Running and Pop Culture

More Snow and A Book Review

2010-02-16T15:36:00.000-05:00

Virginia worked on Tuesday and the plan was to run at the YMCA when she came back. I got to the YMCA at about 3:30 only to find that they. were closing at 4 due to the anticipated snow storm so I did not get to run on Tuesday. I did not get out of the house on Wednesday and Thursday. I did a lot of shoveling, but no running. We never had a winter like this. I went back to work for the first time in a week yesterday. I ran 5 miles on the treadmill at the gym. Since I have been struggling with boredom on the treadmill lately, I have tried something different the last couple of times. For every 10 minutes, I run a bit slower than normal for 8 minutes, then run a 7:30 minute mile pace for two minutes. So far it has made things more interesting. I am planning to run 9 miles at the YMCA today and 15 miles tomorrow. Hopefully I will have the time to do this.

A Friend of the Family

I listened to this book thru Audible.com in January. It was recommended in an e-mail they sent so I ordered it. Th book is by Lauren Grodstein who I never heard of.

A Friend of the Family

Pete Dizinoff is a typical neurotic,anal jew living in New Jersey. He is also very domineering with family and friends. Pete and his wife, Elaine have been best friends with Joe and Iris since college. Both Pete and Joe are doctors.

The book is told in a series of flashbacks about events that happened at least a year in the past . We know that Pete has become a outcast to his entire family, friends and professionally but until the end we do we know why.

Joe and Iris had a daughter, Laura just after college. Pete and Elaine used to babysit Laura when she young. Elaine had a hard time getting pregnant. Eventually they have a son, Alec who is ten years younger than Laura. They are very protective of Alec. When Laura is a teenager she becomes pregnant, which she hides from everyone. The baby is born in the library bathroom and dies. Laura is accused of murdering the baby,but is not found guilty. She leaves New Jersey and her parents only hear from her sporadically, usually when she needs money, for more than ten years. Laura does a lot of traveling and hippyish things like goat farming during that time. Laura has two younger siblings that are closer to Alec's age. Both are high achievers.

Meanwhile, Alec grows up and is interested in art rather than following in his father's footsteps. Alec gets into some trouble in high school and is not interested in college. Alex goes to college to study art, but drops out and is living at home.

Suddenly when Laura is 30 she return to New Jersey to live with her parents. She immedately connects with Alec who is 20. Pete was a lot less understanding than Elaine when Laura got in trouble as a teenager and is not happy that Alec is interested in Laura, nor understand it especially given the age difference.

At first when Alec and Laura start going out, it seems to have a positive influence on Alec who applies to go back to college. However, right before Alec is supposed to start college again, he announced that he and Laura have decided to move to Paris. This is too much for Pete to handle.

At the same that Pete is stressing out about Alec, he is dealing with a patient, who returned home recently from college, that Pete believes is suffering from depression. He discussed the case with Joe who recommended that he run a test for this other disease. Pete is sure that it is depression and thinks that Joe runs too many tests, so he ignores Joe recommendation.

Laura had moved into an apartment in New York City paid for by her parents. Pete pays a surprise visit for her early in the morning the day before she and Alec are scheduled to leave for Paris. Laura was still Pete begs Laura to not take Alec with him. Laura says Alec makes her feel safe. Laura told Pete how she became pregnant when she was a teenager because she participated in gangbangs with people she did not know. The fight disingrated from there.

Snow, More Snow,and The Situation, Snooki +Etal

2010-02-11T13:14:00.001-05:00

Since I last wrote, we have gotten quite a bit of snow, with more on the way. I have been off because of the snow yesterday and today. With another big storm expected tomorrow, I expect to be off then too. The ironic thing is that my road is completely plowed and the main roads in Frederick County are in good shape. After a lot of shoveling on Saturday, I drove to College Park for the Maryland game on Sunday. The roads were not great, but it was a day game and the sun was out so it was sloshy and not ice. There were usually only one or two lanes open, so the area is clearly not ready for a normal rush hour.  My work follows the federal government's decision to close. In addition, the metro is closed for above ground stations which means I would have to drive in and pay for parking.

I have begun running on the indoor track at the YMCA and that has been a savior because of the weather and the fact that my marathon on March 21st is not far away. I did run 9 miles outside on Saturday, January 30th. Later that day we got about six inches of snow and it has not been possible to run outside since then. I ran 6.33 miles on the indoor track the next day for the first time. I had gone to my parents to shovel and only had a short amount of time to run.  During the weekday last week, I ran 4 miles on Monday and Wednesday and 5 miles on Tuesday. I took a rest day on Thursday. I took a vacation day on Friday because I knew with the big storm approaching that I would not be able to run much during the weekend. I went to the YMCA early on Friday, hoping to do 20 miles. I did 17 miles. I hope to get to 20 miles in a couple of weeks. I did not run on Saturday or Sunday, but did a lot of snow shoveling. The shoveling was significantly more difficult to shovel for this storm that it was for the big storm in December. I went back to the indoor track yesterday and did 7 miles. I hope to make it back today and the plan is to run 8 miles.

I also found out that my gym is going out of business. Below is a link to when I wrote about switching gyms last summer.

Switching Gyms

I have no choice but to go back to the fancy gym. They have a reasonable deal for the first six months, but who knows how much it will be after that.

The Jersey Shore

Putting a bunch of loudmouths in a house together in a house has been done many, many times in the world of reality television. What made The Jersey Shore a sensation was twofold,

A. The subject of the guido / guidette culture has been underpublized and it is fascinating to see them in their element at the Jersey Shore.

B. The casting of the show could not have been better. They were loud and brash but also people that I eventually found to be likable. This is in sharp contrast to The Real World where the casting has sucked for severals seasons reaching a low point with The Real World DC.

The cast includes two breakout stars that will have a lengthy 15 minutes of fame. Below is a run down of the cast.

-Mike   (The Situation) - He calls himself or his six pack The Situation. Mike is 27 years old and spends his day doing GTL (gym, tanning and laundry) before going out at night. I am not sure why it is necessary to do laundry on a daily basis. The Situation is a strange combination of arrogance and insecurity. He likes to cook meals for the house, but none of his roommates welfare will get in his way when he is trying to pickup girls. Mike had a crush on Sammi Sweetheart at first, but she preferred Ronnie. Mike instantly became good friends with Pauly D. Of the cast of The Jersey Shore,The Situation has the best potential to have lasting success in the entertainment industry. He would be outstanding as the host of a dating show.

Nicole (Snooki, Snickers,Snookers etc) - She is not quite 5 feet tall and always makes herself the center of attention.  Snooki just wants to meet a nice juiced up guy, but alas has no luck. She has no problems being the only person on the dance floor at a bar in the middle of the day and has an affinity for pickles. Snooki's most memorable incident was getting sucker punched by a guy in a bar. Snooki has been making the rounds of all the talk shows for the past couple of months. I can see Snooki eventually having a short lived reality show of her own.

Pauly D - Pauly D is a 29 year old DJ from Rhode Island that has a tanning bed in his house and spends a lot of time each day gelling his hair just right. Initially he seemed like a huge douche bag. However, he was the most likable cast member with a good self depeciating humor. Pauly D had a brief interest in Jwoww and served as wingman for The Situation throughout the summer including two memorable encounters with The Grenade. He also met an Israeli girl who turned out to be a stage five stalker. Being a DJ is a great occupation for Pauly D and at a minimum will continue making money visiting bars for years.

Jenny (Jwoww)- Jwoww is a wild woman who designs her own outrageous outfits. In the introduction she says that after she has sex with a guy, she rips his head off.  She has a boyfriend, but one night after heavy partying hooks up with Pauly D. Jwoww eventually gets back together with her boyfriend and seems to calm down after the incident with Pauly D. However, in the last episode she gets excited when she finds "juiced gorillas" on the beach. When the cast visits Atlantic City, Jwoww hits The Situation because he would not escort her back to their room after she has too much to drink. Jwoww is currently making bar appearances, but i do not see any long term future in the entertainment industry outside of the show.

Ronnie - Ronnie the Rhino is built like a tank. His first rule at the Jersey Shore was not to fall in love. Another rule he had was to not get involved with one of his roommates. Ronnie very quickly broke both those rules with Sammi. For the majority of the season they were together and somewhat separated from the rest of the cast. Ronnie got into two fights with people who were trash talking him. He ended up arrested for one of the fights. Ronnie seemed like a fun guy and I would have liked to see what he would have been like if he had been single.

Sammi Sweetheart- Sammi was the most attractive available girl in the house which meant that got a lot of attention from the males before getting with Ronnie. She was not particularly interesting compared to the rest of the cast and was kind of a bitch. Sammi was kidding with Ronnie one night after drinking too much, but ended up mad at him for comparing her big toe to Fred Flinestones. In addition, she was partially responsible for the first fight that Ronnie got into when he was trying to walk away and she was egging it on.

