The Eccentricities of Hobbies – Things about Which One Can Find Themselves Jazzed

You’ll have to forgive me; this blog isn’t about politics or some hilarity from my youth. No, it’s a subject I was thinking about recording as I walked one-half mile back to my house after my run last night.

My run last night was fantastic. For some background, while I am an assistant coach with a running group here in Boise, Boise Run/Walk, I’ve taken it upon myself to engage a personal coach to improve my marathon time. My coach is the head coach of the running club I run and coach with.

Thus far, engaging a personal coach has worked for me on a few levels. One, I’ve found myself resolved to work harder at my runs. I am not necessarily running harder, but I am even more mindful of certain things I would normally take for granted. As an example, this last Saturday, during my eleven miler, I made a real point of taking hydration and nutrition during my run and not skipping them, like I so often do. Of course, another component was that I spoke at my group about ensuring one is properly taking in energy and water whilst running; nevertheless, I’ve said those things before, and not practiced what I preached. With a coach and a personal program, that’s right, I’ve found myself actually doing what I know I am supposed to do.

Wow, Matt, that’s great. I know. I know, here I am prefacing the point on which I was going to write. Well, what I just wrote was more or less the point; however, what has me so motivated was the run I took last night. Mike, my coach, on Wednesdays, has my program set up for “speed work.”

For you non-runners out there, “speed work” integrates some different sorts of training into one’s run. There are different types: interval training, hill repeats, striding, tempo running, Yasso 800’s, etc… Long and short, there are lots of ways to practice speed work, and there are lots of good reasons to do it. Rather than bore you with the sports physiology, we’ll say I am motivated to do this, both to improve my marathon time and to shake up what is normally a nice gentle Wednesday-night eight-mile run.

Last night, I ran 4.16 miles from my house to a street just east of Warm Springs golf course in Boise. There, I crossed the street at the ped-way, and came to the hill at Wind Song St. Wind Song is a beautiful steep hill, with a sidewalk, leading up to nice affluent homes. It’s rather rural, but it’s not in the middle of nowhere. I believe technically it is still in Boise-proper.

There at Wind Song, I did 8 x :30’s. Essentially, after running 4.16 miles, I stretched a bit, and ran 8 trips up this hill, turning around to return to the bottom. When I got to the bottom, I’d prepare my Garmin again, and take off up the hill. That took me between five and ten minutes. I don’t recall exactly (when doing hill repeats, one isn’t turning around to run them the second they get to the bottom).

Anyway, after I completed those hill repeats, I took off back to my house. My head felt great, and my run started quite strong. At that point, I think my body was accustomed to the challenge of running up hill. Needless to say, I ran back to my house, and cut it short at eight miles, which left me about .8 miles to walk back to my house. The walk was quite refreshing, and I did so with a great amount of self-satisfaction.

It’s quite amazing, this human experience, pushing myself to do something I would have considered “conditioning” as a teenager. Now, I dig on the fact that I am going to be a better runner, and that I was motivated to do that on my own. Coach Mike left me a voice mail while I was in a meeting earlier, and wondered how it was going. I think I’ll send him this link.

A Relaxed Sunday and a Weekend of Movies

Typically, this time of year, following early church service on Sunday, I like to head up to Bogus to get in some skiing. Yesterday, however, I heard that it was busy, and I was a bit fatigued, so I decided to run errands and relax a bit. As far as the errands went, they were relaxed and rather uneventful. Following trips to “Bed, Bath and Beyond” and REI, I went over to my friends, the Bush’s, house.

Bob and Dianna were gracious hosts, as always. Dianna immediately served me ranch beans she had sitting from being made earlier in the day or weekend. They were very nice, and it was quite nice to have homemade food. Bob and Dianna had friends of their staying with them, in town from Southwest Washington and McCall, I’d refer to them by last name, but I cannot say I ever got that.

Prior to their friends coming back from running errands, two of their guests are getting married in the near term, the mother and sister of the bride were the other two guests, Diana, Bob and I watched “Pineapple Express.”

In the same way Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, the Wilson brothers, and Wes Anderson formed the “Frat Pack,” Seth Rogan and Judd Apatow have now dominated the humor scene. It’s a good thing, as the “Frat Pack” is not nearly as prolific as they once were.

Not having seen “Pineapple Express,” I was well entertained by the movie. I am glad I saw it. It was most fun watching it with Bob and Diana. Express wasn’t the best movie I saw all weekend though, I have to admit. Saturday night I saw “MILK.”

