C Twiggs Run

That's what I keep hearing from so many friends and relatives. Frankly, I have a hard time promoting that particular point of view. I don't dispute the reality that Obama would be the first African-American President or Palin would be the first female VP; I just don't like the "Oh, well, at least if our team loses something historic will have occurred" attitude. It sounds suspiciously like someone preparing to lose.

Not sure what you think? Well, here's a Newsweek article on the woman of the hour to help you decide:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/156472

I have to admit I didn't read a newspaper today. I'm in Tampa for the weekend to attend a Dave Ramsey live event, so I spent a lot of time last night getting things done with email, etc. to clear my day. This morning when I got up, I definitely didn't want to do anything that felt like work. My wife and I had a nice morning then headed over to the arena for the event. We had treated ourselves by purchasing platinum vip passes which included lunch with Dave before the event. Lunch was good and we were treated well, but Dave started us off with a disheartening assessment of the days top financial news.

Here's the story in a nutshell: the government is taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Why is that bad? Well, when can you recall the government ever giving something back to the private sector after taking control of it? In the short run, this will be a good thing for the economy. In the long run, well, we'll have to see, but it smells bad from here.

Check out the story below from today's Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122064650145404781.html

Well, it's fall. There's no way around it. Yes, there are still 90 degree temperatures every other day, but summer is gone. I suppose I'm emphasizing this point to get it through my own thick skull. After all, I dragged my feet into the third week of the term before finally putting up a podcast.

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This isn't exactly classroom material, but I'm struggling to find enough ways to say goodbye. Here are a couple of links in memory of my friend, John TenBroeck. John passed away on Friday of cancer. He was a stalwart supporter of 26.2 with Donna, the National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer, and coached the walkers for the Galloway Program here in Jacksonville, the marathon and half-marathon training program I founded and co-direct. I spent time with John Wednesday and Thursday at hospice: he was fairly lucid and appreciated all the support the running community was showing him.

The first link is to a Florida Times-Union article about John. One note about the information concerning his marriage - both the writer and a fellow BCM board member who is a columnist for the paper argued that his marriage details didn't belong in the article, but the editor refused to honor their request.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/090608/spo_329093565.shtml

The second link is to a video blog post by Kurtis Loftus, a fellow Fastie in the training program and the artist who designed the poster, t-shirt, and medal for our innagural race.

http://twentysixgulp.blogspot.com/2008/09/hello-friends-ive-combined-couple-posts.html#links

Time Magazine has an interesting article about Ivy League schools offering financial aid. Of course, no amount of financial aid is enough if students can't pay cash for classes. Now the norm rather than the exception are students who graduate with huge student loan debt, making an education a curse rather than a blessing.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1838722,00.html

In a statement on his blog and sent out to email recipients of his Livestrong newsletter, Lance Armstrong today announced his return to professional cycling. Details will be released on Sept. 24th.

I think it's interesting he said he's "returning to professional cycling" rather than saying he is returning to racing. He does say there had been rumors about him returning to racing, but he didn't really confirm that. Perhaps he's coming back as a team owner? We'll know soon.

http://livestrongblog.org/2008/09/09/statement-by-lance-armstrong-regarding-global-cancer-fight-and-his-return-to-professional-cycling/?tr=y&auid=3991019

When I was in high school, I visited a friend who was attending Emory University. I took the tour and even interviewed with the admissions office. One of the things they were pushing was the university's relationship with former President Jimmy Carter. As I recall, he lived in the area and gave several lectures a year.

Ultimately, despite being accepted at Emory, I chose to stay in state for college. Still, I wonder what it might have been like to encounter "Professor Carter."

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1835238,00.html

It was only a few days ago that we learned about the government bailing out the major mortgage lenders. Now it's "Insurance Giant" AIG getting the treatment. I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but I do wonder how this is connected to the stock market downturn - cause? effect? I obviously have a lot to learn about finance. Silly me: I always assume I have to pay my bills and don't expect anyone to come to the rescue if I can't.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/business/18insure.html?ex=1379390400&en=927da4af2b560f20&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Two interesting stories linked below deal with long-lost historic finds. I love the fact that no matter how much attention we put on the future, things keep popping up to remind us how little we really know about our past.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10517743
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/19/hurricane-ike-ship.html

Despite what I say in the attached podcast, this has been a really tough week. Work was hectic to say the least, and things at home took a sad turn when the wonderful college student who has been watching our kids after school announced she had decided to move closer to school and get a "real" job. Add to that the fact that my wife and I have both been suffering through colds, and it was pretty much no fun around our house.

Still, weekends are meant to heal such situations, and for the most part this one did the trick.

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An interesting Discovery article linked below puts forth the theory that Stonehenge was a destination for spiritual healing. Whether this is true I don't think is a particularly revolutionary discovery, but I'm sure it feels important for the archeologists. Still, it gets me thinking about our destinations of healing in this day and age. The article compares Stonehenge to Lourdes, but I think we may see a parallel in local spas, bars, and even websites. Who is to say if more spiritual healing went on at Stonehenge than happens on FaceBook today?

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/22/stonehenge-healing.html

I'm finding Discovery.com a fascinating resource for archeological news, not to mention a great place to lose a couple of hours of productivity! While scrolling past the article on Stonehenge, I came across the below linked article regarding the Vikings. As I'm married to a woman of Scandinavian descent, I find the concept that the Vikings went off rampaging to satisfy their need for more women. Say, isn't that why the Martians invaded too?

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/17/viking-women.html

Music is important to every culture I know of, and one of the coolest innovations in the last few years is the instant access we have to any type of music, or indeed any specific song, we want. Of course, when I write "we" I mean those of us blessed to live in a country with easy computer access. That access may be getting scarcer, though, as online music services are being forced to pay much higher roayalties than they can afford. The opinion piece linked below offers one view of the current . . . can we call it a crisis?

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/pandora-radio-fights-unjust-royalty/story.aspx?guid=%7B9FBD9633%2D9624%2D41CC%2D9193%2D837F8FEEEA36%7D

There are certain issues that instantly polarize a classroom, and abortion is right at the top of that list. Typically I steer clear of this one, but Stephanie Bartsch submitted the link below and anticipates a good paper using this as one of her sources. Check it out, and feel free to submit more links for everyone's consideration.

Thanks, Stephanie!

http://www.news4jax.com/health/17545754/detail.html?taf=jax

Here we are at the start of Week 6 and the semester is flying past. My two online classes are 12-week classes, so we are literally at midterm. Of course, that means some of my students are anxious for grades. Well, that’s justified, but let me point out that the papers just came in on Friday, and some of you have asked for adjustments already, which I have made, so it will take me at least this week to get it all sorted out and graded. My goal is Friday for submitting all the grades. Feel free to cheer me on, but emails and phone calls asking for grades won’t make things go any faster. On the other hand, please call me or send a message if you have any other questions about the courses you are taking.

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Perhaps this isn't the sort of post that anyone will write a paper about, but as a runner and marathon training program director, I just can't let such an amazing feat go by without comment.

Comment: "Wow!"

http://www.iaaf.org/LRR08/news/newsid=47859.html