And, in both of those phrases, I do not know what is happening.
I also swam 3,000 yards. So I’m tired, sure. But it feels great, too. That’s all unexpected, but then I took a rest day, no exercise, earlier this week and at one point I didn’t think one day would do the trick, but by the end of the evening I was ready to get back to it. I wonder how long I can keep all this up. Not long enough.
was founded on April 1, 1949 by Charles E. Miller and is now into its third generation of family ownership. Originally employing three men, it now operates with 55 highly skilled workers. Present facilities include offices, two manufacturing plants and a machine shop consisting of 78,000 square feet.
They’re still in wire, and they’ve been working in polyurethane since the 1980s. I believe that campus building was built in the late 1960s, but I couldn’t say when the door went in.
Miller is far too common a name to ask Google to scare up anything definitive.
Here’s something to know for sure: I want to be this guy when I grow up. Peaking at ninety:
Richard Dreselly first hiked to the top of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire in 1941. He has since hiked the 6288 foot summit seventeen times. Now at 90, he climbed for what he says will be his last time. Globe photographer John Tlumacki captured his three day arduous journey amid the stunning mountain views.
Here’s the full story that goes with that photo gallery.
And a podcast with my old friend Chadd. He’s talking about what it takes to be an athletic director in college sports.
Here’s a podcast I did with my old friend Chadd Scott earlier this week. He’s launching GridironNow.com tonight, a site that will cover SEC football like crazy, and he’s asked me to take part. I’m honored. So I’ll be writing occasionally and podcasting regularly, I hope. Here’s our first one, where Chadd previews the Auburn football season:
He’s pretty sold on them. I have some reservations.
If football isn’t your thing, then this podcast that I recorded today with journalist Andre Natta might be more your style. He tells us about a proposal in Denver that will help ease college debts:
Don’t play both of those at once. The awesome noise might be too much for your computer’s sound card.
I created both of the songs in the podcasts, by the way. That leaves me only 48 steps removed from being a true renaissance man.
Also, tonight, I swam 2,700 yards and then got in a nice, easy four-mile run. My last mile was in 8:05. That’s not fast, but fairly respectable for me, I suppose. But, again, I did it after my biggest swim ever and a four mile run. Plus I took 21 seconds off of my last mile yesterday, making this my favorite new game.
Most importantly, in my last few swims it feels like that’s just starting to click, finally. Finally.
The university announced record enrollment, which is now an annual announcement. There are now 5,206 students 46 states and 32 other countries. Also, the new yearbooks, documenting last year, were released on campus today. I looked through one and noted all of the people I knew and all of the now departed seniors I miss.
But there’s always new people to meet, new things to try, new toys to explore. Today we replaced our old fleet of Panasonic DVXs with a fleet of Panasonic HC-X1000 4Ks. They look sharp. And small.
Oh the fun we’re going to have with those. All of our students shoot everything in high definition and they do good work with them. And so it was exciting to see some of them come up and help unpack these today. Christmas in September! They’re looking forward to new equipment too. And why wouldn’t they be? They’ve been using the old cameras for three whole years. That deal means every student gets to work with brand new gear at least once in their time on campus.
Our students get a pretty good arrangement, as you can see.
They’re also shooting videos on their phones, of course. Here’s one our features editor has been working on.
After the unpacking party I ran back to my office to record a podcast, it should be live later this week. It is a happy, varied sort of work experience that I have on a daily basis. I like that.
I ran by these windows a few times this evening:
Today it was a 2,500 yard swim and a four-mile run. It didn’t even feel particularly hard, which is probably a sign of something unfortunate. Swim-run bricks are easy and deceptive.
Did you see the beginning of Catember? We’ll have a new photo of Allie each day throughout the month. Be sure to check in often.
We’re having a lot of fun with emails around campus about the current parking crisis. None of this is new, of course. You go back to the first cars on a college campus and the first campus that installed parking lots and you find these same problems. (Seriously, I’ve seen it in archives.) This year we have a record enrollment — so more students and cars — and some ongoing construction eating into preexisting parking.
To the credit of the Samford administration, they are doing great work in solving the problem. We have shuttles and golf carts driving people back and forth. The university president and various vice presidents have been driving the carts around. And they’ve wasted no time in building a new parking lot which is already starting to accept cars. Meanwhile the construction equipment is starting to move out and go on to some other project, destined to ruin someone else’s parking.
