Let's Go Faster!

Ran 2 miles today, in 12:40.

Run run run

Ran 2 miles in 12:55 today.

Interesting

Total compensation to labor over time is... constant?

Stinks

Dear Madam,

Perhaps you were unaware that spraying yourself with perfume on the bus is not a nice thing to do!

Thanks

Did I Stutter (step)?

Ran 2 miles in 13:15 this evening.

Strikes

Dear Sir,

Perhaps you did not know this, but there are some situations where paying with exact change is awfully inconsiderate. For your edification:

• when your purchase is based on weight
• when you are unable to correctly estimate the likely cost
• when you don't know how much money and in what denominations you have
• when you are at the head of very lengthy line

Best,

Tom

Awesome

Susan's Mom gave Susan and me the gift of an evening out last night (her last here on her visit). We went to dinner and a movie. That was the first time we've gone to a movie together in 2.5 years (each of us went to a movie independently a bit more than a year ago). We saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. It was outstanding.

Wheezy Gonzales

Ran intervals tonight. 8 x (60s at 8mph & 30s at 12mph). It was 2 miles in just over 13 minutes. Inordinately tough, not sure what my malfunction is.

Winded

Ran windsprints again this evening. 8x70 yards up a small slope, jogging back for recovery. Very tiring. Maybe too much, despite the fact that it was easier during the running.

Nice

A brilliant "screw you" letter here.

Perfect

I was called to play again tonight. Game was at 11pm! Yikes! Still, I played okay-notched a "perfect" hat-trick. That's where you score with each foot and the head. I also got a hat-trick of assists. Not too shabby.

Intermittent

Did 2 miles worth of intervals in 12:55, this evening. Like periodic Fartlek.

Dinner

Susan's Mom is visiting, so last night Susan and I went out to dinner at a "casual dining" restaurant. It was tasty and I have no doubt that they used shocking amounts of butter and cheese in our food. Getting away for a little time alone was nice.

The "casual dining" would be more interesting if it was "causal dining." If you eat item A, event B will happen! Guaranteed! Like Alice in Wonderland or The Matrix or something.

Fast As Fats Can Be

All of the treadmills were taken at the gym when I arrived this evening, and all the timers seemed to indicate that people had quite some time left in their slow, slow moseying. So I went outside and did sprints. 8x70 yards up a very slight grade, with slow jog back for recovery. It was tough. I can't believe I used to actually like doing windsprints.

I remember especially liking the ones during basketball season where you did lines (run from baseline to freethrow stripe, back to baseline, to half court, back to baseline, to far freethrow stripe, back to baseline, to the far baseline and back... while crouched over, pushing along the ground a 2"x4" wrapped in a slightly damp towel.

More Dental Adventures

They prepped and temporarily crowned my root-canal-ed tooth this afternoon. Also took moldings for a permanent one to be made. All in all it wasn't too bad, but they used a nasty little cautery on the gum surrounding the object tooth. That made it through the numbing agent, but it was quick.

Sore Hip

Dunno why, but my hip developed some kind of hitch yesterday evening. It isn't too bad most of the time, but uncomfortable enough that I'm anxious for it to pass. I am hopeful that it'll be over by Tuesday.

Failure!

I ran 4 miles today in 30:05. I set out to do 5, but at 3 miles changed my mind. Weaksauce.

An Important Reminder

While Burlington Coat Factory is "more than great coats," it isn't all that much more.

Odd

A man just asked me if I had shined my shoes myself. This was apropos of nothing, just out and about in the building. Told him I did, not quite following the direction of his question. Turns out there was none, he was just impressed by how shiny they are. And here I thought they'd been looking a bit dodgy, of late.

Entrance to the Labor Market. Or: the Virtue of Luck

Nobody has much control over when they are born. Still, there are a couple of big switches one can throw with regard to when you enter the job market: decide to drop out of secondary school, decide to go to college, decide to seek a professional degree, pop out some babies, etc... but you still can't do much to predict ahead of time that you'll be job-hunting in a wrecked economy.

And it turns out that matters quite a bit. The entire track of your life can be changed, as these economists see just by looking at lifetime earnings.

Agin Runny

Ran 2 miles in 13:04 today.

