Nix the Regret, Take Responsibility for the Present

I think one of the biggest delusions that some people hold onto in their lives is that their opportunities have passed them by.  Often people will look back on their adolescent and early adult years and harp with intense regret on decisions they made then that they now believe cut them off forever from attaining their dreams, especially in the area of careers.  But in truth, opportunities abound throughout one's lifetime for returning to those dreams; but it does take a personal transformation of a radical nature for many of these to see themselves as empowered and responsible for their own destinies and to behave in a positive and proactive way, rather than with the passive, critical, and reactive mindset that they have deeply become habituated to.

In fact, it makes no difference whether one got it "right" from the beginning, had great early success, or had personal obstacles to their ambitions.  It's a universal characteristic of a viable, individual, sentient being that when things aren't working out the way we want, then we, as personally responsible individuals, have to figure out how to change our situations for the better and then act on them.  Over and over and over again, throughout our lives! And the best time to realize that is RIGHT NOW...

Cool Disney Promo Video in Orlando

In the hotel I am currently staying at in Orlando, Channel 42 has instantly become my favorite...and all it does it play the same short program repeatedly.  But the subject and tone of this program has great appeal: an introduction to Walt Disney World for visiting tourists.

No, this time around I'm not visiting Walt Disney World.  But I have some pretty vivid memories of past visits, starting back in 1973 with my sister and some of her friends and progressing through the years to times with my adult family.  Looking back, it's been a while since my last visit, back in 2004.  Since that time, according to this little TV show, the Magic Kingdom added a New Fanatasyland section while the MGM Studios Park name was changed to Hollywood Studios.  And it looks as if that Downtown Disney section has grown, although I've never visited it.

But aside from the positive vibes I got from the announcer as she presented the different attractions (and going on many of the rides), I got a kick out of reliving some of those experiences in the parks I enjoyed.  Like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain in the Magic Kingdom and the Tower of Terror and Rock & Roller Coaster in "Hollywood" Studios.  Plus, I was reminded of other rides that the video didn't show, like those cool ones at Epcot (especially the ride inside the big golf ball) and the Blizzard Beach superslides...

Dolphins Exhibition Loss Disappointing

I know it's just an exhibition game, with no bearing on the official standings or playoff status.  And it's the FIRST exhibition game of the season at that, so the fact that the Miami Dolphins lost this game last night to the Dallas Cowboys shouldn't be that big.  But as I sat there I could tell that Miami has an very long way to go before it can boast of being a playoff-calibre team.  The final score was close, 24-20...but I want them to be successful and that means WIN GAMES, dang it.  And I also want them to show off their improvement to the nation, so this being a nationally televised game didn't help, either.

But still we're dealing with a team that wasn't completely out there on the field, either.  Many players are trying to make the squad and the coaching staff has to have them out there to see who's best qualified...not just to start, but also to be on the bench ready to fill in when events demand.  So the regular starters weren't always out there (but neither were Dallas' either). 

In 2007, the year the Dolphins went 1-15, they had a pretty good exhibition season, and hopes were up that this would translate into regular season success.  It didn't...and I have to realize that it's best to wait and evaluate this year's Miami team on how it does when the games actually do count...

Zimmerman/Martin Case Examined

It's been a little while since the verdict was read that acquitted George Zimmerman of the murder of Trayvon Martin, so now I think enough time has passed for me to stand back and look at this case.  Some observations...

--Many, especially on the political left like Al Sharpton, framed this entire case almost solely in terms of race.  Trayvon was racially profiled and followed like a crime suspect when he was just legitimately and purposefully walking down the street, minding his own business.  I happen to agree with Sharpton to the degree that Zimmerman appeared to presume guilt upon Martin largely from his race (that's called prejudice, by the way).  But the problem here is larger...

--I've gone running around my own neighborhood, and I'm not black.  No, I'm just some small middle-aged dumpy looking white dude with jogging threads...no hoodies are involved.  Yet I have experienced on a number of occasions the eerie, creepy feeling of seeing vehicles slowing down when they approach me and then linger around, often for several minutes, as I run down the road.  Maybe they're not all neighborhood vigilantes like George Zimmerman, but it scares me a little to think that people safely locked in their own enclosed motor vehicles, possibly if not probably armed, would view a vulnerable pedestrian such as myself to present any kind of danger.  To me, a legitimate neighborhood patrol would make a priority of challenging strange vehicles instead of relatively helpless people walking (or running) down the street.  But in any case, this problem isn't completely about race, although I'll be quick to admit that blacks have a much tougher time with this unwarranted scrutiny and suspicion.

