L.A. Times editorial on the Fox News/Al Franken lawsuit.

Bill O'Reilly: Public Masterbator.

Just got home from a morning run in Tecolote Canyon. Was hoping to get five miles in, but called it quits at four. I probably should've gone for five, but quitting while I was still running strong was probably a good idea. When I got home, I reviewed my training log and my past race results, trying to come up with a goal for my upcoming 10K. I hoped to shave a minute off my previous 10K PR, but I can see that's unreasonable for me at the moment. I've really slowed down this summer. But I think shaving 30 seconds should be a reasonable, yet challenging, goal. That would require a 7:17 pace. So we'll see if I meet that goal, which will be a nice gauge of how high to set my sites for my upcoming half-marathon.

I recently discovered Bluegrasscountry.org. Very nice. I've listened to it at work from time to time, but I was under the impression it was somehow exclusive to iMusic, and since I don't have a Mac at home, I couldn't listen. But I was wrong. Check it out, its great.

I'm sorry, but I only date men my friends think might kill me.

Tom the Dancing Bug on the California recall.

Excerpts from the Fox News/Franken lawsuit, and some responses. As much as Fox News has done to earn my contempt in the past, this is probably the dumbest thing they've ever done. Glad Franken is cashing in.

I saw Ten last night. It was an interesting look at a divorced woman's life in Iran. I liked that it was a very personal view, focused most intently on her relationship with her son. It seemed a bit forced at times, unlike Taste of Cherry, and also unlike that film, you're more aware of how the film drags at times. Compared to Abbas Kiarostami's other films, its hard to recommend, but still not bad, and another reminder that the situation in Iran is not as cut-and-dried as the U.S. media portrays it.

I also finished Devil in the White City last night. The story is interesting enough to make me marginally recommend it despite the sometimes horrendous writing. Erik Larson seems to think he has to punch up the story with purple prose and forced suspense. Which is especially unfortunate since the forced suspense falls flat. By the time he reveals the shocking news that the man who proposes to build an engineering marvel in the midway is named Ferris, I doubt many readers are surprised. And perhaps at times some more suspense would have been nice. A bit of mystery as to the role of Pendergast, for instance, could have ratched up the tension a bit. But the two main stories, of the building of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition and the serial killer who prowled Chicago at the time is compelling enough to overcome any shortcomings of the author. And Larson does do a good job of telling the story of Holmes, the killer, and his reconstruction of the crimes, with limited source material, is one time when he seems up to the task of writing non-fiction that reads like fiction, without forcing the issue. So with some misgivings about the style, I do recommend it. I always scoff at the the notion, but I suppose this might be what is called "Summer Reading."

An interview with Larry Flynt. His immigration comments concern me a bit, and it still seems to me Huffington might bring more lasting change, but I do like the man. I don't know who'll I'll support. I guess I have a while to make up my mind, but I'm leaning Huffington's way.

It's hot! I find it hard to find the energy to do just about anything. I am proud of myself that I managed to get two good runs in. I broke down and accepted that, in this weather, I'll have to learn to live with a treadmill run at the gym. It's a bit boring, and annoying that there is a T.V. with the news on directly in front of me, reminding me of what I'm running away from. But at least I now know I can go down to the Kroc Center and run when the heat is just too much. I do plan an after-work run tomorrow, though I'll probably just make it a short speed workout. I've entered the California Cruisin' 10K for next month, and am looking forward to the Chancellor's Challenge (which was my first 5K) in October. And if all goes well, I'll complete my first half-marathon in November. All in hopes of running the Suzuki Rock & Roll Marathon in the Spring. So those are my goals. Figure I have to have goals if I'm going to do anything in this heat.

Not much else to report. Almost finished with Devil in the White City; the story is interesting, but the attempts to make the book read like fiction can be annoying. Going to the movies tonight, to see Ten. Will report tonight or tomorrow on Kiarostami's latest.

I enjoyed today's clipping from the Collins Library.

