My Thought Spot – Page 172 – A place to store my thoughts until I figure out what to do with them.

To drain or not to drain?

We talked a bit about draining our pool for the winter. We had a pool before that was in-ground, but it had a nice wall around it. Not too tall, but tall enough that if anyone fell in, it was their own stupid fault. But, the pool we have now just has a small lip around it to keep rain from pooling up and running in. It also keeps the trash that is blowing around in the back yard from getting in easily.

Even though we have days in the 90s throughout the winter, the water gets pretty cold in the swimming pool. We have not been in the pool in probably 2 months and won’t return to swimming in it until late February. Pool

If you don’t drain it, you still have to clean it. We have no filtration on the pool. You have to have a cleaning company come in with a pump and all the cleaning gear. It only costs $6 each time they come. But unless you pay for this service while the pool is not being used, it can start to look nasty.

If you drain it, there is not the clean up involved, but there is the risk that someone will accidentally fall in and get seriously hurt. We have a 2 year old daughter and an 8 (soon to be 9) year old son. Either of them falling in is a possibility. If you have water in the pool they don’t get hurt, except the possibility of drowning which is a risk factor year around. The 8 year old can swim without any problems. The 2 year old has to be watched each time she goes into the back yard.

Well, yesterday it finally happened. Our son fell in…twice!

He was riding his bike around the edge of the pool and lost his balance. He fell off right into the water. I looked up just in time to see him propelling himself out of the water with the claim “It’s not cold!” (I did not believe him). He quickly got out of his wet clothes and dried off.

Several hours later he was trying the same trick again and this time he and his bike went in. I got to him before he could get out and made him stay in to fish his bike off the bottom of the pool. It took him a while to get it because after just a few seconds he was so cold he could not function. When he finally got it up to me he did not have enough strength to pull himself out of the water.

He admitted it was cold the second time.

Uncensored speech

One of my pet peeves is the fact that people feel like they can use whatever language they want on the Internet or in podcasts without giving any thought to its appropriateness.

Last night I entered a discussion with other podcasters in which I linked to a previous post here at My Thought Spot. In that post I mention how I dislike the use of profanity in podcasts. One of the other podcasters in the discussion last night said that it would be hard to determine what is profanity across the board. What is offensive to one person may not be to another. And, though he did not say it, I think he insinuated that what is profanity in one area or country, may not be in another.

While I agree with his points on a general basis, I think we lose sight of something more basic. There are terms that are considered profanity by just about everyone who speaks English.

I think the problem comes in two areas. One is the fact that we have taken the idea of free speech to mean that we can say anything we want in any way we want. This is with a total disregard for the person to whom we are speaking. We have lost a sense of appropriateness in our speech and writing today. Along with this is the idea that many people don’t even know what is appropriate anymore.

I used to interpret for the Deaf in the public school system. I was shocked by the language used by some of the teachers in middle school in front of their classes. I would have had my mouth washed out with soap when I was a kid if I talked like that. Not even teachers (and I know this does not mean all teachers) feel the responsibility to model good speech in front of the students. If they are not to be seen as role models, then who will be the model for appropriateness in speech? The TV? Hardly!

Secondly, and this is the bigger problem I believe, is the idea of everything being non-personable. The thought that one can say or write anything on the Internet and not have to worry about their mother knowing how they talk. I hang around in some IRC channels where the guys say things in ways that they never would if I were standing there. There is a mutual respect for real people that just does not exist on the ‘net.

I think podcasts sink into the same problems.

Before you think I am a horrible prude (I am) realize that I am not talking about entertainment podcasts, websites or IRC channels. If your choice of entertainment is not what I want, then I can just leave. But my choice in podcast listening, website reading and IRC channel lurking is pretty much limited to informative content. I don’t listen to running podcasts or technology related podcasts for their entertainment value, I listen to them for useful information.

I certainly don’t think we need a government agency to police this content. That would be a step in a very bad direction. What I think we need is for people who know how to choose and use appropriate words take some time to teach others what good speech is all about. It really is a matter of appropriate speech, not a matter of stifling your right to free speech.

Talk however you want at home or among your friends. But it won’t take you long being around me before you realize that I don’t appreciate the fact that you are incapable of using anything longer than a single syllable four letter word. It really just shows you disrespect me as a person. And if that is the case, then I will respectfully excuse myself from your presence.

Happy New Year!

Now go and vote.

