Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Timing

In automobiles, just as in comedy, everything is timing. While the idea of internal combustion is a rather straightforward one (as long as one doesn't try to describe the thermodynamic heat engine cycle which, in a fortuitous bit of engineering wordplay, is called the Otto cycle), the devil is, as they say, in the details. Most importantly, everything has to happen in just the right order at just the right time. In comedy, the pause between the set-up and the delivery has to be just right or the joke is flat or forced and doesn't work. In cars this timing is insured by a nifty little thing called the timing belt (if only some actors had one of these handy devices).

Why the interesting but seemingly irrelevant discourse on the relation between comedy, cars and timing? Well, our car seems to have lost its timing; or at least its timing belt. Fortunately, its timing in doing so couldn't have been better. It waited until after we had gotten to Huntsville here instead of failing somewhere along the way, say on one of the backroads detours we ended up taking to get here becasue the 15" of rain in these parts washed out or closed section of two US highways. On this day I'm thankful for that. Deeply, truly thankful.

I wonder if God is trying to tell us as a nation to stay home and slow down. Travel seems to have been difficult across much of the nation. Snow, rain, flooding and, in Colorado, rockslides that are going to close I-70 for over a week forcing detours of over 200 miles; which translates into about 4 hours given the nature of the mountain roads if conditions are reasonable.

If you're with family and friends on this weekend; give thanks. There are a lot of people who are stuck, unable to get home. They're held up by closed airports, bad roads, floods for sure. But some are not with their families due to war, estrangement or death. Take time this day to pray for them. Not a little prayer but really reach out from your heart. Remember, the Lord told His disciples, "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted." In that same prayer, give thanks for what you may have, even if those things seem simple and not worth much. Maybe we should be most thankful for the things in our lives that are the most simple; for often they are the most beautiful.

In Him.

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Saturday, November 20, 2004

Recovering

On Thursday I finally took the plunge and had my wisdom teeth pulled. At 38 years old you'd think it would be too late for this but not for me. My 3rd molars came in when I was 18 (I remember that week very clearly...I couldn't eat and lost 10 pounds while suffering from some really nasty virus) but never really gave me much trouble. Every now and again I would feel them scrape my inner cheek but that was it. I never saw a dentist because I didn't have dental insurance and I wasn't going to mess with soemthing that didn't seem to be a problem. When I went to the dentist last year to have a cap replaced, he mentioned that I should have them removed because they were close enough to my second molars to cause decay problems. It was the middle of race season and I used up my benefits with the cap so I decided to put it off a year. After race season ended, this was the year. Prior to the end of the season though, one of my second molars fell apart, just as the dentist said it would. That was fun. Four ibprofen every four or five hours to deal with the pain of the nearly exposed nerve and get through race season.

Right now I'm recovering from the procedure. My jaw is sore. They had to cut a good deal of the second molar out I think because it probably disintegrated on the surgeon. He had to leave a piece in because it was too close to the nerve that runs through the jawbone so I'll deal with that several years down the road. Right now I have a dull ache and pain thing going on. I was taking Vicodin (not Rush jokes please) but I hated the slightly "off" feeling it gave me so I've switched to extra-strength acetomeniphin (Tylenol). The only problem with that is that is coats my mouth with this weird feeling and slight taste. The only real cure for the pain, as always, is time and rest. That's what I'll try to do, but I feel antsy to get out and see people and mingle and have a beer or two and what not. I'm guessing that I'll work to get some chores done instead and get some much needed rest by taking naps went I can. It's hard because I have to sleep upright which always makes my sinuses grumpy but maybe if I take short naps it won't be so bad.

Thanks for reading.

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Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Absolutely Unbelievable

So I'm getting ready to catch a little Monday Night Football last night on the local ABC affliate, hoping that the rabbit ear reception will be clear enough that I'll be able to make out the players from the static. My MO on such evenings is to tune in a bit earlier so as to make the necessary antenna adjustments so that the signal comes in with slightly more clarity that a George Bush policy speech on the environement. On this particular station, one of those trashy entertainment "news" programs is aired just prior to the game and usually I just hit the mute button and focus on getting the picture as clear as possible while avoiding brain damage or blindness. Unfortunately, due to my post weekend ride fatigue I wasn't quick enough with the remote and heard two words that grabbed my attention like a pit bull on a mail carrier's calf and wouldn't let go; "Butt Facial".

Yes folks, that's right. Apparently, ET or whatever was doing some sort of segment on what the stars in Hollywood do to "enhance" their appearance While I found out things about Tom Cruise that make it even more unlikely that I'll ever spend a dime of my hard earned money to see him "act", what really floored me was this idea that the stars take time to have other people actually do all the things to their hinders that they might have done to their faces so that they might look younger and, well, firmer. I swear to God that I'm not making this up. They call them butt facials and they cost on the order of $500 a piece and are done monthly for the average Hollywood star or starlet. Now, that adds up to around $6000 per year just to have someone message, cucumber wash, hot stone treat, exfoliate and whatnot the one part of your body you're most likely going to cover up and then sit on.

