Health Care Reform Passed & Signed

On Sunday, the House of Representatives passed (again) the health care reform bill. Later this week, the Senate will pass it (again). And our president has just signed the House bill. All after a very ugly, protracted media campaign in which incivility and paranoia in political discourse reached new extremes. After the House passage, Fox News extreme right-winger (of many there) Glenn Beck compared the health care reform passage to past historic disasters like the Hindenburg crash, Chamberlain's peace treaty with Hitler, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Wait, I think Beck's on board with nuking 200,000 people!

Already several states are filing lawsuits claiming that the bill is unconstitutional by mandating that citizens purchase health insurance. I initially had similar concerns, but after reading the opinions of a few legal scholars, this doesn't appear to be the case. But that doesn't make it right, either.

Still, the bill does have some good features. It allows young adults to remain on their parents' policies to age 26. It should help entrepreneurs to obtain affordable health insurance for themselves and their families. And the specter of pre-existing conditions will diminish greatly, enabling people to more freely change jobs and careers (even possibly starting their own businesses) without the fear of becoming uninsurable because they may have one or more of them. That should help our economic growth and innovation greatly.

So we'll see how the health care reform legislation translates into real world application. I feel better about it than before, but still would have much preferred for there to have been a public option to keep insurance companies honest with their pricing. Especially since the health insurance industry, for some reason, has a special exemption for federal anti-trust laws.

Yesterday's Half-Marathon Run

Yesterday I ran my fifth half-marathon in two months, setting a personal record time of 1:55:19. The most striking thing about this feat is that I was recovering from a strain in my right lower rear calf, something that I believe may have come about because of faulty foot placement. I slightly adjusted my foot landings over the past week and the pain diminished. It never did slow me down, though, and my speed and endurance continue to improve. After the run, I experienced no leg or foot cramps, something common to me after long runs.

Yesterday I was forced by externally-imposed time limitations to limit my run to 13.1 miles. Other than the usual foot and leg pains, I was in great shape to keep on running. I was full of energy and felt not the least bit winded, even as I stepped it up a little toward the end of my run.

This was a needed, encouraging experience. I feel good about future progress, including accomplishing a run of marathon length. It looks, though, as if I will probably have to first accomplish this on just a personal level by running around my neighborhood (as I first did with the half-marathon). I'm still looking at a possible marathon to run before summer, but I'm not sure how the logistics of that will play out.

As I have written before, I don't run on consecutive days. This gives me the time I need to recover and grow stronger. In the other days, I have been working out with weights on my upper body and abdomen, along with the no-impact cross-trainer machine. Now, though, I am switching my off-days (from running) to a more mundane and homebound activity: lawn work. Yes, spring has arrived and I'd better get busy before my home gets inundated with fast-growing weeds, grass, and bushes!

Teamwork Trumps Individuals in Basketball

When I was in the seventh grade, my physical education class was going through its basketball phase of the program. The team I was put on was miserable, losing all of its games and finishing dead last in our class. Except for our last two games, that is. The last game we actually miraculously pulled out 18-16. That was important because it gave us a feeling of what it was like to win. Then, as an "extra" game, our coach/teacher scrambled up the other teams, but left ours intact. Our opponent for that game was an assembled group of "stars" from other teams, all of which had beaten us during the "regular season". The result? We destroyed them 34-6! And they couldn't figure out what happened. But it was clear to me: my team had been together game after game, each of us learning our teammates' strengths and weaknesses. We knew how we moved on the court and were much more likely to pass and set up plays, while the players on the other side pretty much engaged in individualistic, ball-hogging showboating. So we creamed them.

Now we come to the NCAA men's basketball tournament and a similar situation. Two smaller and lower-seeded teams, Cornell and Northern Iowa, have made it to the "Sweet Sixteen" by defeating more heavily-favored and talented teams. How? The successful smaller teams were able to keep their squads intact over the years, since the players were finishing through their senior years and not opting out early to enter the NBA. Cornell actually has eight seniors on its team! And Northern Iowa knocked out Kansas, the number one team in the country and the heavy favorite to win the tournament.

My own league, the Southeastern Conference, may carry this lesson one step further. The conference champions (and possible eventual national champions this year) are the Kentucky Wildcats, a team that sports media commentators often compare favorably to professional teams regarding their talent. Sports Illustrated magazine put freshman John Wall, at the beginning of the season, on the cover of one of its issues, calling him (in advance) the best college player in the country. And he has several teammates who doubtless are eagerly looking ahead to making a wad of money playing in the pros. So this team is very, very good. For this year, that is. Next year, they will have to aggressively regroup and rebuild to compensate for the loss of some of their star players. The University of Florida, on the other hand, has a complete lineup of starters slated to return next year. I doubt that any of them will enter the NBA draft and, after their success in reaching the NCAA tourney this year, none will probably transfer to another school. So we're looking at a very cohesive group who know each other and play as a unit.