Yes, it is the start of a new month so it is time to vote at Podcast Alley again. I ended last month with 10 votes. I really wanted to get to 20, but after I begged all my friends to vote, that was about as far as I got. Half of those votes were from family members too. What does a guy have to do to get votes?

I ended the month around 38th position in Religion and Spirituality. I guess that is pretty good for it being my first month to try any of this voting stuff.

Don’t forget to search around and vote for your other favorite podcasts. Just make sure Missionary Talks is one of them.

Running year in review

Today finished my year in running. I did a very easy 5K today.

I was not planning to run today, but as an unmedicated ADDer, I was needing something to bring life back into focus. I have found over the last 2 years of being an exerciser that doing something physical seems to help me not feel as though my life is falling apart at the seams. I have not been to exercise class in two weeks and took the last week off from running. I have had an impending feeling of my house of cards about to come crashing down.

The run must have helped. The feeling is gone and though I left all of my notes at home for my three sermons today, I was able to make my way through them and solidify my strongly held belief that preparation is worthless. 🙂

I started casually running in December of last year. I did probably 3 runs of about 30 minutes each. I did not know at the time that you are not supposed to run that long when you start out. You should ease your way into running. So my first runs were about 3 miles long with long runs up to 6 miles. My regular running started in January when my brother mentioned that he was running a half marathon in May. I decided to train with him, even though we live in different countries.

Though I could figure out how many days this year I have been running and, on average, how many miles per run I have done, I will just sum up with some highlights.

Year mileage is a PR since this is my first year to run. That is a good start. Adam at Burning 20 mentioned in a recent episode that he is going to run 1000 miles for the year of 2007. I have yet to set a firm number, but I would think that 1000 miles would be about where I should be looking. That is just under 20 miles a week. For many weeks I averaged 17 miles a week. So pushing it up to 20 would not be that much more. I will have to think on that for a while.

I ran in 2 pairs of shoes. The first was my everyday shoes which were New Balance 435. I put 300 running miles on them. (Who knows how many non-running miles they had). I was not convinced that they were worn out until I ran a few days in my new shoes and tried the old ones again. I was instantly convinced. The new pair are Nike Air Copius. They have 282 miles on them. I would like to get another pair to start running in while these have some mileage on them. But, buying shoes here is almost an impossibility. They just don’t make them big enough in this country. And then the price…

I started the year with my first road race being an 8K at 49:42 for a pace of 9:56 per mile. My most recent race was a 5K at 27:29 for a pace of 8:38 per mile. I ran 2 half marathons this year. Both of them are what I call a personal race. I ran alone, but one was while my brother was running the Indy Mini half. The other was the Phedippidations World Wide Half marathon.

My endurance has increased tremendously. My speed has as well. A casual run for me now is under 10 minutes per mile where that used to be my race pace.

I am excited to see what this next year will bring. I am going to see what I can do to get my 5K time down. I don’t know if it is possible to improve this quickly, but I am going to make an effort to get to around a 22 minute 5K. That will be a pace of 7:04 per mile. That is a big jump, but I think with some focused speed sessions I can get really close. Currently I am not even running a single mile at that pace, but I have not given an honest effort of getting the mile time down.

Let’s see what this next year in running will bring.

Be a Dump Runner!

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts this morning while out for a short run. It is the podcast Dump Runners Club. I first started listening to this around episode 6 in March of last year.

It is one of those podcasts that has gotten much better with time. Having said that, do yourself a favor and don’t listen to the early episodes. If you want to go back and catch up, start somewhere in the summer around episode 20.

One thing you have to remember about Matt’s podcast though is that he is an experienced runner. You are not listening to a newbie at the sport. Therefore, he approaches things more from a seasoned athletes point of view. Not someone who just took up the sport for cardiovascular health. While I participate in races, he runs races. If we were to run a half marathon together, he would arrive about an hour ahead of me. Therefore it can be discouraging to listen to Matt and think that you will never achieve his level as a runner. Don’t let that get you down. There is a need for high level athletes to get some information that can help them.

The episode I heard today was about New Year’s running resolutions. He had some good stuff to think about and try to challenge yourself with in the coming year.

I enjoy the show so I thought I would share that with you and give Matt some positive advertisement. But believe me when I say you don’t want to listen to the early episodes.

Yes, I know that it is a strange name. A Dump Runner is the title bestowed on someone who runs to the dump. Literally. A recent episode mentioned a lady who became a Dump Runner on her birthday. I thought about doing the same for my birthday this year, but instead went and gorged myself at the local breakfast buffet. I will do a dump run sometime soon and become a member of this exclusive club.