Perhaps you saw the Jesusland Map (http://members.shaw.ca/ianking/junk/usa.jpg) that was floating around the web just after the election. I remember taking a look at it and getting sort of depressed that some people thought that there was this great divide in the country based on whether one holds a position of faith that might influence who one votes for or not. I thought that we aren't that far apart as a country that we have to make fun of the "red states". I was wrong. We are that far apart. How many kids would a year of butt facials provide health coverage for? How can anyone actually think that spending that kind of money on your ass would do anything but make you seem like one? Are the values of most of the country different than those in the parts of the country that endorse and encourage the butt facial? Yes, absolutely. I can't imagine anyone in Ohio (Florida is another story) going to get a butt facial. In fact, I imagine that if I asked most Americans what they thought a butt facial was they wouldn't think of some cosmetic enhancement but rather they'd imagine some rather sophomoric prank one fraternity brother might play on some poor pledge. Even more stunning is that the upkeep of the average Hollywood personality is around $130,000. Now we know where Madonna's take from the Bush tax cut went.

The only problem I see with the map is that I'm pretty sure the Canadians don't want these guys either.

On a related note, George Will has once again put it so perfectly in his "Last Word" column over at Newsweek that to try to say it any other way would be to dilute the message. Check it out at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6478819/site/newsweek/. My favorite point is that the party that thinks that Americans are too stupid to know how to invest is the party that supports a woman's right to determine whether or not to terminate the life of her unborn child regardless of how ignorant or uneducated she might be.

Nice.

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Monday, November 15, 2004

Hard Hat

This weekend was the annual Claxton "Cruisin in the Country" century ride (that's 100 miles for those not in the know) down towards Savannah. This is a ride I've done every year since I've lived in Georgia.m I did my first century there and I set my fastest time PR there as well (4:27 for solo ride). This weekend was not that kind of ride.

Before I give an account of the ride let me say that the century was as well organized and as pleasant as it has ever been. I really was made to feel welcome and enjoyed every aspect of the weekend that the folks from the Evans County Cahmber of Commerce could control. Unfortunately, the one thing they couldn't control was the weather. Saturday morning the wind was at 10 mph out of the north and as the day went on it just got worse and worse. The last forty miles were spent fighting a headwind that just killed all the riders. Around the campfire, us not-so-old-timers agreed with the old-timers that this was the hardest the ride had ever been. I'm sure the only thing that got some of the riders through were the great rest stops and the encouraging volenteers.

Still though, I managed to earn my hat (given free to every century rider) so my collection is up to five now. My only other complaint has to do with the two guys who drafted a volenteer SAG vehicle for most of the century. NOt only was it dangerous but it just seemed awfully darn unfair that they got hats for drafting a car and never having to take a real pull. I don't know who the two guys are but one was wearing shorts from the "At The Hub" shop. Pretty darn feeble if you ask me.

Now I'll spend the rest of the month off the bike doing a few weights and trying not to gain too much weight, if you know what I mean.

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Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Must...Control...Finger...of...Scorn...

So, I'm watching a little Monday Night Football last night. Sort of the end of an long day, wind down kind of thing for me. I never get to see how a game turns out because I live on the East Coast now and I'd like to actually be able to get up in the morning but I can usually catch the first half if I don't fall asleep. Well, I'm watching and the new Nissan Pathfinder commercial comes on with a bunch of 20-something looking athletic, fit types driving through a scene from the American West somewhere when the announcer comes on and says something like, "you can't tell stories about the mountian if you haven't been to the top." The next shot in the commercial is of the Pathfinder at the top of some overlook with the fit, active 20-somethings coverting around a bit. Cut to the next shot and you have the Pathfinder rolling down the highway and the announcer saying, "Get better stories."

Now, here's my problem with this from my admittedly "Left Coast" point of view. YOU DON'T GET TO TELL THE STORY UNLESS YOU DID IT YOURSELF. I actually yelled this at the TV while unsuccessfully attempting to control the finger of scorn. As I'm sure will surprise some of my more tender readers, I also used a bit of colorful language to express my opinion of the Madison Avenue firm responsible for this ad.

I mean, what kind of story are you going to tell here, really? "Dude, like we were totally flying down this broad American highway when Dusty saw this turn off up to the top of the mountain so, like, he took it and the road got kind of rough. At one point we were bouncing around so bad that I actually spilled my double latte expresso on Buffy who was, like, totally bummed. But man, the view from the top was so cool! Yay us! Then we got back in the TrailDestroyer and headed out to some other relatively unspoiled place to leave huge tire tracks to enhance erosion so those who actually walk somewhere will have their hike ruined...." But I digress.