Stars are important in basketball, but teamwork trumps that. So teams without stars but with continuity and cohesion will continue to knock off those with the big names. Kentucky may win it all this year, but then again maybe not. Their next game in the tournament is against Cornell!

Bill-O and Pinheads

I rarely watch Bill O'Reilly's show on Fox News Channel. Not necessarily because I always disagree with the guy; he makes some good points a lot of the time. No, I don't watch it because I am thoroughly repulsed by O'Reilly's bullying, overbearing personality. He has even boasted of being a bully in his youth, and with no remorse at having made life so unnecessarily miserable for others. I used to be able to partially get around my overwhelming aversion to his presence by listening to his radio show when I was at work (this kept me from actually having to look at him). But alas, his show wasn't caustic and hateful enough, and the station's producers decided to put a wingnut hatemonger extremist on in his place to suit the "choir" that this station wanted to preach its right-wing ideology to. Now you may ask, why not just listen to O'Reilly's TV show without actually looking at the jerk? Well, as long as I actually have access to television, there are many, many other channels that I would prefer to watch. So sorry, Bill-O, the only time I hear nowadays about what you're saying is when Keith Olbermann on MSNBC is ridiculing you!

Why even bring up Bill O'Reilly anyway? Because there is one recurring theme of his that resonates with me, which is his notion of another type of more subtle, insidious bully: the "pinhead". To O'Reilly, a pinhead is anyone who has characterized themselves as belonging to the social class of the intelligentsia and by so doing feels qualified to taut their views as if they had some kind of special aura of absolute truth to them. And if you disagree with them, then you are subject to being judged as stupid, ignorant, misled, bigoted, and/or biased. Much of the time, O'Reilly vents his wrath against those he labels as pinheads in the academic, judicial, and journalistic communities. And I tend to agree with him, with one significant modification.

Bill O'Reilly never calls a conservative a pinhead. I look at the US Supreme Court and see four glaring right-wing pinheads (Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito) who have decided to deliberately ignore precedent and drastically rewrite law to fit their political agendas. Alito's negative reaction during Obama's criticism of a recent radical and highly controversial Court decision during his State of the Union address is pure, condescending pinhead behavior. Fox is loaded with other examples, but Bill-O will never bite the hands that feed him (Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch) by calling THEM out. So my view of a pinhead is bit broader than his.

My disparagement of pinheads is strongest when I explore the blogosphere. I have encountered blog after blog where the authors go to enormous lengths to emphasize their high-and-mighty academic credentials, usually in some highly specialized, arcane field. And then go on to act as if this qualifies them to go off on any rant they want about any topic, as if their opinion matters more just because they may have a trail of letters following their names. I guess this may be a revelation of sorts: to me, the term "pinhead" is roughly equivalent to the term "academic snob". Not that having academic credentials makes one a pinhead. I also know several people whose grace and maturity regarding their accomplishments and intellect would put me to shame.

There was an elderly gentlemen who was a regular many years ago at one of my local doughnut shops. Almost every time he came in, he would talk incessantly, constantly peppering his monologue with the claim that he had earned "59 degrees". No one that I know of around there ever challenged the poor old fool; they all liked him and tactfully overlooked his vanity and insecurity. He obviously felt as if his words needed the backup of his "academic qualifications" in order for others to respect them. This guy was an extreme example of what I find myself doing a lot: finding people's "vanity point" and "overlooking" it in the interests of good will and getting along. The way I see it, if others want to make fools of themselves, then who am I to stand in the way? And so I tend to let the pinheads in my life continue to delude themselves with their own fantasies of self-importance and superiority.

Congratulations to UF Men's Hoops Team

Congratulatations are in order for the University of Florida men's basketball team, which made a valiant effort in their first (and only) NCAA Tournament game against favored Brigham Young. They stayed with their opponent, even coming back from a 13-point deficit in the second half to send the game into overtime. And then a second overtime. Finally fatigue, the fouling out of their lead scorer (freshman guard Kenny Boynton with 27 points), and excellent shooting on the part of BYU culminated in the Gators' 99-92 defeat.

The Gators by all accounts had a very successful season, making it to the NCAA tourney for the first time in three years. Coach Billy Donovan was full of praise for his team in spite of their "early" exit. And hopefully the starters will stay together for next year, as none were seniors. I doubt that any would try to go professional early, but then again I didn't think that Nick Calathes would do that last year. If they stick together for another year, I see them having a great season in 2010-11.

Why Run a Marathon?

Why do people run marathons? I have recently been asking myself this a little more than usual, since I am trying to achieve that 26.2 mile distance in one run. I checked out the book Ultramarathon Man by ultra-distance runner Dean Karnazes, which did shed some light on this question. But I had regarded Karnazes as a special case, something of a running fanatic/extremist. So I began to explore some runners' blogs to try to get a feel for their motivations.

