Memo to the Democrats: I'm glad you won. But the voters didn't vote for the Democrats. They voted for candidates who, as it happens, are Democrats. Just because a majority of Democrats hold seats in the Legislature now doesn't mean that you have a mandate from the People any more than Bush's 51% victory two years ago meant he had one then.
So stop talking about how the American People voted for a change in course. Stop celebrating this election as a win for the Democratic Party. If it were really about putting one party or another in power, we'd be voting for parties, not candidates, and we'd leave the choosing of the representatives up to you. Thankfully we don't. Another thing you should keep foremost in your minds: you didn't really win anyway. The Republicans merely lost. You had no better message or direction this time than you did the last time around.
To the candidates who won, please, please do your best to remember, you were elected by the people, not appointed by your Party. That means you are answerable to your constituents first, your party second.
The necessary check on our President has thankfully been restored. But for godsakes, don't abuse your newfound power with delusions that you will fix our problems.
You'll merely create new ones.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
...fed up and tired and disgusted...or just frustrated with life being so complicated, jobs not paying enough money even if I do get them, dreams being in jeopardy because it takes so much just to live, and why the hell are politics such a fucking joke, i mean is it really possible that we've completely lost sight of what its about? they take taking power so fucking seriously that i wonder if they have any heart or brains or commitment to anything real at all. its depressing when even the guy you maybe sort of believed in turns out to have at least one completely boneheaded idea up his sleeve, boneheaded enough that now you're not sure you want to vote for him. and then you discover that the very process of voting in your new state is a fucking joke, there's no information, anywhere, and what little you do find is paltry and grossly inadequate. what the hell are we voting on? and who the hell for? are they worth our time? no really, do you WANT these people in office? do you believe in them? or are you forced to believe in them and vote for them because they just happen to be the people with the money, power, and influence to put themselves in the spotlight? besides that, who wants to see their dream slowly get plinked to death as they watch their bank account slowly shrink, realizing in the meantime that their new job isn't actually providing the shifts to fill the holes so that enough money is being made to keep from running out of it? not me...
too much to deal with. food is too expensive. hell, living is too expensive. and a bit complicated sometimes, even though most of the time we make it more complicated than it has to be...
So, in other news...wait, is there other news? Oh yeah, RunSport is going out of business. If not by the end of December, then by the end of January. Ironically this means that the last two times I've worked there have been some of the busiest. People come in and tell us how sorry they are that we're on our way out...but as a wise person in the store said, they're not keeping us in business. Its sad, but what's to be done...I think I'll wear the RunSport jersey in races for a while though (I mean who wouldn't? Its an adidas elite jersey...and its badass).
I guess I'm not particularly happy at the moment. Probably because of politics, which more and more strike me as a complete waste of time, and, well, just sad...is this really how America runs itself? And there is, of course, the issue of still not making enough money, even though I have secured the sought-after second job (it being only my first real week notwithstanding).
Oct 30-Nov 5 Summary:
Monday-1hr easy, ~9 miles with the Rice boys
Tuesday- Workout: Long way to Hermann, 5 min of hills, rest 5 min, then 6x hill loop that Adam created: 1:40/1:40/1:44/1:44/1:43/1:38 I have no idea how long it was. Rest 5 min, 5 min of hills, long way back to apt. ~8 miles
Wednesday- 1hr easy. ~9 miles
Thursday- 50 min easy, ~8 miles @night
Friday- 1hr easy, ~9 miles
Saturday- Workout: 2.5 mi warmup to North/South.
3x(start at South and Hazard, run to end medium-fast, then jog to North and run back to North and Hazard fast. Jog around school for recovery):
medium-fast/recovery/fast/long recovery:
Set 1: 3:38/38/3:30/2:42//
Set 2: 3:42/47/3:26/3:18//
Set 3: 3:14/1:14/3:21
The paces ended up being around 5:10/mi for the medium fast and 4:45-4:50/mi for the fast (Adam ran the last fast effort for a full mile to calibrate)
Jog 10 min
5x~100m strides (didn't do #6 because my right hip got tight)
~2 mi cooldown. Solid workout.
~11 miles
Sunday-1:46 easy. ~16 miles
Total: ~70 miles. And I got 57 hours of sleep, though not on as regular a schedule as I would like. Still, a good week, runningwise.
too much to deal with. food is too expensive. hell, living is too expensive. and a bit complicated sometimes, even though most of the time we make it more complicated than it has to be...
So, in other news...wait, is there other news? Oh yeah, RunSport is going out of business. If not by the end of December, then by the end of January. Ironically this means that the last two times I've worked there have been some of the busiest. People come in and tell us how sorry they are that we're on our way out...but as a wise person in the store said, they're not keeping us in business. Its sad, but what's to be done...I think I'll wear the RunSport jersey in races for a while though (I mean who wouldn't? Its an adidas elite jersey...and its badass).