“Milk” was an incredible film, and I was glad to have seen it. My friends Dan and Patty asked me to join them, and I was more than happy to do so on Saturday Night. It’s hard not to go on and on about why I enjoyed the movie and thought it was so good.

To summarize my feelings on Saturday evening, I would have to put it along these lines: not being gay, the movie being shot by a gay director, Gus Van Sant, gave me a better feel for the characters’ struggles, thoughts and feelings. I know that sounds rather surface, but genuinely, in the same way few if any but African American directors could really convey the rage and pain of racism, I had more empathy for what these folks endured/still endure. Two, Penn’s performance was magnificent. I realize that’s like saying, “Hendrix played a mean guitar,” but his performance showed his range and really made me feel for the character. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but just prior the credits, my feelings for Penn’s performance really crystallized. Three, I thought the movie was so apropos, primarily due to this past year’s Proposition 8. After seeing “MILK,” I look forward to supporting future GLBT rights initiatives.

It’s interesting, being straight, but having so many friends that fall into the categories in the movie, I don’t know that I’ve ever been confronted with the turmoil or issues that friends of mine have had to face. I guess that is part of the struggle GLBT folks are subjected to, primarily, because the social construction is that they should be undercover about their preferences. Whatever the case, I have to expect that if I was in their shoes, I would be quite radical. I don’t think anyone knowing what GLBT folks are subjected to would choose to deviate from society’s norms; nevertheless, there are ignorant people that still think people “choose” their sexuality. I am still looking for someone opposed to Gay marriage, to tell me where in the Bible it says being gay is bad. Please, if you can find the chapter and verse, let me know. While it doesn’t apply to me, I would just assume those that have those feelings be afforded the same rights I have.

Thankful

First, my apologies for a long overdue post. I suppose that’s one way to keep readers from hitting one’s blog too often—quit posting. If you are here in spite of iterant lapses in posting, I thank you. Sincerely, it’s nice to have one’s thoughts read.

I was thinking about what to write, because at the moment, with the holidays, the free time I’d have had at work last week was spent on vacation to Phoenix. Phoenix was quite nice, and I had a great time spending lots of quality time with my family. My Auntie Pat was a terrific host, and I had all too much fun and leisure from which to leave. I suppose we all have to return to normal lives, leaving vacation, but it is what it is. In short, I had a wonderful time, and I’ll sound all too cliché saying this, but the six days I was in Phoenix went much too quickly.

While I was there, I had a bit of an epiphany. I was there at my grandparents’ retirement community, which provides for meals and care, if care is needed. There we were guests in the dining room, and the people of Royal Oaks, the community where my grandparents live, couldn’t have been nicer. My wonderful Grandma Phyllis is quite well known at Royal Oaks, largely because she is on the board. My grandmother is a sharp lady, and it’s fun to see her doing so well with their community.

I apologize; I digress. There we were in the dining room, and on more than one occasion friends of my grandparents would marvel at how well I’m doing, when they would realize I was “Phyllis and Mel’s grandson.” It’s not very often that I hear people refer to parts of my life that have since passed by a few years, but it happens from time-to-time, mostly around the holidays. At one point a woman said to me, “Matt, we sure did pray for you.”

When she said that, as one would expect, I said, “Thank you very much, those prayers certainly made the difference.” I said that quite sincerely.
The evening continued on, and we went on with dinner. At a later point, after we had left the dining area, I was commenting on being flattered and caught off guard that my circumstances were a topic of discussion. Again, it’s something that I have the good fortune I don’t have to think about very often.

During that discussion, I made the following statement, and it put me back for a moment. I said, “Following such an ordeal, we should all be so fortunate, as to be able to thank those who have prayed for us.”

Reading that after I just now wrote it, for me, again brought in that same meditation. Odds are good if you’re reading this, you too prayed for me a little more than two years ago. For that, I am most thankful—God bless.

The Big Three – Congress, Let’s Make the Most of It

Here I am, and I’ve commented on this numerously; yet, I’ve not written anything here on my blog. Detroit, what to do with you? Congress, why would you ever dare squander this opportunity?

Obviously, one could spend forever writing this, but that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for your or my time. Congress – loan them the money for which they are asking, but put them under receivership. In short, now is the time Congress to ensure that the Big Three all live up to real CAFÉ standards.

It’s quite simple, mandate greater fuel efficiency standards that match the most efficient cars in the world, those coming out of Japan. Ensure the Big Three, if they don’t already have the technology, knocks off the designs via reverse-engineering these foreign automobiles. In addition, ensure that idle assembly plants partner with someone making alternative energy products, e.g. Wind Turbines or Solar Panels.