I didn't access blogs of runners who were actually world-class marathon runners, the kind you usually see on the news breaking the tape at the finish line grimacing with their arms up in the air. No, my interest was in the overwhelming majority of marathon race entrants who are basically either running for personal records or to see if they can even complete the course. These are the runners that I identify myself with. And I noticed some generally common themes to how they recount their marathon race experiences.

For one, they seem to enjoy some social support and encouragement for their endeavor, both from family and friends. People around them express an active interest in their activity. If they have traveled to run in the event from a distant place, then the previous day's ritual of race packet pickup and hotel stay and dinner seems to be meaningful, as some runners touch base with each other that way. Also coming into play is the semantic connotation that gives the word "marathon" a psychological advantage over "half-marathon", implying that marathon runners are somehow doing a complete job while half-marathoners are only running a "partial" race (which is why I think they should call half-marathons something besides what it is called). But the most telling factor for me was in the pretty consistent accounts of what happened to runners when they got to around the 20-mile mark in their races.

A marathon run, above all else, is an ENDURANCE race. The overwhelming emphasis is on finishing it while maintaining an "honest" pace (former Van Halen front man David Lee Roth has been derided for once "completing" the New York Marathon in well over six and a half hours). It seems that, even with the most seasoned of runners, reaching the last six miles or so imposes a crisis of endurance, both mental and physical, that causes them to often have to slow down to a walk or even consider dropping out. Staying in and completing the race under these excruciating conditions can be exhilarating and addictive. And it's this element that I feel keeps those runners coming back for more punishment in race after race. I don't think that the squigglefrubink (my arbitrary replacement term for the half-marathon) is long enough to cause this endurance crisis (although it IS a pretty damned long run).

So, yeah, I want to experience all of that inner turmoil and triumph like the other fools who run in marathons. I would prefer to accomplish this sometime in a sanctioned race in an interesting city where I could gawk at the sights (with the traffic stopped for me). But even if it's just around my neighborhood, it would be quite an accomplishment of endurance. I'm continuing to plug away at it!

Stupid Security Procedures

My renovated public library, with all of the money, time, and planning expended on it, didn't even bother to include a secure indoor book drop. After it had reopened and I first walked through the front door, there was an open basket sitting right out in front of the entrance/exit, designated for returns. But as these returned materials had not been remagnitized yet (or whatever they do to make it "bing" the alarm again), anyone walking by could reach down, pick up a returned book or CD, and just walk right on through the exit with them without any alarms going off. And the patron who had checked them out would eventually be charged for them! I told one of the librarians about this flaw, and the next time I went in the basket had been moved to be part of the staff counter area and in a better spot. But that should have been a no-brainer to begin with!

In past years, I have been in two completely different situations where I would regularly enter (different) hospitals from the back or side entrance and find myself walking down unguarded corridors with access (if I had wanted) to patients in their rooms. In other words, there was no security. My business was always legitimate, but others had no way of knowing that! Yet in each of these hospitals, the main entrance was painstakingly guarded, in the bigger hospital by a cast of what looked like secret service agents swarming around eyeballing and challenging everyone. Yet in that same hospital anyone could come and go with impunity from an easily-accessible side entrance without any security presence whatsoever.

I know someone who works at a place that is going all-out to bolster up their security. The entrance door has a lock needing a combination to enter. A company is on contract to construct two more outer layers of security, including a camera that takes in whoever enters the facility. For that one entrance. The only problem is that there is another entrance, easily accessible and visible from the open public street and through which any Tom, Dick, or Osama can just pull over and enter unchallenged. This friend of mine is beside himself about the foolishness of this situation, but it doesn't surprise me at all.

The French were notorious for their security lapses against the Germans last century, first with the Germans circumventing their heavy border fortifications by simply going around through neutral Belgium in World War I and then with their lack of defenses in the supposedly impregnable Ardennes (which the Germans obliged by pouring their forces through) in World War II, although France had gone to great lengths to build the supposedly impassable Maginot Line between the wars.

Whether on a grand or a small scale, a security system can't be piecemeal, nor can assumptions be made concerning what a potential adversary will or won't do. But it happens all the time anyway.

Then again, there was that scene in the first James Bond flick Doctor No. Supervillain and supergenius Doctor No has captured our hero, who is stuck in a jail cell. He looks up and, lo and behold, there is a gigantic air vent in the wall above him. He simply neutralizes the electric charge on it, kicks out the cover, climbs in, and goes on to kick Mr. Supergenius's butt! Which brought me to the conclusion that the smarter people think they are, the dumber they really are when it comes to security!

Gainesville Mayoral Election Today

Five candidates are on the ballot for today's nonpartisan election for Gainesville's mayor. The mayor is also officially one of the seven city commissioners. One of those commissioners, Craig Lowe, has been in office for several years and is now trying his hand at the top post. Lowe, considered to be the favorite, has come under some criticism from opponents on different counts, particularly for wasteful spending as well as a controversial transgender anti-discrimination ordinance passed (that he sponsored and I supported) a couple of years ago.