Vinny - The youngest cast member was the most educated. Vinny is an admitted momma's boy who loves to fist pump on the dance floor. Vinny seemed kind of quiet and got the least amount of camera time the first half of the show. He came into his own towards the end especially with his battles with The Situation. The Jersey Shore had initially gotten some heat from Italian groups about their perceived negative perception of Italians on the show. Vinny's mother and many and many of his relatives came to visit. His mother was very motherly, cooking and cleaning for the whole household. It was actually a very positive portrayal of the Italian culture.

Angelina - Angelina was only on the show for the first few episodes. She arrived with her clothes in a large plastic bag in lieu of a suitcase. Angelina had a boyfriend who apparently is married. She seemed to be interested in preventing anyone else from having fun. Angelina had a difficult time with the assigned job of working in boardwalk t shirt store. She felt that this was a huge step down from her regular job as a bartender where she does "great things." In Angelina's world it seems that a occupation as a bartender is as prestigious as a doctor. She eventually gets kicked off the show for not showing up at work. Angelina expected her roommates to feel bad for her, but they were happy to see her go.

The Jersey Shore for what it was, was a very well made and casted show. They are going to make a second season with the remaining seven cast members. I am not sure how that will work out now that they are celebrities. However, season one was a lot of fun. I give The Jersey Shore a B+.

Three Decent Movies

2010-01-27T16:17:00.002-05:00

I wrote a long blog last Wednesday that somehow got deleted so I will do my best to recreate it.

Running

I did not sleep good last Monday and it impacted my Tuesday run. I only ran 4 miles instead of my planned 5 miles. Tuesday night I went to the Maryland game so I did not get home until 11:30. Since I did not get much sleep for two consecutive days, I ended up sleeping a little later and moving my rowing machine workout until Friday. On Thursday, I was planning to do a 6 mile run on the treadmill. I did about 4.5 miles and gave up, starting walking towards the locker room and changed my mind, I went back ran for a minute or two and gave up a second time. This time I went into the locker room and decided to try once more. I was able to run an additional mile and half this time. On Friday, I did my 30 minutes on the rowing machine.

I had a very good running weekend. The weather cooperated and it was comfortable running on both days although it did rain yesterday after I finished.  I did about 8.5 miles on Saturday and 15 miles on Sunday. Saturday I did the 3 mile loop around the neighborhood and Sunday I ran on the C & O Canal. My plan to get to 17 miles next Sunday, 19 miles the next week and 21 miles the following week.

The Kite Runner

Over the summer Directv had given me the Showtime channel free for several months. I had recorded several movies which sat on my tivo for quite some time. I recently watched two of these movies. The Kite Runner was a critically acclaimed best selling by Khaled Hosseini that I never read.

The Kite Runner

Amir immigrated to the United States after leaving Afghanistan as a kid. He is now an adult that is married and about to publish his first novel when he gets a phone call from his father's old best friend from Afghanistan. This leads Amir to flashback to when he was a kid growing up. Amir's father was a successful businessman in Afghanistan and his best friend was Hassan, the son of one of his father's servants. Amir was timid and Hassan would stand up for him leading Amir's father to think that Amir was a coward. They enjoyed flying kites.

One day, after winning a kite flying competition, Hassan get beaten up and brutally raped by some older kids after protecting Amir. This embarrasses both of them and causes the friendship to end. Amir even lies and says that Hassan stole from his father, which causes Hassan to quit in shame.  Shortly after this, Russia invades Afghanistan which prompts Amir and his father to escape to America.

Shortly after getting married, Amir's father dies of cancer. Several years after this is when Amir gets the call from his father's friend who requests that Amir meet him in Pakistan.   Amir reluctantly travels to Pakistan where he learns that Hassan and his wife were recently killed by the Taliban and that their son is in an orphanage in Afghanistan.  In addition, he learns that Hassan was actually his father's illegitimate son, meaning that he and Hassan were actually half brothers.

Amir goes to Afghanistan, rescues the boy and takes him back to the United States. The movie ends with Amir and the boy flying a kite.

I thought that this movie was very well done. I especially thought that the actor who played Amir father did a strong job. The actor's name is Homayoun Ershadi. I give The Kite Runner a B+.

3:10 to Yuma

This movie is based on a book from Elmore Leonard and is a remake from a movie made in 1957. Elmore Leonard must be really old. I am not really a big fan of westerns, but heard good things about this film. The film is about two men who appear to be complete opposites but really are similar.

3:10 to Yuma

Christian Bale plays the good guy, Dan Evan who is a veteran of the Civil War, where is lost a foot and is trying to raise his family and operate a ranch, but is having financial problems. He has lost the respect of his oldest son because it is not a typical wild west gunslinger type.

Russell Crowe plays the bad guy, Ben Wade who leads a Jesse James type gang that is robbing, killing and causing all kinds of havoc.

Wade is captured, but in order to put him to jail they need to get him on the 3:10 train to Yuma, which is a big challenge with Wade's gang looking to free their leader. Dan Evans offers to help with getting Wade on the train because he needs the money. Evans is one of a team whose job it is to get Wade on the train to jail.

Wade is a quite talkative and is especially interested in Evans.   Evans is fully aware but Wade is trying to catch him off guard. Evans' son runaway from the ranch and joins the team against Evans. As the movie progressives the team shrinks as they are either killed or leave when they decide that the money is not worth the danger of continuing to staying and dealing with Wade and his gang. This leaves Evans and his son. Wade tries to bribe Evans to leave, but Evan refuses. Wade seems to genuinely like and respect Evans.

As Evans is about to escort Wade on to the train, Wade's gang shoots Evans. Wade responds by shooting everyone in his gang and boarding the train. He says that he has already escaped from the jail twice before.

I enjoyed the interaction between Wade and Evans. Both Christian Bale and Russell Crowe were very good in this film. I give 3:10 to Yuma a B-.

Funny People

Funny People is a movie from Judd Aptow that is different than Knocked Up and 40 Year Virgin because it is not completely a comedy and is much longer. Based on what I heard the first half was very good but that the movie falls apart in the second half.

Funny People

Adam Sandler plays George Simmons who is a very successful actor / comedian who does not have a family or good friends. He suddenly learns that he is going to die.

He befriends Ira played by Seth Rogan who is an aspiring comedian who will do anything to get his big break in show business. George hires Ira as an assistant / writer and they start to become good friends.

In addition, George reconnects with an old girlfriend, Laura from many years ago that was his one true love but that he blew it with. Laura is now married with kids. Eventually George learns he is not dying. Laura is tempted to end her marriage to get back with George but Ira is critical of how George is messing up their marriage and George and Ira have a big argument. Eventually, Laura decides to get back with her husband.

Several weeks later George goes to the comedy club and makes up with Ira.

I did not think that there was a major difference between the two halves of this movie. Both were pretty good, but the movie is not particularly funny and it is definitely a bit too long. I give Funny People a C+.

1776

2010-01-18T14:27:00.000-05:00

My running results has been mixed. Last weekend was very cold, but I still got my runs in though both were slightly shorter than I planned. On Saturday, I went about 7.5 miles instead of 8.5 and on Sunday I went about 11.5 instead of 13 miles. I ran on the C & O Canal both days, although there was some ice.

During the week at the gym, after working on the rowing machine on Monday, I had a good 5 mile run on Tuesday. However, after a bad night sleep (rough Maryland loss) I only did a slow 5 miles on Wednesday instead of my planned 7 miles. I was planning to do the 7 miles on Thursday as a make up. However, Thursday was a discouraging day. My legs were tired and I only got thru 4.5 miles before I gave up.

I have today off for MLK day so my original plan was to do 9 on Saturday and Monday and to do 14 on Sunday. Saturday was a very nice day and I got the 9 miles in without a problem on the C & O canal. Yesterday was Alex's birthday and we ended up going out for breakfast. I tried to eat less than normal. It was also a cold, nasty, very rainy day. I started out about 10:30 but quickly determined it was not going to be a good day for my running and stopped after only 2 miles. Today was much nicer and I did 13 miles going after a hilly loop in the neighborhood.

This week I am planning to do 5 miles tomorrow and Thursday. I will work out on the rowing machine on Wednesday. For the weekend I am planning to do 9 miles on Saturday and get my long run up to 15 miles on Sunday.

1776

After enjoying the Abraham Lincoln book that I read over the summer, I vowed to read more history books.

Abraham Lincoln book review

Virginia and I spent a day at Mount Vernon in October and I wanted to learn more about the revolutionary era so when I saw this book fairly cheap at Costco, I went ahead and bought it. 1776 is by David McCullough. It was written in 2005 and is about the first full year of the Revolutionary War. I had not previously read a book by McCullough, but I did watch and enjoy the John Adams miniseries.

1776

This book was not as interesting or as easy to read as the Lincoln book. This is likely because the book is primarily about the battles rather than politics which don't interest me as much. However, there were several interesting things that I learned from reading this book.

