Yesterday was busy; didn’t get here.

Tried a trail today for 6 miles.  Not a great idea; the knee wasn't happy and I ended up walking some.  Guess I'll stick to more even terrain.

I meant to mention that the news-makes-things-seem-worse-than-they-are idea has quite a bit of research behind it.  It is referred to as the “mean world syndrome.”  Basically, the people who watch more television—especially news, but other sorts, too—are more likely to view the world as a violent, mean place where people can’t be trusted, etc.  The news part of it—especially local news, both broadcast and print—has gotten worse over the last few decades in part because companies have slashed the number of journalists in the newsrooms.  With no “beat” reporters out there looking for news and keeping an eye on things (city hall, the schools, etc.), newsrooms increasingly relied on “scanner news”—the stuff they can pick up on police scanners.  The result is lots of coverage of crime, fires, and accidents and little else.  Social media has intensified the spread of stories about crime, disasters, etc., often with photos and videos. The result is that it seems like it's happening everywhere, despite data to the contrary.  The world isn't going to hell in a handbasket.

Now climate change, that you should worry about. We're screwed. 

Mike (and others)—yeah, I can see how puncture wounds through a running shoe might increase the odds of some chemical-laden gunk (technical term) getting in there.  I pushed around the wound to make it bleed a little more to clean out anything that might have gotten in there.  No problems. This really was quite minor, just weird.

Tammy—scholarships always help. Congrats!

Sometimes I miss our dogs but when I see what pet health care costs, I’m reminded of the upside of being pet-free.  Ouch.

Mariposai reminded me that it’s been way too long since we’ve had dancing bananas around here.

Caps? Uh oh. But don’t panic....yet.

Dave, I don't know that one but along these lines, Pinker's book, Better Angels of Our Nature about violence, is good. Review here.  Summary piece by the author.

BTW, Hans Rosling has---well, had, he died--a great web site. I've used his data visualizations in some of my classes.

Nice bananas, Tramps!

Mr. Mr. is the long-haired black and white kitty.  Jay, I'm guessing the extra expense is that he'll be in La La Land while the extraction is happening.  I would've like to have been in La La Land for my last dental appointment.

Sort of Funny - I have a benign tremor in my left, dominant hand and I am very left-handed, so trying to switch to my right hand doesn't always work. The tremor is more pronounced when I'm doing anything "intricate."  Mr. Mr. has to be on liquid antibiotics 'til next week.  I've given them to him 3x now, and each time I've just about choked him to death (okay, maybe not to death) on the antibiotics as I'm trying to squirt them into his mouth.  Let's just say he's getting extra treats for the indignity of it all.

3 much needed feel good miles after work yesterday.  This a.m., 15 min of stat bike with 2 x 1 min hard, and 45 min of core/ST.  At some point, I'm going to need to be brave enough to see if my butt will handle more than 15 minutes. 

Enjoy ~

tomwhite, my problem is gyms always feel so damn hot! If they're comfortable when you walk in, you're gonna be miserable during your workout. That's my take on it.

Mr. Mr. is a beautiful kitty! So everything went well, other than the residual need for the drops? Poor Abby had so many stitches in her mouth she couldn't eat, then they left a sliver of one of her teeth behind and it got infected. Then she dropped a lot of weight fast (she was pretty chubby) and ended up with fatty liver disease. So DH and I spent a summer feeding her through a feeding tube until she got better. Poor old girl. I hope Mr. Mr.'s recovery is uneventful other than a little gagging.

Jay, yes!! That would be awesome to have you come to Rehoboth, too!

Tramps, thanks and I agree on all counts. The whole climate change problem really terrifies me, and will make parts of my home state uninhabitable before too long.

Dave, I love your orneriness. Keep it going, but I agree about your assessment of those types.

Will run later...

Evanflein,, maybe I’ll look more seriously at Rehoboth Beach, even though December is a long way away. I’m not going back to Millinocket (ME) for that half this year, so maybe I can make Delaware work.

 

 

Unfortunately I don't think I will be able to do this one after all.   Given the expense of the dental work I am contemplating,  I am foregoing any "away" races until our finances get caught back up.

4.6 miles for me today in 67 degrees.

Love Mr. Mr.  He’s gorgeous.    Took a snorkeling excursion half day today on a private boat.  He took us to some great places.  It wore me out! He told us a lot about the devastation from the hurricane and we saw a lot of boats that were washed up on shore and smashed.  He said what we saw today was just a fraction of what had been on the shore and below water in the bays.  He and his wife lived on one of his boats and it was completely destroyed.  His end of the island didn’t get power back for 4 months.  They did have some generators.  Kenny Chesney (musician) contributed millions to the relief efforts and sent in jets with supplies and to rescue animals.  His own house here was completely destroyed but he isn’t rebuilding until the more needy folks get their homes back up.

4.3 ez

Every day is a little better.

Mr Mr is a pretty kitty!

Tramps and Dave59; A few times a year I'm away for a week or more in some cell dead zone, also no radio stations. I don't have satellite radio or even check my phone all that much, anyway. With all the doom and gloom in constant rotation on the news, I'm always surprised that nothing has changed by the time I get back from the information wilderness. All the speculation and op-ed in the news is like the Boy Who Cried Wolf; I just don't get very concerned anymore. For example, over the years I've heard from very earnest people that every president in my lifetime was going to "start WW3", from JFK to present. None of them have, so I doubt the next 10 will, either. My complacency comes from other people's sensationalism.

The book I recommend to people is Reid Fleming; World's Toughest Milkman. It's a graphic novel about an unlikable working class man. There is no moral or lesson to be learned. It's just funny.