Of the three other principal candidates (the fifth candidate, Ozzy Angulo, has spent very little and is not considered to be a serious contender), two are conservatives and one is a moderate. The moderate, Monica Leadon Cooper, is campaigning to rein in financial waste as well as keep in place (and further) Gainesville's pro-environment laws and to plan growth cautiously.

The conservatives are represented by Don Marsh and Richard Selwach, both previously in losing campaigns for the commission. Selwach's main issue seems to be the repeal of the transgender ordinance, which he claims allows male sexual predators into women's restrooms under the legal cover of claiming to be transgender. Personally, I think his case is pretty lame as there has been nothing of this sort falling out from either the Gainesville ordinance or from other towns that passed similar laws over the past few years. I do resent the fact that Commissioner Lowe initially reacted to the ordinance's critics by openly labeling them as "bigots" instead of respectfully working with them to assuage their concerns. This smacks of a condescending elitism on the part of Lowe, a "we're going to do what is good for you because WE SAID SO" attitude that runs contrary to the spirit of public service that should characterize elected officeholders (this was also one of the main reasons I turned sharply against former president George W. Bush just a few months after he took office in 2001). It's too bad, because I generally like Craig Lowe's political leanings. That's why I'm supporting Cooper, his "closest" opponent and who seems to "get" the idea of a commissioner serving the people, not the reverse.

Anyway, Selwach seems to be obsessed with the transgender issue and strikes me as someone who would promote unrestrained and unregulated growth. As would Don Marsh, a self-proclaimed avid supporter of the wacko Tea Party movement.

Craig Lowe will probably either win outright or face one of the others in a runoff at a later date. Should Monica Leadon Cooper be that runoff opponent, I think she has an excellent chance of toppling career politician and (in my opinion) elitist Lowe. If she doesn't win, though, I'll be very happy to settle for Lowe over either of the two wingnuts.

Well, out to the polling station I go!

***************************************

Later that night...

My candidate, Monica Leadon Cooper, could only muster a third place finish with about 25% of the vote. The runoff, to be held on April 13, will be between lead vote-getter Craig Lowe (at 40%) and second place Don Marsh (at 29%). So I guess I'll be forced to vote for the elitist know-it-all Lowe in the runoff. Because I'm sure as hell not going with a teabagger!

UF Men's Hoops Finally Make NCAA

Congratulations are in order for the University of Florida men's basketball team, which yesterday evening was selected to go to the NCAA championship tournament. For a while, after the Gators lost in the SEC tourney 75-69 to Mississippi State (another borderline "bubble" team), it looked as if they would be passed over for the third year in a row. But the MSU Bulldogs blew a late lead against Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference championship game and lost their possible automatic bid when they lost in overtime. Due to Florida playing a much tougher non-conference schedule, they were given preference by the NCAA selection committee. But the Gators might have been selected anyway, as they were seeded ahead of Minnesota, another "bubble" team.

Florida is seeded #10 in the West Region. Their first opponent will be seventh seeded Brigham Young. The game will take place in Oklahoma City this Thursday, beginning at 12:40 PM EDT.
Should Florida win this first game, they will be hard-pressed for a second win as their next opponent would in all likelihood be #2 seed Kansas State. But first things first.

Kudos to UF!

Compassion and Respect

Which comes first, respect or compassion? Or do they necessarily have to simultaneously exist? Let's take some examples.

I like animals. I feel compassion for them as individuals trying to make a successful go at their one shot at life. And they have their own ideas about what they want to do and be without me trying to dictate or force them into what I believe to be a better "life". I don't feel compassion for animals in the sense that I want to be a scientist and learn more about them by performing experiments on them. Nor do I feel compassion for animals in the sense that I am a naturalist and only see their worth in the context of them contributing to the welfare of their species in the wild. Those who hold these views and positions may claim to feel compassion for animals, but they don't respect them. At least not as sentient individuals with rights to live out their lives with some dignity. The way I see it, if you want to demonstrate your respect for animals, you need to take each one as an individual and respect its background without trying to drastically change it. That means not introducing domesticated (or partially domesticated) animals into the wild or experimenting on them in ways ostensibly designed to further the long-term interests
of their species. Instead, leave the wild animals as undisturbed and protected in their environments as practicable and allow those who have been raised or removed from the wild to retire in a more protected area that reflects their state of domestication (like that wonderful chimpanzee retirement community in Shreveport, Louisiana).

Suppose you are a believer in a religion whose creed states that insiders/believers go to heaven after death and everyone else goes for eternity to hell. And you then encounter one of those "unbelievers". The "compassionate" attitude would dictate that you say and do everything you can to make that individual a believer to avert eternal damnation, right? But doing this implies a complete lack of respect on your part for that person's present lifestyle and belief system. The commonly occurring result of this is that the believer comes across as judgemental, intolerant, and condescending. All three are traits which, incidentally, derive from a lack of respect for others. On the other hand, I have known people whom I was attracted to by their compassionate character and ethical behavior, without them ever once trying to proselytize their religious belief system to me. And then I would later discover their beliefs, making me wonder whether there wasn't something to that belief system. Compassion and respect, working together, and resulting in a much more favorable outcome.

