| careful with that bon mot, Eugene |
[Feb. 20th, 2008|02:35 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | books | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Pavement -- Type Slowly | ] |
My local public library was kind enough to lend me its only copy of Michael Lewis's Trail Fever, which is sort of his drug-free Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1996. Lewis's writing got better after 1997 or so. I'm guessing he finally got an editor who would slap his hand every time he turned to the reader and winked. Or maybe he just chose subjects for which he had greater natural affection than he does for various Presidential candidates.
I haven't gotten very far: Morry Taylor is still in the race. For those of you, like me, who don't remember Taylor, he's a businessman of the Ross Perot variety who funded his own campaign and seems to have mistaken the Federal Government for a larger, less functional version of his tire company back home. I hate to say it, but I can't wait to see the rug pulled out from under him, and I desperately hope he doesn't get to "leave on his own terms." |
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| I'll get the torches. You get the angry mob. |
[Feb. 19th, 2008|12:02 pm] |
A couple of weeks ago, against my better judgment, I picked up a copy of our local free paper's annual Love & Sex issue and discovered that Jack Handey has moved back to town. I have no idea why he rated inclusion in that particular issue. Turns out he lived here in the early Seventies, when he shared a house with someone named Steve Martin. |
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| in which we (nearly) endorse a candidate |
[Feb. 13th, 2008|11:56 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | politics | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Fall -- 4 1/2 Inch | ] |
My sister bumped into someone named Barack Obama at a Dunkin Donuts in Fairfax yesterday. She wasn't able to see what he bought, since it was already in a bag by the time he passed her on his way to the door. |
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| sixteen miles on a dead man's legs |
[Feb. 13th, 2008|11:38 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | running | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Magnetic Fields -- Born On A Train | ] |
I've clearly been fooling myself thinking that Alpine skiing is in any meaningful sense cross-training for running. This morning's long run (sixteen miles well off race pace) was fourteen miles of slack followed by two miles of pain.
These are the infamous LSD (long slow distance) miles: two minutes or more off race pace at moderate heart rate. I finished with something like a ten-minute pace overall and 155 bpm; the former is mediocre, the latter suggests that either my cardiovascular fitness is good or I'm getting old fast.
I came back from New York weighing more than 171 pounds. A good racing weight would be 160 pounds; 155 would be better. Part of me wants to run a twenty-minute 5K; part of me wants to become somebody's fat jolly uncle. |
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| telemark novice |
[Feb. 11th, 2008|12:03 pm] |
This was supposed to have been a dry winter in northern New Mexico, but conditions at Taos have been quite good regardless. We've been meaning to spend consecutive days there all season, and things finally fell into place this weekend.
We stayed at Salsa del Salto despite various late-Friday crises. I took the work laptop with me, but it never got out of its miserable little bag. Bunches of books made the trip, too, and they didn't fare much better. Strictly speaking books do not need much sunlight; they have rather slow metabolism.
My skiing has sort of improved a little: I can navigate hills with "baby bumps" but wouldn't call myself a mogul skier by any stretch of the imagination. I'm still getting used to my Telemark boots anyway: if I put their ski/walk switch on Walk my ankles flex reasonably well and I get good control and occasionally somewhat nice tight turns, but if I put them where they belong my boots are so stiff I can't get much control and end up with my weight mostly back on my heels, making for lousy control and flat slippery turns.
Conditions were sunny and warm, so runs got faster as the day went on each day; I took several spills in some intermediate tree runs but didn't actually slam headlong into any trees. I'm saving that for a special occasion. I came back with blisters on both ankles and one ankle swollen and a little discolored. I'm not entirely sure how that happened.
We both got raccoon tans this weekend; I look a little like a non-flying version of one Rudolph R. And we both came back with the sort of sick headaches that suggest mild to moderate dehydration. All this in the name of fun. Well, fun and new skills.
In school people I knew would leave town for Chapel Hill, Austin, Bennington, Amherst, Boulder, Seattle, or Eugene, and then a few years later they'd be back in town. Or we'd hear from acquaintances in common that they'd headed off to one of the other places on the same circuit. The circuit roughly corresponded to places favored by Deadheads (and after mid-1995 fans of other jam bands of a certain stripe), for some reason excluding destinations in California. People who went to California were usually chasing money, and they rarely came back.