The main point of the book was how the American Army was a ragtag group of men with no military experience and that George Washington was very frustrated with the number of troop and the shape that they were in.
Washington was an inexperienced leader that struggled with indecision, but grew into the job.
Charles Lee was second in command of the US army. He was arrogant and very critical of Washington. Lee was captured by the British while in a tavern away from his troops.
Henry Knox, who I never heard of previously, was a book store owner who became a big hero for transporting weapons to battles.
The British under General Howe made a major mistake by stopping for the winter late in 1776.
The winters of 1775-1776 and 1776-1777 seemed to have especially bad weather compared to today. Global Warning?
The Battle of Trenton around Christmas in 1776 was probably the turning point for the US. They were in very bad shape until that point.
The British was a well trained army but had little experience in battle.
The British employed German mercenaries that seemed to help them quite a bit until Trenton. The Germans were call Hessians in the book.
The French were not assisting Washington at this point.
The Americans caught the Hessian Gereral Rall by surprise at Trenton.

I would like to read another book by McCullough since he obviously does a great job researching. However, I would not have read this book if I knew it was so much about military strategy. I give 1776 a C.

The Brass Verdict

2010-01-11T16:02:00.000-05:00

The Brass Verdict

I read this book by Michael Connelly several months ago and really enjoyed it. The book is told from the point of view of Mickey Haller who was previously the mail character in The Lincoln Lawyer. I liked all of Connelly's book, but The Lincoln Lawyer was not one of my favorites.  Haller is a a criminal defense lawyer that works out of a Lincoln Continental vehicle, rather than an office.

As the book opens, Haller has been taking a hiatus from practicing law and he works to overcome a pain killer addiction. However, an old colleague, Jerry Vincent is murdered and Haller inherits. Vincent was preparing for a high profile murder trial for Hollywood producer, Walter Elliott.

The police believe that Vincent's murder is related to the Elliott trial and that Haller may be in danger as well. The Detective investigating Vincent's murder is Harry Bosch, who is the main character in many of Connelly's book. The strength of The Brass Verdict is the interactions between Haller and Vincent. There is a natural animosity between a policemen and a defense attorney. However, Bosch is protecting Haller from a potential danger if the person that killed Vincent is now after Haller.

The novel was told from Haller's point of view which made it interesting since we got his thoughts and perceptions of Bosch, who is more of a secondary character in this book instead of the central figure in most of Connelly's books. Haller and Bosch like each other despite the natural distrust from their jobs and earn each other's respect.

The story of Elliott trial involved jury tampering that had been set up before Haller got involved. Eventually Haller and Bosch get to the bottom of it, but not before Elliott is murdered. This was not a typical Connelly because the Haller / Bosch interaction was as much a part of the story as the the Elliott trial and more interesting.

I enjoyed the feeling out, conversations and working together between Mickey Haller and Harry Bosch throughout the story. However, I did not like the surprise at the end when Haller and Bosch discover that they are half brothers. This was a bit too small worldish for me.

Bosch has been a great character through a lot of books, but there are times that I get tired of him. Having Bosch as a secondary character worked well in this case, better than it did previously in A Darkness More than Night. Haller grew on me in this book and I can see that Connelly is adding more depth to Haller and additional secondary characters so I expect there is to be more Haller books in the future.

Connelly is a talented writer, whose book are consistently good and at times outstanding. I would rate this book as an average book for Connelly which means it was very good. I believe that I have read all of Connelly's book except for a non fiction book he wrote several years ago. He is one of my favorite authors. I give The Brass Verdict a B.

Friday Night Lights

2010-01-07T08:08:00.003-05:00

I completed my weekday running for this week. I did 5 miles on Tuesday and Wednesday and 6.2 miles today. My train was late yesterday so I did my long run today instead of on Wednesday. My run today was .8 of mile less than my goal. I was feeling worn down so I stopped at a 10k rather than get to 7 miles. In addition the very high escalator at the Metro was not working, so I had to walk up a lot of steps this morning. I plan to get to 17 miles during the weekdays next week.

This weather this weekend is looking cold and my schedule is going to be tight. I am going to have to try to run 8.5 miles at 7 AM on Saturday. On Sunday, I will go for 13 miles at 11:30. I will DVR the Ravens game and hopefully I can start watching by 2:30.

Friday Night Lights Season 1

http://www.amazon.com/Friday-Night-Lights-First-Season/dp/B000RF1QE2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1262889372&sr=1-4

I started watching ths critically acclaimed show around Thanksgiving since the first three seasons are on Netflix's free instant watch. I read the book that the show is very loosely based on about 20 years ago. The book is a true story based on a actual team.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_Night_Lights:_A_Town,_a_Team,_and_a_Dream

There was also a movie that I saw, which is based on the team in the book.

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

The tv show is about a fictional team and characters.

At the time the series started, I did not want to watch it because I did not think a fictionalized team would work well. I enjoyed the MTV reality show about the high school football team in Alabama.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-A-Days

This show is a drama / soap opera. Part of the issue is that I am far more knowledgable about a football team than I am about for example an ad agency in the 1960s. Some of the problems that I had with storylines.

Jason Street the star quarterback gets paralyzed in the first episode. This happens but is very rare.
Matt Saracen the new quarterback is dating the coaches daughter, Julie. This is too much of a cliche.
Jason Street is playing wheel chair sports far too soon after that type of injury. I would think it takes quite some time after an accident before he would be ready to participate.
In one episode, Coach Taylor decides not to turn his star running back, Smash Williams in when he finds out he was taking steroids. Smash is greatful and the episode ends with the two of them watching a group of little kids play football. It appears that the player is close to his coach. However, the very episode, Smash leads the African American on the team towalk out before a key game based on an assistant coaches comment to the press without talking it over with Coach Taylor.
Jason Street is suing the school and Coach Taylor for his accident. Once the lawsuit is settled, Coach Taylor hires Street as an assistant coach in the next episode.
Tim Riggins the troubled fullback goes from partying too much and drinking during the day to a father figure to the little kid who moves in next door.
Every single game goes down to the last play and most involve a miracle ending.
Matt Saracen and Smash Williams have a part time job in a diner. This is inconsistent with the way the star football player are kings in these small Texas towns. In addition, when Tammy Taylor thinks she is pregnant she goes to the crowded doctors office. Who does not use a home pregancy test in 2006 and since she is the coaches wife this would have been big gossip in small town Texas where the football coach is a celebrity.

While I am critical and possibly nitpicking on the storylines, I did enjoy the season because all the character are interesting, likable and endearing. Even though Tim Riggins and Smash Williams have their faults, they are real, not bad people, they are characters that you root for. I felt for Matt Saracen, who is a nice, humble, quiet kid who is suddenly thrust into the pressure packed position spotlight as the starting quarterback. Kyle Chandler as Coach Taylor is born to play the part of the new coach that is earning the team and the town's respect. Lila Garrity and Tyra Collette are girls from opposite sides of track who do not get along. Lila goes out with Jason Street and Tyra with Tim Riggins. Lila's father is very good as the teams biggest booster. Landry is a good student who does not play on the team. He is best friends with Matt and has a crush on Tyra.
Despite the storylines, I am continuing to watch season two. I have already watched the first two episodies. For season one, I give Friday Night Lights a B-.

New Year, Old Story

2010-01-04T07:42:00.005-05:00

My running has not gone as planned. As I suspected, running at lunch time did not work too well on Thursday. I was only able to get in 3.37 miles. Friday was a scheduled day off. Saturday was very windy and cold, but I got my 8.5 miles in. However, Sunday the weather was too much. I did about 2.5 miles and it was too cold to continue.

Last winter the weather on weekends, which is when I was running outside was amazingly mild and I had good running days. This winter it seems that the bad weather days are falling on the weekends. We had the blizzard on Saturday two weeks ago and extreme winds all of this past weekend.

Not getting my long run in this weekend will likely make it tough to to do a 20 mile run by the end of the month. Today I worked on the rowing machine. My tentative plan for this week is

Tuesday 5 miles
Wednesday 7 miles
Thursday 5 miles
Saturday 8.5 miles
Sunday 13 miles

The Invisible Wall

I purchased the audio of this book for my MP3 player from Audible when they had a sale. The sale was on a limited number of books. I really didn't find anything I was looking for, but the price was low so I took a chance on The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein.

http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Wall-Story-Broke-Barriers/dp/0345496108/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262619183&sr=8-1

The unique aspect about Bernstein is that this is his first book and he started it when he was 93. He has published two more book since then and is now 99. This is a non-fiction story of Bernstein's childhood that reads like a novel. Bernstein grew up Jewish in London around world war I in a ghetto. He lived on a street that was Jewish on one side and christian on the other side. Harry was was the fifth of six children. Bernstein considered his mother to be a saintly women and his father to be a distant alcoholic.

The book can be broken down in the following topics.

A very young Harry secretly carries messages between a Jewish teenage neighbor and her Christian boyfriend. When they are discovered, the Jewish girl is shipped off to live with relatives in Australia. They boy loses his legs in the war and end up killing himself.

