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Showing posts from January, 2013
Early in college, I started to notice that my athletic reaction time had dropped, and I realized it was because I wasn't putting in as many hours playing sports as I had at Westtown. Then soon after I graduated from Earlham, not just my reaction time, but my skills in all sports had slightly declined for the same reason. When I got to my 30's, it became harder and harder to keep up with "kids" in their teens and 20's, and I decided it was because I wasn't running as much as I once had. Then in my 40's, when playing soccer and ice hockey, I had lost a step or three compared to younger players, I felt like all I needed to do was get in shape and I'd be right back where I had been in my 20's or 30's. Now that I'm in my mid-50's, splitting wood and repeatedly picking the wood and wedges off up off the ground for a few hours requires frequent rest breaks, and makes me think for the first time that it isn't just a matter of being
And if you still aren't sure of your special purpose, or don't agree with what I wrote below, here's another possibility for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJJA6WRpvlg
And just an offhand thought semi-related to the one previous to this (and below). If one accepts my premise that we crave attention and validation for our contributions to our world, those contributions being what we think of as our purpose - thinking our unique and special thoughts and actions are why we are here, then that is one more reason to take good care of our containers, our bodies, so we'll be here all the longer to share our gifts and prove to ourselves of our worth on this planet.

A post long enough that no one will read it, even if it took me about a week to write and re-write it

Nothing like going out into the back yard...well, up on the hill, to split wood by hand to get one into deep thought. Though I should add, none of these deep thoughts included remembering that our tree guy had told us we could borrow his splitter anytime we wanted, or at least that memory didn't arrive until soon after I'd split about 50 hunks of wood in sizes varying from 1-2 feet across, over a period of 3-4 Saturdays and Sundays. Anyway, back to my deep thoughts: OK, and to digress to less-than-important digressions again, as we McVics do to distraction, these thoughts mostly came when I took a break and stretched out on a chair atop the spot where Mom and Dad's ashes reside, which kind of makes it extra cool. Not sure how I got to this line of thought, but I was thinking about our purpose here in life and I reached the following conclusion, less about our purpose than the things that promote and distract us from that purpose: I have heard or read of people who s

But whatever diet Andy used apparently wasn't working either

My opinion of Andy Reid as a football coach is not unlike my opinion of his personal life. He likes gimmicks. He uses a pass-happy, West Coast offense, and a blitz-dominated defensive scheme, followed by the goofy wide-nine approach. And, gasp - he follows a gimmick of a religion - Mormonism. So the Eagles fire him and bring in a guy who uses something called the Zone Read Spread offense. Reminds me of people looking for the latest dieting fad, thinking one of 'em's just gotta work!
I wonder if it's struck anyone else than when Taylor Swift goes through a bunch of hot guys it hurts her image, but when George Clooney dates various beautiful women, it helps his?
There is a lot of discussion in Washington and around the country, about guns these days after what happened at Newtown, CT. Some of us want significantly stronger gun control laws. The gun nuts like to say that guns don't kill, people do. And then they say that the biggest problem isn't guns, it's mental illness. I agree. And those are the exact two reasons we need to ban assault weapons. And why we need stronger gun control in general. Because people are holding guns that can kill dozens of people in just minutes...and some of those people are not only a lot crazier than any of you reading this, but even crazier still than the gun nuts who defend their weapons of mass destruction.
I was disappointed, but not surprised, that driving home last night, and thinking about Les Miz, which I think Ev, Cheryl and I are going to see on Sunday, I found myself playing with the name and hearing it as Miss Lez, which has just a little different meaning, and from my perspective a way more fun one. And then I thought, I'll bet there is a porn movie by that name by now, not that I have ever rented one in my entire life I'll quickly add. And I felt like kind of embarrassed for having this entire train of thought in my sometimes creepy head and wondered if it was homophobic to even think of such things. So, I looked it up, and it turned out that the group who was way ahead of me is not the porn industry but yer Lesbians! http://www.afterellen.com/content/2012/04/ny-scene-march-2012-miss-lez-pageant-hey-queen-and-more N.Y. Scene March 2012: Miss Lez Pageant, Hey Queen and more! N.Y. Scene is a monthly column that chronicles events of interest for lesbian and

I think this would fall in the twitter category of #sometimesigivemyselfthecreeps, cuz just Damn, Taylor!

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From a Nick Kristof column in today's NYT: We have, so far, sunk $640 billion into Afghanistan and more than $800 billion into Iraq — all told, according to my calculation, more than $12,000 per American household. Imagine if those sums had been spent on, say, early childhood education in America. Or on getting more kids through college. Or on global education: About 1 percent of the total sunk in Iraq and Afghanistan, if instead spent annually on schooling around the world, would allow every child worldwide to complete primary school, ending global illiteracy.
Something I've been thinking about a lot lately is the idea of crushes and what they mean in terms of a marriage. I realized recently that I had confusing feelings about a woman I met and have come to know fairly well and still see on a regular basis. I found myself really attracted to her, and not just in a physical, wow is she beautiful way, though there is that too. I didn't know what it all meant - how could I feel this way, when my feelings about Cheryl hadn't changed at all. My uber-attraction and dedication and interest hasn't diminished even a tiny bit. But the feelings I was feeling toward this other un-named woman...well she is named, but I won't name her here :-) ..., which I'm very hesitant to admit, or certainly to publish, were significant enough, that I felt like I had to talk with someone about it all. So I went to the one person I have the most respect for, especially in terms of love and relationships and marriage, knowing that person would
Sometimes I feel bad for making fun of some behavior of Cheryl's, though my bad feelings are totally dependent on how she reacts. She's way better at dealing with being a target than I am, mostly because I'm either too sensitive or too insecure, but this from David Brooks column today helps me feel better about it: G. K. Chesterton had the best advice on suffering fools gladly. He put emphasis on the gladly. When you’re with fools, laugh with them and at them simultaneously: “An obvious instance is that of ordinary and happy marriage. A man and a woman cannot live together without having against each other a kind of everlasting joke. Each has discovered that the other is a fool, but a great fool. This largeness, this grossness and gorgeousness of folly is the thing which we all find about those with whom we are in intimate contact; and it is the one enduring basis of affection, and even of respect.”
Something I read recently that I need to remind myself of regularly when I'm inclined to say something harsh: Light is always stronger than darkness. That fits in so well with similar things I try to remind myself of when I start getting upset with someone: I'll never be wrong when I take the high road. And it's better to be love than to be right. And watch out for whitey. Wait, that's a different post.