The Sad and Pitiful End of Professor F: A sestina.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Eigth Level of Hell - the Malebolge!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	High
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Very High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Moderate

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

I hate computers sometimes. I accidentally hit the tab key. I quickly hit delete to delete the tab I have just inserted in my document. But of course, instead of inserting a space, hitting tab moves me out of the typing window, and the backspace key instead serves to send me back to the page before. I warning window tells me I'm about to lose my almost-completed post, and that pressing okay will save it, and cancel will delete it. In the past, I've quickly hit cancel without thinking, under the belief that I will be returned to what I was doing. But this time I knew what was happening and hit okay. Yet my post is gone. Gone.

What makes it worse is, it was a very boring post about not wearing underwear and room in my toe box, and I don't feel like recreating it. I suppose the only interesting thing was, I ran into Chris Woo at work on Thursday. He used to work for me at the Cove Theatre. Glad to see he was doing good.

It will be nice to have Monday off. Haven't had to work Saturday and Sunday in some time. And tomorrow will be a somber day, the final Futurama (most likely) will air. Some small, small hope due to its success on Cartoon Network, and a movie is even more likely, but only time will tell.

I've uploaded my Urban Challenge photos to my Yahoo! photo album. The pictures aren't terrible, actually, only two are really out of focus. This is my first experience with Yahoo! to share photos, let me know if you can't access them.

Did some shopping today. Bought new running shoes at Road Runner Sports. I was planning on trying on several shoes, and hoped to try a new brand, but ended up sticking with Brooks, moving up from the Adreneline to the Trance. It fit great, and the extra cushioning really felt good. It occured to me I should have tried on a new pair of Adrenelines, rather than comparing the cushioning of a new pair of Trances with my worn-out old shoes. But I was happy with my purchase, and impressed with the sales staff. I bought my last pair of running shoes from Movin' Shoes, a smaller mom-and-pop shop, and was really disappointed in the service. They seemed annoyed that I didn't know what shoes I wanted, like that wasn't their job (though to be fair, I ended up with a very excellent shoe). But the staff at Road Runners sized me up, looked at my old shoes, and, after explaining I was browsing in the woman's shoe section, told me they shoe I was looking at didn't offer me enough stability, and if I wanted more cushioning, I should go for something like the Brooks Trance, which was high on my list of shoes to try. I ran around the parking lot and felt a real difference from my old shoes, but with the support I'd become accustomed to. I tried on a pair of Adidas that didn't fit well and was too soft, and decided to just go with the Brooks. Bought a nice pair of shorts, too.

I also went to Target to get socks and another pair of shorts, and to browse their Simpsons merchandise. Simpsons Jeopardy looked intriguing, but I ended up passing. They apparently no longer carry the Worlds of Springfield merchandise, but it occured to me their was a Toys R Us nearby. I wasn't sure if the Simpsons Tracy Ullman Set was available yet. It wasn't, but they had one of the Main Street Sets available, which I of course purchased. No place to put it, but that's not the point.

What is the point? I have to stop spending money like a maniac. Or get around to listing some of my duplicate Worlds of Springfield figures/playsets on eBay.

I did save a bit not bidding on a Lyle Lovett DVD that was on eBay. I was tempted, since I had tried to find it awhile back, to discover it was only available as an incentive to PBS members. I should've joined to get it, for $250 (if I remember correctly), I could've gotten it, a CD of the same concert, and two tickets to see him at Humphrey's. Seeing as the two tickets turned out to cost me $150, and seeing as being a PBS member is a reward in itself, I suppose, should've done it. But I didn't, so I thought I was going to have to pay $40 or so on eBay. But it turns out its now available for purchase. The web site gives a phone number but no price information. Now that I know its available at any time, there's no hurry. Besides, if "I'm Gonna Wait" is on his new album, I'll have to think over whether I need the DVD at all. Of course, with Randy Newman doing a four-song set, I know the answer, but...

I got my pictures back from Urban Challenge. The pictures are crap. I'm going to see what I can do with Photoshop, but seeing as most of the photos are rather badly out of focus, I don't have high hopes. I'll post what I can soon, in any case.

