.  So I ask myself, regardless of anyone's opinion about the propriety of the Republicans' actions attaching the anti-exucutive action part to the bill, why can't it be brought up to the Senate floor for debate as the Keystone Pipeine bill was?  I'm not a Senate insider here, with my own connections and news sources.  But I have a sneaking suspicion...

Back in January when the Keystone bill was openly debated, amended, and voted on, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid was absent due to an accident that he was being treated for.  I his place, Minority Whip Dick Durbin stood in and ran his party...and allowed the bill to pass through the normal legislative process.  But the minute that Reid came back, though, presto!...here comes the filibustering...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell  has proposed splitting up the Homeland Security reauthorization bill into two parts, one being a "clean" bill that funds the department without reference to Obama's recent immigration executive action, and the other a section on whether that action should be accepted or rejected.  That sounds quite reasonable to me, but I have my doubts about even that great concession on the part of the majority Senate leadership being accepted by morose and spiteful Senator Reid, sad to say.  Still, there is hope now for this important bill to be passed and the needed funding to continue.  The next day or two will tell what happens...

Oh, by the way, after I had posted this article and looked back up on its title "Unnecessary Homeland Security Bill Senate Filibuster", I realized that it could be taken two different ways.  No, the Homeland Security bill is necessary, but the filibuster against it isn't...

MLS Brings Premier-Level Pro Soccer to Orlando

One of the interesting things about how international professional soccer is set up is that it is now a year-round sport.  Most of the leagues around the world play from August through May, while in North America the established premier league, Major League Soccer, has their season starting in March and going on to year's end.  So as the English Premier League and Mexican Liga MX wind down their respective seasons, pro soccer in the United States and Canada is just getting underway.  This year, MLS will be eliminating one team and expanding with two.  The bygone franchise is L.A. Chivas while the two new ones are another New York City team (there's already the New York Red Bulls) and Orlando (as the Lions).  The fact that, right when I'm getting interested in following soccer, a big time team gets established within reasonable driving distance is pretty cool.  If the ticket prices are reasonable, I'd like to go down there and see them play in person. Major League Soccer's season will kick off on March 6, so I'll be alternating then (at least for two or three months) between three leagues...

Soccer on TV Highlights Day of Recovery

While recovering from sickness on my day off, I spent much of yesterday resting, reading...and watching television.  I've discovered that, on Saturdays this time of the year, if you don't have much else to do at the time, you can spend much of the day watching soccer on TV if that's the sport you like to follow.  And since that was the case with me yesterday, I ended up watching five different matches...

The first two were from the English Premier League.  League-leading Chelsea was expected to run up the score on floundering Burnley, which is fighting to avoid relegation (demotion) to the next lower league next year.  Chelsea, after getting an early 1-0 lead, couldn't build on it and Burnley managed to score a late goal to tie it, to the surprise of everyone.  The second game featured defending champion Manchester City plastering their opponent Newcastle 5-0 with excellent passing and shooting.

The final three games were from the Mexican Liga MX, their premier soccer league.  The first of these was a classic confrontation between Cruz Azul, based in Mexico City, and Guadalajara Chivas.  The former was undefeated so far in this second half "Clausura" of the split 2014-15 season and expected to continue against Chivas, which was also fighting to avoid relegation to the next lower league.  Cruz Azul took a 1-0 lead and held it almost to the end, but Guadalajara jolted them with two lightning-quick goals in rapid succession around the 80-minute mark and upset them.  What a great game that was!  Then, disappointing Monterrey still managed to pull out a 2-1 win over Queretero, followed by the Monterrey-based Tigres "Tigers" bowing to the Chiapas Jaguares "Jaguars" 1-0.  That finale was a little disappointing to me since I was expecting Tigres, which nearly won the first split season "Apertura" championship this year, to be stronger than they have been of late...

Well, today I don't expect to be camped out in front of the TV set, and I have other things to do anyway.  Still, I need to rest a little more before I go back to work this evening, and if a soccer match happens to be on...

Repeated Colds a Burden This Winter

For some reason, this winter I have been repeatedly afflicted with colds...one of which I am suffering right now.  Ugh. Usually, I manage to avoid them since I practice a good deal of care with hand washing and avoiding contact with other sick people.  But this time around, I don't know if it is because my body is somehow weaker or because there are just more germs floating around than usual...they keep coming back at me.  I think this has also diminished my ability to run effectively in my races, although almost miraculously all three of them have come between episodes.  Nonetheless, now here I am again with headaches and congestion..fortunately, I have the weekend off from work to stay at home and recover some.  That's not so bad, but out of respect for others, when I am sick like this I try to minimize being out in public and as a result miss out on healthy social interaction.  But since I tend to have a reclusive nature anyway, it probably doesn't affect me as much as it would others...

Just Finished Reading Robert Jordan's The Path of Daggers

The Path of Daggers is the late Robert Jordan's eighth book in his extensive, fourteen-volume The Wheel of Time fantasy series (Brandon Sanderson wrote the final three books after Jordan's death).  I just finished reading it, and, sad to say, my two most positive reactions from it are (1) it is the shortest book in the series and (2) I am now past the halfway-point, one book closer to the end.  Besides this, it's pretty much the same fare as before, with the protagonists crisscrossing Jordan's fantasy continent from one kingdom to another in various states of peril and freedom/captivity.  The main hero, Rand al'Thor, is just as unlikeable to me as ever.  His hometown friend, Mat Cauthon, who along with Perrin Aybara are the only two characters I care for in the series, wasn't even in this book...despite the fact the previous one,  A Crown of Swords, ended with him left behind in a newly conquered city (by enemy forces) with his future in doubt and suspense.  So I suppose I'll just have to wait until the ninth book in this interminable series to find out what happens to him...which I suppose is that he'll experience some kind of tribulation in that occupied city, get out somehow, and then go on some trek to who-knows-where else, like all of the other characters. What really gets me is Jordan's device of having a group of villains, called "The Forsaken", who have the ability to pop in and out of thin air anywhere and anytime they want to stir up trouble.  This lack of order in the ongoing narrative, to me, serves to destroy its integrity when certain characters can behave without limitations.  But maybe, just maybe, the author is going somewhere with all this...who knows.  Another major problem I have with this series is that Jordan keeps introducing scores of new characters and spends a large section of the text discussing them.  There is way too much to have to keep up with here...

I'm still going to trudge along with this frustrating series to the bitter end.  At least I have THAT going in my favor: it definitely will end!

Running: Race Recovery and Near-Future Prospects

My recovery from last Sunday morning's half-marathon race has left me with sore, tight calf muscles...but otherwise I'm doing fine.  On March 1st, Tavares, Florida (a few miles north of Orlando) will once again be holding its Orange Blossom Half-Marathon, which unlike the recent Gainesville Five Points race, is essentially flat and lacking in hills.  I ran it in 2013 and recorded my fastest personal half-marathon time.  I'm wondering whether I might just try it one more time,  although the travel from Gainesville to the race site tends to be bothersome...unless I stay overnight at a hotel (which is what we did last time).  Melissa and I enjoyed the 2013 event, as she walked the concurrent 5K race while I ran the 13.1 miles.  Only then, the weather was freakishly cold and windy, something neither of us anticipated with a central Florida March race, although we knew conditions would be colder than usual...

Then again, these races do cost money to enter and I can opt instead to continue my running at home.  I've run in three races this winter: the Starlight Half-Marathon in Palm Coast in the evening of December 21st, the Newnans' Lake 15K east of Gainesville on January 31st, and the Five Points Half-Marathon on February 15th.  So each calendar month I have run in a a race, making the upcoming Tavares run a possibility in my mind.  But there is an alternative choice for me: on March 14th there will be a more reasonably-priced 10K run in Tioga, just a few miles west of Gainesville.  It will be held on a Saturday late afternoon and there will be a post-race outdoor party with live music and refreshments.  Plus, there's a 5K run/walk for Melissa...