I guess I'm not particularly happy at the moment. Probably because of politics, which more and more strike me as a complete waste of time, and, well, just sad...is this really how America runs itself? And there is, of course, the issue of still not making enough money, even though I have secured the sought-after second job (it being only my first real week notwithstanding).
Oct 30-Nov 5 Summary:
Monday-1hr easy, ~9 miles with the Rice boys
Tuesday- Workout: Long way to Hermann, 5 min of hills, rest 5 min, then 6x hill loop that Adam created: 1:40/1:40/1:44/1:44/1:43/1:38 I have no idea how long it was. Rest 5 min, 5 min of hills, long way back to apt. ~8 miles
Wednesday- 1hr easy. ~9 miles
Thursday- 50 min easy, ~8 miles @night
Friday- 1hr easy, ~9 miles
Saturday- Workout: 2.5 mi warmup to North/South.
3x(start at South and Hazard, run to end medium-fast, then jog to North and run back to North and Hazard fast. Jog around school for recovery):
medium-fast/recovery/fast/long recovery:
Set 1: 3:38/38/3:30/2:42//
Set 2: 3:42/47/3:26/3:18//
Set 3: 3:14/1:14/3:21
The paces ended up being around 5:10/mi for the medium fast and 4:45-4:50/mi for the fast (Adam ran the last fast effort for a full mile to calibrate)
Jog 10 min
5x~100m strides (didn't do #6 because my right hip got tight)
~2 mi cooldown. Solid workout.
~11 miles
Sunday-1:46 easy. ~16 miles
Total: ~70 miles. And I got 57 hours of sleep, though not on as regular a schedule as I would like. Still, a good week, runningwise.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Nothing stinks up a room quite like a pair of running shorts. And nothing sucks quite like not having a closet to sequester said shorts in to contain the smell, because you LIVE in the closet where the shorts are kept. I need some more shorts...
I had forgotten to mention yesterday that the race ended in the Houston Zoo, and so for the first time in my more than four years here I found myself wandering around, looking at monkeys and giraffes (all I had time for). Its odd, when we're kids, we're filled with wonder, but even then the real incredulity of being able to actually see a real giraffe escapes us. (And no, incredulity really isn't the right word, but the right word doesn't really exist, or would have to be used horribly incorrectly to get my point across. Something like incredibleness or amazingness.) I mean think about it. When's the last time you saw a giraffe? We take it for granted, but this is an animal that's 16-18 FEET TALL. Its a friggin freak of nature, a messed up mutated cow for cryin out loud (and I say that with awe, not disdain). And its from AFRICA. In this world of unprecedented wealth and spectacle, we take a giraffe for granted; there's nothing special about it as an animal or where it comes from. But I think that's just because we've gotten so jaded with the truly wondrous.
Seriously, go to a zoo and just LOOK at one. Its a friggin giraffe! From Africa! Wtf!
Now that's exactly the kind of rant that will most likely completely escape you, because unless you've felt something like what I felt on Saturday, or unless what you just read somehow gets what I felt across in such a way that you can feel it too, this little bit simply won't mean anything to you. But I hope it does. Because we're never too old to find something in the world that makes us go, whoa, even if its something we've known about and seen before. In fact, I'd go so far as to say rediscovering something that we had glossed over as a regular part of our landscape as something completely new is a pretty neat experience.
I think it keeps us young.
Pictures of the race are available now at raceshots.net. Click on the Great Pumpkin Fun Run and enter bib# 1336.
I had forgotten to mention yesterday that the race ended in the Houston Zoo, and so for the first time in my more than four years here I found myself wandering around, looking at monkeys and giraffes (all I had time for). Its odd, when we're kids, we're filled with wonder, but even then the real incredulity of being able to actually see a real giraffe escapes us. (And no, incredulity really isn't the right word, but the right word doesn't really exist, or would have to be used horribly incorrectly to get my point across. Something like incredibleness or amazingness.) I mean think about it. When's the last time you saw a giraffe? We take it for granted, but this is an animal that's 16-18 FEET TALL. Its a friggin freak of nature, a messed up mutated cow for cryin out loud (and I say that with awe, not disdain). And its from AFRICA. In this world of unprecedented wealth and spectacle, we take a giraffe for granted; there's nothing special about it as an animal or where it comes from. But I think that's just because we've gotten so jaded with the truly wondrous.
Seriously, go to a zoo and just LOOK at one. Its a friggin giraffe! From Africa! Wtf!
Now that's exactly the kind of rant that will most likely completely escape you, because unless you've felt something like what I felt on Saturday, or unless what you just read somehow gets what I felt across in such a way that you can feel it too, this little bit simply won't mean anything to you. But I hope it does. Because we're never too old to find something in the world that makes us go, whoa, even if its something we've known about and seen before. In fact, I'd go so far as to say rediscovering something that we had glossed over as a regular part of our landscape as something completely new is a pretty neat experience.
I think it keeps us young.
Pictures of the race are available now at raceshots.net. Click on the Great Pumpkin Fun Run and enter bib# 1336.
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