Rose Colored Glasses
0552
30°
3.55 miles
Still at the Swamp.
Talk amongst yourselves while Sparky takes me home.
3 easy this morning at the park. 29° and clear skies.
RCG - I'm glad you like Kurt Vonnegut. He is my favorite author. I've read all his books at least twice and some of them probably a dozen times or more. I read stuff people write about him. I contributed to the Kickstarter campaign to get the documentary, "Unstuck in Time" completed. It took about 40 years for that to finally get completed in 2021. I have gone to Indianapolis for the main purpose of visiting the Vonnegut library. (I did other things while there.)
I stand by my comment that he was prophetic in Harrison Bergeron in seeing the DEI clown world we live in now. The fact that his main purpose of the book was to poke fun at people who criticized socialism is not relevant to what I was saying.
I was somewhere in the 5th to 7th grade when a teacher had us read some short stories from "Welcome to the Monkey House". I don't remember if Harrison Bergeron was one of the assignments, but I read them all. Some may not have been "appropriate" for the age we were. I mentioned that to the teacher who agreed but said she didn't expect anyone to read more than the assigned stories.
Here's hoping others will post while I'm composing my rambling Tuesday missive.
Steve, Belated happy birthday to Bruce Wayne/ Batman! Why were you turned away from the blood drive? Did you need an appointment but had none? Was your BP elevated? Was your hemoglobin low? Or was it the nurse's discretion to deny you the privilege of donating?
Deez! Oh my! That is so frightening! I am so glad the pedestrian made it across the street and you were attentive to real life and not depending on simply having the green light. In a split second, you analyzed how things were not what they should be.
TwoCat. Glad you got an hour on the elliptical and are able to love every minute of your life regardless of the season.
BTY it is cool that you have figured out how to channel your compulsive impulse for good and not evil. Ha ha. I enjoyed your walk along the river the other day. And I appreciate your gym workout information. I really need to form a resistance training habit. There was a good story on NPR yesterday about the importance of this. I was also hearing Leslie in that story because they also talked about eating proper protein after working out.
Surly it's always interesting to read your set production posts. I understand your frustration regarding the overly discussed moving of the set pieces. I see both sides of this although your experiences are different from mine. I get frustrated when I am supposed to help the rrs move something or lift something and he doesn't tell me the plan first. When both parties are moving out of sync and in different directions it is a recipe for injury. Perhaps it is my nurse's training. We know we have to discuss how the patient is going to be lifted or moved before beginning or someone is going to get hurt. Something as simple as saying "Okay, on 3 let's go" can save a back. It does seem that your co-workers were taking this to the extreme and really wasting time.
Marj glad you had a good walk and a prime parking spot for your art museum excursion. You guys always do the coolest things.
Holly glad you are feeling better. And good weights and core!
Tet thanks for sharing the different remembrances yesterday. I always like your Mt Rainier mentions because it brings me back to the times we've visited your fair state.
tomwhite soccer fields and popping knees seem incompatible. Fix that!
Roch I really enjoyed the poem. You might be interested in reading about The big bang theory I just read about Georges Lemaitre
yesterday! Richard Feynman is a complex person, just like Lemaitre.
Karen You amaze me with your running even though you aren't feeling as well as you like after your infusion. Glad you enjoyed the concert.
Dave Good kettle bell workout
Jay thanks for the Margaret follow-up. It is neat to discover how one doesn't realize how one boosts someone else.
Also, it's interesting you felt Henry's poem and mine were sobering. I didn't mean to sound that way. I read Henry's lovely poem and felt it was an invitation to write a riff. Like we were in little coffee house, sitting on a high stool in a dimly lit room spouting spontaneous poetry.
Henry thanks for sharing your poem. I felt it.
Hey Dave, glad you found a passion in Vonnegut's prose. Obviously we disagree with the Harrison Bergeron analysis and isn't that the beauty of living in a free country?
I consider DEI not handicapping a population but improving one.
In other words, I am not diminished when others are granted the same rights I've always enjoyed.
Since this seems like a rather specific discussion, I'd be happy to discuss it in private messages with you as I feel this is not apropos to this thread.
Another rose colored start to the daily! Thank you.
I have finished up my strength training a little breathless. I am out of shape. Time for a dog walk, the food pantry, and then having some neighbors over for supper. Another good day in Dnaff land.
