Camped Out at Nearby Starbucks, Studying and Writing

It's a little difficult to maneuver myself through each day without the outside news and opinion world encroaching on my attention and my increasing sense of unease at the way things are going down.  Still, here I am, relatively healthy while undergoing greatly appreciated high-level medical treatment that is apparently coming in a timely manner.  While warned about possible side effects of yesterday's hormone therapy injection, I was also advised to be active and go about my business as before.  So that I am doing, sitting here in my closest Starbucks drinking a hot cinnamon dolce latte while studying foreign languages and writing this article.  The day stretches ahead of me, and so does a planned neighborhood walk later on.  This evening they're holding the second "grief care" support group meeting at Trinity UMC...not certain as to whether I'll be attending or not.  One thing is for sure: I have little patience to just sit there and tolerate others with their high-handed self-glorifying speechifying.  Speaking of putting up with people putting up their own walls in front of me, it all reminds me of the frustration I fell into a few years ago when I got more deeply into Facebook and made several friend requests of former classmates.  Many accepted and many simply ignored the requests...so be it.  I've later discovered that the wisdom that's supposed to come later in life and temper people's outlook on themselves, their role in society and their political leanings usually comes slowly, if at all.  I sometimes read how some of my "friends" react to a provocative posting and see that folks have a defensive instinct to instantly respond in a knee-jerk, "offended" manner to viewpoints they disagree with, as if reading a contrary opinion somehow poses a physical threat to them.  After the recent horrible assassination of a young conservative voice, the trolls came out on this social media site in force, causing me to wonder whether I shouldn't just shut down my account permanently.  I used to post links to this blog on it for years, but in early 2021 I decided that the often idiotic negative trolling I'd get...usually from a tiny number of old Nova High School classmates...made the whole exercise and effort unworthy.  So I post my articles independently of Facebook and tend to avoid activity there. And what do you know, the company's algorithms have decided what my interests are and load up my news feed with posts reflecting their conclusions: lots and lots of stuff about the Beatles, especially John Lennon...  

Hormone Therapy Injection for Residual Prostate Cancer

Early this afternoon, as mentioned in yesterday's article, I went down to the University of Florida Medical Plaza, oncology section, to have a prescribed hormone treatment injection to inhibit my body's production of testosterone and consequently stem the growth of cancer in my body as I anticipate radiation treatment beginning in a few weeks.  The injection, done on my rear, has a six-month span of effectiveness and I'm confident that it will help to diminish, if not eliminate, the presence of any prostate cancer within me.  Everyone there was so nice and I barely felt the needles stick when they first drew blood from my arm and then made that hormone-inhibiting injection.  Now my butt feels a little sore but that's all right: time to let the medicine work its magic...

About Tomorrow's Procedure

Tomorrow I have scheduled an injection of testosterone-inhibiting hormone treatment, to last for six months and facilitate the eradication of the microscopic residual cancer after my prostatectomy this past March.  I made the assigned phone call to my oncologist's nurse, who apprised me of the treatment's possible side effects: fatigue and menopause-emulating symptoms like hot flashes and joint pain.  Not that these will occur, but it's always a good idea to know where I'm headed with all this.  The nurse also stressed that in the face of the possible fatigue it's a good idea for me to be intentionally active.  Well, I planned on that all along, so now it's just a matter of once again showing up with a good attitude at the Medical Plaza for the procedure... 

Local Free News Rag Extols Local Coffee Shops

I enjoy the Independent Florida Alligator news rag not only because it is free, but also because the articles tend to be interesting, written with some empathy for the reader's sensibilities.  The September 8th issue, which was available on a news rack at a store's entrance that Melissa and I recently walked by, contained an article discussing some of the writer's (Aaliyah Evertz) favorite coffee shops in town.  Since the Alligator is oriented around the University of Florida campus and favors Gator students' interests, her selection of five places tended to be centered around the campus.  I like coffee shops...that is, when I can find a reasonable place to sit after I buy my drink and if the people working there are friendly.  A few weeks ago I went to the Sym coffee shop near Newberry Road and NW 55th Street and ordered a coffee.  That part of the visit went well until I got my drink and then looked for a place to sit.  The whole place was occupied with student-types, and it wasn't until I gave up and walked outside that I found an open spot.  At least with Sym I could easily find a parking spaces; some of these places Evertz listed seem buried within congested areas with little available nearby parking.  I was a big frequenter of places, like Coffee Culture on NW 13th Street just north of Gainesville High School, that would stay open late into the night.  But after COVID-19 hit and businesses drastically curtailed their operating hours (or even closed down), it's been hard in recent years to find a place that I can go to past nine at night.  I know that Krispy Kreme stays open around the clock as does Waffle House, but Starbucks tends to close early (some of the stores REAL early), and Dunkin' Donuts closes its doors at 7 PM (at least the one near my house).  But you know, I do have a coffeemaker at home and can brew my own coffee, and I'm open "24/7" with plenty of places to sit...even into the wee hours of the morning.  Right now I'm drinking a pot of New England brand Caramel Macchiato-flavored coffee while sitting at our dining room table, sweet dog Daisy sitting below on the floor gazing outside into the back yard.  Now back to UF for a minute.  When I first attended there in the late 1970s, I would go to a Krystal fast-food store just across University Avenue from Library West.  This place was always open, their coffee was good and very cheap, and I got a lot of studying done there (and their chili was excellent).  When that place eventually closed down and a new Krystal was built elsewhere years later, I sadly discovered that this one original place I liked so much was an aberration.  But when I think back to being a student on campus at the University of Florida, Krystal on University Avenue reigns supreme as the place to go.  Years later I made a lot of use of the Krispy Kreme store...also 24/7...three blocks north of campus on NW 13th Street. So I'm not really at all interested in the snooty, more specialized coffee shops that jack up their prices while customers are grateful to have at least been able to park somewhere nearby.  As of now I have no regular place that stands as my favorite place to go to have some coffee in public and study or write some, but the home dining room table is always there...     

Mixed Running and Walking in Today's Depot Parkrun 5K

This Saturday morning I woke up early...before six...after not sleeping well.  But I dutifully got myself ready to go at yet another Parkrun 5K, this one to be at Gainesville Depot Park, a few blocks south of downtown. As a reward for simply getting out there and showing up, I had decided in advance to speed-walk the whole four laps around the park...the 68 degrees race time temperature and 91% humidity reinforced that decision.  This Parkrun location is a lot more crowded than the one held at West End Community Park, so just before its start I deliberately walked backward to near the back of the throng.  Yet I still experienced the jumble of people behind me running around, crowding me out although I was simply walking (quickly) in a straight line.  Eventually it thinned out (a little) and I was able to establish a reasonable walking pace, slower than my best but not my worst, either.  I speed-walked two laps, and felt energized enough then to start mixing in a little running.  During those final two laps I ran a total time of 10:08, finishing the 5K (3.1-mile) distance at 37:08.  You can view the posted results by clicking HERE. During this season of my life, in which I'm about to undergo some mild hormone and radiation treatment for microscopic residual prostate cancer, I need to set aside my "personal best" standards regarding race finishing times and instead focus on that "showing up", either mixing up the running and walking or doing solely speed-walks.  So, supposing circumstances and how I feel work for me to do another Parkrun next week, my plan is to start out the race running for three minutes, then walk four, then run six...until the end, with me averaging six minutes of running to four of walking.  Sounds like a reasonable idea...

About Charlie Kirk and His Tragic Assassination

Regarding the recent murder of conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk, I have to preface any comments with the disclaimer that, before this horrible event, I hadn't heard or read anything from this individual, only that his name tended to circulate around on the more politically-charged posts on Facebook. In the last couple of days I checked his You Tube channel and he seemed like a composed, reasonable and likable young man who boldly and passionately expressed his viewpoints on a number of issues, some controversial, that I have mixed opinions about.  He avidly and consistently supported and campaigned for Trump over the years while the latter was equally consistent with his nasty and hateful rhetoric...this is the only direct criticism I'll make about Charlie.  Yet I personally know several people who are squarely in the camp of our current demagogic, autocratic "leader", but they're also very caring and generous...Charlie Kirk struck me as someone with that type of personal charm.  The individual that is being portrayed as the shooting suspect seems to have come from a multi-generational family of staunch Trump supporters (who apparently turned him in to the police).  Perhaps his political allegiance is to violent extremist militia groups, but at this juncture I don't see any leftist leanings as our evil president has directly insinuated without providing any evidence, trying to stir up division and anger while making the Democratic Party opposition into a scapegoat.  The suspect seems to have been well-trained with a sniper-level of firearm accuracy, since the act was committed at some 200-yard distance, and how his deft scampering off a high roof implied some special military-level training.  I remember how, in the late 1990s, popular late-night radio host Art Bell, well-known for his conservative political views, still ran afoul of some extremist right-wing militia group that harassed and threatened him.  Sometimes one's supposed "allies" can turn out to be the real enemy. My inclination toward Mr. Kirk is to honor his courageous life and defuse the propaganda that evil players like Trump are perpetrating upon the shocked population, who could use a real leader at this trying and sad time instead of this presidential fraud...a 34-count convicted felon...inflicted upon us last November by my fellow Americans... 