Note to Nissan: Your ad is stupid. I mean that with all the possible strength I can muster. Your ad is really, really amazingly stupid and ignorant. Even if I had been interested in driving that monstrosity you call a vehicle, your ad insulting my ability to create my own stories based on my own effort and my own will just convinced me never to drive your vehicle. I think you need to "SHIFT_paradigm" and realize that we don't need you to be able to create our stories. Especially when they are a lot more powerful when you're not part of them.

Rage subsiding...Blood pressure falling...civilization safe...

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Monday, November 08, 2004

The fallacy of "easy."

At CoffeeHouse the other night a group of students sat around talking about classes and what they were going to take. One of the students in particular was having difficulty putting a schedule together because every time someone mentioned a class she would exclaim, "but I heard that it was hard!" Finally, one of the other faculty members shared his perspective that part of the college experience was to be challenged beyond one's means and so be forced to grow to become a better and more well-rounded person. The student expressed her skepticism verbally while a number of others shared her opinion, at least if their facial expressions were any indication of their beliefs.

It would be easy to parody this student were her views not shared by so many of her colleagues. I often hear of students at Gordon who change their major so that they don't have to take physics from me. I also hear that they go on to other schools where they don't succeed because they couldn't pass their upper division classes. It would be easy to parody the group if it weren't for the societal outlook that says that "owning your own x is easy!" and "no money (or effort) down and no payments (or work) for twelve months!" We're a get something for nothing society. Everyone wants the degree but they don't want to sacrifice to have it. Maybe this generation is incapable of sacrificing.

Let me give you an example. As a country, we are at war. Now, as a citizen I've not been asked to sacrifice anything for this war. While some have sacrificed children, parents and loved ones most have not been bothered by or affected by its prosecution. In WWII there was rationing and tightening one's belt. Throughout the Cold War we knew that we paid higher taxes to fund the military. In this war we get $300 tax cuts and run up a massive debt with no plan to pay it back. When we have a war caused recession we refinance our homes at lower interest rates and spend the extra cash remodeling for a more comfortable life. We sacrifice nothing as a society to make this happen; we get something for nothing or so we think. But the bill will have to be paid sometime. Just like the student who keeps putting off the hard classes will eventually be forced to leave college with nothing to show for her effort, so shall our society have to pony up to cover the tab sooner or later.

David Wilcox wrote a song for the Big Horizon album titled, "All the Roots Grow Deeper When it's Dry." I think that adversity develops character in people and in society. The greatest generation was the greatest because they endured the Great Depression and fought a great war. They passed down to us a sense of America as a place where dreams could be achieved through hard work and enterprise. What we seemed to have heard was only the first part and we have decided that the second is entitlement. The thinking goes, "If they had it, why shouldn't I?" The answeris obvious. The knew what they valued and they worked to secure it through sacrifice of the less important things. When I speak with my grandparents about what life was like I'm always struck by how clearly they understood what was important and what wasn't. I wish more of today's thinkers and decision makers could do that. More importantly, I wish more of us could force ourselves to see beyond our own limited horizons. I don't object to a war in Iraq, especially if it liberates an oppressed people. I do object to being given a tax cut I'll have to pay back someday with interest while fighting that war. How many Americans would support the President if he came out and said, "The war will cost the country $68 billion. I'll be expecting a $225 check from each of you this year in addition to your regular taxes. You can pay this now or volenteer to do some of the work the government will have to cut out to save this money. With $10/hour I think we can get away with about 25 hours per citizen."

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Thursday, November 04, 2004

Getting Back to Business or the Process of Healing

The elections are over and the chief executive for the country has been chosen. The dire "end is near" predictions that the media made to sell newspapers and ad time never came to pass and we knew that George Bush had won by 11 pm Tuesday night even though the process of sorting out Ohio would take a little longer than that. But you already knew that and that's not what you came here to see, so on to analysis.

My hope is that now that the election is over we can get back to the business of our lives. More importantly, I'm hoping that in doing so we can practice a process of healing. In surfing around to this and that blog or livejournal I've seen some pretty mean-spirited invective from both sides of the political fence. To those people allow me to quote Jon Stewart; "Please stop." I know that you did your research and carefully considered all the options to come to your decision. Respect that others went through the same process as you did and might have actually reached different conclusions than you did. This doesn't make them stupid or brain dead or knee-jerk or anything other than what you are: someone who cares about their country and went through a process to reach a decision they thought would best benefit it. Express your disappointment or joy over the result but don't take a self-righteous tone in condemning those who didn't see it the same way you did. I know very bright, well educated, good people who voted for each candidate (I work at a college, they all have Ph.D.s and know how to use the skills they learned in getting them to find and process information from sources beyond CNN and FoxNews). It would be judgmental and self-centered of me to name call or bash those who didn't vote the way I did. They saw things differently that I did; looked at the world through different lenses; had different priorities. Thus they came to a different conclusion. I can and do respect their position even if I don't agree with it. Moreover, I can and do deeply respect the fact that they participated in the process and added their voices to the chorus of democracy (didn't that sound corny?).