I think possibly the greatest way to show (and receive) respect among others is to show interest in them and listen sympathetically to their stories and opinions. And remember their faces and names. And show them at later meetings that you esteem them by remembering their words and commenting (favorably) on them! Many...no, ALL friends have their personality and character flaws, with all sorts of ugly things and nasty habits that you can confront them with if you want to "compassionately" change them. But people in general need friends and allies, not another parent! Changing one's negative traits and habits for the better can seem most difficult, but it is more likely to come about if that person is confident of having a network of friends who show their respect and support. And unsolicited advice and correction is, believe me, quite overrated!

As you might have surmised from the previous three examples, I am a more than a little sensitive to "do-gooders" who push their values on others "for their own good" and disguise it as "compassion". Each of us has the built-in capacity to determine our own paths in life. We could use the company of respectful co-travelers, not those who want to change our destination for us!

Running Through the Rain

Yesterday was my planned day to run. It was to be a relatively short run for me (6.8 total miles) lasting about an hour. I had already "rested" the previous day (rested for running, not other activities) and was ready for another road session. But it was raining. And raining. And raining.

I turned the TV on the 24-radar local radar channel and could see that, at least until I had to go on to work, there would be no letup in the rain. It was raining moderately at 10 AM, so I decided to wait until about 11 and then go from there. At 11 it was raining, although lightly. I knew the roads would be very wet and full of puddles, and that the rain could pick up and get stronger as it had been doing all day (and Thursday). But I knew what I had to do. Leaving my MP3 at home this time, I donned my usual running outfit, put on an old pair of running shoes that I didn't mind (too much) getting wet, and bolted out of the door into the elements.

It was a liberating experience to run through the rain, something that I had erected a mental barrier against doing. There was even a stretch of my run when it stop raining, but mostly I got soaked. My main concern was watching where my feet were landing as I wanted to avoid puddles and those treacherous, slippery oil slicks on the road. I think my carefulness, along with the fact that the water on the road altered its surface effect to slow me down, contributed to a slower time (but not significantly). The run went quite well although I missed my MP3.

I don't think, though, that I am ready to run through those torrential rainstorms we often get here when the road surface takes on so much water that it begins to resemble a stream, even with a current. Nor do I want to venture out into a thunderstorm. But at least I have surmounted the obstacle of rain in its usual form. And that's good, considering that we are expecting much of it here in Gainesville during the next few months.

Factotum: the Movie

Sometimes I'll watch a movie on TV and discover that, although it didn't impress me that much at the time, later it sticks in my mind on different levels and causes a lot of reflection. Such is the case with Factotum, a 2005 film based partially on writer Charles Bukowski's life (and based on his book with the same title),starring Matt Dillon in what I regard as a "career performance". Dillon's unforgettable character, aspiring and frustrated writer Henry Chinaski, is a chronic drinker and smoker, living at the bottom of society in Los Angeles, and who can never hold a job for more than a few days at a time (if that long) because he simply refuses to conform to any authority. He also is very adept at picking up women in spite of his perpetual poverty, largely due to his suave mannerisms and his ability to portray himself as an important writer/artist to them. And he reminds me of someone I used to know.

About thirty years ago, one of my colleagues at the restaurant I worked at displayed almost the identical mannerisms and personality as Chinaski. He pretty much faked his way through his workday and spent his nights going out to bars and getting drunk (despite being married to a beautiful woman with a small baby). I know this because I would go out drinking with him a few times (back during my drinking period). I would sit there at the bar privately marvelling how he seemed to come alive there, suavely handling his cigarette and drink. And how he knew just the right kind of expression and small talk to make with those around him. This was his life. And like Chinaski in the movie, this guy was rooted (or self-justified) in a legitimate career: he was "studying" to be admitted into medical school! Yet all he really wanted to do in life was to drink, smoke, hang out in bars, and pick up women. Ultimately, he was arrested on a DUI and then one day just stopped showing up for work. My employer showed much more patience with him than she ever did to anyone else, but finally had to let him go. And he reportedly moved on to another town to start the whole process all over again.

Henry Chinaski stated his personal creed in Factotum's closing scene when he monologued, "If you're going to try, go all the way.". Yet his rock-solid "principle" was only applied in a negative sense that he used to justify his deliberate stagnation and to reject any assistance from others by judging it to be manipulation. He was in a perpetual rut, partially because he completely oblivious to the fact that he was in a rut to begin with!

