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You can park here

The parking wars.

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.

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18
Aug 15

Katydids, a tiger and criminals

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.

Two cool cycling stories: UCI Women Get Upgraded to WorldTour Status for 2016:

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.

A story to restore your faith in the human spirit: ‘I was asleep but I heard you’: Newlyweds get second chance after traumatic brain injury:

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.

A story that requires justice: Police recover Tuskegee Airman’s stolen car in St. Louis:

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.

adventures / cycling / I do not know what is happening. / running / swimming / triathlon — Comments Off
15
Aug 15

Chattahoochee Olympic Triathlon

The race was fast. I was just slow.

We rode our bikes to the race from our nearby hotel. Rode across the state line, actually. And we did that in the dark, with little blinkie lights on our bikes showing the way.

We got there in plenty of time. Nice easy setup. Met race veterans and three people who were doing their first race. It was a nice relaxed pre-race morning, as opposed to the usual stress. This race was launched in age-group waves, so The Yankee went off earlier than I did, scorching people in the water and then burning up tar on the road.

When my group went off we pushed away and swam downstream 500 meters. You climb out of the water at a boat launch, run back upstream and swim it again. So the swim is short, just 1,000 meters, but that jog counts to your swim, which means I had my best 1,500 meter swim time ever. It still wasn’t very good.

Out of the water, finally, and up to transition where I climbed on the bike and settled in deciding that I would ease into the 20-something mile ride. It was a two loop course, roads with which I am familiar, and I figured that maybe I would be better served pacing myself early and going hard on the second time around. On the first loop, though, I felt my legs lock up. And on the second loop my legs said “No. This is what it feels like when your legs lock up.”

And after that nice little ride, where I didn’t get to hammer it much of anywhere, I was back in transition and setting off for a run. THis is the second time, by the way, I’ve run across a state line. (You don’t keep track of this sort of thing?)

The course offered three miles of river views:

And then there were three miles of downtown views. And somewhere right in between everything started going wrong.

You shouldn’t get chills two hours into exercise in the August sun, but I did. It seemed wise to take everything easy after that, and so I did. When I got to the end I wanted a blanket and calories. It was an unsatisfying race for me. But the weather was nice and the people were pleasant. And this one had a great race:

I didn’t see her until a few parts of the run course. She did this thing where she beat her goal and still wasn’t satisfied with herself. (Don’t race her.)

adventures / cycling / memories / running — Comments Off
14
Aug 15

Those people

Still playing with the light diffuser box:

That’s a pot we picked up in Ephesus, in 2010, during our honeymoon. One of the better stops on a terrific trip. I wrote about it:

Mustafa then took us to the house of Jesus’ mother. This is believed, by some, to be where she lived her final years. John was said to have had the house built here because he was preaching in the area and this was one of the safer non-Christian cities available to them. (Others disagree and believe Mary lived and died in Jerusalem.)

So the story goes that a 19th Century nun had a vision of a location of the house. Her description led a researcher to this spot, but his discovery didn’t gain much attention. The place was subsequently re-discovered a decade later, ruins were uncovered and, in the 1950s, the modern house was built there. A red line on the structure is meant to demonstrate the original building and the new structure.

Since then it has become an important pilgrimage for many. Muslims and Christians alike come here, viewing the place as an important religious destination. There’s a stream running under the house, from which you can drink of the sacred waters.

We put water from the stream into these vessels but, being untreated terra cotta, it just drained away.

Haircut today. Basic general grocery store – drug store errands. Had a short ride and an easy mile run. We’re racing tomorrow. This is the weather:

Isn’t that lovely? I’m not fit enough to race in weather like that, mostly because it has been to hot to train a lot. So tomorrow will be fun.

We got a hotel room just across from the race. (It is an out-of-town event.) We’re going to ride our bikes, in the dark, to the starting line tomorrow. We have lights for that. Because we’re those people … The riding to a race people … The riding in the dark with lights people … That also means we’re riding back to the room after the race people … And so on.

photo / running / Tuesday — Comments Off
11
Aug 15

No, that’s just sweat

Happy Tuesday. Allie says hello. She’s busy getting her early afternoon sun tan here. I only decided to take a picture because she made some weird nose and took on an entirely unusual posture. And by the time I had her framed up she moved, looked up and gave me the “What?” look.

You don’t interrupted cat tans around here. She spent all night roaring around the house and will probably yowl the night away to remind me of my transgression.

More school work today. Spent some time at the library and at a restaurant and then wandered through the local “You’re weird? We’re weird! Buy weird stuff here!” If you could put a Who logo or a Star Wars icon on it they have it. If you needed a temporary disc golf goal, skateboard, comic books, vinyl or DVD rental, this was your place. It seems they’re limping along as a brick and mortar generalist just no one else in town is stocking the stuff they are.

Went for a run before dinner. I took a photo every mile, which was silly because it was night time and I chose the darkest route possible. Here’s the first mile:

And here was the fourth mile:

I manage to run around a storm cloud. I ran a big loop and at one point the lightning was in front of me in the distance. Later, on the other end of the loop, the lightning was in front of me again. By the time I got in The Yankee asked me if it was raining. It was not, but it was humid. And I looked like I’d just climbed out of a pool.

A nice, easy five-mile run.

I do not know what is happening.