Two Interesting European Soccer Matches on TV Right Now

I enjoy following league soccer play, as opposed to the national teams that people are accustomed to seeing during the World Cup.  The only problem with this is that, outside of America's MLS league, the English Premier League, and Mexico's Liga MX, I don't have access to league games and as a result miss out on some of the greatest teams in the world.  Teams like Spain's Barcelona and Real Madrid, Germany's Bayern-Munich, and France's Paris Saint-Germain, for example.  However, interspersed throughout the regular season of the individual European soccer leagues is an ongoing interleague tournament, titled the UEFA Champions League.  Today they're showing on TV two live games: Fox Sports 1 (Gainesville Cox Cable channel 62) is showing the contest between England's Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain while Fox Sports 2 (channel 267) is showing Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk against Bayern-Munich.  The Donetsk team, by the way, is playing its home games this year away from its home town, which is the midst of the rebel strife going on in that country.

Not that I plan to stay glued to the TV the whole time, but it's going to be fun seeing how they play...

Just Finished Reading Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities

In a departure from the fantasy fiction I've been reading, I decided to try a contemporary American general fiction writer.  Why not Tom Wolfe?  So I read his 1987 novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, an excruciatingly satirical look at the entanglement of politics, avarice, ethnic and social class divisions...and vanity, as they remove any vestige of "justice" in a big city's criminal justice system... in this case, that of New York City in the 1980s.  In a nutshell, without giving away the story to prospective future readers, a wealthy bonds trader named Sherman McCoy, while picking up a woman (with whom he is having an affair) from the airport, gets himself lost in traffic and the two find themselves in a run-down South Bronx neighborhood and encounter two young black men in an obstructed highway entrance ramp.  What ensues there drives the story for the rest of the book, from the investigations of the incident by the press (by English journalist Peter Fallow) and district attorney's office (by assistant D.A. Larry Kramer) to the Al-Sharpton-like agitation and protests by Reverend Reginald Bacon.  Each player in the story has their own personal agenda they are pursuing, and none of these really has anything to do with justice.  Ultimately, McCoy becomes the politically-convenient WASP symbol of wealth that (1) the D.A., trying for reelection in his heavily minority-populated Bronx, (2) Fallow, looking to advance his journalism career, and (3) Bacon, trying to advance his own persona as a civil rights  leader, can all use for themselves.  Never mind the facts, it all becomes a farce of justice.  As a matter of fact, the developing farcical nature of The Bonfire of the Vanities, to me at least, resembles the absurdity of the wartime military that Joseph Heller so aptly conveyed in his book Catch-22, published a quarter of a century earlier.

Each character in Bonfire is very consciously aware, to the point of obsession, of his or her own status regarding ethnicity, wealth, and social status and seems to be in a constant struggle to enhance that status.  I wonder whether that's really what it's like in New York City with people in general, or even in other places (such as my own Gainesville).  Or is Wolfe just exaggerating his characters' "vanities" to makes his own points?  I tend to see his characterizations in much the same way that Heller made his, which was to point out the foibles (and humor) of people's perceptions about themselves and their often ridiculous efforts to improve their perceived "positions".

I recommend Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities.  It also has an interesting kind of ending, expressed in its epilogue (I tend to be a "collector" of interesting story endings...like that in Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, for example).  I also discovered that a not-very-successful movie had been made for the book starring Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, and Bruce Willis.  I think I'll just steer clear of that one, thank you...

Ran Gainesville's Five Points Half-Marathon This Morning

This morning I ran the Five Points Half-Marathon here in Gainesville.  This is a great race, not only because it's held in my home town.  The course runs right through the city itself, including the University of Florida (passing through the football stadium along the way).  The terrain is moderately challenging with several Florida-level hills to climb.  But most of all, I like the way it was planned, from not having to worry at all about sharing the road with motorized traffic to the excellent facilities and water/Gatorade stations...and the very convenient parking.  I also like that they had pacers: I found the pair of runners going at a 2-hour pace and stuck with them for about 9 miles, after which I took off ahead of them.  The next 2 miles of the race (going down SW 2nd Avenue and running through the UF campus) saw me generally gaining on and passing other runners.  But after I had run about 11.5 miles, while passing through the University's Fraternity Row, my lower legs began cramping up on me...especially my left calf.  For the remainder of the race it was down to a struggle to finish in spite of the cramping: thankfully it never got to the point that Lebron James reached during the NBA playoffs a few years ago when he was rolling around on the floor in apparently mortal agony.  Curiously, once I passed the finished line, my cramps subsided: I was then just plain tired.  My final finishing time was 1 hour, 58 minutes, 48 seconds...good for 211th overall.  I'm not sure exactly how well I did in my 55-59 age group, which in Gainesville is extremely competitive, but I was able to see from preliminary results that I finished out of the "running" for an award.   My recovery from the race seems to be going quite well.  This is the third time I've run this event, the others being in 2010 and 2014.  My final time, although not my best by a long shot in the half-marathon (personal record: 1:50:53), still was my fastest for the Five Points races I've run...

The weather, for a change, was more to my liking with this race.  The temperature at the 7:00 AM start was about 47 degrees, so there was no need to wear anything more wintery than the usual tee-shirt and shorts.  Still, I was amazed to see people crowding around the starting line looking like they were going out in a blizzard with jackets, long pants, insulating caps, and gloves.  Needless to say, there was a whole lot of partial disrobing going on soon after the race began for these folks...

Football Talent and the Florida Gators

I don't claim to be an expert at football, and what all constitutes "talent" in the sport.  To me, since it is played at different levels depending on whether it's high school, college, or professional, that "talent" designation seems to be relative to how well a player can fit and thrive in the environment he finds himself in.  It's hard to isolate a player from his team and judge his skill level without taking into account how well he plays with others...and how well others play with him. We've just had the recruiting process for college football, and schools have been ranked on how well they signed up the top "talent" in high school players.  The University of Florida usually does well with this recruiting, typically ranking among the top in the country.  After their recent head coaching change had left them behind with the recruiting this go around, they quickly recovered through the efforts of their new coaching staff and reportedly now have a lot of  new incoming "talent" to work with.  As for the players leaving the team after playing for them a number of years, Florida also has many, in comparison to other colleges, whom the National Football League has considered to be talented enough to invite to try out for that league.  H-m-m, so the players are "top talent" coming in to UF and they're "top talent" going out...so why is it that, during the actual Gator football seasons in the last few years, all I've heard was that this team was having to make do with less talent than those around them?  It seems to imply to me that the coaching staff wasn't doing a very good job of developing that top talent that they recruited and that, only after the very best manage to leave Florida, do they finally see the opportunity to achieve their full potential under more competent direction.

I have a feeling that this discrepancy with the Florida football talent has a lot to do with the recently departed staff.  I have to grimace a little whenever I hear in the media that a particular team's head coach is so beloved by his players that he is commonly referred to as a "players coach".  That usually means that the team is lacking in consistency and discipline, and that the players aren't challenged enough in practice to better themselves...in other words, to develop the talents that they already demonstrated in high school and which had made them such promising recruits in the first place.  The new coach, Jim McElwain, seems more interested in molding together a winning team and developing his players' talents to the next higher level than the previous one, who seemed more interested in making them like him than anything else...  

John Batchelor Radio Show a Winner

On Sunday nights, on my local radio station WSKY "The Sky"/97.3, is the nationally broadcast John Bachelor Show.  This is not your typical right-wing rant-and-rave talk radio show, so if you are someone who likes to be spoon-fed your conservative Republican talking points, ready-made to spit back out at others, you're probably better off sticking to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or Mark Levin.  Instead, Batchelor, himself a conservative, hearkens back to the better days of this genre, having on a great diversity of guests who share their research and expertise in various areas of history and the physical and social sciences...with the emphasis on history.  For example, the other night he had on as a guest someone who had written a book on the Malmedy massacre late during World World II (during the Battle of the Bulge).  Another topic was New York City's "Year of Anarchy"...1914...when the newly-elected reformist mayor, the Rockefellers, anarchists and the backdrop of World War I combined to cook up a recipe for disaster.  Later on, another guest on the show delved into the Russian crime organization that is behind much of the explosive growth in Internet identity theft hacking scams that have increasingly plagued society during the last ten years.  In each interview, the host demonstrates that he himself is not only interested in the guest's topic, but has also researched the subject material to the point where he asks pertinent and meaningful questions.  What a refreshing change from the usual drivel I hear on talk radio...