Factotum was at times quite funny to me, as I would brace myself each time that Chinaski got a new job and then figured out a new way to get himself unceremoniously fired. In one scene, he went to a former employer's office to collect a delayed final paycheck. He sat there and told his old boss that he was going to use the money to get drunk. Then the old boss gave him his money, after which he pulled his own bottle of liquor out from his desk and took a big swig. Implying that there is a kind a "society" among alcoholics in which, on some level, they recognize and look out for each other. Interesting.

Rain New Weather Theme

It looks as if a new extreme form of weather is descending on my area, with rain being the predominant feature. Yes, we are in for quite a wet spring this year. I'm all for that, as long as it doesn't interfere with my running. After all, my main concern in springs-gone-by was the danger of brush fires starting and developing into disastrous forest fires, which in turn poison the air and sometimes threaten to engulf homes and even whole communities. So having a lot of moisture in the ground should do a lot to prevent any such calamity, although I can forget about parking my car on the grass (soon to be marshy wetlands) for several weeks. Yes, being able to breath the air and not be in fear of burning up sounds like a great deal to me!

But then again, I am still not 100% confident that we're completely done with the cold weather. They SAY that it will stay temperate for at least the next few days, but what about afterwards? This has to be one of those wacky weather years that come along every now and then and mess with people. I've heard that the bigshot weather folks are predicting a monster hurricane season as well. I hope that means we won't be traveling into Greek alphabet territory again!

With this shift in weather will come a shift in our flora and fauna. Alas, my grass, weeds, and bushes will explode in growth and I'll soon have to get out in my yard and reckon with them. Also, out go the robins (northward) and in come the frogs (loud, and everywhere). Speaking of robins, I have never experienced them hanging around here for over a month, as they did this year. Usually I see them for a week at the most and then they're gone.

Avatar Loses at Oscars

Those I know who saw Avatar say it's a great movie. But all I see when I watch snippets of it on TV is something resembling a video game. I don't think it looks all that realistic. And I'm not in any hurry to go see the movie.

Avatar was up for best picture and best director (James Cameron) at the Academy Awards Sunday night, but it was bested by the low-budget war movie The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow (the first female Oscar win for director). I'm not so hot on seeing that one, either. Maybe I'm just not an avid movie-goer, I don't know.

Sometimes I feel like that sinister lead character of Alex DeLarge, played by Malcom McDowell in the movie A Clockwork Orange. As part of the violent hoodlum's "rehabilitation", DeLarge is tied up facing a movie screen, with his eyelids held back and his head held fast so that he HAD TO watch the movie ahead of him. That's kind of the feeling that I (without DeLarge's violent tendencies) get when sitting in a full theatre with the big screen in front of me. I sit there and feel like I'm the captive target of hundreds, if not thousands of career individuals and teams whose main goal is to bombard my mind with their agendas and make me walk out of the experience changed, according to their purposes.

My family all loves having a wide-screen television, but it frankly does very little for me. I think they like something that emulates the movie theatre effect, but even the widest of these television screens doesn't approach the captivating (and quite disturbing) effect of being essentially confined at stretches to a seat in a theatre in the darkness, with people generally unreceptive to distractions. The idea there is complete mesmerization and immersion into the media's message. At home, distractions to viewing, even when unwelcome, are ubiquitous and conducive to critical reaction. In the theatre, the viewer just sits there soaking it all in.

Having said all that, I have to note that the ultimate mind-melding medium, virtual reality, has yet to be realized. When it does come into fruition, all of these high-tech movies that marvel so many will be laughed at like those primitive science fiction movies of the fifties and sixties are now. But at least with virtual reality, viewer participation may be possible. Of course, at some point that technology may become so "real" that the participant may reach the state of not knowing whether he or she is in reality or still "plugged in".

Maybe I'll go see Avatar; my family seems pumped up to go see it a second time and I might tag along. Then again, maybe I won't. I am already just a little peeved at James Cameron for so publicly coming out in support of President Obama's recent decision to essentially abandon our manned space program. What makes Cameron so high and mighty? Let someone else have my seat at his grand movie's showing. Hey, I bet it didn't even make runner-up for the Oscar! [I know, I'm guilty of sour grapes: read Aesop's Fables]

Ratcheting Up the Distance

For thirty-five years after I had run 14.35 miles late one afternoon in early March 1975, that mark had stood as a personal distance record. Last Wednesday I broke it with a 15.26 mile run. That record lasted all of four days, with me surpassing it yesterday. I ran 16.74 miles as I continue to "ratchet up the distance" toward my goal of completing a marathon, race or no race.

The weather finally began to heat up after several cold mornings (I was premature in my earlier pronouncement of spring's arrival). Although my run took place in warmer temperatures (upper 60s and low 70s), the humidity was unusually low (and helpful) at around 20%. I did have some residual negative effects after the run, with cramping in my feet and legs. But today I am doing quite well, looking forward to going on a middle-distance run tomorrow (I don't run on consecutive days).