I found the latest edition of Dan Kennedy Solves Your Problems With Paper touching and informative.

San Diego Urban Challenge results are up. I finished in 75th place. Not bad at all, considering we were the 108th team to cross the finish line. That's an over 30% disqualification rate

I was hoping to use my time at work today to post about Monday, but due to computer difficulties was unable to. Now I'm kind of tired, and hoped to do some reading tonight (just started The Devil in the White City), so I'll be brief.

Went to Del Mar for the races Monday. My first horse didn't cross the finish line, should've taken that as an omen. Never collected on a single bet. Painful. Afterwards, we went to Chevy's for happy hour.

Their happy hour drink specials were a discounted margarita, or $1 off the drink of the day, which was a tom collins on Monday. So we ordered two tom collins. The waiter acted like he was confused about what was in a tom collins, but I thought he was joking, since it was the drink of the day and probably many people were ordering it. But apparently he really had no idea what it was, and apparently everyone else were drinking margaritas, it being a tex-mex themed restaurant, so we just had faith the bartender knew. I don't really like tom collinses too much, incidentally. Not a fan of gin. Vodka collins was my drink of choice for awhile, but I've moved back to where I started from, the screwdriver. I used to throw up easily, so the acidic orange juice was a problem, but since I've improved my diet a bit, that hasn't been an issue. Though I did throw up last night around 3 AM, not sure why. But I digress.

A few minutes later, another waiter (about 5 employees would wait our table at one point in the 45 minutes or so we were there, came to tell us the specials. She left, and a few minutes later she brought us our drinks, which looked more like grande margaritas than tom collinses. We commented on this, and the waitress apparently thought we were having a joke with her, and laughed about their size with us. I'd never seen a tom collins served with salt, and sure enough, a sip quickly revealed it to be a margarita. Our original waiter came up a few seconds later, with our "correct" drinks, and proceded to serve our margaritas (which we had drunk from) to the proper table. We had a good laugh about that, and then turned to our clear drinks, a sip of which revealed them to be gin and tonics. I do not like tonic-based beverages, but figured I could manage. I didn't even want a drink, I just felt obligated to order one eating at the bar.

Our food came a bit later, and was quite good. We had flautas, with some sort of sauce, I forget what it was, but it was excellent. I didn't try the jalepeno dipping sauce, but they were fine as they were. And half-off for happy hour, so at about $3.00, a very reasonable deal. We ate them, finished our drinks, and the waiter brought our bill, where our tom collinses were listed as being $6.50 each. And were, of course, not listed as well drinks, but rather as a name I didn't recognize, but am pretty sure is the name of a top-shelf tequila. But the waiter insisted that was accurate, but with some prodding, offered to go investigate. He was gone for some time, finally returned with a bill obviously too low, so we just went with that, paid and left.

After racing and a quick dinner, we went to Seabiscuit. I had never been to the UltraStar Flower Hill Cinema in Del Mar, so it was exciting going to a new theater. The lobby had an interesting charm, to an extent, but it was a rather run-down theater, with (at least in the theater I was in) very small, narrow auditoriums. And the seats reclined in a way that was probably once comfortable, but now made you fear that collapse was imminent. Since Randy Newman's music was one of the reasons I was there, the sub-par sound, and far worse, the sound pollution from the adjacent screening of Pirates of the Carribean, was upsetting. And just to pile on the iniquity, the audience was rather rude and obnoxious, cell phones going off far too often, and just general restlessness which annoyed me.

But getting to the movie itself: a disappointment. The book is far better. For one, not everything is a metaphor in the book. And Howard is capable of speaking without explicitly talking about "the future." Chris Cooper was quite good, but the film version of Tom Smith seems to talk an awful lot, and seems more some enchanted horse whisperer than a man who put a lifetime of experience to work in his training. But the movie was entertaining, and the faults I had with it were mostly unavoidable. Had Randy Newman not been connected to the project--had I not been eager to see the scenes I had seen him work on--I probably, after reading the book, would have passed, knowing it would be a disappointment. But it held my interest, and had some great moments. Toby Maguire was excellent. As was real-life jockey Gary Stevens.