At breakfast yesterday we met a guy who is currently research faculty at the last school I attended who also did time in Navajo Country. Evidently the dentist and I are on a faintly-sketched circuit neither of us suspected way back when. There's really nothing about Kayenta to suggest it's on the way to anywhere. |
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| dear language police |
[Feb. 6th, 2008|09:45 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | language | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 87507 | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Orb -- Toxygene | ] |
"otherwisely"
Would you please do something about this? I think I could abide this word as a weak form of "foolishly" but not as an adverbial form of "otherwise," which appears to be its popular usage. |
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| The Blind Side (the electrifying conclusion) |
[Jan. 24th, 2008|02:24 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | books | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 87507 | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Joy Division -- Passover (Live) | ] |
Turns out Michael Lewis went to the same private school as Sean Touhy. (If only Bob Woodward had a similar excuse.) And Lewis thanks Rob Neyer for tightening up his prose. Small world.
This was a quick read; it's three hundred pages, and I just about read it in a single sitting, a total of about three hours. So I'd recommend borrowing it rather than buying it. But I'd definitely recommend it. |
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| var. sund. |
[Jan. 23rd, 2008|11:08 am] |
We got the ring back, sized, on Saturday. In the interest of gender equality we picked out a ring for me, too: a heavy, black, super-hard steel thing that looks for all the world like it should be thrown in a volcano somewhere in New Zealand. Because she spends so much time with the public her ring is causing a stir. Fortunately she's off to Phoenix after only a couple of workdays this week, and we're hoping it will be old hat when she gets back. All the attention and advice can be a little draining for a hardcore introvert.
I'm off to New York on Saturday for our company's annual sales meeting. I will be participating in an "elevator pitch" competition, among other things. All I can say about this is that I can't have sold my soul because I don't have a receipt anywhere. Yeah.
I won't be in the Bay Area any time soon; the project that was going to put me there for a week got broken into two pieces (a cheap part and a less cheap part), and the partner decided to pay for the cheap one and postpone the other.
I'm back running more or less in earnest again, doing a seven-plus mile run twice a week, a long run of fourteen or so miles once a week, three days of cross-training (skiing, snowshoeing, and cycling) and a rest day. I've pretty much given up on doing the Mount Taylor Quad this year; I just don't have enough time after I get back from New York to put together gear and skills for skiing two miles uphill, much less all the transitions. I'm thinking of doing one of the Collegiate Peaks trail runs and maybe the Santa Fe Century in May. We'll see.
Finally, I read more than half of Michael Lewis's The Blind Side last night. I've read several of Lewis's books: Liar's Poker, The New New Thing, and listened to the audio version of Moneyball. This is more of the same: a little bit of technical detail and some compelling personality profiles; a story that moves.
If you haven't heard about the book, it's not really what the cover says it is: it isn't about football, but rather about the changes in a young man's life because of changes in the NFL. In short summary, changes in the NFL back in the Eighties (namely, the short passing game and the arrival of specialty pass rusher) created a need for a special kind of player: someone huge (350 pounds (159kg) or so) but with quick hands and feet who can protect the quarterback (now made even more valuable by the short passing game) from the specialty pass rusher, especially on his offhand side. These unusual people (Lewis uses the term "freak of nature" but I'd rather not) suddenly became roughly as valuable as the quarterbacks they protect, partly because without protection a quarterback is more likely to be injured, and partly because the short passing game made the quarterback less valuable for reasons I won't go into here.
The book is really about Michael Oher, a Memphis street kid who turns out to be one of these special people and about the Touhy family who take him in, adopt him, and coach him in every aspect of his life, including directing him toward Mr Touhy's alma mater, the University of Mississippi. Actually the book is as much about the Touhys and the other people surrounding Oher as it is about Oher, because Oher is kind of a puzzle. Early in the book he's presented as a Kaspar Hauser figure, completely out of place in his overwhelmingly white Christian high school, uncommunicative, all but illiterate, mostly lacking for a personality. Lewis documents his emergence as a person and the way he acculturates in the peculiar environment of modern high-profile high school football.
I've never really known anyone like Oher, but I'm passingly familiar with people like the Touhys, and I have to admit that as a Christian I'm appalled. I think it's great that they took Oher in and made him a member of their family, but I can't help but be appalled that they've made their money (which Lewis estimates at fifty million dollars) by owning a string of fast food joints and choose to own a (small) private plane. Frankly they and their entire social circle come off as freakish as Oher, and I have to wonder if they shouldn't know better.