In all of these instances, we have an experienced labor force, well trained about the construction of automobiles. We have plants and assembly lines well tooled and equipment for two of the three above products. Lastly, for the one errant out-of-the box component, there could be retraining and retooling, or there could be the usage of the infrastructure to package and distribute, cutting the costs right out of the production.

Detroit’s issues for the past thirty years have been the result of bad management. It’s not as though the labor force is lesser than elsewhere in the world. Detroit, in both design and materials, has gone for cheap, shoddy quality and inefficiency in favor of faddish wants of car buyers at a given moment. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of one car designed by a Detroit automaker that makes me think twice about heading to the dealers.

In short, Congress has kowtowed to Detroit on emissions for far too long. They did so when Detroit, between the UAW and the Big Three execs, leveraged its weight on both sides of the political spectrum. Now is the time to make them change, while they are down; keep people employed, and keep millions with health insurance until a decent health plan comes about for our country’s people.

Australia - a new film...

This last week, with my family, I saw “Australia.” I don’t quite know what to make of the movie. It was entertaining, and it had all of the romantic and epic elements of a 1950’s-era film, including the gallant rugged horseman, the aristocratic lady, and the spiritual native boy. Rather than those elements being injected for the sake of camp, I think the filmmaker, Baz Luhrmann, genuinely works within these conventions out of sincerity.

Provided we live in an age of taking previous conventions from the Modern-era, and we turn them on their head or turn them inside out, for me, it was hard to make whether or not “Australia” was a high-camp rendition on past conventions. Of course, then I thought of it, and there was no irony injected along with these ancient conventions. For example, looking at the film poster, there is no sense of irony to it.

Quite simply, “Australia,” a long narrative, could have been made in 1958 with James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor. Of course, they both would have had to acquire Aussie accents; nevertheless, that was the feeling I had leaving the film. It’s a palatable rendition, but for my money, it certainly was nothing new or thought-provoking. Moreover, I don’t like Luhrmann’s continuous injection of music—particularly Judy Garland sung songs from “The Wizard of Oz.” To me, it seemed as though this was projected towards three very specific audiences: women, children, and Judy Garland fans.

Delinquencies

I’ve been out for almost a couple of weeks, and I had meant to write a review of my trip back to the Quad Cities. It was a delightful time, and one with a good number of interesting observations—not coming from Chicago but from Boise.

What was most important, arriving home in Moline/Fyre Lake was seeing my beloved family, including my sister, and then seeing my friends. I had a good number of runs on seem neat routes, which made the runs at home neat. The two eight-milers I ran were different: one went from 24th Ave, down to the Mississippi, off to East Moline, and then back. The other run went around Fyre Lake, back up to the Corner Mart, and then back to my folks’ house. They were fun runs.

Of course, what was also quite delightful was returning back to Boise, where I’ve bought and moved into a house. I bought the house back in October—closed on the 30th. Then, I took possession on the 31st. I moved in over subsequent weeks, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the house.

You’ll have to forgive the organization or cleanliness, as the pictures were taken following my return from a week of vacation. It’s not that I live messily, but that I still have not had a chance to finish unpacking. In addition, I had not unpacked from being away for the week of Thanksgiving.

Here are pictures:

That’s where I am, and I look forward to having visitors to Boise. It will be too much fun to have friends and loved ones come to Boise to visit.





http://picasaweb.google.com/matthewcurtisjohnson/MattSHouse113008#

Iraq boots out the Americans

http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12650224

It’s amazing to me that we have a “withdrawal agreement” with Iraq, and it’s not been broadcast throughout the media. Of course, right now, we have the big three automakers asking for money from Congress. Nevertheless, this is pretty damn big news, in my humble opinion. Moreover, it is particularly amazing is that we’ve not had this announced via televised Presidential Announcement.

There was a quote in this article that struck me: “This is a big moment for America and Iraq, yet the Iraqi government was more regretful than jubilant, calling the deal the best it could achieve after more than a year of negotiations. The Bush administration, now in its last weeks in power, made several concessions.”

Is it me, or is it a far cry from the US being greeted as “liberators” that the above had to take place under those circumstances?

Those items are less of a concern, now that the Office of the President is being relieved of its most incompetent administration. What is more concerning, from my perspective, is the dichotomy between the Sunni and Shiite. This potential sectarian strife is not limited to Iraq, but the vacuum created by a US withdrawal, done poorly, has the potential to result in a civil war, all too easily funded by the Sunnis in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, etc… and the Shiites in Iran. I don’t know. I am hopeful and anxious to get our troops out of Iraq, but I certainly hope that the government in Iraq is well enough constructed that it can withstand those tensions.