Of course, I said my interest was largely due to the music, so I should discuss that, and again I say: disappointing. I knew Newman was disappointed in it, and I can understand why. For the most part, the score blends in well to the movie, and is not particularly noteworthy. But when it does stand out, its usually not for the better. There wasn't much of this, but a scene where Red is riding during his early career was accompanied by music a bit too zany for my tastes. And the change in music in one scene (which I saw them working on during my day on the sound stage) was rather jarring. It's a perfectly good score, by-and-large. The faults are minor and few. But nothing stands out for me, and I certainly won't be buying the album. Of course, his soundtrack work is not what interests me in Randy Newman, anyway...besides disc 4 in the boxed set, I believe Ragtime is the only soundtrack album of his I own.

Speaking of Newman, tickets for Randy Newman's concert at Royce Hall, and the following day's tribute concert, went on sale to non-season ticket holders yesterday. I got mine, for both. I also got seats for the Kronos Quartet and the Tiger Lilies performing a work based on an unpublished work by Edward Gorey (on my birthday), Michael Moore, and a tribute to the Firesign Theatre with John Goodman. Fun times...

I'm basically linking to this as a reminder to watch it when I have time, but here's a link to a documentary on cartoonist Keith Knight.

Eleven Boxers Who Failed to Intimidate.

I'm hope from the San Diego Urban Challenge. I am in not inconsiderable pain, though I won't complain about it. I'm feeling the soreness one would expect to feel after such an endeavor. I was not prepared from the pain in my shoulders, from running with a backpack on, something I am not used to, but overall, I'd say I'm just feeling the pain of the victorious, along with considerable pride.

I was very nervous going into this event. I was not in the best shape of my life. My training took a three-week-plus hiatus when I was sick, and it was very hard to get back out on the pavement, with the heat and humidity being unbearable at times. I believe I got one four-mile run in, other than that, I don't believe I'd run over a half-hour or so in almost two months. On Thursday, my last run, I stopped with shoulder pain after 22 minutes. Not a good sign right before a five-hour race. But this was a run right after work, when I was tired and not in the best nutritional shape to run. On Saturday I'd be up bright and early, and would give it my best.

My other concern was my partner. I was vaguely under the impression that he was training, but wasn't sure. He entered a 5K with me, but failed to show up for it. I selected him, partly, because I knew whatever happened, he wouldn't outshine me (to put it more diplomatically, and actually more accurately in tune with my thoughts, I selected him because I knew I wouldn't look back at the race and think I cost him a victory). Of course, I also selected him because he is my friend and I knew I'd have fun with him. But I was definately more worried about his performance than my own.

I got up at 6 AM, had coffee and half a granola bar. I'd never drunk coffee before a race before, since it can unsettle my stomach, but I had a bit of a headache the day before and worried about caffeine withdrawl. So I drank half a cup (which is about equivalent of one mug, when talking about my oversized travel cup). I never did pee on the course, so it didn't seem to have any negative side effects. I picked up my partner (since I'm probably going to be a touch nasty--though kind in the end--I'm not using his name) around 6:50, and we headed to Horton's Sports Bar, in the Westin. Nice place, though a touch small for this event. I was unable to get a seat, so after picking up our race numbers, trivia contest answer form, and camera, we had to stand in the back waiting for the trivia contest to begin. The trivia contest determines which of five waves you will go out with. We placed in wave 2.

The start was being broadcast live on NBC, so they actually got it underway very quickly. Too quickly, perhaps, as they seemed confused about what to do next. They sent out my wave shortly after, directing us to the NBC studio where the first group started. But no sooner had we arrived there, but they sent us back to where we started. I still don't quite understand why, but it was not a big deal. We were soon allowed to begin for keeps, received our clue book, and took off. The first clue referred to a statue to the West, so we, of course, immediately headed North. It turned out alright, as we discovered the third checkpoint in the process, so it saved us time later. We got on the phone with Cecily, our internet contact (you're allowed, and encouraged, to have help via cell phone contacts), and quickly found the name of the Mexican president whose monument we were seeking. But we never found the monument. We spend 40 minutes at least, before giving up. We just had to hope we'd find the skip chick, which would allow us to miss one checkpoint. But there was no guarantee we'd find her. And if we didn't, once we took the second checkpoint's picture, we couldn't win (of course, we weren't going to place first...when I say win, I mean receive a medal for finishing in under 5 hours, with all twelve checkpoints photographed in order, or eleven in order with the skip chick in their somewhere).