This new distance record of mine may not last much longer than my previous one. I would like to get at least above twenty miles before the real hot and humid climate sets in here in north central Florida. But then again, I may be able to continue with my long distance runs at night, although I do need to pick up some night gear to help me survive the dark conditions.

Speaking of night running, I drove around Gainesville and noticed that, on most streets, the streetlights were usually placed in a row on one side only and completely absent on the other. So depending on them for my lighting is not such a "bright" idea. Instead, I think I'll get one of those headband flashlights that will light up the path in front of me regardless of its darkness. Also, I will pick up some reflective gear as well as a belt/water bottle apparatus so that I can rehydrate in the middle of my runs without having to stop by my house. Should be another fun adventure. And it's finally coming, with the record winter we've been experiencing (average temperature eight degrees below normal) coming to an end. At least I think it's coming to an end!

Dems on Right Track With Reconciliation

As I have said before on this blog a number of times, I have some serious reservations about the current health care reform bill being pushed through Congress by President Obama and the Democrats. I oppose people at large being coerced to purchase health insurance from private companies that have been exempted from federal anti-trust laws that would have increased competition and lowered prices. I also doubt that provisions within the legislation intended to help those with preexisting conditions to procure insurance at reasonable prices will have their desired effect. That having been said, I think that the Democrats are on the right track by finally deciding to get this bill enacted through the process of reconciliation.

Reconciliation is a complicated procedure through which a bill can bypass the usual 60-vote supermajority needed in the Senate to get anything done. It has been used in the past by both parties, most notably by George W. Bush and his Republican colleagues to enact tax cuts and fund the Iraq War. So this is nothing new.

But since the Republicans have decided to play political hardball and stall anything and everything the majority Democrats are trying to accomplish, it is well past time for the party that clearly won the previous national election to finally assert itself. As for GOP outcries that the reconciliation process completely circumvents them, I can only reply that (1) the bill currently being pushed through contains much of their input (without their supporting votes) and (2) it has ALREADY BEEN PASSED by both houses of Congress!

We'll see how this legislation plays itself out once it is finally passed through reconciliation and signed by the President. They do need to go on to other pressing matters, though. And the Democrats, especially President Obama, need to stop pretending that there is anything remotely resembling bipartisanship left in either the House of Representatives or the Senate.

My Running Plans

I have decided to "go regional" for this year regarding my running activities. I will continue to focus on training, mostly in my own neighborhood, and occasionally enter some of the longer race events held in town and this part of the state of Florida. I doubt that I will be ready to run in a distance as long as a marathon (26.2 miles) until May at the earliest, and by that time the weather will definitely be hotter and more humid. So I will probably hold off on tackling this challenge until later in the year when various Florida cities begin to host autumn and winter marathons.

Still, I am working on increasing how long I can run at a time. Last Wednesday, I set a lifetime distance record of 15.26 miles (the previous record was 14.35 miles in March 1975). Tomorrow being Monday and a day off from work, I will have more time available to see how far I can run. So it should be an adventure. It wouldn't bother me at all to actually accomplish a marathon run just by running around my neighborhood (although I don't anticipate this happening anytime soon). After all, there's no steep registration fee, restrictive race packet pickup policy, or travel and lodging expense. No porta-potties are needed either, with my home serving as a convenient bathroom pit stop as well as a Gatorade rehydration hub. And I can freely listen to my MP3 during the experience. Not a bad deal at all!

As long as I settle for less-than-marathon distances, there is plenty going on around here for me to participate in. I am definitely going to enter in the Climb for Cancer 15K race to be held in Gainesville on March 27. And I will most likely join the Florida Track Club as a member some time this year. I may even go on some training runs with others.

This past weekend, the Albany (Georgia) Marathon was held. I had earlier decried the fact that I couldn't get time off from work to run in it, but now I see that it was all for the better since I wasn't physically prepared anyway. I had gotten the marathon "bug" just a little too late in the season this time around. Maybe next year (I have a strong personal connection with Albany). The same goes for the March 28 Knoxville Marathon, which would have been fun to run in had I been prepared, both physically and with more time for travel and a stay-over. Well, if all goes well and I continue to improve, 2011 could be a marathon-rich year for me. As for now, I will just stick with improving and enjoying my running while getting more involved in my area races.

My Take on Nirvana

The long-defunct grunge rock trio Nirvana is one of those bands that divide people when I mention it and how much I like their music. For lead singer, guitarist, and creative force Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994, when the band (including Krist Novoselic on bass guitar and Dave Grohl on drums) was at its height of popularity, with bright prospects for more future success.

Cobain had become addicted to heroin and was becoming more and more hopeless about his prospects for kicking this drug, as well as reportedly having what he termed stomach problems. Whatever the real reason for his death was, the fact that I am a big fan of his (and his band's) music just might convey the wrong message to some folks who are very sensitive to the issue of suicide.

