Mad Men

Virginia and I started watching Mad Men when we are at the beach in July. It took about six months, but we made it through all three seasons. We watched most of season one and season two through Netflix. Part of season two we watched on our DVR from a Mad Men marathon that AMC ran before season three started. Season three we watched on the DVR except for one episode that got recorded over in error and we watched that one through Itunes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_men

At the beginning, I thought the show was a bit slow and fell asleep during several episodes. Initially Virginia liked the show more than me. It is a show that you have to be patient with and get to know the characters. It was not until the last half of season three that I really looked forward to watching the episodes.

The show is set in the 1960s and they do a great job of giving the show a 60's feel. The constant smoking and drinking in the office really contrasts from society today. They only make thirteen episodes a season and the production of the show is of a much higher quality than a network shows that has a longer season. The acting from the stars to the supporting characters is excellent as well

The show stars Jon Hamm as Don Draper, a brilliant creative force at the Sterling Cooper advertising agency. Draper has a secret in his past. He is actually Dick Whitman and stole the real Don Draper's identity when Draper was killed in the Korean war. Draper is married to the beautiful, but childlike Betty, played by January Jones . Don is not faithful to Betty and they do not have a happy marriage. Initially Don seems like the bad guy, but as time goes, I found myself liking Don more and more and not caring for Betty. Their third child is born during season three. Don is a very good father when he focused on parenting, which is not often. Betty is a poor parent and it is easy to foresee that the oldest daughter Sally will rebel when she is a teenager.

The rest of the cast either works with Don at Sterling Cooper or is related to someone at Sterling Cooper. Sterling Cooper was founded by the wonderfully quirky Bert Cooper and the late father of the very witty Roger Sterling. Cooper and Roger Sterling run the company with increasing responsibility for Don Draper. There is a number of young white male junior executives that I found pretty interchangeable until season three when I was able to differentiate them. Pete Campbell being the exception. Pete is a fascinating character because he can be overly ambitious and flakey but is the most forward thinking person at the agency. Cooper, Sterling and the other interchangeable young white males provide most of the comedy of the show.

Peggy Olson and Joan Holloway highlight the struggle of women in the workforce during the time. Peggy is initially Don's secretary but Don sees that she is talented and eventually makes her a copywriter. Peggy hid a pregnancy in season one which was the result of a onetime romantic encounter with Pete. Peggy was in denial about the pregnancy. She comes from a strong catholic background. Peggy shares a connection with Don and is his protege. Joan is as smart as anyone at Sterling Cooper and excels at any work project she is involved with. She is the Office Manager but is capable of a lot more responsibility. Joan had an affair with Roger Sterling. She married a young doctor in season two and also has a unhappy marriage.

Another part of society that is examined in Mad Men is homosexuality in the 1960s through Sal Romano. He is a closet gay man struggling with his sexuality. Sal's marriage is poor and his wife cannot figure out what is wrong with it. Don finds out about Sal's secret during a business trip, but does not tell anyone. Sal is eventually fired because he refuses the advances of Sterling Cooper's most important client.

At then end of season two, Sterling Cooper is sold to a British Company. Lane Pryce comes over from England to run Sterling Cooper. Bert Cooper and Roger Sterling are still around, but no longer in charge. Season three ends with Don finding out they are going to be sold to an even bigger company. Don, Pryce, Cooper and Sterling are all unhappy about the pending sale and scheme to free themselves up to start their own agency. Season three ends with the beginning of Sterling Cooper, Draper and Pryce. They hire Peggy, Joan, Pete and Harry Crane, the head of the tv department.

Additionally, at the end of season three Don's marriage unravels. Betty has been flirting throughout the season with Henry Francis, who works for the Governor's office. Betty find out about Don's secret past and decides she no longer loves him. At the end of the season, Betty is flying off with Henry to Reno to get a divorce from Don.

The reason that I enjoyed the third season so much more than the earlier seasons is that the characters are so complex that it takes along time to get to know and appreciate them. I cannot wait for season four to start. Overall, I give Mad Men a B+. However, for season three only I give Mad Men an A.

Contrasting Two Films

I forgot my headphones this morning, but still got my seven mile run in. I feel good about that. My hurdle for tomorrow is that I will have to run at lunch.

Adventureland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventureland_(film)

Virginia does not provide any input into the movies that are in our Netflix queue. She can be critical of the movies that I select. I have admittedly been a cold streak with the movies that we have received the last few months. Bill Simmons recommended Adventureland on his podcast and Virginia read the summary and decide she did not even want to watch it so I watched it by myself on a lazy Sunday afternoon . Adventureland is one of the best movies that I have seen this year.

This is a coming of age story set in 1987. The main character is James (played by Jesse Eisenberg, who I never heard of) whose summer plans fall through due to his parents financial problems and he is forced to work in a small amusement park to make money. James seems to have previously lived a sheltered life so working at the amusement park gives him an opportunity to get to know people from different backgrounds.He falls for a co-worker named Em, played by Kristin Stewart who is involved with another older married coworker.

I thought this movie was similar to Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, but I like Adventureland much better because the characters were much more identifiable and interesting. This goes for both the main character and the supporting characters. Part of this may have been because I was around the same age as James in 1987. In addition, the soundtrack is great for anyone that grew up in the 80s.

It is shocking that this film only made $16 million at the box office. Both Wikipeida and Bill Simmons mentioned issues with how the film was marketed as part of the problem. However, if anyone is looking for a good sleeper film, this gets my vote.

I give Adventureland a A-.

The Hangover

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hangover_(film)

The Hangover contrasts with Adventureland in two ways.

• Prior to the released of The Hangover the advertising was extensive. There were commercials for this movie non-stop.
• The Hangover has made about 18 times as much money as Adventureland and is the highest grossing R rated comedy ever.

I was really looking forward to seeing this film. However, after watching The Hangover I was disappointed.

I did not care for the three main characters in the film. Bradley Cooper's Phil was far too arrogant and was a jerk. Zach Galifianakis as Alan was too over the top with his weirdness and Ed Helms as Stu was basically playing the same awkward character that he plays in The Office. Especially in a comedy if you don't care about the characters, you are unlikely to enjoy the movie.

The main three characters go to Las Vegas for a bachelor party for their friend, Doug. They wake up the next day and can not find Doug and none of them can recall what happened the previous evening. They have to piece together the events of prior night.

Netflix has a a new category for movies like The Hangover, they call them Late Night Comedies. This is the order that I would rate the top films in this category over the last few years that I have seen.

Great

Knocked Up

Wedding Crashers

Good

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

40 Year Old Virgin

Average

Superbad

The Hangover

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Horrible

Tropic Thunder

I give The Hangover a C-.

I read recently that more people watched the reality show about the lady with the big ass whose father was friends with OJ Simpson (the name is escaping me and that is not a bad thing) who became famous from a porno than the season finale of Mad Men, which was on at the same time. The fact that The Hangover was so much bigger than Adventureland can be chalked up to the same lack of taste in the masses.

Two Books From Chicago

I had a decent five mile run this morning on the treadmill. I am trying to get back to the same speed I was doing these five miles runs in September. This morning I did it in 44:41 which is more than a minute slower than I was going, but fast than I have gone in a few months. I plan to do 7 miles tomorrow and 5 miles on Thursday. I noticed today that my gym is not open until 8 AM on Thursday, which means that I will have to run at lunch. I have not run well the last few times that I have run at lunch. However, I realize that I am behind on my marathon training and have little margin for unsuccessful runs.

Audacity of Hope

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Audacity_of_Hope

I enjoyed Barack Obama's first book, Dreams of My Father quite a bit when I read it about a year ago. He is a good writer and was interesting reading about him as a regular person struggling to find his identity. Obama wrote Dreams of My Father before his political career started so there is not the political calculation in what he writes as you would expect from a politician.

I read Audacity of Hope over the summer. The book is essentially a documentation of Obama's political believes in preparation for his campaign as President. I read this book because I am a fan of Obama and I enjoyed Dreams of My Father. In the past, I have read books about political campaigns because the strategy of campaigns interest me but I have never read a book for pleasure about a politician's beliefs.