The John Batchelor Show broadcasts every Sunday night from 9 to 1.  The last part of his show coincides with my work schedule, and that's when I usually can pick up on what's going on.  If you find yourself tiring of the same old television fare on Sunday nights, why not just flick off that boob tube and tune in to this quality show on the radio.  Who knows, you just might learn something...

Watching International Internet TV for Foreign Language Practice

Today I resolved to give myself a little needed exposure to some of the languages I had been studying by watching Internet TV on my laptop using the site wwiTV.  On it, you can select whichever country you want to watch TV from, and then choose from one of the stations available.  It's all free, and it gives you the opportunity not only to practice your language listening skills (mine are sorely lacking) but also get a glimpse into life in other parts of the world.  For myself, I watched French, Russian, and Chinese TV in their languages...although with the latter two I presumed an inherent bias in their programming.  Of course, when you're watching a culinary show demonstrating the various ways to make dishes with duck, the opportunity for propaganda isn't very high...although seeing some of those scrumptious-looking meals made me want to reach into the computer screen and pluck them out...

I had been searching for some sites in other countries that broadcast their own soccer league games with the play-by-play in the native tongue, but I didn't find any.  I'm sure those stations are out there, but they probably come with an extra subscription fee, and that's a no-go for me. So, for soccer, I guess I'll just stick with my own cable TV service here in Gainesville and follow the English Premier League and the Mexican Liga MX, whose games ARE shown...

Just Finished Reading Daniel Abraham's The King's Blood

This weekend I found myself a bit under the weather with a bad, contagious cold, so as happens in situations like this, I stayed at home and watched TV (soccer and the History Channel series I mentioned yesterday)...and read a lot.  I managed to read the rest of Daniel Abraham's book The King's Blood, the second in his ongoing fantasy series The Dagger and the Coin.  Connected with famous author George R.R. Martin through collaboration and the latter's ringing endorsement on his books, Abraham also has written this series in much the same way that Martin has been doing with his A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) series.  The ongoing story, spread out over this series' fantasy continent, features alternating passages presented from the views and experiences of various characters, mainly Cithrin, a young precocious teenage girl banker, Marcus, a soldier with a heroic and tragic past, Geder, a minor nobleman, very sensitive to slights, suddenly catapulted into power without any training or preparation, Dawson, a hard-edged nobleman,  and his wife Clara.  The main developing story line in this book seems to be the infiltration through various countries by a mysterious religious sect with its priests containing living spiders in their blood, and who can distinguish truth from lies as well as persuade people to believe what they say.  One of them, Kit, has left this group and recognizes its sinister nature, wanting to bring it down.  Meanwhile, Geder has visited this order and ridden into power over the kingdom of Antea on the backs of the priests' ability to distinguish loyalist from traitor by their speech.  Unfortunately, he has not yet recognized the fact that these priests, while able to tell whether someone is telling the truth or not, themselves have no qualms about lying if it suits their own agenda.  Not wanting to give away the story, I'll just say that Abraham successfully keeps the number of subplots at a manageable level and has done a magnificent job of bringing out each character's personality.  I feel that I somehow know these people...a great accomplishment on the part of the author.  In spite of the fact that I am tiring somewhat of the fantasy genre of fiction and don't plan to start reading any new series anytime soon, I definitely intend to keep up with this ongoing work.  I've already begun reading the next book in this series, titled The Tyrant's Law...

The History Channel Showing Excellent Series Right Now

I was channel surfing early this afternoon and, lo and behold, when I hit upon The History Channel, they were actually showing something about history, for a change.  As a matter of fact, the series they are presenting (and will be until 7 tonight) is a twelve-part blockbuster titled Mankind: The Story of All of Us.  I happened to tune in during episode #8, which covers the period from the 15th through 17th centuries.  It's quite an amazing series, and it ties the world together through the various trends, events, and personalities of each era.  I probably won't watch it continually until 7 (after which the usual non-historical, dull programming resumes on The History Channel), but then again, it's such an intriguing, well-written and produced series that I won't be surprised if I do...

Give Runners Choice During Race Between Half-Marathon and Marathon

My running training is rarely a matter of me establishing a set amount of miles beforehand and then running them.  Instead, I will run as circumstances dictate, both those external and internal.  For example, I may be operating one day under time constraints that limit the amount of running time I can spend.  Or I might be feeling under the weather or have a slight injury to nurse.  But when I have the flexibility of time and I'm physically feeling good enough, then my mileage on any particular run becomes open-ended...and it's always seemed to be that way, ever since I resumed the activity in 2007 after essentially ignoring it for thirty years (exception: a short three months running period in early 1998).  Sometimes this way I will go on and on with a run, racking up huge mileages...and sometimes I'll stop at a lower level.  Which brings me to a proposal about some of the long-distance races I've entered before...

As I see it, there are two types of half-marathon races out there: the races that only feature that one length of the course and those which combine the 13.1-mile half-marathon course with a 26.2-mile full marathon course.  One of the latter is coming up on February 15: Gainesville's FivePoints Marathon/Half Marathon, the two races being run concurrently.  That's important with regard to my proposal...

In the FivePoints races, both events run the same course for the first 13 miles.  Then, just as the half-marathon event is almost finished, all of the runners encounter an intersection with directing signs.  The arrow pointing to the right is for the half-marathoners to follow and finish up their almost-completed race, while the left-pointing arrow directs the marathon entrants to continue their race another 13-plus miles.  Of course, the way things stand now, there's no choice involved here: the runners have either signed up for the half-marathon or the marathon and they can only finish in that event for which they are already registered.  But suppose, just suppose...

Suppose that there is a third option for runners that gives them the opportunity to choose to go either left or right at that intersection!  That would be awfully intriguing for someone like me who usually keeps on running in my training when I'm feeling strong.  It would be a tantalizing decision to make, indeed.  It reminds me a little of the Matrix movie scene when Morpheus presents Neo with the choice of choosing the blue pill (end the adventure now and go back to life as you want to believe it) or the red pill (and see how far down the "rabbit hole" goes)...

Bad Super Bowl Call Evokes Memories of Earlier Game

I missed out on this year's Super Bowl between Seattle and New England, partially because I had to go to work that evening...and partially because, even though I liked the Seahawks, I still didn't want to watch the Patriots collect any hint of glory by being in it.  Of course, at my workplace,  one of the Patriots fans had to whoop and holler when she found out the game's ultimate outcome: a squeaker New England win after the Seattle coach Pete Carroll (who I still think is a good coach) made an idiotic call at the Patriots' goal line by passing up on giving the ball to their star running back Marshawn Lynch and instead calling for a short goal line pass, which was intercepted by the Patriots and ended the game in their favor.  This boner of a play call brought back bitter memories of another game involving New England, this one against "my" team, the Miami Dolphins...

It was the last day of the regular season in 2002 for Miami, which was shooting for their sixth straight playoff appearance.  The week before, at 9-5 all they had to do was to win one of their last two games to lock up a spot.  But they blew the first of the two to weak Minnesota, setting up the final showdown in New England against the Patriots.  That team had won their first Super Bowl in dramatic fashion in their comeback game against St. Louis the year before and Tom Brady had become very, very famous.  But the Patriots found themselves struggling for just a simple playoff spot, for which they needed to win their last game as well as get some "help" from other games.  The Dolphins, under their mediocre coach Dave Wannstedt, who was enjoying the fruits of a team that had been built up and coached previously by proven Super Bowl winners Don Shula and Jimmie Johnson, were still 9-6 and assured of a playoff position should they beat New England.  And they were winning the game late, 24-13.  But the Patriots, in typical Tom Brady fashion, caught fire late and narrowed it to 24-21. Miami had the ball deep in their own territory with about two minutes to go.  They had their then-star running back Rickie Williams, who that day had a career performance with already more than 180 yards rushing.  All Miami had to do was give the ball to Rickie and run out the clock...and then prepare for the playoffs.  Instead, Wannstedt the Genius had Miami throw three consecutive passes...all incomplete clock-stoppers...and they then short-punted the ball back to the Patriots, who sent the game into overtime (during which they scored and won) with a long field goal.  That game was a heartbreaker for me as a Dolphins fan, and it destroyed any confidence I had in their coach...

