Blacksburg, VA

Nearly a week later and we're still wringing our hands over the coverage of the massacre at Virginia Tech. We'll continue to do that for a while and then we'll go on to something else until another "incident" occurs at which point we'll wring our hands anew. Meanwhile, the NRA reminds us that "Guns don't kill people. People kill people". A person who had been involuntarily committed in the recent past because of apparent mental instability could buy a lot of guns. A child dies because an unsecured gun has been found in the house. A domestic argument escalates until a handy gun permanently ends the dispute. Some type of reasonable gun control is necessary.

We want the right to bear arms, but Homeland Security would swoop down on us in a New York minute if we tried to protect ourselves from the government with a gun. We want the right to shoot Bambi. This one I may concede. Talking to friends that enjoy shooting Bambi, apparently culling the deer overpopulation is necessary. But I can't figure out how the NRA can blindly oppose any form of gun control. It is like the pro-choice people who argue that any form of restriction on abortion must be vigorously opposed. It is reasonable to place limits on the people who can buy guns as well as the quantity and types of guns they can buy. We can get so caught up in our position that we fail to acknowledge that any argument is seldom black or white.

At the same time, NBC should not have broadcast Cho's video manifesto. I'm sure they agonized over their decision. But, at the end of the day, ratings won out and the families and the nation were subjected to the depraved rants of an insane kid. NBC tried to assuage its guilt by describing the dilemma in deciding whether or not to air the video. But, I think they risk sparking other incidents by inciting other people on the edge to go for their own fifteen minutes in the limelight. The media will argue the appropriateness of the decision but ultimately decide to get it right the next time – really, for sure.

Woe for the people who were killed and for their families, friends and classmates. Woe, too, for all of us who lets this latest incident pass without demanding gun control.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boston

I'm sitting here at 11:10 pm watching the replay of the Boston Marathon. Thank God for DVR. This horrendous storm that delayed the golf tournament at Hilton Head blasted through here with several inches of rain yesterday and tremendous winds today. It knocked out our power shortly after the start of the Boston marathon so I'm just now catching up with the details.

I've entered the lottery for the NY marathon this November but I would have watched Boston anyhow. I love to watch endurance sports like this and the Tour de France. These to me are the true test of athletics. I don't follow any sport that involves a ball or an engine, but the human powered ones fascinate me.

This marathon was of special interest since one of my favorite podcasters is running it. I've been following Steve Runner's training for months. It really enhances the excitement when one of your friends is racing. But, even if Steve wasn't in it, I am fascinated by this race in particular. All of the history and mystic that surrounds Boston makes it so exciting. I just wish they could find someone besides Al Trautwig to announce it.

The women's race this year has been the more exciting. I would have loved for Deena Kastor to win, but what an exciting finish, with Grigoryeva powering to the finish line! Until her break away surge I had her pegged for 3^rd. Congratulations to her! It wasn't Deena's day and she'll comment on her difficulties later I'm sure. Cheruiyot's win was less of a surprise, He's won before, he knew the course, he knew how to pace himself and how to finish strong.

Everyone who finished today is a winner. The weather was clearly abysmal. A marathon under ideal conditions is tough enough. To race against driving rain, cold and brisk winds, as well of the course itself is unthinkable. If I had been there I don't know whether or not I would have finished. Of course, my goal is to get there at all. I can't even imagine myself qualifying. If I did, perhaps I'd have the courage to finish on a day like today.

I'm motivated even more to get out there and train. Today I signed up with the Podfitness workout site. I start the first one tomorrow. Maybe between the excitement of Boston and a new workout I can finally kick my fitness goals.

 

 

 

So Out of Shape

We're going to Chicago for a family reunion in June – 8 weeks away. That's about the same time that I'll be finding out if I "won" the NY marathon lottery. I need to be building base miles and getting in shape ahead of seeing family and starting a training program and yet I am so out of shape that I despair that it will happen.

I stepped it up a bit this week: more, longer walks with occasional jogs, I rode my bike for the first time since October, and I got back in the gym. Yet, I am starting so far down the fitness ladder that it will take supreme effort to climb the next few steps. I am at a near high weight – including pregnancies and I really need to drop 50 pounds.

No excuses, but I've been working very long hours. When I finally get home and get dinner fixed and served and have downed a few glasses of wine, it is time to go to bed. My stress level is high and I comfort myself with food. Then, I feel bad about how fat I am so I have a little something to comfort myself.

It is a vicious cycle that I have decided to break. If a year from now, I haven't done anything about this situation, I'll be heavier and more out of shape. So today I am committing to working out at least 6 days a week for no less than 1 hour per day. I will do a variety of aerobic and weight training as well as work to build up base miles from which I can start my marathon training program,

In addition, I'm going to cut out the wine and cheese, my two biggest calorie busters. We've been experimenting with various wines over the last few years and we've easily slipped into splitting a bottle (or two) every night. Not only is it packing weight around my middle, it is also killing my initiative to exercise in the morning. Lately, we've been enjoying different varieties of cheeses. They taste so good, but they mostly fat calories.

Even starting today, it will take a lot of effort to overcome inertia and develop some kind of fitness level by the middle of June but I hereby declare that, come mid-June, I will be in better shape than today.

