I got to get this post done. There's not much time left.
In case you haven't heard, the Judgement Day is coming on Saturday. At least, that's the judgement (pardon the expression) of Harold Camping.
This is the man who has scoured the Scriptures for signs of the Apocalypse and the Day of Judgement. He says he's found absolute proof in the Holy Bible that the end is coming May 21, 2011. Specifically, it's coming at 6 pm.
Never mind that the Scriptures specifically say Jesus told his disciples several times that no one knows when Judgement Day is coming except for God.
Never mind that Christians had been convinced that they had discovered the date of the Judgement Day before.
Never mind that one of those times was 1994, when the prophet who knew the date of the Judgement Day was Harold Camping. His story now? As early as 1992, he started thinking that the scriptural signs were actually pointing to 2011.
There has been media coverage of all the believers who have given up their jobs, given up their homes and other possessions, and drawn down their savings all because the Judgement Day, or Rapture, is coming soon. Once they're in heaven, after all, they'll have no use for all those things.
I wonder how many of those people know that Harold Camping has been here before. I wonder what they'd think if they knew he's been through Judgement Day already. I wonder if they know that Harold Camping is already at work on his alibi for being wrong again this time.
The end is near. At least, I hope the end of people falling for this type of charlatan is near. But I doubt that it is.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Crazy-Ass Workouts
It's been almost 10 years since my doctor ordered a couple of fasting blood glucose tests and told me that I'm diabetic. He started me on an oral medication but, spurred on by a dietitian, I followed a regimen of diet and exercise that enabled me to stop taking the medicine after just a few months.
I kept exercising. It dawned on me the other day that, except for the weeks that I was in chemotherapy, I've been exercising on a regular basis for nearly 10 years now. What sparked that realization was a newspaper article listing the best ways to stick to an exercise plan. The article listed all the usual stuff--get a buddy, hire a trainer, join a class, yadda yadda yadda.
Nobody has ever asked me, but I've stuck with it for a decade because I found exercise I like to do. I started with walking and added resistance work (using Nautilus machines) after nagging from my dietitian. Eventually I changed from walking to running.
And sometimes, I add in a crazy-ass workout for variety. There are lots of really crazy workout routines--P90x, CrossFit, Cage Fighters Workout. But those are too far out for me.
So I talked to a co-worker who does some pretty crazy-ass workouts himself. He told me about one of them which involves a stationary bike. You get on the bike and start pedaling. After a seven-minute warmup, you pedal crazy fast for 40 seconds and then do a tow-minute recovery. After 30 minutes of those intervals, you do a three-minute cool-down. That's one crazy-ass workout.
Yeah, I've done that one. I've done it twice now, and I'm beginning to wonder if that P90X stuff is really so crazy.
Maybe I'll just go for a run.
I kept exercising. It dawned on me the other day that, except for the weeks that I was in chemotherapy, I've been exercising on a regular basis for nearly 10 years now. What sparked that realization was a newspaper article listing the best ways to stick to an exercise plan. The article listed all the usual stuff--get a buddy, hire a trainer, join a class, yadda yadda yadda.
Nobody has ever asked me, but I've stuck with it for a decade because I found exercise I like to do. I started with walking and added resistance work (using Nautilus machines) after nagging from my dietitian. Eventually I changed from walking to running.
And sometimes, I add in a crazy-ass workout for variety. There are lots of really crazy workout routines--P90x, CrossFit, Cage Fighters Workout. But those are too far out for me.
So I talked to a co-worker who does some pretty crazy-ass workouts himself. He told me about one of them which involves a stationary bike. You get on the bike and start pedaling. After a seven-minute warmup, you pedal crazy fast for 40 seconds and then do a tow-minute recovery. After 30 minutes of those intervals, you do a three-minute cool-down. That's one crazy-ass workout.
Yeah, I've done that one. I've done it twice now, and I'm beginning to wonder if that P90X stuff is really so crazy.
Maybe I'll just go for a run.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Would the Tea Party Support the Internet?
Recently the newly elected governor of Florida, a favorite of the Tea Party crowd, decided to reject a federally funded high-speed rail project that was planned for his state. Rejecting the project meant that Floridians won’t get the benefit of the high-speed rail project or the jobs that would be created by it.
Some other state will get the money for a similar project. But the governor stood tall on the principle of, well, something.