--After the trial, a panelist guy on Fox's The Five show...the obnoxious and utterly humorless one sitting in the middle, angrily stressed that the trial had nothing to do with the Florida 2006 Stand Your Ground law.  But the fact is that the instruction that the judge gave the jury was directly from this law, which gave so much latitude to the defendant that all that was needed for a not guilty verdict was that he "felt" at some point like his life was in danger.  I wonder whether Martin would have been accorded the same latitude under the legal system as Zimmerman had he prevailed in the struggle and Zimmerman perished...

--This entire tragedy would have been avoided if an armed man, George Zimmerman, had decided to follow police instructions and not stalked Trayvon Martin in his vehicle...and then not gotten out and approached his imagined adversary with the full knowledge that he himself was carrying a loaded, lethal weapon.  Zimmerman completely provoked the confrontation, but the trial seemed to stress only the final fight between the two...

--I guess from the above that you can tell I'm not a big George Zimmerman fan.  But here is when I have to scratch my head at my own country's system of justice.  Or should I say, two systems.  A lot of people in the U.S. were outraged when Amanda Knox, who had been tried and convicted of murder in Italy but later released to return here after that conviction was overturned, was recently accused again of the same crime...something that other countries do but not the United States, with our prohibition against "double jeopardy".  But that's not entirely accurate, since in America one can be acquitted of a crime within the criminal system but still possibly have to undergo another trial in the civil courts: O.J. Simpson is a case in point.  And I think that Zimmerman will probably be subjected to a similar ordeal, which is a boon to lawyers but makes little sense to me.

Well, maybe I didn't get around to saying everything I felt about this case, but I think I got in the major stuff...

7.3 Mile Run

Today I managed a 7.3 mile run, another step in my attempt to return to half-marathon form.  It's a delicate balancing act with me not wanting to put too much stress on my right foot, as well as taking care to avoid the worst of this oppressively hot and humid summer we've been experiencing in northern Florida.  Could I have run further than I did today?  Probably, but as I said, there's little point in overdoing it to the point when I am forced to take more time off from running and then getting out of shape...

Follow-Up on Yesterday's Gutfeld Article

Yesterday I wrote how I missed the admittedly flawed (who isn't) but very talented Greg Gutfeld on Fox News Channel's The Five afternoon program.  And he was absent on it today as well, as I quickly checked and just as quickly changed channels.  But the reason he wasn't on it yesterday may well have to do with the fact that just a few hours later he guest hosted The O'Reilly Factor, in my opinion far out-performing that show's title "character" (whom Al Franken deemed to be a "lying, blotchy bully").   The question I have is whether Gutfeld will be on his own Red Eye show at 11 tonight...

Gutfeld Missed on The Five

After sleeping well into the afternoon today (I work the graveyard shift, so this is normal), I brewed myself a tasty cup of caramel drizzle coffee on my Keurig, sat down to finish my Times Square jigsaw puzzle, and turned the TV on Fox News to watch The Five.  A show like The Five, which on this "fair and balanced" channel consists of, naturally, five panelists, four of whom are ardent conservatives and one lukewarm moderate/liberal, normally would antagonize me to no end.  But I have found myself gravitating toward one of those right wing panelists: the very talented Greg Gutfeld.  In spite of his extreme partisanship against President Obama (whom I happily voted for twice) and Democrats in general, this guy is quite entertaining and witty.  Unfortunately, the rest of the panel stinks to high heaven (including its sorry excuse of a "liberal").  Today, the stench was unbearable as Gutfeld was absent, replaced by an equally conservative dude displaying no discernible personality.  Time to change the channel, which I did.