In spite of similar stupidity on the part of Pete Carroll, I have to remind folks that he did give the Seahawks two straight Super Bowl appearances and a championship last year.  He is worth supporting...and besides, everyone screws up every now and then.  I remember a game against the Colts a few years ago in which, late in the game with a fourth down situation, Patriots coach Bill Belichick opted to go for a first down deep in his own territory while defending a short lead...and failing, giving Indianapolis the chance to get the ball back and win it, which they did...

Flag Planters and Travel Addicts

I have never knowingly met John, a marathon runner whose commitment to the sport has placed him squarely in the "fanatic" category.  He is currently in his early seventies and claims to have successfully entered and finished marathons in more countries of the world than any other runner...not to mention all fifty states of the USA.  Now, though, his mounting health problems have forced him to give up this undertaking.  I'm sad about that, because over the past few years I had become fond of reading about his adventures on his blog.  I may have even inadvertently "run" into him without knowing it, since we were entered in the same races twice, in Gainesville and Ocala...well, actually, he was running the marathon in them and I was doing the half-marathon...

John is an example of someone whom I term a "flag planter"...as well as a "travel addict". Flag planting involves accumulating states and countries that one has visited and/or involved in their designated activities.  Travel addiction, not necessarily attributable to people who like to go on occasional vacations or special trips, refers to those who seem incapable of staying put in any one locale for very long. The two designations can coincide, as in John's case, but they can also be disjoint.  For example, people can be engaged in hobbies that don't necessarily involve travel but still involve counting how many countries (or states) they are covering with it.  As a kid, I used to have a hobby in which I would listen to my own cheap little AM radio (back in the 1960s) and try to pick up long-distance stations.  From southern Florida, I managed to get stations from 31 different states (and I remember them to this day).  Nowadays, though, with the Internet available, this doesn't seem like such an accomplishment.  And a few years ago, quarters were issued for each state as well, with many coin collectors trying to "fill the map" with that numismatic endeavor...

Travel addicts rarely openly admit to their affliction.  Instead, they usually have come up with some grand cause to justify their unceasing travels, be it through employment, education, religion, maintaining family contacts, or other rationales.  John is a case in point, with his goal of planting his flag across the country and world through his marathons.  But you can't do what he did over the years without getting off on travel.  Of course, travel costs money and some people need to have someone else foot the bill for their movements hither and yon.  Social media tends to affirm these habitually restless people as they document, photograph, and publish their various forays with almost assured multiple "likes"...

I am neither a travel addict nor someone who still feels the need to "plant my flag" in different places with my exploits.  That clearly distinguishes me from John, but there is one thing in common between us: we like to run and we are both getting older and more prone to medical/health issues that can limit that running.  John, who is about 14 years older than me, just happens to be a little ahead of me in that regard...

Groundhog Day Movie Carries Life Lessons...Up To a Point

Today is February 2nd, also more popularly known as Groundhog Day here in the USA.  I've never been into the story of the groundhog that either sees its shadow or doesn't and thus forecasts how much longer the cold season is supposed to last...but probably me having lived down here in Florida almost my entire life has something to do with that.  Still, I did enjoy very much the same-titled 1993 movie starring Bill Murray as selfish and vain Pittsburgh television weatherman Phil Connors, who gets trapped in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania while on assignment during Groundhog Day and keeps repeating it with no end in sight.  If you've seen this movie, then you understand how Connors eventually learns some lessons in living and becomes a better person at the end.  That's all very well and good for a make-believe story with an absurd premise like this, but in real life we all live hanging out over the edge of the "now", with our immediate actions taking on a kind of urgency that someone like Connors, with his knowledge that he could go "back to the drawing board" the very next day (which for him was that same day repeated), could be bolder and more experimental.  I suppose that any of us, given just one day to repeatedly live over and over again, could eventually get it "right" and achieve a kind of "sainthood", at least for that one day...but once we finally break through to the following day...with Connors it was February 3rd...we're all back to square one again, even if, like Connors, we gained some wisdom and character-building through our "Groundhog Day" ordeals.  I think the movie Groundhog Day would have been more interesting had it continued a little past its original ending and showed Murray's character screwing up again...

Ran Gainesville's Newnan's Lake 15K Race This Morning

After missing out on the Ocala Half-Marathon last week, I was looking forward to quickly bouncing back with my running by participating in Gainesville's Newnan's Lake 15K this morning.   My intention was simple with this race: go out and run the 9.3-mile course like it's a regular training run.  Of course, that strategy usually lasts just a few miles into the race before I get overcome with competition fever.  But this morning, at least for a little while, I was content with just going my usual pace, which hovers around nine minutes per mile...

When I first pulled into the race site's crowded parking lot (a park with a ramp for fishing boats into Newnan's Lake), the temperature had spiked downward for this race day and was around 37.  However, I was fortunate to find the last available space in the paved lot, which also happened to be about twenty feet from the starting line.  After registering for the race, I returned to the car and bundled up until just before race time at 8:30.  I stood near the front of the crowd, which the announcer claimed was a record, approaching 400 entrants.  I've stood near the rear at the start of  some previous races and have had a lot of difficulty trying to pass by excessively slow runners (and a few walkers), so I thought the passing would be kept to a minimum this way.  But during the first few minutes after the race started, it was other runners passing me...by the droves.  I began to wonder if maybe I wasn't in good enough shape to run this race.  As it turned out, after about three miles or so, I found myself in the midst of a number of runners who kept with my pace.  But at about that same time I began to experience some cramping on my right side, and I wondered whether it would worsen.  Fortunately, it didn't, but the pain still lingered on for a few miles.  I kept pushing on, not wanting to fade within my own group, and thinking that this just wasn't my day.  But I managed to hold on and finish the race, with a couple of runners passing me at the end and me passing another.  When I saw my final finishing time, I had to do a double take.  At my usual pace, I had been anticipating something around 1 hour, 23 minutes, but I felt as if it would be slower.  Instead, though, my final time was 1:18:21.  I'd been burning it up all along!  Which goes to show you that you can't always tell how well you're doing by comparing yourself to the runners around you or by how you physically feel during the race.  Gainesville is packed with talented, fast, and yes, fanatical long-distance runners...it's easy to come down with an inferiority complex in the middle of a race with them.  I finished seventh in my age group (55-59), so there was no point in hanging around the area for award time.

I liked the course for this race, which in places bordered on the swampy part of Newnan's Lake, but mostly went down woodsy roads or by a few houses in this sparsely populated area a few miles east of Gainesville.  Once the race had finally begun and I was running, the weather stopped being a factor and once again I wondered how some of the overdressed runners around me were able to withstand it.

My recovery from the run seems to be going very well, and I was able to close out the month of January, 2015 with a total running mileage of 342.  I ran on every day of the month, and my longest single run was 10.2 miles. On one day, though, I managed to accumulate 20 miles through multiple runs.

In a couple of weeks, Gainesville will hold the FivePoints Marathon/Half-Marathon race.  I still want to participate in it, but will definitely stick with the half-marathon event.  Also, having learned my lesson from the Ocala Half-Marathon, I plan to wait until the very last minute to sign up for it..

Just Finished Reading Franz Kafka's Short Story Metamorphosis

The German-Bohemian early twentieth-century writer Franz Kafka wrote a short story, published in 1915, titled Metamorphosis, and which I just read.  Its overt theme is preposterous: a young man wakes up one morning to discover that he has suddenly and completely transformed into a huge, human-sized bug.  His parents and sister, with whom he is living and whom he has been supporting through his employment, are more disgusted and horrified at his transformation than surprised...which is a clue leading the reader to assume that this is an analogy to something else the author wants to discuss. This unfortunate young man, Gregor Samsa, is still fully in possession of his reasoning faculties, but his efforts to communicate his thoughts to others around him fall on deaf ears: all they can hear are his insect sounds.  Gregor soon finds himself locked in his room, with only his sister showing the compassion to care for his needs.  But eventually even she tires of dealing with him, and he ends up wasting away by himself while his family stigmatizes and hates him.  So what is the analogy, anyway?