Harry's sister, Lily wins a academic scholarship and wants to become a teacher. However, their father makes her quit school and go to work in the tailor shops where a lot of the Jews work.
The relationship between the Jewish side and the Christian side of the street is discussed throughout the book. Both sides keep their distance. The Jews would never go into the Christian's houses. However, the Jews would hire the Christians to light their fire on the sabbath since the Jews could not do it themselves during the sabbath . There was a lot of anti-Semitism. However, there were also similarities such also all the people on the street were lower working class people. In addition, during the war when both sides were very concerned about loved ones fighting in the war, the two sides became closer. However, when the war ended, it went back to the same separation.
Lily had a Christian friend, Arthur Forshore that she admired since she was young. He helped her win the scholarship. Her mother was always concerned about their relationship. When Arthur returned from the war, Lily started to secretly go out with Arthur. Both Arthur and Lily became Marxist and did not believe in religion or that there was any reason for the Jews and Christians to be separated. Harry accidentally found out about their relationship and kept their secret. Eventually Lily's mother finds out. She convinces their relatives in America to allow Lily to move to the US. However, Lily runs away and marries Arthur. Lily's mother disowns Lily.
Lily and Arthur live in a nearby town and Harry continues to visit regularly. Eventually Lily has a baby. Their mother reconciles with Lily and the street has a big party for the baby with both sides of the street. This is how the book ends.
The epilogue is revealed that Lily and Arthur both die of health problems at a young age and their child ends up dying in WWII. Harry and the rest of his family move to America. About 30 years later Harry revisits the street just before they are demolishing the houses and the street for a new housing project.

I enjoyed the The Invisible Wall. It is a pleasant, sweet book that shows how much the world has changed in less than 100 years. It was a bit strange to have an upbeat ending and they to find out about the deaths of Lily, Arthur and their son. However, this is a true story. If you are looking for an action packed story this book is probably not for you. I give The Invisible Wall a B+.

Mad Men

2009-12-31T07:59:00.006-05:00

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

2009-12-30T08:27:00.004-05:00

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

2009-12-29T07:54:00.004-05:00

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

2009-12-28T08:21:00.003-05:00

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

2009-12-23T11:05:00.004-05:00

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

2009-12-15T09:29:00.003-05:00

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

2009-12-08T08:25:00.005-05:00

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

2009-12-04T13:10:00.006-05:00

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

2009-12-02T14:03:00.007-05:00

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

2009-12-01T07:48:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-14T09:46:00.006-04:00

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

2009-10-08T10:15:00.004-04:00

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

2009-09-09T14:12:00.007-04:00

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

2009-08-24T13:04:00.004-04:00

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

2009-08-21T09:55:00.005-04:00

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

2009-08-19T11:25:00.005-04:00

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

2009-08-17T10:30:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-31T08:17:00.007-04:00

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

2009-07-30T13:16:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-29T09:39:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-24T08:47:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-21T10:18:00.006-04:00

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

2009-07-07T08:49:00.006-04:00

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

2009-07-02T13:50:00.005-04:00

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

2009-07-01T10:22:00.004-04:00

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

2009-06-25T11:02:00.003-04:00

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-.

5K Race Report and a Long Winded TV Show

2009-06-22T13:01:00.002-04:00

Father's Day 5K Race

I ran in this race last year. At the time, it was my first 5K since I started running more seriously. I ended up going out too fast and was very disappointed with my time of 24:31. On my way to the race this year, it rained, but cleared up before the race started. I was surprised that the shirt they gave away was a technical running shirt. Last year it was just a regular cotton shirt. I was talking to my brother at the starting line and was caught off guard when the race started. I did not have a chance to start my stop watch and never did get it going, so I pretty much running blind.

I got out all right and it was not too crowded. I was conscience of not going too fast in the first mile like I did in my last 5k. The person reading the time at the first mile had me at 7:15. I was feel pretty good and got to mile two at 14:38. I was getting tired, but maintaining my pace. I got to the finish line and saw 22:39. I was bit disappointed as I was thinking it would be under 22 minutes. However, I felt like I did as good as I could. At this point, I do not think I am capable of going under 22 minutes. In the future, if I focus on speed, I think I have room for improvement. However, under my current training I don't think I can make a significant drop from the 22:29 I ran a couple of weeks ago.

How I Met Your Mother

The hook with show is that a voice from 2030 is Ted Moseby telling his teenage kids how he met their mother. He tells them about when he was 20s in present day and living in New York City. He hangs out with four close friends. In the very first episode he meets, Robin and it is assumed she is the mother, but at the end of the episode he refers to her as Aunt Robin. Robin becomes a fulltime member of Ted's group and his sometime girlfriend. His buddies are the smooth talking, suit wearing, womanizing Barney and his college roommate, Marshall. Barney is played by the former child star of Doogie Howswer, Neil Patrick Harris and Marshall is played by Jason Seigal, the star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Marshall has already met the love of his life, Lily.

Season one is an introduction to the characters and ends with Ted and Robin together. Season two focuses on Ted and Robin as a couple and Marshall and Lily's wedding. The finale of season two is Marshall and Lily's wedding. Ted and Robin decide to break up at the wedding. Season three deals with Ted and Robin recovering from their break up. Toward the end of season three Ted gets a serious girlfriend named Stella. The first part of season four is about Ted and Stella becoming engaged, but Stella leaves Ted at the alter and goes back to her ex husband. Barney and Robin are teased as a couple. On the finale, Ted quits his job as an architect to teach architecture. He says that the kids mother is in his class that he is teaching.

Ted is telling his kids how he met their mother and he gone thru four years and 88 episodes and still has not gotten to when he meets their mother. I guess they feel that once they reveal the mother, the show will lose the mystery and almost be at its end. I have a feeling there will be two women in the class that Ted is interested in and we don't know which one is the mother.

I have enjoyed How I Met Your Mother. The strength of the show is in the supporting characters. Barney in particular is a funny part of the show. However, it felt like this year that the show is past its prime and not as funny as the first few years. I give the show a B-.

Podcasts

2009-06-18T10:47:00.004-04:00

I had some minor leg issues the last couple of weeks. It is between my ankle and my knee on my left leg. It may be shin splits. After the 5k on June 7th, I did a slow 7 miles the next day while off from work. The injury starting bothering me the next time I ran last Wednesday. I cut back my run from 5 miles to 2.5miles. The next day, it was bothering me so I stopped after 1.25 miles and worked out on the rowing machine. On Saturday, I ran thru the injury and did my usual 6 miles. I felt fine so I did my planned 15 mile run on Sunday. This week, I decided to not run as fast as I was planning. On Tuesday, I ran 5 miles in 42:40 and today I ran 5 miles on 42:10. I will not run tomorrow and then do a slow six on Saturday before the 5k on Sunday. Starting next week, I will start my marathon training.

Podcasts

Believe it or not, I did not own a MP3 player until September. In addition, to music, I like to listen to books and radio shows. Initially I would download the Scott Van Pelt and Mike Tirico shows from the previous days. One day in February I went to ESPN.com to download Tirico and Van Pelt and found that they no longer made the full program available for download for free. I downloaded a Bill Simmons podcast instead. He happened to have on Adam Carolla who was starting his own podcast. I enjoyed the podcast so I started downloading both Simmons and Carolla podcasts regularly. In March as I was getting ready for fantasy baseball season I started downloading the daily fantasy focus podcasts for ESPN. Shortly after that I was reading a blog that discussed the podcasts that I was already downloaded and also recommended the On the DL podcast. I started downloading that one as well. It normally takes about 10 minutes a day to download all the shows. I listen to the podcasts primarily when I run and during commutes.

Bill Simmons BS report

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/simmons/index

I had heard of the Sports Guy Column and read a few, but was not a regular reader. Bill Simmons is from Boston and does not hide the fact that he roots for the Boston teams. He is a big NBA guy and not much of a college sports fan. Bill Simmons wrote for the Jimmy Kimmel show and is a funny guy that mixes sports with other pop culture topics. One show may be a straight sports discussion and another show will have nothing at all to do with sports. His regular guests include a couple of his college buddies, Jacko and Joe House. Both are surprisingly well spoken and funny. Jacko is a big Yankee fan and their Yankee / Red Sox interaction is great. Another regular classic is when Simmons reviews the Real World / Road Rule Challenges with Dave Jacoby.

I will typically listen to the BS Report the afternoon after the downloand is available. It is my favorite podcast. Simmons does not have a regular schedule, but consistently does three or four podcasts a week. I give the BS report a A.

Fantasy Focus with Matthew Berry and Nate Ravitz

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=2544461

This became a daily weekday show in March when the baseball season was getting ready to start. The show is a mixture of fantasy baseball discussion mixed in with light ribbing. I don't listen to the show for fantasy advise, but enjoy the fantasy discussion. In addition, as I have learned all the inside jokes, I like the non-baseball discussion as well.