Greg Gutfeld is better on his other show on Fox, titled Red Eye, which he more or less controls and has guests that meld better into his style (like the comical Bill Schultz, for example).  The political atmosphere is still typically Fox right-wing Demophobic, but I get it and don't take things personally in spite of disagreeing with many of the opinions dominating it.  But Gutfeld wisely knows that at some point you just have to step back and laugh, something that far too many folks in the business on both sides of the political spectrum don't seem to be capable of grasping. 

Maybe Greg's on vacation, he had a schedule conflict...or just wanted to take the day off.  In any event, I'm off myself tonight from work, so I think I'll check to see if Red Eye is on and if he's on it...

Adjusting My Reading Priorities

I've mentioned before on this blog that I am currently in the process of reading George R.R. Martin's fantasy series A Song of Fire and Ice.  I just finished book #1, title A Game of Thrones, and am now well into the second, A Clash of Kings.  Knowing that five books have been published in this series, I wanted to "catch up" by reading through them all expediently.  Now, though, I have second thoughts...

Martin's acclaimed series is a little like Stephen King's Dark Tower series in that both authors have taken their sweet little time in writing and publishing the next installment (although King did finish the last three volumes of his series in a two-year flurry of writing).  With A Song of Fire and Ice, here is Martin's timetable so far:

A Game of Thrones: 1996
A Clash of Kings: 1999
A Storm of Swords: 2000
A Feast for Crows: 2005
A Dance with Dragons: 2011

The sixth volume is supposedly to come out in 2014; who knows when the seventh and final volume will eventually be released.  The bottom line on this is that there is no point with me rushing through the first five volumes only to wait a long time for the remainder.  Better it would be, I think, for me to take my own sweet time reading the series!

So instead of daily reading I'm going to read Martin twice a week...and use the other days to embark on new reading adventures!

My July 2013 Running Report

In July 2013 I continued to recover from my right foot injury as I ran a total of 90.06 miles, considerably higher than in the previous two months.  My longest run was for 7 miles.  I ran on 25 out of the month's 31 days.  So on all fronts my running output has increased, although I don't plan to return to the 160-200 miles/month standard I set in the first three months of this year.  I have noticed my endurance gradually increasing each week as I cover more distance.  And the foot seems none the worse through it all after I incorporated certain daily stretches and began wearing snug-fitting shoes with arch support.

I expect August to be much like July was, with an gradual increase in my mileage as I aim for a local half-marathon race that will take place the last Saturday in September.

In July I also did some non-running exercise, amassing 23.4 miles of "miles-equivalent" cross-training.  So in all, my physical activity appreciably increased for the month...

Ping Pong Fun

I always thought I was a good ping pong player, although I never practiced at it.  Not owning a ping pong table had a lot to do with this.  But I have been pretty good at just walking up to a table and hitting the ball well, with good placement and some "zing" on the ball.  However, in serious competition I know I wouldn't stand a chance.  But when I play ping pong, I am not shooting for the world or Olympic championship.  I just want to have some fun!

Recently, I did just that, enjoying the game with my family.  Sometimes we would play a real game and keep score, but mostly we enjoyed volleying the ball back and forth.  The best moments were when we would keep up an especially long rally. But the room we played in (see picture) didn't really accommodate us playing the game the way you might see it in official competitions on television: there simply wasn't enough room to stand far back from the table to be able to return strong shots.

I'd like to invest a little money and pick up a cheap ping pong table, one that folds up on one end and gives me the opportunity to practice by myself.  The game is really a good form of exercise, although it doesn't feel like I am "working out" but rather just having a good time...

Still Slogging Through Graveyard Shift

I am still slogging through my graveyard shift work schedule, with little chance of being able to change my working hours anytime soon.  So I'm left coping with staying awake and trying to fully function in the wee hours of the morning. I'm usually all right until around  4 AM and then things quickly begin to go downhill.  By 5-5:30, it becomes a real struggle until I leave the place at 7:30. In the morning.  This is an awful time to be driving home through the city as the work rush hour has commenced and, when classes are in session, the streets are clogged with buses and school traffic.  But the main problem with this schedule is the lack of deep nighttime sleep...