More Classic Blogging

You should read this post. It is hilarious.

Stinking On Ice

Pretty poor performance from the US in this friendly match with Brazil. The Brazilian JV made it look like we were playing by echolocation or scent or something. I also do not approve of mohawks. The haircuts, not the similarly named and eponymous Native American tribe.

A Journey

Ran 4 miles in 29:31, this evening.

Continued

Yeah, I was right: I'm sore. In that, "Oh, wow, really? There?" way.

Google Autosuggest

When I type "when will" into the search field I get the following results:

• when will i die
• when will strasburg pitch next
• when will the world end
• when will verizon get the iphone
• when will stasburg pitch
• when will i be mayor
• when will strasburg pitch again
• when will strasburg be called up
• when will verizon get iphone
• when will the new ipone come out

Don't you love the thought of the same person querying again and again, desperately wanting google to give them the answer to life, the universe, when Strasburg will pitch, and iphone availability schedules?

Also, "when will i be mayor" is a good one. Like some petulant city council member mistaking google for a Magic 8-Ball.

Last Minute Soccer

Got asked last night to come play (as cover for missing regulars) for an open division coed indoor team. So I went over to the nearby facility tonight for their double-header... Brutal! But fun. We won both games (25 minute halves, and we had 1-2 subs forr the men) and I played alright. No injuries but I will be sore tomorrow.

I've Got Speed. I've Got Velocity

Ran 2 miles in 13:15 today.

Flashback

Roughly one year ago I posted this item.

Flashback

Roughly six years ago I posted this item.

Flashback

Roughly two years ago I posted this item.

Flashback

About three years ago I posted this item.

Flashback

About four years ago I posted this item.

Flashback

Roughly five years ago, I posted this item.

Wow

Still tired in the legs from running last night. 9 mph appears to be my current speed limit for distances above a mile. 9.3 mph is my target rate for 5k, so it'll take a while for me to get to that, still. Boo.

Stepping Up

Ran 2 miles today, in 13:20.

More statistics

Nationmaster has 'em.

Mind the Gap

A cool site here, called "Gapminder" allows interesting visualizations of different national statistics over time.

Another Handy Rule of Thumb

Everything is always in decline. Corollary: The "Good old days" never were.

No Running Today

Because I went down to Norfolk Naval Station to tour some stuff. Pretty big ships there, I tell you what.

Delicious Dinner

Susan had the good idea to get one of those precooked chickens from the store, tonight. She also made some quinoa and brussels sprouts to go with, and I popped some biscuits in the oven. It was a tasty dinner. I'd like to do more chicken roasting, since it is such a simple and cost-effective dish, and often not even a time-consuming one. Guess we need to see if they have good roasters at the nearby groceries.

The Pitter-Patter of Smelly Feet

Ran 5k in 21:49.

Continuing Apace

Ran 2 miles in 13:44.

Running Man

Did 2 miles in 13:40.

Sorry, Can't

Got a call from our old bank about some business. They need me to come by the branch and pick up a form. Sure! I'll drive right over. It's just 2,285 miles. See ya in a few minutes.

Dear Nth Bank of Citimerica Fargo, look into mail or parcel services. I have it on reliable authority that several alternatives exist. I'm also sure that the rate you've paid me is comfortably exceeded by the return you've made on my deposits... you can afford the stamp.

Uh-oh

Rick Warren, prominent evangelical leader, was recently injured by a plant in his yard. He has been known for his support for responsible stewardship of the environment-a sentiment not totally disconnected from that discussed in the book "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy," by Matthew Scully (this was an interesting if occasionally irritating and obtuse book, but I gave it away after reading it several years ago).

I wonder if he'll still feel that way when he recovers?

Google Autosuggest

When I type "the world's worst" into Google's search field I get the following:

• the world's worst economies
• the world's worst oil spills
• the world's worst website
• the world's worst game
• the world's worst dictators
• the world's worst wedding dj
• the world's worst prison
• the world's worst dj
• the world's worst cars
• the world's worst hurricane

Hmm. Strangely boring, except apparently there are a lot of really terrible DJs. Who knew?

