Oops, I Did It Again

Motherf**ker! I stabbed myself with a kung fu sword again. I did this in January, same sword, same form, same move, different leg. This time I managed to get myself in the left leg.

Sutures this time instead of staples this time, as I managed to come in at a different angle that made for a wider wound. I'd been half assing this particular move for a long time, sword shy, so to speak. Only recently have I gone full speed with this move. Clearly, I wasn't ready. D'oh.

Down at the ER, everyone assumed that we were there for Jen. It's karma for making fun of the guy in the wheelchair at Sunday's labor and delivery tour.

There seemed to be quite a few laceration injuries at the ER last night. Two guys got smacked by baseballs. One in the chin. One in the forehead. One lady "walked into something" in the shop that cut her across the nose. She wanted to see the plastic surgeon right away. The most notable person in the ER though was the woman with an ailment that we couldn't discern, but she moaned loudly and complained that the morphine wasn't working. That can't be good.

My Super Power

We saw Batman Begins the other night, and I'm reminded that Batman is one of the few superheroes with no superpower. He's just a guy with a bad disposition, lots of training and a LOT of toys.

On the way to the theater our little group got sidetracked over to the ice cream shop, where Jen unmasked my superpower for all to see. I'm nigh invulernable to ice cream headache. I can eat a pint of ice cream on the 3 block walk home and not suffer any ill effects. Now that I'm thinking about it, my Kryptonite would be the 32 ounce Slurpee. That thing's even too cold for me.

What's your real world superpower?

Haiku Movie Review: Howl's Moving Castle

New Wizard of Oz?
Castle walks like old lady.
Best watched while altered.

Haiku Movie Review: Batman Begins

Gotham full of crime.
So, Bruce Wayne was a ninja?
The Darkest Knight yet.

All Due Speed.

I've been working at my latest job here a LUSC (Large, Unnamed Software Company) since March 1st. That's three and half months now. I started looking for work last January. So what do I get in my gmail today?

Thank you for your application to the following position at H****** University. Although we are unable to
further your candidacy for this specific position at this time, we appreciate your interest in H******.

Requisition: 20203
Title: Systems Administrator
School/Unit: Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Department: FAS Financial
Location: Cambridge
Full or Part Time: Full-Time
Salary Grade: 057
Date Posted: 06/24/2004
Date Removed from consideration: 06/13/2005

Once again, thank you for your interest in H****** University. Please save this message for your records.

Please visit our website (http://jobs.h******.edu) to learn more about our current openings.

Yes, six months after applying and nearly ONE YEAR since the job was posted, I get a polite "Thanks, but no thanks," via email, no less. World class place to work? I think not. How can any employer who is serious about hiring run a business like this? Who can wait around 6 months to a year to hear back?

Persuasion

This op-ed piece by Matt Miller in the New York Times wonders if persuasion is dead.

The signs are not good. Ninety percent of political conversation amounts to dueling "talking points." Best-selling books reinforce what folks thought when they bought them. Talk radio and opinion journals preach to the converted. Let's face it: the purpose of most political speech is not to persuade but to win, be it power, ratings, celebrity or even cash.

The phrase "talking points" makes my skin crawl. People don't talk to each other anymore, they read bullet points off of an imaginary PowerPoint presentation. They stack the deck full of there arguments, and unload them on their counterpart and then wait for a return volley.

We refuse to listen. You can't persuade anyone who's not listening.

The Current Exercise Plan

I've been doing pretty well at my workouts lately. I've brought back the crazy 100 push-ups a day policy again. A few weeks ago, we were doing push-ups in my kung fu class and I felt positively weak. So instead of complaining about my recent lack of upper body strength, I brought back the simplest and most effective plan that I know.

You just have to 100 push-up at some point during your waking day. I don't care if you do 4 an hour for the entire day. There are no excuses, as there is no equipment needed except for an open spot of floor.

The way I do it is two sets of 25 in the morning, with a toothbrush break, and two sets of 25 at night with a toothbrush break. When I'm feeling lazy, I get my teeth really really clean.

I've also been running quite a bit with guests. Clarissa and Yu-Ming are my regular running partners on Thursday evenings (Jen can't really join us these days, as the Chickpea isn't big on the running at this point.) A few weeks ago, my brother was in town and joined me on a three mile long 6AM Tuesday morning fog festival and this past weekend, my old pal Will was up from Houston and we did a 5K fun run to raise money for Zoo New England.

It's usually a 6AM solo run on Tuesdays, a group run on Thursdays and a long run by myself on Sunday. This will be the schedule that I use to train for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. In addition to this is kung fu on Monday and Wednesday nights as well as Saturday afternoon.

I know you're thinking to yourself, "Is he going to keep this up when the Chickpea arrives?" I'm sure as hell gonna try. I'll probably cut back on the kung fu and switch one of the sessions to tai chi with the Chickpea strapped on to me. And the running will be a bit of tricky one until he's 6 months old and ready for the stroller. But you know what? I owe it to him to make sure that he has a healthy father. For the longest time, I was afraid of becoming a dad who could only watch his kids playing in the yard, instead of running around out there with them.