Runner's Heights: Ode to Mama Lade

Cumulative mileage: 124 miles...right on!

The shin splints are back and with a vengeance...After a 5 mile, both the legs are throbbing like two V-8 engines on high-octane gasoline. But this race car is not meant to stop, baby. I am going to cool it with some ice and then keep going every alternate day. It helps to have a rest day in between runs -- gives the shins some time to chill and heal. But, as I writing this, I realize that it might be the cooler weather. So, tomorrow, I am going to try running in track pants and see if it makes a difference.

I love marmalade, not just because I love sweets and oranges, but because marmalade is a metaphor for life -- bitter and sweet, messy and clear, grainy with the rinds and smooth due to the pulp. Marmalade is the anima/animus and ying/yang and I seem to have a predilection for British marmalades. I tried marmalade made out of kiwi fruit (why even call it marmalade?) but it was not the same. A kiwi fruit may be a chock-full of Vitamin C, but it still does not have the sensory variety of an orange -- bitter, sweet, sour, and pungent. To marmalade, to life.

Runner's Heights: It's a Bird, a Plane, Just an E-mail!

Cumulative mileage: 114 miles...

Ah, those shin splints are back again with a vengeance. You feel it during the run, especially if you wish to accelerate and you feel it the next day. I guess some Rest, Ice, Compression, Extension (RICE) would help, but today, being lazy, I skipped the ICE part which might not have been cool. But, if it continues to hurt tomorrow, I might reach for that ice-pack in the freezer or that bag of frozen okras that's begging to be removed to warmer climes.

American Airlines and Jet Blue are beginning to offer e-mail in their flights for a fee. So, now, you have one less excuse to get away from it all. Soon, you'll pine for YouTube, your Google search, and Yahoo news. The world wide web will be now swarming around you at 34,000 feet and you'll be under its spell--they don't call it the web for nothing. Your boss away at Bora Bora...oh, no! Wait! he just sent you an e-mail to make sure that he has the report ready when he lands on the tarmac in two hours. It's the perfect time and place distortion courtesy of the friendly skies.

Runner's Heights: Fewer Guns in the Stocking Stuffers

Cumulative mileage: 111 miles...

As I increase my mileage, I am realizing that finding sources of water or liquids along the way is becoming more and more necessary. If you are running in a dry weather in Los Angeles, the need is all the more evident. So, I'll be looking for water bottles that you can strap to your body or some spots where there is a public water faucets. There will be reports on this later.

The Supreme Court is to decide on the fate of the gun laws in the District of Columbia soon. The second amendment and our founding fathers sought to empower the militia letting them use guns to protect and to serve. I guess the term, "militia", has different connotations today and maybe, the founding fathers intended the privilege enshrined in the U.S. Constitution for the police. The work of the police today would be probably less dangerous if fewer criminals trained guns on the police themselves. Editing gun laws is tantamount to sacrilege and blasphemy in many circles of the U.S. and the Supreme Court and it is unlikely that we will see a sea change in gun control anytime soon. But at least, the media will get to rattle the cages of Judge Scalia and the NRA for a few days.

Runner's Heights: Teddy the Prophet

Cumulative mileage: 101 miles...it's over a century and more to come.

People have different reasons to keep a tally of their mileage -- perhaps, my only reason to keep a tally is to find out how many I have put on these New Balance 766 shoes. Well, that's not entirely true, because, on weekends, I run in a different pair of shoes since I am running on a different surface -- concrete. During the week, I mostly run on asphalt, which, I gather, is much softer than concrete. So, for concrete surfaces, I use a shoe that has more cushioning, such as the New Balance 804, and for asphalt, I use a shoe with more stability and pronation control, such as, the 766. As, I have mentioned before, New Balance is my preferred running shoe because they have extra wide versions of most of their running shoes and they have endeavoured to keep some of the manufacturing facilities inshore.

Now for religious fundamentalism 101 -- for all those who romanticize about utopian life in a religion-oriented environment, the events in Sudan might serve as a reminder about the unfettered intrusiveness of religious zealotry and fundamentalism in our society. Religion is fine and, perhaps, essential, in the realm of an individual, but when you band it together with a collective group of like-minded people, you usually end up with arbitrary tribalism, irrationalism, and unmitigated bigotry. A visiting teacher called a vote on what to name a teddy bear and the students voted to call it "Muhammad." So, now the teacher has been labelled an infidel for defiling Muhammad's name and the mullahs of Sudan have come out of their lonely lives and thrust themselves into the nation's limelight. The rabble rousers are having a field day with the hoi polloi while the rest of the world is wondering how and when "Muhammad" became a word with such vicious connotations, inciting the prospect of violence, hatred, and strife at its very utterance. Now, the stage is all set for a duel between the teddy-bear-hugging protesters outside the Sudanese embassy in London versus the knife-wielding, blood-thirsting fundamentalists protesters, in Khartoum. Are we all rooting for the triumph of the teddy over tyrannical fundamentalism?

Runner's Heights: The Wrath of Grendel

Cumulative mileage: 95 miles...5 miles from a century!

The cumulative mileage makes me look heroic but there is more than meets the eye. While my running world continues to exist, my blogging universe shrank in frequency. Therefore, the cumulative mileage registers that huge surge, although that surge of jubilance actually belongs to Kevin Rudd, the newly-elected prime minister of Australia. I have got to take a moment to relish the victory of the Labor Party and the possible end of years of bigoted and ill-conceived politics of John Howard and in particular, his obsequious support of George Bush's quixotic ideas. Regret that non-sequitur, but back to the art and science of running. I can genuinely say, after almost five weeks of having quit coffee, that my muscles cramp less and I have been able to run, sprain-free, and increase my distance per week. I have to go back and look at the relation between high caffeine intake and adrenaline, etc. but in my case, it might be purely academic, because I don't believe that I am going back to the espresso machine for the mocha -- the visits are strictly to make a cup of chai with steamed milk.

We saw Beowulf in 3D at the AMC theater in Santa Monica. It was a wild ride, full of hijinks, cliches and poor performances. Zemeckis's high-budget animation is able to transport you to a Denmark far away in time and place thanks to cinematography, sets, and effects, but the experience once you reach there is stifling and full of stilted performances, notwithstanding the star-studded cast of Anthony Hopkins, Anjelina Jolie, and John Malkovich. The 3-D version is filled with the actual white knuckle teasers, such as the occasional arrow heading towards the observer and objects that appear out of nowhere, but these frills do nothing to save the hackneyed dialogue that the performers spit out with morbid disaffection. Due to his innovative performance-capture technology, Zemeckis apparently had the freedom to move the camera wherever he deemed fit and this single trait is also the weakness of the tech. During key moments of some scene, the lead performers often have difficulty making eye contact, making the scenes highly impersonal and distant. The extras in crowd scenes, on occasion, stare in random directions, giving the scene a disjointed quality that even the strength of the unfolding drama cannot redeem. Even some of the effects are shoddily integrated into the movie -- there is snow falling in many of the scenes but it lands neither on the performers nor on their flowing robes.

Anjelina Jolie in a state of undress will still continue to draw viewers to Beowulf, thus assuring its place in the top quadrant of the box office returns, but the movie is a piffle that should have spent more time developing the script derived out of the oldest novel in the English. Instead, this Beowulf is a campy movie experience rife with characters who appear stoned out of their minds. The filmmakers injected some grim moments into the movie that appeared hilariously funny because it was hard to take any of the performance seriously.

Runner's Heights: The Run of Jesuit Discipline

Cumulative mileage: 72 miles...woohoo!

That used to be my lucky number and year. I was in 3rd Standard at St. Xavier's and the year that I think that I developed a knack for running. How did I really get into running? It's an interesting story and the foundation of a lifetime of recreation and leisure for me. Actually, it didn't all start out that way. I went to a strict, Jesuit school and for the smallest of infractions, you were disciplined without recourse. So, for example, if you were caught having a conversation with a fellow student in class, you were punished. And I talked a lot in class, not because I wanted to be punished, but because, I think, I had Attention Deficit Disorder and a compelling need to poke fun at some of the most imperious and vainglorious teachers that stepped into our classroom. Needless to say, some of those teachers hated me and so saw no particular need to keep me as a disruptive elements in their classrooms. So, I was either sent to kneel down outside the class so that the Principal would see me punished during his sombre rounds or I was sent out to run across the great big soccer and field hockey field. I had to circle the fields numerous times and on hot summer days, that would mean I'd be drenched in sweat. And you had to run in your school-uniform shoes, which were probably Bata Wayfinder, a cool shoe in those days with a compass under your heels. Or it could have been the Bata Naughty Boy, a shoe that had a hard layer of leather around the toe -- not quite a steel toe but just as tough. Neither shoe was quite the quintessential running shoe. I got used to it though and a couple of years later, when the tryouts for the school athletics came, running was a piece of cake. And I was always ran barefeet which probably explains why I have a flatter toe. So, there's the Jesuit school to running connection -- who'd have imagined!

