Drove Out to West End Park, Joined Trial Parkrun There

The good folks at Depot Parkrun had mentioned more than once that on this present Sunday morning, six days before the inaugural West End Parkrun 5K gives Gainesville the status of a two-Parkrun town with its first race, they would welcome anyone to go to that park to check out its course and give feedback.  West End used to be a golf course before it became a community park, situated in the unincorporated town of Tioga just west of Gainesville on Newberry Road .  It's a bit out there from my house, which lies in the far-northern fringes of Gainesville.  I timed my drive to West End this morning.  It being Sunday morning around 7, it didn't surprise me that it only took 22 minutes, with much of the time spent waiting at traffic lights that stayed red for no apparent reason.  The people assembled there at West End were a mixture of runners and walkers...and some of the organizers, including the Depot Parkrun director...a fast runner in her own right. We were shown course maps, which displayed a course that wound through the park like it was still a golf course, with a lot of twists and turns.  There was plenty of concrete sidewalk, which alternated between stretches of grass connecting them.  It was also considerably more sloped than for the Depot Park course.  And there were no repeat laps here...you just stayed on course here until you finished it.  The West End Parkrun course reminded me a little of the old track/cross-country runs back in high school, near our campus, that would go across fields and down horse trails...that was cool.  But you do need to keep your attention on the ground ahead of you to avoid slipping or tripping.  Especially at the beginning, the sidewalk's concrete slabs were often a little out of place and easy to trip on.  And with the grass, on our trial run it hadn't been cut for a while and was overgrown and slick with dew moisture.  I had hoped to be able to keep up with the director on the run but even though she said she took it more slowly, there was no way I could gain any benefit from trying to stay even with her.  Eventually I finished the run after a long struggle trying to keep up with its meandering nature...one false turn and you're lost.  At the finish line I checked my Fitbit to see the mileage: 3.48 miles, some .38 mile longer than a 5K, or more than 10% too far.  Our director had asked for my feedback with this and I told her.  I don't know if they'll try to do anything to shorten the course between now and when the first "official" run is held next Saturday morning.  As for me, it was a good training run that I frankly hadn't been preparing myself to do this morning: I wasn't dressed for it and my clothes were soaked with perspiration after it ended.  I kept up a reasonable (for me) pace while attuning myself to the course, finishing at 31:44, a relatively slow time for me until you consider that I did say that the course was over 10% too long.  Next Saturday, though, if I do a Parkrun, I'm pretty sure that it will be at Depot Park again...and most likely will be a speed-walk...

Ran Today's Depot Parkrun 5K Here in Gainesville

This Saturday morning I once again arose before six...then I promptly went back to bed with the alarm set at 6:05.  Sure, I could have slept through today's Depot Parkrun 5K but that would have broken with this constructive personal habitual routine.  So I drove on down to Depot Park, a few blocks south of downtown Gainesville, to try my hand once again at their little multi-looping race course.  Before it started, I was uncertain whether I'd run it or speed-walk, seeing that the day before I had exerted myself a bit running the three-mile Melon Run at Westside Park.  But while standing there at the countdown to the "start" signal I made my decision: run that sucker!  The temperature/humidity combination was typical for North Florida summer mornings: 74 degrees at 98%...not conducive for setting any personal bests today.  And so that's how I handled the run, trying hard enough to finish below 30 minutes while not worrying about particulars.  I never was able to settle into a good running groove, but at the same time...compared to other runners who were clearly running out of gas early on...I managed to keep up a steady pace and even speed up a bit at the end in spite of struggling in my mind to continue on and resist the almost overwhelming temptation to just walk the rest of the way to the finish line.  As it was, I ran well enough to finish at 29:25...hooray!  I remember how, for years since I began doing the Depot Parkrun in 2019, breaking 30 minutes seemed an impossible dream.  But since I managed to cross over that threshold, the opposite has happened: same 30 minutes, but now it's a goal to consistently avoid finishing slower than. Of course, when I'm speed-walking, I have a different standard.  You can view today's results by clicking HERE. I noticed a few of the runners from yesterday's Melon Run race were present at today's event... 

Ran Gainesville's July 4th Melon Run

As alluded to yesterday, this morning I ran the Florida Track Club's annual 4th of July three-mile race, called the Jack Gamble Melon Run.  Held at Albert Ray Massey "Westside" Park off NW 34th Street here in Gainesville, I've run it a number of times in the past and have come to accept the sad truth that since this event seems to attract the most hard-core, competitive entrants, then there's no point in hanging around after it's over, hoping to get an age-category award. Besides, it's summertime and this hilly race course, coupled with the expected heat and high humidity, tends to test the ability of many naive runners to simply finish it. The race began at eight, but I got to the park at 7:30, just in time to snag one of the last available parking spots. Just walking around the place amidst the 73 degree temperature and foggy, 100% humidity, I could portend a challenging race since there seemed to be an inordinate amount of people there.  Then I discovered that they had changed the course...but in the end that was all right.  Since they don't time runners at the start...only the end...it took 14 seconds once the race began for me to actually get to the starting line, so in my mind at least I deduct that amount from my recorded finishing time.  I ran the first mile or so just to lightly run and get into a nice, easy groove.  Once that was accomplished I found myself gradually picking up the speed and passing lots of people.  By the end I was pushing hard and was tired, finishing with an official time of 28 minutes 31 seconds, some 1:36 slower than last year's Melon Run time when I weighed about twenty pounds less.  I will say this: I could have gone out running harder and maybe finished closer to my 2024 time, but I'd also be more exhausted while facing a more demanding recovery.  That's significant since I intend to run the Depot Parkrun 5K tomorrow morning, and then explore the new West End Parkrun course with others Sunday morning.  All in all, this race was a pleasant experience...the volunteers were great!  And along with the celebratory Independence Day vibes, plenty of chopped-up watermelon slices were there for everyone.  You can view today's results by clicking HERE. By the way, I noticed three other Depot Parkrun "regulars" besides myself who were in attendance for today's Melon Run...let's see if they also turn out for tomorrow...

Is Parainfluenza Infecting Our Community Right Now in Summer?

I'm not exactly sure what "para-flu" is, but earlier this evening a nurse used it to describe "what's going around everywhere"...including my dear sister-in-law Krista, who is now all-but-bedridden at our local Haven Hospice with terminal-stage cancer.  Melissa thinks she may have had it, possibly me...and, apparently half the people I run into in public are coughing and sneezing and sniffling.  Not that it's all the flu, or some related variety of sickness...I'm leaning toward the theory that I have seasonal allergies combined with post nasal drip issues.  I'm not going to let this annoyance keep me from my running or speed-walking, either: tomorrow morning it's the three-mile Jack Gamble Melon Run "run" by the Florida Track Club, of which I am a member with a "geezer" discount.  My plan: treat it, at least at the start, as simply a slow workout jog while trying to avoid getting trampled or doing likewise myself.  And immediately afterwards get the fudge out of there, as South Park's Eric Cartman would put it...   

Happy Hump Day of the Year

If Wednesday can be called "hump day" for the week that starts on Sunday and ends Saturday, then July 2nd can likewise be termed "hump day" for the year...that is, for non-leap years.  For exactly 182 days precede today and 182 are to come in 2025.  This morning I was watching the Weather Channel and the good meteorologists sitting around on the curved blue couch, apparently with nothing better to do, posed this question to the viewing audience: what is your favorite "half" of the year, January through June or July through December?  The poll's answer was that more thought July through December is better...I wonder, though, what the response would be if the question was posed at the beginning of January! For if you're standing smack in the middle of a calendar year, then one half is what you've just lived through and the other is right in front of you, about to happen.  So I suppose the responses that most folks gave...at least those who watch the Weather Channel in the morning...showed that they are generally optimistic about the future, that the next six months will be better than the previous six.  As for me, I am personally so much bound to focusing on each single day as it comes that I don't allow myself to get too hung up on "favorite" stretches of time.  I can find good and bad in every month and season I've lived through so far, and I'm guessing that that's probably going to continue.  This July, though, is considerably more trying for Melissa and me than in the past because our dear son Will passed away last year on the 18th...but that wasn't not July's fault, and I'm looking forward to good times and experiences on this early side of the "hump" in 2025... 