Morning Masters and thanks for the start RCG.
Got a 30 minute ride to start the day. Can't wait for the weather to clear and I can get outside to see if this has helped. Will run later tonight.
Vonnegut is a good writer and I've enjoyed some of his books. There is a nice Vonnegut museum in downtown Indianapolis. Haven't been there since they moved to a larger location. Seems like a return visit is warranted. I think he must have had a great sense of humor as I recall he was in a scene with Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School, where Dangerfield hired him to write a report on himself and when it received a poor grade he refused to pay and said to Vonnegut he had no idea who Vonnegut was.
Well back to the grid.
Cheers.
"He conquers who endures" - Persius "Every workout should have a purpose. Every purpose should link back to achieving a training objective." - Spaniel
http://ncstake.blogspot.com/
Had to Google DEI to see if it was the same place I bought my last pair of hiking shoes and wind breaker. Guess not.
I woke up early enough (thanks to Dolly the Cat and Lindsay the Sr. Citizen Cardigan Corgi) to get to the pool prior to the 7:00 AM Tuesday opening, but dilly-dallied so much that I wasn't into the water until 7:20 AM, leaving me only 30 minutes instead of 50 minutes to do my prescribed workout. The main set was supposed to be a pyramid ladder in IM sequence. 100 yards butterfly (2 x 50 yard Butterfly), 200 yards backstroke (2 x 100); 300 yards breaststroke (3 x 100) and 400 yard freestyle (4 x 100). I got as far as the 2 x 50 yard butterfly, and then did a cooldown, and still couldn't get to work on time. But I was close.
Thanks for the comment Rosie. I was talking briefly with one of the lifeguards after my workout this morning and he asked what kind of work I do, and I told him my title is Sr. Cost Control Analyst, or numbers geek, and he said he could tell it was something like that...lol. Today is my 27th anniversary at this particular employer, though I've only been in this unit for about 15 of them. I'll be celebrating with a ham and turkey with Swiss on rye.
I started reading an article about swimmers shoulder this morning, and it starts right off stating that the cause is too many repetitions, which probably everyone is aware of, along with (my comment inserted here) too much too fast too soon, which translates to injury (not to mention frustration and disappointment) in almost any physical activity. It reminded me of why I do the variety that I do, and almost no one else at any pool I go to, does. Today's 3/4 mile workout consisted of
400 yards of freestyle;
300 yards of backstroke
300 yards of flutter kick with swim fins
300 yards of backstroke kick with swim fins
100 yards of butterfly.
If I'd done the whole workout, I would have added another 500 yards of freestyle, 300 yards of breaststroke, and another 200 yards of backstroke.
But as executed, I only did 800 yards of shoulder workout, and there was a good variety of movements taxing the shoulder muscles differently, while still getting in 30 minutes of cardiovascular work. I have an existing condition (a partially torn right shoulder rotator cuff, injured about 10 years ago, never surgically repaired, but corrected as much as possible via physical therapy). And there is some arthritis in there as well. The article served as a good reminder to keep checking my workouts for sufficient variety - particularly underwater dolphin kicks, flutter kick and backstroke kick (with and without swim fins), and breaststroke and butterfly, as long as I can continue to do butterfly, as I age.
Thanks, RCG. Happy anniversary at work, BTY. That's good longevity.
"Had to Google DEI to see if it was the same place I bought my last pair of hiking shoes and wind breaker. Guess not." Post of the day.
As I mentioned, I've given talks on the pitfalls of DEI programs. It's a disaster, as the investment community is now acknowledging. That does NOT mean we are opposed to diversity or equal opportunity. You can't forget about merit, though, which has been an unfortunate consequence. And God forbid you were a white male in your 40s or so..... I guess like anything, there are ways to do things and ways to NOT do them. You just have to figure out which is which.
8.1 struggling miles over on the path/neighborhoods. I feel fine except for running. I really think it is from the infusion and it should pass. I recall this from last year- maybe not as bad. It's like I have no legs- maybe like day 2 after a marathon. That's it for today. Dentist and a church meeting this afternoon.
Out there running since dinosaurs roamed the earth
Norm. I love that movie and remember the scene.
Off to play Mahjong this afternoon at Lisa's house. If I keep the luck I had at bridge this past weekend...
I could bring home some money!
Oh and I'll be AWOL around here for a lil while!
Be well.