From what I can gather, Tea Party people are dead set against federal spending. All federal spending, regardless of the benefits it provides for real people, is somehow evil according to these people. So I started thinking about three of the biggest milestones of the last 70 years or so.
Nuclear Energy--Humans harnessed the energy created by splitting atoms apart in the 1940s because the federal government launched the Manhattan Project to create the first atomic bomb. Every nuclear generator around the world owes its existence to the team of federal workers who labored in the New Mexico desert.
Some Tea Party types seem to be fans of nuclear energy. I wonder if they would be such big fans if they knew how it started.
Interstate Highway System--Long before he was a general, Dwight Eisenhower was stationed at Army posts accessible only by dirt roads. He saw firsthand how difficult it was to move soldiers and supplies from place to place in the United States. He also saw just how efficiently the Germans could transport anything on wheels with the Autobahn.
That’s why Eisenhower pushed for the development of the Interstate Highway System we use today. That’s why he wanted to use federal dollars to build the highways. If the Tea Party had been around in the 1950s, they might have called the interstates “socialist roads.”
Internet--When a manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) decided it was silly to need a separate terminal for each data network he could access, the idea of transparently interconnected networking was born. All the money for the development of what we no call the Internet was provided by the federal government.
Even the browser was developed with federal dollars. Mosaic, the grandfather of all browsers, was created at the University of Illinois National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
Every Tea Party website communicates its message courtesy of the United States government. Every Tea Party chapter uses a product of federal spending to rail against federal spending. I love the irony.
But I really have to wonder something. If we had been prevented from spending federal dollars in the past the way the Tea Party is blocking us now, where would we be today? Would we have nuclear power, interstate highways, or the Internet?
Some other state will get the money for a similar project. But the governor stood tall on the principle of, well, something.
From what I can gather, Tea Party people are dead set against federal spending. All federal spending, regardless of the benefits it provides for real people, is somehow evil according to these people. So I started thinking about three of the biggest milestones of the last 70 years or so.
Nuclear Energy--Humans harnessed the energy created by splitting atoms apart in the 1940s because the federal government launched the Manhattan Project to create the first atomic bomb. Every nuclear generator around the world owes its existence to the team of federal workers who labored in the New Mexico desert.
Some Tea Party types seem to be fans of nuclear energy. I wonder if they would be such big fans if they knew how it started.
Interstate Highway System--Long before he was a general, Dwight Eisenhower was stationed at Army posts accessible only by dirt roads. He saw firsthand how difficult it was to move soldiers and supplies from place to place in the United States. He also saw just how efficiently the Germans could transport anything on wheels with the Autobahn.
That’s why Eisenhower pushed for the development of the Interstate Highway System we use today. That’s why he wanted to use federal dollars to build the highways. If the Tea Party had been around in the 1950s, they might have called the interstates “socialist roads.”
Internet--When a manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) decided it was silly to need a separate terminal for each data network he could access, the idea of transparently interconnected networking was born. All the money for the development of what we no call the Internet was provided by the federal government.
Even the browser was developed with federal dollars. Mosaic, the grandfather of all browsers, was created at the University of Illinois National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
Every Tea Party website communicates its message courtesy of the United States government. Every Tea Party chapter uses a product of federal spending to rail against federal spending. I love the irony.
But I really have to wonder something. If we had been prevented from spending federal dollars in the past the way the Tea Party is blocking us now, where would we be today? Would we have nuclear power, interstate highways, or the Internet?
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
This Could Get Interesting
With the deadline for the current CBA coming up, things are getting interesting in the relationship between the players, the owners, and the league itself.
According to The New York Times, the NFL players' union is considering an interesting course o action. The union might decertify itself, a move that could expose the league to individual lawsuits by players.
That could expose the owners to potential losses. We already know that the owners are way more interested in money than in actually having a football season. Read the full story here.
Not only that, but the Times is also reporting that a federal appeals court has ruled that the league acted against the interests of the players in renegotiating TV contracts. Here's the story.
Suddenly, it might be in the owner's best interest to concede on some points and actually get a CBA with the players. I'm a fan; all I really care is that we have NFL games in September.
According to The New York Times, the NFL players' union is considering an interesting course o action. The union might decertify itself, a move that could expose the league to individual lawsuits by players.
That could expose the owners to potential losses. We already know that the owners are way more interested in money than in actually having a football season. Read the full story here.