I recently acquired my first Casio G-shock watch. I always thought that the G-shock moniker was a marketing gimmick and I guess, I finally caved in after the glowing reviews of the G-shock watch on Amazon.com. I wanted to get a watch that I could wear through all my sporting activities that also had a stop watch and was reasonable. The entry-level G-shock fitted the bill. It is simple watch with buttons that are well labelled and a set up that's fairly simple. The digital readout is fairly clean and clear and you can turn off the light function for a variety of modes which is bound to prolong battery life. I paid $45 for it and you might find a cheaper deal if you look around. All in all, a minimalist watch that's neither too heavy or garish. I could say that if it took a licking and kept on ticking for the next three years, I'd consider my money well spent.

Here's a pic:

Runner's Heights: Handle This Bar

Cumulative mileage: 68 miles and counting!

As I was running my five-miler yesterday, I occasionally floundered and had doubts if I was going to finish the run. But thank goodness my Sony Walkman radio kept going and I heard about Tim Borland and his 63 marathons in 63 days. Borland is only 31 and I can't help compare him to Tiger Woods. If Woods has several more Masters trophies left in him, Borland must have scores of marathons waiting to be added to his list of running accomplishments. And I am grateful that he inspired me for those few minutes when I felt like I was going to fail. Listening to his words on NPR were the few drops of inspiration and encouragement that I needed to finish my bout of running. Thanks, Tim. As for me, I hope I run a few marathons by the time I am 63, if I get that far.

For the cross-training component of my workouts, I have been primarily leaning on biking. I also realized that when you are biking for long stretches, one of the key things is to be able to assume different grip positions on the handlebars to ease the stress on your back. Since I write a modified-mountain bike, the frame geometry is predisposed towards a more upright stance, which is inefficient for faster, road riding. Besides, the straight handlebars provide very little variety in grip positions. For such a handlebar, the handlebar extensions seem like a nice option, but I haven't found one that I can just use on my existing handlebar. I will report on such a product as soon as I find and use one.

Quote of the day found on stephentrepreneur...
Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"Little minds have little worries, big minds have no time for worries."

Runner's Heights: Requiem to the Necktie

Cumulate mileage: 63 miles
Onward to a 100 miles, only 27 miles to go. Like I mentioned before, I wish I had kept a log from earlier on this year which would have tipped me over a 100 by this time of the year. Anyway, better late than never and if I can get to a strong 100 by the end of this year, I'll be thrilled. The runs are getting easier because the weather is cooler and drier and therefore I am less prone to feelings of fatigue. But perhaps, one of the most important things to learn while running is learn how to concentrate and work on ideas and matters that are really important in self-growth and development. Due to my mediocre physical condition, I was often focused on my physical endurance and breath in order to finish the run. But, I think, as my endurance catches up with my intentions, I'll be able to free myself up to think of more important things than just surviving a run.

I was thinking, it has been almost 15 years since I last had a job where I had to wear a necktie. Now, everything that I usually wear has a purpose -- a shirt, shoes, a watch, jeans, socks, and a belt. But who invented the necktie and what is its function? It gets in the way of your food, it often gives you a choking sensation, and you have spend about 2 mins. every work day of your life getting it straightened out and tied. What a waste! Is it part of our fashion religion that we are so used to seeing it around us that we don't question it anymore. A scarf at least keeps a person warm but a necktie would fail at even that measly purpose. Why do we still feature it in our professional lives? Why do we end up paying upto $50 for an article that is as vestigeal as the human tailbone. Why, why?

So, for that I propose, a world "Strictly No Neckties Today", Day. The only groups who could claim exception are double agents, spies, and folks in espionage. Like this gentleman here...

Runner's Heights: The Compass Trail

Do you take vaccines for the flu season or should you just test your luck? Well, for me, the answer is usually is the former. Not that I am afraid of the flu but because I am afraid it might result in some result in some time off from running and concomitant fall in the weekly mileage. So, for the sake of running, I will brave the flu vaccine needle and bear any symptoms that the vaccine wishes to dole out. And although, I am not completely sure if they work, but I have been regularly taking the Echinacea and Golden Seal supplement from Trader Joe's. Only time will tell if these home-made remedies will help tide over the flu and cold season. Maybe, I will revisit this topic again in spring.

I recently bought a Famous Trails watch. The watch has a digital compass which is why I was interested in it. It is has a large footprint, almost as large as timepiece-on-a-chain and unfortunately, for such a large watch, the bezel is surprizingly cluttered with unnecessary displays such as a circling dashed line for displaying seconds (it could have been easily replace with pulsating dots if that's what the manufacturers were interested in). The back seems to be stainless steel but has no information or serial number identifying the make, manufacturer or the country of origin. After a google search, I learned that the watch is a generic from China with a serial model number LP984N sold by a Hong Kong based exporter, Best Fortune Products Co. The offset printing on the box is hazy and the user manual is a single sheet of incoherently-written instructions made out of the same type of paper that grocery store receipts are printed on. All in all, the packaging and the documentation are extremely shoddy.

Famous Trails features the watch on its site.

I bought it on sale for $30 and perhaps, the watch is worth even less. The Big5 Sporting Goods label says that the regular price is $130 which would have been ridiculously exorbitant.

Here's a picture in case you wish to avoid this product like the plague.

Runner's Heights: No End to the Freeway

Cumulative mileage: 54

Crossing 50 miles doesn't seem like much at all but after two weeks of sickness and indisposition, I am relieved to have reached this milestone. This was a chequered run about the 50 with several firsts for me since I started recording the cumulative mileage -- I ran on consecutive days, gave up espresso (my favourite), and worked through some strange cramps in my calves. All in all, this was something that I have been meaning to keep for a while -- a runner's log without too many fancy frills. It would have been great to keep this log from the very first time that I ran in these shoes. The support on these New Balance 766 feels a little different after all these runs and it'd be nice to know how many actual miles I have put on these shoes.

There was a massive traffic jam on the 405 South this morning because a crane got jammed in an overpass. The snarl in traffic lasted for miles and I am sure that a lot of people were either late for work or missed their doctor's appointments. If you take the 405 freeway, you must have noticed that they are trying to add one more lane to both directions of the freeway along parts of West L.A. I can only swagger a guess, but this entire project, including, rebuilding those sound-proof walls, must cost close to a billion dollars, not counting the time wasted due to the increased traffic jams due to the construction. Broadening the freeway was either a madcap idea or someone's clever scheme to get rich quick. The funds that the city/state is spending on this hair-brained project could have easily gone towards developing mass-transit along the same stretch of the freeway. Adding an extra lane does little to alleviate traffic -- it is perhaps, conventional wisdom, that that extra lane will soon be clogged up because more people will chose to take the highway since there is significant housing development around the Playa del Rey/LA airport area that abuts the freeway. And no one's counting the environmental impact of more cars on the residential communities next to the freeway. Once again, it's making the coffers of some councilfolks and construction workers heavy.

Runner's Heights: The Anatomy of Cool

Cumulative mileage: 46 miles

Despite the air-quality reports, I ventured out into the Ballona Creek this evening with the feeling that the ocean breeze would mitigate some of the haze and smoke in the air. I might have been partially right but the stench of the stagnant water in the creek and the mild breeze almost proved me wrong. The sun skies however were a different story -- hues of violet, orange, cadmium red and burnt sienna. The drama was in the skies with the orange ball of a sun hiding behind the iridescent curtains of the clouds and smoke. The NASA satellite images of the Southern California wildfires demonstrated the immense swathe that the fires have drawn for hundreds of miles. The Santa Ana winds, being very low in humidity, dry you up as you run and you perspire very little until you have notched up a few miles. All the reason to stay hydrated because your skin is cooling you less efficiently without the perspiration. Since I was reading the weather reports, I was prepared for this and drank a lot of water throughout the day. So, this is how I might have been able to stave off any cramping.

It is always interesting to see salespeople at a store pitching items based on their form and less on their function, i.e., harping more than the "cool" factor than its utilitarian value. Now, I am not talking about the fashion aisle in Nordstrom but a bike store. This was Wheel World in Culver City and we were looking into clipless pedals. A customer asked why he needed clipless pedals and the salesperson answered that it was because he thought they looked "cool." Noting the disbelief in our faces, he did explain that clipless pedals help with the upstroke assist during pedaling but then proceeded to show us clipless pedals that were $109 a pair! The customer had brought in a used bike that was worth less than $200 but this sales person was recommended pedals that were more than half the worth of the bike. The interesting part is that the salesperson hadn't bothered to look at the bike at all to begin with. While flaunting off the $109- a-pair Shimano pedals he was waxing rhapsodic about the coolness factor of the shiny, nickel-plated pedals.

