“Life’s not always fair” seems to be particularly true when applied to the season finale of CBS’s Survivor Micronesia.
I have to admit that I was a little bit shocked by the winner of last night’s show. Yes, the show is a game of survival, but in the end I would expect the person who played the cleanest game would get the jury members’ votes. It seemed so obvious to me that Amanda should have garnered the majority of the votes. To see a conniving little flirt like Parvati Shallow win was surprising, to say the least. (appropriate last name, by the way) Obviously, all four women on the jury and Jason voted for her. I guess when I think about it, it shouldn’t be all that surprising. It seemed like most of the women who made it into the final ten were manipulative and scheming and would do anything to get ahead in the game. With that mindset, Parvati would be their champion. On the other hand, it seemed like most of the guys were a little more honest and forthright in their actions. It cost them dearly in the end. Did I totally read this season wrong?
Yes, the show’s theme is outwit, outlast and outplay. Both ladies certainly did that and played to their strengths. However, I always thought that people would do the right thing and make their final choice based on the most honest and decent player. Sometimes, all I can do is lower my head and shake it in disbelief. Obviously, I don’t know people all that well!
If you’re feeling pretty good right now and relatively pain-free, say a little prayer of thanks.
This has been a terrible week. I threw my back out sometime Monday and it went into full spasm-mode Tuesday morning. I can barely move around right now. If I make the slightest move in the wrong direction, it’s like a knife being stuck in my left side. I went to the Chiropractor on both Tuesday and Wednesday but it didn’t help a whole lot. Usually, with one visit I can get pretty quick relief. Not this time.
The simplest things are a real chore. To walk upstairs, I have to get both feet on each step before moving to the next. For the first three days, I couldn’t even put on my clothes. My wife had to dress me. I can’t bend over to get to the bottom drawer so I have to slowly kneel down, get the clothes and hope that when I push myself up, I don’t move the wrong way. Here’s something silly – try wiping your butt with your opposite hand when you can’t twist your body normally. Kind of funny, but harder to do than you think. It’s hard to cough – you have to make little shallow wheezes to keep from going into spasm. Don’t even try sneezing. Ouch!
Other than throwing out my back every now and then, I’m a pretty healthy individual. No medical problems and I’m taking no medication of any sort. I’ll tell you one thing, though. I’m going to be one happy camper when I can start walking around normally again. Lying down and sitting around for a week is driving me crazy.
Be thankful when you wake up in the morning in a relatively pain-free state. I sure miss it.
A little boy is playing with his new football and a little girl asks if she can play. He tells her, “No. These are for boys.”
The little girl runs into the house and tells her mother. The next day the girl sticks her tongue out at the boy and waves her new football in his face. The little boy angrily points to his boy’s bike and says, “Oh yeah? Well, only boys can get these!”
But the next day, the little girl has the same bike. The little boy gets furious, pulls down his pants, points to his package, and says, “Look, only boys have these and your mom can’t buy you one!”
The next day he walks by and the little girl promptly pulls up her dress, points to her bits, and proclaims, “My mother tells me that as long as I have one of these, I can have as many of those as I want.”
3 Doors Down is an American rock band from Mississippi that began in 1994. Their first album, The Better Life, came out in 2000. The band’s second studio album, Away from the Sun, was released in 2002. I think this is one of the better rock albums that has come out in the past six years. If you get only one of their albums, this would be my recommendation. This album had multiple hits including Here Without You (my personal favorite), When I’m Gone, The Road I’m On and Away from the Sun. They will have a new album coming out on May 20th and a couple of the songs are already out there for listening/viewing. The music video for one of these upcoming tracks, Citizen/Soldier, is featured on the National Guard Recruiting Site here. This is an excellent song, too.
To watch the music video for the song, Here Without You, click here.
For more information on the group, 3 Doors Down, click here.
Here Without You – Lyrics
A hundred days have made me older
Since the last time that I saw your pretty face
A thousand lies have made me colder
And I don’t think I can look at this the same
But all the miles that separate
Disappear now when I’m dreaming of your face
I’m here without you baby
But you’re still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby
And I dream about you all the time
I’m here without you baby
But you’re still with me in my dreams
And tonight it’s only you and me
The miles just keep rollin’
As the people leave their way to say hello
I’ve heard this life is overrated
But I hope that it gets better as we go
I’m here without you baby
But you’re still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby
And I dream about you all the time
I’m here without you baby
But you’re still with me in my dreams
And tonight girl it’s only you and me
Everything I know, and anywhere I go
It gets hard but it wont’ take away my love
And when the last one falls
When it’s all said and done
It gets hard but it won’t take away my love
I’m here without you baby
But you’re still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby
And I dream about you all the time
I’m here without you baby
But you’re still with me in my dreams
And tonight girl it’s only you and me
If you’re serious about exercising and you want to track your progress, there are several electronic devices out on the market to help you. I looked at several models myself before settling on the Garmin Forerunner 305.