A Final Jeopardy! Answer, and Lifespans

The final Jeopardy! answer on tonight's episode of that long-lasting game show series concerned a topic I had no reason to be knowledgeable about: who is buried in England's Westminster Abbey.  It is where British royalty has historically been interred, but there is a place within, called "Poet's Corner", where standouts in the arts, most notably literary, have also been accorded burial spots.  I'm not sure exactly what the wording was in the Jeopardy! answer, but it did include the year of burial as being 1991...and I came up with the correct solution: "Who was Laurence Olivier?"  In case you didn't already know, he is widely acknowledged as being one of the greatest actors of all time...although, I'm sure to my own loss, the only movies I remember seeing him in were Marathon Man and The Boys from Brazil.  Yet in only those two films his performance was dazzling, especially in the former.  Being a dweller of the year 2025 as I write this, I was convinced that Olivier had already passed away...but was a little surprised that he died sometime in 1989, some 36 years ago.  As each of us passes, riding the "now" moment, through our own individual lifespans, we can only perceive the subjective reality of the years we remember being alive through our own experience and realities, depending on others' records and memories of those times preceding our births.  I don't know how long I will remain on Earth, but I'm confident that 36 years after my passing I will in no way be weighing in on the passage of time in that as-yet unknown, but inevitable year.  For each of us individually, as far as our own subjected perception is concerned, there is only one time, and it is now.  The nearly universal biography statistic of lifespan...the birth year, a hyphen, and the year of dying...is one of objective perception from outsiders.  Each of us can play a little at this and see ourselves as our birth years, a hyphen...and nothing, but never with that final year.  We belong to our lifespans, and that will always be real, as it has always been for every biological entity that has ever been.  The big mystery, which religion and philosophy tend to address, is what happens to that personally-experienced "now" at death.  If I say that I am defined for myself as being the "here and now", then not only does that mean that your "here" is by nature different from mine, but also that your "now" is different as well in spite of it seeming the same.  So my "now" doesn't depend on you or others or the so-called objective reality that trudges on ahead through time.  But enough of this metaphysical speculation, time to go get another coffee...

My June 2025 Running/Walking/Swimming Report

In June I continued working out with my running, walking and swimming, not reaching any milestones but rather letting my system and habits fill each day with meaningful activity.  Melissa and I didn't quite make it to our YMCA Pool as often as we did in May...she came down with a bad cold and the weather tended to be uncooperative later on during the afternoon/evening hours.  For the first three Saturdays in June I participated in the Depot Parkrun, running the first two and speed-walking the last.  I had planned to run the US Road Running event scheduled on the 28th at Westside Park, but upper respiratory issues...most likely simple post nasal drip...convinced me to instead sleep through it.  For mid-July we've planned a short cruise to the Bahamas and back, and on the other weekends in the month there will be race opportunities.  I've signed up for this coming Friday's three-mile Melon Run, starting and ending at Westside Park and organized by the Florida Track Club.  On the 5th will be another Depot Parkrun and the next morning interested folks will meet at West End Park to try out their new Parkrun course in an unofficial run...that second Gainesville Parkrun location starts its runs on the 12th.  On July 19th I plan, as stated, to be traveling, while on the 26th will be another US Road Running race at Westside.  I'm seriously entertaining the notion of focusing my running efforts on 5K and 10K races and speed-walking races of 15K, half-marathon and marathon length.  I'm also a little concerned that I've gained some twenty pounds since this time last year.  Sure, I've been doing more resistance training, which can put on some "muscle" weight.  But unfortunately a lot of the pounds I've recently been adding to the scale are due to diverging from my previously established eating pattern.  I need to address this matter before it gets out of hand...it certainly is interfering with my running and walking effectiveness. As for swimming, I have no interest in swimming fast or doing any timed races...which is good since I don't see any being offered anyway. What I do want is to develop a smooth freestyle form and the endurance to accomplish several pool-length laps per pool visit, nothing more...

My Song of the Month for June 2025

We're coming to the end of another month, so it's time for me to come out and announce my "Song of the Month" for June: Stuck in My Head by Arcade Fire. It's the final track on their newly released album Pink Elephant. When I first listened to Pink Elephant, I was full of excited anticipation for some for great Arcade Fire music...only to be greatly disappointed as track after track seemed weak and lame.  And then it came down to the very end, and wouldn't you know it, they came through with a big winner.  Singer/songwriter Win Butler gives a passionate performance with cutting lyrics and a robust, fast pace reminding me of the group's much earlier track Rebellion (Lies).  There are no other songs for June that, to me, come anywhere close to Stuck in My Head.  It's also, in my estimation, the "Song of 2025" so far.  Give it a listen and tell me what you think...

SONGS OF THE MONTH 2025

JUNE    Stuck in My Head by Arcade Fire

MAY     Walking on a Dream by Empire of the Sun

APRIL   Nothing I Need by Lord Huron

MARCH   Under the Rug by Arcy Drive

FEBRUARY Starburster by Fontaines DC

JANUARY Everyone Out by Diiv

Skipped Scheduled Race This Morning Due to Upper Respiratory Ailment

Today I skipped my scheduled 10K race at Westside (Albert Ray Massey) Park and instead slept in, suffering from some upper respiratory ailment that's either viral or allergenic in origin.  Yesterday, for the most part, I felt improved from the day before, going on a 4.1 mile speed-walk around the neighborhood.  My plan from last night was, should I feel up to it this morning, to likewise speed-walk the entire 6.2 mile race this morning.  But I was coughing too easily, although my energy level has always maintained a high level and I had no fever.  The rest of today I did some in-house exercising, and will then take it easy and see what Sunday brings me.  I like the habit of getting up early in the morning and running races on a weekly basis, and retirement has made this much easier since I'm no longer clocking out of work at 10 pm Friday nights.  So for now I'm just going to rest and recover...and enjoy life...

Podcaster's 8 Ways to Alleviate Stress and Anxiety

I usually check in on a daily basis whenever personal development podcaster Rob Dial posts a new episode on his Mindset Mentor show. Sometimes it's a bit wrenching to sit through a whole twenty-odd minutes when he's pondering aloud through the day's topic...maybe other listeners prefer those types of programs. My preference is when Dial picks his topic and then goes down a list of ways to effectively deal with it.  Today's show was like that, with Dial enumerating ways to handle stress and anxiety...he came up with eight:

1) Breathing exercises to lower blood pressure and alleviate stress

2) Focus on gratitude

3) Go for a walk

4) Write it all out, journaling

5) Get blood levels checked for possible imbalances

6) Watch ten minutes of comedy...laughter is a big stress-reducer

7) Ingest less caffeine...even better, eliminate it

8) Start listening to slower, more ambient music.  

I already do much of what Dial suggested...sometimes a different way from his specifications.  My breathing exercises diverge a bit from his, but he's right on target with most of his points. As for the blood testing, good luck with Medicare paying for that if you're like me.  I admire Rob Dial not only for his obvious sincerity in doing what he does for people's greater good: he promotes a healthy, positive outlook on living.  If there's any single one of the above eight suggestions he made that stands out in importance to me, it's #2: Be grateful.  I think too many of us, myself included, tend to look on the negative side of things instead of reflecting on the blessings we enjoy in our lives. Gratitude helps, especially in those areas we think are unduly stressful...

Feeling Better, Summer Pattern Weather Here

Feeling better today than yesterday...although not at 100%...I exercised more and was more generally active.  For the first time in a while, Melissa and I visited our nearby YMCA pool, where I practiced swimming.  We're well-entrenched here in northern Florida in the typical summer pattern weather for our area, with sunniness in the morning yielding to spotty periods of rain and thunder into the afternoon.  I'm wishing you and yours a happy summer...

Feeling a Rare Bit Under the Weather

Today was a rare occurrence: I felt under the weather, with a sore throat, headache, stiffness and a little weak.  My exercise was curtailed at a lower level and I took it easy at home, resting.  Yet no temperature to speak of, and life is good...

RIP, Bobby Sherman

Bobby Sherman was the young, brash-sounding singer I grew to avoid whenever he made one of his regular appearances on the mid-1960s rock and roll TV series Shindig!. No, I just didn't care for the dude although he most likely was doing his job well...forgive me, I was just 9-10 years old at the time and had no sense of musical sophistication.  That series didn't last long, and apparently neither did Sherman's fame...until his career was resurrected with him, as a teen idol, spawning a string of hit singles in the late sixties and early seventies.  His songs seemed to me a bit weak, but at least I didn't have to watch him perform them.  Then, in the spring of 1970 my entire perception of Bobby Sherman drastically changed for the better when I heard his new singles release Hey Mister Sun.  I was thirteen, and closing out my eighth grade year in junior high school, thoroughly depressed and beaten down by life.  But the radio...specifically Miami AM station WINZ on 940 khz...often played Sherman's minor hit, and it stuck with me, lifting my spirits in the midst of a difficult time.  After that I was on board with good ol' Bobby...the next year his song The Drum was another enjoyable, upbeat tune.  I'm mentioning him today because he just died of kidney cancer at the age of 81, and apparently after his musical career decided to devote his efforts in Los Angeles to promoting emergency medical care.  I think I'd like to check out some of those very old (sixty years ago) performances on Shindig! he did and see if...just maybe...my level of musical sophistication hasn't grown enough to at least appreciate his efforts way back then.  God bless you, Bobby Sherman...

About the US Raid on Iranian Nuclear Facilities

The news has just been announced yesterday evening that American forces bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities with deep-penetrating, powerful missiles, taking place early this morning Iran time. Trump used some misdirection, feigning that he would wait a few days...up to two weeks is what I think he said...before deciding whether to use the American military to aid Israel in their mutual bombing exchange with Iran.  According to Trump...who is unfortunately prone to extreme exaggeration with his rhetoric...the facilities were destroyed.  It also looks like all American planes and personnel safely returned from their "outing".  Now it remains to be seen how the Iranians will respond...and you know they will, most likely through terrorism directed at civilians or military personnel. I don't agree with a lot of the Democrats who say that as president, Trump had to consult with Congress in advance...Clinton invading Haiti and bombing Afghanistan, and Obama disposing of Osama bin Laden would render that argument to be selectively partisan.  The problems I have with Trump's decision are that (1) his own Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, had concluded that Iran was far from being able to develop nuclear weaponry, and (2) I think our president, in making the decision to attack, was doing the bidding of another foreign leader, that is, of Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And I prefer that our national leaders act according to our own national interests over those of others, even our own allies. In this I find myself in an uncomfortable, rare agreement with far-right Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who quickly criticized Trump's raid on behalf of his Middle East ally and its leader...