She Knows His Love's in Texas

Please watch this and tell me that monkeys shouldn't be allowed to compete at the rodeo. UPDATE: "Texas" s/b "Tulsa" yes?

Further Adventures in Dentistry

Another day, another dentist attack! Got some more fillings, and a root canal. It took a lot longer. Possibly because I complained about my jaw aching from the bite-blocker, and they gave me several breaks. Also possible because they had to use microscopic files to excavate my teeth to a depth of about 1.1 meters. Took about ninety minutes for the two fillings and the root canal. They used temporary fillings on the root canal because some time is needed to tell if the results are good, upon which they'll clean that out and permanently fill and crown that tooth.

Feels pretty weird right now, and I have a headache I'm pretty sure from the jaw-torquing and whatnot. And the numbing.

My Running Gag

2 miles, 13:54.

Future World Cups

This article discusses the state of bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids. It is widely believed that the 2018 World Cup will be awarded to an European nation (following the 2010 WC in South Africa and the 2014 WC scheduled for Brazil). The leading candidates in Europe for 2018 seem to be England, Russia, and a shared bid by Benelux. Also possible are (apparently, and highly unlikely in my mind) Qatar, and, maybe, Australia.

Qatar is so unlikely. They don't really meet any of the criteria that FIFA talks about in public, and from a common sense (and good-faith) standpoint can't seem to hope to support the required infrastructure: there are only five airports in Bahrain (just three of which are paved); there are only 1.7M people in Qatar(one expects >2M visitors for a WC); there are only about 3 cities of any size in Qatar; the average summer high is nicely above 100F (going to build 8 enclosed stadia for your .75M residents?). The only point-of-view from which Qatar makes much sense is corruption: the powers that be at FIFA could line their pockets with oil money. I suppose that holding the WC in a Middle Eastern country might serve as a "regional" World Cup, but most of the countries in that region are already mad about soccer.

The "already mad about soccer" theme holds true in the old European nations like England and Benelux, too. Russia not nearly as much, and serves a large population where you can imagine increasing soccer-penetration. Russia has at least marginally sufficient infrastructure. You also have lots of opportunities for personal corruption in Russia.

My bet is Russia in 2018 and USA in 2022.

A Terrible Road, My Son

From here this outstanding beginning:

In 1820, the Hungarian noble Farkas Bolyai wrote an impassioned cautionary letter to his son Janos:

"I know this way to the very end. I have traversed this bottomless night, which extinguished all light and joy in my life… It can deprive you of your leisure, your health, your peace of mind, and your entire happiness… I turned back when I saw that no man can reach the bottom of this night. I turned back unconsoled, pitying myself and all mankind. Learn from my example…"

Bolyai wasn't warning his son off gambling, or poetry, or a poorly chosen love affair. He was trying to keep him away from non-Euclidean geometry. Staging an intervention to keep a child out of math trouble comes off as comic to the modern reader. But in the early nineteenth century, as Amir Alexander ably demonstrates in Duel at Dawn, mathematics was viewed as a passion on par with poetry—an occupation that could lift a youth like Janos Bolyai to exalted heights, and just as quickly fling him into death or dissolution.

Don't Tread On Me?

Ran 2 miles in 14:30.

Not Real, But For the Record

Ran 5k today, in 22:24.

Energy Storage

One of the interesting points I've seen for a while about Peak Oil is that one way to think of the (probably inevitable, even if not imminent) transition away from complete dependence of our economy on fossil fuels to anything except nuclear power will entail a shift in importance from stocks to flows and a need to devise much better energy storage media.

Good Riddance

Another crappy game! Boo! Another game without injury! Yay! Our season is now over, so I'm trying to catch on with a weekend league instead of this weekday stuff. I have two leads, but I don't know how well they'll pan out. The problem is that there are usually more than enough men for both the coed and men-only leagues, so it can be tough to break into a team. And I've pretty much had it with being the team organizer for a bunch of adults unable to reliably show up in time to begin (or at all).

It seemed throughout the season that the other teams had a lot of younger players and solid females. We only had a few younger men and a pair of solid females, and only a couple of people in good enough shape for the rate of play (not me, unfortunately).

