This blog kinda looks like poopoo hahaha
Wait A Second!
According to CBS News, “Now that the debt limit fight is effectively over, Mr. Obama and congressional Democrats say they will pivot to a focus on jobs and the economy, which they say should be Congress’ top priority.”
Remind me again what our top priority was before the debt ceiling? (Don’t say international affairs.. don’t say international affairs.. )
On Education and Equality
I was at work today, and a friend of mine was telling me that she was a Graduate Student at Old Dominion University and asked me what the fuck I was doing. From there it went on to a moot discussion on age difference and the fact that short of being a child prodigy, there’s really no way that I could be a graduate student right now.
Anyways, somewhere along the conversation we started comparing schools and it got to the point where people began to make the point that all colleges are the same no matter where you go. The professors are all the same, the education is the same. WRONG!
Don’t get me wrong. I think Community Colleges are great institutions and vital resources for those seeking higher education on a budget. You don’t have to go to a four year institution to get a good education. That being said, if you go to a community college you can NOT put that shit on the same level as if you were going to Harvard. Personally, I’m not going to say that JMU is as good as going to Stanford 0r any other place. In some ways some of your experiences at a school like JMU or ODU or TCC may be as good if not better than going to Stanford or Berkeley or Brown, but you can’t really claim that overall its a better school. The staff, the incoming money the university gets, and the amount of collective experience, among other things put other schools in their place in the hierarchy.
The professors aren’t the same either. To put it short, wouldn’t you rather learn physics from Stephen Hawking than anyone else with a PHD? Wouldn’t you like to learn about History from Jared Diamond himself then have another professor spout out his quotations?
There are many valid reasons why Ivy League schools are hard to get in to and for that reason if you get in to it you should have a sense of pride. Not to say you shouldn’t have pride in getting in to ODU, but let’s be real, if you had the choice, ideally you’d pick Harvard everytime. Not all schools are created equal.
Data Log
Treadmill – Rainy Day – Day 1 by noftzwa at Garmin Connect – Details.
So I just bought a Garmin 405CX GPS watch and was tinkering with it today while I was running on the treadmill. I’m pretty bummed that it was a crummy day outside tonight and I didn’t want to get rained out the first day I use my new watch, so I decided to figure out what kind of indoor capabilities my watch had.
With my experience of the watch as it stands, the only measurements I learned that it can take indoors without a footpod is keep time and measure my heart rate. Turns out that that is all that I needed to do what I wanted to do anyways, as it still was able to calculate calorie consumption based on heart rate.
My watch allows me to set predetermined workouts based on whatever I want, whether it be time, distance, pace, or heart rate. I did a heart-rate based workout as you’ll be able to tell on my data sheets. I doubt this will have any interest in anyone other than me, but I think its pretty cool software and I’ll probably use it more and more as I begin to run more frequently again.
Data fields will fill in more completely when I actually begin to use my watch outside and it computes distances and pace.
SONG TO RUN TO:
Media Ethics
I found out just now that ABC News had paid the Casey Anthony family $200,000 in 2008 for exclusive rights to photos and videos of Caylee Anthony.
Fast forward to July 8th, 2011, where Casey Anthony’s defense team is reporting to only have spent $275,000 on defense.
Get mad at the verdict all you want, but if you are mad at the Judicial system for being flawed, you might want to also be mad at the system that allows for the media to have such a huge impact on not only the public’s perception of an individual, but on the actual trial itself.
Don’t Read This If You Don’t Care About Politics (Or Easily Enraged By Differing Opinion)
First off, I’m not going to pretend that I know everything about anything, ESPECIALLY in the realm of politics and media-based coverage of it. I’m not a political science major, and I respect anyone’s opinion that will differ greatly than the one that I’m about to share- not that my opinion is overly subversive or anything, at least I hope not. I’m not here to start any political fires.