When I read a book it usually falls into two categories. A book that really enjoy I look forward to reading and make time outside of my commute to read it. Other books become like school projects ,where I read for the sake of finishing the book rather than for the enjoyment. I found Audacity of Hope to be more finishing for the sake of finishing than for enjoyment. While I know the subject matter is important and I have my beliefs, I simply am not intellectual enough to find reading a book about politicial beliefs, changes or proposals to be enjoyable. I would have found the book more enjoyable if there were more antedates rather than facts. There were some stories but rather than going on and on about why public health care is necessary, I would rather hear stories about real life people who would benefit.

Without getting political, I will say that I don't understand people who say that Obama is more liberal that they were led to believe. I think his decisions in his first year of office were consistent with the political beliefs that he wrote about in Audacity of Hope.

Overall, this type of book is not a book I would normally read and after reading it, I do not foresee myself reading a political book like this for pleasure again. However, it does give a important incite into how the President thinks. I give Audacity of Hope a C.

The Time Traveler's Wife

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Traveler's_Wife

This is another book that I read that is more geared to females. It has been made into a movie, but I have not seen it. The story is kind of an adult fairy tale by Audrey Niffenberger. This is her first book. Henry time travels throughout his life. He cannot control when or where he time travels. Henry also time travels throughout the life of his wife, Claire, who does not time travel. Henry will suddenly find himself in a different time and location. He arrives without any clothes and has to scramble to stay out of trouble and not bring attention to himself.

Understanding the chronology of this book is like a puzzle. At the beginning of each chapter we are told the date and age of both Henry and Claire. I found myself referring back to this constantly. I considered listening to a recording of this book, but I am glad I did not because it would have been very hard to follow without the ability to go back and review the dates and age of Henry and Claire.

The time travel element is this story is similiar to the time travel in season five of Lost. What happens, happens and cannot be changed. For example, Henry repeatly goes back in time to when he was a kid and his mother dies in a car accident, but he is powerless to stop her. I first heard about The Time Travelers Wife when reading about Lost and that how time travel is explained in this book, helps to explain how time travel work on Lost as well. I am not a big science ficton person so I was glad that the book is more about the relationship between Claire and Henry then about the time travel.

The love story between Claire and Henry was interesting because in some aspects it was normal and in other ways it was unique. They really did not fall in love. An older Henry starting time traveling to Claire's house when we was a little girl. They have a place where he goes and she uses some of her father's clothes for Henry. The adult Henry's relationship with the young girl that he will eventually marry is creepy but the author does the best she can to make it above the board. As Claire gets older, she realizes that Henry is her future husband. The adult Henry does not visit Claire after she is 18 and the couple do not see each other until three year later when they have a chance meeting with the real time Henry. Claire then explains who she is is and that they will get married. Thus, they don't fall in love like regular as much as they are told that they will fall in love.

The book is a fantasy, but Niffenberger does a good job with the timetables and explanations. Obviously there is quite a bit of storytelling freedom for a book like this. For example, they tell certain people about Henry's time traveling but not Claire's family and Henry does not want to tell anyone about the future, but is willing to use his knoweldge to make bets when he know the outcome to make a comfortable amount of money, but not millions. However, the characters are likable and the story works.

I give The Time Travelers Wife a B.

Running Since the Freedom Run Marathon

Three Month Running Recap

Since I completed the Freedon Run Marathon, my running has not been as consistent as I would like.

I took a couple days off, but ran fine for a couple weeks. On Sunday, October 18th I came down with a virus (possibly swine flu) that I caught from the the rest of my family. I was only sick for two days. I did not run from from October 18th thru the October 23rd. When I started running again, it was shocking how much endurance I had lost. On October 23rd I did not make it 3 miles and the the next day I was only able to do 4 miles. My runs during the week had to be built back up to 5 miles. It took several weeks until I was able to get my long runs back to double figures.

In November, I progressed pretty steadily, running up to 15 miles on my long runs. Around Thanksgiving I went through I rough stretch where I was not running well. This was a combination of minor leg issues and lack of motivation. Then after a horrible run on Saturday, November 28th, I felt much better on my run the next day.

My running obstacles in December have been the weather, time constraints and motivation. I have not been able to run on the C & O Canal in quite some time. I cut my run short on December 13th due to ice. I was not able to run at all the weekend of December 19th due to the major snowstorm. I got my exercise from shoveling. Due to time constraints I did not do a long run this past weekend. As a result I have not run more than 7 miles since December 6th. However, I feel pretty good now and without the holidays out of way, hope to increase my workload significantly in January.

2010 Race Plans

Before race plans, I made a few decisions on the type of race I wanted to select.. I wanted to focus on a few big races rather then race in a bunch of smaller races. I realized around Thanksgiving, that I did not have to sign up for a Turkey Trot, I could get as much out a simple run around neighberhood which does not involve any travel time and I can start when I am ready. In addition, I decided that in 2010 I would focus on the marathon distance. The aspects of the Freedom Run Marathon that I did not like, really shaped my plans for 2010. I want to focus on marathons with a relatively flat course with a lot of crowd support.

There were two races that I considered for March, the National Marathon in DC and the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach. After researching both, it was clear that the Shamrock Marathon would be a lot of fun. The race has great reviews, is flat and should make a nice mini vacation. Since this is a resort area in the off season, the hotels are reasonable. The National Marathon is a relatively new race, that has gotten mixed reviews. After thinking about it for several months, I decided to pay the extra money and sign up for the Shamrock race. I also booked a beachfront hotel less than a mile from the start and finish line for about $65 a night.

I am excited about the Shamrock Marathon, but also have catching up to do in my training since it is less than 90 days away. I am planning to run between 15 and 18 miles during the week, between 7 and 10 on Saturday and get up to 20 miles on my long run by the end of January. I plan to run 12 miles this Sunday and increase by 2 miles each week.

I am tentatively planning to run the Frederick Marathon. Frederick is my hometown marathon so I would like to continue to run it. It is not the flatest course and the crowd support is only good for the first half, but it is convenient. It is six weeks after the Shamrock. Since I have only run two marathons, I obviously have not run them so close together but think this is doable. I have not signed up and since the price does not increase until March 31st, I will hold off registering for now.

For the fall, I am planning to run the Marine Corp Marathon. I want to run a big city marathon. For 2010 I chose Marine Corp over Baltimore because Marine Corp is bigger and I have run Baltimore before, the half in 2008. The registration for the Marine Corp opens in April. I know that one fills up pretty quickly.

I may run a few other minors races that I have run in the past, but the marathons will be my target races. I am very excited about the marathons, especially the Shamrock and Marine Corp.

No Justice In Survivor 19

Season 19 was the season of Russell Hantz. Russell is a rough, blunt, red neck from Texas who will pull out all stops to win. Never before has one person dominated the game or the airtime of the season like Russell did this year. Russell was a character that I disliked initially but by the end wanted him to win badly, because he dominated the game so much. Most of the cast were so poor at playing Survivor and bland that it almost seemed like the producers decided to put one smart, very aggressive player with a cast of players who did not know what they were doing.

Russell was on the Foa Foa tribe. Russell did not seem to care if his tribe won and appeared to be perfectly happy getting rid of anyone he perceived as a threat. At the merge the other tribe, Galua was ahead 8 to 4 and it appeared that Russell's strategy would backfire and that Galua would eliminate the remaining Foa Foa players one by one. However, through Russell's ability to find the hidden idol (three times) and Galua's stupidity, Galua was eventually at a numbers disadvantage and all were eliminated in order except for the Brett, who was barely shown most of the season, but went on a immunity challenge run at the end.

Brett avoided elimination by winning three challenges in a row. At the last elimination challenge, it came down to Russell and Brett. Russell won and Brett was voted out. Russell's core alliance were the three other remaining members of Foa Foa (Jaison, Mick and Natalie) and Shambo the outcast from Galua. Jaison is a law student, who seemed miserable on the show. Mick is a doctor, which is hard to believe based on the lack of intelligence he displayed on Survivor. Natalie is a salesperson who is a nice, attractive Christian who was well liked. All three of the Foa Foas chief skill was doing whatever Russell told them to do. Shambo is a lesbian ex marine, who did not get along with the pretty girls on Galua and greatly admired Russell. As Brett won immunity challenges, Shambo and then Jaison were voted off, leaving Russell, Natalie and Mick in the finals.