You would think that bike stores, surfboard shops, and music stores were the last bastion of stores where the sales people actually were passionate about the trade and made intelligent suggestions to customers based on experience and value. But, alas, this is a waning phenomenon. It was the same bike store that another salesperson convinced me to buy a Knog Frog LED light over a CatEye light. On hindsight, I should have bought the CatEye light because it had greater illumination power despite the fact that it takes several AAA batteries to produce that illumination. But I am convinced that the salesperson sold the Knog Frog because it was more cool than the staid CatEye product.

As Aerosmith would say, "Live and learn from fools and from sages..."

Runner's Heights: Soldiers of Fortune

Another cross-training day coming up. The weather is bone-dry, thanks to the Santa Ana wind conditions. The fire in Malibu and rest of the Southern California rages on and if we ever needed rain, this would be the time and place. I am guessing that on a day like this, when relative humidity is in single digits, the ocean side would be the best place to run. If that's not an option, then the best bet would be run after dusk or when the heat and dry condition have mellowed a bit. And having a humidifier at night would ensure some restful sleep and energy for the next day.

On the same day that an article appeared on yahoo that for most Americans, it is getting harder to live from paycheck to paycheck (see,
Living paycheck to paycheck gets harder), the chief executive of the U.S. asked for another 46 billion dollars to fight an illegal war of occupation (see, Bush asks for $46 billion more for wars). Here's a leader whose people are living from hand to mouth and skipping meals just to feed their famished children while he plunges the nation into greater debt and financial insecurity. While the average American makes a little higher than minimum wage, his/her taxes go into paying Blackwater USA mercenaries 100 times the wage that an average American earns. And these mercenaries hired by Blackwater USA are not just U.S. citizens and residents alone -- they could be soldiers of fortune from any corner of the world. Blackwater USA and many other contractors in Iraq have been accused of gypping the U.S. Government and you have to wonder how much of Bush's 46 billion is going to fill the coffers of Blackwater USA and its ilk. For a company such as Blackwater USA and its right-wing crusader, Eric Prince, this war in Iraq must be a God-send (no pun intended) and there's every incentive for Blackwater USA to ensure that this is a war without an end.

Runner's Heights: Double Time for Super Scoopers

Cumulative mileage: 43 miles

It is amazing how much yoga, stretching, and hydration can impact your running experience. I haven't been doing yoga for the last three days and I forgot to drink my daily dose of water on this especially dry and hot day and I felt that every mile was about to bring me down to my knees. In fact, there were times that I had to switch to a run-walk mode because I was afraid of pulling a muscle or spraining my calves. Throughout the 30 min. short run, the calves remained tight and adamantly high-strung -- uptight twits.

There were at least nine fires in Southern California today and they coincided with an unusually hot and dry day. Most news reports ascribed the weather to the Santa Ana winds -- those legendary winds that always make their presence felt at this time of the year with a brush fire or two. As you drove down from downtown Los Angeles on 10 West towards the Pacific Coast you could see all the Amber Alerts screaming, "All Lanes to PCH Closed" and no sooner than you made the turn towards the coast beyond Overland Ave, you could see the bales of white smoke smother the skies. The super scoopers, the helicopters, and the fire fighters are all there and it's going to be a long and exhausting day for those trying to douse the fire and get it out of harm's way. It must be the time of the year in Southern California when narry a fire fighter can take a vacation.

Runner's Heights: Blog the Knog Frog

Cumulative mileage: 40 miles

That whopping surge in the cumulative mileage is certainly deceiving because it was not attained in one try. It took three spells of running to notch up 10 more miles. But seven of those ten were achieved in consecutive days -- a first since 2005 when I was leg-injury free for most part. Runs are getting easier because it's much cooler in the evenings but it's a tradeoff -- you have to run in the darkness as the dusk sets in sooner these days. And when you are running on embankments or off-road, you have to watch out for potholes, steep run-offs and dips to avoid twisting your ankle or spraining your calves. So, if you have a 9-6 work routine, a possible solution would be to switch to running around lunch or before work. The latter is probably not an option for me since I was never an early riser.

Since I find myself biking well into the evening and I share the bike path with pedestrians, I felt it might be safer for both parties if I outfitted my bike with some lights. I recently acquired a used Gary Fisher Hoo Kee E Koo with street tires and love riding it out to the sunset and the cool ocean breeze. I can go faster because of the street tires and the thinner Mavic rims but that means I closer to a pedestrian than they think. The salesman at Wheelworks in Culver City convinced me to buy the Knog Frog which an LED light wrapped in a silicone straps that allows you to attach the Frog to your helmet or any round tubing (handle bar, seatpost, etc.). I have to admit that I was skeptical when I bought it and I am still not convinced that it has ample lighting power. But it is lightweight, easily attachable, fairly inxepensive and comes is three llight colors -- white, red, and blue. When you put it in flashing mode, it can announce your presence more effectively. However, as headlight to illuminate the path ahead, it is woefully inadequate because it has a tiny illumination radius and is practically useless when you are cycling relatively fast (15 mph or faster). So, the verdict is that it might a light accessory to a main lighting device on your bike.

More at Knog's website...not the most user-friendly website...

Here's a picture of some Knog Frogs:

Runner's Heights: More Rice for Russia

Cumulative mileage: 30 miles

I am back in the running fray. You lay off running for a week and it's hard to notch up the usual mileage again. Also, without your music, you might have to work on your rhythm too. But I am genuinely sore after street-pounding a paltry 3 miles. Hey, I am not complaining or bitter. I am grateful to be back on the streets with my music, my jogging shoes and the sweat on my brows. In addition, running is becoming a joy in the late afternoon here because it is cooler and best of all, it rained last night in LA and the ground was soft. It felt like running on cupcakes...past the kid soccer games at Mar Vista park and beyond the Halloween trinkets put up by residents along Barrington Ave in West Los Angeles. The air was crisp and a tad moist...perfect for a run.

The media in the U.S. has attention deficit disorder even when there are no large catastrophes happening in the world that could be sensationalized. Witness the lack of coverage of the Burmese monks. The last we heard was that they had been corralled into some northern province and held under surveillance lest they cause more problems with their peaceful, non-violent protests. In the meantime, Condolezza Rice finds more reason to lecture Russian President Putin on the salient features of democracy and governance. She still hasn't felt the need to apologize for being part of a regime that orchestrated an unprovoked attack against a sovereign nation followed by an occupation that has never been ratified by the United Nations or has been put to vote for the occupied peoples.

Runner's Heights: Noble Enough for Nobel

More cross-training du jour. I have recently acquired a used Gary Fisher and decided to take it out for a spin across the Playa del Rey. Since the dusk is inching in closer to the rest of the afternoon, I got started at 5:45 pm from the Playa area and made it to the beach by 6 pm...The Gary Fisher, although being a mountain bike, has street tires and that made it fairly easy to pedal upwind into the ocean breeze. I must have clocked an average of 12 mph going by my Navman GPS device which seems to be pretty accurate and consistent. I always wonder which satellite -- or big brother -- it is looking up to get its position. So armed with my cell phone, my Navman and Walkman, I feel like I am harnessed to all the technology that I can possibly cope with. If I could fast forward about 20 years, maybe I'd add a pacemaker, hearing aid and some nanocapsule embedded in my skin to the list. The latter would be for all my creditors to know where I am at all times.

As I was reading the swarm of news media covering Al Gore's Nobel win, I realized that Gandhi had never received a Nobel prize for peace. A man of Gandhi's stature and calibre should have been awarded the Nobel posthumously although I am not sure that the award has a provision for that. And as one of my colleagues pointed out, since the Nobel committee does not discriminate against group awards, it would be great if the Burmese monks could have won the prize and the monetary award that goes with it. They could have certainly use the fame and the fortune to push their agenda and pressure the military junta into relenting. And come to think, they ought to institute a Nobel prize for humour and my first nomination would go to Robin Williams. But if posthumous awards are allowed, then it would be a tough call between Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd, the doyens of silent comedy.

Runner's Heights: Trust Your Prophets

Since I am still recovering from the bout of cold, it's still cross-training time. The elliptical trainer is still the best choice because you still feel a full-body workout. I am also able to work some straight punches while on the machine, so I feel like I am moving a lot. It is the sense of motion that's important especially after you have been sitting all day at a desk. The more all-round motion that you get, the more you feel that you have had blood flow through your joints, particularly the spine.

Well, Christmas is a little over two months away and it would be nice to get some time off at the end of the year. I was wondering that since, we all pretend to be secular, yet respect only a Christian holiday, why not let the floodgates of religion open in acceptance of all prophets from all walks of life. So, a holiday each for birthdays of Buddha, Moses, Zarathustra, Muhammad, Krishna...etc...just add your prophet. That would be true secularism and more holidays for all, a win-win for all.