Not only that, but the Times is also reporting that a federal appeals court has ruled that the league acted against the interests of the players in renegotiating TV contracts. Here's the story.
Suddenly, it might be in the owner's best interest to concede on some points and actually get a CBA with the players. I'm a fan; all I really care is that we have NFL games in September.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Not For Long
I don’t remember what coach said it was or what player was involved, but I clearly remember a great clip of National Football League video. The coach said, “This is the NFL, son, and that stands for Not For Long if you keep playing like that."*
This week is the deadline for the CBA, or collective bargaining agreement, which is the basic contract that governs the relationship between owners and players in the NFL. If the two sides can’t reach an agreement, NFL could definitely stand for Not For Long.
For over a year, NFL fans have been hearing that the owners have an insurance policy that basically guarantees income for them in the event that there are no games played during the 2011 season. What that meant is that the owners really have no incentive to compromise on their position, because they have nothing to lose.
In the event that the two sides failed to negotiate a new CBA, the owners could simply lock the players out for a year and lose little in terms of money. The prospect that 2010 could be the last NFL season for a while sharpened the focus on each game of the season for some of us. We kept wondering if pro football really was Not For Long.
As of last week, things don’t really look good for an agreement any time soon. There might really not be a 2011 season.
The National Hockey League locked out their players and effectively canceled the 1194-95 season. It took several years for hockey to regain its fans, attendance, and TV ratings after the strike.
1994 was also the year that Major League Baseball lost a chunk of its regular season along with the entire postseason. They didn’t even play the World Series that year. Major League Baseball didn’t begin to regain its fans until the 1998 season and the home-run record chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.
Would the same thing happen to the NFL if it fails to conduct a season this coming fall? Absolutely. What the owners and the players always forget is that fans can always find something else to do to occupy their time. A lot of NFL fans just might discover the beauty of fall foliage if there are no games on TV during those endless Sunday afternoons.
I hope the players and owners figure out a solution, because I’m a fan. Part of me, though, hopes they dig in, refuse to compromise with each other, and cancel the 2011 season. Part of me wants them to find out that, for many fans, a fall without pro football games would mean that the NFL is Not For Long.
*Update: A Twitter friend reminded me that it was Jerry Glanville, former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, who delivered the line. He was talking to a referee and told the official he was "not for long" if he kept making bad calls.
This week is the deadline for the CBA, or collective bargaining agreement, which is the basic contract that governs the relationship between owners and players in the NFL. If the two sides can’t reach an agreement, NFL could definitely stand for Not For Long.
For over a year, NFL fans have been hearing that the owners have an insurance policy that basically guarantees income for them in the event that there are no games played during the 2011 season. What that meant is that the owners really have no incentive to compromise on their position, because they have nothing to lose.
In the event that the two sides failed to negotiate a new CBA, the owners could simply lock the players out for a year and lose little in terms of money. The prospect that 2010 could be the last NFL season for a while sharpened the focus on each game of the season for some of us. We kept wondering if pro football really was Not For Long.
As of last week, things don’t really look good for an agreement any time soon. There might really not be a 2011 season.
The National Hockey League locked out their players and effectively canceled the 1194-95 season. It took several years for hockey to regain its fans, attendance, and TV ratings after the strike.
1994 was also the year that Major League Baseball lost a chunk of its regular season along with the entire postseason. They didn’t even play the World Series that year. Major League Baseball didn’t begin to regain its fans until the 1998 season and the home-run record chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.
Would the same thing happen to the NFL if it fails to conduct a season this coming fall? Absolutely. What the owners and the players always forget is that fans can always find something else to do to occupy their time. A lot of NFL fans just might discover the beauty of fall foliage if there are no games on TV during those endless Sunday afternoons.
I hope the players and owners figure out a solution, because I’m a fan. Part of me, though, hopes they dig in, refuse to compromise with each other, and cancel the 2011 season. Part of me wants them to find out that, for many fans, a fall without pro football games would mean that the NFL is Not For Long.
*Update: A Twitter friend reminded me that it was Jerry Glanville, former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, who delivered the line. He was talking to a referee and told the official he was "not for long" if he kept making bad calls.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Let's (Not) Go Bowling!
The seemingly never-ending Bowl Season has begun. It all started with three bowls on a December Saturday, including Northern Illinois beating Fresno State on the blue artificial turf at Boise State. That was the Humanitarian Bowl.
Really?