Matthew Berry at times seems to try to act like Bill Simmons and it is annoying how he insists on being called Matthew and not Matt. Nate Ravitz at times acts like he is smarter than everyone else. However, for the most part the hosts have grown on me. The interaction with the producer, Pod Vader is amusing. I usually listen to the show the morning after I download since the show is topical. I give the show a B+.

The Adam Carolla Podcast

http://www.adamcarolla.com/ACPBlog/podcasts/

Carolla was fired by CBS radio on a Friday when his station changed formats. By the following Monday, he started daily weekday podcasts. Carolla is paid by CBS for the remainder of the year and it not allowed to make any money from the podcast. These shows last about an hour and typically have a guest. The guests vary in fame, but are mainly comedians. The show does not have a sponsor and because it is independent, it is uncensored with mature language and discussion. Carolla is a smart, funny guy, but also has a tendency to dominate discussions. The show can be very good when Carolla has a good guest on that he clicks with like Jimmy Kimmel or Bill Simmons. However, there are other show with less talented guests that are pretty boring. He had one show with somebody from Ford Motors that seemed like a commercial for Ford that I stopped listening to after five minutes. I typically will listen in the afternoon if I don't have a BS Report to listen to or on weekends. I give The Adam Carolla Podcast a B.

On the DL with Dan Levy

http://www.onthedlpodcast.com/Blog_Podcast/Blog/Blog.html

This is more of a typical podcast where the host is not well known and working to develop a following. Levy and his co-host, Nick Tarnowski both previously worked for the Rutger athletic department. The show says it is "a podcast about sports, media, entertainment, politics, pop culture and really, whatever we want. And we’ll include some of the biggest names in sports, media, politics and entertainment in the discussion". However, virtually the whole show is about sports. He gets an impressive list of guests, but seems to be so grateful that the guest is doing his show that he kisses their ass throughout the interview. I guess that is necessary to attract these guests to a podcast that is working to establish itself.

I like the concept of the show and like that are trying to build an audience basically from scratch. However, there are a few issues that annoy me.

A. The show is from Philadelphia, but at times is too focused on Philadelphia topics if it wants to attract a national audience.

B. Levy and Tarnowski both can be too politically correct. It is like they are they are trying too hard to be professional. They can afford to loosen up.

C. I find myself disagreeing with them are virtually every opinion they express from making a big deal that Lebron James did not talk to media after the Cav lost to the blogger that raised the possibility that Raul Ibanez could be on steroids.

Despite my issues, I plan to continue to On the DL. If I have no BS Report to listen to, I will either listen to Carolla or On the DL in the afternoons or on weekends depending upon my mood. I give the show a B-.

5Ks and A Bland Movie

2009-06-16T10:37:00.003-04:00

5K History

My first race was a 5k on July 4th in 2003, my second year of running. I walked a bit of the race and finished in about 30 minutes. The next year I ran the same race, in about 100 degrees and finished in about 25 minutes. I believe the following year I ran a 5k at a conference I attended in Seattle in 24 minutes. I started running races again in 2007, but did not run any 5ks. Last year, I ran a 5k on Father's Day's and went out too fast, I was very disappointed in my time of 24:31. In October I ran in the Koman's Fight Against Cancer race in Baltimore. I arrived late, so I had to start at the back of the pack. The race was extremely crowded and I probably lost 1 to 2 minutes dodging people in front of me. Based on the conditions, I was pleased with the result. I finished at 23:12. Last week I raced in perfect conditions and set a personal record at 22:29.

Running a 5k is a lot different than running a longer race. While you don't feel it as much after the race, during the race a 5k it is more difficult than a longer race if you are pushing to improve your time. I have thought about focusing more on lowering my 5k time and working on my speed, but at least for now, it is a secondary goal. Running a 5K under 20 minutes is a big milestone. However, after my race on Sunday, I will be starting my training for the Baltimore marathon.

He Just Not That Into You

The last four weeks, Virginia and I had watched four highly praised movies that were all good to excellent. However, this week the movie that we watched was very forgetable. Here is the wikipedia summary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He). It is a movie about relationships with an ensemble cast. The movie was very similiar to Edward Burns' Sidewalks of New York and Cameron Crowe's Singles, but not as good.

The movie has an all star cast, but some of the stars have small parts and don't serve much purpose. If anything there are too many characters. It is very surprising to read that this movie made about $150 million at the box office. The movie is supposed to be set in Baltimore, but I could barely tell except for the Domino's Sugar sign outside of Jennifer Aniston' condo. I give this movie a C-.

5K PR and Movies About Life Dreams

2009-06-15T11:06:00.006-04:00

Race Report
I ran the 5k at my kids elementary school a week ago. This was an inaugural race that is a PTA fundraiser. There were about 200 runners and no timechip. There were some fast runners from the local running club and a lot of parent and students who were running their first race. I started out and within the first couple minutes did not feel that good. I thought it was from the bottle of wine that I drank the previous evening. However, I passed the first mile is about 6:30 and think I just did not realize how fast I was going. I slowed down some during the second mile, but was still around 14 minutes after the second mile and getting tired. I ended up walking for a short distance after the 2nd mile. A guy caught up to me and offered some encouragement and said we would finish together. I ended up getting a second wind and finishing strongly. My final time was 22:29, which was a personal record. I finished in 17th place out 203. I was the 2nd parent. I would like to get under 22 minutes and think I can. I have another 5k on Sunday. This race was good for a pr because it was mostly flat and not crowded.

Up and Revolutionary Road
Last Friday I went to see the latest Pixar movie, Up net in the movie theatre. This was the first time that the whole family went to movies in the evening and I'll be doing a rant about that. Going forward, rather than summarizing the movie, I will link the wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_(2009_film). Pixar has never made a movie that was not well received and Up was no exception. The tomatometer at www.rottentomatoes.com is 98%. Pixar excels at making movies that appeals to adults and children.

Last Saturday, Virginia and I watched Revolutionary Road http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Road_(film) which reunited Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio from The Titanic. The movie was directed by Sam Mendes, who is Winslet's husband and also directed American Beauty. The movie is of the the most adult movies I have ever seen and had nothing to do with sex or violence, but solely the story.

I enjoyed both movies. I thought it was interesting that despite Up being a family movie and Revolutionary Road being a movie for adults, the theme were similiar in both movies. Both were about couples who had extravagent and exotic dreams about their lives when they were young and the struggles and the realities of life lead to bland and predictable lives.

Up is probably my favorite Pixar movie since the Toy Story movies, but I have not seen Wall-e. The first hour of the movies is especially great. A family movie normally has some some part where you need to suspend belief. The balloons lifting and flying the house worked, but the collar that makes the dog talk did not. A pet peeve for me about Up and a lot of movies with the climatic scene being a fight between good and evil is how long the battle lasts when everyone knows the good guy is going to win. Overall, I give Up a B with an A for the first hour and a C for the rest.

Revolutionary Road was a very powerful, great film about coping when you cannot live the life you would prefer. It is a movie that I can relate to both of the main characters. Frank is able to manage and prosper. He is a successful salesmen, despite hating his job and is about to have an opportunity to enter the computer industry at its infancy in 1955. April is a stay at home mother (as virtually all married women with children were in 1955) in the suburbs. She cannot handle not moving to Paris as she dreams. The only minor complaint is that the ending was a bit confusing trying to determine whether April committed suicide or died by accident when trying to give herself an abortion. I give the move an A-.

Shatter

2009-06-04T09:39:00.006-04:00

I got my weekday running done for the week on the treadmill. I did 5 miles on Tuesday in 41:20. Yesterday I did 6.2 miles in 55:10 and today I did 5 miles in 40:33. I plan to take tomorrow off and then run a slow 6 miles on Saturday. Sunday is my 5k. I am off Monday and going on a field trip with Aaron. I hope to be able to squeeze in 6 or 7 mile early in the morning.

Shatter

Shatter is a book that listened to on my mp3 player while running. http://www.amazon.com/Shatter-Michael-Robotham/dp/0385517912/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244123474&sr=8-1

It is by a British writer named Michael Robotham. This is the first book that I have read from this author. Apparently the main character, Joe O'Loughlin is a reoccurring character in Michael Robotham's books. This book is somewhat predictable for frequent readers of psychological thrillers.

Joe is a middle aged psychologist with a wife and two kids living in Somerset, England. He has Parkinson's disease. Joe helps the police with a lady that is threatening to jump off the bridge. The lady jumps and dies. Joe investigates and find that the lady, Christine Wheeler was on the phone with someone who was encouraging her to jump. Joe works with the police to figure out who was on the phone with Christine Wheeler and care for her teenage daughter

Parts of the book start to be told from the killers perspective. The killer tells Christine Wheeler's long time friend and business partner, Sylvia Furness that he has her daughter and will rape and kill her if she does not do what he says. He ends up having her freeze to death. Joe and the police are able to link Wheeler and Furness to a high school friend, Helen Chambers who died along with her daughter in a recent ferry boat accident after separating from her husband, Gideon Tyler. The husband becomes the prime suspect in the Wheeler and Furness' murder. Gideon Tyler is part of the British military as an interrogator and is well trained in physcological warfare.