Speed-Walked the Depot Park 5K This Morning

On this hot and humid first full day into the official summer season, I once again moseyed on down to Depot Park, a few blocks south of downtown Gainesville, to participate in their weekly Saturday morning Parkrun 5K.  The temperature was a warm 73 at the 7:30 race time with muggy conditions...although my insane phone app had the humidity only at 55%: no way! I had already decided a while back that I would...conditions permitting...devote one Parkrun per month to doing a speed-walk, and today that's what I did.  I've written before that I seem to have hit a wall regarding how fast I can walk.  My thinking is that were I to fully adopt the race-walking guidelines and commit them to habit, then I could once again start walking for personal bests.  But so far my race-walking form has never been evaluated by an expert and I'm guessing that I have some work to do in that regard.  So when the director started today's run/walk, I shot out of there...walking at (my) top speed.  Which, it turns out, was slower than last month's Parkrun walk...I finished at 41:05, more than a minute slower than May's time and considerably slower than my personal best 5K walk (38:19).  The field this morning was crowded, both with runners, walkers...and runners who were forced to go into walking mode after a lap or two.  I admire all these good people...in spite of our different personal reasons for doing Parkruns, we're still in a sense kindred spirits for getting up early in the morning and doing this thing.  For the whole race, a little boy who may just grow up into a track star, was serving as a Parkrun Walker volunteer and easily kept pace with me. In the final lap he casually walked on ahead...he seemed to have the race-walking form right!  I have a lot in my life to be grateful for, and being in a predicament about increasing my race-walking speed at my age with two recent major surgeries is indeed a blessed level to be concerned about.  Next week I'm signed up to run at Albert Ray Massey (Westside) Park in yet another 10K race organized by US Road Running.  Wonder what the weather will be like then. Click HERE to view today's posted results...   

Welcome to "Official" Summer

Welcome to the "official" beginning of summer, 2025, which according to the TV meteorologist began this evening with the summer solstice at 10:42.  Of course, we've been feeling the summer heat for weeks, so that crossing over is merely a formality. In my musings about the lack of long distance races in Florida this time of year I've investigated more northern locales that still hold marathons and/or half-marathons and came up with a few events.  The only problem with that is when heat waves sweep over those areas, which is what's going on the northeastern part of America.  Florida, by contrast...although still hot...seems more hospitable... 

Happy Juneteenth

Slavery is bad.  I'm glad it no longer exists in this country, at least not legally.  In 2021, America began a new national holiday, practiced previously in some states and localities: Juneteenth.  On June 19th, 1865, by order of the sitting president Andrew Johnson, the US Army proclaimed the end of slavery at Galveston, Texas, the final rebelling Confederate state to undergo military occupation. When Juneteenth was enacted, I had a new paid day off on my postal job...that was good.  I heard some local people interviewed today on the news and a couple of them spoke as if they were themselves once slaves...one hinted that he was still in the struggle to not be a slave anymore.  I recognize that injustice exists with many groups on many different levels...but let's not confuse that with slavery.  Happy Juneteenth, a good celebration of the close of an evil human practice, at least in this country... 

About Elon Musk

I'm not sure what to think about this super-tycoon Elon Musk and his assorted enterprises.  For years I was fervently supporting his SpaceX's efforts to ultimately send humans to Mars, a very ambitious enterprise to eventually to establish permanent facilities there.  I was also on board with his Tesla development of self-driving cars.  Starlink, a network of communications satellites under SpaceX, has transformed global communications. But after the mega-magnate turned hard-Trump with his politics last year, my inclination to support Musk's projects has taken a severe nosedive.  His rockets keep blowing up, and people who don't like him burn up his Teslas.  There's a conspiracy theory going around that Musk somehow used Starlink to steal the 2024 election for Trump, but I think there's a simpler and more obvious solution: the American voter is typically stupid, driven by emotion and susceptible to manipulation.  His recent decision to oppose Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" for increasing the national debt is laudable, as is his stepping back away from the national limelight as the president's right-hand man with a moneybag and chainsaw.  So what does the future hold for Elon...and me?  My plan is to take it all, one Musk action at a time, for better or for worse.  I really do think he is trying hard to do his best for the greater good...and sometimes he royally screws up in that regard.  One thing for certain: he is indeed a figure of history...

The Decline in North-Central Florida of Marathons and Half-Marathons

It dismays me that, at least in north-central Florida where I live (the Gainesville-Ocala area), a thriving distance-running race scene that enjoyed large public support has dwindled into much-smaller-scale events held completely within parks and on converted bike trails.  When I rediscovered distance running around 2007, Gainesville had just begun its annual LifeSouth Five Points of Life marathon and half-marathon, held each February.  The course wound up and down city streets, and included downtown Gainesville and the University of Florida campus, at one point passing through their football stadium.  At the same time, Ocala had in January its own marathon/half marathon race.  Its course went south of town (start and finish near the Paddock Mall) through hilly horse country, where large estates and fields featured many thoroughbred racing horses.  I ran Gainesville's Five Points races...all half-marathon distance...six times with 2022 being their final year.  As for Ocala I finished its marathon in 2011 and half-marathon in 2013...I'm not sure when they stopped holding their races.  During this time I also drove to more distant locales for their own half-marathons (DeLeon Springs, Palm Coast and Tavares).  None of these are held anymore, either.  The only distance races in my area are organized by either the Florida Track Club, US Road Running, or Lloyd Clarke Sports, and they...as I mentioned before...tend to confine themselves to out-of-the-way places.  I like the buzz of big-city distance races, and I like to jog in my living room watching You-Tube virtual runs of some of these races (NYC Marathon is easily my favorite).  I have yet to run a race outside the state of Florida, but I'm retired now so it shouldn't be too hard to hop on a plane and make a weekend go at it visiting my targeted city.  But it doesn't look as if, at least where I live, public marathons and half-marathons are going to make a comeback anytime soon.  I've tried to get myself into an annual tradition as different organizations like Haven Hospice, Taccachale, the Sarantos and Meridian would start an annual race, only to cancel its continuation two or three years down the line.  That, of course, is their privilege and choice...too bad, though, because I would have liked to continue participating in those runs. Last November I finished my second-ever marathon race with a group that has since ceased holding their events twice a year on the eastern Hawthorne Trail.  They're gone now, but at least I got my marathon in!  Now the only marathon left in north-central Florida is a January event run by the Florida Track Club, but they are elitist about runners who take more than five hours to complete it.  That doesn't work for me, seeing that at age 68 I completed last November's marathon in 5 hours 7 minutes...

Enjoyed Watching Golf's US Open This Past Weekend

I enjoyed watching the US Open in Golf this past weekend, taking place at the Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  It's a very difficult, more traditional course that rewards straight tee shots into the fairway and punishes those who, for the sake of driving distance, shank the ball off toward the left or right into the five-plus inch tall grasses of the rough.  I've seen tournament after tournament in which a golfer sends a tee shot off to the side and has little trouble getting back in line on the course...not with Oakmont! There you have to take each shot on its own individual merits and focus on it...no such thing here as entering a groove state.  J.J. Spaun, who a few weeks ago very nearly won the Players Championship (played at nearby-to-me Ponte Vedra Beach), had what it took to shrug off whatever happened in the previous hole and just focus on what immediately lay ahead of him.  Other tourney leaders like Sam Burns and Adam Scott, on the other hand, lost their composure during the tournament's final holes...especially Burns, who never did recover from his anger at being denied "relief" by the golf officials after his tee shot landed in wet grass on the edge of the fairway on a late hole. Never having played a round of golf in my life...beyond so-called "miniature golf"...I noticed that this sport really does test and showcase the players' mental state according to their level of focus as well as their emotional reactions when shots don't go as they wished.  Spaun was, as they say "cool as a cucumber", all the way to his final, long birdie shot on the last hole when he finally let loose in joy.  Good for him, and good for me...good weekend entertainment...

