A Capitalist Brew

For the past five years or so I have had a secret ambition to run a marathon. Other than my husband, I never told anyone about it. I guess it is not much of a secret ambition now that I am publishing it for the world to read, is it? I have been a runner of some sorts for most of my life. I first joined a track team in 5th grade and ran for most of middle school on that team. I was on my high school track team for the first three years. In my junior year the team had a new coach, I was having a lot more problems with my knee, and I was just burned out from running. I didn’t take running seriously again until my junior year in college when I joined Army ROTC. In case you didn’t know, we run a lot in ROTC. We run long distances wearing combat boots and ruck sacks. It is a lot of fun.

So, this was the second love affair of my life with running. In my puppy love stages, I was a sprinter. My muscles were good at going short distances quickly but had no endurance for long distance. When I returned to running in college I found that a strange thing had happened. I was no longer much of a sprinter, but I could now run a two mile PT test without an extraordinary amount of discomfort. I came to enjoy long runs along the Christiana River and at my best ran 10 miles with relative ease. I was amazed to find that once I got past the first few painful miles, my muscles kind of fell into a groove. It was at that moment that I realized I really could run a long distance if I wanted to do it.

My second love affair with running only survived for about a year out of college, but this year I have started running again. Right now I am only normally running for about 3 miles a couple of times a week, but I really enjoy that time. I had been talking about training for some fall 5K or 10K races. A marathon seemed out of the question since I was considering the Marine Corps Marathon, which is in the fall. There is simply no way I could train for a marathon in the heat of the Alabama summer. But then I happened to find a link online to something about the Disney Marathon on January 8. I am not sure whether or not I should attempt it since I am not where they say you should be to begin training for a marathon. I would need to start an 18-week training program in September. I will post my thoughts and would appreciate any input.

Pros:
(1) It would be a fun and relatively interesting marathon because you would be running through the parks and resorts of Disney. As a huge Disney fan, this is a big plus.
(2) I would not have to take the long runs in the heat of Alabama summer. I could start out on a treadmill in September and hit the road when it cools down.
(3) Due to other life planning issues, if I didn’t do this marathon I would likely not be able to train for another one for at least 3 years.
(4) If Oprah can run a marathon, surely I can finish a marathon. Even without the personal trainer and nutritionist.

Cons:
(1) I don’t run that much now and would have to majorly step it up to keep with the training schedule.
(2) I already have more than enough time comittments with school, teaching, Brooke, research, and web hosting.
(3) I do have bad knees, but the old injuries have not caused me much pain in many years. The intense training could be really rough on the knees though.
(4) It is a freaking marathon, and anyone who wants to run 26.2 miles must be certifiable.

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I have until now been keeping a little secret. My daughter developed very bad breath. We are talking downright raunchy. This happened about a week ago. I was a little embarrassed about it, so I didn’t mention it to anyone. Mostly because when I talk about my adorable and vivacious daughter, I don’t want to also mention her mouth funk. Through the week we had tried everything we could think of to eliminate the funk. We gave her more water, got a new kids toothpaste that included mouthwash, brushed her tongue and sides of her mouth religiously, and monitored her diet more closely. Nothing helped to reduce the funk that was her breath.

Out of ideas by Wednesday afternoon, I googled “baby bad breath” and came up with several very relevant web sites. Most suggested the things we had already tried. They mentioned the smell could also be coming from an infection. Most intriguing was the idea that perhaps the child got something stuck up her nose that got infected and was causing the smell. Over the past two months, my daughter has become less fascinated with sticking everything in her mouth and more fascinated in trying to stick things up her nose. It sounded crazy, but it was certainly possible.

The pediatrician’s office was closed for the day, but Thursday I called and told them the situation and was not sure how crazy I sounded. They agreed she should probably come in Friday morning. Since I had to be at school, my darling husband Scott got the honor of taking her to the appointment. The screaming began when they had her lie on the table to look up her nose. Sure enough, they thought they saw something up her nose. Next, they pulled out some long, tweezer-like tools and proceded to grab the object from her nose. Scott reports that he had never imagined such a scream could come from such a small body. They pull out a stinky object that they soon determine to be a piece of a crayon. That explains where all the crayons in our house have gone…not only is she eating them (yes, she has chewed and swallowed an orange crayon) but she is also sticking them up her nose. That’s my girl.

Evidently they have special “bad kid” stickers that they save behind the counter. They have Winnie the Pooh and say “I pitched a fit”. Brooke earned one of the special stickers, but I cannot exactly blame her for pitching a fit in this particular instance.

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In my previous post I forgot to mention another reason I was gloomy…the weather. It is hot. It is more precisely very hot in Alabama during late July. Even my Mississippi-raised, southern gentlemen of a husband thinks it is too hot. Even the weatherman thinks it is too hot. My favorite local area weatherman agrees that it is too hot. Of yesterday’s weather he wrote the following: Yes, Tuscaloosa did rise to 97 yesterday, but that is one of the hottest places in the planet. I know, I grew up there.

It has also come to my attention that someone (the National Weather Service?) has decided that a heat index of 105 is the point where people begin to feel discomfort and physical distress from the heat. I almost busted my gut open when I read that. I beg to differ. Coming from the girl born and raised in NJ, I must inform them that they are mistaken. Anything over a heat index of about 87 degrees causes me discomfort and physical stress. Since we are now about 20 degrees over that, you can imagine my level of discomfort and physical stress. But don’t worry about me…the heat should ease up by November.