It turns out that the police had Gideon in custody earlier after he was near the Christine Wheeler murder and found her phone. He gave police a different name and seemed to suffer from post traumatic stress from being in the military. Joe did not feel that this person had the mental capacity to be involved in these murders and with Joe's encouragement the man who turned out to be Gideon Tyler is released.

After Tyler is identified as the murderer, it become a mental battle between Gideon and Joe. They talk on the phone where Gideon insists that his wife and daughter is alive. After much prodding, Joe is able to convince Brian Chambers, Helen's father to discuss Helen's experiences with Gideon. Gideon was very possessive and continues to constantly threaten the Chambers. Their house is under strict guard.

Joe is working closely with an retired policemen, Vincent Ruiz who also appears to be a reoccurring character. They begin to question whether Gideon is right and Helen Chamber sand her daughter are still alive. However, before they can investigate, Gideon contact Joe's wife, Juliette and informs her that he has their daughter Charley. Joe and Juliette have been having marital problems after Joe suspects she was having an affair with her boss.

The psychological battle between Joe and Gideon continues. Gideon takes Juliette from police custody. Joe finds out that Helen and her daughter are alive and living in the Chambers basement. The police have Gideon's daughter on the phone with Gideon to distract him and are able to capture him. He refuses to tell where he is holding Juliette and Charley. Based on clues Joe and Vincent are able to located the abandoned house where Gideon was holding Juliette and Charley. Both are still alive. The book ends six months later. Joe and Juliette are separated.

I thought the book was decent, but as a said I thought it was predictable. Perhaps I have read too many books where it is a battle between the evil killer and the policy or Psychologist. The killer makes in personal and threatens a loved one and then it captured. I did like the narrator on the recording. I give the book a B-.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-06-02T13:10:00.007-04:00

Virginia and I watched Slum Dog Millionaire over the weekend. This is the film shot in India that won the Best Picture Oscar in 2008.

It is about Jamal, who grows up in the slums of Mambai with his mother and brother, Salim. His mother is killed during a riot when he is a kid. He and his brother meet up with Latika, who is they call the third musketeer.

The kids struggle to survive. They fall into a hands of a bad guy, named Maman who had them beg for money. Maman wants Salim to become part of his gang and as his initiation, he wants Maman to blind Jamal so that he will get more money when begging. Jamal and Salim escape, but Latika is left behind.

The kids find a way to survive for several years, but Jamal insists that they go back and find Latika. They eventually find that Latika is working for Maman as some kind of hooker. Salim ends up shooting Maman, but then takes Latika for his own. Jamal wants to fight his brother, but Latika tells him to leave in order that he be safe.

Jamal has to fend for himself now. Several years later, Jamal is working in a call center and find out that Salim is now a bigtime gangster. Jamal asks about Latika but is told that she is long gone. However, it turns out that Latika is actually with Salim's crime boss, Javed. Jamal declares his love for her, but Latika tells him to forget her. Jamal tells her he will wait for her every day at 5 PM at the train station. Latika eventually comes to the train station, but Javed and Salim catch her and take her away.

Jamal then goes on the game show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire which he knows is Latika's favorite show. Based on Jamal's life experiences he is able to answer all the questions leading up to the final question which will be on the next show. The host alerts the police that Jamal is cheating so the police question Jamal. This is how the movie begins and is told thru flashbacks of Jamal's life and explains how he knows each answer.

After hearing his explanation, the police release Jamal and he goes back on the game show to go for the grand prize. Salim helps Latika escape from Javed knowing that it would cause him a lot of trouble. Javed comes for Salim and they have a shoot out where both are shot.

The final question is about the name of the third musketeer which they could never figure out when they are younger. Jamal uses a lifeline to remove two of the four choices and then another lifeline to call Salim. However, Latika has Salim's cell phone. Latika does not know the answer but tells Jamal that see is safe. Jamal takes a guess at the answer and wins the top prize. Jamal and Latika are reunited at the end.

I thought Slumdog Millionaire was a good movie about Jamal's difficult life in the slums without parents to overcoming his obstacles and winning the game show and the love of his girlfriend. However, the game show aspect did not seem very realistic. How did he get selected to appear on the show? Jamal had to learn about life the hard way, but it is still quite a coincidence that all the questions had to do with facts he learned about on the street. I believe that was the wesk point of the movie. I give Slumdog Millionaire a B.

Free Radio Monday

2009-06-01T09:28:00.005-04:00

I had a good running weekend. I did about 6 slow miles on Saturday. My legs were bothering me from running hard on Friday. On Sunday I went 13.6 on a hilly course to my kids school and back and then my usual three mile path. The weather was very nice this weekend. I have a 5k this weekend so I am not planning to do a long run next week weekend. I am planning to do 5 miles runs on the treadmill on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday and Thursday will be hard runs.

Free Radio

I randomly found this show on VH1 last year. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but was convinced that I was just about the only person watching it. The show does not fit it at all with with VH1's other shows which consists of B level celebrity shows and the greatest countdown categories (one hit wonders, child actors etc). Free Radio did not seem to get any publicity and I just assumed it was cancelled. I was pleasantly surprised when Free Radio reappeared in my tivo recently with new episodes for a second season.

Ths premise of the shows is that the fictional radio station, KBOM loses it big star morning man to satelite radio. The station in a pinch puts an intern on the air as a replacement. The intern is Lance who is a hapless idiot. However, the rating go up and the station is forced to hire him fulltime. The show is called Moron in the Morning. Lance's co-host is Anna who is extremely profressional and tries to reign Lance in as much as possible. There is a show within the show element as Moron in the Morning conducts interviews with real celebrities. There are typically three or four an episode and they last a few minutes each. It is unclear whether these interviews are improvised or scripted.

Other cast members include the hapless manager of KBOM, James. He is recently divorced and lives in his office. He has a crush on Anna. The receptionist, Emo Sarah does not seem to work very hard and has a bad attitude especially when dealing with her boss, James. Shelton is Lance's Manager, who is always scheming with Lance on some idea that never works out.

The show is unique and very funny. It obviously has a small budget and seemed to have a major sponsership deal with Burger King in season two, which is fine if that is what it takes to stay on the air. I particularly like Anna Vocino as Anna. She does a very job as the normal person who is forced to work with the clueless, but popular Lance. Once in a while, the show will get a little too far fetched like the boxing match between Lance and Anna, but overall I love the characters and energy of Free Radio. I give it a B+ and hope it returns for a third season.

Friday Rants and Raves

2009-05-29T08:56:00.007-04:00

Today was the first day in a while that I felt good running. It is a wonder what a good night sleep can do. I ran 5 miles on the treadmill Wednesday and today. On Wednesday I ran the 5 miles in 42:20 and today I ran the same in 41:40. On Wednesday, I felt like I pulled something in my buttocks. It bothered me Wednesday and Thursday, but disappeared today. I will probably run a slow 6 miles on Saturday and how long I run on Sunday will depend on how I feel and how early I can start.

Rants and Raves

Michael Vick - Michael Vick is not a nice guy and and idiot. However, he has been punished enough for his crimes with dog fighting. In the poor rural south where Vick grew up, dog fighting is a part of the culture. I would like to see PETA focus more on stopping dog fighting rather than preventing Michael Vick from moving on with his life after spending almost two years in prison. However, I have a feeling they are going to be protesting and calling for boycotts against the team that Vick eventually signs with.

Lawrence Phillips was a major star in college at Nebraska that was constantly in trouble and there was always controversy about him. There was a lot of talk about the Ravens drafting him out of college. The Ravens made out well by selecting Jonathan Ogden instead of Phillips. I felt like there was so much talk about Phillips' off the field issues that they never focused on whether he was really a good enough player on the field to warrant being a top draft pick. Nebraska's offensive line was so good, anybody could have put up big numbers as their starting tailback. I feel the same way about Vick. He was pretty average in Atlanta. The one thing he has going for him is his speed and how much has he lost in the last couple of years? Vick will be 29 next month, which is the time when athletes start losing their speed and his training the last couple year has been limited. He will likely play some in a wildcat type offense, but it remains to be seen if the wildcat is a fad or a lasting part of NFL football.

Felix Hernandez - I play in an American League fantasy baseball league where we keep eight players each season. Felix Hernandez was a super prospoect as an 18 year when I drafted him in 2005. I have protected him every year since then so I have watched his career very closely. He has some of the best stuff in baseball, but is wildly inconsistent. Felix is still only 23. It always appears that Hernandez is much better when Kenji Johjima is not his catcher . http://bleacherreport.com/articles/182948-casey-at-the-bat-johjima-a-detriment-to-ms-pitching-staff Now Johjima has broken is toe and is out for six to eight weeks so it will be interesting to see how Felix does during this time. Johjima is also on my team, but it has gotten to the point where I was happy when Johjima was out of the line up when Felix was piching.