Survivor is not like most games or sports. The winner is decided by individuals who can be as subjective, illogical and biased as they want. Besides the motto "outwit, outplay, outlast", there is no rules for what factors the jury uses to decide who wins. The dynamic of each jury is different. This was never illustrated more than the latest season.

One question or concern that I have is that the jury is not supposed to discuss the vote with the other jury members beforehand, but I think it happens and this year it seemed more apparent than in the past. Both Dave and Jaison praised Russell's game in their exit speech and ended up voting for Natalie.

I think Russell dominated the game and clearly should have won. However, there were 8 members of the jury that were stupid enough to somehow lose 8-4 advantage since the merge, so they clearly were not very smart. Here is a breakdown of how I see the jury,

Hypocritical Jury Members
Eric - Was completely arrogant when he was in the game and talked about how lying and cheating were big parts of the game. In short, he was similar to Russell, but not nearly as good. Every week that he was on the jury, he was cheering Russell's moves. His speech and vote made no sense based on how he acted previously.

Jaison - Praised and followed every move Russell made, until Russell voted him out. Then he found Russell immoral. I especially did not like his comparison to an office because 1. A game is different than real life 2. Russell did not sit around and play, Russell did more than his share of the work.

Christian Jury Members
Laura and Brett-Both bonded with Natalie over religion

Laura's Followers Jury Members
Kelly and Monica - Both were heavily influenced by Laura, who as mentioned above, bonded with Natalie based on both being strong Christians.

Crazy Jury Members
Dave - This guy was supposed to have the highest IQ in the history of Survivor. However, he never made any sense and always seems way out there. Completely unpredictable. I wonder how much pot he is smoked in his life.

Shambo - Was the Gilligan of the game. She was wacky, incompetent, emotional and steadfastly loyal to Russell. Her declaration for Russell in front the jury did not help Russell with Laura and her followers.

Rational Jury Member
John - Seemed to be the logical member of the jury.

I think Russell's down fall was not recognizing the bonding that Natalie was forming with Laura and Brett over their religious beliefs and that Natalie made her living as a Salesperson and had excellent people skills. Russell should have voted Natalie out instead of Shambo or Jaison.

Russell gave the jury too much credit thinking they would vote rationally for who was clearly the best player rather than letting their bitterness and friendship factor into their decision.

This was a fun season of Survivor with a disappointing ending. I give Survivor a B+.

I Am Not Fascinated

Here is a rundown of my opinion or what I know about the the individuals listed on Barbara Walters 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009.

Lady Gaga - I know she is a singer. That is the extent of my knowledge on the Lady Gaga. As far as I know, I have never heard any of her songs.

Tyler Perry - I know he directs and stars in movies and tv shows directed at African Americans. I believe he plays parts of a woman in some of his movies or tv shows. I have never seen any of his stuff.

Jenny Sanford - I know she is married to the Governer of South Carolina and that he was disappearing to South America to visit his mistress. While it is unfortunate that her husband cheated on her, I am not sure what makes her fascinating. It sounds like if Mark Sanford found the mistress more fascinating.

Kate Gosselin - Several years ago I was flipping channels and came across her show. I watched it for a few minutes. She was having her husband paint the kids room. It was boring and seemed very scripted. It is fascinating and a sad commentary on our culture (though harmless)that Kate Gosselin is a celebrity when no one know seems to know why she is famous.

Glenn Beck - In the 1980s he used to be a shock jock at B104 a Baltimore radio station that I sometimes listened to. He was apparantly a cocaine addict during this time. After the shock jock business declined, Beck reinvented himself as a Limbaugh imitator. He had found a niche for himself in the right wing Obama hating crowd. It is a sad commentary on our culture that Beck is rich, famous and apparantly fascinating by preaching hate.

Adam Lambert - I know he was on American Idol this past season and got a lot of attention recently for a risque performance on a MTV awards show. I don't watch American Idol and have never seen or heard Adam Lambert perform.

Sarah Palin - Palin ran a poor campaign as vice president highlighted by the Katie Couric interview. She seems woefully unable to discuss issues unless she is following a script. In 2009 Palin quit her job as Governor of Alaska. Regardless of political view, Palin is all style and no substance. It is a sad commentary on our culture that Palin would be considered a strong candidiate for President in 2012.

Brett Favre - Actually a deserving person although I think intriguing may be a better word than fascinating. His will he or won't he retire the last few years have been a media circus. However, he is having a great yeat at the age of 40 for the Vikings.

Michael Jackson's children - I am not sure why anyone would care about a celebrity's child or why they would be fascinating. Who the biological father of Michael Jackson's children or the names he chose for his children (Blanket?) may be fascinating, the children themselves are not.

Michelle Obama - Being the First Lady is an important job. However, virtually all First Ladies are relavant only because of who they married. Barack Obama should be on the list. He was inagurated as the first African American President in 2009.


Final tally is
Know Nothing About 3 - Lady Gaga, Tyler Perry and Adam Lambert

Don't Care About 3 - Jenny Sanford, Kate Gosselin and Jackson children

Don't Like 2 - Glen Beck and Sarah Palin

Like but Doesn't Belong 1 - Michelle Obama

Probably Deserving 1 - Brett Favre

I am not sure what this proves. Perhaps I am outside of the mainstream or perhaps this was a bad list.

Off the top of my head, here is a ten celebritries that I find fascinating.

Bill Simmons
Mike (The Situation) for Jersey Shore
Russell from Survivor
Barack Obama
Mitt Romney
Kobe Bryant
Oprah Winfrey
Stieg Larson
Jimmy Kimmel
Kate Winslet

The Girl : Lisbeth Salander

Stieg Larsson

I have completed the first two books by the late Swedish author, Stieg Larsson. The history of Larsson, his background, his death and his success after his death is fascinating to me. The books were not even published when Larsson died in 2004 and several years later are international sensations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stieg_Larsson

Two Core Characters

This strength of this series is unquestionably the two main characters.

Lisbeth Salander is a female superhero. Salander has been wronged all her life, trusts very few and is intensely private. She is under state guardianship because she is believed to be incapable of caring for herself. However, Salander is a genius, a skilled mathematician with a photographic memory and incredible computer skills. Salander may has Asberger's Syndrome.

Mikael Blomkvist is a crusading journalists for all that he believes is right. I assume that Larsson based Blomkvist on himself. Blomkvist is a partner in Millennium magazine with Erika Berger. Berger is married, but has had an affair with Blomkvist for years with her husband's knowledge. Blomquist is quite the lady's man.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_with_the_Dragon_Tattoo

The book describes how Salander meets Blomkvist. Salander is initially working as a researcher and investigates Blomkvist for Henrik Vanger. Vanger hires Blomkvist to research a the murder of his great niece back in the 1960s. Blomkvist hires Salander to assist in the investigation. Salander slowly begins to trust Blomkvist. They become lovers. Salander saves Blomkvist's life. Salander leaves Blomkvist because she has fallen in love with Blomkvist.

The murder story that Blomkvist and Salander investigated was the weakest part of the book. It was not real clear why Henrik Vanger has assumed that Harriet was murdered and not considered that she could have ran away. In addition, I don't think it was realistic that Martin Vanger and his father were these over the top monsters for all these year living right near Henrik Vanger, who did not know anything about it.

Overall, I enjoyed this book because I liked Blomkvist and Salander. However, this book alone does not make the Lisbeth Salander the memorable character she becomes. I give The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a B.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_Who_Played_with_Fire

I read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and listened to The Girl Who Played with Fire.

In the first book Blomkvist and Salander were equally memorable. In this book, Salander really stands out as we learn quite a bit more about her background. She becomes a female superhero, if not totally realistic, in a likable root for the underdog way.

At the end of The Girl With Dragon Tattoo, Salander uses her computer savvy to steal a fortune from Hans-Erik Wennerstrom the corrupt businessman that Blomkvist with Salander's help, that write a book about.

