The 355th Best

Demon Bird Mothballs

2009-11-11T11:46:00.000-08:00

This is my first post in quite a while. I have never been consistent in posting to this blog, though I probably think about posting at least three times a week. I have even started a post several times since my last activity, but never finished the job. Even as I have tried to write this post I have gotten distracted and it has been well over two hours since I started it. I do not really have anything exciting to say right now, but perhaps I can get back to it because I have a few updates to throw on here.

I will add one interesting thing. I love the NBA. This is not a hidden fact. Some of the players can be a bit...dense. Shawn Marion, previously of Suns fame decided to get a tattoo in Chinese characters down his leg. He wanted to get his nickname 'The Matrix' but he forgot to bring someone good at interpretation and instead ended up with something that roughly translated means "Demon Bird Mothballs". That is today's lesson, grammar is not only for English, and translation is not only for machine language.

One Month Down...

2009-03-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

...215 to go!!

Tyler turns one month old today. This is his second Friday the thirteenth in as many calendar months as he has been alive. So far, however, good luck has prevailed over all of the situations we have found ourselves in as new parents. Jennifer is quite the workhorse. She is up all hours of the night, is awake all day, and still manages to rinse and repeat each day. I am very lucky that I have her. She does a good job of putting baby pics and things on her blog so I will spare you all of the womanly cuteness on mine.

The other day she mentioned something about how she wishes I would read the Twilight series. I have only one response to that:

This is a short & unfocused post. Deal with it.

Christmas Time

2008-12-12T14:52:00.000-08:00

1) So many people get so excited about the holidays.
2) I have never been one of those people.

I understand the meaning behind the holidays. I get interested by historical facts surrounding them, but by and large I do not get filled up with these crazy sentimental feelings (not to say that sentimental feelings are crazy, it just seems like some people live for only Christmas) and I mostly feel like this is just part of winter. For the most part I think it is goofy that we pack so many of our holidays into a short period of time, I would much prefer to have them either spread out evenly, or to have them all bunched up in the summertime.

So all of the goes just to get me to this point; will having a child change my point of view? I am sure being a father will change many things. Call it a sneaking suspicion, but I think that holidays to come with be much more exciting and filled with more meaning once I have a little one running around.

Time

2008-11-19T13:27:00.000-08:00

It seems like I do not have any time at all. 2 years ago today I had all the time in the world. I had enough time to play all of the video games, read all of the books, work on my jeep, or just hang out as much as I wanted to. Now, it seems, all of my time is spent doing something else. I still find time to read (5-10 minutes at a time) and I still occasionally get out into the garage to look at my jeep (just not enough time to really work on it, however). But I have a solution - less sleep.

I am in this contest with my coworkers and a few others that is designed to create 'Habits for Life' and one of these is sleep 7 hours a night. Ask my wife, that does not fly with me. I generally would want to have between 4 and 6 hours a night. I work my best with that sleep. My mom is the same way. She sleeps at most 6 hours. But if I do not sleep these 7 hours I end up losing points so from now until the end of the year I have no choice but to sleep this time. I want to win the prize money. so soon enough I will be getting an extra 2 hours in my schedule....

Stuck with a Gut

2008-11-11T12:17:00.000-08:00

So...everyone tells me I am losing weight; I put on one of my suits in relative comfort for church Sunday; I eat 5 servings of raw vegetables and fruit each and every day; I do around 60 minutes of exercise 6 days a week; I limit my calories to between 2,000 and 2,300 each day.

All of these things sound good, but I have to admit I am stuck. I have been doing this for several months now and what have I gained? I have not lost any actual pounds.

I am a very statistical person. I love stats and numbers and percentages. The magic number that I can go by...weight...has not moved. I weigh the same. How annoying. I just want the scale to move. I want to have substantive results that can me measured by me. I don't feel like there is a big visual difference that I can point to.

I guess I should have done body measurements, perhaps that would have been helpful. but either way I am stuck. I feel like I can't do anything right. I guess I probably sound like I am whining. But really I just want to see more results from my hard work. I like to weld and work with metal because it gives me undeniable results. I do not like things that do not give me feedback, and right now I feel like I am stuck without any feedback from my body.

Where do we go from here?

2008-11-04T12:29:00.000-08:00

Well my running has come to a bit of a halt. I started to get sore knees a bit over a week ago and I decided to rest my knees as much as I could to see if they would get better. I played basketball on Wed., however, and that made them hurt more than ever. I am going to try running again today after 8 days off and see if I can ease into it so I don't get to a point where I have to start talking to a sports doctor or something like that.