About Saturday's Anti-Trump Rally

When I earlier discovered that a nationwide network of anti-Trump protests, dubbed "No Kings" and scheduled on the same day the president was staging a large Washington, DC military parade to ostensibly honor the US Army's 250th anniversary, I noted that in Gainesville it was being held at Roberson Park near where I do my weekly Depot Parkrun 5K walk/runs.  I thought maybe it would be good for me to attend this first protest rally of my life, and allowed myself the option...once there on the morning of the 14th...to choose whether or not to go.  After the Parkrun, which I ended up running a little harder than planned...coming out of it hot and sweaty...I changed clothes and headed out, not to the protest but rather to the nearby (to my home) donut shop for some coffee and reflection.  While there I got on my smartphone's YouTube and watched a little bit of one of the No Kings rallies on live-stream.  A woman was on stage with the mike and was yelling repeatedly, "THIS IS THE MEANING OF DEMOCRACY!", with the shouting audience parroting her in unison. That convinced me I had made the right decision in avoiding my home town's version, in spite of the fact that I strongly oppose this convicted criminal felon of a president. No, I absolutely do not trust Donald Trump, but I have even less faith in my fellow Americans for what they did to my country last November when they voted him back into office.  What constitutes democracy in its higher sense is the quiet, informed dignity of a country's citizens as they perform the regular ritual of making the effort to vote for the leaders they deem responsible, ethical and most able to lead their country into a better future, one that optimizes liberty, prosperity, enlightenment and security.  I don't know whether the United States will continue on its current track into fascism, but even if there is a backlash against MAGA in the 2026 off-year elections I don't trust the electorate's collective reasoning.  Go ahead and wave around a sign or an insulting effigy of the Orange Man...it seems folks have to get just as crazy and irrational as his own adoring personality cult idolaters to get them motivated to actually do anything.  And protest demonstrations won't elect anybody, nor will they, by themselves, toss out the worthless rascals from power.  But go ahead and demonstrate if that makes you feel better.  According to what I heard from my local news after our event, there wasn't any significant level of pro-Trump counter-protesters at the rally, just people standing around with signs and agreeing with the speakers.  Come next election day, guess how many votes that adds up to?  

Slogged Through Another Warm and Humid Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

I woke up this morning with a stubborn purpose: continue my weekly attendance at Saturday morning's Depot Parkrun 5K, which is a few blocks south of downtown Gainesville.  The race, or run/walk as the organizers like to call it to make it seem less competitive, starts at 7:30.  Only problem is that today, less than a mile away, is an anti-Trump protest rally scheduled at nearby Roberson Park from 9 to noon.  Determined to avoid parking hassles from people trying to get there early, I managed to get out of the house in time to drive down and snag a decent slot at the park.  Typical for this time of year, it was warm and muggy with race time temperature at 75 with 70% humidity.  I had decided to run this one, again without the intent to set any personal best but to just "SWOJ", or "summer work-out jog".  My sometimes-bonkers phone weather app had the rain probability at 79% for this morning but the skies were crystal clear. When the race began...and during most of it for that matter...I found myself running in the company of pretty much the same people: that's less common than you might think.  I was naturally very uncomfortable with the heat/humidity combination for the whole run, but compared with others I fared very well, maintaining the same steady pace (or, as I call it, "groove") throughout.  I finished with a time of 28:09...click HERE to view the posted results.  Afterward I took a change of clothes into the park restroom and headed down to the Dunkin' Donuts near my home in north Gainesville, avoiding the protest...more on that in another article.  I have to decide whether to renew my US Road Running membership before I decide whether to sign up for the June 28 race they're holding here in Gainesville.  If I don't, then I still have Depot Parkrun and, starting July 12, another Parkrun at West End Park off Newberry Road in Tioga...

News, Media Manipulation and Protests

It's all-too easy in recent days to get overly wrought about the news hitting the airwaves...the political extremism that's sadly becoming mainstream, and the intensifying international division that includes several areas of armed conflict across the world.  I wrote last Sunday about the nationwide protests being organized against Trump for his perceived overreach with executive orders and his lavish self-indulgence at taxpayers' expense, exemplified by his heavily-hyped birthday/military parade to take place tomorrow.  In Gainesville, as in many locations spread across the land, there will be a protest meeting called "No Kings" tomorrow morning from 9 to noon, taking place at Roberson Park on 600 SW 6th Street.  I've expressed interest in attending it, but we'll just have to see how I feel about it all after my Depot Parkrun 5K race that's just a few blocks down the road.  Melissa thoughtfully reminded me to not get so caught up in the news, and she's right: there's only just so much I can do about what's going down around me.  So I'm keeping my peace and serenity in the face of the confusion, chaos, anger and fear, some of which I suspect is deliberately being pushed in the media to manipulate us...

Enjoying Watching 2025's US Open in Golf...at Oakmont, Pennsylvania

I've been watching some of the US Open, which began today and will run through Sunday.  It's one of professional golf's four Grand Slam events, and the course changes location from year to year.  In 2025 it is being held at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania...near Pittsburgh.  The course has a reputation as being very difficult...and the over-par scores in the first round are reflecting this.  There's no telling who will pull out ahead at the end, but for now J.J. Spaun, the runner-up at this year's Players Championship, has played consistently well enough to pull out to an early lead.  Established stars like Scottie Scheffler, Roy McIlroy and Bryson Dechambeau, on the other hand, are having early trouble driving, wedging and putting their ways  through a course that has been intentionally crafted to frustrate the best efforts of the world's most skillful golfers.  Not that I'm planning to stay glued to the TV for the next few days, but this tournament promises to be very entertaining...

Happy Birthday, Mama

My mother, Hilda, would be turning 95 today had she remained alive.  She sadly passed away from complications involving lung cancer in November, 2002.  Back in Mama's teenage culture during the 1940's, smoking was simply something that everyone did, and as soon as you were old enough to light up, inhale and puff without getting sick on the spot, then you were "good to go".  Only we've known for many decades now that this isn't so, and smoking is responsible for many deaths and sickness.  Mama, it turned out, had been suffering from birth with lungs that weren't fully developed, so smoking had a sharper effect on her than with many others.  She gave it up more than twenty years before the tumor was detected, and I am grateful for the time that she took this brave step against an addictive habit that was harming her health and shortening her life.  My mother was one of those warm, real, people who would fully engage folks in conversation and had a natural way of presenting herself...and a strong propensity to see humor in things (and the sweetest laugh).  When I look at myself and occasionally see some good points, chances are Mama had something significant to do with it...  

Discovering Some Limitations to My Speed-Walking

As far as speed-walking is concerned for someone in my age group (I'm 68), I'm a pretty fast walker although nowhere near the level of athletically competitive race walkers.  Those folks will get on a track and out-walk even normally fast runners, leaving people wondering how they can do something like that.  The rules for race-walking are simple but rigid: one, you have to keep the forward leg straight without bending the knee, until that foot passes underneath the body.  And two, one foot has to always be contact with the ground.  I've seen "footage" of actual race-walking and it seems that, at least at regular speed of viewing the contestants are maintaining contact.  But slow the video down and apparently during these high-intensity races there are micro-moments when both feet are (very slightly) in the air.  The operative word with this is "detectable", for judges patrol standard race-walking events and carefully observe the walkers to assure...at least as far as they are able to...that everyone is following the rules.  For me, I'm not even sure that I am keeping my forward leg straight enough to comply with race-walking standards...probably need someone to observe me and advise on this.  I do speed-walk a bit during races, often doing so at Gainesville's weekly Saturday morning Depot Parkrun 5K...I also speed-walked the entire Tom Walker Half-Marathon last November.  I seem to have run into a finishing-time wall with my efforts, and this is frustrating me.  So, I'm going back to You-Tube to see if I can't pick up on something I'm missing with my form.  Summertime...and especially the extended season that pours out into spring and fall in Florida...is a great time for me to explore how far (and fast) I can go with speed-walking (or race-walking for that matter)... 

Hanging Out in the Old Donut Shop

Sadly, one of my extended family members has recently undergone some extensive health issues, and she has been in the hospital.  I've been driving Melissa to and from for her visits, and this place is in the southern part of Gainesville, with me passing by the University of Florida. This afternoon I seriously considered, on the way back after dropping her off, stopping at the nearby Krispy Kreme donut shop about three blocks north of campus...but changed my mind considering that rush hour was soon on the way and I didn't want to get caught in heavy city traffic. So instead I'm sitting here in my nearby Dunkin Donuts writing this, remembering that Krispy Kreme from my past.  Back in the early 1980s I was single with a very modest income and a pretty frugal existence.  Still, I enjoyed going to coffee shops and studying...being out in public tended to rivet my attention on what I was trying to focus on.  That Krispy Kreme store was open 24/7, and they never gave me any trouble if I chose to sit there for a while.  I think doing this helped me to come to some level of inner peace about interacting in public settings while enabling me to adopt a lifelong discipline of learning.  Back then, I lived in the southwest area of town and would ride my bicycle back and forth, largely down Archer Road and across the UF campus, between Krispy Kreme and my apartment. The early eighties was a time in my life of "no running", but I was still pretty fit with my extensive bike riding.  Nowadays, though, I'm frankly a little afraid of getting on a bicycle and riding through the motor traffic around me...there's too much going on in cars now to distract drivers from my presence on the road.  One of the subjects I remember studying back then was a romanized Japanese language grammar book, which I have sadly misplaced somewhere in the deep recesses of my home.  But my son Will, who tragically passed away last July, was himself a student of Japanese, and one of the books he left to us was an impressive Japanese grammar.  So although it remains to be seen, I just might be inserting some Japanese studying again into my daily routine. Hey, I'm retired and this should be fun.  And although I'm no longer a regular customer of Krispy Kreme, I'm glad it's still standing there in the midst of the excessive construction and congestion that's recently taken place in that part of Gainesville...