At this book begins, she spends a year traveling the work. The first part of the book is about an abusive husband, Salander encounters in the Caribbean and how she gets involved.

Salander returns to Sweden, but avoids contact with Blomkvist. Using a bug she placed on Blomkvist's computer, she keeps tabs on what he is working on and gets interested in his latest project, due to her troubled past, regarding the sex trade in Sweden. This eventually leads to Salander becoming a suspect in three murders and a manhunt takes place to find Salander. The real killer is working for someone from Salander's past named Zala that is the key to the story.

Blomkvist believes in Salander and works to prove her innocence. They only communication they have is untraceable on the computer. Lisabeth's relationship with Zala is revealed towards the end and Zala and Lisabeth has a battle for survival. It turns out that Zala is actually Salander's father. The book ends with Blomkvist discovering a unconscious Salander who has been shot. Zala is in worse shape.

This book was a top notch thriller. The Salander character especially becomes unforgettable in this book. I give The Girl Who Played with Fire an A-.

What is next for Salander and Blomkvist?

The third part of this trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, appears to have been published all of the world, but will not released in the US until May 2010. I am anxious to read the finale of the series.

There is quite a bit of discussion about making the books into movies. This has already been done in Sweden and is being discussed in the US.

Stieg Larsson has made a lot of money for someone since his death.

Born to Run

Born to Run is a non-fiction book that I listened to this fall by Christopher McDougall.

http://www.amazon.com/Born-Run-Hidden-Superathletes-Greatest/dp/0307266303/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259950192&sr=8-1

The full title of the book is actually Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen. The book is about the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico. They are very traditional, solitary, shy people that run as a way of life and excel in long distance running.

The important messages that I got from the book is that running is great, running should be for the purity of the sport, and big shoe companies are evil.

The central story is about McDougall going to meet the publicity shy Tarahumaras. On the way he meets a mysterious American, who goes by the name of Caballo Blanco. Blanco follows the
Tarahumara ways and is trusted by the tribe. Blanco has a dream of having a ultra race between the Tarahumaras and a few top American ultra runners. McDougall works with Caballo Blanco for several years to make the race a reality. The main story was the best part of the book.

McDougall has a great deal of enthusiasm for his topics. The book goes on several different tangents not directly related to the Tarahumara tribe from discussing injuries to the modern runner, barefoot running, ultra marathons and the importance of running in the evolution of man. At times McDougall's passion is infectious and at other times I could not wait for the book to get back on track.

One particular part of the book that that has gotten a lot of attention is the chapter of barefoot running. http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/fitness/sns-health-barefoot-running-shoes,0,5406706.story The book has clearly helped to start of fad in the running community with the foot protection mentioned in the book. http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/ . When I was listening to the book, I was considering getting a pair of the five fingers and occasionally running barefoot. However, since finishing the book, I lost interest in running barefoot.

I love to run and I love to read, so this book seemed like a natural for me. I did like the reader of the recording. However, it was not the home run I would have thought. McDougall obviously feeling very strongly about what he writes, but at times he came off as snobbish and superior to the average person. In addition, he tried too hard to make the characters interesting. Everyone was so quirky.

I enjoyed the book, but felt that the book would have been better if McDougall stuck more to the main story. I give Born to Run a B-.

Freedom Run Marathon Race Report

Better late than never. The race was about two months ago. On October 14th, I wrote about problems with a cold leading up to the race.

The day of the race I felt pretty good. I drove in the dark to the race early in the morning. It was cloudy and drizzling on and off, but the temperature was comfortable. I parked in a white water rafting company' s parking lot and took a shuttle to the Harper's Ferry Visitor's Center. We waited about a half an hour after the walkers started. We walked a short distance to the starting line. There were only a few hundred runners in the marathon. The start was delayed a bit because a ambulance was needed for a walker even though they had only started a few minutes before.

Finally we started, as it began to become light, although it was quite foggy. I have been to Harpers Ferry many time so was familiar with the area. I got into a comfortable pace. The third mile was thru the historic main street of Harpers Ferry, we then went on a walking bridge and had to go down some winding steps to the C & O Canal. This is about 13 miles on the C & O west of where I live. I have always wanted to run from my house to Harpers Ferry, but have never worked out the logistics.

The next ten miles were on the C & O Canal going west. It was still cloudy and foggy weather wise. The trail was mostly shaded and it was very comfortable running weather. I continued to feel good, but was starting to become concerned that I was going to fast. I wanted 9:30 minute miles, but was doing 9:00 minute miles. It was pretty uneventful. The water stops were well stocked with energy gels. I went to the restroom around mile 7 and broke my water bottle. The worse $25 I ever spent. Around mile 7 I started to use a girl who was running at a good even pace, as a pacer. I stayed with her for the next 8 miles or so. I reached the half way point in under 2 hours. This was about 7 minutes faster that my first marathon, but little did I realize how difficult the second half would be.

Right before I finshed on the C & O Canal the sun came out. The remainder of the race had no shade at all. After mile 14, we were on a small country road that was going up a very large hill. Myself and all the runners around me walked up most of this hill. At around mile 16 we got to Antietam battle fields. This was the most difficult part of the race. It was continuous rolling hills in the sun with no shade. I had slowed down quite a bit by the time we got to Antietam and by mile 18 I was mixing walking and running. Around this time we were seeing the half marathoners who were running in the opposite direction. My brother was doing the half and I saw him around mile 19. Part of the reason I chose this race was due to the scenery and the history of the course, but when I was running thru Antietem, I was so worn out that I was not mood to reflect upon the history.

Around mile 21 we finally got finished running thru Antietam and most of the remainder of the course was on the side of the road on Route 65 going from Sharpsburg, MD to the finish at Shepardstown, WV. It was not quite as hilly, but just as sunny. There was absolutely no crowd support until the end. I continued to mix running with walking from miles 21 to 24. There was just an occasional runner who would either past me or I would pass. At mile 24 I was able to slowly run until the finish.

As we got near Shepardstown there were more people. There were five races and the area around the finish was the central hub. The finish was in the Shepardstown University football stadium. I ended up at 4:34:55, which was about 18 minute slower than I was in the Frederick Marathon. I met up with my brother shortly after the finish. This marathon took more out of me than the first. I was not moving too well after it was over. I had to take two shuttles to get back to my car.

I ened up 152nd out of 307 finishers. The winner had run a marathon in the spring that was 17 minutes faster and here is a link to a blog of the female that came in 3rd talking about how difficult the course was. http://mile-posts.blogspot.com/2009/10/freedoms-run-marathon.html . Hearing that others struggled made me feel a little better about my finish. When selecting the next marathons I run, I will be looking for a flatter course with better fan support. In addition, I learned to never run a marathon in a white shirt and that more body glide is needed on sensitive areas.

Three Forgettable Movies

The Nanny Diaries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nanny_Diaries_(film

I saw this fim on cable on Labor Day. It goes with my wierd interest in female oriented fiction lately, at least this film had Scarlett Johannsson as the star. The movie is based on a very popular book that I have not read. Considering the acclaim for the book, I would think there must be a lot more to it than the movie. The characters in the movie was all cliches including the main character's pushy mother, perfect romantic interest, and the rich family that she works as a nanny for. The family that she works for consists of a workaholic father, a narcissistic mother and an attention starved kid. The movie tries very hard to be cute and original, but would have been better off focusing on creating characters that were not so one dimensional. I give The Nanny Diaries a D+.

State of Play http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Play_(film)

State of Play is a political thriller set in DC , with an all star cast, that is based on a British television show. The movie is about a Congressmen played by Ben Affleck fighting a Halliburton type company, whose mistress dies on the train tracks of the DC Metro. Russell Crowe plays a crusading newspaper writer who also happens to have been friends with Ben Affleck's character from school. The movie sounded much better on paper than it was in reality. I actually fell asleep for a good portion of the second half of this movie. I give State of Play a C-.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_and_Norah%27s_Infinite_Playlist

I watched the film on the computer from Netflix's instant queue last weekend. It is a romantic comedy about an evening in the lifes of a group of teenagers. Michael Cera is the same laidback quirky teenager he always plays. The movie starts out good, but fizzles midway thru. It was only an hour and half film, but seemed longer. I recently watched a similar movie that I have not yet reviewed that was much better. I give Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist a C-.

