NaBloPoMo

It's only three days into NaBloPoMo, and I've already blown it. That's how on top of things I've been lately.

I do have an excuse, though. I've been stressing over a little 20-mile jaunt I'm going to take this Saturday afternoon/evening with my friend Susy. She's once again running the Arkansas Traveller (yes, I know it's spelled wrong) 100-mile race. She has to run the first 48 miles by herself, but after that she can have people (known in the racing world as "pacers") run with her to help keep her going. I'll be taking the first pace leg for the second year running (ha, a pun).

Anyway, I'll make sure to post pictures if I lose any toenails this time around. I lost my pinky toenails last year so I think there's a better-than-even chance that I'll have some material for the blog. Cross your fingers.

Why You Wear a Helmet

This is work safe, but difficult to watch at times. Being a cyclist, all I have to say is that I cannot believe how many of these people are riding unprotected. It's nuts.

Funny

Okay, so I'm a geek, and I think Bill Murray is cool. That said, this is pretty awesome (and work safe).

Crazy Pills

It's a little difficult for me to know how to respond to this story in the NYT. You can easily see both sides of the argument, but how do you know which side is closer to the truth? I, for one, have good evidence that I most likely suffered from pediatric bipolar disorder albeit a rather idiosyncratic case.

I was frequently volatile up through my middle teens, and as that part of the disorder settled down somewhat the delusional symptoms began to manifest. At one point during high school I thought I was a prophet. I didn't talk much about it, especially if I was talking to people who were skeptical of such things, but I was convinced. Needless to say, my experiences color my perceptions of what it means to be bipolar at an early age.

All that being said, how do we go from 20,000 to 800,000 diagnosed cases per year in ten years? I am wary enough of the predatory practices of Big Pharma to wonder how much of that increase is fueled by its working on doctors. At the same time, I want to see people who need help get it. For all of my animosity toward Big Pharma (and one company in particular), I understand how important meds are to people like me.

What to think?

Ugh

Is "ugh" an actual word? Well, I just looked it up, and according to the OED it is. Not only that, it originated in the mid-18th century. Who knew? It's entirely possible that our nation's founders used the word. Kind of puts me in a patriotic mood. Excuse me for a moment.

Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain...

I feel satisfied now.

Anyway, I say "ugh" because I am feeling a might poorly today. Woke up achy and with a sore throat. I did go to a baseball game last night (a wholesome American activity), and I suppose I could have picked something up there. That's what I get for mingling with the unwashed masses. Maybe next I'll go to Chuck E. Cheese and start licking balls from the ball pit.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

WTF?

Generally speaking, being arrested is an honorable act for a hasher. Of course, that arrest usually takes place for public intoxication or some form of mildly antisocial behavior. Being arrested simply for hashing is a bit more unusual. (No, I didn't get arrested.)

Granted, I haven't lived in a city where an act of terrorism has taken place, but neither have the people in Boston or New Haven. Now I'll also grant that Boston and New Haven are much closer to New York than I am. On the other hand, is there really a need for such paranoia? I just think charging people with a D felony for dropping little blobs of flour is a bit excessive. After all, it's not as if this happens every day of the week throughout the world. Oh, wait. Yes. Yes, it does.

Can somebody explain to me what the deal with New Englanders is? Why are they, specifically, so easily riled?

I Know You've Been Waiting

After much anticipation, they've announced that R. Kelley is coming out with still more installments of his much celebrated "Trapped in the Closet" series. Apparently, a dozen episodes just weren't enough for the prolific Mr. Kelley.

Ambition

I've started to view ambition differently than I have in the past. Before now I always saw it as something crucial to getting things done. Now I'm not sure if it's a good thing. I'm really starting to come at things from a more Buddhist perspective. "Desire is the source of all suffering." What is ambition if not desire? Is there a simpler way of approaching the world?

I'm trying to finish this thesis, but I've begun asking myself why it's so important to me. What am I satisfying by completing the degree? Is it simply an ambition or is it something better than that? I certainly desire to finish, and I've experienced more suffering than anticipated. I'm not sure how all of this balances out.

Am I Crazy?

Okay, well it's already been established that I am, but I don't mean crazy in that sense. I'm actually talking about things I willingly do. Consider the following.

Yesterday, the high here was 107 degrees (which also happens to be the temperature right now, by the way), and I went for a run. It was my normal Sunday thing with the Hash so it's not like I just got a burr up my ass and went running. Still, there has to be something a bit off about me if I'm willing to run in weather like that. I had to prehydrate all day just to get ready.

Of course, I've also run in insanely cold weather. Last winter I ran a race when it was 12 degrees at the start, but that doesn't seem to be the same sort of crazy. You warm up when you run so doing it in cold weather sort of balances out. Although that one was sort of nuts. I was wearing a knit cap during the race and when I finished I had a layer of frost on my cap where all the sweat had frozen. I thought it had warmed up considerably during the race, but the temperature was still in the 20s. It's all relative, I suppose.

I don't know. Is it possible that I've become obsessive?

By Popular Demand

Well, inasmuch as you can call a request from one person "by popular demand," I am back for the aforementioned reason albeit in a different place. So can I really claim to be back seeing that I'm not where I used to be? These and other fascinating questions are sure to be posed (if not answered) in the days ahead.

The real question is whether or not I can keep up the output. I'm already exhausted from the typing. I really should run more. Builds endurance.

Check back soon. I'll try to write a little each day.