I’m a human, but I couldn’t generate any interest in the Huskies against the Raisins or whatever in the Humanitarian Bowl. But then, I’m old enough to remember when bowl games had a certain luster about them, and that was because there were four or five of them. This year there are 35 bowl games. Thirty-five.
Only one bowl game actually counts for something, because its real name is the BCS Championship. That one doesn’t get played until mid-January, and it will pit Auburn and Oregon against each other. Number One against Number Two.
The Bowl Championship Series executives and the fans of this stupid system are breaking their arms patting themselves on the back. They think it’s fantastic that the system has worked--the two teams that “should” be in the title game actually are!
Meanwhile, the Football Championship Series, formerly known as Division 1-AA, has a tournament that will pit two 12-2 teams against each other. Both teams played their way into the title game, the way a championship should work. Nobody in 1-AA is crying for Appalachian State, a traditional power and the top seed, because they were soundly beaten in the quarterfinals of a tournament. In the BCS system, App State would probably be in the championship game because they “should” be.
But Division 1-AA, just like Division II and Division III, has a real tournament. It’s had one for years, and nobody has ever claimed a negative impact on academics or any of the other endless baloney that gets thrown around as reasons for Division 1-A, aka BCS, not having a tournament.
I think that should end. The once-proud bowl lineup has lost all its value. When teams with 6-6 records qualify for bowls, how special are they? Flush the bowls; install a tournament.
Here’s my Christmas gift to the NCAA, a proposal for a Division 1-A Tournament. Start with 16 teams--sure, you’re going to get arguments every year about the teams that don’t get in, but that happens in basketball too. And there are 65 teams in the basketball tournament. So pick the top 16 and be done with it.
A 16-team tournament gives you three playoff rounds and a championship game. That totals 15 games--eight in the first round, four in the quarterfinals, two semifinal games and the title game. The top 15 bowl games, which means the five BCS “series” bowls plus the next tier but not the Humanitarian Bowl, can be the automatic tournament game sites for the first three to five years. After that, cities can bid to be playoff sites just like they do in basketball.
If cities want to keep hosting bowl games that attract 6-6 teams, they can. Nobody will watch, which is how it should be.
Announce this plan at the beginning of the 2012 season, implement it for the 2015 season, and by 2020 you’ve got a football tournament. Presto.
The NCAA can send me a thank-you card any day now. I am not holding my breath.
Really?
I’m a human, but I couldn’t generate any interest in the Huskies against the Raisins or whatever in the Humanitarian Bowl. But then, I’m old enough to remember when bowl games had a certain luster about them, and that was because there were four or five of them. This year there are 35 bowl games. Thirty-five.
Only one bowl game actually counts for something, because its real name is the BCS Championship. That one doesn’t get played until mid-January, and it will pit Auburn and Oregon against each other. Number One against Number Two.
The Bowl Championship Series executives and the fans of this stupid system are breaking their arms patting themselves on the back. They think it’s fantastic that the system has worked--the two teams that “should” be in the title game actually are!
Meanwhile, the Football Championship Series, formerly known as Division 1-AA, has a tournament that will pit two 12-2 teams against each other. Both teams played their way into the title game, the way a championship should work. Nobody in 1-AA is crying for Appalachian State, a traditional power and the top seed, because they were soundly beaten in the quarterfinals of a tournament. In the BCS system, App State would probably be in the championship game because they “should” be.
But Division 1-AA, just like Division II and Division III, has a real tournament. It’s had one for years, and nobody has ever claimed a negative impact on academics or any of the other endless baloney that gets thrown around as reasons for Division 1-A, aka BCS, not having a tournament.
I think that should end. The once-proud bowl lineup has lost all its value. When teams with 6-6 records qualify for bowls, how special are they? Flush the bowls; install a tournament.
Here’s my Christmas gift to the NCAA, a proposal for a Division 1-A Tournament. Start with 16 teams--sure, you’re going to get arguments every year about the teams that don’t get in, but that happens in basketball too. And there are 65 teams in the basketball tournament. So pick the top 16 and be done with it.
A 16-team tournament gives you three playoff rounds and a championship game. That totals 15 games--eight in the first round, four in the quarterfinals, two semifinal games and the title game. The top 15 bowl games, which means the five BCS “series” bowls plus the next tier but not the Humanitarian Bowl, can be the automatic tournament game sites for the first three to five years. After that, cities can bid to be playoff sites just like they do in basketball.