Runner's Heights: This Creek's for You

I am still out of commission with a cold, but today is Blog Action Day and so, I have to proffer some words for the environment. I run by the Ballona Creek at least thrice every day and each time, I try to remind myself as to how lucky I am to be jogging my way to the beautiful Pacific ocean. Sometimes, when the tide rolls in, it does swell up the waters in the creek and brings in the majestic pelicans who swoop and dive into the waters with effortless ease and consistency. But as you run past the pelicans and their habitat, upstream you see the man-made litter, styrofoam cups, grocery bag, and all kinds of flotsam. I even spotted a bicycle and a shopping cart stuck in the middle of the creek, like someone reminding us how uncouth human callousness could be. For the birds, this water is their home and a source for their subsistence. That's hard to forget and what is reassuring is to see the people that feed the birds and the seagulls breadcrumbs to ease our guilt.

I am not into expensive gifts, but lately, I have been thoroughly enjoying the gift of a Baby Taylor guitar. It's a mahogany solid top and oval back that nestles nicely into the side of my blues belly. The sound is incredibly bright and textured for a 3/4 size guitar and although I have had it for less than a week, the workmanship seems very professional, although, there are two visible screws on the fretboard that attach the neck to the body and are a sight for sore eyes. It hasn't affected playability so, I'll rest easy. The gig bag that came with it is nice and roomy but if I am travelling, I'd prefer to get a hardshell case because that would at least give it some hope of surviving the fury of some disgruntled baggage handler.

Here's how it looks:

Runner's Heights: Day of Nagging Cold and Mahi Mahi

The progress on the cumulative mileage has stalled...I am still nursing that cold. Hot chai with ginger and Tylenol Cold multi-symptoms are the only recourse from this affliction. My only hope is to, a) not infect any one else and b) to develop a resistance for the rest of the season if there is such a thing as cold-induced immunity. I guess I could take this opportunity to do some yoga but that hasn't happened either but some twisting and bending asanas would have been perfect today. "Ah, there's always tomorrow," says the pragmatist in me. And if I do end up going to the gym for some weight training, I will be glad that there are the hand sanitizers mounted on the weightroom walls so that I don't infect anyone with my germs. Oh, maybe, someday, we'll invent germicidal gloves to work out with.

Made a round trip from Los Angeles to San Diego today. Thought I would utilize this opportunity to post some more information about obligation-free restrooms. Well, I did find one that I would be glad to recommend and it's at the La Jolla Village Center near UC San Diego. It's the FedEx/Kinko's store and it's one of the most customer-friendly branches that I have been. Besides, there are some excellent stores in the neighborhood where you can grab a bite, for instance, a Mahi-Mahi salad at Rubio's. That's one way to swim in the Triton tide.

FedEx/Kinko's
La Jolla CA
8849 Villa La Jolla Dr
La Jolla, CA 92037-1965
USA
Phone: (858) 457-3775
Fax: (858) 457-0946
Email: usa2693@fedexkinkos.com

A penny for this thought:
"The essence of patriotism today can be distilled down to a $2 bumper sticker."

Runner's Heights: Jones and Her Olympic High

Cumulative today: 27 miles

Down with a dogged cold these last two days. Tried running even though I was quite indisposed and felt every mile towards the end. Self-doubt and physical weakness hobbled me the last two miles and I was lucky to have made it back into the fold without any cramps or injuries. I was feeling very proud of having worked out consistently for 33 days in a row and then this -- a call for penitence and humility. So, no more high-jinx or bravado until this cold works its way out of this weak sinews. Of course, if things get worse, there's always Vitamin M aka Motrin. Pills are a running pilgrim's progress.

Speaking on drugs, Marion Jones had to bid a tearful farewell to her reputation and athletic career. Now, the public's attention span is usually in milliseconds, so time will exonerate and rehabilitate her back into society. In fact, she had been forgotten by the media for a quite awhile until her recent disclosure that she had used performance-enhancing drugs during her Olympic record feats. The drugs were connected to already-embroiled BALCO which has been linked to Barry Bond's alleged drug use in baseball. BALCO's roster of clients in the sports industry, if ever revealed, might run like Heidi Fliess's list of Hollywood celebrities. Marion Jones may be given a slap in the wrist and allowed to go free because she seems to be cooperating with the authorities but what would be also important is to identify the athletes who came in second, third, or fourth after Jones in Olympics and award them their due medals. Jones may return her gold medals in a symbolic gesture but it is important to set the Olympic records straight and identify the people to deserved to win the first, second, and third places on the victory stand. There is no place for performance-enhancing drugs in the Olympics.

Return of the doggone doggerel...

Now and then, I can see,
That what is "I" is not quite "me",
Now and then, could it be...
That "us" in me is not like "we"

Runner's Heights: Have faith my friends

Cumulative mileage: 23 miles

Ending the day with a very good run -- at times, clocking in a speed of 7.1 miles. The average speed might have been at least in the neighborhood of 5.8-5.9 which is really an important milestone for me. What do I attribute this to? Well, don't ask me the medical reason for this because I am not a doctor. You might have a good laugh at this, but here are my conjectures on this improved speed and a strong finish:

- drinking about 5 litres of water before the run...for the ounce mavens it's 160 ounces
- giving up the espressos for about a week now
- cooler weather in Southern California
- and finally (drumroll...), running up and down the bleachers in the UCLA stadium.

So Senator John McCain goes to his constituency and says that he would prefer a president who is of the Christian faith because this nation was based on Christian values. Then, to pacify his Jewish electorate, including his friend, Joe Lieberman, he goes on to add that this nation was based on Judeo-Christian values. It is amazing that a leading figure of one of the most advanced nation could make such a cretinous remark. First of all, the U.S. constitution is designed to separate religion from governance and any president who tries to inject faith-based imperatives should be impeached for failing to uphold the constitution. Secondly, the ethos and the history of this nation belongs to the Native Americans who were displaced by the European settlers and invaders. And to understand the spirit of tolerance, all McCain has to do is look at the Native Americans, many of whom have embraced Christianity in their fold. Now, why can't McCain understand diversity and accept it just like the Native American accepted his forefather's faith? How can he even dream of being a president of one of the most powerful nations when he doesn't even have the power to look beyond his narrow-minded visions? Well, I think I can guess what you're saying..."How can anybody be worse than the incumbent?"

And now, it's doggerel time...

I said what I said
I did what I did...
I would what I could
I should what I would
I know how to make
worse from good
'coz Ah am the Prezdint!

Runner's Heights: What's in a Word?

Today is Cross-training day so there will be no mileage, only the rapture and rotations of the elliptical machine. For the time in a long time, this is the 28th consecutive day that I have worked out and although I can feel the fatigue, I have no desire to curtail this sequence unless I am forced to skip a day. The trick is in cross-training because tedium can easily set in especially if you are working out alone all the time. In addition to this, this is the week that I parted ways with my coffee habit and the headaches and the dizziness keep coming back like a droning fly that loves the scent of my hair. I am kicking the coffee habit as an experiment to see if it will impact my mileage in any manner. So, I will post the result of my findings as we go along.

I am aware of the public spat going on between the scholar, Norman Finkelstein and the former member of O.J. Simpson's criminal defense "Dream Team" and Harvard University faculty, Alan Dershowitz. What is interesting is that Dershowitz and his fellow thinkers at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) are convinced that every Jewish person should also be the supporter of the Israeli government's policies, no matter how totalitarian and inhumane those policies might be. To hold the values and aspirations of an entire Jewish diaspora hostage to the machinations of an authoritarian regime is perhaps, far-fetched, but Dershowitz and his interest groups see no problem with that. If you criticize the policies and actions of the Israeli regime, you are anti-Semitic, just like opposing George H.W. Bush would be unpatriotic. Comparisons between the Israeli regime's treatment of the Palestinians and South Africa's apartheid are gaining more ground because the world is not blind to the blatant aggression and oppression of innocent peoples. The Jewish diaspora has, thanks to the efforts of lobbies like AIPAC, been pressured into thinking that any criticism of the current Israeli government's action is sacrilegious. Furthermore, what is perhaps a sign of disrespect to Holocaust casualties and survivors worldwide, AIPAC seems to have tied the recognition of Holocaust with the tacit approval of the Israeli government's action to decide whether you are an anti-Semite. Fail either and you are an anti-Semite...no questions asked. And watch out, if you question or critique AIPAC, the anti-Semite label might be yours.

At the rate Noam Chomsky's criticizing Dershowitz, his anti-Semitic label seems only around the corner. Anti-semitism is a grave and serious label and at the rate that Dershowitz and AIPAC are trivializing the label, it might be soon become antiquated, just like "commie" and "beatnik." It will be a great disservice to the millions of people who suffered and who wish to be no part of what is happening there.