 

 

IMUS

I don't watch Imus or listen to him although I have infrequently in the past. I switched over to NPR years ago, mainly because I don't want to listen to someone screaming at me in the morning and I just got too impatient with commercials. Lately, I've even stepped away from NPR, at least in real time. I podcast the programs I want to hear – none of which are "news" shows – and read newspapers on line and in several papers and weekly magazines for my news. But I've been following the latest faux paus by someone motivated by ratings, distanced from reality by a huge salary and plenty of yes-men staff, stretching for the laugh way past what he might say in his real life.

Imus is rude and crude – not Howard Stern crude, but certainly not Ms. Manners on the radio. Apparently, millions of people find this interesting. Not me. But he seems to have done some good things with his life – most notably, the camp he funds for children who've experienced misfortune. That, too, is not without controversy. And he does try to poke a little hole in the hot air windbags that appear on his show. Amusing? Not to me. But the insults are his shtick, not unlike Don Riddle from years gone by. What he said about the women of Rutgers basketball team is inexcusable, but not the worst thing said on the radio. I endorse his suspension. Certainly his remarks were insensitive and smacked of a racial slur. But many of those protesting are living in glass houses. The Reverend Al Sharpton may have forgotten the Tawana Brawley affair as I'm sure he'd like the rest of us to – an example of someone who clearly misspoke while trying to entertain his audience.

The point I may not be making too well is that we all have said some really stupid things we wish we could take back – things we might not even believe. Imus has the added misfortune of saying it in front of millions. He is clearly remorseful and he will endure a two week suspension. If we are going to police the air waves, let's not stop with him. Let's look at Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, et. al. Let's make the airwaves more civil and take them all off indefinitely.

 

 

Easter 2007

This is the first Easter in 30+ years that I haven't decorated and hidden eggs and/or cooked a ham. The kids are grown and not married. We don't have any grandchildren yet (thank goodness, since the kids are not married yet). We've been working all kinds of crazy hours and I just wasn't up to cooking a family dinner for Sunday.

Now, I regret it. If we're not careful the kids are going to drift away. They're working and meeting with their friends. I feel like it is up to me to keep the family thing going on.

Today was cold and windy. We set record lows and we had snow flurries Friday night. All the azaleas will be brown and crispy by tomorrow – they starting wilting today. I just don't feel like doing anything. Sadie and I walked two miles, but the wind was strong and cold and neither of us felt like doing it.

I finished my son's taxes and e-filed them. That only leaves ours to file. I should be able to get the last of the info I need tomorrow – just missing one 1099, then I'll get them filed. We squeaked by this year – or I calculated very well. We have a $243 refund that I'll apply to next year and file our estimated taxes on 4/17/-07. I'm going to give it one more look-see this week to make sure I haven't missed anything and get it sent off.

Just a blah day. At least I had a three-day weekend.

MEN ARE DIFFERENT

My husband can tell me in endless detail every stroke each of his buddies hit on a round of golf two years ago. And he does. I've learned to listen with that "yes, dear" look. You know what I mean. A smile is frozen on my face and I periodically nod and murmur "really" or "amazing". All the while I'm thinking about the grocery list, future vacation plans or what I'm going to fix for dinner tonight. Of course, he can't go to the grocery store to get three items without a written list. My daughter calls it testosterone poisoning.

Don't act shocked. Men have perfected this "absent presence", I've just acquired it through training. My husband has denied ever being told that one of our children was thinking of changing jobs, that I was concerned about the state of the tires on my car or that I had no intentions of using my vacation days to visit his mother. After all these years of marriage I know that we inherently think differently than each other and accept this fact as the way, together, we make a complete unit. He thinks about what he considers important and I do the same and between us both we almost cover everything important to our family unit. Sometimes the part not covered is significant, other times it doesn't matter.

Still I am occasionally surprised by unexpected differences. Tools are a new revelation. My husband has never been Mr. Fix-it. I sort of knew this when we got married but I always figured I was marrying the most wonderful man in the world and I could always hire someone to fix what needed to be fixed. Little did I realize how much these fixers charge. So it comes as a bit of surprise to me this latent tool accumulation syndrome that my husband is developing. He has always had to have the latest golf clubs, but power tools are new phenomena.

I was working in the "natural area" – that's the bulk of our front yard where we are unable to grow grass – last weekend. We have an outcropping of green onions that I had decided to eradicate. My trowel was inefficient so I asked him to go to Lowes to get me a hand tool to dig out the bulbs so I wouldn't also dig up the hostas. I had this in mind.

He bought this. The difference in price is about $24.00. I should have known better; I should have gone myself to get what I wanted. But I made it work and got up most of the onions. The next time I'm at Lowes, I'll pick up what I wanted to start with.

The difference is mostly nice. He thinks about grass and trees and shrubs that need pruning. I think that God put those trees there and will take them down when He sees fit. He can figure out when we need to buy a new car and what we should buy. As long as it runs and I can par it I don't have any interest in this topic. He can't figure out that if you put the largest items on the bottom that you can stack more pots or bowls in the cabinets. I think if we use less salt and butter our health might be better in later years. Each of us has our own particular area to be a specialist and over the years we've worked it out. So I'm not complaining. I still think I married the most wonderful man in the world. I say vive la difference!