Napier Finally on the Hot Seat

University of Florida head football coach Billy Napier, ever since he's been at the helm, has presided over a team that has under-performed to fans' typically ambitious expectations.  So the question each season is: how long will he go before he's described as being on the "hot seat"?  I've jokingly been entertaining this notion for 2025, a year that the Gators have been hyped as being a breakthrough season that could even propel them to the college football playoffs at the end.  They had a couple of "soft" home games to start off the season.  On August 30th they played Long Island University and performed well for that level of competition, winning 55-0.  Their opponent this past Saturday, South Florida, had opened their own season with a surprising walloping of Boise State, 34-7, so I wasn't very sure about how they'd do against UF.  As it turned out, Florida was a disorganized, undisciplined mess, unprepared for this game, a close contest ultimately decided because one of their childish, unsportsmanlike and entitled players decided to spit at an opposing player at a crucial moment, resulting in an 18-16 loss to the Bulls.  After it was over, I had no trouble at all finding references to Napier now being on the hot seat.  The question was, would he do like he did last year and say something snide about his critics?  I haven't heard anything of this sort yet...let's see how the Gators do on the road this Saturday in Baton Rouge against #3 Louisiana State.  If he survives that contest, then Napier will "get to" travel down-state to face #5 Miami the following week: oh joy...

Support Groups, Fight Club and Grief

When I was nine, I was going to a brand-new public school: Nova Blanche Forman Elementary School, known then more commonly and simply as Nova Elementary.  Over time I made a few friends out there in Davie, cowboy country in south Florida.  One day a few of us got together and informally established our own fight club, transforming into a sport and ritual an activity usually reserved for bullies and angry kids.  Surprisingly, it lasted longer than you might think, although with my ribs poking through my chest...making me look like a concentration camp survivor...I quickly got tired of the good-natured blows that naturally would come my way.  So I totally got the meaning behind the concept of an adult fight club, presented with such force in that 1999 same-titled movie. My son Will revealed, though, that this movie went down into a rabbit hole of plot twists and deeper meaning, so one evening I began to watch it...from the beginning.  Presented in the first person, the narrator...played by Edward Norton...is suffering from extreme insomnia stemming from his depression about his mundane, boring life.  He hits upon the strategy of participating in support groups to cure his insomnia, even though he usually doesn't have any connection with the groups' themes.  So my exposure to support groups, along with the way they go around in a circle during discussion time with the members spilling their hearts out, began in full earnest with this movie.  Earlier this evening I attended a "grief care" support group presented at a local church...Melissa suggested it.  I'm not sure what I see myself getting from it, but there I am, within this group.  We're committed to anonymity about the people in it as well as the specific stories told. Had I still been working and not retired like I did, I'd have the perfect excuse for avoiding it...I just DON'T LIKE support groups.  Earlier I mentioned that Will was the one who told me about the movie Fight Club: his recent passing is the core reason behind this support group having me "in" it.  Like the protagonist Jake Epping in Stephen King's wonderful novel 11/22/63, I am not a crying man by nature...although the tears are often simmering just under the surface.  I just never thought of life as being endless: it's mortal, with our life spans on Earth bracketed between the year of our birth and that of our deaths.  This mortal physical body that goes by the name William "Bill" "Billy" Irwin belongs to the life span begun in 1956, and the end year has yet to reveal itself.  I am dead to the year 1856, and most likely won't extend to the year 2200 as well (unless Putin's dubious immortality vaccine comes to the rescue).  I'm also dead to wherever my body isn't...I'm looking out the window and my life isn't there: it's here, seated at this keyboard writing this.  The HERE AND NOW, in essence, defines me in a subjective sense and cannot be quantified by physical science in any objective manner. My eventual experience of dying will, of necessity, be conceptually very different from what others experience about my death from their viewpoints.  It's a great quandary, this gulf between subjective awareness and objective observation, and since time marches on without regard to how I feel about anything, I might as well relax and entertain a sense of inner peace about it all, tedious support group or not.  Either I'll survive others or they'll survive me...

Society Becoming Unhinged and Violent, Mirroring World Leaders

I'm looking around me and it doesn't look good.  People in society, and leaders around the world, are becoming mentally and morally unhinged, holding tight to their resentments and grudges and then exploding into acts of terror.  Putin keeps sending drones to bomb his neighbor Ukraine, knowing that the main result of his actions is murderous terror against ordinary civilians.  Yet in the interests of longevity he touts a vaccine that is supposed to ward off cancer, and in personal visits comes off seeming like a reasonable and congenial individual.  Those two children massacred in a Minnesota church by a sick monster, and the young Ukrainian immigrant woman who finished her work shift, boarded a Charlotte, North Carolina commuter train, and was promptly stabbed to death in random fashion by the young man who happened to be sitting behind her seat, are just the more recent examples of what I see as a complete breakdown in civil society. And this president of ours, I'm sure, would be an active part of this chain of violence and terror as he is governed by vengeance, fear and anger. I don't need to watch the national news to get more than my share of disheartening news.  The local news shows consistently come up with stories about people who shot up their own home or of others who got mad at someone at a party, workplace or bar and then went back to their car and returned, guns blazing with fury.  I go out of my way on my neighborhood walk/runs to keep my mouth shut and eyes trained on the road ahead of me, but this doesn't stop some motorists around me from slowing down and checking me out from safely behind their tinted windows as if my mere existence posed a kind of threat to them.  Life is fragile: that's a lesson I already learned but which was brutally reinforced in the last two years with the deaths of my son and sister-in-law.  Stephen King wrote a 2006 novel titled Cell, in which cellphone users would suddenly become violently deranged and go on killing sprees.  I don't think we're so far off from that scenario, I'm afraid. Lord, get me through this day...  

Further Plans for Cancer Treatment

This morning I had my consultation appointment with the urologist who performed my March prostatectomy.  Since my follow-up PSA blood test revealed a slightly increasing trend that probably points to the presence...at least on a microscopic biochemical level...of residual cancer in that part of my body, he laid out the future treatment strategy.  It includes both radiation and hormone therapy, and this will be scheduled in the next few days.  Sure, I would have preferred to have maintained that earlier low PSA level, but my doctor is very upbeat about my prospects following this treatment regimen, which we will schedule around our upcoming cruise.  I don't know how this will affect my overall energy level in the next two or three months, but I've already decided to focus on showing up and finishing regarding the running races I'm going to participate in with a mix of running and walking.  The main hassle as I see it will be driving across town to my treatment sessions and back.  Still, I plan to be positive and active through it all...

Happy Anniversary, My Dear Melissa!

Happy anniversary to my beautiful sweetheart Melissa. We're celebrating thirty-nine years together, with hopes of many more to come, along with joy and laughter.  I love you, honey!

Ran and Walked the West End Community Parkrun 5K This Morning

This morning I got up early, once again proving that I can indeed engage in this suggested habit if I have a good reason behind it.  And that reason was today's Parkrun, held Saturday mornings at 7:30.  My Parkrun of choice (Gainesville has two) was the West End Community Parkrun, the eighth event since it began in early July.  That location is a former golf course-turned community park, a few blocks west of 122nd Street off Newberry Road. For me it was my third official finish there, and I had my strategy set before me: alternate five minutes of speed-walking with five of moderate running...starting the race with three minutes of careful running as we passed over a long stretch of cracked up concrete sidewalk.  The conditions were predictably inhospitable: 72 degrees with 94% humidity, and a glaring sun rising in the east without any clouds.  The course has so many twists and turns that it is indecipherable...just follow the signs, arrows and volunteer marshals.  Although it was a bit taxing under such heat and humidity, I found this regular switching between running and walking to be very workable, a template for my future races although I might adjust the walk/run ratios.  Let's see, when I finished it at a time of 34:36, I figured that I walked a total of 15 minutes and ran for 19:36...not bad.  You can view today's posted results by clicking HERE.  Next week I'll most likely cross over to Depot Park.  The West End Community Parkrun this morning had relatively few participants, but that Depot Parkrun usually swells up.  I do like the fact that after West End is over, I can cool off and change at the gym across Newberry Road and then enjoy a coffee or chai latte at Patticakes next door.  And now it's time to face the rest of this weekend, whatever it brings us. As for tomorrow morning, let's see what motivates me to get up early...