Pushin Daisies (or Pumpkins)

2008-10-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

I completed my first race since high school track the other day. I have now been running for about two months, I have completed runs as short as 1.5 miles and as long as 7.2 miles in this time. The 7.2 mile run was a personal length record for my lifetime - two or three times before in my life I had to run a 6 miler in track.

I paid a pretty penny for a good pair of running shoes that adjusted for my specific running physics - the Mizuno Wave Inspire 4:

I ran in the 13th Annual Pumpkin Push 5k Run. 5k is 3.1 miles, though some there at the race with thier own GPS systems said the track was actually 3.2 miles long (we'll come back to this). I was told that the run included a gradual hill. So I took off with my friend John. John has been training with me. He has 3 kids and around his busy life he managed to do a fair amount of training in the last two months as well. We took off kinda slow and after what I judged to be a half mile or so I picked up the pace.

At this point I left John behind, he has not been training as hard as I have and he has 7 years on me, so I didn't expect him to keep up. Mercifully the first mile marker came up.I checked my watch (I forgot the heart rate monitor...grrrr) and I was in at 8:49. That is about that I had expected. I planned on coming in at or under 28:00 for the entire race. I zipped through the next 1/4 mile and then the hill began. From the very beginning I noticed that this hill was a little more challenging than I had been led to beleive. Nevertheless, I had planned on this by doing plenty of hill running, since nothin is really flat over here part of that is not by choice. the main hill I practiced on would put this hill to shame.

The hill was longer and steeper than I expected, but it ended. Shortly after the bottom of the hill came the 2 mile marker. Well here is my first dissapointment and my first sign of panic. I am now at 18:24 That means my second mile took me 9:35. This puts me off pace by a good 20 seconds or so. Time to kick it in gear. All the time I was thinking how cool Seward Park is. I have never been there before, nor had I seen any pictures, and boy, it is nice.

So I adjust my breathing to take in more oxygen so I can keep my mile 1 pace for mile 3 amd make up some time. I start to pass more people during this mile. The first two miles I passed a few and was passed by a few people but at this point people started to gas out. Oh!! I am passing SKINNY people!! That was the sweetest victory of the day. So about 75% of the way through this third mile comes a father and his 9 year old son passing me. Well now, i think, this kid really just passed me?

Unfortuanately, it was a bit early for the real end-of-race kick so I had to let them go.

Here it is!! 3 mile marker. My time is now 27:13 meaning I did my mile 1 pace exactly (8:49) but I only have 45 seconds to do the last .1 mile. This should have been quite doable if it was only .1 mile, and 8:49 pace over .1 mile comes to 52 Seconds. So if I speed up just a tiny bit I will come in at or below 20:00.

Here is the problem, I looked ahead and did not see the finish line where it should have been. As I crossed the marker I kicked it up to a good stride. Now I am really passing people left and right. I began to hear the announcers speak.

Finish line in view - I need to kick it into a higher gear - I am running about 75% of a sprint and the fastest I can currently muster. I see the father and 9 year old directly ahead of me, I will not quite catch them, but it will be close...

And TIME.

I hit stop on my watch. ~suspense please~ 28:19:37 WHAT!?!?! I didn't make my time, I DID NOT make my time. That last .1 miles was much faster than my pace for the rest of the race, and doing the math (if I did not speed up at the end) I should have come in at 28:05 instead I come in a full 15 seconds after that and I had sped up by at least 25% for the end game. Well later when I found out that my official time was 28:20 and that the GPS units measured the route at 3.2 miles. I felt vindicated. I had previously run a 3 mile distance in 25:57, I KNEW I could get that last .1 miles in less than 2 minutes.

But the track was certified, so I can only officially lay claim to a certified 5k race time of 28:20. This was good enough for 355th place. That put me in the top 15%. There were like a couple thousand people or so registered and participating in the event. NOT BAD. I feel good and maybe it is time to search for a good 10k for a brushup and then a Half-Marathon?

There is a picture of me running towards the end (two actually) but neither one is very flattering because at this point I am pushing myself pretty hard so I have an ugly grimace on my face and my running form has really broken down. I think Winifred is going to put it up on her blog so I will save my record the official embarrasment.

Ground Control to Major Tom

2008-08-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

I seriously doubt anyone in the world reads this thing. Why would they? I rarely put anything at all up here. So that is about it. I write things to myself I suppose.

Good times. Anyway. I thought I would throw it out there that I love my wife, Jennifer Kristin Miles. Often the words that leave my mouth do not arrive in the same order or with the same intent to her ears, and I know the same is true the other way, but I love her.