Runner's Heights: More Saves and Samba

Cumulative mileage: 18 miles

Well, I added only 5 miles to the roster yesterday but it surely felt like 10 miles. It was overcast in the shoreline areas and so I ventured out for a run during noon expecting to beat the heat. But I couldn't be more surprised. The sun had nearly burnt the cloud cover to a sliver and the humidity was higher than usual and as a result, the air felt heavier. To someone running on a hot and humid North Carolina summer day, this may sound like whining, but to my sheltered California disposition, this was grounds for some leaden-footed running. Twice during the puny 5-mile run, I almost gave up because I felt too dehydrated and when I spotted a water foundation about 100 yards away, I felt as a desert-weary Bedouin would feel upon glancing at an oasis. I drank like a fish and proceeded to run the end of my course like a hardy camel that throws caution to the desert wind. I am exaggerating here...no matter, how bad the weather gets in Southern California, it's hardly ever as severe as in many other parts of the world.

There are still ramblings about the U.S. loss in the Women's Soccer to Brazil. The score was 4-0 and as is typical in American sport commentary, the U.S. media is looking for a scapegoat to blame. Very few reports in the American media are talking about how well the Brazilians might have performed and what we might need to learn from their team spirit, but the focus is on Coach Ryan and Briana Scurry, the goalkeeper who, in 1999, deflected the penalty kick that gave the U.S. it's World Cup win over China. Both Coach Ryan and Scurry have stellar credentials and they certainly don't deserve to be inveighed by the other team goalkeeper, Hope Solo. The team spirit of the Brazilians starkly contrasts with the rugged individualism of Solo's comments made to the press blaming Ryan and Scurry for the debacle. A team-oriented sport like soccer hardly needs the self-centered, Tonya Harding types, especially when there's one more tough game in the fray -- against Norway. And we all hope that Scurry goes out shining, because she deserves to be remembered as one of the best goalkeepers in the U.S. soccer history. And the Team USA needs to get some more Samba in the soccer.

Runner's Heights: Mr.Guest, Some Barbs for You...

Cumulative Mileage: 13 miles

So, it had a to be a walk run because "them-old" soleus muscles acted up again. So, I was forced to do a run walk but I have gotten used to run-walks by now. There is no shame, no embarrassment or losing-face in run-walks. I have learned to add them to my repertory of physical activity because they help to increase your mileage. And I am trying to increase my mileage -- that is my ultimate goal. When I increase that mileage to 26 miles, I will rest easy on that achievement and then deign to think about speed and number of laps, etc. etc. And I think that one of the ways to mentally prepare for more mileage is adding a variety of surfaces to your run -- from grass, asphalt, and gravel to concrete pavements.

The buzz of about the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, continues in the press these days. Among the insinuations, vilifications, encomiums, and invectives being traded, Columbia President Lee Bollinger's oratorial disposition does stand out as strange and unprecedented. I have been a member of the public speaking organization, Toastmasters International, and one of the skills that you learn as a Toastmaster is to introduce a speaker to an audience. It is widely believed that if you invite a speaker to speak at your forum, you try to portray the speaker in the best light possible which is a way of saying to the audience that this speaker's words is worth the time that the audience is devoting in listening to the speaker. Why Bollinger would choose to insult an invited guest by calling him "a petty and cruel dictator" is worth investigating. In maligning an invited speaker, Bollinger failed to get his facts right by calling Ahmadinejad, a "dictator". Even though the nominees on the ballot are cherry-picked by theocrats the election of Ahmadinejad is still a quasi-democratic process and he is not a dictator. He may walk of the talk of an bigot and a fascist but he is an elected official.

Runner's Heights: Ode to a Fire-Breathing Puppet

Cumulative mileage so far...8 miles.
Hey, I know that it doesn't seem like much but one day, these might all add up to a 100 miles, or even a 1000, perhaps...ah, let's just do this one day at a time. Despite being hobbled by the crimp in my soleus muscle, I limped through the last two miles with a great deal of circumspection nonetheless. Running is a constant balance between pushing yourself to the limit and pain management. Pain is supposed to tell you when to stop but you can push the boundaries of pain because pain is stimulus and your reaction to the stimulus determines the influence of pain. For those of us who refuse to act our age or accept physical limitations this balance is a malleable entity to be toyed with in nearly every encounter that demands physical endurance.

It was certainly bold of the Columbia University President Lee Bollinger to invite an inveterate bigot, a totalitarian despot, and a human-rights abuser, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to speak on campus. Ahmadinejad is not only ignorant about world history, as his denial of the Holocaust attests, he is clueless about the fundamental human right of people of any sexual orientation to live their lives free from any government fiat or duress. Like George Bush, he professes to be God's official mouthpiece and even confuses himself with his bizarre providential proclamations. "Allah" and "Quran" are at Ahmadinejad's beck and call, to be pulled out whenever logic and reasoning whither and flounder in his rambling rantings which happens a lot in his speeches. Perhaps the only difference here is that George Bush tolerates a despot who enters his country and allows him to make a speech at a high-profile university. It is unlikely that Bush would be allowed to speak at Tehran University and therein lies the fundamental difference between democracy and theocracy. As long as he is remote-controlled by those crusty-old Ayatollahs, it would be hard for this former engineering professor to know the difference between hard facts and bigoted, theological opinions.

Runners Heights: The Return of the Aquatic Mammal

Starting this week, I have decided to include a cumulative log of mileage that I run since the recovery from a pulled soleus muscle. I have heard from various other runners that I chat with that recovery from an injured soleus takes longer than usual and I am experiencing that myself. Since the injury, I am only imagining what it would be to like to run a daily 8-miler, something that I would look forward to. Now, if can manage 4 miles, I usually feelI am almost about to go over the precipice. But, today's also a big day for me as I am about to reduce the amount of coffee that I drink. The goal would be to reduce or mitigate my current dependence on it and I have done it before on my trips abroad. So, it can be done.

So, the mileage so far has been 4 miles. Here's to the challenge that this number increases faster than the amount of Carbon dioxide that we inject into the air. Well, if the earth gets warmer, there will be less wintry days and that's good news for runners, I guess. But of course, now they have deal with more bugs and mosquitoes and bikers who will also want to go out to enjoy the warmer climes. Triathlons might become more popular because as the ocean level rises, we have to think about going back to being water animals because the land that we have leave has become parched, fallow, and inhospitable. As the Arctic shelf of ice becomes smaller, it will be the responsibility of individual citizens to buy mirrors that reflect the sun's rays back to space, so that the earth may stay cooler. I see a distinct rise in the stock values of mirror manufactures and I nominate the first responsibility of holding up the mirrors to owners of giant SUV's (Ford Expedition and Nissan Armada come to find). Each limousine could be equipped with a giant mirror on the roof too.

Razr pics...It rained yesterday in LA forcing Sir Snail to look for a drier habitat.

Runner's Heights: Much Ado about Pens

As dusk creeps in sooner in this hemisphere, so are the evening bugs of all shapes and sizes. Most are harmless but annoying, nonetheless. And I am talking about the ones that get in your eyes and mouth while you are running. You could breathe through your nose and keep your mouth closed -- that's not hard to manage -- but it's certainly hard to keep your eyes shut. So, the solution that I came up with, since I don't wear glasses, is wearing clear glasses. Now, if you need to get a pair of clear glasses, get a pair that are anti-fog so that the warm mist from your breath doesn't cloud your vision. Also, my recommendation would be to get the glasses from a hardware store where they carry brands such as, Dewalt. I don't think that you need to get a super-expensive Nike or Oakley glasses -- just a decent polycarbonate lens would suffice. Now, it would be nice to have wiper on your glasses in case in you're running at 10 mph and a bug does splat on your lens.

I recently acquired a Waterman Philaes fountain pen and I must admit that it is one of best fountain pens that I have written with. Of course, I have never used any of the high end pens like Monte Blanc or Pelikan but I have used fountain pens of garden variety all though my school years. The Philaes pen has a very retro look representing a cigar and it has a very easy feel to it. The nib is smooth and point glides over effortlessly over the paper. I am using it with the Mont Blanc self-cleaning ink and it seems to be a very rewarding experience. I am almost tempted to get another one because whenever I like a product, I have a tendency to buy another one of the same. I was thinking, if this a pen in the lower end of the Waterman line, how the writing experience of a high-end Waterman pen would be. Here's a picture of the pen that I am currently using.

Runner's Heights: Old Blackwater Keep on Shootin'

Los Angeles has a diverse topography with hills and vales, but when you live on the flatter part of Los Angeles, you have to get creative if you need to give your quads and calves a good workout. One such venue for a quad meltdown is the Drake stadium in UCLA. The UCLA campus itself affords some nice hill-climbs but if you want a quick quad workout after a run in the Olympic-quality track, the stands in the Drake stadium offer a fine opportunity. Because I was so enamored with the night lights of West LA and Bel Air, I forgot to get an exact count of the aisles, but I think that there are at least 10 that run from the bottom to the top. There's a water fountain and restrooms at the top level and you'll be glad to have discovered them. The top level features some nice shady trees, in case you need a breather. And of course, the view is spellbinding with glimpses of Bel Air, Beverly Hills and Westwood. That's the ample consolation when you are clutching your waist and gasping for breath after the sixth jog up the stands.



