Palm Trees

Beer Mile

Some of my friends and I just did a "beer mile," which is where you go to a track and do 4 x (drink a beer, then run a lap). Tommy won, followed by Erik, then myself. Our times were lame. Tommy barely broke 10 minutes, Erik right around 10, me at 15 (I had to run a penalty lap for throwing up). Ya, on my 4th beer, I had to puke. I felt it coming while running the third lap. Think: 4 beers in about 10 minutes while shaking it up with a mile's worth of running. Sounds like fun, and it is...only while it's funny to laugh at other people being miserable, you have to be in the same boat.

We might turn this into a monthly event. If we get ambitious, maybe even a grand prix series! Andrew said that some of the guys he used to run with would do 12 12s, which is where you chug a beer, then run a 1200m and repeat 11 times. That's a total of 8 miles and 12 beers! I'm definitely not up to that level yet. Maybe next time I'll break 12 minutes...I just need to avoid the penalty lap and chug my beers faster.

I started off with a slow chug (trying to pace myself) of about 30 seconds, but I was the first to cross the line for the first lap...second lap not so bad. After the third beer, things just started going downhill.

Lowercase for Newbies

I think that fraternities and sororities should make their newbies wear lowercase greek letters instead of the capitals that are normally associated with the organization. That would be funny.

Pick #99

Idle Sons - "Tell Me" from Sixteen Seasons

My Dream Team

I was thinking about the following problem: what if you had to pick a group of people (aka "team") with whom to be stranded on a deserted island or sent into space with or forced into the wilderness or pretty much any situation. I took about 5 minutes and decided to pick 10 people who I would enlist to be in that group. Restrictions on who I can pick are: must be someone I know well enough to make the request to be on my team and must be living (e.g. can't pick Plato or Tesla; Gates or Sachs).

Some members have a specific talent for the group and others are more diversified players. Don't feel left out if you aren't on the list. I obviously can't list the excellent qualities about everyone, but here's my initial thoughts on what the team members might be asked to do:

Roster (in no particular order):
1. M. Cable - all things science, crawling into small spaces
2. A. Snodgress - Eagle Scout stuff, heavy lifting, medicine
3. S. David - keep all other team members from negative thoughts/acts toward each other
4. Mike D. - lend music to our world, brainstorm
5. C. Maniscalco - creative problem solving, more Eagle Scout stuff, break any laws necessary
6. D. Shiner - all things computer or fire
7. D. White - philosopher, translator (proficiency in 8 languages)
8. P. McCurdy - anything nautical
9. M. Selby - animals
10. P. Arce-Trigatti - laughing, empanadas, more music

Notes:
I may add more notes later.
interesting that 7 out of 10 came from the HC. Exceptions: #2, 3 & 10.
9 have athletics background (maybe #4 does too, but I never knew about it)
all have big brains, a large set of talents, like to have a good time, and can work on the same thing for a long time (only applies to #5 for things he's interested in).

Emerald Coast 4 Turnout

Check out the showing we had at this team race. Lots of people won awards. Tommy won overall. Go team.

Chupacabra

I was at Gordos on Pensacola about 2 weeks ago for lunch on the weekend. I didn't know what I was going to order until I saw "Chupacabra" on the menu. Game over. I had to have it. The menu proclaims that it tastes like chicken, which was my first clue that they didn't actually have access to enough cupacabra carcases that they could regularly supply it on the menu.

I ordered it and it had a little spicy sauce in the middle. It came in round, fried balls. It was definitely interesting. In fact, part of the reason I orderd it is just to tell people about it, which is what I just did. Mission accomplished.

Godzilla's $5 Footlong

Subway has a catchy ad campaign for their $5 footlongs. People hold up five fingers, then spread their hands about chest high, palms facing, a little less than shoulder width apart while $5 footlooooong is jingled in the background. That's all cool, except when Godzilla does it. I mean, he's not making a gap of a foot with his hands...it's probably more like 8 feet. I mean, I guess if Godzilla walked into a Subway and asked for a $5 8-foot long, then they'd better abide. I just think it might be a bad choice to realistically represent the size of their on-sale subs.