Adult Family Members Suffering from Medical Issues

Today my family is undergoing some medical problems, and we are in a state of mobilization to help out when and where we can.  My daughter and brother-in-law both have some serious issues going on, and they are seeing doctors and medical help.  Your prayers are welcome, and we rely on God to heal them of their afflictions.  It's tough when two different issues seem to come out of nowhere to cause such distress among our loved ones...bless and comfort Rebecca and Keith...

62nd and 23rd

I'm sitting here in that same old Dunkin' store facing the same scene I showed in a recent article.  There's a street sign right there ahead on the corner: NW 23rd ST on top facing in one direction and NW 62nd AVE on the bottom facing the other. Cars come and go, but I don't see pedestrians making any use of the provided sidewalks here.  That's a lot different from the Manhattan, NYC streets I see on my YouTube live feeds at night...click HERE to see an earlier video.  On them the cameraman, with seemingly endless endurance, walks a brisk pace for miles upon miles, up and down Midtown Manhattan streets and avenues...it makes me tired leaning back on my couch watching all the fast-walking people, and they, too, seen to possess boundless energy.  But were I there among them, I probably wouldn't be tiring either, no matter how much real estate I covered.  I've been wearing a FitBit watch for a few years, and when I was working (at the post office) the last couple of years I would almost always be in continuous motion, often deliberately walking when I probably could have just stood or sat still.  I would regularly amass more than 20,000 steps in a workday, and then when I got home as often as not I would do some running-in-place before going off to bed. Now that I am retired, am I unconsciously scaling down my physical activity when I don't have to? And if so, is that a good thing?  On today's neighborhood 3.3-mile walk/run, I originally set out to speed-walk the whole loop, but at the 5-minute mark I switched the project to 5 minutes of walking alternating with 5 of easy running...and it worked! Beforehand I had thought that running would be a little too rough, but I discovered that I could get into a nice groove for five minutes knowing that I'd be back walking some.  No problem...this is actually a step up from my earlier plan to institute a 6 minutes walking/4 minutes running routine.  So maybe this 5/5 system can get me through long distance races...the first half-marathon is coming in November.  Then in early December it's a 15K, followed in January by a choice I have between a marathon and half-marathon.  Let's see how far I can take this, in the old "postal worker/ big-city walker" spirit...

Rob Dial Argues Against Comparing Oneself to Others

On his Mindset Mentor podcast today, personal development coach Rob Dial discussed how people tend to compare themselves...usually unfavorably...to others.  He says we're naturally wired into doing this assessing the relative social positions of ourselves against others, but it's not a good way to live out the day.  Folks like to scroll Facebook and other social media, but they tend to see what others post...which is usually the peak-best of what they are and do...and take it in as how they ordinarily live their lives.  I've seen this with the Canadian brothers' YouTube running channel, in which the two come off sounding awfully elitist about their chosen sport and tend to put down others that they don't see measuring up.  Well, it doesn't ruin my day to watch them, so let it be if that's how they want to present themselves...I'm still feeling fine.  My problem with others is in ordinary public conversation when they...usually it's men...go about, with false modesty, bragging about their own accomplishments and social standing.  I guess their expectation is for me to immediately defer to them as my superiors, but my reaction is usually one of aversion, wanting to put distance between them and me. This Parkrun experience I have habituated myself to partake of weekly is an example of the leaders openly stressing that it is NOT a competition...and then running in it like it IS. Rob Dial says that the only person you should be comparing yourself to is you, and whether or not you're improving over that past version of yourself.  That's how I see Parkruns and other races: how am I getting through the race and does my finishing time meet with the standards I set in past performances?  That's how I get myself looking forward each week to going down there and giving it another go.  For example, this coming Saturday morning I plan to try out the West End Community Parkrun for the third time, running it this time and seeing if I can't beat my initial finishing time there.  In the final analysis, whether I succeed in that is secondary to the main thing, which is showing up in the first place.  In any event, I'm sure there will be some annoying people who will try to make it all a personal contest between us...I say let them do that if that's how they want to limit themselves...

Self-Imposed Structure and Discipline an Issue So Far in Retirement

I'm writing this a little past 1 PM on a weekday that I normally would be driving to work had I not retired late last year after 37 years.  I'd be in the post office parking lot, no doubt eventually finding a free space somewhere in the disastrous mess that postal management created after they moved all the carriers into the processing plant on SW 34th Street.  Although if still employed I wouldn't be looking forward to being in that fishbowl of a building with all its peepholes and cameras and obnoxious "career" ladder-climbing supervisors trying to act tough, my mind and actions to a significant extent would be free to venture down whatever paths I felt inclined to follow.  The intermittent fasting that led to a heightened level of fitness and athleticism in 2023-24 (and was hinted at as being an "eating disorder" by loved ones) was able to take place under a work routine that saw me free from undue pressure by others to ravenously consume food.  I'd like to return to at least a modified version of that regimen, but I need to respond to the clearly different cues presenting themselves to me during these times of zero job-imposed structure.  For one, my priority is to include Melissa in as many activities that I can...but in the times she doesn't feel like going along I need to continue with my agenda while being sympathetic to her feelings.  People's moods and emotions fluctuate over the course of any day, and so do mine.  Each of them can speak for themselves...but not necessarily for me, although I welcome their input.  It does me little good to listen to podcasts from Rob Dial or Andrew Huberman about instilling self-discipline and structure if I get static for being proactive and showing up.  Being inclusive of others is not at all the same as depending on direction from them. My inclination is to make living simpler in a material sense and to avoid making mountains out of molehills.  Living in the present, or mindfulness, is the opposite of overthinking.  How about some mindfulness...and a little gratitude for the blessings in our lives? As for responsible activity, I think it's better to get little habits going to the point where "good living" just naturally becomes a part of my daily existence, instead of shutting down my life to focus on a specific massive maintenance or clean-up project (directed by someone else). I've learned over the past sixteen months with two tragic family deaths and three different cancer diagnoses that life is indeed fragile and we're all subject to eventual death in this world, and I value the present moments accorded me, aware that I don't know far ahead they will stretch out. I do my share of complaining about the news, but this is the time of my life. No, I'm far from perfect and have a long way to go. But I don't think that I'm being unreasonable to ask for a little consideration and respect when I am earnestly seeking to live in a disciplined and structured manner as I approach my 69th birthday...

On This Labor Day Starting Off September

Welcome to the month of September on this Labor Day Monday.  The Weather Channel meteorologists seem to be enjoying going to pains to explain that today marks the beginning of the meteorological fall season while the astronomical fall begins on September 22nd.  I'm not sure how that affects my life, but it continued to be very warm and humid outside as I walked around the neighborhood earlier this afternoon. I'm not counting on any sustained cooling in my surrounding weather.  No, it's tropical storms and hurricanes I'm on the lookout against, and the "experts" don't seem to think that anything of substance will develop within the next week or so, although they say there is a "robust" tropical wave out there.  We've had a pretty light Atlantic hurricane season so far, with the only developed hurricane staying clear of land, far out in the Atlantic Ocean...may the rest follow this pattern.  Melissa and I would like our planned cruise into the Caribbean Sea in early October to go off without complications. Not only do I need to take the weather into consideration about this, but apparently our mentally ill, creepy drama-queen of a president seems to think it's a good idea to manufacture yet another crisis by amassing warships just off the Venezuelan coast to provoke armed conflict with that nation...we're scheduled to cruise to the nearby islands of Aruba and Curacao. You probably voted for the felon: what excuses are you making for him this time? In any event, there's a limit to what I have control over in my life...let me focus on today and what it may bring...

My August 2025 Running, Walking, Swimming and Health Report

In August I continued to walk, run, and swim regularly, not really growing in fitness or athletic ability but instead practicing the discipline of showing up, often under stress to do other things and under adverse weather conditions.  It was a typically hot and muggy month in summer, and it wasn't at all fun.  No, it's still August as I write this and I am not having fun.  Sometimes I feel that I am acting in defiance of my loved ones when I carve out time in my supposed "retirement" to actively pay attention to my own fitness instead of being a limp, passive excuse for a being.  I'm frankly fed up with the frustration of feeling that I am being set up to be a kind of scapegoat.  Still, I think I did reasonably well getting through this past month.  I walk and run around my neighborhood regularly and I do exercises mimicking running in the house.  I do push-ups and calisthenics as well daily.  My swimming didn't happen as often as I would have liked...maybe this coming month will see an improvement in that activity.  In August I participated in three posted races...all Parkrun 5K's.  My finishing times have declined, and it's frustrating.  I wish I didn't feel pressured to stuff myself with food...that's not a healthful habit at all.   My weight has been creeping upward into the low 160's, and I'd much rather be twenty pounds lighter.   Along with my fitness routines I find myself deep into the medical rotations of tests and doctor visits following my March prostatectomy, with subsequent blood tests and pet-scan held to ascertain whether the cancer diagnosed last December is returning on any discernible level.  Maybe next month I'll have to undergo radiation treatment since my PSA level has crept up a bit. Am I healthy? Who knows, but I do know that I am continuing to be physically active.  I suppose that an element of health is having a social network of friends and family who express an interest in me and what I'm up to, and who want to hear what I think about things.  Unfortunately, although many seem to be benevolently inclined toward me, I don't see any of that extended into a level of interest.  So philosophically I guess I'm in a funk of social pessimism, with diminishing expectations of others and, if anything, a desire to be left alone without surrounding drama.  And the POS occupying the White House isn't helping anything with his antics, nor are those people who put him back into power...