Be kind.
MM#209 / JapanJoyful#803
I hopped into unload mode for a bit and tackled 5,300 lbs. of windows in an hour and a half. It was a good time.
Steve - your happy President's/Presidents'/Presidents Day was almost as busy as Jay's days off, if any.
ps - Happy birthday President Gotham.
Dave - I'm not only slow on the runs but also behind in the times too as, like so many things herein, that I now know, DEI from you most recent intereting signature blocks. Thanks.
RCG - for sure, even though you didn't get to pick-and-choose your weather like we can, you had a spaectacular day up at Paradise on Mt. Rainier. Makes us happy you could share it too.
Deez - the difficulty in seeing often dazed street people in their black hoodies walking out into the traffic of Seattle's dark streets with everyone's windshield wipers going full bore traffic is why, though we haven't needed to drive downtown when it's dark out for six or seven years, I just follow someone else's tail lights so when they stopped, I did too. Still see it all the time now that we're overlooking downtown but, without needing to drive anymore, from the buses, . . . whose drivers say the furtive noctural wanderings across the streets without regard to traffic are their greatest concern.
ps - if there's no tail lights in front of me I pulled over and waited until there were.,
After forecasting the expected winter rains for who-knows-how-long, the weather prognosticators finally got it right with steady, albeit light, rains this morning, just right at 46F to rest up for this afternoon's session with Dr. Torture that he hinted might involve some sort of electrotherapy. Yikes
"Enjoy yourself. Your younger days never come again." 100yo T. Igarashi to me in geta at top of Mt. Fuji (8/2/87)
Beach walking yesterday, around 4.5 miles. Undisclosed location on the Oregon coast. Nice view of the ocean from hotel room.
We came down here primarily so MBE could do some trail work and chainsaw and cross saw mentoring and training nearby but they cancelled the event due to high winds. Yet, it looks pretty calm out there. He went out to hike the trail today anyway. I am working, kind of.
Deez, so scary!
Loved the poems yesterday!
"During a marathon, I run about two-thirds of the time. That's plenty." - Margaret Davis, 85 Ed Whitlock regarding his 2:54:48 marathon at age 73, "That was a good day. It was never a struggle."
Marathon Maniac #957
Hey folks.
I am swamped at work, so will keep this short.
KSA - I saw your question and will address it when I have more time.
Oh, and 30 minutes on the stationary bike for me.
Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."
RCG--thanks for the start.
Ooo, it must be “Politics Tuesday.” Interesting! My 2 cents: Ranting against “DEI” is meaningless since there is a vast range of efforts that can fall under that umbrella. Some of these are excellent (for a range of reasons such as combating long-term racist and sexist institutional cultures and practices, through things like mentoring programs), some not (for a variety of reasons, too, from overreach to bland PR promotion and ineffective "trainings"). In a political context, though, the simplistic label is useful to those who want to keep voters riled up and divided. It enables relatively privileged sectors of society to see themselves as victims in that tried-and-true formula: “It’s outrageous what [insert any group that’s different than you] is doing through [insert latest political bumper sticker slogan; e.g. integration, “women’s lib,” gay rights, “political correctness,” “wokeism,” DEI, etc.] I prefer more mundane good-faith evidence-based efforts to look at what helps and what doesn’t in promoting fairness and equity. Hard to put that on a bumper-sticker or T-shirt, though.
Dave-- That looks like a voodoo doll! I always liked Vonnegut's plain-spoken socialism. In a good line, he once said something like, "Socialism is just paraphrasing the Sermon on the Mount."
Spring is in the air around here! Our long-term forecast suggests a major warm-up is in the works and feels like it today. A sunny 5-miler for me.
Be safe. Be kind.
It's a finger puppet I got at the Kurt Vonnegut library along with my Kurt Vonnegut coffee mug (and a few books.)
I didn't want to get political but I wanted to explain my comment I had in my signature line. I had actually contemplated just quitting the forum instead of responding. When I signed off my computer last night, that was my plan. Work has got me so stressed out that the thought of stirring things up here seemed like too much to deal with.
I'm glad you pointed out good things with DEI. To me it is all anti-liberal, anti-free speech, equity of outcomes over equality of opportunity. But I'll try to keep an open mind (maybe).
(Vonnegut had a very overly optimistic view of socialism. I don't think it has ever worked in real life like he envisioned.)