Peter Angelos - Peter Angelos was named by Sports Illustrated as the worst owner in baseball http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/05/08/mlb.owners/index.html?eref=T1. I would agree with this if this from several years ago. However, I think Angelos has finally learned to hire capable baseball people and let them run the team. I don't have a problem with anything that Angelos has done from the last few years. In addition, Ted Lerner of the Nationals, who was listed as the 5th worse owner, clearly deserves the title of the worst owner in baseball. The Nationals appear to be run as cheaply as possible and the honeymoon period of having a baseball team and new stadium in goodwill was over quicker than I would have thought possible.

Baltimore Orioles - Growing up I was a diehard Oriole fan. Right around the time that Alex was born, the Orioles got bad and I lost interest and started paying move attention to my fantasy team than the Orioles. I guess I am a fairweather fan but those were some rough years under Syd Thrift.

When the Orioles hired Andy MacPhail to run the team two years ago, the team started to make smart decisions. They have focused on young players, particularly pitchers. They has a whole crop of strong arms. The thinking is that some will make it and others will get hurt or not perform as hoped. MacPhail traded Erik Bedard to the Mariners in what looks like with one the great trades in recent year for a package including Adam Jones, Chris Tillman and George Sherrill. It takes time to turn a baseball franchise around especially in a division with the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays.

Since moving near Frederick about five years ago, I go to a few Frederick Keys games a year and see the Orioles propspects in High class A ball. It was clear the last two years that the Keys had more top prospects than previous years.

All of the sudden in the last couple weeks it seems like everything is coming together. The outfield of Nick Markakis, Jones and recently promoted Nolan Reimold looks like it may together for quite some time. Some of the young pitchers (Brad Bergesen Jason Berken and David Hernandez) are now in the starting rotation, while the top pitching prospects (Tillman, Jake Arrieta and Brian Matusz) are still being groomed in the minors. Today the best propspect in baseball, Matt Wieters will be making his major league debut. It has been along time for Orioles fan, but it is finally time to get excited again.

Memorial Day and Benjamin Button

2009-05-26T09:11:00.004-04:00

I ran nine miles on Memorial Day. I was still feeling quite winded (lacking my normal energy) and it was extremely humid out as well. I did not time myself, but I believe I was doing about 9 minute miles. In addition, I did not bring my mp3 player on my run as I normally do.

Today on my return to work, it was quite rainy. I worked out for a half an hour on the rowing machine at the gym. I am planning to run on the treadmill Wednesday and Thursday, but how far and how fast will depend on how I feel. I have a 5k in two weeks and another 5k on Father's Day.

For Memorial Day, my parents came over and watched the kids while Virginia and I went out to lunch. Then they stayed for dinner, which was nice. Virginia wanted to go to lunch so that we could have some time with just the two of us, but she was distant while we were alone.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Virginia and I watched Benjamin Button over the weekend. It is a very long movie at nearly three hours so we split it up in two days. Benjamin Button is based on a F Scott Fitzgerald short story. As an aside, I pass the church where F Scott Fitzgerald is buried every day going to work.

The story is told by a old lady in current times to her daughter while on her death bed. It starts with a clockmaker, who son dies in world war 1 so he makes a clock for a New Orleans train station that goes in reverse to bring back soldiers that died in the war. Benjamin Button ages in reverse. He was born as an old man at the end of world war 1. His mother died during childbirth and his father abandoned him to a lady named Queenie who runs a retirement home. The doctor who examined him when he was born said he had cataracts and other illnesses normally associated with the elderly and was not going to survive long. Queenie decides to raise him and he gets healthier. Apparently beyond the doctor examining Benjamin when he was a baby, they accept his condition and do not make any effort to determine why he is different. When he is about eight he appears to be just a regular old man. Benjamin bonds with a young girl named Daisy who was visiting her grandmother. We find out that the old lady telling the story is Daisy.

As the years go by, Benjamin gets younger looking. He starts to work on a tugboat. He meets Mr Buttons who does not tell him that Benjamin is his son. Benjamin actually looks older than him at this point. He starts to travel with the tugboat and has an affair with an older lady in England. Around this time, the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and Benjamin and the tugboat crew go to the war. Much of the crew dies but Benjamin makes it home safely. He visits Daisy who is a dancer in New York and find that she has a boyfriend. Benjamin's father tell him who he is and that the father is dying. The father, Mr Buttons runs a very profitable Button shop. When his father dies Benjamin inherits a substantial amount of money.

As the years go by, Benjamin visits Daisy after she has a serious leg injury when hit by a car in Paris. As they both are in middle age, Benjamin and Daisy become a couple and have a period for several year where they are very happy. Eventually they have a daughter, the same daughter that Daisy is telling the story to. Benjamin starts to realize that his getting younger is going to cause problems and leaves when the daughter is a year old. Daisy remarries and twelve years later, Benjamin visits her and see his daughter. Benjamin is a teenager at this point. Several years later, Daisy is called by social services who found her name all over Benjamin's diary. He is a young boy found alone. He is suffering from dementia and Daisy takes care of him until he is a baby and passes away. Around that same time the clock that goes in reverse in the train station is removed.

The story was strangely powerful considering the idea of someone aging in reverse is so unrealistic. The film was well done and worthy of the Academy Award nominations except I did not think that Brad Pitt's performance was particularly worthy of nomination. There was nothing wrong with Brad Pitts performance, but I did not think it was special either. I give the movie a B+.

Race Report and The Biggest Loser

2009-05-24T09:37:00.011-04:00

I had a poor race on Saturday and I had no shortage of excuses.

1. I had a bad cold all week so I only ran 3.1 miles since last Sunday. I feel like I lost a lot of energy from the cold.

2. I woke up around 1:00 AM the night before and never fell back to sleep. I had about 4 hours of sleep for the night

3. It was one of the first sunny hot days that I had run in this year.

4. I forgot the little brace I wear around my knee since having IT band problems last November.
5. I have not found the right strategy for running a 10k. For a shorter race I am able to run under 8 minute miles and hang on. I thought with my marathon training that I could do it for a 10k. For longer races, I am able to do under 9 minute miles for a half Marathon and under 10 minute miles for my marathon.

I ran the first miles in about 7:30 and felt all right, but by the time I got to mile two in 15:13 I knew that I did not have a lot left. There were three times I stopped and and walked a bit. I ended up at 52:23, which was about four minutes more than I was hoping for before getting sick. That was about a minute and a half slower than I did in the same race last year. I ended up in 212th place out of 677 total. In comparison, I finished 97th out of 493 in a five mile race two months ago.

I ran about 7 miles lightly this morning. There are two types of limitations to long distance running.

1. My body, typically my legs ache and prevent me from going further or faster.

2. Endurance I don't have the energy to go further.

For the last six months, the body has been what limits me before the energy. However, this week every since I got this cold, it has been the energy that has impacted my running. Since I ran less this week, my legs have felt strong.

Since Monday is Memorial Day, I have been planning to do my long run on Monday this week. However, since I am getting my strength back, at this point I am thinking that I will go about 9 miles tomorrow on Monday.

The Biggest Loser

Alex and I like to watch The Biggest Loser together. We have watched it for the past three seasons. The episodes are two hours each and they really drag out the weigh ins. The show has a ton of product placement and producer related twists. However, there is an addictive quality to show of getting to know the contestants and watching them shrink physically and hopefully grow emotionally.

There are two trainers with very different approaches. Each contestant is assigned or chooses a trainer. Bob Harper is like a big brother that encourages and will get involved in game play. Jillian Michaels is more no nonsense and seems above the game play. In the end, Jillian's contestants win. Bob is like the Susan Lucci of The Biggest Loser and seems to get more desperate to get a winner each year. The contestants live at the"ranch" which is a nice place with facilities needed to lose wight. They are separated from their normal life and all their time and focus is dedicated to losing weight. The Biggest Loser is hosted by Allison Sweeney from Days of Our Life, who had a baby during this season and took hardly any time off.

There was a bit of a scandal this year they reported that one of the eliminated contestants, Dane had run a Marathon in 3 hours and 53 minutes. As someone who was in the midst of training for a marathon at the time with a goal of 4 hours and 15 minutes, it was shocking to see a person who was 400 lbs recently run a marathon in a faster time. It turned out that not only was the time actually 5 hours and 53 minutes, but that Dane got a ride for at least three of the miles. Dane did eventually complete a real marathon in about six hours. It was very disappointing that The Biggest Loser never went back and corrected the erroneous initial marathon report on the show.

For the last three seasons, the contestants have been grouped with a partner, typically a family member or friend. I would like them to go to individual contestants in the future. Each week, at the weight in the two teams or individuals with the lowest percentage of weight loss are "below the yellow line" and the other contestants then vote which team or individual is eliminated.

The rules bring a Survivor type element to the game with alliances and promises. In addition, there seems to a lot water loading that takes place where a team or individual has immunity for a weigh in, they will try to lose less weight that week so that their starting number for the following weigh in is higher. They did change the rules so that if they gain weight they lose their immunity. This is how Nicole was sent home the first week back at the ranch when she had immunity.