Got Through This Morning's Hot and Humid Depot Parkrun 5K

Today was perhaps, weatherwise, the worst day to attempt a Parkrun: the temperature at the 7:30 start was 75 degrees with an oppressive 97% humidity.  That didn't keep Depot Park, located a few blocks south of downtown Gainesville, from filling up with runners and walkers for this weekly free event that is run by volunteers.  I mean, I got there a little earlier than usual, but the main parking lot was already packed and the overflow lot was already half full. For the Parkrun, my intention, given the conditions, was to speed-walk the entire 3.1 miles, but I found the experience frustrating when a kid and his presumed father seemed to pick me out as a mark as, early on, the little boy repeatedly (1) sprinted past me, (2) got immediately in front of me, and then (3) stopped...making me have to suddenly pivot to avoid collisions, knowing as I walked past them that I'd have to do the same damned thing all over in a minute when they did it again.  Look, if you're gonna coach your kid, fine, but maybe teaching him to avoid run-ins with others on the course just might be a priority, what do you say?  In any event, I eventually shook off that obnoxious duo but found myself going at an all-too-slow pace.  Eventually, after the second lap, I began to insert some running into it, ultimately running for 9:14 out of the final finishing time of 38:54. I don't know, I've written before how I prefer this simple Parkrun course to the one at West End because it has laps to it, but in all candor it can get to be a real drag encountering the same people over the course of a walk/run.  Maybe next time I'll try West End.  In any event, it looks like my times in the next few weeks are going to be slower and the emphasis will be on simply showing up and finishing (and avoiding tripping over obnoxious people). To view the posted results for today, click HERE...  

My Song of the Month for August 2025 is Garbage

It's approaching the end of yet another month, time for me to select my "song of August 2025".  I sought material that has been released this year for musical acts that produced songs I liked in the past.  The British alternative rock group Garbage, fronted by Shirley Manson, produced songs I liked in the late 1990's such as Stupid Girl, Push It and Special.  At the start of '25 they released the album Let All That We Imagine Be the Light. I listened to it all, one track at a time, and...wouldn't you know it...this is the third album in a row I've listened to in its entirety whose tracks I disliked.  Except, once again, for one standout, which I think totally rocks: the opening one, titled There's No Future in Optimism.  Shirley's appealing singing voice is in full stride here, and the song's instrumental production is breathtaking and powerful.  This is my song of August, and you might want to give it a listen.  In recap, below are my songs of the month for 2025 so far:

AUGUST   There's No Future in Optimism by Garbage

JULY          The Birds by Franz Ferdinand

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

MAY          Under the Rug by Arcy Drive

FEBRUARY  Starburster by Fontaines DC

JANUARY    Everyone Out by DIIV

New Run/Walk Strategy Developing

I was glancing out the window of my nearby Dunkin' Donuts here in far-northern Gainesville (see above pic), where I do much of my writing and studying, I'm contemplating a "sea change" regarding my future running and speed walking as I continue to plod on through the years. On my neighborhood run/walk combination training outings the last few months, I've grown accustomed to mixing them up.  Today I covered the 4.1-mile course by spending most of the time speed-walking with short, period intervals of easy-paced running.  I feel this may be the pattern for future races as well...especially the long distances ones of 10K (6.2 miles) and longer.  Speed-walk for six minutes and then run for four...and keep repeating the process until the race (or workout) is over.  I think this is a feasible training strategy for a future marathon in which I'm pushing to finish faster than six hours...there's one coming up in January. Today's workout was typical summertime discomfort, with an annoying combination of high temperature and humidity.  When conditions get cooler and dryer, it should be more workable to extend my training to longer distances and see how my body reacts to it all.  What I want is a viable level of fitness with which I can confidently enter any "classic" long distance event (10K through marathon length) and finish at a reasonable time...or in the case of the marathon...before they close down the course and stop timing entrants.  The elitists at the Florida Track Club have already stated that six hours is the deadline for finishing their upcoming marathon, after which runners are on their own and will not be furnished with posted finishing times.  A shoddy attitude, I think, considering the money laid out to enter the race, but obstinate, disagreeable people are everywhere and I would be better served focusing on my own attitude and behavior in response.  Let's try out this new alternation of walking and running and see where it gets me, elitists or not.  On the surface, it seems to make sense.  With this new structure I'm walking more than half the time while I'm running more than half the distance...

Boys with Toys

While shopping with Melissa the other day, I was very carefully steering our shopping cart past other customers along an especially crowded stretch of the store.  And then, straight toward us, an employee was casually pushing an imposing-looking pallet jack.  I watched him as he approached...and then he took out his cell phone and started looking at it while nonchalantly navigating his jack past without regard to anyone around...I guess it was up to us to get out of his way.  People whipping out their phones...what a scourge of our times.  Have you ever found yourself talking to someone, only to look over and see that they're zoned out and ignoring you, scrolling on their phone?  The only thing worse I know is the increasingly frightening circumstance of people...in anger...pulling out guns without any sense of restraint in using them.  It's become far too commonplace on the news to be met with the story of a shooter at a school, church, home or business...and often it's a minor who has committed the crime.  In the 1995 James Bond flick Goldeneye, Agent 007's Russian female partner Natalya Simonova had a contemptuous name for this phenomenon for pervasive and often harmful obsession with gadgetry: Boys with Toys.  So we're now living...or trying to stay alive...in the "Boys (and Girls) with Toys" era: whoopee...   

My Designed Running Loop Courses, Then and Now

My old running block (~3 miles) from my late teen years in Davie, Florida is the standard I use to evaluate the various training courses I've designed, especially those within the past twenty years.  These days my running (often combined with walking) takes place on asphalt road surfaces, while back then practically the entire loop was off-road, on the grass.  For a south Florida locale like Davie...where I went to school...running on grass was totally fine since there wasn't the prevalence of holes in the ground to trip up on like there are up here in northern Florida. I like seeing where I'm stepping...in my own back yard I have to be careful where I plant my feet.  But hitting a hard surface still takes its toll on legs' soft tissue, and I have to take care not to over-train.  That's one big reason I've taken to increasing my speed-walking emphasis...less taxing on the joints. My current standard 3.3-mile neighborhood loop has me passing many, many houses while I have to be attentive...even during low-traffic times of the day...to residents and visitors pulling in and out of driveways.  And then there's often a creepy vehicle or another that drives around me and then just stops in the road, as if the driver is some kind of stalker or Zimmerman-type neighborhood vigilante.  Pedestrians are truly the vulnerable class in this world loaded with suspicion and violently-inclined folks with weapons.  One of my favorite books from some fifteen years ago is Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes.  In it he describes his late-night early morning long-distance training runs...one time he ran thirty miles around San Francisco in his underwear!  I can see myself doing something like that...and then get arrested and have my mug shot plastered over my local news station's screen: no thanks.  No, there are definitely times I want to stay off the road, and one of these is when it's dark outside. As for multiple laps on my loop, fifty years ago in March 1975 I once ran five laps on my old Davie loop, amassing nearly 15 total miles.  In Gainesville, unless I'm running or walking around the block (.7 mile), I don't do multiple laps.  Instead I have extensions designed to the course that create the desired distance.  When I ran 26.6 miles on January 15, 2011 I had a pretty complex running route that took me into some interesting territory.  I haven't ventured any distance near that far in the last few years, unless you're talking the marathon I completed last November along the eastern end of the Hawthorne trail.  But training? I keep it measured and consistent, with lots of time for rest and recovery.  Still, I'd like to revisit that old Davie trail from time to time...