Let me start off with my very limited take on the Casey Anthony trial. From what I’ve read online, Casey Anthony was the mother of a little girl, Caylee Anthony, who went missing sometime back in 2008. From reports, it seems that it took Casey Anthony a little over a month before she notified the police and filed a missing persons report. Okay, so Casey Anthony is definitely not a leading contender for mother of the year, just to be clear. Caylee Anthony is missing for almost six months until her skeletal remains are found by a meter reader. I dunno why they specified the man’s job, unless he found them next to a meter, I never understood the significance.
As we all know there are several things that make Casey Anthony seem very guilty. The vile smell in her trunk of supposedly rotting matter and chloroform, the fact that she didn’t report Caylee missing for about a month, her complete lack of carelessness within that month i.e. the tattoo, the internet searches, and the overwhelming amount of lying that she did. I’m sure there’s more, but the collection of evidence is beyond my point.
What I’m really getting at is that many of my friends, family, and acquaintances have all, after watching the Casey Anthony trial, said said something to the effect of the American Legal System being flawed, how they’re utterly disappointed in the verdict, that somebody needs to murder Casey, etc. While I agree that our American Legal system is somewhat flawed, I’ll also contend that it is one of the best possible legal systems that we could possibly have as well. To acknowledge the statement of someone imposing vigilante justice on Casey Anthony.. well, let’s hope that nobody does. There’s not much morality in that either.
I believe that the United States Judicial System is one of the best in the world mainly because of the limitations we pose on justice. DESPITE what most modern media outlets will have you believe, in the United States a person suspected of a crime is INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY. But not only is a person innocent until proven guilty, but they have to be proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt. This is something we all learned very early on in schools in one of our first classes in government, yet I still believe that this tenant is somehow looked over quite often by people, especially opinion-based media.
The tenant is what it is for the following ethical dilemma. Would you rather have a dozen criminals set free so that one innocent person is not convicted for a crime they did not commit? Or the other way around? While it seems like a gross injustice to let guilty people go free, I find it more horrifying that we’d allow innocent people to be sent to jail based on insubstantial evidence and a collective feeling that that person may have done something wrong.
So Casey Anthony, despite overwhelmingly bad press and her complete inability to tell a single ounce of truth, gets acquitted of murder, manslaughter, and child neglect, citing not enough evidence for any of them. Let me restate that by no means do I believe that there is a snowball’s chance in hell that Anthony will ever win Mother of the Year, but if the jury can go home with the firm belief that there simply just wasn’t enough evidence to convict her of such a heinous crime, then so be it. I do not see it as neither a win nor a loss for the American Justice System, just something that is what it is. A protection of that most basic tenant of American Justice.
Who Says Women’s Soccer Is Boring?!?
I did not watch the 1999 Women’s World Cup, which was the most watched women’s soccer game in history. I’ve heard the story of greatness, watched highlights of the game, and read up on the controversy of Brandi Chastaine taking her jersey off in celebration. However, I did watch this morning’s Women’s World Cup Quarterfinal game between the USA and Brazil, and if I could describe it in any way, I would possibly call it the greatest game I’ve ever seen. Now, I didn’t witness the Miracle on Ice, where the US Olympic Men’s Hockey Team defeated the Soviet Union’s team of professionals in the 1980 Winter Olympics, and I know that there are far more impressively athletic games that could also merit the greatest game ever, acknowledging the 2004 ALCS between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees . I’ve heard of stories of greatness in sports, but usually I never get to watch them. I saw the 2004 ALCS and I do believe that it was magical in its own right, but the impending doom that comes with a clock ticking down to the last minute, as well as the implications involved with international play is what made this morning’s game one of the most exciting and exhilarating games I’ve ever watched, for several reasons:
The Referees Were Awful/ We Were Playing Down A Woman for 55 Minutes – In all fairness, there were some pretty bad calls that they made against Brazil as well, but none of the were as damaging to the team’s psyche as the ejection of Rachel Buehler or the no-call of offsides that resulted in Brazilian player Marta’s second goal. From the red card on, you couldn’t help but feel that all hope was lost for everyone except the US Women Players themselves. In this quarterfinal game, the US Women were not only playing against the Brazilians, but the referees as well! And still the women held their own and played better than they did with eleven on the field.