This book would probably go on my list of books to read if you want to understand contemporary American Evangelical Christianity. And I've still got half of it to go. |
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| Santa Fe Snowshoe Classic -- 12 January 2008 |
[Jan. 14th, 2008|08:22 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | running | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 87507 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | sore | ] |
| [ | music |
| | In Our Time: The Nicene Creed | ] |
This was my first race in a long time and my first ever on snowshoes. Snowshoes are relatively simple devices (straps, metal teeth, a light screen to spread out the wearer's weight, possibly a hinged platform for the foot, and in some models a pop-up heel support to aid in climbing hills) so fast runners tend to be fast snowshoers. They're also slow: runners tend to move at roughly half their best speed for the same distance, and that's if they're not having equipment problems and the snow has been packed enough to avoid postholing.
There were two races, ostensibly 5K and 10K, one and two loops respectively on a groomed cross-country skiing trail. Last year's 10K turned out to be closer to 4.5 miles (7.3K) as measured with Garmin GPS receivers, but this year the course was changed and lengthened. I hadn't run the course before, but the prerace description was that it was full of the dreaded "rollers," meaning that we'd be spending the next hour or so going up and down small hills, losing speed going uphill but not gaining much of it back going downhill. The trail was nicely groomed, solid in the middle and soft on the sides. It also twisted and wound back on itself, making it possible for the average snowshoer to see others far ahead or behind as if they were close by. This was by turns encouraging and discouraging. It was also roughly two snowshoers wide: people without poles could share the trail in pairs, but getting around people with poles wasn't easy. Fortunately there were only a couple of these.
These were small races: 11 people in the 10K, no more than thirty in the 5K. I finished 9th in the 10K at 1:08:03 but ran the first loop faster than the 5K winner. Meaning that I finished nearly last in the 10K but would have won the 5K handily. My splits were about 34:00 for each loop. These would have been fast snowshoe 5K loops, but the loops turned out to be a little longer than 2.3 miles apiece, not 3.1 miles.
I spent yesterday in Taos trying to figure out Telemark skis, so I couldn't rightly say what soreness is due to snowshoeing and what's due to skiing. And falling down. |
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| still "OUT FOR DELIVERY" |
[Jan. 11th, 2008|01:23 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | consuming | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 87507 | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Shins -- When I Goose-Step | ] |
I'm working at home today, ostensibly because I'm waiting for a pair of Telemark boots to be delivered. I am one of the world's worst skiers, and I'm about to pay good money to become an even worse skier: I'm switching from alpine skis to Telemark skis. I'm doing this because I've still sort of got my heart set on doing the Mt Taylor Quad this year, and it is in principal possible to ski uphill in Telemark skis.
Tomorrow is the Santa Fe Snow Shoe Classic (link broken) where I'm planning to pay good money to run sixish miles in snowshoes. The local running group hosts interesting races a couple of times a year, including a windy odd-distance trail run called the Big Tesuque Run (link broken) and this rather odd snowshoe race. The Big Tesuque was my last timed run this year; for some reason I expected it to be a tiny club run but it turned out to be a big deal with good support and runners from out of state. I don't know what to expect tomorrow, apart from snow and clumsiness. I haven't put in a lot of hours on my packed-powder snowshoes so I imagine the experience will be not entirely unlike running on stilts.
Finally, the dentist and I ended up in Albuquerque last night, where we visited Olympia Cafe, a no-frills Greek place down the street from the famous Frontier. Dolmas, hummus, an eggy chicken soup, rice, salad, and a fair amount of lamb. Oh, and amazing pitta. The folks at Lonely Planet describe it as "quite possibly the best Greek food in the world." I would imagine that's a stretch (but I've never been to Greece). Not entirely clean but apparently safe. Recommended. |
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| back from Manila |
[Nov. 27th, 2007|10:07 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | travel | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 87507 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Leonard Cohen -- In My Secret Life | ] |
I got back Saturday; I'm still jet-lagged and a little ill in places.
We got a glimpse of what we'd be up against moving there; fortunately it looks like that we have the luxury of taking things slowly. We're tentatively planning to go back in March/April, during the rainy season.
Seen from the right angle the country's a giant snack bar. Any country where the typical driver's salary is decribed in pesos and snacks can't be all bad. Still, I came back reeling from a bad shrimp and feeling like I'd been bathing in a creek for a week. And let's just say I have promised myself that I'll never again eat anything that reminds me of menudo at first sniff. |
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| back from London/Oslo |
[Oct. 29th, 2007|09:04 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | travel, work | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 87505 | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Clean -- On Again/Off Again | ] |
This year I've logged 41,778 miles on United and affiliates, 26,039 miles on Delta and affiliates, and 11,700 miles on American and affiliates. That doesn't include a couple of flights pending and some I've let slip through the cracks. And I've still got a trip to Manila next month planned, with another trip to Tokyo possible before the end of the year.