The Forerunner 305 is a wristwatch GPS. In addition to providing all the standard GPS functions, it also includes a heart rate monitor. The device itself isn’t much bigger than a regular full-size watch. The LCD screen is surprisingly readable for its size and has a backlight you can turn on for low-light conditions. The main functions for starting/stopping the time and starting a new lap are easily done with the two buttons on the face of the unit. Switching between screens and setting up the various options is also pretty straightforward. There are built-in options for setting the device for a run or biking exercise as well as an option for “other” types of exercises you might be trying to track. You can monitor your total time, split times, pace, distance traveled, etc. You can also customize the screens to put the data on them that you want to monitor and switch between three different screens at-a-time. It takes about 1-2 minutes from the time you turn the unit on until it acquires the GPS satellites. The device is very accurate. I do a lot of running on a recreational trail that is about 8-10 feet wide. When you look at the plot on the electronic map after a run, you can clearly see the two tracks where you ran the outgoing and return portions of your run. There are many features on this device that I haven’t even used yet. For example, you can set it up to be a virtual partner so that you can try to run and maintain a predefined pace and distance.
The unit comes with software that will run on either a PC or Mac. It includes a USB cable to connect the device to the computer. The software installation was simple and required no effort at all to perform. The PC version of the program has more features and includes the ability to upload your runs/exercises to Google Earth. Both versions allow you to monitor all aspects of your exercise including time, pace, distance, heart rate, calories burned, altitude, etc. I’ve found the device to be very useful for tracking my overall health and improvements in my running/biking times. I can see over the past year that I’ve used it that my heart rate has decreased for the same level of effort in a particular exercise.
I heartily recommend this device. I’ve had it for over a year now and haven’t had any problems with it. There is also a lower cost model called the Forerunner 205 that is the same as the 305 except that there is no heart rate monitor. A new model just came out called the Forerunner 405 that has a wireless feature to download your data.
Today starts a new feature on my blog – Photographs. I’m going to start posting pictures that I find interesting in some manner or form. They may be nature shots, humorous scenes, facial expressions, current events or other items of interest.
I’ve always admired people who can see and frame a moment in time that many of us miss. Whether it’s a beautiful scenic panorama or a person’s facial expression, they manage to capture that special snapshot at just the right time. I can take a picture of essentially the exact same scene, but when I look at the final outcome, it pales in comparison to someone who has the talent to see the right way to frame it. Knowing the correct camera angle, lighting, exposure, positioning of the subject, etc., are things I will probably never get very good at. I suppose if I took a class or two or read a few books, I could improve my pictures. Until then, I’ll be using photographs from others.
I think that I’ve always had a special attraction to pictures along the ocean or other waterfront. Therefore, to start this feature out right, it only seems fitting that my first picture is a seascape shot. The picture above was taken at Turimetta Beach along the Eastern coast of Australia. It’s located about 12 miles northeast of Sydney. The photographer’s name is Jeff Grant who was kind enough to let me use one of his photographs. I was really drawn to the different textures of this shot from the coarse looking sand in the forefront to the sharp details of the rock formations. The rather muted overall coloring just gives this picture a soothing and overall pleasing balance.
If you’d like to see a higher resolution image of this photo, click here.
To see a gallery of Jeff Grant’s many excellent photographs, click here.
I was driving to my father-in-law’s home the other day and passed by the roadway sign you see on the left. I thought nothing of it. If you’re from Michigan, this sign makes perfect sense. If you’re from any other state, you’re probably going to do a double take – What the heck was that? I thought South and North were the opposite of each other!
For the uninitiated, this sign is telling you that a “Michigan Left Turn” is coming up. At this intersection, you can’t make a normal left turn by getting in the left lane and turning left. You have to get in the right lane, turn right, move over to the far-left lane and then make a u-turn about 100-200 yards up the road. Easy, right? If you’re from Michigan, you don’t give this a second thought. It becomes part of your DNA. Not being from Michigan, this took me a little while to get used to.