International Implications - Not that Brazil and the United States are political rivals by any means, but there’s just something about international tournaments that add so much more tension to the games themselves. It’s as if the success of each nation’s athletes are indication’s of their country’s strength.
Late Game Point’s Are The Most Glorious Way To Win… - There is not a single soul on this Earth except the women that were playing that could’ve anticipated Abby Wambach scoring in the second-to-last with a header off of a beautiful cross by Megan Rapinoe. Everyone else felt helpless and angry at the Brazilians and the Referees for their seeming unfairness, and yet it still came to be that the United States would win the game.
Second Only to PK Shootout (Or any other sports equivalent) – call it unfair, call it counter to the actual way the game is played for the first 12o minutes up to that point, but putting the pressure on five players and their keeper to win a game for them based on Penalty Kicks culminates in the must gut-wrenching, nerve-wracking moment of any sport. Penalty Kicks reduces soccer’s physical aspect to the most minimal as possible and cranks up the mental aspect up to 11! To be the last kicker to win the game in an international game puts a weight of pressure on his/her shoulders that not many of us will ever experience or even understand.
There are many more reasons why this game is in my mind one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen, but in the end it all comes down to the feeling of helplessness you get when you begin to sense that nothing is going your way, followed my the miraculous moment of glory when against all odds, one thing goes your way, and it makes all the difference. People can argue that Women’s Soccer is not as physical as Men’s Soccer, but to say that the USA – Brazil game was not as entertaining as a Men’s Game would be stupid and untrue.
Go USA! Win it all!
P.S. – Hope Solo, Abby Wambach, and Megan Rapinoe are super hott!!! Just saying.
Why Are The Most Wise of Teeth the Ones That Get Removed?
Hello again, world.
Since I have last wrote to you, I have recovered from my quad/knee injury and made an attempt at running 5 miles everyday. There have been some recent snags in my routine as of late though, due mainly in part to an increase in me working at my summer job, as well as some minor soreness and general tiredness that has developed lately. Still I am motivated to continue to exercise on a daily basis, hopefully after my recent surgery heals.
Recent surgery? What recent surgery, Will?
Well if you’ve kept up with my recent comments on Facebook, which I assume you have considering I link this blog only by way of Facebook, then you may have noticed that I commented that I had gotten my wisdom teeth removed. While I myself don’t think of it as any type of serious ‘surgery’, that word was thrown around a lot by the doctors, I assume due to the need of an anesthesiologist to put me to sleep during the procedure. Being asleep under anesthesia, by the way, is the BEST way to get your wisdom teeth removed, because one moment you’re sitting in the chair skeptical of the IV fluid and the shot, and the next moment the Assistant is waking you up telling you its over. It immediately removes all fear or worry about the operation. Well, that and the dosage of Valium they gave me to take an hour before my appointment.
So insofar as what my experience with getting my wisdom teeth removed compared to everyone elses’s, I believe that I have had the least painful experience than anyone I know. Despite the fact that all I’ve been able to consume over the past two days are smoothies and frosties- and swallowing whole strands of pasta and soft crab- I’ve noticed only one bout of intense pain, which only occurred immediately after the numbness wore off. I’ve not had to take any of the Oxycodone that was prescribed to me by the surgeon to deal with the pain mainly because there just isn’t any. I just take a precautionary Ibuprofen as well as the Penicillin (antibiotic) and Dexamethasone (corticosteroid) that was prescribed to me to take for just the weekend. In fact, my pain level was so low that the day of my surgery, where they tell you that you will probably spend most of your time in bed afterwards, I spent chilling at my friend Ari’s house watching The Da Vinci’s Code and Troy. Still, I intend on taking the weekend off from any rigorous activity (working out, running, playing soccer, etc) to avoid any accidental strain on my mouth for whatever reason and prevent my stitches from tearing. Overall the experience of getting my wisdom teeth taken out was a comparably pleasant one.