Nationwide Protests Against Trump This Saturday During His Military Show

So it looks as if the duly-elected president is determined to hold his grand, hyper-expensive (at taxpayers' expense) military celebration on Saturday, June 14...which "coincidentally" exactly coincides with his birthday.  In response to this kind of egomaniacal display that one would normally expect from North Korea's puffy dictator, a nationwide counter-protest is being scheduled for the same day. In Gainesville there's a protest called "No Kings", endorsed by the Democratic Party, that's taking place Saturday morning from 9 to noon at Cora P. Roberson Park, 600 SW 6th Street.  I pass by it most Saturday mornings on my way to the Depot Parkrun.  Looks as if my little weekly race is in for some serious competition with parking this weekend, sad to say.  But then again, I have shown up to vote against Trump every chance I could...four times...one of them after I deliberately changed my voter affiliation to Republican just to vote against him in 2024's Florida Primary.  So I might just drop by Roberson Park to check out the scene...but I'm certainly NOT going to fill out and submit any sign-up forms that the websites promoting it provide: what's that all about unless they're planning to hit on me later?  I expect die-hard, delusional Trump MAGA demonstrators to show up as well, and possibly some opportunistic left-wing agitators who might try to put on a media show in front of the cameras.  I've never been at a demonstration meeting or protest, and I still remember (with contempt) Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren once calling these things "Democracy in action".  No, Senator, democracy in action is getting off your ass on Election Day and voting!  Nevertheless, attending a protest demonstration may be in the cards for me.  I do know that the Internet and social media are full of lies and misdirection about both Trump and his former flunky Elon Musk.  Apparently, the Republican's "Big, Beautiful" bill doesn't specifically grant the president election-canceling powers as I had earlier read, and Musk isn't...as was also erroneously reported...about to buy off ABC/Disney.  Should be an interesting Saturday, this June 14th.  Bottom line on all this protesting: Trump was indeed duly elected, and if it's anybody I should be demonstrating against it's the fools who put him back into office.  Still, I'd like to observe what goes down this coming Saturday morning (after my run, of course)...

Ran This Morning's Warm and Muggy Depot Parkrun 5K

This Saturday morning, anticipating an extraordinarily hot and humid Gainesville, I woke up with the intention of running the weekly Depot Parkrun 5K, but as a "summer work-out jog" or SWOJ.  True enough the temperature at 7:30 race time was 75 with a blistering-muggy 73% humidity.  Still, in spite of these discouraging conditions there were many park-runners in attendance.  The way I saw it, I knew I wasn't going to be setting any personal Parkrun bests today, but if I could maintain a reasonable pace I'd be happy walking away with a faster-than-thirty minutes finishing time.  And although my stomach had given me fits before the race...and I'm being euphemistic...I was ready at starting time, settling quickly into what I felt was a "groove" that I could stick with for the race's duration.  No, it wasn't pleasant and I was sweating profusely since early on.  But my endurance kicked in nicely and I finished with a time of 28:37, much better than my pre-race expectations.  You can click HERE to view today's results.  For the remainder of June, my plan is...unless I decide on a Saturday morning to sleep in and skip the Depot Parkrun (and that's always an option)...I will divide the three upcoming Satudays between one run, one speed-walk, and on the 28th tackle another US Road Running race at Westside Park...that one's likely to be another 10K...

Just Finished Reading Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar

My reading of this 2017 collaboration between Stephen King and Richard Chizmar is the result of my local public library not automatically renewing the two books I had previously checked-out (and was too lazy to return) and instead presenting me via e-mail with a bill for them as lost books.  I presently hastened to my nearest library and showed them the books, and then everything was hunky-dory again.  So I ventured back among the shelves and came up with two more books, unwittingly one of them being the THIRD book in a King-Chizmar trilogy.  I'll get to that one eventually, but first I got onto my Libby app and checked out the audio version for the series' first volume, a very short novel titled Gwendy's Button Box. Gwendy is a girl transitioning from elementary to middle school in her home town of, naturally, Castle Rock, Maine.  She is overweight and doesn't want to continue being the target of cruel nicknames...and kids that age are typically cruel. So she practices running up the steps leading to a local monument.  One day she encounters an elderly man who presents her with a mysterious mahogany box, complete with an assortment of colored buttons, a slot and levers.  He explains for her what each colored button means, and that the black one is the end of everything...pretty ominous, right?  She reluctantly accepts it and comes to regret the box, although it strangely seems to have set her on an inexplicable path to social popularity and academic excellence.  But as I have noted, kids that age tend to be cruel and Gwendy has repeated run-ins with one of the cruelest, which ultimately leads to the story's climax.  I read it in three days, and found at the very end of the audiobook that a Stephen King short story titled The Music Room was attached at the very end.  As for Gwendy's Button Box, King had come up with the idea and most of the book, but didn't know how to end it...he consulted his friend and asked him to see if he couldn't manage the task...and so a collaboration was born.  There are two more volumes, Gwendy's Magic Feather...completely written by Richard Chizmar...and Gwendy's Final Task, a return to the collaboration and a full-length novel.  It should be interesting for me to compare Chizmar's writing style as I read Book #2...

Trump and Musk: the High Drama Continues

I can't exactly avoid the news that seeps into my life, as much as I would often like to.  Ever since Trump slithered back into office four and a half months ago, he had as his bromance-dude super-wealthy Elon Musk accompanying him everywhere, it seemed.  Trump would threaten fellow Republican lawmakers with supplying Musk-funded primary opponents for their next elections should they ever stray from completely following his line, and ol' Elon would just stand there grinning like it was a big joke and shouldn't we all laugh with the two superheroes.  Well, Musk is actually someone who had a life apart from combining hedonism with the pursuit of raw political power...he started a number of innovative businesses and captured my imagination several years ago with his expressed desire to send people to Mars for exploration...and even settlement.  But somewhere along the line he decided to kiss Trump's ring and endorse his campaign in 2024.  That I didn't like, but his chainsaw-wielding antics with DOGE, or the "Department of Government Efficiency", publicized him squarely as an enemy of ordinary people, and the campaign to run down his business enterprises and wealth...mainly through Tesla...erupted across the country with on-site protests and calls for boycott.  He's backed off his public adulation for the repulsive occupant of the White House, even to the point that the two are now engaging in an online war of words against each other after Musk correctly expressed his opposition to the so-called "Big Beautiful" bill that the House passed by one vote.  Musk didn't like that it would greatly increase the national debt, while I, not liking that either, am much more concerned that it grants the president the ability to ignore judges that rule against him and to cancel election results he disagrees with...making our leader a virtual dictator.  Not that I have any say in the matter: my one vote nowadays means very little as opposed to the millions upon millions of voluntarily-brainwashed Americans that worship Trump like a cult personality idol...funny how so many self-identified Christians don't see this idolatry as sinful...

Checking Out Locally-Owned Gainesville Coffee Shop

I'm sitting here in a locally-owned Gainesville coffee shop called "Cym", situated roughly at the corner of NW 55th Street and Newberry Road.  Lots of students here with their laptops...I had to look around to find a place to sit.  But it's a fun view outside here, and I have a hanging roof to shield me from rain or excess wind. I got an iced coffee with hazelnut flavor, and it's good.  I thought that now, with me newly retired and all, it would be a good idea to try out the different places...and by that I mean coffee shops. This one shows some promise although it isn't exactly close to home, and at this early afternoon time (~2:00) it seems to be pretty full, with few seating choices.  But the folks working here seem friendly enough... 

Happy Pride Month

I wish all a happy Pride Month, which is June.  I've long supported gay rights and a thriving LGBT community, which has come, to me, to indicate a locality's tolerance (and anti-bigotry) level...Gainesville is one of those places, thankfully.  Since this designation of Pride Month is nationwide, folks wanting to celebrate it can check online how their own communities may choose its observance...

Start of 2025 Hurricane Season

Yesterday the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season officially began, and the two main weather channels (The Weather Channel and FoxWeather) devoted much of their time to discussing this year's prospects regarding tropical storm systems and the damage that storms like Helene and Milton caused in 2024.  I remember as a kid in the 1960s getting a free hurricane plotting map that many stores...including Publix...offered.  Then I would eagerly wait for each day's newspaper (we got the Miami News)  to examine its (usually front-page) article about the status of ongoing tropical systems, usually with the accompanying maximum sustained winds and that all-important figure, its coordinates.  I'd duly plot out the new location and connect it to my previous plotting, making a gradual pathway that it was taking...I did this for years.  Nowadays, though, since you can pretty much check up on the different tropical storms online or on TV on a 24/7 basis, this painstaking plotting out of a hurricane's progress just isn't practiced anymore.  The last season I did this intentionally was in 1985 after Elena caused a scare in my Gainesville area after it abruptly shifted its path overnight to hover just off the coast at Cedar Key.  Now, of course, I can go back on Wikipedia and get a synopsis of each past season, along with a map showing the different named storms' trajectories.  For 2025, there will be no plotting in my house, but I'll keep in touch with the weather... 