Some believe that this all has something to do with the persecution that Jews experienced in Europe, persecution that led to concentration camps and the Holocaust in later years. The sudden change in the story, this way, relates to the change in which Jews were suddenly viewed in society. I tend to disagree with this interpretation because the analogy breaks down too much.  Gregor has actually changed, not just others' interpretation of his status, and recognizes it himself.  Instead, as I see it, this tale has a two-fold meaning...

The first aspect I see is that the people one is closest to and most familiar with in life tend to be almost reactionary in their resistance to personal change...and if that change comes suddenly then a breakdown in communication can lead to shunning and a break in the relationship.  So if someone suddenly changes their religious belief system (or completely renounces religion) or succumbs to a form of mental illness such as schizophrenia, they may (at least to themselves) still remain in full possession of their faculties.  But the unwelcome rift caused by the draconian change will impede their ability to communicate effectively.  The fact that Gregor's transformation is so massive makes me believe that this may be an allegory for the descent into severe mental illness...and the prejudice against those so afflicted that ran so rampant through society back then (and even now, to a lesser extent).  Remember that just twenty years after the publication of this story, Hitler's Holocaust would begin with the rooting out and extermination of Germany's mentally ill, along with the physically and mentally handicapped.

A second aspect to Metamorphosis, as I see it, is how, once someone like Gregor, who has been holding his family together with his work supporting them, is taken out of the picture, the other members will adapt, grow, and become stronger and more self-reliant.  So this may also have been an early study on the phenomenon of co-dependence.

That's my own reaction to Kafka's Metamorphosis.  But as many writers will tell you, their own intentions behind their stories are not carved in granite and that what each reader takes away from the material carries its own validity...

My Two Cents Worth About the Upcoming Super Bowl

I'd better put in my two cents worth about the approaching Super Bowl game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots before I forget.  First of all, I like Seattle but am not at all happy to see New England in there.  Being a Miami Dolphins fan and remembering the infamous "snow plow" incident that cost them a game against the Patriots, long before the most recent scandals tagged to this franchise, I have never viewed them as a team that plays fairly.  So this "Deflategate" story doesn't surprise me a bit.  But now I'm hearing that the New England players are so angry about the accusations flying around and the negative media attention they are getting that they may be extra-motivated against the Seahawks and end up beating them badly.  This sounds to me a lot like the way the Seattle players went around last year with a chip on their shoulders, acting as if they weren't getting enough respect in comparison to their then-opponent, the Denver Broncos.  And they pulverized their Super Bowl opponent, 43-8.  Now I have a problem with this...

If you and your team suddenly find yourselves "motivated" due to a perceived slight and proceed to play at a high level in a particular game, doesn't that in turn imply, in more normal circumstances, that you are holding back your efforts and NOT playing at an optimal level?  Furthermore, these NFL players are professionals and are reaping in the money at a rate most people would find difficult to imagine.  Yet they behave as if the quality of their performance isn't due to their own ingrained character, talent, and training but rather is something somewhat whimsical, dependent on outside factors.  This makes me wonder whether any of these teams are worth rooting for, and after discovering during the Deflategate scandal what monumental prima donnas NFL quarterbacks are about "their" footballs, my doubts about their worthiness have only increased...

Just Finished Reading Tad Williams' Shadowrise

As I find myself increasingly suffering from fantasy fiction overload, I continue to make progress plodding through the remaining series I'm still reading...after which I plan to take a vacation from the genre.  One of these is the tetralogy by Tad Williams titled Shadowmarch (also the name of its first book).  I just finished reading part three, titled Shadowrise.  Only one more book left to go!  That's good, because the characters in this series all seem to be undergoing extreme, chronic suffering...that is, except the bad guys (who I suppose will receive their comeuppance at the end of the last book).  This is especially true for protagonist Prince Barrick Eddon of Southmarch to the point that whenever the book channels off into his story line, I automatically start groaning to myself...anticipating my own suffering as a reader alongside the young prince's unceasing ordeals.  It's almost comical, the relentless and almost universal suffering in this series. Also, Williams has so many loose threads going on with the plot and diverse characters that I anticipate much of the final book will be an effort on his part to explain it all.  Good luck with that...I already plan to go into book four with the idea that, at least at its conclusion, everyone will finally be put out of their misery.  I know I'll be...

My Running Back in Swing, 15K Gainesville Race This Saturday

Although I didn't run as planned in last Sunday's Ocala Half-Marathon because I felt horrendous the previous night, it looks as if another race has made itself available to me...one which is much closer and less expensive.  This coming Saturday morning, a few miles east of Gainesville, will be the Newnan's Lake 15K (9.3 miles).  I have never run it before since its scheduled time usually conflicts with the Ocala race.  But I'm feeling much better now...as a matter of fact, this morning I had a 10.2 mile run and have amassed, over the day, a total of 14.4 miles.  Still, I think I'll wait until raceday morning before I sign up, just to be on the safe side.  It should be fun to run this event, which seems to be very popular with Gainesville's running community...

Saw The Imitation Game Recently

The Imitation Game, starring rising actor Benedict Cumberbatch as English mathematician Alan Turing, is a great historical/biographical drama focusing on a period during World War II when Germany had the upper hand over the Allies...in particular Great Britain...and the latter was desperately trying to crack the German Enigma code that the Third Reich universally used in its naval transmissions.  Turing, as he was portrayed, was a difficult, socially incompetent individual who was nevertheless one of the foremost mathematical minds of his time.  He was able, along with the help of the team assigned to him, to construct a prototype computer, called the Turing Machine, that was able to finally crack the code.  The struggles between great minds under great stress, with deadlines, the struggle to obtain needed resources, and conflicts with the base's military commander, to invent what seemed to be an impossible solution out of thin air made The Imitation Game a masterpiece of suspense...even when we know in advance the outcome of the project.

During the project, as the movie depicts it, Turing goes out and selects two people to add to his team.  One of them is Joan Clarke, whom others around her belittle because of her sex but whose brilliance Turing totally recognizes as they work out many of the assignment's problems together.  Their relationship becomes rather personal, although it is known between them that Turing was homosexual...which at the time was a crime in Britain.  Later it was implied that, years after the war when the police investigated a burglary at Turing's home and his homosexuality was revealed, leading to a choice between incarceration and chemical castration, the great mathematician and savior of the Allies during World War II committed suicide not long after undergoing the latter.  It was important that the film covered this, if only to show the brutal persecution that gays have suffered, even (or especially) in recent history.

Because of the top-secret nature of his code-breaking project, it wasn't until decades after Alan Turing's death that the scope of his accomplishments were revealed, both in terms of his contribution to the defeat of the Nazi empire and the foundation of the computer era.  What an major, indispensable figure in history he turned out to be!  I don't know whether or not the Oscar-nominated movie The Imitation Game is the best picture of last year, since I haven't seen all of the others, but I highly recommend it as it is well acted and directed and provides an eye-opening perspective on a crucial aspect of modern history that had been hidden from us for so long...

Skipped Planned Ocala Half-Marathon This Morning

This morning I passed up on running my planned Ocala Half-Marathon due to either a severe food allergy reaction or a viral attack yesterday...most likely the former.  The problem with either of these is that they cause general inflammation throughout my body, and I have been advised by my physician to be on guard with this sort of thing when considering stressing out my body on long runs.  It is disappointing that I missed this race, which I had been looking forward to for a while.  Still, I'd rather err on the side of caution and not be foolhardy with my actions. This morning, as it turned out, I felt much better and have already run 3.5 miles.  I'll still have the opportunity to run in Gainesville's FivePoints Half-Marathon next month...but I think I'm going to delay my registration until the last possible moment...these races aren't cheap to enter!

Oh, by the way, my prediction (in an earlier article) of a downward spike in temperature was borne out, with it getting down to around 35 this morning at race time...