Football Just Not One of My Interests

Are you getting excited about the upcoming football season? I'm not. One reason rests in the fact that in my nearly 69 years of existence on this Earth, I have never, ever played a single down of tackle football. Sure, I've played flag football at school and touch football on informal occasions, but the sport that people get so riled up about is something I've never been an active part of. I watch my local news program and revel in the fact that the head sports announcer almost exclusively covers either University of Florida sports or high school athletics...and football regularly gets the heavy emphasis. I despise the coaches I had in both high school physical education class and that one time I was on the track team. In these settings there is a martial, military spirit about minors...albeit adolescent ones...having to snap to attention for their coach like he's some kind of boot camp drill sergeant: disgusting.  I see some of these power-sick individuals on the sidelines going off loudly against players who, God help them, actually make mistakes and wonder why everyone doesn't just turn off the TV or go home in protest to this kind of abuse.  And they actually make statues of star players and stage them outside home fields, as if these people were larger than life.  No one covers with enthusiasm when kids do well in math class at school, and I suppose that makes sense...but I never see any coverage either of local running races, at that's definitely a part of sports..  But football? You can have it. The other day there was a season-opening game between Iowa State and Kansas State...I couldn't care less who won.  But then the officials called a delay of game penalty on the Iowa State defense and their head coach literally went berserk on the sidelines, jumping up and down and screaming at the referees.  That dude should have been sacked on the spot...

Mini-Seminar on Avoiding Falls

This past Saturday morning (somebody) presented an educational meeting about the dangers of falling for seniors and ways to avoid them.  Melissa arranged it for us...all I had to do was drive us down to the gym conference room where it was being held.  We heard a nice talk describing the various situations that can put folks in danger of falling, and also participated in a test of our own individual susceptibility for falls.  Melissa and I did well with the tests...since I tend to be a bit on the athletic side I figured I would.  As people age, they tend to lose muscle mass and strength, especially regarding the "fast-twitch" muscles that can quickly straighten them out when they lose balance, averting fall situations.  Also, bone density tends to lessen, creating the hazard of injuries from falling being compounded with broken bones. Sometimes I get down on the way the world is going, and it seems like people are getting meaner and meaner.  But there's good stuff as well, and this mini-seminar is a useful example... 

Showed Up at Today's Cancelled Depot Parkrun 5K

I had some insomnia early this morning.  I woke up around 5 and stepped outside on my back porch...the sky was clear with a couple of bright planets just over the eastern horizon.  I prepared for the 7:30 Depot Parkrun 5K, which I planned to run today.  I felt a little rough, but hopefully I would find a groove to settle into for the race and maybe finish under 30 minutes.  There were a lot of people at the park...this I expected, it being the beginning of the UF fall academic semester with Gainesville's population swelling.  Before the race started, the director gave us the "bad news": look out west at the storm clouds...they're coming our way quickly and will likely cause today's Parkrun to be cancelled.  Still, they started it at 7:30 and I was awkwardly off in the middle of the very crowded group of runners.  Sadly, a little down the path a young woman had fallen but managed to get herself back up.  I ran gamely but, after the first lap marking .7 mile, only had a time of 7:25, lagging well behind a pace to finish it in 30 minutes.  By that time after just a lap, the storm clouds had quickly swept over the sky and I thought that it was just a matter of minutes before the race was called off...so I stopped and went to my car, driving back home.  Later, online, my hunch was confirmed: the race was indeed cancelled, and in less than 10 minutes after the start.  Oh well, at least I showed up.  Later that morning Melissa and I went to an information session held at Gainesville Health and Fitness promoting seniors' balancing and fall avoidance.  They had some tests we took that revealed our individual likelihoods for sustaining falls, and we both did well in them.  Still, you have to be careful.  Pictured is a photo that Kristen Bryant, the Parkrun director, took of the then-impending storm and put on Facebook...looks pretty eerie, doesn't it...

People in Groups: Always a Power Struggle

In the preamble to the first Lord of the Rings movie, Fellowship of the Ring, the "Lady of the Woods" elf Geladriel (played by Cate Blanchett) explains the origin of the conflict about the special Ring of Power that the evil spirit Sauron used to bind under his domination all of the rings he "gifted" to the different nations of beings.  To the nine men-kings he bestowed each with a ring, for more than anything they coveted power.  Yet upon each's passing, they found themselves completely bound to Sauron, abject slaves to his will. Still, to the extent that they could strike terror in the hearts of ordinary people, I suppose that they would have derived much pleasure from this evil bullying.  I think J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of this fantasy series, had much insight into the basic, rank human nature that is much more universal among our species.  The truth is that you can't get three people together into a group without them sorting out their respective ranks...from top to bottom.  I'm not just theorizing this: I've lived it, going on 69 years come this October.  Barbara Streisand once sang, "People who need people are the luckiest people in the world."  But beyond the benefits and protections that an advanced civil society can bestow on me, I find it annoying, demeaning and stifling to find myself entangled within groups...and I'm sick of that sorting of pecking orders. Just before the Beatles broke up in late 1969, there were two group meetings, one on the 8th and the other on the 20th.  In the earlier meeting, John Lennon made the all-too-reasonable proposal that he, Paul and George each be accorded four songs on their future albums, with one or two given to Ringo. Paul, full of his perceived role as the the group's leader, rejected John's offer.  After Lennon's successful concert adventure a few days later, he announced his "divorce" from the Beatles on that second meeting twelve days later.  There was a flexibility, a willingness to work things out, in Lennon's original proposal, but people stuck in their minds with power aren't rationally reasoning things out.  The general problem I personally see in this translates into all social situations, whereby there are individuals consumed with their own sense of standing within the group, and they will sabotage any meaningful input from me while putting me down in what they regard as my "proper place". I am so sensitive to this that I don't even want to "show up" in some of the gatherings offered at church or in connection to the Parkruns I frequent...and when I was at the post office I tended to avoid union meetings: now it's retirement reunions I steer clear of.  But you know, I can always attend and just sit in the back and keep my mouth shut or just engage in small talk...

Looked at "New Student Edition" Florida Alligator

About a week ago I picked up a copy of the free local paper titled The Independent Florida Alligator, and opened it up to look for anything of use to me.  This issue's called "new student edition", so since I'm pretty damned old in the grand scheme of things I guess they're not all that concerned about me...but that's all right.  The contents were full of upbeat, encouraging articles aimed at helping students avoid burnout while offering suggestions on where they can hang out, eat, exercise, and so on.  I enjoyed reading the opening article describing the recent politicized crap surrounding who gets to be University of Florida's president ever since our excuse for a governor, Ron Desantis, appointed Nebraska senator Ben Sasse to the post, only for him to suddenly resign one day, leaving many angry people in his wake.  Then they brought back Kent Fuchs, who had served at the post for eight years, as interim president until they completed their search and confirmed a new one.  University of Michigan president Santa Ono was picked, resigned his old post...and was ultimately rejected by the politically obsessed Florida Board of Governors, leaving Fuchs still in charge.  He's retired now, and maybe UF doesn't really need a president anyway...what a pathetic joke this once-respected office has been degraded to.  I enjoy the creative writing in the Alligator, and it tends to have a personal edge to it that I can relate to...kind of like blog articles.  And of course I enjoy their little puzzle section toward the back, especially the "spot six differences" one.  But would I ever shell out any money for the Alligator? No way...

Snug-Fitting Old Brooks Shoes Seem to Improve Walking

Today on my neighborhood 3.3-mile loop speed walk, I tried wearing my older Brooks running shoes that fit my feet more snugly than the pair I had been wearing regularly.  I seemed to be able to pick up my walking pace with the old shoes, and it may well be because my feet are tighter in them, not moving around wasting energy with each contact on the road surface.  If I walk this coming Saturday's Depot Parkrun, I plan to use the old Brooks for it and see if I can't bring down my finishing time.  Should be interesting.  In any event, I plan to ask around for advice about who can give me authoritative pointers on race-walking form and evaluate what I'm doing wrong or right with it.  I sincerely believe that endurance speed-walking can well be the way to go with my advancing years as I am intent on maintaining high-functioning mobility, as athletically as possible.  I know the non-profit Florida Track Club, of which I am a member, has an auxiliary, commercial "Team" Florida Track Club that offers (for various fees) coaching and advice...and I believe that race walking is covered in it somewhere.  In today's digital information world, it seems that it shouldn't be all that hard to get some sound coaching with my speed-walking...