My May 2025 Running, Walking and Swimming Report

For May, as my recovery from surgery enabled me to return to the pool for swimming, I found myself (and Melissa) often going to our YMCA Pool where we did laps, either through swimming or walking.  We went swimming on seven different days in the month, including once at Daytona Beach.  I think my swimming endurance is improving, and my use of a snorkel should come in great use when tackling the longer lap lanes they provide.  I kept up both my running and speed-walking, both at home and in races.  I participated in our local weekly (and free) Depot Parkrun 5K four out of the month's five Saturdays, two as runs, one a speed-walk...and one as a volunteer.  The other Saturday morning (the 24th) was spent at Westside Park...now known officially as Albert Ray Massey Park.  On the fourth Saturday each month a group calling itself US Road Running holds a multi-distance race on that site.  It was the second time I ran it, again at the 10K distance.  I've also spent a number of late mornings and early afternoons traversing a course I created for myself within my own neighborhood and the adjacent one...that's helped a lot.  And...I am gradually increasing some adjunct routines like pushups, jumping jacks, skipping (good for developing sprinting capability), and some physical therapy exercises.  May was a good month for me, and since June will doubtless get hotter here in north Florida I'm confident that I'll be doing even more walking and swimming in it...

Walked the Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

Today is the last day of May, my last chance this month to get in a speed-walk at Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K.  It had been raining off and on all night, and when I got up this morning around 6 there was still a drizzle outside. But when I left to go to Depot Park a little before 7, the rain had completely abated...at race time, 7:30, it was 71 degrees with 74% humidity: pretty uncomfortable but at least the clouds shielded us from the sun.  Since I was walking the event, the adverse conditions that reminded me of my 10K race last week didn't much affect me.  My goal was to finish faster than 40 minutes, returning to a string of speed-walking 5K final times below that mark I did before March's surgery.   I pushed it hard for the race and finished with a time of 39:42...you can view the results by clicking HERE.  Gainesville...or more technically the greater Gainesville area...is being doubly blessed, starting July 12th, with a second weekly Parkrun.  This one, called West End Community Parkrun, is taking place in a new park converted from a golf course.  It's on Newberry Road west of town, on the north side of the street about six blocks west of NW 122nd Street...in the incorporated town of Tioga.  I'm not sure whether I'll go there on the first day, but it should be fun to visit from time to time.  As far as my speed-walking is concerned, before the succession of family tragedy and health crises this past year, I was gradually working up my walking speed to 5 mph, which in a 5K would be reflected by a 37:20 finishing time.  Well, I'm back on track working toward that goal, which I've managed to accomplish on a treadmill but not on a hard surface...

Recovery from Prostate Surgery Continues to Be Encouraging

The specter of cancer descended upon my family last year when Melissa and I were diagnosed, respectively, with breast cancer in May and prostate in December.  We both had the malignancies surgically removed, mine involving a robotic laparoscopic prostatectomy, or removal of my prostate.  Although the verdict so far on both of our accounts as been that the cancers were successfully removed from our bodies, we still have to undergo periodic tests to make sure that there hasn't been any resurgence.  Melissa's follow-up is next month while I just underwent my PSA blood test a couple of weeks ago.  The result, as I had mentioned in an earlier article, was excellent, and my physician concurred with that take earlier today during our consultation.  Next test is in August, and either it will be "a-okay" or I'll get some radiation treatment...either way I'm good with it.  As for my recovery from surgery and my adjustment to being without one of my organs, that's been going well, too...full-speed ahead with life!  

The Seedy Underside of Rock Stars and Their Adoring Fans

I was having lunch today with Melissa at a local restaurant when they played the Dire Straits 1985 hit single Money for Nothing.  Written as a satire on the rock music scene and what motivates rockers in general, one of the main lines in it is "You get your money for nothing and your chicks for free."  No surprise there, as I have long understood that a substantial number of rock celebrities...and perhaps celebrities of other types as well...tend to enjoy the adulation of their fan base, sometimes crossing the line into promiscuity and groupie behavior.  I remember a radio show I heard about Def Leppard that revealed that during the band's concert tours they would spend the mid-concert intermission in their dressing room making out with the young women they earlier picked out of the audience during the opening half.  I thought at the time that this band was pretty awfully arrogant to do such a thing, and then to openly brag about it like that.  I think times may have changed since then, though, and that can't be a bad thing, right?  After Arcade Fire released their album We in early 2022, allegations were published about frontman Win Butler that he had been aggressive about sexually pursuing some of his female fans on social media...a scandal about it erupted just as the band was about to go on an album-promoting concert tour while Butler maintained that everything had been consensual. Scheduled opening act Feist withdrew herself from the tour and there was a question about the future prospects of Arcade Fire.  Now they've just released their next album and we'll see how that goes.  I am dead set against any form of sexual harassment, but in the entertainment industry it seems that any standards...if there really are any...are applied in a sloppy, haphazard manner with some alleged offenders being severely demonized..."cancelled" if you will...while others, apparently given a free pass for being "cool",  are almost lifted up as folk heroes for their antics.  To me it's a terrible distraction from the music, which is the only reason I ever paid attention to any of them in the first place.  And to me Def Leppard has always sucked while Arcade Fire has been a quality act...

My Song of the Month for May 2025

It's nearing the end of May, and so it's time for me to discuss which songs meant the most personally to me during this past month. I continue to enjoy listening to other tunes I've selected for January through April as my "songs of the month", and they generally are current releases.  For May, though, I finally succeeded in identifying one song whose melody and singing style stuck with me but frustrated me as to its title and artist...but no longer. It's an established group, the Australian duo Empire of the Sun, and the song is actually from 2008, titled Walking on a Dream.  I love the wailing kind of singing in its chorus, and it's actually an act that my daughter Rebecca likes and earlier had discussed with me.  What I don't understand is how, back when it was first released and popular, I didn't notice it. Anyway, Walking on a Dream is my choice as "song of the month" for May, 2025. A few days ago I took the time to listen to Arcade Fire's latest album, released just under three weeks ago, titled Pink Elephant.  As I tend to do with other artists I enjoy listening to, I tried my hardest to enjoy it.  But track after track escaped me...until the very last one, titled Stuck in My Head.  And that song was pretty brilliant.  I have a feeling that it may go down as June's best song for me, and I am sure to give the other tracks on the album multiple listens...sometimes a tune just has to grow on me. So, here's the list for my 2025 songs of the month so far:

January    Everyone Out by Diiv

February  Starburster by Fontaines DC

March      Under the Rug by Arcy Drive 

April        Nothing I Need by Lord Huron 

May         Walking on a Dream by Empire of the Sun

Trump's Truth Social Memorial Day Post

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS, WHO ALLOWED 21,000,000 MILLION PEOPLE TO ILLEGALLY ENTER OUR COUNTRY, MANY OF THEM BEING CRIMINALS AND THE MENTALLY INSANE,THROUGH AN OPEN BORDER THAT ONLY AN INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT WOULD APPROVE, AND THROUGH JUDGES WHO ARE ON A MISSION TO KEEP MURDERERS, DRUG DEALERS, RAPISTS, GANG MEMBERS, AND RELEASED PRISONERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN OUR COUNTRY SO THEY CAN ROB, MURDER, AND RAPE AGAIN — ALL PROTECTED BY THESE USA HATING JUDGES WHO SUFFER FROM AN IDEOLOGY THAT IS SICK, AND VERY DANGEROUS FOR OUR COUNTRY. HOPEFULLY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, AND OTHER GOOD AND COMPASSIONATE JUDGES THROUGHOUT THE LAND, WILL SAVE US FROM THE DECISIONS OF THE MONSTERS WHO WANT OUR COUNTRY TO GO TO HELL. BUT FEAR NOT, WE HAVE MADE GREAT PROGRESS OVER THE LAST 4 MONTHS, AND AMERICA WILL SOON BE SAFE AND GREAT AGAIN! AGAIN, HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY, AND GOD BLESS AMERICA!

The above was our duly elected president’s social media post for yesterday’s Memorial Day observance, which is held annually to remember and honor those who have fallen in service to our country over the course of its history.  Had someone like Joe Biden or Barack Obama published anything resembling the filth that appears above, I have no doubt that FoxNews “journalists” like Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin and Jesse Watters would instantly sweep down in collective, fervent condemnation of the president, pronouncing judgment on his mental state and demanding that he step down from office.  But Donald J.Trump is their boy and, to them, he can do no wrong.  At my postal service mail processing job over the years I’ve seen the type of rant similar to that above from time to time on the outside of envelopes…written and sent by obviously mentally unstable paranoids suffering from extreme delusions. So, my fellow Americans, this is the individual you saw fit to lead this nation….

On This Memorial Day 2025

On this Memorial Day 2025 I respect and appreciate all of the brave American soldiers who served our country both in times of peace and war and honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives for our sake during times of conflict.  God bless all of them, and may He protect us from anyone's attempts to overthrow the freedoms and rule of law that they made such sacrifices to protect...a danger that I fear may be ongoing at the highest levels in my own beloved country...

New Habit of "Stuff" Disposal

A coworker of mine several years ago once told me that he has a rule regarding his possessions, which is that if he hasn't used something he has for a year then he gets rid of it...making him immune to hoarding.  I, on the other hand, while myself not in the habit of accumulating stuff for accumulation's sake, have a tendency to pile it all up over time.  Well, a significant new habit is growing within me, which involves me taking a short, set period of time each day to go through my stuff and separate what stays from what goes.  I don't actually take what I'm disposing of out on each day, but keep it all confined to a staging area before I go out make a drop-off.  I'm tired of all this stuff and would like to see most of it gone, really...

