October 4, 2019 – Life of an old goat

Ah, good old Schadenfreude. From time to time, I do enjoy it..it is part of my dark side.

This little meme has angered some..and it is easy to see why. Life is full of issues and they tend to be complex ones. And if you are blessed enough to not see the complexity, you can come up with simplistic solutions that the “nose in the book experts with no common sense” fail to see. But alas, no one listens to you…even though you KNOW that you have it all figured out.

In reality, often there is no single optimum solution; just “less bad” options, each of which has an upside and some downsides. Ah…but realizing that means that, well, you are just one of the many that do not see the big picture.
And yes, that especially applies to ME, too many times. I have to watch for that.

Politics

Here is the deal: Trump supporters KNEW this about him…they just see ALL politicians as corrupt with Trump just being more upfront about it. This will not hurt him with the base; there is evidence of a slight erosion of support (can’t say if it is definitive or just noise). (Real Clear, Fivethirtyeight….but are we seeing this in the swing states?

Football: the weird

Illinois State is hosting FCS powerhouse North Dakota State this weekend; NDSU has won 7 of the 8 last FCS national championships. And ISU is ranked. Yes, I have tickets. The only thing available from the school are lawn tickets.

On the other hand, Notre Dame is hosting…Bowling Green (no, ND did NOT play teams like that in the old days)

Who knew that an Illinois State ticket is a hotter item than a Notre Dame ticket? (ok, I know…size of the stadium, ND is a 45 point favorite, etc….still it is counter-intuitive)

Workout catch up: my favorite workout tracking site appears to be down for the count; I’ve used it since 2003 but figured it had little time left. That doesn’t really matter as I have a paper back up until 2005 and then I have my blogs. Still, it really doesn’t matter as what worked years ago is no longer relevant. Just look at this sample of race results from 1998-1999, 2008-2009, 2018-2019. The formulas have changed on me, and what worked 20 years ago is no longer relevant.

But here goes:
Wednesday: 4 mile walk (Cornstalk classic), 5 sets of pull ups, goblet squats: 6 x 35, 6 x 50, 1 x 60 (sore)
Thursday: yoga, 5 mile walk (just didn’t feel like running; right now walking is more pleasant)

Friday: (today): weights: rotator cuff, pull ups (5 sets of 10, one of 5..good..little body swing), bench: 10 x 135, 1 x 185 (strict but weak..got it anyway), 5 x 155 (pause), decline: 10 x 165, military: 2 sets of 10 x 40 dumbbell standing (strict), 2 sets of 10 x 180 machine (seated), rows: 3 sets of 10 x 110, goblet squats: 6 x 25, 6 x 50, 6 x 65 (good depth), hex dead: 6 x 175 (very easy now…should be), 4 x 225 (getting easier..really)
plank: 2:30, lots of back stuff.

Message to readers

I intend to use this blog as a type of open diary to talk about what is on my mind. I will post workouts, my thoughts on political, social and news issues of the day, outings with family and friends and games that I attended. I’ll also talk about footraces (runs and walks).

Discussion is fine, even if your views are contrary to mine. Fact checking me or pointing out what you think are holes in my arguments is fine. “Shouting slogans” or name calling is not.

Encore posts are posts that I’ve taken from my previous blog, which I’ve decided to shut down for a while, for personal reasons.

Note: I will avoid using my name on this blog, though I will have photos of myself here. Reason: I do not want to be found by someone putting my name into a search engine. Therefore, anyone who comes to this blog must have either had a link (available to Facebook friends), came for a given post OR must have done at least a little work to get here deliberately. I have reasons for that.