Worst NFL Teams Shouldn't Be Rewarded in Draft

In professional sports such as football and basketball, much attention is given to the annual draft of new talent into the league, and which teams have the top picks.  For the purpose of advancing parity, the policy is to reward the teams having the worst records with the best picks, something that I feel takes away from the integrity of the sport, especially in football (in pro basketball, a weighted lottery decides the final order of draft selection).  This past season's worst team in the National Football League, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will get the top pick.  But poor play should not be rewarded, and knowing that your team is in the running for that top draft pick is a disincentive to play your hardest to win in late season games that might have an important bearing on where other teams end up placing in the playoff picture.  Well, there is, in my opinion, a reasonable solution to this problem...and it comes from international soccer.

In many soccer-avid countries like England, Mexico, France,  Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and  Italy, to just name some of the most prominent, the teams that finish the worst each year aren't rewarded for that...no, instead  they are demoted to the next lower league!  Conversely, the same number of teams from that next lower league who have the most successful seasons get to be promoted to the next higher league.  The number of teams that yearly rise and fall varies for  each league (in Mexico it's just one team, in England it's three).  But the result is that, for the teams that find themselves near the bottom of the standings as the season progresses, there is a great incentive to continue playing competitively in order to avoid the humiliation and financial setback associated with demotion (or "relegation", as it is officially called).  So how would the NFL look under such a system?

Since American football is structured differently here with its well-developed system of college football, we don't have the multitude of professional leagues that could use promotion and relegation.  So what I propose is to create a second-tier league under the regular NFL, with ten-to-twelve expansion teams distributed among cities with promising pro football markets (including, of course, Los Angeles).  They would play their regular season parallel to the regular league.  At the end, the champion of this "junior" league would be promoted to the NFL AND get the top draft pick, while the NFL's worst finishing team would be demoted (relegated) to this second-tier league.  Or, the number of teams promoted and relegated could be increased to two or three.  Other than the promoted team(s) getting the top draft picks, the order of the rest of the draft could be randomized into a lottery unweighted by order of finish.  This would finish the prospect of any hint of a team writing off the season midway through it in order to enhance the following year's lineup through a higher draft position...

Getting the Victim and Aggressor Backward with Political Correctness

One of the big sticking points causing a lot of griping in the conservative media, be it talk radio, FoxNews Channel, the Internet, or print, is that whenever a terrorist attack happens anywhere in the world, be it in America, India, the Philippines, Nigeria, Iraq, France, Great Britain, Russia, Israel, Belgium, Libya, Spain, Pakistan, Canada...whew, I have to catch my breath...let's just say anywhere there's a country, and the violent act that takes innocent lives is openly described by the perpetrator(s) as being inspired by their interpretation of Islam, then our government simply will refuse to say the word "Islamic" or "Muslim" to describe the terrorists.  The chief guilty party in this is President Obama himself.  Instead, the population at-large is treated to a condescending lesson about how WE are not supposed to be prejudiced against other groups...including of course Islam...as if WE were the bad guys and were hell-bent on retaliating or discriminating against them...instead of the true haters, which are the terrorists and those within their faith (not the faith as a whole) who support them.  In fact, behind this "politically correct" self-censoring on the part of some of our political leadership is their own prejudicial assumption, which is that we the people are just a bunch of ignorant, emotionally immature and bigoted yahoos who have to be restrained and "taught".  I, for one, feel a bit insulted by all this when I can see what is going on before my very eyes.  No, Islam as a whole isn't responsible for terrorism that certain violent adherents within it perpetrate...but without certain doctrines and tenets of that faith that are being interpreted and acted on in an extreme and violent way, we would not have the overwhelming number of cases of terrorist attacks in the news that we have been sadly witnessing in recent times.  Sure, there are other extremist groups as well as lone-wolf nutcases and you hear about them from time to time in news.  But with them, it's apparently OK to dwell on the causes and possible belief systems underpinning THEIR deplorable actions...

President Obama Gives State of the Union Speech

Yesterday President Obama laid out his vision for the rest of his term in office in his State of the Union address, given before a joint session of Congress.  I did not watch it, but caught most of it from the radio. It was a good speech, as this president is so adept at when presenting prepared material to a group.  Although the President covered many topics, his salient points, as I saw it, were (1) the economic recovery is going full swing, but that it is important that the middle class and poor be able to enjoy the benefits as well as the rich (meaning raise taxes on the higher-income brackets), (2) our foreign policy should be carefully crafted so that we explore and implement a variety of approaches when dealing with our enemies abroad...so that we don't allow ourselves to get mired down in wars, and (3) we should invest in education and infrastructure to keep America at the forefront of the world.  With regard to the last point, he alluded to his recent proposal of granting free community college education (I wonder if that includes soon-to-be old-timers like me who want to do something new as retirement approaches...no, I'm probably excluded) as well as diminishing the significance of the important Keystone XL Pipeline issue now before Congress by stating that the various needed infrastructure construction and repair projects for the country would generate thirty times more jobs than "one pipeline".  And he pushed all of the required liberal social issue buttons, including more than once supporting gay rights and same-sex marriage (which he opposed back in 2008 when that stance was more politically feasible for him).

I don't have a problem with a lot of President Obama's speech, but I do have a major one with this tendency of him to smugly dismiss issues that others consider to be important.  For example, in 2009, after single-handedly forcing NASA to abandon its worthy and ambitious project to establish a base on the moon (after he had promised during the 2008 campaign not to do this), he brushed away any criticism with the flippant comment "We've already been there".  That offended me somehow.  Now it's just this "one pipeline"... just a drop in the bucket, right?  But it is the number one item for consideration for the new Republican congressional majority in both houses and, regardless whether you're for or against the pipeline (I happen to be for it), his casual brushoff of the issue does not bode well for his relationship with either the Senate or the House in the next two years.  No, sadly, I see this speech, which might have been more constructive and conciliatory, to have been little more than oratorical posturing for the primary purpose of shoring up the Democratic Party base for the next election, in other words, the same old "stuff".  Perhaps the saddest thing of all, though, is that regarding this president, whom I have supported through two elections (though not wholeheartedly in the last one), he would still get my vote were he eligible to run again as I look at the sorry list of Republicans (especially Mr. Romney, the perennial candidate) who currently have their power-hungry eyes fixed on his job...

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday.  It's January 19, although the late civil rights leader's birthday is on the 15th.  I'm off from work today, or should I say I WAS off for earlier this morning (I work on one of those problematic late night "graveyard" shifts). To many, I suppose, these "Monday" holidays can be seen as some extra free time.  But I think that the intent with the establishment of these special days on our calendar is for each of us to step back and reflect, at least a little, on their meaning and whom they are honoring...

Into the 1960s, even after the United States Supreme Court had, in 1954, unanimously nullified the "separate-but-equal" policy enacted after the ill-advised Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 that officially legalized and institutionalized racial segregation (and consequently, racial discrimination) in America, blacks were being prevented from sharing the same rights as citizens that whites had, especially in the Deep South.  Dr. King's struggle on behalf of blacks...and ultimately, us all...started in 1955 when he organized a boycott of Montgomery, Alabama's bus system after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger and was arrested for it.  For the next several years, King and others marched and pushed for integration and equal rights for all.  He was a strong voice in favor of peaceful protest, and during the 1960s when others were promoting a more violent agenda for revolution, he played the role of peacemaker.  Martin Luther King, Jr. was also very clear in his denunciation of the U.S. military involvement in Vietnam from its outset, and this refusal on his part to compromise his own principles cost him much popularity at the time with those who had supported his civil rights activism but also supported the war effort.  At the end of his bitterly short life (assassinated at age 39), he was working hard to expose the poverty conditions of millions in this country and improve them.  Never fully understood and respected during his lifetime, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by no means a perfect person (as none of us can honestly claim to be, either), has shown himself to have been a visionary whose compassion and stances on behalf of the downtrodden will go down through history...