I'm going to try to get back into good cv fitness and work on the recovery aspects... Sprint-jog-sprint-jog for 25 minutes over an hour is rather different from the running I'd done in prep for the season (I was up to 2-4 miles at a stretch, generally around 7-7:30/mile, a few times per week). Since clearing my injury streak I've been doing about 2 miles' worth of intervals on 1:4 ratio of 5:7.5 minutes/mile. I'm thinking I'll go to a 1:3 ratio and push up the recovery rate a little bit, maybe extend to 3 miles' worth of intervals.

Realistically I probably need to get on an actual track or field and do windsprints as my high-intensity phases are already at the treadmill max and I ought to push for the high-phases to something more like my actual maximum speed.

Hot Enough For Me

It is a steamy time of year, here. The humidity, in particular, is rough, keeping the heat in until quite late. I wonder if we've been setting records lately. I know that we've been trending up in such swings:

But it is tough to say within the last several years (as opposed to the last decade) if that's the case.

UPDATE:

Apparently the ratio is definitely increasing even within the decade.

Useful Website

Measuring Worth: lots of inflation adjustments.

Adventures in Dentistry

Had a dental appointment this morning. It was brief and uncomfortable. The drilling wasn't a problem, as the dentist jabbed me about a dozen times with his numbing needles. However, he wedged my jaw open with something that looked like a small door-stopper, which was highly unpleasant. I do not have a flip-top head. Also fun was the delightful suction/spray-thingie constantly making me feel like I was being waterboarded.

"Waterboarded" is of course an exaggeration, but I didn't like it at all.

Ship Traffic Near BP Wildish Well

Here

Frustrating!

Played like crap last night. Once again avoided injury, though, so that's good.

Pictorial

Below is an aerial view of one of the venues we've played indoor soccer this season...

View Larger Map

It is colloquially referred to as "the Gunston Bubble." Lest you think the "Bubble" designation is unearned, see this other view...

View Larger Map

It is quite like playing in a greenhouse, too. Great fun in the muggy summer weather we've had the last few games.

Google Auto Suggest

When typing in "world's best" I get the following auto suggestions:

• world's best cat litter
• world's best cat litter coupon
• world's best universities
• world's best beaches
• world's best lasagna
• world's best soccer player
• world's best airlines
• world's best cat litter reviews
• world's best cat litter rebate
• world's best beer

A few nice straightforward suggestions... a few less so. Damn this is a compelling cat litter review! Holy crap what a rebate! This coupon... is the best deal I've ever gotten on cat litter!

New Multifeed Link

Click here for oil-spewing goodness!

Forgotten How

I've more or less forgotten how to play chess. I still know the rules, and basically what is going on, but my (admittedly never razor-sharp) Spidey Sense has disappeared. I used to enjoy playing quite a bit, and even got somewhat good for a few months in college, playing with a post doc in the physics department at U of O. Now, however, I have downloaded a little chess app for the iPod, and reliably lose at just its third level of difficulty. Moreover, it is due to mortifying stupidity!

Delicious

I made a grilled pepper and beet and bacon salad as a side dish tonight. With a honey-balsalmic vinegarette. It was really good. Roughly, I julienned each, then grilled them (on the Foreman grill). Used 3 pieces of bacon, 1/2 bell pepper, and three steamed beets. This was slightly too much bacon. You'll want to make this bacon crispy, and develop a bit of char if possible, here and there.

Winning Streak Fail

We had a makeup game for our previously abandoned match (caused by a power outage at the facility) last night. It was my team's last choice of time/date. In fact, it was the worst option for which we could literally field a team, and that with just two men and four women. We had a straggler male arrive with about 20 minutes left in the second half. So I'm pretty tired; I was our team's only outfield male player (the other guy played in goal) for a full 30 minutes. That's too much for me right now, really.

Fortunately no injuries or problems other than fatigue. I guess I have a good bruise forming on my instep where a got his heel-studs in the way of my shot. Ouchie for me. I scored again, but overall was too gassed to play very well after the first 20 minutes.

Think We Have Coaching Problems?

From here:

The serious qualification is the Grade A UEFA license, at which level Spain have 750 qualified and England 150. Of those, 640 of the Spanish Grade A licensed coaches work with children and youth players, compared to none in England.