Today, I stumbled upon some news that I find alarming. The forcible occupation of Iraq now involves securing coalition forces' interests with private security contractors. Blackwater USA, one such firm, was recently involved in a shooting massacre of at least 8 civilians in Iraq. Here's a paragraph from a news article that I read on news.yahoo.com about the incident due to which Blackwater had its license suspended or revoked in Iraq....

"The question of whether they (Blackwater USA) could face prosecution is legally murky. Unlike soldiers, the contractors are not bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Under a special provision secured by American-occupying forces, they are exempt from prosecution by Iraqis for crimes committed there.

How about, "Shoot first, don't ask and don't tell?"

Runner's Heights: The Civil Monkey and the Engineer

I must have stumbled upon a realization that is probably conventional wisdom among runners who habitually pound concrete pavement. I believe that if you primarily run on concrete pavements and you wear more rigid shoes for motion stability, you are probably putting more stress on your ankles and knees due to reduced cushioning. Bizarre as this may sound, you might be better off with an all-terrain shoe, like the New Balance 803. As I have said before, I am partial to New Balance because they are more easily available in E, EE, and EEE extra width sizes. So, I switched from my New Balance 766, which is an excellent running shoe, to 803's and it has made a significant difference to my day-after-run recovery. Now the 803 is slightly heavier than the 766 due to the shoe materials but when I am locked on to my Walkman and my endorphin high, I don't feel the difference in weight at all. Besides, the cushioning on the 803 puts less stress on my legs and I am able to go further.

There is an ongoing debate in India over the origins of a coral reef formation abutting the land masses of southern India and northern Sri Lanka. There are lobbies that are interested in dredging the reef, known as Ram Setu (bridge of Lord Ram) or Adam's Link, to make it a deeper passageway for ships. There were scant studies done on the environmental impact on the corals or on the marine life that thrives on this shallow waters. But a different kind of protest surfaced, spurred on by India's Hindu religious right, that claims that this reef was a bridge built by Lord Ram, a time-honored deity and one of the avatars of Vishnu. The Archaelogical Society of India, probably the only rational body so far that had time to investigate this, debunked the idea that any Lord Ram built this bridge and went so far as to question whether an individual in the person of Lord Ram even existed. Another classic science vs. religious-myth encounter and once again, science is takin' a whuppin'. If the exponents of the Ramayana are correct, then Lord Ram was the first to outsource the bridge-building to a batallion of rhesus monkeys. While Jan Goodall was busy studying the chimps of Gombe eat ants-on-a-stick, she should have just read the Ramayana to know that monkeys are deft at extremely high-level tasks, such as, ocean-quality bridge building. Never mind that it takes a diligent IIT-an four years to learn this trade, but a monkey, with some providential instructions, can be taught this trade. And the religious right might also propound the theory that, going by the fact that the bridge has endured over so many centuries, even survived a tsunami or two, simians make the best civil engineers. There was no monkeying around when that bridge was erected and that the six-simian quality process is the pre-cursor to six-sigma. Therefore, outsourcing, as we know it, started in India, and there's no questioning it. Now, that water's under the bridge.

Razr Pics South-East LA sky, 7:15 pm

Runner's Heights: The Aquatic Balance

What is most often the tangible rewards for a runner's labour of love? Well any one of these things -- a beautiful scenery, an endorphin rush, an increased confidence, and maybe, some restful sleep. Well, last evening, the reward was a spectacular Malibu sky rich with magenta and blues and streaks of vivid yellow. A camera can capture the moment, but no device, except the human psyche can capture the feeling and store it for as long as care to preserve it. Yesterday, I was planning to increase my mileage by just a little bit and so I stayed hydrated all day long. At some point during the day, I was wondering if I should keep track of the number of times that I was quaffing 12 oz cups of H2O but I lost track by afternoon -- next time, I will do a better job of keeping track of it so that I can do a body weight to water consumption report. Anyway, the hydration seems to have succeeded in keeping a headache at bay. The dreaded headache was what I had experienced after a long run a few days ago. Thanks to some running forums on the net, I discovered that a possible prevention would be to drink a lot of water and restore the electrolyte balance. I did drink a bottle of Gatorade too as part of the hydration. I have no headache but I did sprain my neck while backing up the car out of the garage, so either way, I am going to reach for my Vitamin M - Motrin.

Once again, picking up the list of clean, obligation-free restrooms in Los Angeles. Here's one that's near a major intersection, Jefferson and Sepulveda, in Culver City. I always manage to find some interesting cereals and fruit preservatives at this Big Lots store.

Big Lots #4166

5587 Sepulveda Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90230
(310) 391-5905Print address

Runner's Heights: Rowed to Extinction

Not all cross-training is created equally. I am talking about the off days from running when you wish to give those tired running muscles a rest. In the category of cross-training (or, X-training, as the new moniker goes), I believe that the elliptical trainer is in the big league. The reason that it trumps biking is because it also kicks in an upper body workout, similar to swimming or the rowing machine. If you are a land animal, like I am, and you never learned to swim, that option is certainly out and rowing machines are often a rarity these days in many gyms. Elliptic trainers, however, are in vogue and the only reason why they might have won over rowing machines is because they put less stress on the lower back. Since I am not an exercise specialist, I could not explain the dearth of rowing machines in the gyms today but, I must confess, I hardly use them myself anymore.

As I am getting closer to the end of Tom Friedman's book, The World is Flat, I am realizing that he is glossing over a lot of important material, including world events, with a very perfunctory approach. Throughout most of the book, he uses very rational constructs and peppers each of his theories and claims with supporting evidence that is verifiable. But towards the end, he starts juxtaposing plain opinion with hearsay, even quoting the inveterate propagandist and war-mongerer, Rumsfeld. Freidman never bothers to elaborate on whether Rumsfeld's claims are true or just part of his war-induced rhetoric. As if that was not enough, Freidman, using the help of his religious teacher, even ventures into theology and interpretation of his version of God's plan for this earth. An intellectual of Freidman's caliber should know that God and religion should remain in the realm of an individual's personal spiritual quest. As long as religion -- any religion -- pretends to represent the collective spiritual interest of many, it subsumes and kills individuality and betrays the uniqueness of the spirit in every individual. Freidman, of course, peppers Karl Marx in small doses throughout his book. But it was Marx who commented that "religion is the opiate of the masses." And like any other addictive drug, religion, should be administered in small doses, for medicinal purposes, and only for those who feel a need for it. You need only to look at world events around you today to see what happens when there is an overdose of religion -- tyranny, mayhem, degradation of women, and abuse of human rights. Trying to explain the gigantic spirituality of this world through the parochial and constrictive windows of a few major religions will only choke the human spirit, not free it so that it may realize its true potential.

Runner's Heights: Not the Apple of My Eye

I have to admit that the best way to develop a tempo/canter in running is to work with your favourite music. It's important that it is music that you like so that you can groove with it and your intuition tends to kick in when you are in the groove. At least, that's what I believe and neither do I have a degree in psychoanalysis nor did I spend a weekend in Austria walking the cobblestones that Freud might have stepped on. But the point that I am trying to make here is that I have become used to having an mp3 player for my runs -- better put -- I am quite dependent on it now. So, I have been trying out the Sony S2 Sports Digital Music Player (phew, that's a long name). If you must know the actual product name of this Sony Walkman, it goes by NWS203F BLACK. It's a sleek, slick 1GB player and had plenty of room for my favourite music. I have barely upto half-a-gig and I am wondering what else I am going to add to my Walkman repertory. But the best part of it was that I was able to import all my albums from my itunes library.

I am trying to phase my ipods out because I strongly believe that Apple should conform to and collaborate with the established standards of interfaces in the industry. I had an ipod Nano that required a special cable just to charge the device, not a standard USB A or B interface. I would be running circles around Apple or one of its dealers (who are few-and-far between even in Los Angeles) for a cable for an older Nano. I am might get some condescending looks from the young-uns at the Apple store because I hadn't upgraded to a 16 GB ipod and that I was a troglodyte for using a product that Apple stopped supporting, maybe a month after it released the product. And that's another thing -- I suspect that Apple thinks that backward compatibility is a reactionary idea that's only fit for retrogrades.

Here's a link to the article, Is Apple the New Microsoft?

So, I am rambling on and completely forgot about the Sony Walkman. I got it at Fries on sale for $50 which was a fair price, in my opinion. Here's my final verdict -- buy this product if you are intending to put a small, choice collection of your songs.

Pros:
- lightweight
- ergonomic; comes with a carrying case and strap
- quick charging
- software is easy to use


Cons:
- headphone quality is sub-standard

Runner's Heights: Living with the Legacy of RICE

Being strapped with a shin splint doesn't bother me that much any more. I have learned to live with it, work with it, and be at peace with it. I have tried shoes with cushioning, medial support, and stability and I have tried Rest, Ice, Compression, Extension(RICE) from time to time. I have also tried strengthening the shin muscles by balancing and lifting 35 lb weights with the flat part of my foot. But the shin splints seem to come back every year like the Category 5 hurricane that show up on the Atlantic coast with unsurprising regularity. And just like the rationalists duel with the religious faithfuls as to whether these catastrophes are God's idea of castigating us for our sins, I wonder if the shin splints are some providential retribution for my running sins. Now, let's just leave it at that...and as, to global warming and how it affects runners worldwide...well, that's a doctoral thesis for a runner getting her Ph.D...