What we all need to do is back away from the politics of disinclusion and partisanship and reach out to those who felt differently and say thanks for being a part of what took place. For those who read this and who voted, thank you (or maybe, given that I just saw Bubba Ho-tep, "thankyouverymuch..."). Keeping asking the questions and keep demanding the answers. Maybe just tone down the stridency a bit. Let's enter into a civil dialogue where we look at each other as agents of good, not robots or clones of the "evil other side". Tell the media to shut up and report on the events and to stop making them up to sell papers. Wouldn't it be nice if on "Crossfire" they actually looked at a dispute where the various people came together and worked out a solution in a respectful manner instead of shouting and yelling at each other theatrically?

To those who didn't vote, stop complaining about being disincluded. You had your chance and you didn't take it. Those of us under 40 are being screwed by the Baby Boomers and your apathy towards getting involved in even the simplest way betrays us all. Get off you behinds and mobilize. Let's find our candidate for four years from now, not someone a bunch of party hacks decide will be our candiate. Let's find someone who cares about our issues and let's give that person our time and money and support. Let's not only get a candidate for President who will carry our banner but let's find some candidates for Senate and Congress who would be willing to enact our legislation. Let's stop thinking of news as a means of entertainment (did you think Cobain didn't mean news?) and take the media by the lower extremities and make them listen to our point of view.

I'll get off my soap box now. Thanks for reading.

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Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Here We Go

So, it's Election Day and by all accounts Americans are turning out in large numbers. I applaud this even if I'm not too enthused about voting myself. Before someone gets all self-righteous on me let me explain. As I've written before, I have a very few issues that motivate me...tax reform, paying off the debt, education reform and independance from foreign oil. I guess it has to do with my Left Coast roots but I'm all about independence from outside influence. No candidate has run on platforms that are even close when it comes to this, probably because to hold the positions I support would mean no chance of election. So I have to vote for someone who doesn't even vaguely represent me on any of the issues that are really important to me. Bummer. This makes it hard to get up the motivation to go and stand in line in the rain instead of doing something useful like getting my hair cut.

This means I have to vote on vague, squishy things that are hard to measure or clarify or on things have little to do with the process of governing. As an example, I really like Bush's strong devotion to his faith and his willingness to submit to a higher power and to seek wisdom through prayer. What's unfortunate is that this has little effect on those who pass the legislation that may or may not affect me. Thus, I feel like my vote supports a system that I don't support to some degree.

So here's a shout out. If there are any candidates for the office of President or who want to run for the Congress or Senate in 2006 or 2008 that support paying back the debt as a fundamental platform plank, who want to reform the tax code to a simple income tax along with a sales tax and who want the government to support the development of alternative sources of enregy generation please contact me. I'll do whatever I can to support your candidacy in and around Georgia. I might even give you money if I've got a little extra. If nothing else, I'll ride my bike around the region with a placard that tells people to vote for you.

Thanks for reading.

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Monday, November 01, 2004

Fin??

Well, this weekend was going to be my last race and I was planning to step off the bike for the month of November. I was hoping for a good race at Dauset Trails and I did well, netting my best result of the year with a 6th place finish. The problem is that the good result combined with the double points value for the race most likely moves me up into the top ten in the GAP series for my class (sport protogeezers). Now I have to decide whether I'm going to race a race next weekend that was postponed due to one of the hurricames that roared through the region back in September. What a problem to have. It's unlikely that I'll do well enough to move up significantly in the series but if I don't race I'll probably drop out of the top ten. The team sponsors would probably like a top ten finish but I'd really like to take a long rest from riding. We'll see...

The season's ending (maybe) has put me in a reflective mood. More than any other the year has been up and down in terms of results with great successes (two podium finishes at State Time Trial Championships) and some pretty dismal failures (23rd and 16th at GAP races and a DNF at the Lagrange Ga. Cup race). I'd like to find a bit more consistency but overall I'm really happy with how things turned out. I stepped up into some really serious competition and, fo the most part, I was able to hold my own and even make a bit of a mark. To go any further I'll probably need to get a coach which should be an interesting endeavor due to my independant streak but that too should be a real growth experience. Right now the next season starts in the weight room as I'm going in for the first time today. It's weird to think that it didn't seem that long ago that I was writing about doing this for last year.

Anyway, happy November and thanks for reading.

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