Signed Up to Run Next Sunday's Ocala Half-Marathon

Get ready for a downward spike in temperatures next Sunday morning here in the Gainesville-Ocala area, for once again I am running in Ocala's distance running event then...and it ALWAYS is super-cold (i.e. below freezing) whenever I run one of these races in Gainesville or Ocala, for some perverse reason.  Just once I'd like the temperature at race time to be around 45 degrees or so... still somewhat cold...but pleasantly so.  But maybe, just maybe, this time around it will be a little bit warmer.

I had a good ten-mile run yesterday and have a lot of confidence in running this upcoming race, especially after doing better than I expected in December's Palm Coast Starlight Half-Marathon.  I've run this course twice before, in 2011 and 2013...and 2011's race was a full 26.2-mile marathon (in which I suffered an IT band injury under my right knee and had to walk the last seven miles).  I would have preferred to be a regular marathon runner, but the training for this long distance seems to predispose me to injury.  It's too bad they instead don't have 20-mile races, or even 30K races (18.6 miles)...I think I could regularly handle those distances.  Still, I'd like to run another marathon, even considering the upcoming Gainesville FivePoints event in February for this.  But it will depend greatly on how I feel as I approach the online registration deadline and have to decide whether to run the full marathon or the half-marathon (which I've done here in 2010 and 2014)...

NFL Playoffs Down to Four Teams

The National Football League playoffs are now down to the final four teams, with the conference championship games taking place tomorrow afternoon and evening.  The first contest will be for the NFC championship, with the Green Bay Packers visiting the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.  The second one has the New England Patriots hosting the Indianapolis Colts for the AFC title.  My preferences for these games lie with favorite Seattle and underdog Indianapolis.  With these four teams my best possible scenario would be for the Seahawks to repeat as Super Bowl Champs and the worst for the Dolphins' divisional nemesis Patriots to win it all. I'm a little bit concerned about New England because, regarding the two teams that have beaten them in the playoffs during recent years, Baltimore and the New York Giants, the Ravens were beaten by the Pats in last week's game...and the Giants never did manage to make the playoffs.  So somebody else will have to step up and perform the necessary deed.

And why to I like Seattle? This is a complete team whose members "get it" regarding working together as a unit...and those who don't are gone.  Their head coach, Pete Carroll, imparts a very infectious enthusiasm while maintaining a high level of team discipline, something that "players' coaches" like Rex Ryan (or my own Florida Gators former coaches Ron Zook and Will Muschamp) couldn't.  Not that the Seahawks players don't like their head coach: there's nothing like monumental success to breed affection.  I find that balance in Carroll's coaching philosophy to be fascinating...he could be the best head coach out there right now...

US Senate Offering Vigorous Debate, For a Change

The other day I found myself watching a TV channel that I used to regularly follow but had in recent years become accustomed to avoiding due to lack of stated content: C-Span2 (channel 81 on my local Cox cable lineup), which broadcasts live the floor proceedings of the United States Senate. Throughout the previous decade during the Bush administration, I enjoyed watching the debates on the various issues.  Sometimes the Democratic Party controlled the Senate and sometimes it was the Republicans, but things there seemed to hum along pretty smoothly, especially considering the partisan vitriol outside in the media.  However, ever since Obama was elected President, both sides have taken a strongly negative and, in my opinion, indecorous attitude toward each other in this body of Congress that has a longtime reputation for being polite and amicable in the midst of political disagreement.  Part of this problem rests with the Republicans' stated goal of bringing down Obama's legislative agenda by massively slowing down the Senate proceedings through technical objections... and part rests with the Democrats and their choice of contentious senator Harry Reid as majority leader.  So for the most part, whenever I did tune in to C-Span2 I would either see that the Senate had adjourned, had never met for that day, or was being indefinitely held up due to procedural wrangles.  This year, though, there seems, at least at the start, a change in how business is conducted that corresponds to a change in party control.  Now the Republican Party, under the leadership of formerly obstructionist Mitch McConnell, are running the show and, for now at least, have once again opened the floor for open debate with amendments for the various legislation.  Yes, I think it is a bit hypocritical for them to be touting their own openness now that THEY are in power...but I still welcome the change.  As a member of the voting public who actually consistently participates in this democracy during elections and is interested in the issues before us, watching such debates is both educational and fascinating.  For example, the first bill up for consideration this term is for the approval of the proposed Keystone XL [oil] Pipeline to extend through the country from the Canada-Montana border down to Port Arthur, Texas.  Hearing the two sides in this debate has helped me to come to my own conclusion on this issue.

Let's hope that the US Senate will continue to offer open debate on the various issues facing us.  One thing I noticed was that many of the senators I had been following before have either passed on, retired, resigned for various reasons, or been defeated in elections.  So there are many new faces for me to get to know and match with their names and states. Moreover, whichever senator happens to be sitting up front, presiding with the gavel as designated "president", is usually among the most junior,  newly elected senators of the majority party, and they are never identified on CSpan2.  No problem, Wikipedia offers a comprehensive list of the current senators, complete with all of the necessary information about each (including the crucial identifying pictures)...

Recently Saw The Theory of Everything

I don't know who directed or produced it, nor do I know almost all of the actors (one noted exception is the dude who played Professor Lupin in the Harry Potter movies), but I thought that movie The Theory of Everything, focusing on the life story of Stephen Hawking, was quite interesting. Hawking, as you may already know, is a renown theoretical physicist whose specialty has been cosmology...in particular, black holes.  He has expressed a strong desire to unify Einstein's General Theory Relativity with Quantum Mechanics to formulate a "theory of everything": hence the movie's title.  You may also be aware that during his early adulthood, while a graduate student at Cambridge, he became afflicted with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease), which almost completely incapacitated him and left him with a poor prognosis for survival.  But over the years he has endured and is a worldwide symbol of courage, determination, and scientific genius.

As for this movie, it didn't delve into the content of Hawking's scientific endeavors as much as it did his relationship with Jane Wilde, from their initial courtship through the traumatic diagnosis...and into their marriage.  She is portrayed as having sacrificed a lot in her devotion to him...yet they had three healthy children together and seemed to be doing well.  However, after Hawking's enormous success and celebrity following the publication of his best-selling book A Brief History of Time, he left her for another woman, with a divorce ensuing.  He and his ex-wife both remarried (others).

For those like me who had expected a personal angle given to Stephen Hawking's life but wanted more attention to his scientific exploits, there is bound to be a sense of letdown with this film, which in large part turns out more to be the story of his wife, from her perspective, as she goes through her trials with him and his illness. Still, I recommend The Theory of Everything, which did not sugarcoat his personal life but which did overlook some of the controversies surrounding him within the scientific community...

Some Thoughts on Football

At this moment I am right between what has just happened in the National Football League divisional playoffs this past weekend and tonight's college football championship game between Oregon and Ohio State.  With the NFL playoffs, I was generally pleased, especially in the National Conference with Seattle and Green Bay winning over Carolina and Dallas, respectively.  I was disappointed, though, that Baltimore couldn't hang on against New England.  And for once I was rooting for Denver, whose offense sputtered against Indianapolis in their loss.  However, between the Broncos and Colts I want the stronger team to go up against the Patriots...and Andrew Luck & Co. seem to be the outfit best suited for this.  Next week's matchups will see me rooting for Seattle against Green Bay and Indianapolis against New England.  Best ultimate outcome? Seahawks win the Super Bowl.  Worst? Pats!

In the college championship contest, which I'll miss completely because I now have to report to work an hour and a half earlier on my shift, I will be pulling for Urban Meyer's Ohio State team against Oregon.  I'm happy that Meyer, who brought two national championships to Gainesville while at Florida, is enjoying his success with the Buckeyes and don't at all begrudge him the opportunity to continue on in Columbus.  And as for the Ducks, I don't especially like that hurry-up offense of theirs: if anyone should be able to figure out a way to shut it down, Meyer's the man...

Melissa Off to India

India definitely ranks as one of the most important countries in the world.  Close to China in population, it is now also booming economically...although the benefits of that upsurge have yet to touch upon the population at-large enough to eliminate its problems of poverty and disease.  My wife Melissa is going there today for a two-week class with her seminary.  Being the first time for her out of the country, this is sure to be a great adventure for her...beginning with the multi-stage airplane flights hopping from one location to the next halfway around the world.  My hopes and prayers are with her, along with her teachers and fellow students.

