Here’s something you don’t see every day. They are rolling up the field at Seibert Stadium on the Samford campus.
They have FieldTurf and, the story goes, it was installed in 2005. This is the first time it has been replaced since then. The company says they should last for 10 years, so that’s pretty close. The football team practices there. For two years we’ve had two football teams practicing there as Tulane stayed on campus hiding from hurricanes. Also there is a great deal of intramural activity on that field. So it has certainly gotten its share of wear and tear.
It took them about two days to roll it all up.
So my day was spent at the tire center at Sam’s Club. I needed to finally replace the last, oldest of my car’s four tires. And I picked the day that there was a new guy working. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Someone unfamiliar with tires charged me for the wrong tire. (I thought that was expensive.) So we had to go to customer service. Got a cash refund. I had to buy another tire, with the cash refund. We swiped pretty much every card in my wallet. This all went on far longer than it should have and I may now be an unwitting money launderer for Sam’s Club.
But on the way back to campus I received this email: “Congratulations on being honored by one of Samford’s graduating seniors! This year’s senior giving campaign was focused on the faculty and staff who have invested into the lives of students.”
So what was a “Meh” afternoon became a gratifying experience all the way around.
Things to read … because reading is always gratifying.
Let’s see if we can predict the future. Government: “Insurance is more expensive because of insurance companies!” Insurance companies: “Insurance is more expensive because of government!” Government, and insurance companies to one another: “We got ’em now!” Aetna: Late Obamacare changes account for half of 2015 premium increases
Walking from here to there on the Samford campus. Specifically from my office to the pool, which is inside this building. It looks a bit like autumn in this shot, doesn’t it? It still has had that slight coolness in the air, too.
It has felt cook like that for some time, at least until this week, which is a late arrival here. It finally feels as if spring has arrived. And that’ll just be a brief pause before summer weather, I’m sure.
Anyway, swam 2,000 yards this evening, which is 1.14 miles. I’m a bit pleased with how the swimming has come along. I’m still not going to go anywhere fast, but I’m becoming perhaps a slightly more technical proficient swimmer and my cardio is improving.
I do not know what is happening.
Things to read … because some things you do need to know about in life.
Caught a rare mid-week baseball game. Auburn hosted and defeated South Alabama 6-1.
That reminded me I haven’t shared these pictures yet. Last weekend they gave championship rings to the 2013 team. A guy we now in the stands at baseball works as an equipment manager (I think) for the football team, so he got a ring too. He showed it off:
I just happened to walk outside the office this morning as the sun hit it just right. The little errand I was running was minor, in the scheme of things, but it worked out nicely, don’t you agree?
Had a five mile run this evening. I find it interesting how this is sometimes easier than others. I am bemused when I am not sure which is which.
I do not know what is happening.
Things to read … and the headlines should do the trick.
Feeling a bit better. This will make no sense, really, but, in the ear, nose, throat area I feel like almost a new man. This is a relief since last night I was beginning to wonder if this was something more serious than allergies.
I still have a nice, powerful cough that can’t seem to clear the problem, but only irritates the throat. It is about to get to the point of having that handsome congested resonance to it. I think, perhaps, the tiny/mild fever has subsided. I’m still sniffly, but there is progress. I sound sick when I talk, but that’s not unusual.
I am exhausted. Not tired so much, though I haven’t slept well in the better part of a week, but I did have a decent night’s sleep last night and yesterday I took a blessedly amazing 20 minute nap. I just feel physically tired. And to think I was going to try to go run or ride today. Hah. So there are no grand stories or adventures about the day.
Things to read … because sometimes reading is the grandest adventure of them all.
This is one of those things that popped up ages ago. I read it, kept it, thought about it and never passed it along. (Because how would you find it on this Internet without my help, dear reader?) Since there is never going to be the right time, one supposes, here it is now: The Top 5 Regrets of The Dying
I came to the conclusion pretty quickly, and haven’t been able to change my mind since, that the biggest regrets I have are fairly small in the scheme of things, but they almost always center on something I didn’t do.
For the next several months, WBHM joins al.com and the Center for Investigative Reporting as part of the Alabama Media Group’s Investigative Journalism Lab. We’re taking a closer look at Alabama’s prison problems.
As part of this project, al.com reporter Kelsey Stein has interviewed many former inmates of the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women. The prison gained national attention earlier this year after a Department of Justice report detailed cases of rape and sexual abuse at the prison.
Surging prices for food staples from coffee to meat to vegetables are driving up the cost of groceries in the U.S., pinching consumers and companies that are still grappling with a sluggish economic recovery.
Federal forecasters estimate retail food prices will rise as much as 3.5% this year, the biggest annual increase in three years, as drought in parts of the U.S. and other producing regions drives up prices for many agricultural goods.
During the past 30 years, administrations have spent more than $100 million trying to automate the old-fashioned process in the mine and make it run at the speed of computers.
They couldn’t.
So now the mine continues to run at the speed of human fingers and feet. That failure imposes costs on federal retirees, who have to wait months for their full benefit checks. And it has imposed costs on the taxpayer: The Obama administration has now made the mine run faster, but mainly by paying for more fingers and feet.
The staff working in the mine has increased by at least 200 people in the past five years. And the cost of processing each claim has increased from $82 to $108, as total spending on the retirement system reached $55.8 million.
U.S. officials think that Russia may have recently obtained the ability to evade U.S. eavesdropping equipment while commandeering Crimea and amassing troops near Ukraine’s border.
The revelation reportedly has the White House “very nervous,” especially because it’s unclear how the Kremlin hid its plans from the National Security Agency’s snooping on digital and electronic communications.
One interesting parallel is the presence of Edward Snowden in Russia, where he has been living since flying to Moscow from Hong Kong on June 23.
As you might expect, the story concentrates on that one interesting parallel.
President Barack Obama is seeking to abolish two highly successful missile programs that experts say have helped the U.S. Navy maintain military superiority for the past several decades.
The Tomahawk missile program—known as “the world’s most advanced cruise missile”—is set to be cut by $128 million under Obama’s fiscal year 2015 budget proposal and completely eliminated by fiscal year 2016, according to budget documents released by the Navy.
In addition to the monetary cuts to the program, the number of actual Tomahawk missiles acquired by the United States would drop significantly—from 196 last year to just 100 in 2015. The number will then drop to zero in 2016.
The Navy will also be forced to cancel its acquisition of the well-regarded and highly effective Hellfire missiles in 2015, according to Obama’s proposal.
So you take two effective weapon systems with a finite inventory and shut down the supply. These are two successful force projection applications being removed from the table with no replacement in site. And if you look at subsonic-to-supersonic evolutionary trends that means your next gen weapon system needs new and more fuel and bigger engines which means larger missiles which means larger platforms and we aren’t upsizing the navy any time soon, either.
There’s never been a story that makes me long for elementary school again, but this one does. I would show up to school the next day with a shaved head myself. There is an update. The little girl is being allowed back into the school. It isn’t quite sanity that prevailed, since these educators still found themselves in a ridiculous position of voting (three to one!) on the issue, but widespread scorn and cynicism brought about part of the proper resolution. Funny how that works on “educators.”