Checkpoint two involved a math problem. I had Cecily help with the math, not having a calculator, and got an answer. But I'd misread the question to her, and got a street address far, far off. Along the way, wondering how they could send us so far down, when the next checkpoint is back where we started, I realized my mistake, and redid the math. I again made an error, but fortunately was only off by 4 or so, and discovered the address I had didn't exist, and at the same time saw people being photographed at a nearby barber shop. So we got ours taken, too.

So far, I've refrained from discussing my teammate during all this. When I picked him up, he commented on something he'd seen on their website, telling me, "You never told me about this 5 to 10 mile bullshit." I told him when I first asked him to be my teammate, that the web site says to expect to run 5 to 10 miles. So that worried me. But I really didn't expect him to crash and burn in the first mile. I started a bit fast, being excited, but when he commented on that, I slowed down and tried to set a reasonable pace. But he really gave up quickly. Between that, and our failure in finding the statue (which I take full responsibility for), I was really worried about whether we'd finish, and was rather pissed off at my partner.

After my partner finally finished walking to the second checkpoint, I told him I'd run ahead, since we'd already been to the third checkpoint earlier. While I waited for him to catch up, I could call Cecily and work out the rest of the checkpoints. This was probably the smartest thing I did all day, as it saved us a lot of time later. I worked out stuff with Cecily, and bitched about my teammate. He eventually arrived, we got our photo taken, and we head off to checkpoint four (I should explain now, that there are twelve checkpoints, 1-12, and all the teams have to go in order, but each is assigned a different start point. My team was lucky enough to draw one, so we started at one and ended at twelve. Points one and twelve were both near the starting point, so we were lucky).

Point four was an irish tavern in the Gaslamp Quarter. From there, we were heading to Hillcrest, and decided to use public transportation. We had a decent wait for the bus, which was a nice time to rest, and get some more checkpoint locations worked out. The bus took us very close to the next checkpoint, a vintage fashion store. The next clue indicated we were heading to Jimmy Carter's Cafe, which we passed on the way. But first, we found the skip chick (they dubbed her that in the pre-race festivities), so we no longer needed to sweat missing point one (though there was now no room for error).

After getting to Jimmy Carter's Cafe on 5th, we got our photo taken and planned our next move. We didn't have a transit schedule (I'd suggested to my partner he might want to research that for me, but apparently he was too busy training to do that), and were unsure how to get to Old Town from Hillcrest. We decided to take the same bus back to downtown and take the trolley to Old Town. A very helpful woman taking the bus concurred that this was our best bet, and reviewed some of the other checkpoints for us. We waited about twenty minutes, at least, with no bus in sight. We saw very few other contestants, which was odd. Finally, we saw one running by, who asked if we took our picture at Jimmy Carter's Cafe. We told her we did, when she delivered the news that it was the wrong location. The clue, which started "Sirva usted cerveza Billy?" or (I think) "Do you serve Billy Beer here," turns out to refer to a mexican restaurant with a similar name. Hence the Spanish, and the note that the checkpoint is North of Balboa Park (Jimmy Carter's Cafe is West). Had we caught our bus, we would have lost. The helpful competitors told us roughly where we were heading. Calling Cecily, she knew the place, and exactly where it was, and so we figured it out. But this added well over a mile to the course, which certainly didn't help my teammate (or myself). But we got the photo, and across the street was a bus stop where we would quickly catch a bus to Old Town.