The Michigan Left Turn was started in 1960 by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). The first implementation was done in the Detroit area at the intersection of Eight Mile Road and Livernois Avenue. The rationale behind it was to improve traffic flow at large intersections by eliminating left turns and the backups that can happen at busy times.
Personally, I think they’ve gone overboard on using these types of intersections. I can see their value at heavily used intersections. From both a safety and traffic flow standpoint, they make sense. However, it seems like they’re starting to use them at almost every intersection that has any kind of traffic at all. I’m no traffic engineer but I would wager that for 80% of the day, their benefit is negligible. One thing I’d like to see them do is to make the normal left turn available after the standard rush hour times. This would still give the safety and traffic flow benefit during the busy times, but speed up left turns the rest of the day. With gas prices going through the roof, this would also have the benefit of getting traffic through the intersection faster by totally eliminating the extra time and distance of the longer Michigan Left Turn.
For more history on the Michigan Left Turn, click here.
For additional informational from Wikipedia, click here.
Two hillbillies walk into a restaurant. After ordering their cornbread and beans, they talk about the latest addition to their junkyard business.
Suddenly, a woman at a nearby table, who is eating a sandwich, begins to cough. After a minute or so, it becomes apparent that she is in real distress.
One of the hillbillies looks at her and says “Kin ya swallar?” The woman shakes her head no.
“Kin ya breathe?” The woman begins to turn blue and shakes her head no.
The hillbilly walks over to the woman, lifts up the back of her dress, yanks down her drawers and quickly gives her right butt cheek a lick with his tongue.
The woman is so shocked that she has a violent spasm and the obstruction flies out of her mouth. As she begins to breathe again, the hillbilly walks slowly back to the bar.
His partner says, “Ya know, I’d heerd of dat dere ‘Hind Lick Maneuver’, but I ain’t never seed nobody do it.”
The Game is one of my favorite suspense/thriller movies. What do you give a man who seemingly has everything? Michael Douglas is a very successful and wealthy investment banker. However, other than the prestige of his job and his wealth, he has little else – no life outside of his investment world and no family to share it with. For his 48th birthday, his brother, Conrad (played by Sean Penn) buys him a ticket to “The Game”, unusual entertainment provided by a company called Consumer Recreation Services (CRS). What follows is an exciting thriller with many twists and turns along the way. The beginning of the movie starts a little slow for me but is probably needed to fully develop the character and his ultimate changes as the story unfolds. The director keeps you guessing throughout much of the movie and the ending is somewhat surprising, to say the least.
I highly recommend this movie if you enjoy suspense with a surprise ending.
Main characters: Michael Douglas, Sean Penn and Deborah Unger
Year released: 1997
For more information on the movie, click here. Be forewarned, though. If you don’t want the surprise ending revealed, don’t go to this website until after you’ve seen the movie.
After almost 6 months (10/30/07 was my last ride), I finally made my first bike outing of the year. Hooray! I did a 41-mile ride through what was mostly a farming community. I could definitely smell the fertilizer in the air! Spring in Michigan has finally arrived. My time was actually 35 seconds faster than my ride of six months earlier. However, as I write this, I can tell you that my butt is feeling the pain. I probably should have done a little shorter ride or gone at a more leisurely pace. The mind was definitely willing to maintain the pace but the body apparently was not.
I’ve always found bike riding and running to be therapeutic. It gives me a chance to clear my mind and sort things out. Many people are familiar with the bible verse from John 8:32, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Not to disparage the bible in any way, but for me, the phrase, “If you choose to exercise, exercising will set you free.” is very apropos. There’s something about getting the old juices flowing in your system that gives you a clearer picture on life. I suppose from a medical standpoint, your increased metabolic rate pumps more epinephrine (adrenaline) into your system to give you that “athletic high.” Whatever it is, I always feel better about things after I’m done. I may start off the day in a less than stellar mood, but after that run or bike ride, I’m more settled and in a better frame-of-mind to handle what the rest of the day has in store for me.
Getting started in an exercise routine is always an initial struggle. The first few sessions can be a wake up call for your body and may make you feel pretty sore. Just don’t overdue the initial phase. Take it nice and easy. At first you might not feel like there’s any improvement at all. I think that’s a very natural reaction. Things take time and you will gradually begin to feel better. The best thing you can do is to find a partner so you can help and encourage each other through this phase. Hang in there and eventually your determination will pay off.
Legal disclaimer: Every individual is different so before beginning any type of physical conditioning program, you should consult a competent medical professional. Duh!