Single Issue Voter

I'm still undecided as to who I'm voting for in two weeks. I prefer Obama on most issues, but a couple weeks ago, my mom made me think about whether I want to turn into a single issue voter. I think that Obama has a better economic advisor and a better understanding of the economy. I don't like the fact that both candidates support "clean" coal, but I guess that cancels out. I like Obama's more hands-off approach to dealing with individuals' personal lives.

What started me on the single issue idea was a mailer sent out by the NRA about how Obama is anti-gun. Granted, I don't agree with the NRA on all issues...for instance, I am definitely for a waiting period and a background check when buying firearms. I have nothing against traceable bullets. I don't agree with Obama's anti-assault rifle mentality, but that wouldn't be a deal breaker. However, I do firmly believe in Florida's castle doctrine (you can shoot anybody who breaks into your house, no questions asked) and I have a concealed carry permit. I know that Obama is not for the concealed carry laws (which is a big issue for me) and that he's against the castle doctrine (a huge issue for me).

I don't know if Obama will accomplish his anti-gun agenda, and I don't know how important it is to him. I do think that he can have better relationships with foreign leaders, mostly because he doesn't have that smirk that I want to punch off McCain's face.

Have No Fear, Warren's Here.

If this article by Warren Buffett doesn't restore your faith in the stock market, then I doubt that anything else will.

Pick #98

Kingsbury - "Peninsula" from The Great Compromise

Lots of stuff on this CD is about/relates to places/concepts in or around Vero Beach.

EcoStore

check out GoodCommonSense.net and look at all the eco-friendly products available. Too bad they're a little pricey.

Watson

Remember that kitten I got for Sarah? Isn't he cute? We took him to the vet on Tuesday and found out that he has roundworm and hookworm. He came back negative for kitty-aids & kitty-leukemia. We gave him a few shots. He has to go back in 3 weeks. I think then he'll get the rabies vaccine. After that, he's got to get fixed and I think that he should be microchipped. I told Sarah that I'd pay half the cost of microchipping.

I'm not much of a cat person, but Watson thinks that he's a dog so we are friends. I could probably teach him to fetch if I had enough patience. Sometimes, I think he likes me better than his mommy. It was pretty much by chance that I saw him in an adoptable setting and I'm glad that Karen hooked it up.

You know you're jealous of how cute he is.

Tesla Roadster

If you've been living under a rock, you might not have heard of the Tesla Roadster. The company is named after your favorite chemist's favorite chemist, Nikola Tesla. They make electric sports cars that outperform Ferraris, Lambos, and Porches. The Roadster is sexy, fast, and soon to be (relatively) cheap.

I don't think I'm in the market for a purely electric car...I want a plug-in hybrid so that I can make continuous long distance trips if I want. However, I would definitely drive the Tesla Roadster if given the chance.

Pick #97

Alabama - Song of the South

This used to be one of my favorite songs as a kid.

Rudy Project Syton Review

I bought the Rudy Project's Syton Supercomp helmet, which is basically the Syton with removable ear covers and a windshield. It is my first aero-helmet. I wasn't sure how much of an advantage it would give. I wore it for the olympic distance Mexico Beach race, but since it was only my second olympic, it was hard to tell. I also just wore it on Saturday for Emerald Coast #4. That's when I realized how much it helped. My bike time was only 30 seconds slower than last year...but I was in way better shape last year and last year's race didn't have the killer bi-directional headwind. That's right...the wind changed just after I turned around, so I got a headwind both directions.

Makes me feel like I'm getting my money's worth out of the Syton.

Wall St. v. Main St.