"We could've used the company jet,
but this is more eco-friendly..."

More obligation-free restrooms in the Los Angeles area:

If you are in the USC area, near downtown Los Angeles:

The University Village Shopping Center
Neighborhood: South Los Angeles
3375 S Hoover St
Los Angeles, CA 90007 (310) 312-4570

This village was erected during the 1984 Olympics and features a food court with clean, obligation-free restrooms. To find the restrooms, follow the signs to the restroom inside the food court. Being adjacent to the quaint USC campus, the Center is frequented by USC students looking for a bite and a conversation. The food is average, at best, but some stalls do change hands over the years.

Here's the Google map link to the center.
The center is bordered by Hoover Street, Jefferson Boulevard, McClintock Avenue, and 30th Street.

Runner's Heights: Circumventing that Port-a-Potty

One of the problems that plagues every runner is the amount of liquids to take in before every run. Galloway advises you -- and I am paraphrasing here -- to keep quaffing water until you feel it slushing around in your innards. I have tried that it works. But, the downside is that I have also found myself looking out for a decent restroom that I could use along the longer runs. So, what is the ideal balance between intake so that you don't have to rush the outtake? Well, I believe that the answer lies in your constitution. So, a trial and error process would be in the works for you. However, I would much rather be hydrated than catch a sprain or a cramp because I did not drink enough water.

Finding a public restroom in Los Angeles could be sometimes difficult in Los Angeles, finding a clean public restroom even harder. Which is why I thought I would start a list of clean, obligation-free restrooms in the Los Angeles. This is a humble beginning and I hope that someday, one restroom at a time, with the help of netizens worldwide, we shall have a directory of clean, obligation-free restrooms that anyone can run to (no pun intended) in an emergency.

So, here's the first entry in the pile:

1) The Rite-Aid at Overland/Venice in Culver City.

Here's the map to the Rite-Aid on Overland and Venice in Los Angeles.

Runner's Heights: Rig that GPS on the Model T

It takes a little while getting used to the Navman R300 GPS-enabled device. First of all, you have to tighten the strap to your left arm and ensure that you are able to look over askance and decipher the digits on the display. They will need to work on the display, especially in making it glare free. I tried comparing the speed readout with the speedometer on my Camry as I drove down the freeway and it was close to within 5% or error. So, at lower speeds, the margin of error may factor even less and I am therefore, fine with that. The strap tightening system is not perfect and the tension in the strap does give a little if you exert your biceps once in a while. I believe all these drawbacks could be fixed and it is a good overall product. Now it remains to be seen how long this product will last and how long each AA battery is going to last under normal use. I have already dropped the device on asphalt because the strap came off -- the snapping mechanism is a slim plastic tab -- and as I said before, the strap could use a better tethering mechanism because the device is not ultralight either. So, all in all, I can see a better display, a lighter device, and better strap-and-lock feature on this device. As it stands now, I would rate it a 3 out of 5 so far. And what about that name, "Navman"....I think that could change too unless the company only intends the product to be used by Superman, Spiderman, and their ilk.

Los Angeles is quintessentially a city that has revolved around the automobile. For decades that ethos has been reflected in the design of the automobile and the physical location of the design centers of various automobile companies in the Southern California - Lexus, Nissan, BMW, to name a few. And that spirit is partly reflected in the hallways of the Petersen automotive museum, a mish-mash of automobiles from different decades of mostly the 20th century. To feature all the automobiles that cemented the auto-culture in Los Angeles would take an enormous building, probably bigger than the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, but the Petersen Museum bookends history fairly well starting with the people's car, Ford Model T, and ending with the opulent excess, the Bugatti Veyron. What would have made the exhibits even more diverse is an addition of a gallery of lemons, Ford Pinto's, Yugo's, etc. Of course, a gas-guzzling civilian Hummer to show why the oil is still the reason why nations would wage illegal wars. But if you need to catch a glimpse of Fred Astaire's Rolls Royce or the Batmobile, this is the venue.

Runner's Heights: Two-Chord Soul Mate

It was cross-training day today...to be precise, just a bike ride to the Playa del Rey beach and back -- about 8 miles and getting easier every day. It's amazing what an evolution machine the human body is. With every day the ride is getting easier and I get less sore. Which means that I can go faster. However, when I tallied the miles and the time, it came to only 16 mph on a Cannondale mountain bike with knobby tires. In reality, though, the upwind speed might have been 14-16 mph and the downwind speed, about 16-18 mph. Make no mistake, the wind is a significant factor if you are along the coast during the evening. The land is still warm and the the cool ocean breeze rushes in and you feel it on every push. It's a great workout with a perfect payout -- amazing views of the ocean and you could probably see all the way to China if the world were flat. Nice!

Talk about two-chord songs. The Dewey Bunnell classic, "Horse with No Name" is a two-chord wonder and until you start learning to play it, you don't realize that it is just two chords. There could be whole genre of songs that were based on just two chords and I wonder if someone actually would compile a list of songs that had only two chords. Which reminds me that I need to plug the wonderful guitar tutorial site, guitarnoise.com. Thanks to a great teacher like David Hodge, if more people expressed their emotions and passions through the guitar, there might be, perhaps, more universal spiritual connections found through the music. Which is why I should say that folks like BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Dylan, and Hendrix have been one of the greatest spiritual unifiers ever. Play a Hendrix riff in Shillong or Sao Paulo...it'll satisfy the soul without any of the regimen, rules, and self-righteousness of a modern-day religion.

Runner's Heights: From Kovic to Karl

Switched shoes today for the Sunday run. I am now working with two different New Balance shoes. First of all, why New Balance? Two reasons, really: 1) They make a 2E, extra wide, and that's exactly what I need because I used to run barefeet during most of my high school years, and 2), They make an effort to do part of the manufacturing locally in the U.S. out of imported materials. That gives me a impression, could be, a false impression, that my shoes were made globally. So, I run on concrete in a more flexible shoe, the 809, and on softer surfaces, like asphalt, I use the 766. The 766 takes much longer to break in because it has a stiff medial support and it is in a way, a motion control shoe. You could probably break the 809 in a week whereas, the 766 might take a while longer to break in due to its stiffer structure.

I was watching the Ron Kovic movie, "Born on the Fourth of July," and I was appalled to discover the similarities of Kovic's predicament in the Vietnam-era and the current situation in Iraq. Then, as is the case now, the leaders who fomented and started the war are guilty of war crimes and atrocities against innocent civilians. Then, as in now, the leaders engaged in demagoguery and knowingly held the patriotic fervour of a nation hostage. Then, as in now, they used chicanery and wordsmithy to sacrifice the lives of poor Americans and destroy the hopes and dreams of a young generation. That young generation is supposed to educate themselves, invest in their families, collaborate with the youth of the rest of the world, and fashion for themselves, a future created in their bliss. Karl Rove, the architect of the illegal war in Iraq, just decides to resign so he can return to his family life. How many of young men and women that were sent to this illegal war will never have that option because all that was returned to their families was a coffin with a flag draped on it? And what of the innocent civilians, young and old, whose lives were written off as "collateral damage?"

Runner's Heights: The Troubles of Tootsie

Bike/Runs are getting easier now. People always hail the advantages of walk/run and I can see why--you don't need an additional piece of equipment when you do run/walks. But a bike/run is a different experience altogether. During the biking stage, you can selectively warm up your leg muscles--higher gears for quadriceps, lower gears and spinning for smaller muscle groups. Plus the pace at which you were biking can often influence your running rhythm. I love run/walks but from now on, I'll throw in an occasional bike/run into the mix as well. And, before I end this paragraph, I'd like to mention how beneficial a drink of Powerade might have been yesterday to stave off a muscle cramp.

At work, the other day, we were discussing the proverbial "glass ceiling" for women in the workplace and why it is still hard for companies in the 21st century to acknowledge and reward the equal contribution of women in the professional world. It struck me that sexism is somehow embedded in the moral fiber of the society and since morality is most ostensibly manifested in our religion mores and institutions, it might be well worth our time to take a look at the religious establishments. The heads--figurative or administrative--of all modern religions--Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism--are always men with rarely any possibility of a woman to ever reach those positions unless the religion sect itself undergoes a revaluation and reform of its norms and practices. There are atheists, skeptics, and rationalists in this world, but these religions together have a majority appeal to the moral ethos of the world's citizens. With such an embedded and flawed moral system that precludes the possibility of woman rising to the head of the system, how can we ever think of changing our attitudes towards the equality of women? Or is it time to revisit those religions that reveled in Mother Nature and other feminine godheads? What if we inculcated into the future generations that "God" is a "She" and not a "He"? Will that free up the some lanes for women to cruise on the fast lane.