The Fallacy of the Dead-End Job

If you're an advocate of the practice of mindfulness, then you just might not need to read this piece about how some of us put down our own employment status as "dead-end".  I recently heard, second-hand, about a loved one who has expressed that her current job was dead-end, with no real prospects for growth.  It was a striking criticism, for I had gleaned from her previous descriptions of her work life that she enjoyed the relative autonomy that the daily routine granted her.  It's a position that demands some physical fitness and endurance...lots of walking!  I think I might have liked that kind of work were I her age...but I get at least her "old" way of looking at work: it paid the bills, she could get through the work day without being bullied by managers or co-workers and when she left, she was done and free for the rest of the day.  I've always worked for the same things and never rated a job as "dead-end" or depriving me of growth...about which I think she meant "opportunities for promotion".  I worked at the US Postal Service for 37 years and had ample opportunities to seek entry into management.  But I was consistently focused on treating each workday as an opportunity to perform my duties well, and when I clocked out at the end of the shift, I was satisfied and went on to what was next for me.  I totally understand that people have differing ideas about ambition and climbing status ladders in their respective fields of employment...a lot of it has to do with cultural values and family structure, as well as with being around certain more alpha-personality types that promote such outlooks and who may be intent on exerting undue pressure. I've encountered some of these pushy folks whose idea of getting to know me is centered around where I rate according to their scale of respect...and that means how prestigious (or not) is my job title and how much money I make on it.  I don't owe anyone an explanation for my motives in job selection, but any revelation from them that they feel entitled to negatively judge me accordingly quickly and automatically condemns them as unworthy of friendship and respect. Back when I first started working for the USPS, they hired...outside the standard-practice sequence of the register list of candidates according to their exam scores...the son of a current supervisor.  He was arrogant with an entitlement mentality, and performed his assigned tasks sloppily, but escaped discipline because of his connections.  Well, one day he came to work full of the advancement promises that being an Amway member gave him.  With Amway, the important thing is to get people "under you", through which you get a cut of their sales profits.  His idea was that eventually he could live effortlessly through the efforts of those supporting him.  Fine if that works, but his sales pitch to us coworkers was that it was better than this "dead-end job" we were doing.  That aroused some offense from me and a colleague, and the matter was squelched among us.  A couple of years later that dude was fired for outright insubordination...since his "daddy" supervisor had already retired, he was no longer under that umbrella of protection and they were only too eager to get rid of this troublemaker.  So that's where I stand whenever someone starts playing the "it's a dead-end job" hand.  Do whatever you want as long as it's legal and you do no harm to others, but leave me alone if you're going to use that bullshit excuse for an argument...

Evangelicals, Worldliness and Cognitive Dissonance

I've written before on this blog about how I'm put off by people who devote much of their very-verbose speaking efforts at defining their theology within the conservative evangelical Christian movement and discussing different people they personally know, employing a judgmental yardstick behind their backs regarding their salvation status and Christian walk.  Frankly, I just wish these good people would just shut up and sit back.  They also seem predisposed to be much more worldly in their materialism and status within the world system's pecking order.  For some reason church lay leaders place very heavy emphasis on people's professional and financial status.  Business owner, physician, college professor, engineer, lawyer, overall rich person...they seem to confirm that these individuals have leadership (over me) qualifications because of their worldly achievements and that they, by default, have more spirituality than someone who has lived a responsible life for themselves and their family but doesn't check the "right" boxes.  I've encountered this worldly, unspiritual snobbery on multiple occasions at church social gatherings...hard to digest and reconcile without the word "hypocrites" screaming out to me. I think, however, that I can deal with that sort of elitism better than the two-faced kind of cognitive dissonance I've noticed among some who, while insisting on their own high level of spirituality, are completely immersed in the struggles for political power in this world, particularly between the Republicans and Democrats in this country.  I mean, if you're on the "wrong" side, which they literally hate while extolling the name of Jesus, you might just consider carefully keeping your own counsel around them.  I have a choice with these folks, several of whom seem to harbor good will toward me since they do not know of my political leanings. Either I can eschew politics when around them or I can eschew them for my own mental and emotional peace, God bless 'em. Or maybe just try both paths...solitude can be a true blessing...

On Being One-Upped by "Non-Competitive" Park-Walker "Volunteers" in Parkruns

I like my habit of going out on Saturday mornings and participating in one of Gainesville's two Parkruns.  I either run it, speed-walk it, mix up the two within the same race or volunteer.  So far since 2019 I have finished 84 such events.  You're accorded the privilege after reaching 25, 50, 100 and 250 milestones of ordering special tee shirts bearing the achieved level.  I had their pretty lavender "25" shirt but a few months ago either misplaced or lost it...sad.  But now I'm going with "50", red-colored.  If things go according to plan I should be eligible sometime early in 2026 for their "100" shirt...looking forward to it.  As Shauna (the Parkrun leader here in Gainesville) has said on multiple occasions, the Parkrun 5K is not a competition per se but rather an event designed to bring people together who embrace fitness and bettering themselves.  I'm in agreement with her on this: my priorities with Parkrun are (1) show up, (2) finish, (3) do the run or walk or volunteer gig true to my standards, (4) as reasonably as possible be friendly and accommodating toward others attending with me and (5) write about it on my blog.  Well, here's one of those (5)'s! Starting a couple of years ago I decided to phase more speed-walking into my workouts and racing.  With this I began inserting, every few weeks, a Parkrun event in which I walked the 3.1 miles at my then-top pace.  My speed did pick up to the point where, a year ago, I regularly finished the 5K distance faster than 40 minutes, my top two days both at 38:19.  I was also some 25 pounds lighter at the time, something that I believe contributed to my speed and progress.  Since then, though, the weight has come back up and my finishes have gotten slower.  And a couple of annoying things happened as well.  One of the volunteer slots available to choose for a Parkrun is to be a park-walker.  You don a blue park-walker-volunteer vest and then simply walk the course during the race, presumably as someone who can be supportive to other participants.  Back on June 21st, I was speed-walking at Depot Park when a little boy, wearing that park-walker-volunteer vest, casually walked right past me toward the end, eventually leaving me far behind.  I was a little disconcerted at this, because I thought damn, I could have done what he did and race-walked, getting an extra volunteer credit in the process.  Then last week I was speed-walking at their newly begun West End Community Park course when the identical thing again happened.  This time the "volunteer", as it turned out, was an elderly woman in my same age group (65-69).  And she seemed to be having quite an easy time passing me, too...and it seemed to mean something to her to do so.  The fact that some others are so casual about walking so quickly shouldn't bother me, but it does because I take speed-walking seriously and see it as a promising vehicle for me to maintain a robust level of ambulatory activity deeply into my senior years, God willing. I'd like to even speed-walk a 26.2 mile marathon race in under 6 hours, but I feel I need to get my weight back down to a more reasonable figure first.  And I suppose that in the meantime, anybody can have their grandson or granny "volunteer" to fly right on by me in a Parkrun if that makes them feel higher on the pecking order.  I just don't see how that's doing any of the rest of us good if they're doing it as "volunteers"...  

Mixed Walking and Running at West End Community Parkrun 5K Today

The dog days of summer drag on, and I dragged myself down to West End Community Park to engage in their weekly Saturday morning Parkrun.  At 7:30 race time, it was a very uncomfortable 75 degrees with 98% humidity...and the sun rose to clear skies, practically blinding anyone facing the east during the event.  I had originally intended to run this 5K, but with the grounds being so slick from dew and the previous night's thunderstorms, I instead decided to go with a speed-walk and see how that worked.  This went well, until I decided mid-race to treat it all like a neighborhood workout and mix some running into the formula.  At 21 minutes I began running, alternating it with spurts of speed-walking: at the end, I finished with a time of 37:14, 13:14 spent in running.  You can view the posted results by clicking HERE.  I am getting more accustomed to this very convoluted course, but I still prefer the setup at Depot Park across town where I'm always on pavement and can easily determine my progress by how many laps I've covered...here at West End I have to go completely by my watch and the elapsed time. I also don't care too much for having to drive a substantially longer distance to get to West End Community Park, which is a quick right-hand turn just a few blocks west of NW 122nd Street off Newberry Road.  I do like the fact that afterward I can (and did) go to the Tioga Town Center across the street to dry off and change at Gainesville Health and Fitness there and then walk over to Patticakes, where I'm writing this out and drinking a chai latte.  And now it's time to go home! Looking forward to a nice weekend, for me, Melissa...and you!

Looking for Useful Stuff in Free Brochures and Newspapers

I retired at the end of November last year, but I still get my union's newsletters in the mail, as if I am somehow still listed somewhere as a member.  Let's see...this one is titled "Florida Postal Worker", representing the American Postal Workers Union of Florida.  Good enough, let's open it up and see what's inside. Headline item: Ratification Happens...the new collective bargaining agreement has been overwhelmingly ratified by the rank and file.  On turning the page, there is an article on how to avoid scams, an anti-Trump piece titled "No Kings in America", and an urging for members to contact their elected representatives with their opinions. Then there's list of 30 reasons to thank unions, a section listing general guidelines for emergency preparedness, an article about the APWU Auxiliary, and a few other trailing articles. Overall I found this issue to be informative and potentially helpful, assuming I come back to it and refer to it.  I think this idea of picking up a piece of literature like a brochure or newsletter and determining whether or not it contains anything of value is constructive...future such blog articles are in the works for other publications...