She is carrying our child right now. There is a little tiny baby inside her, slightly larger than an apple. She thinks it is a girl, I hope it is a boy.

I hope the little person knows that we love him/her.

Don't be a blubbering idot.

2008-01-31T13:45:00.000-08:00

The following is a partial transcript from a 1970's era attempt at environmental remediation:

"Our cameras stopped rolling immediatelt after the blast. The humor of the entire situation suddenly gave way to a run for survival as huge chunks of whale blubber fell everywhere. Pieces of meat passed high over our heads as others were falling at our feet. The dunes were rapidly evacuated as spectators escaped the falling debris and the overwhelming smell."

A parked car over a quarter of a mile from the blast site was the target of one large chunck, the passenger compartment literally smashed."

Fortunately no human was hit as badly as the car, however, everyone on the scene was covered with small particles of the dead whale."

As for the success of the effort: the seagulls that were supposed to clean things up were nowhere in sight either scared away by the explosion or kept away by the smell..."

...It might be concluded that should a whale ever wash ashore in lane county again, those in charge will not only remember what to do they'll certainly remember what NOT to do."

Now watch the video and be amused.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0sNE9k8mZ1w

Nine or Ten?

2006-12-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

I wake up making choices about The Ten. What do I do? How long can I keep up my Ten for the day. There are some days that I have barely been awake for an hour when I must decide: 8 or 9?

Eight or nine? Have I already given that much up today?

Ten or bust!

I grow an unquenchable thirst for Ten. I need Ten in my life each day. Provide me Ten each day. At the end of each day give me back Six or Four, or whichever I shamed today.

Strive each day for the best, attain Ten today, Ten tomorrow.

They

2006-12-05T12:41:00.000-08:00

Standing in line at the bank today, I heard a couple in front of me chatting away. The guy says something like "They say that...". As soon as someone launches into a diatribe by prefacing the story with They I give myself an open invitation to tune out. Then I take the invitation to change the mental dial.

They this, they that. Who exactly is this they anyway?

Have a random fact that you neither have a source for nor do you know how factual it really is? Attribute said ‘fact’ to THEY! So They exists to give dumb people an excuse to talk when the only thing they have to add is a strong desire to hear their own voice.

Get some smarts and look it up on your phone’s web browser first ( Google Mobile Search ). I can give you the sources to find your answers, and then not only are they FREE, but you look heady and smart by giving REAL information. I guarantee that the actual fact backing up what you think you know in your head is much more interesting than the rubbish you are about to say (they).

They say knowing is half the battle, so here comes the OTHER half of the argument:

It is not bad enough just to attribute crappy concepts to They but sometimes They have a difference of opinion; which leads me to believe that your They might be a different They than my They in which case They (all) can get a life.

Think...KNOW...speak.

Unsecured Security

2004-11-17T08:11:00.000-08:00

In an ever-increasing effort to provide 'security' be it security of the mind, security of the body, or security of the family, science is providing new and innovative ways to take existing technology and apply it to new things. Some of these things plain scare me.

Take this for example.

There are now more than one school district giving children RFID chips. This is in addition to heart patients getting chips implanted into their chests, and any other number of new 'security' applications of the long-existing RFID technology.

When does it stop? Five years from now when my first child is born will the government attempt to insert a chip into my child's brain before the skull is fully developed? What is going to happen?

Frankly, I am both angry and scared that my family and my life are going to be unsecured by security.

At least they are fair...

2004-10-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

This is now my favorite instance of the PC (politically correct) world taking over.

PUYALLUP - A local school district is banning Halloween parties because children dressed up as witches might be offensive to real witches.

Ok, so doesn't Santa offend people trying to be real Santa's and elves offend the midgets? Does the Easter Bunny offend people with big ears and lots of hare? It seems to be technically feasible to find something wrong and get it banned.

Lets say that my wife was 'uncomfortable' with the way her fingernails looked, and it made her 'feel bad' to see women in public jobs (reporters, politicians, cheerleaders) to have perfectly groomed nails. Well, since these women are not accurately portraying the way my wife feels about her nails does she have an obligation to strike down the fake nails of America?

What lard.

What the Heck

2004-10-08T01:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, this following piece officially goes into the 'What the Heck' area of my mind. How can one not see the lies in this piece? Never in the history of man has a 'culture' or 'nation' broken itself apart to honor and cherish the different cultures in the world. Americans aspire to mimic all other cultures, and are quite content to let that culture go on about it's business.

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash5.htm

French President Jacques Chirac warned Thursday of a "catastrophe" for global diversity if the United States' cultural hegemony goes unchallenged.