I may well be the most anti-suicide dude in the world, in spite of my tendency to sink into some deep funks at times. The way I see it, this is my one shot at life and I might as well extend it as much as I can while doing what I can to make it better. And, ironically, one of the things that attracted me to Nirvana's music was its no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners intensity. This was a band that didn't pace itself; every song on their three studio albums (Bleach, Nevermind, and In Utero and their "extras" album Incesticide) was an exercise in complete commitment. I can't recall any artist who threw himself so unapologetically and deeply into his work as Kurt Cobain did, a good example for LIVING, as I see it. So that compounds the tragedy of his death.

I recommend that anyone interested in Nirvana take care to listen to their complete albums, not just their hit single releases. For I didn't care very much for what were probably their two biggest hits (Smells Like Teen Spirit and Heart-Shaped Box). Some of those deep tracks were much, much better. I must warn you, though: this music is very rough, and the lyrics even rougher! Not for the squeamish at all!

Here is my list of my personal top ten favorite Nirvana songs, with their albums in parentheses:

1-Scentless Apprentice (In Utero)
2-Dumb (In Utero)
3-Scoff (Bleach)
4-Stay Away (Nevermind)
5-Come As You Are (Nevermind)
6-Serve the Servants (In Utero)
7-Lithium (Nevermind)
8-Aneurysm (Incesticide)
9-Big Cheese (Bleach)
10-Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle (In Utero, love those long titles)

My Run This Past Wednesday

Wednesday morning I did not want to run. No, I would have preferred to go back to bed and sleep a couple of hours more. But I finally got myself going and stepped outside. Too cold!. I stepped back in and changed my clothes to something warmer. When I did start to run westward down my street I thought man,this wind is too strong, I'll just run my 3.4 mile route and then call it a day. But down the road, I got more used to the conditions and decided to run my 5.58 mile route. And then call it a day. As I kept running, though, I was still hanging in there, so I said to myself let's just see if I can fit another 5.58 cycle in there. Then after 11.16 miles, I said you know, you can set a personal distance record if you run a just few more miles. And I did, finally covering 15.26 miles before stopping. I felt that I could have gone longer, but I wanted some recovery time before I had to get ready to go to work. Although my legs and feet ached some during the last stages of the run, I suffered no cramping or aches after I stopped. And I ran it at a pretty brisk pace. So Wednesday turned out to be a very happy, happenin' day with my running despite its inauspicious beginning. Only eleven more miles to go for me to get to marathon distance!

I had written exactly one year ago on this blog an article about "runner's high" and how I would like to experience it again. And how I would need to begin to run longer distances to accomplish this. But although, for the past two months, I have dramatically increased the length of my runs, I have yet to experience any kind of exhilaration. Instead, I undergo a constant discomfort during my long runs, as if part of me is trying to convince the rest of me that I'd be much better off channel-surfing from my recliner at home. I've wondered why this is so, and I've come to one possible explanation. When I have done my long runs, I have been slightly pushing myself into that discomfort zone, as if another part of me understands what it takes to make substantial progress with my running. An instinct for progress: I like that!

Pedestrians, Yielding to Them

The school I drive my daughter to each weekday morning is pretty big, with a big parking lot area to go with it. When I enter it to let her off (and then turn around to leave), I often encounter students who walk right in front of my moving car. I always stop in time and show consideration for them. For the most part, I keep my eyes peeled for anyone who may be approaching my path from a distance and automatically yield to them. This is, to me, a normal standard practice that anyone in any parking lot needs to follow, for people walking in shopping center parking lots are also notorious for completely disregarding moving traffic and often step out in front of vehicles from spots hidden to the drivers. But when discussing what happens on the open road, the situation seems to get reversed.

At the traffic light near the same school that I am leaving, I wait to turn left at the green light (without a lead). There are usually students standing there waiting to cross when it turns green for them. And since I would be turning left into their path of crossing, I am required by law to yield to them. But I never see any students automatically start to cross when the light turns green. Instead, they just stand there waiting for all of the cars to turn left in front of them. I have tried on occasion to get a student's attention by waving him or her on, but my efforts have always been ignored. Those students, I'm sure, are quite aware from personal experience that most drivers will not respect their pedestrian rights and, since they don't want to get flattened by them on the way to school, they wait for everyone to pass first before crossing (if their light is still green, that is).

I read in yesterday's Gainesville Sun that a study done in January showed that only about 20% of drivers in Gainesville yield to pedestrians in crosswalks as they are legally required to do. The response? The police are instituting a "pedestrian patrol" to ticket pedestrians they catch jaywalking. Well, there are times when jaywalking may be the safest way to go, especially considering the tendency for drivers to ignore pedestrians at intersections! Why not instead concentrate on ticketing the jerks who won't properly yield to them?!

The common sense solution, of course, is for everyone, both drivers and pedestrians, to take a chill pill and demonstrate a little patience and courtesy for the other guy. This goes beyond what is legally required. It is an important element of simply being a well-functioning, civilized human being. Let's all consciously work at staying civilized, O.K.?