Running Reasons

What I say are my reasons for running:

1. Relieve stress.
2. The feeling of freedom while running on a country road.
3. To be healthier.
4. Sense of achievement.

The real reason I run:

1. I want to look sexy in boxers.

Good-bye, Fat-Man Shuffle

Last year, I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 5:35. It was a hot day and I did the fat-man shuffle. It was a somewhat humbling experience when I compared it to the marathon I ran when I was a young strapping army stud. Back in 1991, I had run the Munich Marathon in 4:36.

So this round of training for the Richmond Marathon was largely an exercise in trying to rediscover a feeling of running instead of jogging. I joined a training team and ran with two gentleman (Sean and Larry) that kept me honest, pushed me, and helped pass many hours with intelligent, insightful conversation. I could feel myself starting to stride and began to refer to myself as a runner.

So, today I pushed another 26.2 miles under my feet. Time? 4:28.

Sean and Larry, thanks.

Marketing 101

A long time ago I received an email with jokes about college majors. I remember that Marketing majors were for people that wanted to make the most money with the least amount of work. So I guess I wasn't too surprised when the following two marketing ploys hit my ears.

1. "Spyware can reduce your bandwidth by 500 percent." Apparently this jackass went to the Willy Wonka school of mathematics. You cannot reduce anything by 500%. If I have 10 apples and reduce it by 100%, then I have 0 apples. You can't reduce it any more. Maybe it means that I owe the ISP bandwidth?

2. "95.1, The Fox. Finally, a radio station that respects the music." What the hell is that suppose to mean?!?! Do the other radio stations in Rochester, NY somehow disrespect the music? Do they sleep with a sexy ballad and then give it cab fare and promise to call in the morning?

Infinite Loop of Intelligent Design

The absolute worst thing for beginner (and advanced) programmers is to code an infinite loop. For those less technically inclined, it means that you do the same thing over and over without any end in sight. The program then eats all the resources of the machine and the machine is useless.

And this is the problem with Intelligent Design. The theory goes something like:

"If the world/universe is so complex and wonderful, then someone/something must have designed and created it."

What makes my head hurt is that this quickly becomes an infinite loop. How? Let me present the Wyatt Corollary to Intelligent Design:

"If the Creator is so complex and wonderful that it could create the world/universe, then someone/something must have created the Creator."

And then you are in an infinite loop of Gods creating each other. Infinite Loops. Bad Design.