Yesterday's Workout (or "How to Swim Stupid")

I got in the water late yesterday morning for a belated long swim.  I'd intended to do some open water swimming while we were camping over the weekend, but that didn't happen, leaving me to try to cram it all in on Labor Day.  

Results were mixed.

Still Celebrating

We're still celebrating the start of college football season and Army's opening win.  If you haven't seen it, here are the highlights.

Quick Thoughts: Army vs. Temple

First off, that was a terrific win!  It was a brilliant effort against a worthy opponent in a stadium that had previously been a House of Horrors. 

We said before the game that if Army could limit Temple's running game and force QB P.J. Walker to try to win with his arm, that there might be some opportunity there.  Temple actually ran well, especially between the 20s, but Army's defense stiffened near the goal line, forcing fields goals--and one turnover--and that was the difference in the game. With Army scoring touchdowns while Temple kicked field goals and punts, the Owls eventually had to shift to a hurry-up offense, and that's when we the the Black Knights' defense really come up big. LBs Andrew King and Kenneth Brinson both had picks late, icing a fifteen point road win against what had previously been an emerging college football powerhouse.

Friday Mad Science: How to Meet Women

Friday Mad Science is back!

The Internet blew up earlier this week with talk of “pickup artists” and “How to talk to a woman wearing headphones.”  Folks have spent the week running down men for wanting to meet women, and in the long run, I do not think that this is in anyone’s best interests.  The problem is not that men and women do not need to meet and even get together, it’s that there is a right and a wrong way to do everything, and right now, dudes are reading a shitload of bad information.  Blame technology, the PC police, the Baby Boomers, or whomever you’d like.  Whatever the reason, what we have now is an entire class of people who have no clue whatsoever how to speak to the opposite sex.  

It’s become a serious problem, apparently.

Battery Park, NYC

Battery Park is a large, open access green space and public park located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan.  It's a common tourist destination and the site of may of New York's modern day war memorials.  Sally, the girls, and I visited Battery Park as part of our recent two-day vacation to New York City.

Sally and the girls in Battery Park.

Story Re-Write: Centurion Six (Opening Only)

Sketch in My Notebook

This is the "revised" opening for "Centurion Six," tentatively scheduled for part of the short story anthology I've been working on.  I feel like I've been struggling it, though.  I am therefore hanging it out to ask for a couple of opinions.

Centurion Six

In the near future, genetic mutation has become the weapon of choice in an increasingly chaotic world.  Easier to hide and cheaper by far to develop and control than the nuclear and chemical weapons programs of a previous era, soon every tin-pot dictator, cult-leader, and agenda-based non-state actor on the planet begins developing “ultra-human” capabilities.  Against the proliferation of politically violent “supermen”, mundane humans--so-called ”mundies”--can offer little defense.

Follow-Up on Bradshaw & the Army

I get letters.  This one is from a friend whom I'm not going to identify:

"Hey! This might be a case of filing under 'better late than never,' but while I can read your site on RSS at work, I can't comment because it blocks. Of course, when I get home, I have a ton of other things on my mind. 

"Anyways, your blog post about the rumor that Bradshaw was leaving ARMY that kind of turned into what the Service can do for you, really struck a chord with me. 

Back to Life, Back to Reality

It's Sunday, but after more than a week off, we're back to the grind today.  I have to swim, iron, and get to the grocery store, and tomorrow I have to go into New York City and do actual work.  My phone tells me that I have more than a hundred sixty-five emails waiting for me, and that's after I've had my out-of-office assistant on all week telling people not to bother trying to contact me.

Sally took this picture yesterday at Pier A in Hoboken.

What can you do?  We've got to pay the bills.

The High Line

The High Line is a nearly one-and-a-half-mile park built on an old section of a disused elevated railroad spur on the Lower West Side of Manhattan.  Visitors to the City tend to think of New York as an unremitting Hellscape of urban concrete, glass, and steel, but the City has plenty of public green spaces, many in cleverly hidden nooks a bit off the beaten path.  The High Line is an arch example of this.

Background from the High Line's Official Twitter account.

Swim / Triathlon Training: Building Emotional Resilience

I did my long swim of the week this morning, and despite making quite a few changes to the plan on the fly--among other things, I realized midway through that I'd miscounted the yardage total and needed to cut back--I was really pleased with the results.

I'm filing this one under "triathlon" not "swimming" because you can easily adapt the basic principles below to any of the three disciplines.

Triathlon: Swim / Bike / Run

College Football Preview: Week 1 Match-Ups

College football starts on Friday, people!  It’s time to get hot.

Here’s my look at the first week’s games, with notes on the ones I’ll be watching and why.  Mine is an Army-centric view of the world, so your list may vary.  If I missed a key game, let me know in the comments.  

Thanks!

Hampton Beach, New Hampshire (Part 2)

We got up late yesterday, walked down to the Secret Spot for breakfast burritos, and then sat on the seawall to eat.  Then we walked down the beach collecting cool-looking rocks.  It was all very reminiscent of my days in San Diego.

We headed to Water County water park in the afternoon.  This was totally awesome, but I didn't take many picture.

A Wedding in New Hampshire

We're on vacation this week.  Alas, we're not in Maine this year, but we drove up to the New Hampshire coast for Sally's cousin's wedding.  It was a glorious beachside ceremony, followed by a very enjoyable reception down at a local yacht club.

But hey, you came for the pictures, no?