If cities want to keep hosting bowl games that attract 6-6 teams, they can. Nobody will watch, which is how it should be.
Announce this plan at the beginning of the 2012 season, implement it for the 2015 season, and by 2020 you’ve got a football tournament. Presto.
The NCAA can send me a thank-you card any day now. I am not holding my breath.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Surviving, Not Inspiring
A friend from high school made the mistake recently of telling me in an email that I inspired her. Although I tried to be gentle because she couldn’t have known, I replied with firmness that I really don’t like to be called an inspiration.
It was two years ago that I was undergoing chemotherapy for testicular cancer. Most everyone who knows me says that I approached chemo with a great attitude and unbelievable strength.
They were right about my attitude. I was extremely optimistic and upbeat about chemo, and I had good reason. The urologist who diagnosed my cancer, the oncologist who treated me, and an oncological nurse who is also a good friend all confirmed that my particular form of cancer was curable. The chemo protocol that I was facing has a 90 percent success rate. I liked my chances.
I tried to keep a positive attitude during chemo, which was a three-month ordeal. I got infusions of two drugs every day for five days, then two weeks off, then another five-day week of infusions. I was getting a third drug administered every Tuesday for nine weeks.
As I was about to start chemo, some friends told me I should write about the experience as it was happening. Keep a blog, they said. I actually attempted to do just that. I still have the notes from the first couple of days of chemo. Absolutely nothing was happening, and I wondered what the big deal was.
Then the fourth day came along. On that day, two chemo drugs hit me like a runaway train. I was tired; no, I was exhausted. I hit a level of fatigue that I truly didn’t know existed. A day later, I felt worse. On the day after my first five-day infusion week, I hit the jackpot: I was exhausted, weak, nauseated and I had chills. I felt horrible and, with my wife working that day, I got to feel it all by myself.
In addition to those symptoms, which my oncologists and the nursing staff had warned me about, I was extremely emotional. I burst into tears for no reason at all, at the oddest times.
I was sure at that moment that I had made the right decision by not starting a blog. I wouldn’t have been able to accurately describe just how horrible I felt. Two years later, I still haven’t found the words that truly describe the complete absence of strength and vitality that chemo caused.
These days I feel strong and I haven’t shown any signs of tumors for a year and a half. I’m grateful for cancer research and for the dedication of the medical professionals who specialize in oncology. But I don’t feel like an inspiration.
I feel like a survivor. And that’s more than enough for me.
It was two years ago that I was undergoing chemotherapy for testicular cancer. Most everyone who knows me says that I approached chemo with a great attitude and unbelievable strength.
They were right about my attitude. I was extremely optimistic and upbeat about chemo, and I had good reason. The urologist who diagnosed my cancer, the oncologist who treated me, and an oncological nurse who is also a good friend all confirmed that my particular form of cancer was curable. The chemo protocol that I was facing has a 90 percent success rate. I liked my chances.
I tried to keep a positive attitude during chemo, which was a three-month ordeal. I got infusions of two drugs every day for five days, then two weeks off, then another five-day week of infusions. I was getting a third drug administered every Tuesday for nine weeks.
As I was about to start chemo, some friends told me I should write about the experience as it was happening. Keep a blog, they said. I actually attempted to do just that. I still have the notes from the first couple of days of chemo. Absolutely nothing was happening, and I wondered what the big deal was.
Then the fourth day came along. On that day, two chemo drugs hit me like a runaway train. I was tired; no, I was exhausted. I hit a level of fatigue that I truly didn’t know existed. A day later, I felt worse. On the day after my first five-day infusion week, I hit the jackpot: I was exhausted, weak, nauseated and I had chills. I felt horrible and, with my wife working that day, I got to feel it all by myself.
In addition to those symptoms, which my oncologists and the nursing staff had warned me about, I was extremely emotional. I burst into tears for no reason at all, at the oddest times.
I was sure at that moment that I had made the right decision by not starting a blog. I wouldn’t have been able to accurately describe just how horrible I felt. Two years later, I still haven’t found the words that truly describe the complete absence of strength and vitality that chemo caused.
These days I feel strong and I haven’t shown any signs of tumors for a year and a half. I’m grateful for cancer research and for the dedication of the medical professionals who specialize in oncology. But I don’t feel like an inspiration.
I feel like a survivor. And that’s more than enough for me.
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