I've heard a lot of bullshitting about Wall St. v. Main St. out of these politicians mouths. They attempt to manufacture a dichotomy between those who have greed and wealth v. the good and upright people of the middle class. WTF? Ok, I guess they want you to think of CEOs with bogus (even from an economist's standpoint) compensation packages as being Wall St. and think of home made apple pie for Main St. The reality is that half of American households own stock. THERE IS NO SEPARATION BETWEEN WALL ST. & MAIN ST. I own stock. I've never been near Wall St. I bet that over half the people reading this blog own stock.

I'll be glad when this election's over and 3/4 of the highly visible political bullshit dies down.

While I'm at it, don't blame Wall St.'s greed for bringing down the financial markets. It was stupid people playing in a game with fucked up incentives that brought this mess about. First of all, anyone who decided it would be a good idea to pay someone to generate loans is a moron. Of course the commission-paid mortgage broker doesn't care if you can make the payments...you get one anyway. Secondly, I really don't know how the markets were duped for so long...does "O-ring" mean anything to you?
So, don't blame anonymous suits for bringing down the economy; blame your neighbors who bit off more than they could chew. Dumbasses who decided to live the lifestyle of the rich on the means of the middle class via credit. Blame yourself it you fall into this category. Go ahead and blame the government for lack of regulation, but realize that you would also blame them if they had imposed too many regulations ex-ante and you thought that those regulations stifled growth.

By the way, I figured out what people need to do to fix this...we need everybody's cooperation, kind of like that "don't buy gas on this one day" crap, only I think that my idea might actually work. Everybody needs to be more productive and less wasteful. Work more, spend more, save more... I think that this is the time to spend. Stocks are selling for a good discount (you might want to wait a week or so before buying), inflation is about to erode the value of your savings account, so buy consumer durables that you can use to generate a utility stream while your money is still worth something.

More Money, More Problems

I saw a kid today wearing a shirt with this graph. I laughed. He said that he saw it and just had to get it. I personally think that the intercept should be shifted up and that there are concavity issues to deal with, but agree that the general point coincides with the message presented by Biggie, repeated by Puff Combs.

Mortgage Relief?

I hear that part of the economic recovery plan is to help out people who are having a hard time making their mortgages. Maybe I can look into that and reduce my interest rate or something. If you know how to do it, drop me a comment pointing me in the right direction.

Tri to Save the Economy

Right now, I hear a lot of talk about negative things for the economy. The bank bailout can cause inflation and produce the wrong incentives for businesses. People are losing confidence in the economy and therefore are going to stop spending so much, etc. I now modestly propose a fix that would (at least partially) revive the economy.

If everyone picked up triathlon as a hobby, they'd be forced to spend some money. A lot of equipment for triathlon is made in the USA, which helps GDP. Not only is the equipment domestically produced, but also the money spent on races is in turn used to purchase T-shirts, law enforcement, trophies, beer, and food. There's a good Keynesian multiplier effect in this process. Currently, people usually drive an hour or 3 to get to a race and stay in a hotel room, which is good for the city in which the race is held. However, if everyone adopted the sport, then the density of demand for races would increase and each town could have its own race, reducing the amount of fuel consumed in order to get to a race. Speaking of fuel consumption, more people would be commuting on bikes to fit training into their busy schedules. This would produce a lower wear on the road system and we wouldn't have to spend nearly as many resources repairing roads. Road work is costly for a few reasons: 1. it slows drivers down when it's happening. 2. it uses up scarce resources. 3. it doesn't add anything that wasn't there before (like building a new road would do).

Another effect of widespread adoption of triathlon is that people would be healthier on average and they would require less health care. Health effects can be realized in a short amount of time. There's a kid on the FSU team who lost 10% body fat over the summer. Also, triathletes are less likely to smoke than the general population. Between smoking less and driving less, they are imposing fewer negative externalities on the rest of the economy.

It's better than eating your children.

Pick #96

Spoon - "Everything Hits at Once" from Girls Can Tell

With a lead-off track like this, you just want to keep listening to the whole album.

Hummingbird Pic

I finally managed to get this little fella on camera!