Just Finished Reading Sue Grafton's "I" is for Innocent

For a long time I have been a fan of mystery writer Sue Grafton's "alphabet" series of novels featuring Californian private detective Kinsey Millhone.  starting with "A" is for Alibi and proceeding down the alphabet. Grafton is approaching the end: I thinks she's gotten past "V" at last check.  And I haven't read most of them.  The problem, though, is that I have trouble remembering which books I've already read and which ones I haven't.  This is especially true with the titles at the head of the alphabet.  I checked out "I" is for Innocent because I thought it was an unfamiliar title...turns out I was right, so I proceeded to enjoy a fresh mystery story.  Grafton's heroine Millhone is a very compelling protagonist with whom I feel no difficulty establishing strong empathy...there are definitely some personality similarities here between her and me (I'm probably closer to where she's at than you know, even if you think that you know me).  This story I just finished was one of those whodunnit murder mysteries with various characters presented at stages as possible suspects.  The "innocent" angle concerns a man, David Barney,who received a not-guilty verdict after being accused of murdering his wife...a verdict that many around him believe was erroneous.  Now, much like what happened with O.J. Simpson in the mid-1990's, he is having to undergo a wrongful death civil lawsuit trial. The plaintiff is the victim's earlier husband...as well as Kinsey Millhone's client.  The story develops as doubts about her case against Barney keep piling up and others start to look awfully suspicious.  Grafton's story, looking back on it, is pretty complicated.  But she is masterful at telling it (always in the first person from Millhone's point of view) in such a way as not to overburden me, the reader, with information overload.

Now I just have to remember that I read Sue Grafton's "I" book.  I'm thinking, though, of going back to "A" and reading each book in order...even if I already read it before.  It certainly wouldn't be the first time I reread well-written fiction.  Besides, there is, from book to book, a development of Kinsey Millhone's character with changes in her personal life and relationships...changes that make more sense if they are read in chronological (i.e. "alphabetic") order...

Just Finished Reading Stephen King's Revival

I just finished reading Stephen King's latest novel, titled Revival.  Opening with a short excerpt from classic horror fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft, this book definitely goes down the same path he went in so many of his stories.  This, however, isn't so obvious at the beginning...Jamie Morton, a six-year old boy living in Maine (ah, another Stephen King novel set there) who just so happens to be my age, is in the first grade around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis (I remember what I was doing then, too...although I wasn't aware of why we were led out of our South Florida classroom by our teacher one afternoon to line up crouched against the hallway wall with our heads down and our hands covering them).  A new young pastor, Charles Jacobs, has just started work at the family's church and strikes up a friendship with the boy...a friendship that will transform itself in the ensuing years into a curious relationship combining enmity and salvation.  Jacobs is also an amateur tinkerer in electricity, in fact an Edison-like genius in the field, and has discovered a "secret" form of it that has miraculous healing properties...as one of the Jamie's older brothers discovers when he loses his voice from an accident and is taken to him.  But is there a price to be paid for this kind of healing, and where does it lead?  Well, if you've been paying attention, you know that this novel has a lot in common with Lovecraft's horror stories, so you just might guess that there's something or someone "behind the door" and that this isn't going to remain a sentimental, nostalgic tale for very long.  Still, the full impact isn't realized until the end of the novel, an impact that can hit the reader with its force and brutality.  So I guess I'm saying that if you are faint of heart or tend to have nightmares after reading scary stories (and this eventually turns into a very, very scary story), then please avoid Revival.  Still, it is masterfully written and, to me, is one of King's best works...probably his best since his 11/22/63 story a few years ago.  But if you do happen to pick up a copy and start to read it, don't say I didn't warn you...

Ran at the Gym This Morning, Upcoming Races

This morning I went with Melissa to my local gym, which is Gainesville Health and Fitness (the facility at the 4800 block of Newberry Road).  It had been a while since I've gone there...all the way back to October 23rd last year, as a matter of fact.  But this morning, Melissa was going to one of the water aerobics classes there (the eight o'clock one) and I decided to come along and run on the treadmill while she worked out.  I was curious how I would handle running on the treadmill after avoiding it for so many weeks.  It was no problem finding one of the more preferable treadmills on the second floor: the University of Florida is still "off" for the holidays (but not for long) and many of the students who usually would be using the gym were still out of town.  Anyway, I set the machine at my usual 6.7 mph pace and started it up.  To my horror I felt it very difficult to keep up with it and could tell, after running for a little while, that it would be quite a chore to run much longer.  Could there be that much difference between the treadmill and running on the ground/road that a few weeks away from it would cause that effect?  Then it hit me: the incline setting was at "3"...once I lowered it I suddenly felt as if I were running downhill!  The rest of the run went flawlessly while I listened to music on my MP3 player.  I did have to stop after 7.5 miles, though...I ran out of time and didn't want to keep Melissa waiting!  My running for the day continues, though...so far I've amassed a total of 12 miles, with more to come...

The next race for me will be the Ocala Half-Marathon later this month on Sunday, the 25th.  Then in February, depending on how how things go for me and my running in the next few weeks, I'll either do the half-marathon or take a stab at the 26.2 mile marathon in the Five Points races here in Gainesville...

Just Finished Reading Robert Jordan's A Crown of Swords

A few days ago, I ranked the various fantasy series I have read over the years (or am still in process of reading).  Robert Jordan's extremely long The Wheel of Time series was my least favorite, not only because of its length (fourteen volumes), but also for the overly complicated story lines that have developed.  I simply cannot keep up with each character, always seemingly on a trip from one city to another for various arcane reasons...and the cities keep changing hands with their leaders.  I just finished his seventh book, titled A Crown of Swords, and the confusion continues unabated. However...

With The Wheel of Time, I am beginning to learn how to better like this series by not getting myself overwrought about trying to perform the near-impossible task of keeping abreast of everything going on.  Instead, I just sit back and enjoy how each character, with his or her special personality and outlook, experiences and reacts to the proceedings.  This ability for deeply developed characterization is, to me, Jordan's strong point with his writing.  I especially like following the character of Mat Cauthon, one of the main protagonist Rand al'Thor's best friends and someone who isn't caught up with how important he sees himself (unlike many of the other characters).  Since A Crown of Swords features him a lot, that contributed greatly to my enjoyment of the book.

There is a Wheel of Time Wikia on the Internet, but if you haven't yet completed the series, you are susceptible to plot spoilers should you frequent it.  That happened to me when I got on it and did a search on one of the characters...and then suddenly found out about her demise  in a later book and at whose hands...

Three Big College Football Bowl Games Today

There are three college football games that interest me on this New Year's Day, 2015.  One is the Birmingham Bowl featuring Florida against East Carolina.  The other two are obviously the championship playoff games: the Rose Bowl between Oregon and Florida State and the Sugar Bowl between Alabama and Ohio State.  The action begins with the Gators at 1 PM and continues on into the evening with the Sugar Bowl closing it.  I'm sure there are other games as well, but these three actually mean something (at least to me).  Not that I'm going to be sitting in front of the TV transfixed by football all day, mind you...I've got other things to do with my life as well today...

It would be sweet to see the Gators go out on a winning note and finish with a winning 7-5 record.  East Carolina has an incredibly explosive offense, though, and it should be interesting to see how they match up against Florida's good defense.  I'm finally done rooting against FSU this year, meaning that they'll probably lose this game against Oregon!  They just keep winning their games and extending their winning streak and the bigshot talking heads in the sports media keep degrading them and placing them below other teams.  I think their quarterback Jameis Winston has a professional's look about him when he stands behind the center before the snap and scans the defense...reminds me a bit of the Patriot's Tom Brady.  As for the Sugar Bowl game, I instinctively root against Nick Saban, the Alabama coach, anyway, and Ohio State's coach Urban Meyer is coaching the other side.  I'm siding with Meyer and his Buckeyes, largely out of appreciation for what he did when he was at Florida (two national championships)...

CORRECTION: OOOPS, the Birmingham Bowl is set for Saturday, not today...but except for that, the article stands...