Ran the US Road Running 10K Today in Gainesville

US Road Running is an organization that regularly stages running (or walking, if you prefer) races spread out over the country, usually within parks and involving multiple laps and "there-and-backs" to cover the race distance.  For a few years I had seen the available races at Ocala's Baseline Trailhead Park but since they're all on Saturday mornings and I wouldn't get off from work until 10 on Friday nights, it just didn't seem feasible for me.  Then, last year US Road Running added a Gainesville race, this one taking place the fourth Saturday each month in Westside...officially "Albert Ray Massey" Park...just a little ways down the road from my home: very convenient.  I managed to run their August 2024 race but circumstances in my life somehow kept me from entering another one until just now, when I did their 10K (6.2 miles) race this morning.  I expected it to be uncomfortably warm and muggy as is usually the case this time of year and I wasn't disappointed: mid-seventies both in temperature and humidity...ugh.  The folks running the event were all very friendly and encouraging, and I felt that sweet spirit around me that makes me want to come back next time to try it all again.  I had a choice of distances when I signed up: 1 mile, 5K, 10K or 15K...I chose 10K again.  The race started off at 8 and we wound our way past the fenced-in kiddie playground and onto a very rocky and uneven trail, onward to the first baseball field and then on to their fine, big swimming pool. Passing it on its left, we then ran on to the other baseball field and around the far end of the park to the tennis courts...and then turned around and retraced our path.  For the 10K we did this 4 times.  I was suffering from the heat/humidity combo and, although I had initially intended to run the whole event, after the first lap I decided to do the rest as a walk/run hybrid...although I still ran most of the rest of the way.  I finished with a time of 1 hour 5 minutes 36 seconds...click HERE to view the posted results.  I was by some 20 years the oldest runner in the race, but was inspired by all participants, most of whom were clearly out there doing their best as part of their own self-betterment and fitness projects.   I'd like to continue with these Westside Park races on the fourth Saturday of each month...maybe I'll increase my distance up to 15K and make all future races here...at least through the summer...mixes of running with fast walking.  

Nobody's Perfect...But What Was Bill Maher Trying to Accomplish?

One of the problems with writing a blog over an extended period of time is that I may extol the virtues of a public figure, be he or she in government, academia, news media or entertainment.  Then a little while later the same individual becomes enveloped in scandal, or they may say or do something that is completely abhorrent to me, causing me to regret my earlier praise.  But I realize that this is a fallen world, with its people prone to display that fallen nature within themselves...and I'm not superior in this regard.  That having been noted, it still grinds me when someone like Bill Maher, whom I've praised for his outspokenness and general common sense, deeply disappoints me by doing something like what he recently did when he essentially went over to the White House to suck up to Donald Trump, following this event by praising the Narcissist-in-Chief to high heaven.  Last year, in the midst of the presidential election, Maher seemed dead-set on running down Biden and the Democrats while propping up and promoting Trump...I don't get it.  But I just tuned in to his latest show for his monologue and old Bill was making fun of Trump again...but with absolutely no credibility to his words.  I'm sorry that the American people were collectively so foolish last November as to return to office a convicted felon who, from what I can gather, is working on behalf of Vladimir Putin and Russian intelligence to implement their agenda.  But that's my opinion...you're entitled to yours. Maher's recent love-fest with the Republicans...even to the point of making a smiling appearance on the Gutfeld show...makes me wonder whether someone somewhere had discovered something on him that they could expose if he didn't "play ball" with them.  Just wondering...

Enjoyed Our Brief Stay at Daytona Beach

Yesterday Melissa and I took an overnight trip to Daytona Beach at our favorite hotel and got back into town (Gainesville) earlier this afternoon.  Nothing planned out of the ordinary: sitting on the oceanfront balcony, walking up and down the beach, swimming in their fine little pool, eating both our dinner and breakfast on site...and of course our room was very comfortable as always.  Sometimes I wish I had a little closet I could enter and step back out of, into a completely different location...this beach would be high on my priority list of such places.  Being there was great and being here at home is great...it's the tedious driving back and forth among the often distracted or overaggressive fellow motorists that I could do without...

Weekly Short Stories: 1999 Science Fiction, Part 15

It's Wednesday again, time again for me to discuss a story from 1999 I slogged through reading editor Gardner Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction, Seventeen Annual Collection.  With the following tale I realized one of my problems sticking with this fictional genre...

THE SKY-GREEN BLUES by Tanith Lee

A journalist whose assignment is covering another planet's humanoid, jungle-bound society that resembles a Buddhist take on life finds frustrating opposition when she tries to convince Lohno, its leader, to flee an brutally sadistic advancing alien army.  But Lohno is unperturbed at the coming calamity and suggests Frances avail herself of the escape opportunity with his assistant Laitel.  It's how this story progresses that sharply reminded me of an old original Star Trek TV episode titled Errand of Mercy, from 1966.  In it the savage advancing enemy is the Klingon Empire and the "good guys" trying to save the native Organians on their threatened world are Kirk, Spock and company on the Enterprise, of course.  Only the Organians...like Lohno in the story published 33 years later...aren't at all concerned about their own well-being and strongly urge "their" humans to leave.  Ultimately, at the end of Tanith Lee's brief tale, the reader is left confused about who really holds the reins of power in this universe of ours...as is also the case with that Star Trek episode.  Which brings me to the point where I'm beginning to admit to myself that the genre of science fiction has become overly derivative over the years...it can only get more so.  I should have been surprised by the plot-twist in Lee's short story, but instead just groaned to myself, "Not another one like this".  Maybe I should just take a break for a while from these weekly reviews...or switch to another genre.  It just doesn't seem as fun to read this stuff anymore, especially when the stories too often seem like ripoffs of material from earlier times...

So we'll see where I stand on all this next week...

Bad Elements Ruin My Outlook on Reunions

I've noticed something interesting, with a heavy dose of annoyance, about these reunions that come along my way, whether it be regarding high school or work.  And that is that some of the worst characters I've had the utter displeasure to be thrown in with...the most monumentally arrogant bully and snob types...also seem to be the ones that are the most enthusiastic about attending these get-togethers.  It was bad enough for me to be stuck attending my high school with Mike and Greg, who for all practical purposes were the Scut Farkus and Grover Dill  (see A Christmas Story) of my bus stop, without seeing their ugly bullying names always listed as being ready for the next reunion, my reunion...and neither one was in my graduating class! Stay in your own years, asswipes! As for retirement reunions, I may have to take a rain check on them as well for who I see going there.  I've known too many wonderful, good people in my lifespan who are no longer alive for me to feel the slightest urge to put up with any bullshit from my past enemies when so many of the folks I would want to touch base with are gone...to me past enemies are still present enemies.  Now if someone wants to make amends for their past behavior, then fine.  But that's not going to happen, and I'm not attending any reunions, either...

Biden's Cancer, and Surviving While Aging

It's been announced that former president Joe Biden has just been diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer, metastatic and into his bones, after an examination revealed a growth in his prostate.  This is bad news, of course, but it seems that his cancer may be effectively treated with hormone therapy.  Apparently, Biden did not have the advantage of a PSA blood test to forewarn anyone of the possibility of malignancy...I've even read that beyond a certain age, medical authorities often didn't even encourage patients to get one.  I'm a cancer survivor as is Melissa, and her sister is undergoing some serious struggles with her own.  Growing older has some really good aspects to it, but keeping your health is a big, top priority and that can become an adventure, to say the least.  And as you age you're bound to see yourself as a survivor, not only of the different physical afflictions you've had to overcome to get to where you are, but also over those close to you who have already passed from this world into death.  I look at the calendar and sometimes it's hard to fathom that we're in the year 2025.  Yet time marches on, and why not.  Right now my record has my birth year, followed by a hyphen...followed by a blank.  On some mysterious, unknown day that blank will change to a numbered year, but I won't be around to notice...

Enjoy Watching PGA Championship and Preakness This Weekend

This weekend I enjoyed following two annual major American sporting events: the PGA Championship tournament and the Preakness Stakes.  The former is one of professional golf's four annual grand slam events...this year it was held at Charlotte, North Carolina.  And the latter is three-year-old thoroughbred horse racing's Second Jewel in their elite Triple Crown series, held at Pimlico race track in Baltimore, Maryland.  Not a regular follower of horse racing, I am one of those temporary fans who get interested only during special events.  A couple of weeks ago I successfully picked Sovereignty to win the Kentucky Derby (the First Jewel) and was looking forward to support him again for yesterday's Preakness.  But alas, as is often the case in recent years, the horse's trainer decided against entering him for the race.  That left heavy favorite Journalism, which I supported while also rooting for trainer Bob Baffert's entry, Goal Oriented.  Goal Oriented did well enough, finishing fourth, but the race's closing stretch run was very exciting, featuring Journalism breaking out of being tightly boxed in to chase down and just barely pass longshot Gosger at the finish.  With the PGA Championship, it was nice to see the world's "number one" golfer, Scottie Scheffler, return to last year's form and win it by six strokes.  I've tried to get myself interested in the basketball and hockey playoffs, but to no avail...the only other sport that attracts my viewing interest nowadays is tennis...  