Speaking at a French cultural center in Hanoi ahead of Friday's opening of a summit of European and Asian leaders, Chirac said France was right to stand up for cultural and linguistic diversity.

The outspoken French president warned that the world's different cultures could be "choked" by US values.

This, he said, would lead to a "general world sub-culture" based around the English language, which would be "a real ecological catastrophe".

Citing Hollywood's stranglehold over the film industry as an example, Chirac stressed that only with government assistance could countries maintain their cultural heritage.

Vietnam is a former French colony, but only around 375,000 of its 81 million people speak French. English is considered by most people a far more valuable and practical second language, particularly among businessmen.

Okay, lets give him the point about choking out other languages, and talk about cultural heritage. The French Marxist is so foolish as to think that the government is the only answer to the problem of English becoming more common. Why does every single problem have to be fixed by the government? Why does authority have to come from above. Why can't actually practicing democracy for a change be a fitting answer? Why can we not move towards a society where all things are done and voted for by the public at large. Why can't I decide what is my language heritage and culture?

Video Games

2004-10-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

If ever there was a vice that I could 100% effectively, honestly, openly, admittely, or shallowy admit to - video games would be the vice. There is nothing in my life that would qualify as something that was bad for me or another besides video games. Yet, for me, the problems with VG are that pretty much everyone in my life accepts and promotes them. Perhaps this is something that I become more aware of as I grow into a man who is trying to mentally condition himself to pursue more worth practices.

My mind, however, does have a very convenient way of sheltering things that are like an orc lurking behind the bush. Meaning a man walking about a path notices a game animal slightly off to the side of this wooded path. In reality this animal is an orc lurking in the woods waiting to pounce upon you in an ugly manner. Have VG become just such an orc? Or be perhaps that VG are just an ordinary hobby, and me just in a strange mood.

What a sad mental state to be in. I may just be drifting backwards out of the loose orbit of reality. Sheltered amongst the many me's in my head. Once off the gently balance of orbit, I careen at the same steady temp into the liquid inferno of the nearest sun.

The idea is interesting to me anyway....

Personal Note

2004-10-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

There is a pretty good chance that I might be at least a little bit retarded.

From the inside my brain appears so radically different than the picture I get from talking to ther people....

hmm... I wonder.

Guns...

2004-09-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the US Congress for finally getting something right. The non-action in letting the Assault Weapons Ban is a positive step towards truly freeing our country...

Dazed and Confused

2004-09-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

What follows is an email I wrote to myself late last night. I wrote it at a time that a man should not have to be awake. Alas, however, I had no choice.

The following comments are only edited for spelling, and nothing else:

Earth cannot produce environment more destitute than 2 AM. Thoughts wander, never fully formed. Words die in the Middle. The middle of what? Is it that those words left unsaid, unwritten and unthought slip somewhere else, into the deep alter-reality alter-universe of sleep? Do memories, questions, fears, ideas fully blossom to potential? Blossom on the other side of the Veil?

Wonder....

The morning after a rainstorm is full of life. Nature picks herself up, come out of hiding, and moves back into the rhythm of life. Earth worms are no exception. The worm runs to the surface in search of air, finds it, only to discover a scant few hours later that a mad dash back underground must take place in order to survive. Sometimes a worm is halfway back in when a boot, or a stick nastily cleave the might worm in two. The half that made it back underground will regenerate and live on.

Are conscience functions like this. Constantly slipping between sleep and wakefulness in search of growing to full length? What thoughts am I harboring that are waiting to recoup in order to contribute once again.

Is sitting up at 2 AM unable to sleep harming those ideas? Do they die, as parts of my brain randomly change from sleep to wake? One one side a boot crushes an idea, only to be crushed from the other side simultaneously as that sector jumps lines?

Shadow

2004-09-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

Ella has worked as the Head Maid for nearly 24 years. She had defended the manor from babies, children, weddings, parties, even wars. Never was a mess left in a corner, or a tapestry left unbeaten even for a single day. Through that time she has seen many things change. Some of that change had been ushered in by her. Currently she was sweeping one of the long, meandering hallways. The broom's straw strands making a careful, ordered swish swish on the cool stone floor.

She smiled at the thought of all the hours she had saved by inventing a new way to bind the straw together and to the broom handle. She had soaked leather in a pot overnight (over the fire next to the boiling rabbit stew: another of her innovations she reminded herself to reminisce on later). Then she bound the straw with the soaked leather, and baked each set of brooms in the bread oven. What came out was a broom that would last well beyond four of its string-bound counterparts. A slow smile spread across her face.