The main contestants this year included the brown team consisting of the father, Ron and the son, Mike who at 18 was the youngest contestant ever. Ron had a bizarre looking stomach from a botched gastric bypass surgery. He had a huge sense of entitlement and was not very likable. Mike on the other hand seemed like a good kid that really benefited from the opportunity to get his weight under control. The green team was friends, Tara and Laura. Tara was very competitive and won virtually every challenge. She was is in her 20s, a good runner and fairly attractive once she lost the weight. Her friend, Laura ended up with a stress fracture. The pink team was mother, Helen and daughter Shanon. The pink team was up for elimination fairly early in the competition and had had to send one member home, they decided to eliminate Shanon. This seemed odd since Shanon weighed more and typically a parent would put their child before themselves.

The finals was a three hour extravaganza that dragged on. It can be broken down in several parts.

A. From the last weigh in the two contestants that were below the yellow line were voted on by viewers to determine the last person in the final three. The two contestants were father and son, Ron and Mike. Both wanted Mike to win. Last season the two contestants were also teammates, husband and wife Ed and Heba. Both asked that Heba win, but they were so unpopular that Ed won with 84% of the vote. Heba won the award for the biggest loser of the eliminated contestants and would have been The Biggest Loser if she had advanced to the finals. However, this year since Mike was well liked, he won the viewer vote and advanced to the finals.

B. The consolation prize went to the oldest contestant ever, Jerry, who was eliminated in week two, but lost about 48% of his weight. Despite losing all that weight, he did not look very healthy and looked much older than 64 years old.

C. They introduced us to two people who want to be on the show next season. Both worked out with Bob and Jillian and viewers voted on who they wanted to become a contestant. Both were young, overweight and blonde. It was hard to tell the difference between them.

D. The finals consisted of Mike, Tara and Helen. Both Mike and Tara lost about 50% of their weight and looked healthy. Helen did not look healthy and looked older than 48, but lost 55% of her weight and ended up at 117 lbs to become the new Biggest Loser.

I am not sure if it was because they were older or that they went to unhealthy extremes to lose the weight, but Helen and Jerry did not look nearly as good as the previous two winner, Ali and Michelle who seem to be important parts of the Biggest Loser franchise. I would like to see more details about the training and less game play, but the show is a guilty pleasure and an enjoyable show to watch with a 10 year old. I give The Biggest Loser a C+.

Still Not Feeling Well and Down River

2009-05-21T09:42:00.003-04:00

I have continued to not feel like myself. I ran on the treadmill at the gym today. However, I was feeling more winded than normal and decided to only run 3.1 miles. I did this in about 28:20. This was my shortest workout in several months. Last time that I was sick, I kept extercising until I ended up with strep throat. This week I have reduced by miles during the week from 12.4 planned to 3.1. Unless I feel much better, I will not run on Friday since I have my race on Saturday.

My options for the race are,

1. Race as normal and go for my orginal 48 minute goal.
2. Go for a leisurely run and not push it.
3. Do not attend the race.

As of now I am leaning towards going to the race and see how I feel before decided how hard I run.

We continue to have problems with the neighbors. They were out making noise until around 2 AM. I believe I was actually sleeping thru it but awoke when Virginina asked them to be quiet. They stopped but I never was able to go back to sleep. I have a feeling the parents are not around this summer at their house.

Book Review

This morning on the train I finished Down River by John Hart. This book won the Edgar Award in 2008. Virginia's cousin gave her the book and it has been in my briefcase for about six months before I started reading it.

Down River is about Adam Chase who returns to his family farm in North Carolina after three years in which he had no contact with his family. He left after being found not guilty of murder. His family is extremely dysfunctional. Adam's mother committed suicide and his stepmother was the primary witness at his murder trial. Upon returning he finds that much of the town is upset with his father over a land development opportunity. Shortly after Adam returns, crimes start happening and he is again a prime suspect. Adam must work to investigate the crimes and uncover old families secrets in order to prove his innocence and understand his family dynamics.

River Down was an easy read with a story that hooked me within the first couple of chapters. However, it was not a very deep book and fairly violent. I give this book a B. I would like to read another book by John Hart and he happens to have a new book out called The Last Child that I plan to get soon.

Sick and Lost

2009-05-19T08:05:00.005-04:00

I have not felt well the last couple of days. Usually I very rarely get sick. I have no energy. I am taking the Zinc cold medicine and hoping I get stronger soon. I worked out on the rowing machine on Monday, but did not run on Tuesday. Hopefully, I will feel better and be able to run on Thursday. I slept good the last two nights and still feel incredibly tired. The neighbor kids were making a lot of noise last night but I slept right thru it.

A part of me is stir crazy because I took a day off from running today. I have been fortunate to be fairly injury free. However, if I had a serious injury and had to take an extended time off, I don't know how I would handle it. Running really keeps me sane and I think I am addicted.

Lost
Season five of Lost ended last night. Virginia and I have watched it from the beginning. It is the only show we currently watch together. Lost is certainly a completely unique show and creatively far superior to any other tv show ever. However, after every show, I need to spend several hours on the internet figuring out what happened.

I am not a science fiction fan, so at times I don't enjoy that part of the show. However, the characters are very good and the mystery is fascinating. I assume from the beginning they have an explanation for what happens on the island and from the beginning I was interested in how they reveal answers on a tv series that the creators hoped would last for a number of years. After a great first year, they did struggle a bit in the second and beginning of the third year. In the middle of the third year they decided that the show would end after the sixth year and with a set number of episodes they were able to plan out the resolution of the series. The finale of season three which turned out to be a flash forward instead of a flash back was a turning point in the show and one of the most talked about episodes. Lost started out as a rating hit in season one, but eventually became more of a cult hit. It is not the type of show that you can miss episodes and continue to watch. A person has to invest a good amount of time into following Lost.

The finale started with the introduction of two characters never seen before. Jacob had been much discussed, but the other character whose name is unknown, was completely new and likely to be a big part the mystery. The season ended with more questions than ever. For the characters living in 1977, Sayid was shot, Juliet was pulled down a huge well, but survives enough to apparently ignite a hydrogen bomb that the 1977 characters are convinced will prevent the 2004 crash of flight 815. Meanwhile in 2007, Ilana and her followers reveal John Locke's dead body. This means that Locke was not revitalized on the island and that someone has taken his form. The fake Locke convinces Ben to stab Jacob, who apparently represents good in the island struggles. I give the season finale a B+.

The final season will start in January and we don't know what time period it will take place or even if it will be on the island. As far as I am concerned if they are able to finish the show on a strong note, Lost will be the greatest tv series of all time. I gave the series an A.

Preakness Weekend

2009-05-17T12:49:00.004-04:00

Running: I ran about 5 miles on Saturday around the neighborhood. Typical Saturday run where my legs did not feel that great. it was definitely the most humid day of the year.

On Sunday it had been raining, so running on the C & O Canal was out of the question. Rather than run around the neighborhood, I decided to shake things up and run to the Elementary school and back and then did my 3 mile route in the neighborhood. It was a hillier run than usual, but I felt pretty good. It was about 13.6 miles and I did it in about 2:05 hours.

I plan to run 10ks on the treadmill Tuesday and Thursday. I plan to run most of these at 7.4 mph. Monday I will work on the rowing machine. Aaron has a soccer game on Wednesday. Friday is a rest day. Saturday I have my 10k. I think 48 minute is reasonable and will be a pr.

Rant: I watched the Preakness on Saturday. I tried to use the girl angle with Rachel Alexandra to get Alex interested in it, but she still was not really into it. The race itself was entertaining with Rachel Alexandra holding onto to beat Mine that Bird. Mine that Bird was very impressive and certainly proved that the Kentucky Derby was no fluke. The Belmont looks like there is only two viable options. It could be a nice race if both go, but could also be a nothing race if RA or MTB don't run or are too worn out to be on top of their game.

The state of Maryland is battling to keep the Preakness in the state and due to gross mismanagement by both the state and owners of Pimilco and Laurel, the entire racing industry is barely hanging on. I used to enjoy going to the track, but have not been in years. The tracks are a depressing site.

The latest disaster was the decision to not allow people in the infield to bring alcohol as a result of rowdy behavior. From what i understand the fans have gotten out of hand. They could have hired additional security and thrown people out that were out of control. Instead they banned people from bringing in alcohol and about 30,000 less people attended. They thought that by having a ZZ Top concert in the infield that it would make up for the alcohol ban. I doubt ZZ Top is very popular with the under 30 crowd. Hopefully they will admit their mistake and change it back next year.

Movie Review: I watched The Reader last night. It was the first movie in a long time that both my wife and I liked. It was about a German lawyer that had an affair with an older women when he was 15 in 1958. The women disappears and several years later is arrested for Nazi war crimes from World War II. Kate Winslet won the best actress Oscar for this movie. I give it an A.

My wife and I actually had a nice Saturday night after the kids went to sleep.