For fifteen of the first sixteen years I worked at this organization, I worked the graveyard shift.  Back then, once off from work, I generally slept whenever I could find the time.  This lack of a regular sleep time hurt me, and this time around I decided to change.  Now, once I get home from work, I go to bed about an hour later and sleep until mid-afternoon.  Then I am fully awake and functioning.  If later I fill like I need a nap, then I'll rest about an hour before I go to work.  It's worked for me, making my trials with this new schedule more or less confined to the early morning hours with me trying to get to the end of my shift.

Oh, and as for my days off, I quickly revert back to the time when I could sleep all night...by sleeping all night!

Local Gym Not to Provide Indoor Track Against Sweltering Heat

Today I ran one of my "standard" courses around my neighborhood, comprising 3.24 miles.  It was a pretty average run with me going the distance with my regular pace.  But although the humidity had dropped to about 60%, the temperature had risen to 87 and it was a very unpleasant run.  When, oh when will this sweltering summer heat end?

I've noticed recently an increased sensitivity to heat with myself when I am out running.  In times gone by it didn't seem to matter that much, but now it's getting pretty intolerable.  I don't always like the idea of resorting to the air-conditioned indoor treadmill to get in my running miles...and if it's not excessively hot outside, then it's excessively humid...if not raining.  Running in place in my house is an option, but I'd rather be covering some distance in the process.

At the University of Florida, they have a student recreation center that has a cool indoor track that would solve my running location dilemma, if only I were a member.  I AM a member of a local fitness company, called the Gainesville Health and Fitness Center.  They have plenty of treadmills but no indoor track.  But wait...they have been expanding their operation and the new, larger facility will open tomorrow with great fanfare...but alas WITHOUT an indoor track!  How regrettable, for them to ignore something that basic...

Finished A Game of Thrones, Starting Next in Series

I recently posted about how I was suffering from "fantasy fatigue" in reference to the increasing number of fantasy genre novels I had begun to read, only to put them down in frustration.  The same was happening again with my reading of George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, the first volume in his ongoing series A Song of Ice and Fire.  But this time I was determined to finish this book to its end, and yesterday I accomplished that.  Today I started out on the second volume, titled A Clash of Kings.  There's still a problem here, though...if you want to consider it as a problem: I'm still rooting for the "bad" guys!  As a matter of fact, a new "bad" character was introduced at the start of this new book...and I found myself on her side....

I do have one correction to the previous article I had written about fantasy fatigue: the "bad" Lannister family is actually represented in how Martin presents the book's chapters, each one depicting the course of events from a different character's viewpoint.  With the Lannisters, it is the "imp" Tyrion Lannister with whom we can share his experiences and viewpoints.  However, at least at this junction, he is an essentially compassionate character, quite unlike the rest of his family.  Still, he is just as shrewd as any of them, easily the most interesting character I've come across so far in this series...

Vettel Right About College Athlete Pay

Yesterday afternoon I was listening to my radio, tuned in to sports talk radio station 850/WRUF-AM.  The local host, Larry Vettel, was discussing the push by some in college sports to pay athletes for their work.  His position was that it would be a mistake to pay all collegiate athletes in all sports across the board, since some sports don't take in the revenue to support paying them.  He doesn't believe that the higher grossing, more popular sports like football and basketball should be burdened with funding pay for athletes in minor sports.  I agree with him, as well as his contention that it would be fair, though, for athletes to be compensated in proportion to the amount of revenue that their sport was generating.  I remember just a couple of years ago when the usually dominant University of Florida football team was experiencing an off year, with their normally explosive offense in "sputter" mode.  Local businesses suffered as a result, meaning that they had been feeding off and profiting from the labors of the local athletes.  Those athletes have a marketable skill and should not be denied the opportunity to benefit from it.  On Saturday in the fall, college football fever generates enormous profits for its schools, communities, and the television networks and stations broadcasting the games. Something very similar happens the next day, on Sunday, when the professionals play.  Why should one group be discriminated against while the other rakes in the riches?

Mr. Vetell did make one caveat to his endorsement of collegiate athletes being paid for their work, besides the condition he made that they reflect the marketability of their sport.  Before anyone gets paid, those participating in the minor sports should receive FULL scholarships and not the flimsy HALF scholarships that are doled out.  Sounds reasonable to me; actually, I wasn't even aware of "half" scholarships in this area...