Final Marathon Prep and The Perfect Southern Family

A week before the marathon, I had the misfortune of attending the Maryland Rutgers football game, which besides being a rotten game, also was cold and rainy. When I went to work on Monday, the guy who sits next to me had a bad cold. On Tuesday, I started to feel the beginning signs of a cold. I immediately went to the store and bought the zinc cold medicine which I believe at times has prevented me from getting colds or made them less severe. I started taking them every two hours. It seemed to be working for a couple days. However, on Thursday morning, I took my car into the shop. I walk a couple of miles from the dealer to the train station. It was colder than I thought it was going to be and I think that put the cold over the edge.


By the afternoon on Thursday, the cold was pretty bad with the marathon less than 48 hours away. I put an message on the Runners Word forum asking for advise. Most of the responses mentions things I was already doing, the one new idea was to drink tea. I really dislike the taste of tea, but Virginia is a big tea drinker so we have a lot at home. I started drinking a cup of tea on Thursday and then drank about a cup an hour on Friday. I think it really helped.

The Devil's Punchbowl

I have read most of the books by Greg Iles. He is consistently good author, but none of his books have been great.

His latest book, The Devil's Punchbowl is about Penn Cage who has been featured in several other of Iles' books.

http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Punchbowl-Novel-Greg-Iles/dp/0743292510/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255618766&sr=8-1

Penn Cage is the perfect southern gentlemen with the perfect parents and perfect girlfriend. He was an prosecutor in Houston, who became a bestselling author. When his wife died, he moved back to his hometown of Natschez, Mississippi to raise his daughter. When the last book about Cage ended, Turning Angel, he decided to run for mayor of Natchez, which results in his girlfriend Caitlin Masters leaving him because she does not want to stay in Natchez.

In The Devil's Punchbowl, Cage has been the mayor for two years and found that being mayor and making a positive change for the town is not as easy as he thought. His childhood friend, Tim Jessup gets him involved in fighting some big time criminals that have taken residence in Natchez.

I listened to the book on my MP3 player during my runs. I did not care for the reader, who was hard to understand at times. The story was quite long, but pretty good. The bad guys were unrealistically evil. However, Cage and his family are familiar and likable characters. Cage gets back together with Caitlin.

I would have liked to have seen more of Tim Jessup character . Iles developed a big back story about Jessup, but then he is killed early in the book. In fact, the editing for the book seemed wierd. It was not tight, there were a lot of side stories that did not add to the main story.

Overall, on the strength of the Penn Cage character, I give The Devil's Punchbowl a B-.

A Player to Be Named Later

I am trying to catch up since I have not post very frequently lately. The Freedom Run Marathon was this past weekend. Today I will discuss the marathon preparation since my September 8th post. The last part of my training went very well. I was basically doing two 5 miles runs and a 7 miles run during the week on the treadmill. The 5 miles runs were typically under 44 minutes and the 7 mile runs were just under 64 minutes. The weekend of 9/12, I did a long run of 15 miles on a road that was quite hilly. For the weekend of 9/19 I did a 20 mile run on the C & O Canal. The weekend of 9/26 was the final weekend before the race and I did a 7 mile run on Saturday and 10 miles on Sunday.Going into the last few days before the marathon I felt very good.

A Player to Be Named Later

I watched A Player to Be Named Later on Netflix instantly. It is a documentary about a AAA baseball team in Indianapolis in 2001. The movie follows several player from the team thru that season.

http://http//www.imdb.com/title/tt0450366/


-There is a arrogant top prospect, Allen "Meat" Levrault who is promoted to the big leagues early in the season where he struggles.

-Micah Franklin is a hitter having a bad year and going from a prospect to a career minor leaguer.

-Kyle Peterson is a former high draft pick that is trying to return from an injury.

Brad Tyler is a career minor leaguer strugglingto hang on and support his family. He is released by Indianapolis earily in the season and plays on several teams during the year.

-Marco Scutaro is the team's best player who is desparate to get to the majors.

For the most part the movie is sad because the players are likable, you meet their families and they mainly are struggling to stay in the game. Since the movie was made several years ago, all of the players careers are over except for Scutaro. Excluding Scutaro no one featured in the movie played in the majors after 2001.

The movie ended with the manager informing Scutaro that he was not going to be promoted to the majors in September. Scutaro's and his wife come from Venezuela and discuss their struggles coming over to a new country where they do not know anyone. The wife seemed like a particularly nice person. The feel good post movie story is that Scutaro has been in the majors since 2004 and has become a very solid regular starting shortstop for the Toronto Blue Jays. I tried to look up whether is he is still married, but could not find that information.

A Player To Be Named Later was an enjoyable movie for anyone who follow baseball or anyone that is interested in documentaries. I give A Player to Be Named Later a B-.

The Help

This is my first post in a while. My running has been going good.

8/25 5 miles
8/27 7 miles
8/28 5 miles
8/29 10 miles
8/30 4 miles
8/31 7 miles
9/1 7 miles
9/2 5 miles
9/3 5 miles
9/5 20 miles
9/7 7.5 miles
9/8 5 miles
9/9 3.66 miles

I will discuss my running more in the next few days.

The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is my favorite book that I have read on a long time.

http://www.amazon.com/Help-Kathryn-Stockett/dp/0399155341/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252521545&sr=8-1

I listened to this book thru audible.com and think having different readers for the three main characters added a lot to the experience. Each of the main characters had distinctive personalities that the listener got to know, like and understand.

Abileen is the smart, motherly maid who cares a great deal for the white kids that she helped to raise. Clearly Abileen would have been an excellent teacher or writer if she did not grow up as a black in Mississippi before the civil rights movement. She is a mature, saintly women that is extremely well respected in the black community of Jackson.

Abileen's best friend is another maid, Minny Jackson, who is a great cook, but whose mouth gets her in trouble. Minny provides a lot of humor to the story with her dealings with her employer, Celia Foote and with the evil Hilly Holbrook. However, her problems with spousal abuse with her husband, Leroy were a very serious side of the book.

Skeeter Phelan is a recent college graduate who unlike, the other women her age is more concerned with her career as a writer than finding her husband. Skeeter is a modern women living in a town that is very backwards. She is probably my favorite fictional character that I can recall.

In addition to the main characters there are a number of minor characters who add a lot to the depth of the story.

-Mae Mobley is an innocent three year old that Abileen takes care of. Mae Mobley is closer to Abileen than she is to her mother. Abileen tries in small ways to do what she can so that Mae Mobley does not grow up to be racist.

-Mae Mobley's mother and Abileen's boss is Elizabeth Leefolt, who is far more weak than evil.

-Lou Ann Templeton is one of the young married women that is friends with Hilly and Elizabeth. Skeeter has no respect for Lou Ann but at the end of the story, finds that Lou Ann is far stronger and smarter than she thought. The impression at the end of the book is that Lou Ann will be involved in working to integrate Jackson going forward and will challenge Hilly Hillbrook.

- Skeeter's parents. Her father is a soft spoken, hard working farmer. Her mother is pushy and did not know what to make of Skeeter. Skeeter did not get along with her mother, but they got closer when her mother gets sick with cancer.

-Skeeter's maid growing up was Constantine, who left her family and Jackson while Skeeter was away at college. Skeeter spends a lot of time trying to find out what happened to Constantine. Constatine is part of flashbacks rather than the actual story.

-Elaine Stein works for a publisher in New York that agrees to publish the book on maids in Jackson that Skeeter and Abiline secretly write. Elaine is a role model for Skeeter.