Swimming Between Two Medical Issues

I'm currently swimming between two different health issues that will probably be under medical scrutiny for the remainder of my (hopefully long-term) existence on this Earth.  The first one to crop up was a congenital defective heart valve and accompanying aortic artery aneurysm that was diagnosed in late 2011/early 2012 and surgically corrected through open heart surgery in July 2021.  For this, post-op, I take regular medications and undergo periodic testing and specialist consultations...I just finished one with my excellent thoracic surgeon yesterday, to meet again in two years. The second medical issue is cancer, more specifically that of the prostate, which for me was diagnosed through biopsy in mid-December 2024.  I underwent a robotic laparoscopic prostatectomy in March and seem (so far) to be doing quite well without that malignant prostate.  But this issue also involves periodic blood tests for PSA (protein-specific antigen) levels that might indicate a return or resurgence (or not) of the cancer.  On my second post-surgery PSA test, the level was at .1, which may or may not be significant. The urology department at UF Health has me scheduled for a PSMA PET scan later this month, and thereafter yet another PSA test to be taken at the start of September. Then I'll meet with my specialist physician to determine a constructive course of action with all of this...or in the best-case scenario, inaction. It's during times like these that I can sit back and feel gratitude for the wonderful state of medicine, and my access to it.  I'm looking forward to staying active and positive, taking each day one at a time and appreciating the great people and circumstances around me...

Keeping "Track" of Tropical Storm Erin

It looks as if this weekend the moment of truth will come out regarding what is destined to be Hurricane Erin, which is one of those Atlantic tropical storm systems that developed off the west African coast and traversed the high seas deep into our western hemisphere.  According to the projected various possible paths the storm could take, I'm not too concerned from my north-central Florida home location, but I'm not so sure I'd want to be on a cruise ship anytime in the near future that has the Bahamas and eastern Caribbean on its course.  My own cruise concern is projected for the first couple of weeks in October, when I'm afraid it might be a bit more touchy with the tropical storms during that period.  But we'll see. I'm guessing that Erin probably won't make landfall on the continent, but might threaten Bermuda and cause a lot of warnings about rip current along the Atlantic coast from Florida on northward. In any event, I guess this means we're finally in the middle of hurricane season.  Now that I'm retired and out of school for decades, I'm naturally hoping that they all stay away...

Will Trump Follow in Neville Chamberlain's Footsteps over Ukraine?

So it looks as if our current president will soon be meeting with his Russian counterpart in Alaska to present proposals for peace in Ukraine and try to come back with some hope for the future.  Having studied some history myself, I know that Great Britain's prime minister Neville Chamberlain met with Germany's dictator Adolf Hitler in 1938 to resolve the latter's instigated "crisis" as he threatened neighboring Czechoslovakia under the guise of protecting ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland part of that peaceful country's territory.  And Chamberlain came away from that encounter waving a signed piece of paper, declaring "Peace in our time".  It was nothing more than a capitulation to the Nazi warmonger and sped the international community toward eventual world war as Germany only accelerated its military aggression.  I have a suspicion that something similar will arise from this "summit" between a dictator masquerading as a democratically-elected president and a democratically-elected president masquerading as a dictator.  Only when it comes to strength and integrity, "my" leader, I'm afraid, is an ignorant, weak puppet for Russia's government...but I already knew that for nine years.  Get ready for Ukraine to be sold down the river while Trump proudly waves his own paper in the air and makes like he stood up to Putin...

Feel Excluded By Both Political Parties' Ideologies

It used to be that being a politically pragmatic centrist was a pretty reasonable, popular thing to be in our republic that has functioned through democratically elected representatives comprising governments on national, statewide and local levels.  Nowadays, however, I find myself extremely marginalized as the two main political parties are each practicing ideologies and policies that exclude me and my interests.  I'm repulsed at the increasingly autocratic Republican Party and President Trump on the national level and Florida's Governor Desantis at the statewide level.  On the other hand, I am one of those folks who are put off by a burgeoning Woke movement in this country, very sensitive to how its advocates group and label people while practicing cancel culture as they condemn anything or anyone they see or hear violating their special rules of speech and behavior.  The latest example of this is the furor being whipped up over the clothing company American Eagle and their ad campaign featuring an attractive young woman wearing their product.  Even Rachel Maddox on MSNBC is getting in on it all, lending her politically correct opinions.  In Gainesville we have a leftist news rag called The Iguana, and in all the years I've picked it up and read it I have yet to see anything in their issues that speak to my interests.  No, I seem to belong to all the wrong demographic categories, and not only am I the "bad guy" by default in any diversity/"inclusion" discussions, but I'm now adjudged to be guilty of being privileged whether or not I show any signs of prejudice or compassion.  I know a dude I used to work with who is very proud of his own Wokeness...I realized at a point that I could never talk to him about anything without him coming back at me with some Woke spin on things.  Such people are innately full of their own pious self-righteousness and see themselves as qualified to point their accusing fingers at anyone who uses the wrong pronoun or engages in the healthy, mature habit of playing devil's advocate in a discussion of issues or politics.  So no, I feel no love for either party, and I really feel like avoiding the creepy, stupid people who like to speechify on what is correct and what isn't... 

Comparing Depot Park and West End Community Park Parkruns So Far

I feel blessed at my age to still be fit enough to engage in 5K (3.1-mile) walk/run events.  I'm also grateful that my home town of Gainesville now has two free weekly 5K events, each held Saturday mornings at 7:30.  The older of the two, Depot Parkrun, I've participated in since 2019, finishing so far some 82 races at this writing.  The most recent one, West End Community Parkrun, held its first race on July 12th, and I ran my first race there on August 2nd.  I now have a choice for each Saturday morning: stay in bed at home, get up and do the Depot Parkrun...just south of downtown Gainesville...or travel a bit further west of town to West End Community Park for their event.  I've written before that I prefer the Depot Park course, which consists of four laps on a paved pathway around the park.  They also have park restroom facilities there, as well as plenty of parking.  My only objection is that the town surrounding the park is kind of run down, with plenty of homeless people walking the streets and planting themselves around the businesses that are trying to function there...including the nearby Starbucks, sigh.  As for West End Community Park, the course is nearly impossible to figure out, zigzagging with sharp turns and uneven concrete sidewalks, interrupted by stretches of grassway slickened by the morning dew and in different states of mowing.  Last week I speed-walked the four laps at Depot Park, and following the race I ran an unofficial bonus lap...this is unfeasible at the new site.  Also, West End at this time only has a couple of porta-potties: pretty primitive.  On its upside, though, just across Newberry Road from the park is a classy shopping center, highlighted for me by a branch of Gainesville Health and Fitness Center that opens at 8 am.  I can go there after the race, cool myself down at GHF and change clothes, and then walk a few steps over to Patticakes, a very nice coffee shop that used to be a Starbucks for years.  This Saturday my plan is to try out West End again and see how it all goes...

Walked the Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

I decided this morning to go to Depot Park to speed-walk their weekly Parkrun 5K.  It was warm and muggy...as usual...as I felt my sore legs and decided to give the joints a break with a walk instead of pounding the pavement with a run.  As it was, the walk was easy enough, but with my increased body weight the speed has suffered over the past year and I finished it with a time of 42:42...click HERE to view the posted results.  I did feel energized enough at the end to run an unofficial bonus .7-mile lap...did that in 6:49.  Maybe in the future...at Depot Park at least...I'll tack on an extra lap or two of running following a speed-walk.  In any event, I feel I'm experiencing a sort of reset with my level of speed with the recent walks and runs.  That's all right: for the time being, the main thing is simply showing up. Besides, it's still the dog days of summer, with the temperature at race time 68 degrees with a muggy 94% humidity.  After the race I tried going to Maude's, a nearby coffee shop...wasn't impressed: going elsewhere in the future...

Enjoyed Some Time at Daytona Beach

 

Melissa and I made a somewhat spontaneous decision to go to Daytona Beach for a couple of nights...we just got back this afternoon.  It was pleasant to see the ol' Beach again...nice to be able sit out on our oceanfront room balcony and take in the scenery.  Since we're talking Wednesday check-in and Friday check-out, this stood as the last full weekday stretch for a while in which kids weren't going off to school.  Hence there were a lot of families with children everywhere...and especially in the hotel's swimming pool.  We did avail ourselves of it Thursday...I think our local pool is a lot more convenient, though.  I went on a couple of walks along the beach, each in a different direction.  The weather was a mix of rainstorms and sun.  The tides seemed to come in a bit too strongly, impeding walking paths along the beach...I timed my walks to coincide with receding sea levels.  We also ate out at a couple of our favorite area restaurants.  The whole experience was fun...except for the sometimes exasperating drives from Gainesville to there, and back.  And it's good to be back...

