Well…I did get out on the bike and got to 2K today….but that’s not really the subject of this one…when I got to the top of the first climb and my water stop, there was a glimpse of the happiness that I’ve been missing…but it was like when your car is wet and you are trying to start it…it wants to start; it almost starts, then it sputters for a few seconds while you work the gas pedal trying to get it to catch, then no matter what you do it just sputters and sputters and then quits with a strange wheezing sound. The next time you try the battery starts to go dead and you feel in your stomach that it’s not going to start. That was my bike ride today…and it is so damn frustrating when you can start to feel the happiness a little but then, when you try to understand and keep it going, it’s just gone and you’re back where you were….and it seems like such a damn fine line that you just can’t get across…
Oh, well…at least I could see across the river for a few seconds….maybe it will come back later….
Well…today’s the day…I’ll get to 2,000 miles this afternoon and I don’t know if that really means anything…it does to me since what other goals do I have? It was nice to get the wreck cleaned up yesterday…oh, that was a goal, too I guess. Does everyone’s life get small as they get older? Not going to deal with that today…or maybe I will later…who knows? Up early again this morning and feel like I’m walking in concrete…and that’s not good when I have the grocery shopping to do and maybe out for a couple with K or G but that’s about it. I do need to get into the bag o books that I got from T but the Hulu thing has been taking up that time…the novelty is wearing off, though, and if the weather goes bad as it is supposed to do, I’ll have lots of time to read. Hmmm….I will have topics for later…not sure what yet but there has to be something in the 4 newspapers that I read…if not, what’s the point?
Well…I’m really glad the election is over but there was one thing (there was more than one thing but this is what I want to deal with right now) that disappointed me so much about the media and it’s reporting on the people and ideas that were part of it. It seems to me that this election was one of “narratives” that took on a life of their own and were aided by a lazy media that was all too eager to use this shorthand in lieu of real reporting. The greatest example of this lack of rigor was the theme that this was a change election and the people were revolting against the Obama Administration’s policies when that was only true on the right…the real reason for the change that happened was that we progressives were lazy getting out to vote and somewhat smug in the fact that we believed our message was the best one and needed no explanation. This, along with the shortcuts of the media, allowed the right to dominate the story of the election that continues even after the data is available to refute this bundle of lies and wishful thinking.
This lack of rigor on the part of the media was evident in the vetting of the candidates like Christine O’Donnell and Sharron Angle whose lack of qualifications were glossed over by the media who were only interested in being right in projecting the Republican “tidal wave” even though their job is to do the hard work and provide the unbiased information that the people need to make informed decisions. What happened to the story on O’Donnell’s reported income of only $9,000 for the past two years? I know it’s hard for me to live on significantly more than $4,500 a year and I have no expenses. But, this story would make people think and the media have the wrongheaded idea that people won’t understand or think…that everything has to be a soundbite. I, for one, want the various forms of media to go back to the era where the facts are just reported without the thoughts of what the impact of the facts are. These days, it’s all too common that people don’t have the guts to have “the chips fall where they may” and shed some light on the dark corners of politics that money and ideology don’t want known. I hope the media do better in the next one…or they can start today…that would be a good way to return them to the importance that the founders knew…geez…
Well…another night out in Ada, another win at pool and I don’t feel too bad today…and that’s good because I do have things to do today…yay! I need to get the car ready for winter with a complete cleaning from top to bottom…it has been bugging me to no end that I’ve let it go to as dirty as it is. I may have to take a week or so off going out since I’m running out of cash and I don’t want to use the credit card…so I’m glad I have Netflix and the bag o books that I got from T that I have been ignoring, it will help me see if I can go through a whole week without spending anything…I may have to buy groceries, though, to make that happen…we’ll see. Other than that, not much to do today..but I am going to try to get the last 20 miles in this aft after I get the car done…then everything over that will just be a bonus…might even get to 2200 or so…more later…
Well…have been feeling out of sorts lately, even more than normal which is a lot for me. The peace that I had found a few weeks back has eluded me and I don’t know what to do about it…because I don’t know how it happened in the first place. Oh, well…I am glad to not have the filth in the political ads bombarding me anymore…damn…I don’t know if this is writers block or not but I can’t seem to get going…there were weird dreams last night…but all I can remember is giving all my stuff away…okay, this one is crap…need to take a break and try, try, again…