The end of the book was a surprising way to finish a story especially for Abilene and Minny whose story seemingly was not finished, but after thinking about I decided that the book ended appropriately. Skeeter, with convincing from Abileen and Minny, accepts a job working in New York for the same publishing company where Elaine Stein works. Working on the book with the maid did cost Skeeter her relationship with her boyfriend, Stuart Whitworth who wanted to marry her until finding out about it. For Minny, the book concludes with her leaving Leroy after he hits her while she is pregnant. The story ends for Abileen with Hilly forcing Elizabeth to fire Abileene for taking silver that they all know Abileen did not take. Abileen does not know what she will do next. The ending shows that while progress was made, there is still along way to go and there will still be struggles.

I give The Help an A+.

Summer Ends

I did not sleep well on Friday night and did not have much energy for my Saturday run. I was planning to run 10 miles on Saturday. However, I ran 5 miles and decided no to push it. On Sunday, I ran 15 miles as planned. I was planning to run on the mostly flat C & O Canal but due to the amount of rain we have received the last few days, I ran on very hilly roads to the elementary school and around my neighborhood. I think it was a wise decision to stop on Saturday. My long runs are my most important at this point of my marathon training and if I ran the full ten on Saturday, I may not of been able to complete the fifteen on Sunday. I worked on the rowing machine today and will run 5 miles tomorrow.

500 Days of Summer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(500)_Days_of_Summer

Virginia and I made a rare trip to the movie theater a couple of weeks ago to see a movie without the kids. We originally were going to see Julie and Julia, but based on positive reviews decided to see 500 Days of Summer.

The movie can be summarized pretty simply. Tom falls for Summer. Summer does not want to make a commitment but likes Tom and goes out with Tom for a while. Tom is madly in love and thinks that Summer is the one. Summer tells Tom that she never wants to get married. After several months, Summer breaks up with Tom. Tom takes the break up hard. He randomly meets Summer several month later and finds that Summer is engaged to marry someone else. This pretty much shatters Tom. Several months after that, Summer meets Tom at his favorite spot and Summer convinces him that they were not meant to be and that he needs to move past her. At the end of the movie, Tom meets someone else, who is named Autumn.

I enjoyed this movie and can relate to Tom. It really is not a romantic comedy since Tom does not end up with Summer and Summer never felt like Tom did for her. The best facet of the film is how the movie skips around through the 500 days that Tom was in love with Summer without being disjointed.

500 Days of Summer is unlike most other films. It does not fit easily into a typical movie category. However, it works well. I give 500 Days of Summer a B+.

Running and More Sparks

I am getting in my miles. I did 7 yesterday and 5 today. I am planning to do 10 tomorrow and 15 on Sunday. I will be around 180 miles for the month of August which I am pretty sure is my highest total.

The Guardian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian_(novel)

The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks is really two books. The first part is a typical Sparks story with likable characters falling in love. Julie is widowed at a young age. Shortly after her husband, Jim's death, she gets a great dane dog who Jim arranged to keep her company and protect her. Julie names the dog, Singer and the dog becomes a big part of her life. Singer acts like a human and adds comedy to the story as well as being intensely loyal.

After grieving for several years, Julie begins dating again. She goes out with Richard who just moved into town, but does not feel sparks. Julie starts dating and falls in love with Mike who was her husband's best friend. In a typical Sparks story there would be one last twist where, one of the two either dies suddenly or they live happily after. In the Guardian this is only half the story.

The second half of the story is that Richard turn out to be a cartoonish stalker. He has murdered both his parents and his wife. His wife looks a lot like Julie. With the help of a young police women named Jennifer, Mike, Julie and Singer they kill Richard in a fight to the death. Singer, who is the Guardian also dies in the fight.

I liked the 1st half much better than the second half. Sparks tried to write a thriller, but it was very predictable. Overall, I give The Guardian a B-.

Netflix Watch Instantly

I watched a couple of movies recently on the computer thru NetFlix watch instantly service.

WALL-E

Virginia and the kids saw this movie while visiting her mother so I never saw it. I don't know if it was because I watched it on the computer or not, but I did not enjoy it as much as I though I would. I thought it was pretty bland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E

Wall-E was universally well received by movie critics. The only criticism heard about this movie was about it being too preachy regarding pollution. I did not find this to be the case. I just did not think that the story was all that interesting. I am not a Pixar fanatic, but I thought both of the Toy Story movies, Ratatouille and Up were clearly better films.

I give WALL-E a C.

Ira and Abby

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480251/synopsis

This is a romantic comedy about a neurotic man and wacky girl that prove that opposites attract. I am a sucker for a nice romantic story as I admitted on my July 31, 2009 entry. However, the characters in this movie were parodies rather than realistic people. In addition, there were far too many side stories going on concerning their parents and Ira's ex girlfriend. It was not a very good movie.

I give Ira and Abby a D+.

The selection of movies to watch instantly thru Netflix is mixed. There are some decent movies. I was surprised to find WALL-E. There seems to be a lot of good documentaries available and I will focus on them when I have time to watch a movie instantly with Netflix.

First Post in a While

I got away from posting the last few weeks. This is my first post in August. I have a race report and a number of reviews to go over.

My running has been all right, but I am struggling with long runs with the weather being so hot. The following is my running so far in August.

Sat 8/1 9.5 miles
Sun 8/2 14.5 Miles (very hilly run ran thru a fairly big storm)
Tue 8/4 5 miles
Wed 8/5 5 miles
Fri 8/7 5 miles
Sat 8/8 9 miles
Sun 8/9 12.4 miles (race)
Tue 8/11 5 miles
Wed 8/12 6.5 miles
Thu 8/13 5 miles
Sat 8/15 9 miles
Sun 8/16 17.5miles
Tue 8/18 5 miles

My marathon is 6 weeks from Saturday. I was hoping to run 20 miles this past Sunday but could only go 17.5 on a hot day. I am planning to do 15 for my long run this weekend and then shoot for 20 again the following week. I want to get in two runs of at least 20 before the marathon.

I did not run today because I had a hard time falling asleep last night. I am planning to run 7 miles tomorrow, 5 on Friday and 10 on Saturday.

20K Race Report

This is the only race I have done three years in row. Two years ago I did the 10k and last year and this year I ran the 20k. Most of the race is on the W & OD trail with a turnaround. Last year I was very focused on not starting too fast. However, after a couple of miles I was boxed because so many runner doing the 10k had turned around and were running back. I ended up running great after the first three miles. It was the only race where I have had negative splits. I don't think anyone passed me after three miles and I passed quite a few runners. Unfortunately, this year was quite the opposite.

The day of the race was the hottest day so far of the year. I ran the first mile in less that 8 minutes, much faster than I wanted. I should have slowed down more after that, but I did not. I know after about eight miles that I did not have a lot left. The last few miles I walked more than any other race. My time of 1:53:06 was about five minutes more than the same race last year. I was passed by countless runners the last few miles. It was a very humbling race.

My strategy was poor. I did not respect the heat as much as I should. I can take comfort that a veteran runner, Anita Freresin was quoted as saying, "As a veteran of nearly 2,000 races, including a 50 Mile win where I lost 27 pounds due to heat, I state, for the record, "This was the toughest race I have ever raced." Of course she also won her division in the 10k.

The last few miles of this race was not fun at all, but I guess it was a good learning experience.

Handing in My Man Card

Today is an off day for me as far as running. A rest before a busy weekend.

The Wedding

When I was a kid I would watch soap operas regularly. I used to watch Ryan's Hope, All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital. When I was in college I watched Guiding Light and Days of our Lives. I have always liked a good romantic story more than an action film that has little suspense.

I hate all the comic book action films that are being made because there is no suspense. The good guys win.

I don't remember what prompted me to rent The Notebook, but that was the first Nicholas Sparks related thing I watched or read. This was about three years ago and I liked the movie quite a bit.

Last year I bought a book by Sparks primarily because I had nothing to read and it was cheap. Dear John, which they are making into a movie, was my favorite book that I read in 2008. Since then I have read about five more books by Nicholas Sparks and generally like his books. His books follow a similiar formula but are different enough and often have a surprise at the end that keep me interested.