At Doughnut Shop Again, with AlphaSmart

 

I'm sitting here in my nearby Dunkin' Donuts writing this on the above-pictured AlphaSmart portable word processor, which is completely off-line and runs on AA batteries, automatically saving whatever I type in one of the device's 8 built-in files.  Now I do have a cord for it that allows me to transfer my writing to another computer...that's how you're able to read this! This doughnut shop first opened during the COVID-19 era in early 2020...I remember voting that March in the Florida Primary and then going through the store's drive-through, only to be told that the employees were "in training" and that the grand opening wouldn't be for another few weeks.  As I remember, Lord Voldetrump was president back then as well, and I was eager to support Joe Biden in his campaign to unseat him.  I felt that Biden did a credible job in his four years as our president. Apparently, though, you have to be a show-biz whiz in front of the cameras and mikes to make it in this social and mass media-based society we're subjugating ourselves to nowadays.  Biden in his earlier years probably would have come out looking and sounding better, but from 2021 to 2025 his best efforts resulted in a more subdued and less dramatic presidency: it worked for me, albeit not for the attention-deficit general population. Yesterday I was here typing out another blog article when an old friend from a now-defunct church came in and we talked (or more precisely, I listened to him talking).  My church buddies present a kind of predicament to me.  This guy was meeting with a couple of friends regularly on Monday afternoons to discuss "Jesus", but when they did get together they seemed bent on discussing sports and politics, the latter with an built-in presumption that the Democrats were villains. But that's the way it is for me with people I like from church: the overwhelming majority of them are Trump followers who get their information from FoxNews and their opinions spoon-fed by people like Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, Greg Gutfeld and Mark Levin.  If Trump says something it's automatically true and you can't argue otherwise.  Sigh. So with these good folks I have the choice of either consciously avoiding discussing news with them or consciously avoiding their presence, period.  And, sadly, the trend for me has been to just stay away from them and leave them to their own self-imposed feedback loops and cult personality idol worship...

About Texas Redrawing Its Own Congressional Districts

I understand that there's a degree of brouhaha going on in the news about the Texas state legislature's redesigning of their district boundaries, and how it is supposedly all being done in a very devious, gerrymandered manner to deprive Texans of representation by the Democrats.  I viewed the "before" and "after" maps of the Texas districts and, quite frankly, am at a loss to detect any sign of gerrymandering in the new proposal.  The fact is that Texas has become a solidly red, pro-Republican state in the past thirty years.  It's also a known practice in national politics that a state's elected legislature has as one of its functions the periodic redrawing of district boundaries: Texas is no exception.  But now we're seeing Texas Democratic legislators fleeing the state to avoid there being a needed quorum in place to push into law the new map. I'm looking at the world today and ask myself, why should I care about this issue that is being headlined on the television news channels...must be a slow news day.  Although each state is authorized to draw its own district maps, the practice is traditionally done closely following the national census, done in years ending in zero.  This Texas action is different in that Jabba the Trump demanded they do it because he thinks he'll gain five congressional seats in the 2026 election...and, boy, does Trump ever want to stay in complete power!  In response, the New York and California state governors, both Democrats with strong Democratic-majority legislatures, just came out and announced that they would likewise redraw their own state congressional maps to give their own party advantages as well.  Are you indignant about any of this?  Not me, I have better things in my life to be concerned about, and the last thing I've come to trust any more is that the American voter will show any signs of integrity or wisdom in ANY election, no matter how the districts are drawn.  If the right candidate ends up winning one, regardless of where they are on the "map", it's more likely an accident or for the wrong reasons... 

Musical Artists Speaking Ill of Colleagues in the Trade

I was watching YouTube videos about popular music groups of the past and noticed that some of the preferred posts feature what different musical artists think about their colleagues within the trade.  Specifically, I just saw one video that listed five artists who didn't like the Beatles...and of course they explained why they felt that way. They were Lou Reed, Quincy Jones, Trent Reznor, Michael Stipe and Julian Casablancas. To me, all of these "artists" come away from their bashings appearing like musical snobs who think they know better than plain folk like you or me.  Since the only Reed song I've heard and liked was Take a Walk on the Wild Side and he seems to have no singing voice to speak of, I'll dispose of him up front.  Jones was a renowned record producer and heavily aligned with soul and jazz, a stickler for technique when it comes down to playing musical instruments. Unfortunately, I've never been all that into either of those genres.  Reznor, the frontman for Nine Inch Nails, only did one song, Head Like a Hole, that I liked, and Casablancas fronts the alt-rock band the Strokes, which produced a couple of songs to my liking, Reptilia and 12:51.  But Stipe and his band R.E.M. I've long considered among my favorites because their music and lyrics strike a strong emotional chord with me...like the Beatles did.  I think a lot of the divisive rhetoric is being magnified on social media as clickbait to build up user volume and revenue. People can believe what they want, just as I do.  My general view of the aforementioned critics is you can have the music of Reed, Jones and Reznor...no loss to me, and Casablancas isn't talented enough to even enter a conversation about anyone else...leaving Michael Stipe for me to scratch my head about in puzzlement.  But in honesty the Beatles themselves didn't hold back in what they thought about others, especially John and George.  I don't idolize anyone, and I can't think of any musical act that always produced stuff I liked, including the Beatles, which I regard as the greatest popular music act of all time..  

Ran Today's West End Community Parkrun 5K

On this first of five Saturdays in August I woke up to extraordinarily unpleasant weather conditions as I prepared for my weekly Parkrun 5K.  I had expected something like this since, after all, it IS summertime and we've been experiencing a horrendous heat wave.  Still, by the time I arrived at my race destination around 7, the temperature was an oppressive 77 degrees with the humidity just as bad at 100%.  If you've been reading this blog, you know that four weeks ago I drove down to West End Community Park about six blocks west of NW 122nd Street on Newberry Road, just outside Gainesville, to unofficially try out (with others) the course for the city's second Parkrun.  It officially kicked off the following week, and today was the West End Community Parkrun's fourth go at it.  So I headed on down and endured the stifling pre-race heat and mugginess...along with an inordinate supply of gnats buzzing all over everyone...yuck!  I entered this event just as a "workout jog", not focused on beating any special time goals.  The course is a twisting and turning alternation of concrete sidewalks and connecting stretches of grass.  Unlike the Depot Parkrun I usually attend, this course does not repeat...which has its advantages and disadvantages.  There seems to be more hilliness to this course, making it more challenging.  I was able early on to find a kind of slow-paced groove without too much interference from the other runners, and just focused on following the tortuous path, one step at a time, to the end.  As a mental aid I counted the stretches of concrete (26) in the race...I think it helped me since I'm used to counting laps on the Depot Park course.  I finished today's run with a time of 30:16, a good time on a new course that I can look forward to improving on.  You can view today's results by clicking HERE.  I think I still prefer the Depot Parkrun...it's easier to get to and the facilities there are better.  I did like the fact that West End is directly across Newberry Road from Gainesville Health and Fitness of which I am still a member, and a pleasant coffee shop called Patticakes.  If I ever get more sociable, I can go sit there when they meet to finalize the race results and post them...but now I think I'll just take it easy. By the way, the above photo of me tackling the course was taken by Olivia, one of the volunteers there...

About Politics (You're Welcome to Skip Reading This)

A few days ago I wrote a politically-charged article for this blog, but hesitated to post it because, well, it seemed a bit too harsh after reading it over a couple of times.  After last November's presidential election that made me sharply question the intelligence and integrity of the American voter, my political criticisms have alternated between calling out the gullibility and/or ugliness motivating too many people's voting trends these days and calling out the people that they placed in positions of power...the most notable one of course being Trump.  So instead of using pejorative designations like "dumbass", "fraud" or "hack", let me instead just relay that in no way do I feel any sense of trust in my elected leaders...especially the current White House occupant...nor do I think that the American electorate will, in either the immediate or long-term future, do anything to return this republic of elected representatives to a semblance of reason and comity directed toward the public good.  So, therefore, I've lived my whole life in a country that now makes me feel like a "stranger in a strange land".  I also don't think that any expressed political opinion of mine is going to make any real difference other than label myself, to the computer algorithms out there, as belonging to a particular political leaning after which they will concentrate on feeding me social media input that they "think" reinforces what they "think" I already think.  So there you go...let me just stay out of the way of all the crazies I see around me...oops, I think I just used a pejorative...