Well, I don't know, honestly, what boat we're in. Hard information about USSF operations is hard to come by.

Bad Calls

With all the bad calls in the World Cup, the head of FIFA has said that the question of "using technology" to assist in officiating will be reopened after being rejected some time ago. Some fancy-pants former player of great stature has, in response, said that "goal-line" technology and video review should not be used, but extra refs would possibly be okay.

Well, of course that's what he's going to say. He can drum up more work for his friends that way!

Google Auto Suggest

When typing in "How long i" I get the following auto suggestions:

• How long is the w&od bike trail
• How long is the great wall of China
• How long is a 5k
• How long is a marathon
• How long is iron man 2
• How long is avatar
• How long is a meter
• How long is pinkeye contagious
• How long is the SAT
• How long is a baseball game

Wow. How long is a 5k? What color was Napoleon's white horse?

Done Returned

Yester-evening I played on my indoor soccer team for the first time since in about six weeks. Between the never-ending quad injuries and then my back spasm, I've been spending a lot of frustrating time on the sidelines. Mostly organizing subs and acting as a hortator.

It went well, despite the fact that I was weak and giddy from not eating until too late and then eating too little. I hate that feeling, don't you? I could tell while warming up (something I did a lot of today) that the fitness I'd built up has decayed alarmingly, too.

We won, something like 8-5. I scored a brace (on three shots), and had a pair of assists too! Should have been three of each, but I was robbed by a brilliantly lucky deflection by a lunging defender (another goal) and then a poor control of my through-ball by one of my team-mates.

Best of all: I feel pretty good this morning. No twinges in the back, no problems in the quads. I didn't really unload on any shots or passes or anything, though. Figure I should take it easy for a while longer, maybe do some purposeful additional rehab-type exercises.

Google Auto Suggest

When typing in "What is this o" I get auto suggestions that say:

• What is this object
• What is this ominous light that threatens to engulf us
• What is this of which you speak
• What is this on my lip
• What is this old man about
• What is this on the impossible test
• What is this one rule to a flat stomach
• What is this old tool
• What is this oil spill
• What is this octopus thinking

This isn't as funny of a list as the last one. I guess herpes is just intrinsically funny.

Nose, Face, Meet Politeness

I generally support good manners. I try to be curteous in most situations (as with everyone, I certainly lapse now and again). Some times, however, that "polite gesture" is just a pain in the rear for everyone else around you.

Mornings lately I've been taking the complex shuttle (e^{i ride}?), and have been fairly aggravated by this one fellow's consistent behavior. Typically a line forms up for entry. He is in line, and stops at the door and offers people to get on before him. His gallantry delays everyone just that little bit, for no discernable reason: DUDE, you are in a line, are you unaware of the function?

As ever, I think the best rule is to try and act to minimize the hassle (technically defined as the product of the time to accomplish the task with the sum of WTFs and "No you first"s [Interesting: hassle has units of time. That seems right, actually.]) for all parties. The result is that when everyone else is clearly operating by the "first come, first served" rule, your adoption of the polite persona imposes a cost on everyone else. Thanks!

Enjoying Paul Krugman Lately?

He's quite a Debbie Downer, not that I can gainsay him. But he's also been hilarious of late:

On fears of inflation, Krugman introduces invisible bond vigilantes. Indeed: invisible bond vigilantes are invisible.

On freshwater economics, Krugman busts out the epicycles (more on epicycles)

A Reminder

The phrase "I don't understand why they don't just" is very rarely followed by anything insightful. In most cases, the low-hanging fruit has been picked. Not always.

Coinage

John Maynard Keynes once wrote:

The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if in tempestuous seasons they can only tell us that when the storm is past the ocean is flat again. (emphasis added)

Once, a few years several months ago, I was in some seminar and the Simon-Ehrlich wager came up. This was a bet about scarcity of commodity metals (really as a proxy for general resource scarcity due to greatly expanding population). Ehrlich (who believed the prices would go up) lost, and badly.(Edited for subtraction error)

My reply was, of course, that while the term of the wager specified a 10-year period, time might still tell, and Simon had already "entered the long run."