I hate roller bags; they aren't evil in themselves, but people who use them tend not to be careful with them. They end up taking up both sides of a moving walkway, for example. I repeatedly find myself attempting to resist the urge to kick them just enough to wrench the wrist on the other end.
Oslo is shockingly expensive. Beers are something like fifteen dollars, and even junk food is outrageous: the Burger King closest to the Parliament building advertises its chicken sandwich is just fifty-nine kroner, or about ten dollars and fifty cents.
There were no days off on this trip, and I stayed in five hotels (one of them twice) and a flat the company just started renting. So there was no sight-seeing, although my walk to work several days included nice views of Tower Bridge (which in the right light could be a giant cake, and is starting to have a warmish place in my heart) but with the awful Gherkin lurking off to one side, and a shortcut across the grounds of the Tower of London itself. Oh, and I can recommend Relentless for both caffeine content and price vs. most of the coffee available in the area between Monument/Bank and Tower Bridge stations.
Almost everyone in Oslo is beautiful. Some of them shockingly so. |
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| no promises |
[Oct. 4th, 2007|10:50 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | running | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 87507 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | contemplative | ] |
I'm thinking about doing the Mt Taylor Winter Quadrathlon in mid-February. According to the newly-restored website, it's 42 miles in seven stages: bike-run-ski-snowshoe-ski-run-bike. The only part that looks difficult is the two-mile uphill ski at stage 3. The rest I think I could do now.
Hmmmm. |
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| London and possibly Oslo |
[Oct. 2nd, 2007|09:48 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | travel | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Guided By Voices -- Why Did You Land? | ] |
I'm leaving for London again on Sunday; two weeks there possibly followed by a week in Oslo. My schedule is tighter this time, but anyone in the area is encouraged to drop me a line.
I may or may not be going out to Wimbledon to try to break 21:40 for the 5k.
The visit to Oslo is going to be a pressure-cooker, but I've never been there before and will likely never get there again. I'd appreciate any and all suggestions regarding must-sees. |
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| iPod Therefore I Am |
[Oct. 2nd, 2007|09:44 am] |
I snagged a copy of Dylan Jones's memoir/ode to the iPod at the local public library. Sometimes funny, often tedious, almost never dull.
He effectively calls punk rock a hysteria, one he willingly joined, complete with costumes and possibly habits; we're never sure. Or maybe I just read it that way because I'm reading Mackay again. And because I was in London during the recent Northern Rock bank run, which I still don't understand. |
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| webtoy we'd like to see |
[Oct. 2nd, 2007|09:37 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | refs | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 87505 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | head cold | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Guided By Voices -- Pink Drink | ] |
Robert Indiana knockoff generator. Any four letters, any three colors. Tilted first or second letter optional. |
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| back again |
[Sep. 23rd, 2007|03:28 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | travel | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 87505 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Avalanches -- Frontier Psychiatrist | ] |
I'm back in Santa Fe; actually I got back late Friday, but I spent yesterday in the mountains and much of today out on a long bike ride. So I'm just now getting back online, etc. Never mind. The dentist is in Durango helping a friend celebrate a year in business (I got back about five hours to late to go), so I'm about five items from being normal again.
I don't have much to say about the trip right now; being out of town for three weeks is unsettling. It's as if everyone I owe money waited until I'd been out of town a day to send me a bill, so it would be nice and overdue by the time I got back.
Also, I wonder if whoever said that a nation can be fairly judged by the state of its prisons had ever seen an airport. I'm still smarting over the lines at Gatwick, the special security line just to X-ray my shoes, and the fact that my laptop bag counted against my one bag carry-on total. The nice things about Gatwick: hotels that connect directly to the airport, and the availability of a Marks & Spencer Simply Food inside the airport.
I love the pound coin. I also apparently like the food: I gained something between ten and fifteen pounds while I was away.
It's still a shock to come back to the States after an extended trip; Americans still seem fat, rude, loud, and poorly dressed. Even after two and a half weeks in London.
I am almost convinced, however, that the English are not so far from being, say, Danes, as they'd like us to believe. |
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