The Wedding was a simple quick read. The book was kind of a sequel to The Notebook. The main couple in this book, Wilson and Jane are the son in law and daughter of the main couple in the Notebook, Noah and Allie. Wilson frequently goes to Noah for advise.

http://www.amazon.com/Wedding-Nicholas-Sparks/dp/0446615862/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1249119568&sr=8-3

The book is mushy even for a Nicholas Sparks book and not much happens other than Wilson and Jane reconnecting after 30 years of marriage. However, it is likable and a pleasant read. I give The Wedding a B-.

The Last Child

I ran 5 miles in 44:02 today. I will take tomorrow off. On Saturday I plan to run 9 miles and 17.5 miles on Sunday.

I am switching gyms. My current gym added $15 to my monthly fee without telling me because I had the option to go to other locations. This option was free for the first year. I have never been to any other locations. When I complained about my rates increasing without any notice, they cancelled my membership rather than offer to remove the additional charge. Very poor customer service.

My new gym which I will start on Monday does not have all the bells and whistles but is singificantly cheaper. I typically only use the treadmill, ellipical and rowing machines so I don't need anything too fancy.

The Last Child

I enjoyed the previous book by John Hart, Down River which I discussed on May 21st. I was looking forward to his new book, The Last Child, but it turn out to be a jumbled mess.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312359322/ref=s9_simb_gw_xu_s0_p14_t1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0JMMNC1ED4AZ57HJEFVM&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

I read most of it at the beach. The book seemed like it had a good premise, but went astray with too much symbolism and coincidence. The description of the book gave me the impression that it would be about the relationship between the two main characters, the boy Johnny Merrimon and the policy detective Clyde Hunt, but Hunt spent much of the book trying to find the boy. I think that the book would have worked much better if it focused more on Hunt helping Johnny deal with the disappearance of his twin sister and the resulting destruction of his family.

There was way too much symbolism and religious connotations. The whole Freemantle character and the relationship between the Merrimon and Freemantle ancestors completely did not work.

There was too many side stories that added up to make this a mess. Johnny was always taking car keys and driving off. Why did people keep leaving cars keys out where he could get them? This book was really a disaster.

I liked the twist at the end that the sister was killed as a random accident and not sexually assualted. However, that Hunt's son was involved was too coincidental. That Johnny's best friend knew what happened the entire time really did not fit with his character and that Johnny would forgive him, made no sense.

This book got a lot of positive review at Amazon. It really makes me question whether these real reviews or whether people with an interest in the books success, put fake reviews up to help sales.

I give The Last Child a D.

The Lost Hours

My weekend running did not go as planned. I woke up too late on Saturday to run. Alex had a swim meet and I would have had to start around 5:00 AM to have enough time, but it did not happen. On Sunday, it was raining so I did not run on the C & O Canal as planned. I did a 3 mile loop around my house. This turned out to be a good thing because I had a bathroom emergency and it was a good thing that I was near my house to take care of it before continuing. The loop is hillier than the C & O Canal and it had been several week since a did a long run. I ended up going about 15 miles instead of my planned 17. I was hurting the next day more than usual as well.

Alex is done with her swimming for the time being so I should be able to make my Saturday runs going forward. I made a renewed commitment to myself to keep to the marathon training schedule. On Monday I worked out on the rowing machine. I ran 5 miles yesterday in 43:20 and 8 miles today in 72:05. I do need to do a long run on Sunday and I am planning to go 17.5 miles. I have a 20k race the following week and the week after that I will do a 20 miler.

I went ahead and signed up for the Freedom's Run marathon yesterday. I read a lot of good information about the race and the course looks great. http://www.freedomsrun.org/

The Lost Hours

For our vacation, Virginia and I listen to a book while traveling. I had her choose between the The Lost Hours by Karen White and The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I picked both books based on excellent reviews. Virginia chose The Lost Hours. I am listening the The Help while running. Virginia made the wrong choice.

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Hours-Karen-White/dp/0451226496/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1248882067&sr=8-1

I found The Lost Hours to be slow and bland. The first half of the book especially did not hold my interest. The characters did not seem real. The part about Tucker's wife, Susan committing suicide because she found out the secret regarding Lillian seemed particularly weak. The way Lillian never reconciled with Anabelle even though she Lillian actually killed the baby did not make sense. Why not be friends later in life without focusing on this.

We listened to this book in large chunks while driving to Myrtle Beach and back. I find it is better to read or listen to books in smaller parts, but I don't think it impacted my feelings on this book. I don't understand why there is so many positive reviews for this book which is average at best. I give The Lost Hours a C-.

Abraham Lincoln

I ended up taking Wednesday off from running since I was up late getting my laptop fixed. I ran 8 miles on Thursday and 5 miles today. I am planning to run 8 tomorrow and 17 on Sunday so I will be running for four day in a row, a total of 38 miles. I will likely sign up for the Freedom Run this weekend.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

I heard of this book from the aftermath of the recent presidential election when this book was mentioned when people were discussing the cabinet that President Obama would select. I am not normally a big history reader, but I saw this book at Costco for about $10 and thought I would give it a try.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=20219683

This is a very large book that I read a lot on the train commuting to work. It was uncomfortable logging a book this size around and made me want to buy a kindle. http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Generation/dp/B00154JDAI/ref=amb_link_84770351_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1XDTK4BYN30RF3Z73B62&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=484585691&pf_rd_i=507846

However, the book is excellent. It was easy to reading because most of the material was fascinating. Like most people I knew some about Lincoln, the slavery battle and the civil war. In addition, I knew that the jist of the book was that Lincoln selected political rivals to his cabinet and developed respect and relationships with them in order to make the cabinet and his administration the most effective. However, to me the strength of the book was learning about the members of the cabinet and their families.

Two of the most fascinating individuals were Salmon Chase and William Seward.

Chase was obsessed with becoming president. He was not loyal to Lincoln and his top priority always appeared to being making himself look good and pursuing the Presidency. Chase had been married three times, but his wives all died young. He was very close with his daughter Kate, who was much admired in Washington society, was considered one of the most beautiful woman of the day and the most talked about woman.

Seward was the heavy favorite to win the Republican nomination for president in 1860. However, he had some enemies who worked against him enabling Lincoln to win. Lincoln selected Seward as his Secretary of State. Seward and Lincon developed a great friendship and had a lot of respect for each other. Seward and his son were attacked but not killed at their house the night that Lincoln was assasinated.

Another interesting thing was that the Vice President appears to be insignificant at that time, but of course becomes President if the President dies. Andrew Johnson had just become the Vice President the month before Lincoln was killed, Lincoln did not select him, he apparently made a fool of himself during a drunken speech as his inauguration and did not appear to have any influence over any policy prior to Lincoln's death. It would appear that Seward would have been a far more appropriate successor to Lincoln.

This book made me want to ready additional history books. I give Teams of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln an A.

Back from Vacation and Talking Beaches

I returned Saturday from a weeks vacation in Myrtle Beach. I have not blogged in two weeks so the following is a summary of my running since then.



7/8 3.1 miles

7/10 7 miles

7/12 5 miles

7/13 10 miles

7/14 5 miles

7/15 8 miles

7/17 8 miles

7/20 5 miles

7/21 6.2 miles



My IT band in my right leg was bothering me on 7/8 so I shortened my run that day and took the next day off. The pain went away. 7/11 and 7/18 were planned days off due to travel. I was scheduled to run a 17 miler this past Sunday, but didn't because I have been having computer problems that have been very time consuming. I did run a 5 miles yesterday rather than do the rowing machine, but I really need to get in a long run this week. The Freedom Run Marathon is less than 2.5 months away.



Beaches



Other than trips to the caribbean, prior to 2001 most of my beach trips have been to Ocena City, MD. Below is a list of the beach trips my family and I have made beginning in 2001



2001 Nags Head, NC

2002 Corolla, NC

2003 Corolla, NC

2004 Corolla, Nc

2006 Topsail, NC

2007 Topsail, NC

2009 Myrtle Beach, SC



Below is a summary, with positives and negatives each beach that I have been to.



Ocean City, MD



Summary: I went frequently when I was a kid. Went a few times before having kids usually in the off season, even proposed to Virginia in OC. Went once when Alex was a baby in season and vowed not to return. The last couple years I have gone for a weekend after Thanksgiving.