The economist who was presenting snort-laughed and said something like "you must be an economist".

"Goodness, no," I replied.

This would have been in May of 2009. Google says that would have been the first time for that metaphor to appear on the internet... had I actually blogged it. Oops!

Crashing Out

USMNT: Glad you advanced, was hoping for more. Once again, you showed incredible heart, and fair craft at times, both of which things I love. Hold your heads up, have fantastic club seasons, and I will absolutely tune in whenever y'all are on.

ESPN/ABC/Other networks: all(Ed: some*) of your sponsors deserve and will get some business from me. Show more soccer; do it year-round (you can, since MLS runs a counter-schedule). You really did pretty good, and I enjoyed your broadcasts. Except those damn vuvuzelas.

MLS: we need a reserve division or league, and more academy signings. Only some of our talent can be developed in other countries!

USSF: more friendlies--do some in the PNW (the setting up of a nice triangle rivalry between Vancouver, Portland, and Seattle MLS franchises is very exciting!)

*some are just a bridge too far, though. I hate that damn Bing commercial. And the Adidas commercials aren't doing Adidas any favors. Just so stupid. Though I was amused briefly by the one where the narrator says "Late to a contest of speed. The irony."

Too Much Time with Toddlers

Last Thursday we had another indoor game. I'm still not ready to play (back spasm is much better but not fully relieved and I'm terrified that my quad will strain again--seriously, why, God?) but I'm the manager and so I go to keep track of substitutions, and coach the players a little bit (almost entirely regarding positioning, since we have NO natural defenders).

One of our players took a big shot and nailed one of the other team's players. Unthinking, I shouted out "Oh! Bonk!"

So embarrassing.

Seriously, Can I Buy a Break?

Last Wednesday afternoon I tweaked my back again and was terribly uncomfortable (lower back-related-spasm activities). Thought it was going to be all better yesterday, felt pretty good all day. Sitting in my desk I twisted a bit and felt like I'd been hit by lightning, followed by a general re-clenching of the back muscles that'd just been insulted.

So, that was really painful. Bad enough that I begged off work the rest of the afternoon and set an appointment at the doctor's office for this morning.

The usual prodding plus a spinal x-ray later, they sent me off with a scrip for something to release the spasms. I am hoping that will set things right.

Google Auto Suggest

When typing in "Looks like he" I get auto suggestions that say:

• looks like herpes but is not
• looks like helen hunt
• looks like herpes but isn't
• looks like he hit the tree jim
• looks like herpes but not
• looks like helvetica
• looks like henbit
• looks like heat rash
• looks like herpes but it's not
• looks like heaven

Googlers: be safe, please.

Something I Do Not Like

I'm not a big fan of the use of "How's it going?" or "How are you doing?" as a generic greeting. These are both questions, and demand something other than "hi," or worse, "How are you?" I know it is more difficult, but either ask/answer the question, or stop doing that!

Albion's Seed: A Capsule Review

David Hackett Fischer's Albion's Seed:Four British Folkways in America is quite the tome. In it, Fischer uses historiographic techniques to (ultimately) reflect on the question: What are the determinants of a free society? Clocking in at 972 pages, it can take a while even for the dedicated reader. For the distracted reader, it takes on almost epic dimensions. I found that the best strategy for me (the distracted reader) was to treat the main sections as separate books.

In turn, Fischer considers four great migrations from Britain to the US: the Puritan migration from the East of England to New England (mainly 1630-1640), the migration of fancypants from the South of England to Virginia (~1640-1670), the Quakers coming from the North Midlands of England to the Deleware River Valley (~1680-1730), and the migration of the riff-raff to the Appalachian back country (~1720-1780). He examines a variety of aspects of life, including religion, magic, work, age, architecture, sport, conceptions of liberty, marriage and sex, language and literacy, and child rearing (among a few others). Each of the great migrations is examined at length, so as you read each section, you get quite a portrait of the people and times.

In the concluding materials of the book, Fischer synthesizes the whole into a view that is fairly commonplace (though I don't know how much it was so during the peak of his work and work-life): regionalism in the United States is extremely alive and well, and has been with the exception of very brief interludes in our history. Still, it was absolutely worth reading, if only for the diary excerpts and the interesting discussion of characteristic architecture of the migrants in their new homelands (turns out it was a lot like the architecture of wherever they came from). I'll recreate from memory one example of the great diary excerpts...