Ran Seven Miles for First Time Since March

Today I crept a little further up in my quest to resume my former distance running range by managing a seven mile run, something I hadn't accomplished since March, when I also last ran a half-marathon.  It's a bit of a psychological boost for me, seeing that the distance I covered today is a little over half the 13.1 mile half-marathon distance.  There's still that local Gainesville half-marathon looming at the end of September, and it would be a personal triumph of sorts to be able to run and finish it.  As for the foot problem I have been experiencing, I believe that by performing certain daily stretching exercises, wearing snug-fitting, supportive shoes, and keeping the runs to once a day (and at the same general time), the problem has stabilized and ameliorated.  But I still have to be careful...

Senate Nuclear Option Expedient But Unwise

Recently, the Democrats in the United States Senate under the leadership of Harry Reid expressed their determination to change the Senate rules on dealing with the President's nominations and eliminate filibusters, effectively ending the supermajority 60-vote prerequisite and allowing the nominations to be confirmed with a simple 51-vote majority.  The Republicans, for their part, cried foul and claimed that it would destroy the Senate as a deliberative body that, unlike the House of Representatives, accorded the minority party a degree of participation in the crafting of legislation.  Of course, the planned rule change wouldn't have applied to legislation, just nominations. The current Democratic administration claims its nominations are needlessly being held up by the Republicans under their leader Mitch McConnell.  Got all that?

Good, because just eight years ago the two parties were completely switched regarding their rules when it was the Republicans who were calling for a change.  They (including Senator McConnell) approvingly called it the "Constitutional Option" while Democratic opponents (including Senator Reid) denounced it as the "Nuclear Option".  It was nothing but comical the other day on C-Span as this station played clips of the pro and con senators back in 2005 expressing diametrically opposite opinions on this issue than they have today.  As it turns out, neither party exercised their threatened rule change.  Whew!

It never ceases to tickle me how whichever political party that happens to find itself in power seems to have the idea that they will ALWAYS remain in power and that those guys on the other side of the aisle won't someday put THEM in the minority.  As Tennessee's Republican Senator Lamar Alexander pointed out, changing the rule now may benefit the Democrats, but in a few years we may have a Republican president with control of both houses of Congress.  If that happens, those Democrats would rue the day they expediently changed the rules just to get a few nominees confirmed as we end up with some possibly "far out" characters confirmed to their posts...

Visit to Amicalola Falls, Georgia

During our recent trip to northern Georgia, we paid a visit to Amicalola Falls State Park, which is about twenty miles east of Ellijay.  We've been there before, but it has been several years.  The park is dominated by the beautiful falls and presents different hiking trails from the bottom (at the entrance) to the top.  The last time we went, which was in the 1990's, we took the longer-but-less-steep eastern trail.  This time we opted to go west...a shorter route that involved walking up 450 steps.  At the base of the steps was a bridge spanning the middle of the falls, and I got in some good photos (family pictured).  At the top was the rest of the park, including a lodge with a shop and a restaurant, where we ate lunch (the buffet was superb).  I took some pictures from up there, too, including the one here of the grassy field and trees.  Oh, by the way, at the entrance is a nice little shop, too and a place to eat...

Steep Driveways and Roads in North Georgia

Recently I stayed with my family in a cabin in northern Georgia.  The cabin itself is in a very hilly area, and I was not at all accustomed to getting around on this type of terrain, being from flat-as-a-board Florida.  When we first approached the cabin, we looked down at the driveway...way, way down! I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little bit apprehensive at going down to the bottom, but with extreme care we made it.  Once at the bottom, though, the next question was whether we'd be able to climb back out of it!

For those used to these types of hills, this may seem a bit silly.  I honestly don't know how some of the people who live up there are able to get around on such steep roads and driveways...especially when it's rainy and the roads are slippery.

A Visit to Santa Fe College's Planetarium

Yesterday evening Melissa and I visited Gainesville's Santa Fe College and their planetarium, officially named Kika Silva Pla Planetarium after a late benefactor.  The show, taking place 44 years after the first manned landing on the Moon, was titled "Florida Skies: Around the Moon".  James Albury, himself a co-host on the PBS show Star Gazer (the continuation of the late Jack Horkheimer's show Star Hustler), hosted the event.  It featured live "space" music composed and played by established musician John Serrie in the background as storytellers related old folk tales from various parts of the world relating to the night sky.