Ella saved every copper or silver she could over the years. Except for the occasional dress, and the essential consumables she had saved every possible bit. Next week she would talk to the Lord, and then leave. She had enough to buy a small estate somewhere, preferably in the trees; she loved the birds' calls. Her mind wandered as she continued to sweep down the corridor.

Swish. Swish. Swish. As she neared a window a chill went up her spine. The ordered cadence did not falter, alter, or change no matter where her mind went. Then, suddenly, it stopped. As Ella had swept past the window, and her shadow fell across the floor, her long, smooth stokes moved across her shadow, until on one identical stroke, her shadow was swept away in a furl of dust and minute bits of straw. Where just a moment past the swish had fully swept through the air, a scream rent it sharp like a knife... A man's laughter, deep and sardonic could be heard coming from just outside the window in the courtyard beyond.

Polish

2004-09-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

A man needs polish. Though I cannot offhandedly say what type of polish one needs. Some need shoe polish, need car polish, some need hair polish. Since I started capturing some thoughts here on this blog, I discovered that I need mental polish. My writing is uncharacteristically choppy, awkward, and confusing.

I have never been Mr Eloquent. I did, however, have some polish. That is what I am looking to get - polish. Over the next few months I predict that the composition, flow, wording, content of this blog will completely change, though I imagine one could still recognize it as my writing.

Thinking about why my writing has deteriorated to the point of anemia, I discovered what I think is the source for this depravity. EMAIL. Not just any email. Work Email.

I don't know what causes it, I have seen it rarely, like in versions 7-8 but not consistently, and I can NEVER reproduce it.

What is your % work done?

Here you go

Communist

Those are just a few examples of eMails sent by me in the last few days. Short, to the point, but utterly without imagination, flow, or life.

ARRGGHHHH!

Post Note: EMAIL email Email eMail how is it supposed to be spelled/represented?

Impressions

2004-09-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

Studies, statistics, and academic types all agree. 'They' (the indubitable phantom of persuasion) say that the chances of changing opinion after a first impression is made are very low. Not to say that it cannot be done. I am here to tell you of one of these scarce occurrences.

I am an avid reader. I read - a lot. I started really reading in the 7th grade. That is when I read my first whole book. Dragons of Autumn Twilight was that book. Well, that was the end of it. My imagination shall forever be tinted with the blood of dragons, elves, knights, and so on. Needless to say it was several years before I took a breath. I decided to step into another genre...and read Dune. Well, not as far away as I was attempting to get, but it was a step.

During this time, my opinions and thoughts about literature in general were formed. There were books, then there were BOOKS. I couldn’t (and still can’t) get enough of stories about heroes, and wars, and saving the world. I tried to look about me and see what other people were reading. It is this time that I took my actual first look at Stephen King. I knew nothing but his name. It took my all of 5 seconds to become anti-King. Just a glance at the bookstore and I was set against him. There was a bigger Stephen King section than that devoted to my entire genre! I have always deep down resented (and admired) the McDonaldization of our society, and I thought King was the manifestation of that horrendous societal behemoth.

Ah to be young and idealistic.

Part 2 later….The Transformation

Good Morning Vietnam

2004-09-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

I wonder how someone can sit down and watch, really watch John Kerry speak for more than 10 minutes and not throw up in one's mouth. The man makes satire way too easy. If you take a random sample of 100 continuous words from a Kerry speech/interview/public record you can find another 100 words somewhere in the last 20 years stating the exact opposite.

I admit, politics anger me, liberals more than others, but the man is like a dead fish in the middle of the ocean, you cannot tell what shore he'll wash up on next week, and as soon as you throw him back out, he drifts somewhere else.

It must be hard being a politician. It would be extremely challenging to have an opinion on everything, from the speed limit on country roads in New Mexico, to the labor negotiations of the Longshoremen in San Fran. But come on...I own 12 SUVs...I do not own an SUV. I don't get it.

Just an aside here for a moment, I live in the ultra-liberal Puget Sound region of Washington State. This is the stomping grounds of Ralph Nader. I am not a Nader fan, but I have to feel sorry for the guy, I mean he is a 'Socialist' (Read:Communist) and he cannot get more than 1% of the vote. That is how drippingly liberal Kerry is.

Enough about that.

First Post

2004-09-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

I decided that since this is the first time I have:

A. Had a Blog. And,
B. Decided to share my thoughts on the internet with others.

That I would do something special. I have been reading several 'blogs' over the last few years, and decided it really is not a bad gig. What other outlet can a person use to share thoughts, opinions, heck even rants and raves, for free, and get feedback?

So let's see what can happen.