A certain Southern Gentleman and his wife had an extremely contentious marriage. They fought all the time, didn't seem to like each other very much at all. One day, some hours after a loud spat, the Colonel asked his wife along for a carriage ride. They went, and after some time, he turned off the road and drove straight into the Chesapeake. Asked by the wife where he was headed, he replied "to Hell, Madam." The horses began to swim, and she said "Carry on. Anyplace is better than Arlington."

Now, this is funny but sad, of course. They really didn't make each other happy--when he died, he had left direction that his unhappiness in marriage was to be commemorated on his grave-marker. This was to read something like "Colonel John Custis, died at 71 years, but alive only 7, when he kept a bachelor's apartment". Talk about acrimony!

Also amusing was the discussion of place names in Appalachia. I won't reproduce it, but they were... earthy.

Awesome

Just caught an episode of Magnum PI while packing up before I check out tomorrow. It was a crossover ep. With Murder She Wrote. Thoroughly outstanding.

Spill Cam Multifeed

Here

Another Week Another Injury?

No, no. I'm just not done whining about my last one. I can still feel a little tenderness to the touch, but none from scuffing my feet (seriously that was an uncomfortable and weird symptom), and just a hint while walking quickly.

In order to not slob out with my period of injury I decided to try to swim. Ordinarily you might think, "Gee, Tom, people kick when they swim and kicking is what got you into this mess in the first place!" However, it turns out that my legs are pretty much just fleshly drogues when it comes to swimming. I don't know why this is, but I discovered it some while back when I was swimming for exercise--there's no difference in my speed between when I kick and when I don't (at least in the crawl). That shouldn't be, since the kick is supposed to stabilize you and result in a higher position in the water (both helpful, speedier, things). One time, back in school, one of the swim coaches gave me a pointer as I clung to the wall gasping after a set. I tried it and immediately went much faster. But it disappeared from my body's memory like a dream that also disappeared from my mind's memory... The upshot is that swimming kicks my butt, and I don't kick much at all when I swim, so Robert's my relation.

In additional swimming-related news, I found that when I breathe once every fifth arm recovery I go significantly faster, at the expense of only being able to go about 100 yds before I need to do some catch-up breathing. Weird. Or not. I really don't know. Also, doing laps in a 25' long pool sucks, because I really want to push off the wall all fast, since that feels cool, but it isn't as good at exercising you, so I have to be extra vigilant about lackadaisically turning in a lame fashion.

Stupid Old Muscles

Went to the doctor today, since my leg was feeling distinctly worse after pushing the kitty litter box out of the hall with my foot on Saturday night. He confirmed my guess that I had a mild Grade II strain (very mild ecchymosis along with the other signs like sharp pain, inability to play on, pain on touching, etc).

Apparently it can take up to 10 weeks to get all the way better from that. SUCKS.

So what cardio can I do in the meantime? I'm not buying a crank bike (Aside: my first search at Amazon for this led to Wrenching 101).

More Games

Two weeks ago I kinda strained my quad, so took it pretty easy over the next week, with only light running, etc. Thought it was better last week, but discovered during our game that it was not. Came out of that game with a nice goal, a near loss, and TWO strained quads.

This week I've done no running at all, spent the first couple of days with ice packs and then alternating heat and ice, and am planning on playing half in the goal, and not shooting for the half I'm not the goalie!

I am hopeful that by next week I'll actually be up to working out, and then playing, but we'll see. Being prematurely old is no good.

In other news, I read two of Nassim Nicholas Taleb's books (The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness. I found these to be substantially the same book! Furthermore, he's kind of a showoff, rubbing your nose in his erudition. Ordinarily that isn't too bad... I mean, I thought the same thing when I started reading American Gods... but unlike with American Gods, that feeling did not go away with Taleb's books. Take from that what you will. I guess I tend to be okay with any level of snobbery less than or equal to my own?

