weekend « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

weekend

I do not know what is happening. / running / weekend — Comments Off
6
Jul 14

Tight in the middle

This afternoon, since it was only 90 degrees, it seemed a good time to catch up on some overdue yard work.

It was either that or ride my bike. I should have ridden my bike.

So I spent three-and-a-half hours trimming hedges, pulling weeds out of the shrubs and then raking up the annoying leaves and stalks and sticky, thorny, scratching weeds and vines.

And somewhere, on my third wind, I decided “Since I am already sweating, and my heart rate is up, this would be a good time for a run.”

Because the day was getting long, and I was ready for some exercise, and I equate sweat with exercise, this all seemed like a good idea. So I got finished with the stupid bags of trimmings and then decided to trim some trees. Now I’m covered in sweat and sawdust. I changed shoes and shorts and said “I’m going out for a quick run,” which is always a vague description. If you feel good, feel good and extend yourself, I say. And I felt pretty good.

I found and returned a miniature schnauzer to her owners. Called the number on her collar and stayed with the pup until they showed up. She is 13, they said, and know how it goes, but she was a good piece away from home. The pause gave me some more rest, so I felt good. And I kept running.

When I got to 3.1 miles I had a choice to make: continuing around the circle means a route of about eight miles, retracing my steps means I’d have a nice 10K. This felt like the best idea, until about mile four. The last two miles, to get home and to get to the 10K, or 6.2 mile mark, was something of a struggle.

I do not know what is happening.

But I picked a wildflower for my lovely bride! And I’m sure I looked a sweaty sight, shuffling down the road side with a bright yellow flower in my left hand, huffing and puffing for all I was worth.

When I got home she said that we define “quick” differently. This is true. There’s nothing quick about a six mile run for me.

I wrote all of this on Facebook. A buddy asked “How’s that spandex fitting Superman?”

Hence the title, above.

cycling / history / I do not know what is happening. / journalism / links / things to read / video / weekend — Comments Off
5
Jul 14

This car makes jumps

The world around you is one of the things a bicycle teaches you about. Things look different. Terrain is different. You come to understand that those aren’t two hills, but really one hill you approach from multiple directions.

The most important thing I have learned, so far, is that it has taught me not to judge. You never know what someone is going through, which is the personification of the “Walk a mile in my shoes” concept, which is writ large in my head every time I’m struggling to top a hill. Those people driving those cars don’t know, I tell myself.

Some of them probably do, but the point is that it can be hard.

Another important thing the bike teaches you is about more roads. Eventually you start looking for new routes, new challenges, new approaches to that same hill. I found some of those today, in part because I saw a neat road name on a map. The road is about four miles from our house and I’ve passed it dozens of times on my bike alone. But playing with cycling routes on a map led me to answering the question “What’s down there?” The answer was a private driveway.

And this:

Had a difficult with the new shoes. They, surprise, didn’t feel right for most of the ride today, but I figured it out as soon as I got home and took them off. And it was an easy fix. Hopefully that will be taken care of today.

I went through three new neighborhoods today, though, and two of them I’ll return to again. The third featured a bad stretch of road that overruled the two extra rides up that same hill mentioned above. In just over half of the distance I climbed more than I will in next weekend’s triathlon. And, with that and the time trialing I did yesterday, I will begin to taper off the workouts.

Tapering, like I have a training plan. Like I’m an athlete.

Aside from the pretending, I do not know what is happening.

Things to read … so you’ll know what is happening.

The best thing you’ll read today: A Janitor’s Ten Lessons in Leadership

Rare, Remarkable Maps Trace America’s Path to Independence

Roger Simon: America’s glorious failures

‘Flying Farmer’ recalls WWII service

Total US Ad Spending to See Largest Increase Since 2004

Guardian Australia: lessons in online-only publications

Have I mentioned I need a drone? I need a drone.

Fireworks may be the most temporal of celebrations, and you’ve already moved on, I know, but that’s just awesome.

I can’t adequately describe this video, but I’d suppose the individual reaction to it is informative.

Now go back to your three-day weekend!

Auburn / football / memories / weekend — Comments Off
29
Jun 14

Auburn great killed in accident

I’m having a difficult time with this, truthfully. It was stunning and tragic to read about this morning. Two young men killed in a late-night traffic accident. There’s a fair amount of disbelief from a lot of people today for a variety of reasons. I tried to write what I thought might be a common community reason for The War Eagle Reader. I’ve reproduced it here.

A car crash early this morning in Lagrange, Georgia killed two, including UGA baseball player Ian Davis and Auburn great Philip Lutzenkirchen.

