Facebook yin/yang….do I really want to reconnect?

In the past month I joined facebook. I don’t regret it but it has reopened some period of my life; that has lead to some rather mixed feelings on my part.

Let me be clear on what I like about facebook: I like connecting with those that are currently a part of my life. For example, I find myself chatting more with my sister than I have before, and I really like that! I also have kept up a little better with those that I’ve met from the walking community (both racewalkers and distance walkers); I like that also.

I’ve also chatted a bit with my current political and professional friends as well as those who I know from another current area of my life; that is good too.

But in my personal information, I’ve shared my background and I’ve ended up meeting with some of my old Naval Academy classmates. That has been mixed bag for me, emotionally speaking.

The Naval Academy
At the outset, let me make it clear that I have a positive opinion about the place; it presents a wonderful opportunity for the right kind of person. Yes, the military training makes for a rough first year. But the idea is to prepare you “mentally, morally and physically” to become an officer in the Naval Service (e. g., Navy or Marine Corps) so it is supposed to be hard.

But the truth of the matter is that the Academy experience wasn’t a pleasant one for me; in fact I’ve spend much of my post Navy experience trying to forget that I ever went there. That isn’t a put down of the Academy but rather a frank admission that I never fit in there.

I spent most of my 4 years there being a social outcast; I didn’t fit in so I tried to, and my attempt simply failed. It just wasn’t “me”; “me” was your basic academic nerd who actually wanted to learn the mathematics, science and all that.

Part of the unpleasantness is that I was a bit overwhelmed when I showed up; it seemed as if I were the dumbest and most inept one there. I struggled mightily with the military stuff; drill (marching) confused me; I could never look good in my uniform (I am sort of Oscar-ish…Oscar from The Odd Couple) and I simply don’t think well on my feet. Being neat has always been tough for me and I suck with names; my first year I caught a ton of flack from the upper class.

I got a ton of demerits and spent a good deal of my Saturday nights marching them off.

Consequently my freshman grades were terrible by my standards (2.5-2.7) and that was the last time I had below 3.0 semester grades.

Though I mostly avoided demerits as an upperclassman, (one notable exception for wearing the wrong uniform) and my grades improved, I still didn’t fit in socially. I was one of the social outcasts.

Sure, I did make a few friends (e.g., from the Judo team) but I was always a bit off of the mainstream. And politically, I didn’t fit in at all. In the 1980 election, almost everyone there LOVED Ronald Reagan ( I thought that he was an idiot).

Don’t get me wrong; I derived some real benefits from my time there. I got a decent education; one that was broader than I might have otherwise obtained. I learned some discipline that enabled me to make it through my Ph. D. program. I had a decent amount of coursework…though the 4 year delay from my undergraduate days to the start of my Ph. D. program just about killed me. Not knowing the definition of “normal subgroup” when one enters a Ph. D. level course in algebra is a bad place to be; in fact I had forgotten most every bit of detailed technical knowledge that I had learned.

But I digress.

I didn’t start to fit in with people until I started my graduate school in mathematics; there I finally felt I was in with “like minded” people.

So, the bottom line is that reconnecting with classmates from my Annapolis days reminds me of a period of my life that I’d rather forget for good.

On the other hand, I did meet some people that I liked and have fond memories of, and I suppose that it is a good thing to occasionally listen to those who think differently than I do.

CIDA 5K Race: Setting a Low Bar For 2009

It was cold (33 F, just above freezing) and very windy but I showed up to race anyway. It was one of those cold, gray mornings but at least we were spared the rain that was forecast!

I walked .5 miles and jogged 1.5 to try to get ready to go; I recognized a few people.

I started reasonably far back and was off; we ran into a wind and up a shallow incline. I decided to run along side Pat O’Bryan as I wanted to maintain the type of pace that she normally does; eventually I passed her and she remarked that I was good to draft off of.

I was to see her and Terry Whitehead later.