Content-wise, I'd say the motivating ideas are worth consideration, though a fair bit of the social science research he discusses is better presented in Nudge, or even in the original works. (See, I am too well educated, Taleb. You jerk.)

First Game

Didn't go well, score-wise. I think it was 3-3 or so after the first half, but we just didn't have the energy to keep it up in the second! Still, it was fun, though frustrating that the mind knows what to do but the body is unwilling. This, despite all the running and exercising I've done since the end of February, when I decided I wanted to be "ready."

Soccer

First game is this Thursday. Hope we have fun!

Possibly Mankind's Greatest Achievement

Turkey Hill Extreme Cookies 'N Cream ice cream. It is AMAZING. It contains decent chocolate ice cream and that crunchy stuff from inside Thin Mints. NOM NOM NOM NOM

Retirement Party

First one I've been to, on Tuesday. The General who'd been acting as the head of our Directorate is all done with us, heading off to greener pastures. Many gag gifts were given, and then a sweet golf-bag in the Marine Corps colors with a custom embroidered Corps logo and stars in the number he's leaving behind.

In connection with the golf bag, he was also given some Army and Navy towels... with which to wash his balls.

Safe and Sound

No idea what happened this evening at the Pentagon Metro entrance; while I do go through there every day, I was home and in the gym by the time that today's crazy events unfolded.

Weird Overheard

Walking home from the metro station, I passed a big thuggish looking fellow talking into his cell phone. I'm a pretty swift walker, and he was heading the opposite direction, so I only caught a very small tidbit of his conversation. He said, "I'm talkin' cuddlin' an' sh*t!"

Objectivity

Well, there are some more Olympics happening again, so it is time for another rant about the subset of Olympic activities that are subjective spectacles frequently misnamed as "sports." The lack of an objective "counter" (e.g., "a goal" or "a basket", etc.) makes these events inherently unfair--so much the worse that the judging is rendered in-auditable by the viewer!

Since a fair portion of the appeal of these events is aesthetic--which is immune to adjudication--we are left with the conundrum of how to tell who wins. My simple solution is this: HORSE. Have all parties do a program of tricks to qualify--make it tough and go ahead and use a judging panel--and then have subsets of the qualifiers do ascending round-robins of HORSE to determine the qualifiers for an 8 person HORSE tournament with random seedings. The need to master the fundamentals is preserved, and the need to outdo one's competitor would continually raise the bar of competition, making the athletic and innovative skaters shine even more!

Note: in order to make the judging panel fair, increase the membership significantly and select a random subset of the scores--always excluding judges from the competitors' countries.

Metro Train Derailment

Was on a different line, and quite a bit after I got off at work. Won't affect me appreciably.

Oh Dear God

Eleri actually pooped on me today. That is a feat which Soren never managed, and which I thought I might have been destined to avoid. No longer. I feel so unclean.

Preposterous

I've probably shoveled snow for about 8 or 9 hours this winter. It is fairly good exercise. But you know, when your hands are very cold, it is possible to bruise the heck out of them and not know it until rather later.

A Sentence

Soren said "Daddy, lie down, please!" This morning. He wanted airplane-type games.

Soccer and Cheese?

We were watching the AC Milan vs. Siena match this morning. Massimo Maccarone had a golden opportunity about 25 minutes into the first half--an 8 yard sitter, which he skied over the goal. I called out, "Come on, Maccarone! You have to do better!"

Soren immediately parroted, "Come on, Mac Cheese!"

Animal Cruelty in Harney County, OR

Over 100 dogs were rescued from a property 20 miles south of Burns, OR earlier this month. It is the worst case of animal neglect in the state's history. This is wintertime in the desert which means it has been 15 below and all of these dogs were kept outside. Most of them had never had real dog food, instead fed on livestock carcass their owners threw to them. Steel drums housed deceased dogs. There were even some sickly looking horses running around. The owners released most of those dogs, in exchange for them getting to keep 20 of their dogs. OHS has been relocating the dogs to shelters around the state that have any space, and Greenhill has four. Many are feral and could possibly be put down. Three of the dogs we have a really frightened, but one of them will be ready for adoption soon once she gets altered! You can watch the video here of OHS's rescue. And the local news talking to my supervisor at Greenhill.