If you think really hard about it, you might remember the first time you tried to pronounce the name “Lutzenkirchen.” It might have been when your friend emailed you the link to that YouTube clip from his high school play:

“This guy is coming to Auburn,” your friend wrote. Then you spent the entirety of your next weekend cookout teaching each other how to phonetically pronounce his name.

But it didn’t take much longer than that. The boy from Georgia became an Auburn man and, just as quickly, became a fan favorite. Maybe it was the clean cut look, or the physical stature. Perhaps it was the calm way in which he always seemed to comport himself.

Maybe it was the style of play:

It could have been how he embraced Auburn that made you embrace him back. From beginning, to the middle, to the end. It could have been the charm or how he accepted what became his legend. And think about that for just a second: Here was a guy at — what, 19? — who became a legend. Look how he handled himself.

Maybe it was that you could see him around town, at Momma G’s, having Japanese or wherever you’d run into him, and how a guy who was such a BMOC was always seemingly so approachable.

Other things you knew mattered, too, even more important things: the prom story, how he gave of himself to others, the respect he earned from his professors or for how he stood for what he believed. Perhaps it was the graceful way he said goodbye or the sense of humor he had about his sibling Iron Bowl rivalry or his burgeoning professional work or his promising coaching career.

Maybe that is what it was. The promise that Philip Lutzenkirchen always showed and the way he seemed to carry it with ease, returning all of your smiles and War Eagles and even embracing that dance.

Maybe it was that he was so personable as to make it seem he was always all of ours, and the way it seemed to bemuse him, like he was always us, too.

Auburn lost a great one today, an irreplaceable one. Our thoughts and prayers are extended to his friends and family, who feel the loss most personally. As sad as we are, it is difficult to imagine your profound grief. We thank you for sharing him with us. We grieve with you over the loss of a great Auburn man.

history / links / weekend / World Cup — Comments Off
28
Jun 14

The present, the past, the immediate future

Spent the day watching World Cup. I have come to at least one conclusion: Brazil shouldn’t win the tournament. They just aren’t as good as the great Brazilian teams, and they’ll prove to not be of the same quality as the better teams that are still in the thing. Also, Colombia is a fun team to watch.

One hundred years ago … This was the front page of the New York Times: ARCHDUKE FRANCIS FERDINAND AND HIS CONSORT, THE DUCHESS OF HOHENBERG, ARE ASSASSINATED WHILE DRIVING THROUGH STREETS OF SARAJEVO, BOSNIA.

And, if you’ll remember your high school history, that led to all of Europe arming up for war. The link has some great contemporary content, if you’re interested.

The Guardian, meanwhile, is coming to terms with how they played down the assassination:

The Manchester Guardian, then edited by the legendary CP Scott, was far from alone in playing down the significance of the death of the archduke, shot by the young radical Bosnian Serb, Gavrilo Princip, in Sarajevo. The Sleepwalkers, historian Christopher Clark’s seminal work on how Europe went to war in 1914, reflects the mixture of complacency and rhetoric Europe indulged in.

But the Guardian did devote the bulk of its main news page, illustrated by a small map and family tree of the Austrian royal house, to the shooting.

[…]

The next day, 30 June 1914, a Guardian headline read “World’s Sympathy with Aged Emperor”. The paper noted that the archduke and his wife had recently visited London and, his uncle, emperor Franz Joseph, held the title of a British field marshal.

[…]

Though the newspaper’s first analysis – headlined What the Murders May Mean – played down the “immediate or salient” effect on European politics, it did warn of the dangers of increased hostility between Austria and Serbia. It also warned of “the more serious danger of a Russian attack” on Austria in defence of its Slavic ally.

It is a fascinating little summary as the paper looks back upon itself.

We’re still learning about that war, meanwhile. Earlier this month Finland announced they had divers that have discovered a lost WWI German U-boat, apparently preserved in exceptional condition.

I wonder what the researchers will learn.

Maybe there will be an augmented reality tour of it one day. Here’s the latest from the AR world, by the way.

Or would you prefer holorooms at Lowe’s? Non makeup makeup? Actual spy glasses? Or South Park?

Fascinating world.

Hope yours is riveting too!

video / weekend / World Cup — Comments Off
22
Jun 14

Portugal vs U.S.

It took a miracle pass from one of the world’s best players in the dying moments of the game for Portugal to steal a draw and avoid losing to the upstart Americans. I had video of the crowd’s deflation of that, but it just seemed cruel to show.

On the one hand, the U.S. had a win slip away from them. On the other hand, it was against the fourth best team in the world. On the dominant foot it was against a diminished Portugal. On the other foot, however, all of that happened and the U. S. played anything but their best soccer.

This team might go some place, and from the Group of Death, no less.

But the crowd reactions from around the country? They’ve been great. I just wanted to share one more.