Up to here, it was every team to themselves. I helped one team find the Concourse, and gave another a hint about the Flashback clue in Hillcrest (they didn't realize the common bond between Gordon, bulb, and cards was "flash"), but people seemed to be watching out for their competition. But getting on the bus (where the Jimmy Carter clue had hurt a lot of us), people were only concerned with finishing, and were helping each other. A team told us where the statue we couldn't find was, I offered some hints as to where I thought some of the other points were, and we basically had fun waiting to arrive in Old Town. Off the bus, we all ran together to find the next point (my teammate even kept up for awhile), and worked somewhat together from then on.

We got the two Old Town clues, and made it to the trolley right before it departed, where we saw many of the same teams we saw on the bus. We got off by the Star of India, and got our photo taken with the Chicken of the Sea propeller. We then ran (my partern, too, ran part way) to the Embarcadero, where the next checkpoint was the Homecoming Statue. Two checkpoints left. The last one was a sculpture behind the Convention Center. But before that, we had to find a black anchor. I knew there was one by the airport, but I noticed no other teams were heading in that direction. That also would involve backtracking; prior to that, we had done almost no backtracking (except to Jimmy Carter's Cafe, which turned out to be incorrect). And the clue said it was within a half-mile of Joe's Crab Shack, in the Embarcadero. So, after some debate, we decided to head toward the Convention Center. Once we were almost past Seaport Village, I was getting nervous. I was beginning to conclude we were wrong, and should head back to Harbor Drive, where I originally thought the anchor was. We could always take the trolley back if we didn't find the anchor there. Just as we turned back, we saw a team we'd seen previously, pass us in the opposite direction, so I chased after them to see where they were going. They told us the anchor was right by the sculpture at the Convention Center. And it was, very well-hidden. I took that team's photo at the last two checkpoints, and by then my teammate had made it, and the other team took our photos. About four-and-a-half hours had passed, so we had thirty minutes to make it to the Horton Sports Bar.

We had a long wait for a trolley, but we got on, got off at the train depot, and ran East to Horton Plaza. We finished in 4:48 and some change, less than 12 minutes before the cut-off. If we'd placed in the third wave in the trivia contest, we very well may have lost. We submitted our camera, it was reviewed, and we were declared winners and awarded a medal. It was a very proud moment for me, and for my partner. He gave it his very best, I realized, and especially after going through the second half of the race in a more laid-back, cooperative spirit, I was glad he was my teammate and very proud just to have finished. We got our goodie bag, ate in the mall, and left triumphant.

I later noticed one interesting thing about my medal. In February, I won a contest on the Urban Challenge web site. My e-mailed entry included a signature file with a Latin quote by Cicero. They asked me if I spoke Latin, and could translate a phrase for them. I said I had studied a little Latin, but could try to help. The phrase was, "I came, I saw, I thought," or something similar. My translation didn't sound good, but I suggested a more alliterative phrase, "Cogitavi Cursitavi Conquisivi," meaning "I thought, I ran, I conquored." I don't have the e-mail, so they may have checked with a real Latin expert and cleaned it up, but in any event, the finisher's medal now sports the phrase. So not only did I finish, but I leant a little something of my own for all the finishers to appreciate.

Driving home, I thought about this, and remembered why they asked me. My signature file quote was from Cicero, butchered to make it accessible to a beginning Latin student: "Virtutem enim ilius viri amavi, quae cum corpore non periit," or "Truly I loved the virtue of that man, which did not perish with his bones." I added that to my signature after encountering it in class, a few weeks after my father died. Thinking about that, I realized that I really would have enjoyed him cheering me on, and discussing the various checkpoint locations with him, and how much I missed him. And I felt the tears welling up, and was really surprised by how emotional I was getting. Especially the delayed reaction. Crossing a finish line is an emotional event; tears are par for course at a marathon. But it surprised me how I was touched thinking about this Latin phrase.

I am even closer now to running my first marathon. I had a feeling crossing the finish line will be an emotional experience; now I fear I'll just fall apart. But that's okay. And that's for another day. Today, I ran 9 miles, solved clues, navigated a city's flawed public transport, was almost screwed over by Jimmy Carter, and emerged victorious.