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Sorry I have not posted in a while. I have been sick with a cold and then sinus infection for two weeks now. I finally broke down and went to student health on Friday morning. I got antibiotics and some Allegra-D, and today I am finally starting to feel better. I was beginning to think I would never stop blowing my nose and should buy stock in Kimberly Clark since I may single nosedly increase their sales in the next quarter. Sorry to say that is no longer a good stock tip. I am improving.

With the prolonged illness and heap of work preparing classes, it has been a long and gloomy week. This week I had to cover monetary theory, money markets and money market valuation, bond markets, and bond valuation and risk. For those of you who know anything about finance, I had to cover bond valuation, calculating bond yields, factors that influence bond prices and yields, bond price elasticity, duration, modified duration, and convexity all in one class (less than 2 hours). I feel very sorry for their poor little minds trying to keep up at 8 am. It is draining on me too…especially when I am sick.

My mood was also gloomy after finishing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on Monday night. I was forced to accept the demise of a wonderful and beloved character. I cried from the time of his death until I finished the book. I have a lot of time and emotional involvement with these characters. They feel like friends who periodically send me letters chronicling their adventures. It is hard not to feel loss when one of them meets death as this one did, and I am left wondering about how we are to mourn a fictional character. I considered dressing in black on Tuesday but thought that might only add fuel to the fiery discussions of my sanity. What do you think?

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So, I have been poking my head through the curtains in the front window every, oh, 30 seconds since I got out of bed this morning. I have never been so anxious for the postman’s arrival. I finally see him making his way down the street. He should arrive any minute now!!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is Here!! See ya!

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I am wondering how long it will take before the news media starts calling Hurricane Dennis by this moniker. Anyway, he is headed our way and will likely make his landfall tomorrow on the Alabama coast. Our impact from the feeder bands will depend upon whether the eye comes to the east or west of us. If you don’t hear from me for a day or so, that is one reason why. The other reason is that Brooke’s cold seems to have infected me too. Evidently it did not get the memo that mommies are not allowed to be sick. I feel horrible unless I am lying down, so I plan to do as much of that as possible tomorrow and Monday.

I wanted to talk about something I read referring to how the recent bombings are a fight against Capitalism, but I think anything more will have to wait until later this week. I am anxious to hear more about what went on in Birmingham tonight and will try to gather some cohesion to my thoughts when the germs have given up their battle and gone home.

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Yes, today is my birthday! Another year older, another year wiser. Well, I am working on the wiser part. This is the first birthday I have ever really dreaded. I usually spend the days leading up to my birthday teasing my mother about why she didn’t have me on the 4th of July and anticipating gooey birthday cake. This year, I did not do any of those things. Part of the reason is that I have been occupied with class preparations and a sick Brooke. Part of the reason is that I am having a hard time facing up to turning two-nine. My last age with a two in the front (assuming I never make it to 200). It sort of feels like the last year of my youth for soon I will no longer be in my roaring twenties. I will soon be thirty. It looms over me like a gray cloud. 30. I will have to face up to the fact that I really am much older than my students (I swear it feels like two or three years ago that I was back in Delaware). I will have to face up the fact that I am supposed to be a mature adult who has something to show for her twenties. I have a great husband and daughter and three college diplomas hanging on my wall, but is that enough? Surely I should be on my way to a cure for cancer or something else of substance.

Then last night a friend (who really is older and wiser than I) reminded me that I have a whole year left of my twenties and should not get ahead of myself. She also reminded me that I did a lot of idiot things in my twenties that I will finally be able to file away once and for all. In addition, the few accomplishments of my twenties are nothing to be ashamed of at all. I have worked hard for what I have and should be proud of my education and my family. So, I will do my best to enjoy 29 and not worry about what is looming ahead in another year.

On a less cheerful note, I will say that my prayers go out to all the families of the people lost in the murderous attacks on London today. This was not really a birthday present I was looking forward to receiving. I really don’t know what else to say right now on the subject. My heart is heavy for the people of London today. Living in Washington, DC we often felt concerned that such an event could strike us at any time on the Metro. So, I think I understand what people must be feeling right now. Although I often miss many facets of life in the AC area, today I am glad to be where I am. I am also sure our families and friends are also glad I didn’t stay at GW for my doctoral work.

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It had come to my attention that a man in Tokyo recently memorized the value of pi to 83, 431 digits. This beat his previous record of 54,000 digits and set a new world record. My first thought was “Wow! I can barely remember the date most days and that is at most 2 digits!” My second thought was “Wow! What a colossal waste of time and brain power!”

I am not knocking this accomplishment. It is amazing! At the same time, it seems pretty void of meaning or relevance. Researchers have stated that using anything more than 1,000 decimal places to represent pi has no additional benefit. Think of all the time and energy this man has spent memorizing these numbers. Think about everything else he could have been doing. Spending time with family and friends, teaching children to read or do math, feeding the hungry, saving an animal on the brink of extinction, or hundreds of other worthwhile things he could have done with all of this free time. No, his life’s work has been memorizing a bunch of numbers. Please don’t let that be my legacy.

All of this talk about legacy and life’s work (opus vitae) have me thinking about (1) tomorrow’s big event and (2) getting back to work so I can make a positive impact on the minds of a generation (also known as making lesson plans for my finance class that starts next week). Check back tomorrow for the big announcement.

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Thank you to the brave men who signed their names to the Declaration of Independence and to all the brave men and women through the years who have stood up and defended those freedoms for all Americans. We are so blessed to live in a country of such freedom and opportunity for all men and women. God Bless America.

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