Runner's Heights: Track that Slow Train

There are certain groups of antibiotics, such as Ciprofloxacin that can cause muscles to cramp or spasm and if you one of these antibiotics, it's especially important that you stay hydrated and take foods that contain potassium (banana, orange juice, V8) before you go out running long distances. It might be a good idea to run later on during the day because it enables you to do two things, 1) Drink plenty of water throughout the day and 2) Warm the leg muscles up with activity during the day. I found that biking before you run is another easy way to warm the muscles up.

Taking the Amtrak from Los Angeles to San Diego is one of the most relaxing ways to escape the hectic pace of Southern California. The train snails out of Union Station, Los Angeles, and inches it way through the railway ward and proceeds to take you through a tour of industrial backyard of the city which you may have never seen. After some stops along Orange county, notably, Santa Ana and San Juan Capistrano, the train breezes through the picturesque beaches south of Laguna Niguel and all the way to the northern San Diego. The Amtrak staff ranges from friendly and effusive to grim and businesslike. But the one thing that struck me as unusual was that after Laguna Niguel, there were stretches where there was only one track for up and down trains and our train had to wait for other trains to pass before we could proceed. The nation's second-largest metropolis connected to it's fifth-largest city via a single train track at times. I am guessing that the oil, the automobile, and the tire industry has still gotten its choke hold on the transit options in Southern California. That one extra train track could cut the train the commute down from Los Angeles to San Diego by at least 30 mins.

Runner's Heights: When the World Goes Flat

It would be great if Thomas Freidman's "world is flat" theories were literally true in terms of physical geography. As in, start running from Los Angeles, and traverse the entire planet without having strained over a single hill, not even a mound. But hill training is important for cardiovascular endurance. Every good running book will stress it and it isn't until you run the first hill that you realize how important that this component of endurance training. Hill training is crucial for for strengthening the quads and the the calves and is a great calorie-burner. Next up for me sometime in the future: running hills bare feet.

Every year, at SIGGRAPH, the international conference of computer graphics programmers and artists, some doomsayer goes blathering on about how the interest in the conference is whittling down and on and on about how it was better in the not-so-distant past. However, I think that SIGGRAPH is always evolving just as the community that supports SIGGRAPH is always evolving. In the past, the demographics at SIGGRAPH was primarily male Caucasians in their late 30's. Today the cross-section of SIGGRAPH is significantly diverse with a large chunk of the participation coming from the up-and-coming talent from Asia. This is bound to change SIGGRAPH for the better because a conference is about exchange of ideas and approaches. It is SIGGRAPH gone flat as in a flat world that Thomas Freidman describes in his book, The World is Flat. SIGGRAPH has come a long way from the crowds that milled around renders of Jim Blinn's teapot. They expect more variety every year and that's what is unraveling at the conference with each year.

Book recommendation of the month:

The World is Flat
http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/worldisflat.htm

Razr Pics: Receipt printout from a gas station in Central California or is it the Ten Commandments?

Runner's Heights:Take that Old Time Falafel

When you are on antibiotics, you have to be extra careful not to catch a cramp or a muscular spasms while running. The Rite-Aid disclaimer that I got with my antibiotics warned me about the possibility of cramps but I decided to take a chance anyway. At Mile 2, I felt my soleus muscle tighten and by Mile 3, I could run no more. The only recourse was to walk back to where I started. I think the walking actually helped to keep the circulation going...stopping or pausing to rest might have made matters worse. Although I still cannot fathom the relation between antibiotics and spasms, I did experience the consequence. Nevertheless, if you stop in time, the muscles heal in a day or two. That's the good news. The bad news is that you still have to carry out the rest of your dosage of antibiotics and run with a fair degree of circumspection.

One of the towering figures in our work sphere passed away recently into another dimension. He is Keith Hunter and he excelled in the creative arts, sports, writing, management of his peers, and nearly everything that he stepped into. Such was the verve of this individual and sheer determination of his purpose. You observe him with respect and regard in this life and then when he leaves to continue a greater journey, you reflect with awe on the scale of achievements and accomplishment of a single individual. Talk about raising the bar for those around him.

http://hunterfamily.blogdns.org/

L.A. Restaurants on a Shoe-String Budget recommendation of the day:

Falafel King

Neighborhood: Westwood
1059 Broxton Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90024

(310) 208-4444
$

I have been going to the Westwood location since it used to be a tiny shack on Weyburn Ave. in Westwood. About a decade or more ago, it moved to its current location on Broxton Ave. and it seems it has lost its raging patronage to its neighboring upscale eateries. I still love the shawerma, the falafels, and the sides of babaghanoush and potato fries. Although I used to drink a bottle of dooh (yoghurt with dill drink) with my plate of falafels, now I just settle for a Ginseng ginger ale to tame the spices and the hot sauces that you scoop into little plastic bowls. There are probably better falafels available in LA somewhere but Falafel King is a big plate of nostalgia for me and I think I'll be there soon to dip a sizzling falafel into some tahini again.

Park in the building across from Falafel King on Broxton.

Runner's Heights: Pink My Oatmeal

Here's an alternative to the run/walk if you get bored with it. Do the bike/run--bike for a few miles and when you're warmed up enough, park your bike and run for as long as you wish. This might be similar to the run/walk experience because you are going to use different muscle groups of the legs and that makes for a well-rounded exercise. I did the bike portion against a strong headwind coming from the ocean and so the effort of the biking seemed almost greater, if not the same, as the run and I felt exhausted after doing both. Of course, I was riding a mountain bike and so I was pushing heavier equipment but isn't that what's a workout all about?

Talk about lowering cholesterol...here's a great recipe for pink oatmeal...an oatmeal with a twist:

1 cup steel-cut oats
2 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Benecol or heart-healthy margarine
1 pinch salt
1/2 frozen blueberries
1/4 cup walnuts
1/2 cup frozen blackberries

1. Prepare the oatmeal according to the product label instructions (about 30 mins. for steel-cut oats).
2. Stir in the honey, margarine and salt and let simmer 3 mins.
3. Stir in the walnuts, blueberries, and blackberries.
4. Let stand 2 mins.
5. Stir again and serve.

Mmmmm...pink oatmeal!

Runner's Heights: Steer Clear of Steroids for that Birdie

A freak incident this last time that I was on the golf course made me realize that jogging on the golf course might be easily transform the act of running into an extreme sport. Trying to outrun a golf ball racing towards the pin or some distant fairway is a daunting task even if you run like the protagonists of the movie, "Chariots of Fire". As we were standing at the counter of the pro shop, two joggers came bounding past the first hole and ran around a group of golfer with puzzled looks. Even the sales staff at the counter were transfixed by this jogging spectacle. It seemed like the joggers quickly realized their mistake and took a hasty u-turn before the second hole before making a quiet egress.

Jack Nicklaus was a great proponent of multi-sport activities, including tennis, because he felt that golfers should have strong legs and flexible bodies and a lot of lean muscle. I couldn't agree with him more. Since the time that I have been running regularly, my golf swing has improved and I am more relaxed during the swing. However, bulking up with weight training excessively might have a detrimental effect on the golf swing. I think if you are too muscular, especially around the shoulders and the neck, those muscles might adversely affect your flexibility. Some of my friends who have been pumping iron to "bulk up" have discovered that bulk affects the length of the swing especially during the takeaway. But, I have no scientific data to prove it and the jury is out there.

RazrPics...Westchester Golf Course

Runner's Heights: Cinnameg or Nutamon

So, about a yoga before your run? Perhaps that would allow for a little perspicacity in your thoughts and perspectives when you run. I am talking about a tranquil session of gentle yoga, not the gut wrenching, sweat-dripping ardour of say, Bikram Yoga. Well, if I have any of memories of the thoughts and imaginings left, I'll record them in my next batch of musings. However, it seems clear that as you approach your goal to beyond 30 miles a week, you've got to have a strategy to steer clear of injury and possible boredom. Ice packs and radios and ipods help are your frequent friends and accept them into your running life unless you are built with the still mind of the Buddha and the feckless physique of Hercules. And the flexibility of a ballerina...

The metaphor for adaptation has to be Japanese curries. Inspired by creations from India, brought to Japan via trade with the British, the curry has a life and zing of its own in a Japanese dish. And most of all, the Japanese almost serve it up like gravy on any protein matter that you can imagine -- tofu, chicken, beef, pork, and even eel. Did the slithering eel ever imagine that it would depart the ocean only to swim in a pot of viscous curry, not knowing whether the flavour was actually cinnamon or was it actually nutmeg? That's the question most heard among egg nog drinkers...is it cinnamon or is it nutmeg...How about a couple of portmanteaus just for the occasion...cinnameg and nutamon. Take your pick...

Razrpics: Marina Freeway 90 on a Summer Holiday