Volunteered at Today's Depot Parkrun 5K Here in Gainesville

Today, instead of running or walking Gainesville's free weekly Depot Parkrun 5K as I am accustomed, I served as an event volunteer, sorting out the little plastic barcoded tokens handed to finishers for results posting.  It's something I've done before, although I would have preferred a walking assignment.  Still, I think that, in general, it's a good idea for me to step up as a volunteer...after all, the entire Parkrun system is volunteer-driven. I can still get my exercise later today...just not down there in Depot Park.  I'm thinking of doing this for the minority of months that contain five Saturdays, one morning being reserved for volunteering.  In any event, the weather was a hospitable upper-sixties with an irrelevant humidity of 94%, irrelevant for me because I was just standing there, quiet and still. For next week I'm signed up to run in the US Road Running 10K held at Albert Massey (Westside Park) on the fourth Saturday of each month.  It's the second time I've run it...the first was back in August last year.  

Medical Test Result Encouraging

 Yesterday I drove down to one of my healthcare provider's offices to get blood drawn to ascertain my PSA (protein-specific antigen) level some two months following my prostatectomy. It's set up this way in order to give the body the chance to eliminate any substantial remaining PSA-producing cells from the operation, the score used as an indicator of whether the surgery effectively removed the cancer from my body or whether it still remains in some form.  I don't actually consult with my specialist for two more weeks, but the PSA score was very encouraging, below the stated threshold for concern.  Still, I think that at least for the short term, they will be repeating PSA testing every three months or so.  Regardless of what those future tests reveal, I'm confident in any potential treatment plans should they be deemed medically necessary.  But for now, so far so good... 

Just Finished Reading Perehelion Summer by Greg Egan

It had been quite a while since I last visited my local public library branch on NW 43rd Street here in Gainesville.  But I wanted to make sure my library card still scanned, so once I had that taken care of at the counter, I browsed around the book aisles until I came up with a couple interesting enough to check out, both fiction: a mystery novel with a cat and dog as sleuths (press HERE for my earlier review) and a short science fiction novel by Greg Egan titled Perehelion Summer, published in 2019.  I just read it, so here are my reactions.  Not big on character development, this story concerns a scenario that could happen in our own time: the invasion into our solar system of a black hole sizable enough to wreak havoc with planetary orbits and threaten our own lives.  "Mandjet" is the name given to an innovative sea ship designed to handle climate change by creating a self-sustaining floating ecosystem within which people could survive...and possibly even thrive...through natural calamities such as global warning.  But when a black hole is detected entering our solar system, heading in the general direction of Earth, the alarms...and subsequent panic...go off planet-wide as the crew of Mandjet, including the novel's protagonist Matt, prepare to use their ship to save whatever lives they can.  The Earth gets slightly knocked off its orbit, just enough to plunge the northern and southern hemispheres into extreme summers and winters. This causes the human population to undergo drastic migration twice each year to the more habitable polar areas of the planet.  What ends up happening with Mandjet, the main characters, and how they respond and adapt to the many challenges coming their way comprise the bulk of the book.  I found it all a bit dry and heavily loaded...as "hard" sci-fi often is, with highly technical passages that challenged my capacity for visualization.  So I didn't enjoy reading this story as much as I had planned...those are the breaks when you pick out a book almost at random from the library shelves and take a chance on it.  Not a bad story, Perehelion Summer...but a little difficult to digest, nonetheless.  Maybe this says more about me as a reader than about anyone as writer, but I preferred the more fanciful mystery novel with the smart pets taking center stage...

Weekly Short Stories: 1999 Science Fiction, Part 14

It's Wednesday again, time for another look at what I've read in the realm of short fiction this past week.  I'm continuing the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Seventeenth Annual Collection, showcasing short sci-fi from the year 1999.  I managed to get through the next story in the book, which I discuss below...

A MARTIAN ROMANCE by Kim Stanley Robinson

In this "hard" science fiction tale, it is in the not-too-distant future, but well enough ahead in that people can have their lives extended some threefold.  Also, terraforming has been accomplished on the planet Mars to make it Earth-like, with sustainable temperatures, flowing water and breathable air.  Sadly, though, for this story the planet has undergone a sudden, severe ice age, and a party who had worked on the terraforming are visiting it to assess how badly their project has gone.  As it turns out, very badly!  So in the end, it all comes down to whether making our neighbor planet livable again or abandoning the notion.  The author, as do some of the characters, conclude that dealing with setbacks like this is just a part of the expected process and that people need to broaden their perception on how long things take...chances are that the goals people set...especially on a cosmic scale like this...cannot be fulfill within one lifespan, even if that lifespan has been enhanced...

Next week: more stories from 1999...

Making Better Use of YMCA Pool

Melissa and I are beginning to make better use of our nearby YMCA pool, as both of us stand to benefit from resistance exercises in the water while I am working to improve my swimming form and endurance.  Its hours vary from day to day in the week, closed on Sunday.  We've gone various times, and accordingly the pool was either crowded with seniors, relatively empty, or crowded with little children having swimming lessons.  Although I enjoy water walking...forward, backward, and sideways...with Melissa, my main activity there is swimming laps.  I have a snorkel I've yet to use, which should facilitate my breathing while I improve my form for better endurance as I work on increasing my workout distance.  As we are now rushing in northern Florida through the spring season into our typically very hot and humid summer, going to the pool meshes well with the weather. In swimming, you just don't get the kind of racing events that benefit the general public in running/walking, so my progress will always be a more personal kind of thing: no links in my blog articles to websites posting swimming results!  Ultimately, we should be able to settle on a consistent time, two or three times per week, when the pool is relatively empty and we can make good use of this great resource, just one mile down the road from our home...

We've Had Our Dog Daisy for Three Years Today

 

 

Daisy is a mix-breed rescue dog that Melissa and I picked up at a pet adoption fair held at a PetSmart store in southwest Gainesville on May 12, 2022...exactly three years ago.  Daisy was a tiny puppy back then at 7 lbs...but she had a loud, menacing bark even back then.  She's grown to full adult size for some time now, leveling off at 50 lbs.  She's a sweetie, for sure, and is sitting right now on my favorite recliner in the living room.  Even though Daisy is an adult dog, to me she is a big baby, especially whenever her "mommy" steps out of the room for a few minutes and Daisy starts her pathetic whimpering, just as she did on adoption day three years earlier when I was holding her and she wanted me to lay her back down next to her litter mates...

Happy Mother's Day, Melissa!

I'd like to wish my dear, sweet wife Melissa a most deserved happy Mother's Day.  She has always been a great mother to our wonderful children Will and Rebecca.  Will, taken by the Lord last year, is no longer with us on Earth and we miss him terribly.  Rebecca is here with us and we look forward to celebrating this wonderful holiday together.  I also appreciate my own mother and Melissa's...they both passed away in 2002 and 2007 respectively.  Our mortal bodies are indeed fragile on this broken world, and I think that sometimes we forget how transitory life can be...let's enjoy that all-too-brief time that we have been privileged to be here and show our loved ones how important they are for us.  Happy Mother's Day, Sweetheart!

Ran the Depot Parkrun 5K This Warm and Muggy Morning

The weather forecasts this past week looked ahead to a wet and stormy weekend here in north-central Florida, so I knew there was a chance of rain for this morning's Depot Parkrun 5K.  It's a free weekly event held Saturdays at 7:30 at Depot Park a few blocks south of downtown Gainesville...you can sign up online where they issue you a barcode you take with you to be scanned following the race in order to get your results posted online.  I got up around 5:45 and went outside...no rain yet, but I did hear some ominous, rolling thunder from high in the overcast skies.  Almost going back to bed knowing that they'd cancel the Parkrun if there was any lightning, I decided in the end to make a go at it and drove down there.  As it turned out, there wasn't any rain or thunder during the race, but the combination of temperature (69 degrees) and humidity (94%) presented its own challenge to participants...and me.  I wasn't sure at first whether I'd run or speed-walk it today, but just before it started I decided to once again work on establishing a regular "groove" of a running pace and braved the crappy weather.  I wasn't comfortable at all throughout the race, but since I was passing a number of runners in the second half with no one passing me, I guess I must have been at least a little better conditioned to it all, finishing with a time of 28:04, 15 seconds faster than last week's.  You can see today's results by clicking HERE. Some time this month I intend to do another speed-walk, hoping to get my finishing time back to under forty minutes like it was before my surgery a couple of months ago... 

New Pope Enjoying Widespread Popularity Now

I'm glad to see that people in general, and especially the practicing Catholic population, seem to be okay with the new Bishop of Rome, that is, the Roman Catholic Church's pontiff or Pope.  Cardinal Robert Prevost, originally from Chicago in the good old USA but with dual citizenship in both America and Peru after serving there for more than a decade, was elevated to Cardinal status by Pope Francis two years ago.  He was then elected in the secret Vatican Conclave to replace Francis, who died recently.  The Pope, in centuries gone by, at one time actually did have a lot of direct political/military power...that's how the Crusades got started.  Now, though, his power is that of persuasion, bringing to light in the world its spiritual, social and physical needs through the bully pulpit that his high office accords him.  I wish Pope Leo XIV, as he has renamed himself, the best and hope that he isn't surprised when he inevitably gets around to ruffling the feathers of our Narcissist-in-Chief. Leo is also the first Pope to be around my age level, born the year before me...he looks pretty fit, wonder what kind of exercise routine he has, if any...