Despite the date and the title, the show itself didn't delve into the Apollo landing...or even our space program in general, for that matter.  It was more a primer on nighttime naked eye star gazing, explaining rudiments like altitude, azimuth, the meridian, the zenith, and where the planets are currently standing against the backdrop of the constellations.  If you get up just before sunrise (and it's not cloudy) and look toward the eastern horizon you'll see Jupiter and Mars in "conjunction" (appearing very close to each other).  Also, our next lunar eclipse with be in April, 2014.  For  Gainesville, the next solar eclipse will occur sometime in 2017; if you travel up to Nashville, Tennessee, it will be total.

I haven't been to a planetarium in decades, and this was my first visit to the one at Santa Fe College.  The star projection technology has vastly improved over my last planetarium experience, with it actually resembling a real night sky! Kudos.  Albury was a great host, the storytellers did their presentations well, and Serrie was perfect with his meditative, dreamy music.  The show was for one hour and cost me $5.  Pretty good deal, I think!

Before this past March I was always at work during the weekly Santa Fe Planetariums shows.  Now, though, I may be taking more of them in...

Fantasy Fatigue Setting In With A Game of Thrones

At the enthusiastic urging of my son, I recently began reading George R.R. Martin's enormously popular fantasy series A Game of Thrones.  I'm about three quarters of the way through the first book, but am once again struggling with a phenomenon that I have come to call "fantasy fatigue".  What's that, you might ask...

In just about every fantasy novel I've started, the setting is exotic and interesting.  Usually the book features a map of the make-believe land, something that strongly appeals to me from early in my childhood when my sister and I would play a fantasy game called "Mapland" and we would imagine different parts of our front and back yards to be separate countries with various geographical features like jungle, mountains, oceans...and various animals to contend with as well.  I like this element of fantasy literature.  As a matter of fact, J.R.R. Tolkiens's very detailed mapping of Middle Earth was a very important factor in my affection for his Lord of the Rings series.  As far as the characters and the way that fantasy fiction societies are inevitably presented are concerned, though, the fatigue sets in pretty quickly...

I am sick and tired of being expected to root for hard-ass, sword-swinging, and autocratic protagonists who only want to protect the established aristocratic, anti-democratic order against the evil enemy, who as often as not attempts to rally the "common" people to its cause.  After finishing Tad Williams' wonderful, eerily prophetic, and unrecognized four-volume science fiction series Otherland, I decided to try out one of this primarily fantasy-genre writer's other works.  I got through the first few chapters of the first book in one of his series and had to put it down.  It wasn't the writing per se that was bad; no, the society that I as a reader was being expected to support was abhorrent to me.  The same thing happened when I started Terry Goodkind's Wizard's Rule series.  It occurred again with Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series.  And now the fatigue is rising again with Martin and his "throne game".  In each of these experiences I began to have the unsettling experience of rooting for the "bad guys" because I could not bring myself to accept the status quo that the "good guys" were trying to preserve.  With Martin, this problem is compounded by his alternation of chapters, each presented to expressed the personal experiences and view point of a protagonist character.  The antagonists, though, get less "fair and balanced" treatment than even the liberals on Fox News Channel.  So what does Eddard Stark, the supposed main character of A Game of Thrones, want more than anything? To preserved a brutal kingdom that puts down women and the poor. In "his" proper world, men can father children out of wedlock with impunity, but a woman caught so doing can best hope for exile. And don't get me started with how prostitution is universal here for poor women with no other means of support...

There are different royal houses vying for power in A Game of Thrones.  The "good" Houses of Stark, Baratheon, Arryn, and Tully are ruled by fools who let emotions govern their actions instead of reason.  The "bad" Lannisters, for their part, although brutal themselves, display a feistiness and cunning that I admire.  At my stage in the reading, I know as a reader I'm supposed to be rooting against the Lannisters, but guess what? I hope they wipe everyone else out!  Fat chance of that happening, I suppose...

I am going to continue trying to get through this series in spite of my objections, though.  It leaves a bad feeling within me to start books only to abandon them.  George R.R. Martin's writing is very good, but I fear for those "bad" Lannisters as I read on...