Positive: It is laid back, inexpensive and convenient in the off season. The Christmas light show that they have is nice.



Negatives: Crowded and expensive during the summer. A lot of low lifes hanging out on the boardwalk. Weather is not as nice as the Carolina beaches. The Bay Bridge gets backed up on Saturdays during the summer.



I have not been in season in quite some time, but I would give OC a C- overall.



Nags Head, NC



Summary: Part of the Outer Banks. Not as fancy as Duck or Corolla. The vacation week in 2001 was my favorite beach week even though the weather was not great. The majority of the accomodations in the Outer Banks are for large or multiple families.



Positive: Laid back and peaceful. Less expensive than Corolla and Duck. There is a decent amount to do around Nags Head with the Wright Brothers, Jockey Ridge and Manteo nearby.



Negative: Not many places for smaller families. The beach was not smooth, alot of pebbles.



We had a very good time at Nags Head so I give it a B+.



Corolla, NC



Summary: Part of the northern Outer Bank on Route 12. We went for three consecutive year between 2002 and 2004. Fairly upscale with a lot of large houses. Continues to grow significantly.



Positives: Great for large get togethers. Very nice to walk on the beach.



Negatives: Not many places for smaller families. Most houses were not oceanfront.



I give Corolla a B.



Topsail, NC



Summary: My favorite beach. It is north of Wilmington and smaller than Ocean City, Outer Banks or Myrtle Beach.



Postives: There are several reasonably priced oceanfront condos. Nothing beats being a few steps from the beach. This is a place where you make your fun which makes it ideal for family time.



Negatives: If it rains there is not a lot to do without going to Wilmington which is about an hour away. A person who goes to the beach for mini golf and nightlife will not like Topsail.



I give Topsail an A-. I am looking forward to returning next year.



Myrtle Beach



Summary: The largest and most crowded of the beaches I visited. There is a tremendous amount of entertainment and nightlife in Myrtle Beach.



Positives: Although the beach gets crowded on nice days, I was shocked how nice the beach and the water were. If you like doing activities outside of the beach, this is a great place.



Negatives: The crowds during peak season are tremendous. Very hard to get seated in a restaurant and a lot of traffic on the roads after 6 PM. This is a party place and there was a lot of noise while I was trying to sleep.



Myrtle Beach is not for me, but I can see what others would like about it. I give it a B-.

Two Movie Weekend

Running Update

My running has been rather uneventful, which I guess is a good thing. I did seven miles on the treadmill on Thursday, took Friday off, did eight on Saturday, a slow fifteen miles on the C & O Canal on Sunday, Monday was the rowing machine and five miles on the treadmill in 42:55 today. I have adjusted my schedule since I will on vacation beginning on Saturday. I am running on Friday instead of Saturday since Saturday will be a travel day, so I am running four days in a row.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaur

I was off on Friday for the July 4th weekend. Alex was sleeping over a friends house so I was planning to take Aaron to the pool and work with him on learning to swim without Alex around to interfere. However, at the last minute we decided that it was not nice enough to go swimming and when we could not come up with anything else to do, decided to go to the movies. The options for 6 year old boys were limited. It was either Transformers or Ice Age. Both had got poor reviews and I had little interest in either. I decided Transformers were too violent and too long at two and a hour hours, so Ice Age it was.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Age:_Dawn_of_the_Dinosaurs

It was a movie of convenience. I had not seen either of the other two Ice Age movies. We had one of the movies on DVD so Aaron had seen that one and he did not think he saw the other one. I think I fell asleep slept within the first 15 minutes and estimate that I was out for about half an hour. When I woke up, I did not know what was going on or really care. The movie seemed like it was going to end several times, before mercifully it finally did. I give the movie a D-. Aaron said he liked it and that is more important.

Gran Torino

I liked this movie a lot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Torino_(film)

I never been a huge Clint Eastwood fan, but thought he was outstanding as an actor, director and producer of this movie. The anger that he showed especially towards his family was powerful, and entirely realistic. I would have like to see more about these relationships. The building of friendship with his asian neighbors brought a feel good aspect to the middle of the movie, especially becoming a father figure to Thao. The one part of the movie, I could have done without is the Dirty Harry part where he beats up the gang members. Eastwood is far too old for this to be realistic. However, the end was strong, although pretty obvious that he was going to sacrifice himself as soon as he found out he was dying.

I thought Gran Torino was one of the better movies of 2008 and deserved to nominated for the Oscars. The Reader was the only film that I thought was better of the films that were nominated. In addition, Eastwood should have been nominated for Best Actor as well. I give the film an A-.

Taken

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taken_(film)

I really enjoyed the first hour of this movie. It moved at a nice pace and I liked the Liam Neeson's character (Bryan Mills) trying to get back in his daughter's life while wife dealing with his bitter ex wife and her rich step dad.

The last part of the movie was a bit over the top. All by himself, Bryan Mills battles so many bad guys that it was silly. The bad guys shot at Mills hundreds of times always missing and Mills must of shot and hit 50 bad guys.

Overall, it was a light, fun movie. I give it is B.

The Scarecrow

I have been able to keep my marathon schedule so far. I did 5 miles on Friday, 7 miles on Saturday, 13 on Sunday, 5 miles on yesterday and 5 miles today. I was scheduled to run 7 miles today, but the train was behind so I was late and decided to only do 5 today and 7 tomorrow instead.

I am still pondering what marathon I will run. I need to update my training spreadsheet and go from there. The Freedom Marathon is a week before the Baltimore Marathon. I am on vacation the week after next and need to get in at least two runs of at least 20 miles and have a few weeks to taper.

The Scarecrow

I recently finished listening to Michael Connelly's latest book, The Scarecrow. Connelly is one of my favorite authors. His books are consistently good thrillers and his recurring characters are interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarecrow_(Michael_Connelly_novel)

I thought the reader did a very good job. I felt like I was listening to the main character Jack McEvoy tell his story.

McEvoy was the main character in one of Connelly's most successful books, The Poet. He has been a supporting character in several book since . I liked the way the struggles of the newspaper industry was part of the book. The romantic angle with Jack and Rachel with the single bullet theort, after Rachel has been with Harry Bosch in previous books, worked well.

I thought that it would have been interesting if the book ended with one killer caught and that no one realizes that there was still a second killer on the loose for a sequel. However, Connelly went down a different path where the other killer was not an equal to the main killer, Wesley Carver. As a result, it would not have been a satisfactory ending if only the 2nd killer was caught.

The Scarecrow was a very enjoyable book. It was my favorite Connelly story since The Closers in 2005. I give this book a B+.

Marathon Decison and a Bad Movie

Marathon Training and Choosing

I have started training for a fall marathon. At this point there is not a lot of difference in weeks when I am training for a marathon and other weeks. I will make sure to do a long run every week and soon they will get longer based on the marathon plan. I am planning to run a 20k in August as my only race before the marathon. I am usinge a modified version of Hal Higdon's intermediate II training plan. I did a 5 mile run in 42:20 on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I did not run because I brought two pairs of shorts and no shirt to the gym by accident. As a result, I will have to run on Friday, meaning I will run four days in a row. Today I did 7 miles in 62:15.

I was planning to run in the Baltimore marathon. I had not registered, but was planning to do so by July 31st. My brother told me about a new marathon that is closer to me http://www.freedomsrun.org/. The area is very historical and very nice with the leaves changing colors in the fall. The concerns that I have is that the start and finish are at different locations so I would have to take a shuttle to the start. In addition, I know that the Baltimore marathon is very well organized, but with the Freedom' Run I have no idea how well this race will be run. I asked on the Runner's World messageboard if anyone was considering Freedom's Run, but nobody responded. Baltimore and the Marine Corp are two huge marathon in the area during October. My brother is planning to run the half. He is going to run his first marathon in November in the Outer Banks.

Passengers

Truly an awful movie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passengers_(film). This is very cheaply made knock off on The Sixth Sense. The twist at the end was not surprising. The only interesting aspect of this movie, is why a pretty big star like Anne Hathaway is in this flick. The budget looked very small and it was not an interesting move. I give Passengers a D-.