I also would like to take the time to let you all know that my summer league soccer team, the VA Squires, were the Division II Champions of League-Play in the Southside Men’s League! We are seeded number 1 for the tournament, and hopefully I’ll be able to update you later that we’ll be the champions of that too! We’re also currently in another tournament called the SML cup, but it’s very unlikely that we’ll win that considering that it pits Division II teams against Division I and Premier Division teams. While I think my team is good enough to compete with Division I teams, I do not think that we’ll be able to compete against premier teams, with kids/adults that have or do play actual college soccer on their roster. Still I have that tournament, as well as the Neptune Tournament (Aug 6-7th) to look forward too, so plenty more soccer is on the horizon for me! I’ll keep you posted.
In other news! I finally bought what I wanted to get all summer! I saved up enough money from my summer job to buy a Garmin 4o5cx GPS enabled sports watch with heart rate monitor! This is probably one of the coolest/nerdiest/useful/unnecessary things I will buy this summer, but it’s definitely something I really wanted to get.
Basically what this is is a sports watch that uses GPS technology to track how far you can run. Combined with its ability to tell time, it also can be used to tell you the pace at which you are running. Further combined with the heart rate monitor, it can also tell you exactly how much effort you are exerting on yourself, as well as more accurately calculate calorie computation. Its a completely nerdy piece of technology, and probably not even really necessary at the current level I run at (I assume it’s for people who actually look to compete in races) but I think that it will be a solid tool for me in terms of heart rate monitoring and calorie computation. I bought it cheaper than I thought i could through Amazon and being a student I even got free one-day shipping, so I really look forward to being able to update on you on my experience with this piece of technology.
Speaking of technology, I REALLY WANT AN IPAD! I even had enough money to buy a 16gb Ipad wifi+3g before today, but I spent a couple bills on my sports watch. I don’t know if I should even buy an iPad right now anyways, for the following reasons/worries:
1) NEW VERSIONS: A new version of the iPad, called the iPad HD, is rumored to be released in the fall. It is unconfirmed whether or not this is the truth, but recent patents that apple purchased for a Higher Definition screen backs up the possibility of this occurring. There is also the idea that Apple will release the iPad 3 in 2012, so saving my money for that would probably be a better idea as well, given that by that time it may also come standard with retina display (which will make actually reading books for any decent length of time more tolerable) as well as a 4g antenna (should I decide to go the cellular route).
2) THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS THAT TABLETS ARE UNNECESSARY: This may come as a shocking truth to some, but tablet computers don’t really do things that you can’t do on a laptop or smartphone, and will not in the short-term replace any of them. Computing power in laptops are greater than tablets, and portability in smartphones beat out tablets as well. There are certain conveniences to having a tablet, but for the most part there’s very few things that you NEED to do on a tablet.
3) I REALLY WANT A TABLET, BUT I REALLY KINDA WANT SOMETHING OTHER THAN AN iPAD: That seems kinda sacrilegious to some people, and maybe hypocritical to others because I do in fact LOVE my Macbook Pro, but after having a small taste of what iOS does on an iPod touch (a very small taste, to be sure) I still am left wanting something else that I was hoping maybe the Android Honeycomb or HP’s WebOS could provide. Looking at the current reviews, the Motorola Xoom (Android), Galaxy 10.1 Tablet (Android) , and HP Touchpad (WebOS) all look to be competitors for the iPad, but there’s always something in the software that keeps it from succeeding iOS. Lack of apps, slow start-up, lagging, etc. I’ll probably end up waiting it out a few more months- or whenever I get the itch to spend- before I come to a final decision, but I’m really hoping that a non-Apple based product comes out with something that really makes a splash against the Apple monopoly.