Well…another Monday and another time that G blew me off…so I guess Mondays out are now going to be by myself..I did go out to watch part of the wings game to Peppino’s and they how have Keno so that made it a lot better…when the game went to OT though, I came home…and Hank won it on a deflection so that was cool. Last night was probably the crappiest night of sleep I’ve had in quite a while..up at 3:30 and then back up at 5…ugh….feel like crap today but since I never have anything to do..I can just take a nap later…and not a lot to do today..out to Ada later for pool…but that is about it…more later…
Okay, it’s later and I’m in the middle of watching “Dexter” but thought I’d come back for a minute and put down a couple of thoughts..or maybe just one, nope, the thoughts just left me…this is getting really frustrating…but I do have one about Boehner and the healthcare debate…but I don’t know if I want to go there today…I think today is more about musings than rantings…and there have been some things happen that I am still working out…the weather is nice, though and i may want to do the last thirty miles today…after Dexter, that is because it needs to go back in the mail today…more later…
Well…there is a new narrative coming out of the repubs that the reason that the dems lost the house in the mid-terms was that they didn’t compromise enough on their agenda, that they jammed the healthcare bill down the throats of America without talking to their repub counterparts. Okay, is anyone laughing as much as I am? Especially when related to healthcare, the dems went from their proposal for a single-payer system to the bastardized one that was passed…and the majority of the bill were things that the repubs had proposed just a few years earlier…so, the repubs get everything they want and then still run against the bill? But, you know their idea of compromise is that they get everything they want and then still bitch about it. They are so spineless that they won’t even support financial regulation of the guys that screwed up the economy if their idiot fringe (who doesn’t understand any of it…just listen to Michelle Bachmann) starts to howl. How can you, or why should you compromise when the only thing these guys want is a return to the robberbaron times of the early 1900’s? They’ve shown they have no good ideas and to give their stupid ones like tax cuts for the rich validity by compromising on them is the height of folly that the dems will have to get over…geez…
Well…a day of watching the Lions lose again and the Napcar race yesterday and I think it’s time to go out and do anything versus just sitting here…but I’m trying to save cash so that puts me in kind of a bind…oh, well…it was a nice day and I did get out on the bike for a long one and hope to do another one today since it’s going to be near 60…not bad for November. And, I only have 40 miles left to get to 2K..yay! I’m also creeping up on 500 posts since I started this and that is some kind of a milestone but I don’t know what kind…I wonder if putting them all together would make a new book..after all, Keith did it with excerpts from his show. Not much to do today…I think I’m going to start getting the car cleaned and ready for winter…have to do the glass inside and out since dirty windows bug the hell out of me and it’s better to do it when it’s relatively warm….that’s about it for now…more later…
Well…I need another cup of coffee…be back in a minute….okay, I’m back…I have been somewhat prolific this morning…this is the third one so I’ll say look down again…there are two others you haven’t seen. Not much of a day yesterday…just kind of going through the motions but I did get the kitchen cleaned….I hope I have all of the clocks reset with the end of DST…we’ll see in a couple of minutes…I did find the instruction booklet for the one in the car so I’ll tackle that one later. It was nice to have a running conversation via text with T yesterday…she always makes me laugh and we are both such big Michigan geeks…the Wings lost last night but they went two for three on the west coast swing so that’s not bad…but any time you let a team score 6 goals against you, there are problems with the defense….not time to be concerned yet, though.
Not much to do today…haven’t been on the bike in two days so I am itching to get out when the temp gets over 40…and there is the Lions, I guess, oh, and formula 1 at 10:30 so that will be something. Need to go check on some clocks so I’ll end here…more later…
I’m back for just a second….finally remembered that HULU exists..thanks, Tom, and signed up for it…it is nice to not have to remember to tape anything (yeah, still not into the DVR yet) and to be able to watch some stuff that I’ve never seen because it’s on opposite the few shows that I regularly watch…but we’ll see how much I use it…kind of like my twitter account…okay at first but a bore after a while…
Well…I’ve already gotten another post out before this one so look down if you want…or not if that is too much work. Boy that was kind of a strange day yesterday with the Michigan football team playing a basketball game…when was the last time you saw a score of 67-65 in a football game? I found it funny when one of the press columnists said that the Michigan defense won the game for them…really? Did you watch the same game I did? The Michigan defense made exactly one play…the last one that save the two point conversion in the 3rd OT. Other than that, there was no defense played by either team…I mean, c’mon…over 1200 yards of offense? Bo must be spinning at 10,000 RPM at that result…and I think Rich Rod should be gone at the end of the season…he has been a disaster for Michigan..not just for the crappy teams, but for his staining of the reputation of U of M…I think that may be the most important thing to me..it may be quaint but I feel that you can win even when following the rules…Bo did it, Lloyd Carr did it, and I don’t care how much college football has changed..honor is honor.
That said…it was one of the weirdest games I’ve ever seen…Go Blue!