Sunday, June 29, 2008

4 more miles yesterday bringing the month to 46.5 and the year to 179. Unfortunately my dear wife and I are hosting a large family reunion this coming weekend, and my energy has to go to that. I will try to keep walking when I'm less tired than I am tonight, but no way I'm going to hit 200 by Friday. I still plan to hit it next week, and will figure out the next goal then. btw I have now averaged .984 miles a day for the year - we'll see if I can't double that for the second half.

Finished Lysistrata which was well worth reading. I'm having trouble reconciling 2 things. The first is that, while the Greeks obviously reproduced, I thought the entire culture valued love between 2 men as the ultimate love in all aspects. Yet in Lysistrata when the women withhold, the men apparently have no other sexual outlet. I'm missing something here, and am open to any enlightenment from my reader(s). Next up is actually a foreign affairs textbook from college No Common Power. It should be interesting to compare how they pictured the world and American power just after the First Gulf War with the delightful morass that is our reputation now. This will be interspersed with Great Books and probably some lighter reading to keep me moving along.
posted by Unknown 10:53 PM | 1 comments

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Walked 5 miles yesterday and 5 miles this morning (feet hurt!) to get to 175 and 42.5 miles. Looks like it'll be a new monthly record and that I'll hit 200 by the 4th. More importantly I earned a Slurpee today (haven't indulged yet) and will get another next week. And isn't that what's really important?

For those who think that since James Dobson and I read the same (probably) Bible, we have anything in common, well, not just no but hell no. I'd like to say we both follow Christ, but I just can't reconcile his verbal diarrhea with any deity but Self Interest. I hope I'm wrong about that.
posted by Unknown 9:34 PM | 1 comments

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Walked 3.5 miles Wednesday, 5 miles Saturday, and 3.5 miles today to bring my totals to 32.5 and 165. Read The Black Tattoo - good teen fantasy with an interesting story but fairly pedestrain writing - worth reading for the story. Next up is a decent translation of Lysistrata. Saw Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (very enjoyable) and Kung Fu Panda (unfortunate letdown - nothing especially funny or good) this weekend. Just wrote a long epistemological rant, but Blogger ate it so I'll have to recreate it sometime in the future.
posted by Unknown 9:26 PM | 0 comments

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Last week was slow on the workout front - 4 miles Thursday and 5 miles Saturday bring me to 153 for 2008 and 20.5 for June. I've definitely fallen off the previous pace for 200 by June 4, but it's still very doable. Just gotta get up tomorrow - I don't have many more days I can make up easily.

Started Season 3 of Weeds this weekend - great show. I'd forgotten how funny they make individual scenes, even when the overall plot slows down. Even better TV was the midseason finale of Battlestar Galactica (the second half was delayed by the writers' strike and is supposed to air in January 2009). I only wish it was 90 minutes - much more they could've done with the many plot movements this episode introduced.

This Alien Shore was excellent beginning to end. Following that are 2 Aristophanes plays - Clouds and Lysistrata. Clouds wasn't a bad story, but I hated the translation. It's like they wanted to make sure no one would enjoy reading it. I found a more contemporary translation online I might try to see if I enjoy it more, and can use something besides the book translation for future Aristophanes stuff.

The NBA Finals have been amazing. Great basketball from both sides every game. And Kobe choking in ways that put the Jordan comparisons to rest. Permanently. And I've found a new favorite villain, a role that's been unfilled for me since Vlade Divac. To me a basketball villain is someone who really distorts, even ruins, the game. Divac always managed it by flopping and harrassing refs into taking his side without really doing any shooting, rebounding, or defending. Sasha Vujacic substitutes reckless aggression for defense and then whines whenever someone breathes on him. Another good reason for the Lakers to lose.
posted by Unknown 10:18 PM | 0 comments

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Thursday was 4 miles and Friday 2.5, so I'm at 144 for 2008 and 11.5 for June. No miles today as we went berry-picking in Lexington, and the whole heat/driving combo didn't leave much for hitting the gym when I got back. Still taking tomorrow off as I kinda like having a Sabbath, and Monday we renew the quest. I think I can make it, although I'm not quite on pace.

Watching National Treasure while I take care of things online. Such a campy ridiculous little movie.

The Democratic nominee is finally decided, and congrats to Hillary for a gracious concession speech. Will she end up having worked so hard just to become a Secretary? I hope she does either go to the Cabinet, or put all this energy into legislation to make her and Obama's promises happen.

The money involved in this election is ridiculous. Obama's got more stashed for the general election than McCain's raised, and McCain's speech-giving weaknesses are already hampering him. But there's already been a few hundred million spent on this, and at least two hundred more will be. This could lead to one upside of rising commodity prices - while I don't think oil and food resalers are usually good citizens, if they take up more money from campaign budgets for logistics, less money will go to advertising and political consultants, who are much more parasitical on the body politic and economic. One can hope, anyway.

The Chinese history lectures are interesting - I've made it through 5 dynasties so far. And the one that lasted only 14 years reminds me of the Bush administration - putting the resources of the entire government to further the whims of the ruler. Oh well almost done with this regime - bring on the succession!
posted by Unknown 9:45 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Sorry to disappoint, but just a quick reminder of walking so far this week, so I don't lose count. 2.5 miles each Monday and Wednesday (felt sick Monday night, so turned off the alarm for Tuesday) gives me 5 miles for June and 137.5 for 2008.
posted by Unknown 8:09 AM | 0 comments