4) I DON’T HAVE A STEADY ENOUGH INCOME TO AFFORD 3G, BUT WITHOUT IT I THINK TABLETS ARE LESS APPEALING: True, Verizon and AT&T don’t force you into long contracts with their data plans, and true most of the time I would use a tablet would be during school, where the entire campus is flooded with Wi-Fi connection, but there’s just something about being able to use it whenever I want to is instantly appealing. But still, is an additional $130 worth even the option of having 3g… maybe?
Finally, now that you all know that I’ve been spending a bit of my summer stressing over what/if I should buy with my summer job money (as I have no current financial obligation until after college), I thought I’d let you all in on the other things that have recently given me the itch to spend:
New Bicycle – I plan on buying a parking pass for college again, but I do think that in the nice weather conditions I would like the option to bike to school again. After running five miles consistently this summer, the length from my apartment to campus is now somewhat less daunting. The traffic still sucks, but sidewalks are good enough to bike on. Plus having a new bicycle will give me reason to start training for duathalon’s, and maybe even triathalon’s if i ever see fit to develop my swimming technique.
Vinyl Records
Smartphone – wishful thinking hear, I do not have $30 a month to afford Verizon’s data plans.
Noise Cancelling Headphones – Cuz hell they may be kinda bulky, but they throw down some punch and some bass that I didn’t think headphones could throw!
eReader (Kindle or Nook): Cause e-ink is still better and easier on the eyes than reading from a computer screen (until Apple gives a retina display to their iPads, which is a huge step in the right direction)
A Second Pair of Running Shoes (Non-Nike): Because I read that it’s good to alternate days on running shows so that each different shoe make work out your muscles differently. Sidenote: I don’t buy too much into the minimal/barefoot shoe craze right now. I could maybe see myself in minimal shoes like the Nike Frees or New Balance Minumus, but don’t count on me to ever be running in Vibram five-fingers…no way!
Anyways that’s it for now, I hope you enjoyed this lengthy post! As a reward:
VIDEO OF THE DAY:
SONG OF THE DAY:
Injury Sustained
Just watched USA lose to Mexico 4-2 in the Gold Cup… ugly soccer.
Okay so as of June 22nd, I had run 5 miles everyday for over a month, and one day I ran 13.6 miles. It was quite an accomplishment for me, and I’m proud of myself for reaching that type of athletic motivation. However, my streak ended on the 23rd due to a strained quadriceps muscle. It is now the 25th and have been nursing my quad injury for the past three days. I only intended on taking one day off of running, but the past three days have shown me that I do not have the ability to do more than walk on my right leg. Today was not as bad as the previous two days, but even still when I attempted to do even the lightest jog, I ended up hobbling for a block and turning around. It was not a great day.
SONG TO HOBBLE TO:
In other news, I watched the movie Bad Teacher, and it was a really funny movie containing every dirty joke you’d ever imagine me telling someone. I laughed the whole time, even though the movie was inherently dark and didn’t really end on a totally positive note. Still, it was enjoyable, I only wish that movies didn’t cost $10 a pop! I’d definitely wait for this to come out on DVD before you watch it though!
VA Squires Soccer Game #4
I’m playing in a Men’s Soccer League this summer with a couple of IR graduates and friends of mine. Today was our fourth game of the season and we SLAUGHTERED the other team! We won 6-2! Men’s League has been fun so far this year, we have a record of 2 wins, 2 draws, but I’ve been slumping really really reeeeaaaaalllly badly this season. I usually play center midfield or up top as a striker, but I have yet to score a goal! The only thing that is keeping me happy is that each game the past two games I’ve managed to set someone else up to score, and two assists are always nice. I’ve just been getting too many opportunities and have been failing to capitalize on each one. I’ve been getting crazy amounts of breakaways because of my ability to sprint past the defenders, but my ball placement and power in my shots is just not there. I need to go out and practice one of these days. When I score though… it. will. be. SUPER DUPER SWAGGIN’ TERRIFIC-LY AWESOME!!!!!!!!
Praying for an end to my drought.