Nevertheless I pushed up the small hill and hit mile 1 in 8:02; not that stellar. I felt ok and my stomach was holding out ok. Mostly I suffered from a lack of running that fast; this was my fastest mile since December 2008. I pushed on and knew that it only a matter of 3-4 minutes before we would turn around and have the wind at our backs.

I aimed at the pack ahead of me and managed to catch some; just “aim for the cutest pantylines and spandex someone and try to hold on” I thought.

Finally we turned onto the trail and I resolved to catch someone; I didn’t.

Still mile 2 came at 15:58 but I was all but out of gas. Still I managed to hold my position until about .5 miles to go when a couple of young teens as well as Pat and Terry caught me. I could see the clock tick to 24 and I knew that I was going to be under 25, hence I let up a little. I just had no desire to confront the pain much less break through it.

My final time was 24:41; 19 seconds slower than my race in December. But I did lose 6 pounds this week due to my lower intestinal troubles; that couldn’t have helped my performance.

And what the heck: I set a rather low bar for the rest of the year; it should be easy to improve upon this performance.

On the bright side, I did “win” a 20 dollar gift certificate to One World as a door prize.

Update: place was 51 out of 224:

Note: I was supposed to be running.

I am Foolish…(28 March 2009)

I’ve signed up for a local 5K which is maybe a 5-6 minute drive away from my house. If it weren’t for the threat of heavy rain, I’d just jog the 2.5 miles there as a warm up (as it is downhill) and jog back after the race.

But this race does serve a nice post race breakfast so I’ll probably just drive down there.

The race itself could be rather ugly, in terms of result. But hey, there is nothing like setting the bar very, very, very low for the rest of the year.

Boxing:

(LA Times)

I watched the Sam Peter vs. Eddie Chambers fight last night. This blog had a good preview of the fight.

The fight itself, while competitive, wasn’t a whirlwind of action. Chambers basically played defense for most of the night, taking care to not let Peter land his trademark big thudding shots. Then at select spots, Chambers would come in and land a stinging jab/right hand combination with an occasional body shot, and then move away. Chambers landed more shots than Peter in every single round, but he did so in spots; evidently he played it safe and never tried to get Peter in serious trouble.

I had scored the fight 97-93 for Chambers as did ESPN’s Teddy Atlas; the other scores were 99-91, 96-94, and 95-95. Atlas wondered about the scoring but I understood; this was a difficult fight to score as, while Chambers landed more punches, neither fighter had the other in trouble at any time and on rare occasion, Peter at least backed Chambers up once in a while.

Peter did himself no favors by coming in at 265 pounds (he started his pro career at 229) and Chambers came in about 10-15 pounds heavier than he had been in some previous fights. You can see the Fight News account here.

In all, though this fight was not the most exciting fight that I’ve seen, I’d say that Chambers fought a wise fight and came away with an important win. He would have had to take more risks had Peter showed up in “fighting trim”.

LA Times story here.

Politics

President Obama’s weekly address:

Does Satan Exist? Do you want to kill some of your brain cells (while not taking up boxing?)

Actually, the second speaker, while still a bit woo-ish, wasn’t that bad.

Why is there “evil”? Simple: it is called the second law of Thermodynamics. Humans see order as good and things tend toward disorder (bad) when left on their own. Besides, think of animal behavior. Many things in nature seem “evil” to us (e. g. lions killing cubs from another father so as to bring the mother into heat), animals preying on others with no mercy. “Evil” is a human construct (and a useful one, IMHO).

A couple of interesting tidbits

Note: my stomach was ok today with three bland meals.

Sex crimes The Legal Satyricon provides an example of the following:

Last Friday, I wrote about Indiana resident, Michelle Owen, who tried to get her ex boyfriend arrested for downloading child porn onto her computer. However, when the cops searched her hard drive, all they found was a video of her engaged in bestiality with her dog.

Something similar has happened in Florida.

Deputies say Caroline Willette videotaped herself having sex with two dogs and watching child pornography with a friend.

Oooookkkkkaaaaayyyyy…….

Political Humor: (via Edge of the American West)

A genuine Republican graph (which appeared in their joke of a budget proposal) is being widely ridiculed.