So things are finally starting to return to normal a bit. And then the emails today. A campus-wide note told us of new cones for reserving spots. And then the reply-all emails, noting those times when cones are put in place to reserve a spot for some guest, only to never be used.
Like the ones above, which sat there, untouched, all day. And apparently that happens in a lot of the parking lots, according to the other emails. It made for an entertaining read. But, again, nothing of this is new. I have been pleased to share with colleagues that my president is out in the driving rain driving commuters and the vice president of student of affairs is doing this and that and the vice president of business and financial affairs is outside driving a shuttle. Truly, it is a unique place with an extraordinary response to a predictable problem. We’re pretty fortunate.
Today’s podcast features Jeremy Henderson following up on a story he wrote about a guy who wrote somethings on Facebook that have landed him in more than a little trouble:
This evening I had a 2,000 yard swim and a sloppy five-mile run. That follows yesterday’s 10K run. Now if all of my run could be on a flat track.
James Lileks always likes to say you never hear the last one. Well, we’re still a good way from this year’s last katydid, and they didn’t mind pointing that out tonight.
If you click on those little play buttons you can hear how the microphone of an iPhone is not very good at capturing this sort of sound. Which is where we are with technology now. It does this thing, and allows me to use this particular tool to create and ship something to another place. And we don’t think it does it especially well.
Starting in 2016, there will be no more UCI Women’s World Cup. Instead, the women will be one step closer to parity with the men after introduction of the UCI Women’s WorldTour.
The idea began to take shape after a summit in December 2014, and the final product will launch at the beginning of the 2016 season.
Women were previously only granted 10 days of racing in the World Cup series, in which their events often lacked the media attention and social media buzz seen during the men’s events. Now, racers will have potentially 30 days of racing available in the WorldTour, which will include stage races instead of simply one-day events.
About time. Let’s get them on TV so I can watch them go, too.
My favorite pro cyclist is Taylor Phinney. He’s been recouping from a horrible leg injury, now back in just his second race in more than a year. And today he did this:
Ridiculous headline: An actual tiger gets loose in Packard Plant in Detroit. A photographer was permitted to use the old facility, but didn’t mention the tiger. And then the animal got loose. Because that’s the sort of thing that one can expect in Detroit, I guess. Though, to be sure, this seems more like a piece of a southern conversation:
“I got a call from a friend who asked me to help them get this tiger out of a staircase,” said Andy Didorosi, 28, of Detroit. “He asked me if I had a leafblower, and I said I had a weedwhacker, so he told me to bring that. … I stopped what I was doing, grabbed my tools and hopped in my truck, because, you know, tiger.
Anna blinked back tears now and gripped Jeremy’s hand as she recalled one of the lowest points of her life.
“I’d always heard about people who were on their deathbeds and holding on, waiting for someone to tell them it’s OK to go. I thought maybe that’s what he was doing,” said Anna.
“I went in to his room and told him, ‘Jeremy I love you so much and I’m so proud of you and you’ve worked so hard. I know you’re tired and it’s OK if you want to let go and want to go home. I’ll be so jealous of you because you’ll be walking the streets of gold with Jesus, but I will be OK here because I have friends and family to look after me.'”
She kissed his forehead and left, expecting that to be their last conversation.
The next day, he began to improve.
His recovery is a modern medical miracle. A friend of mine knows that couple and had a lot to say about them both. It is a charming story.
St. Louis police officers found a 93-year-old Tuskegee Airman’s stolen car Tuesday afternoon behind a vacant home a few blocks from where it was taken, according to police sources.
[…]
The man lost his money, then the car, in separate crimes involving at least three men Sunday morning, police said.
The victim appeared to be in good health Tuesday but told a reporter he didn’t want publicity because it would only cause more harm. He said he just wanted to get his car back.
Victimizing an elderly individual is particularly egregious. Let alone a man who was a war hero, a man who had to fight his country to fight for his country. There should be a specialized investigation unit that takes on such cases, a TV-style
Time to build up the distances. So I had a 2,000 yard swim and a four mile run this evening. It all felt nice and slow and easy. So, really, I was moving as fast as I could.
