I am 11% yesterday, and so can you

I'm back to working on the DVD. Found a website that licenses music for a reasonable price and they have a nice selection of instrumental background sounds that can go on the various menus. We're running another clinic this weekend and will capture additional footage in order to splice the two presentations together.

In other news, the underwater camera I paid for two months ago should be on its way this week. The fabricator had some personal business that held him up.

On Thursday night we're going to catch the NC State - FSU game. Should be a good time.

In other news, I expect the stock market to drop 6% today, rise 5% tomorrow, trade sideways on Thursday, and then close down another 2% on Friday. But don't bet on it.

Oct 12 weekend update

We've had a fun weekend with Mom in law in town. On Saturday we went to the UNC-Notre Dame game in Chapel Hill. We started tailgating at 10:30AM, with the game starting at 3:30. During the 2nd quarter Bri, her Mom, and myself wound up on TV for a few seconds while the refs were reviewing a play. Bri has a funny pic up about that. I heard from an old buddy from high school who spotted us. Funny stuff!

Today Bri and I went for a long run in Umstead, then I sat down to knock out some work. Bri and her Mom went shopping. A little while after they left I went to get a drink from the sink and noticed the water pressure was low. The Town of Cary had come out on Friday to let me know we were going through a lot of water, so I had a plumber came out and they replaced a t junction gasket lockie thingie in our crawlspace. Problem solved.

But today it was not as simple - I went out to the water heater closet and noticed that a pipe leading into the heater had disconnected and was spewing water everywhere. I'd like to tell you I calmly turned off the house water main and then got my dad's awesome toolkit to make a new crimp and fix it myself, but alas I could not find the house shutoff valve and my dad never liked doing house work, either. So I had to call the town's 24 hour service to come out and shut it down at the meter. Luckily the water closet is an attached but mostly separate structure from our house so there's no internal water damage.

That's the weekend update. Congrats to everyone who raced in the Chicago marathon or Ironman Hawaii over the weekend.

Auugh!

I don't know about you, but we stuck with our 'diversified' portfolio and have ridden everything all the way down. Unfortunately the entire civilized world is trying to dump their stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds at the same time, resulting in plummeting prices everywhere. This is a good time to have a lot of cash. I cut a check to my IRA today and will keep plunking along with a few grand in there every year and keep my fingers crossed that the whole system doesn't implode. Bri is also putting a few percent of her paycheck into a 403b every month. The rest of our savings are going into CDs and gold from here on out. F*cking scary world.

In other news, in 'every day' world, people around here are still doing things like eating out, going out, watching movies, running, riding, swimming, and having fun, despite the erasure of 10 trillion dollars in global equity. I guess they're not paying attention! I would not want to be close to retirement right now with a 50/50 portfolio, that would be extremely painful.

In other news, some of you might be interested in a local bank that is paying 4.01% APY for a checking account on amounts up to $25,000. You can open it up online. All you have to do is 10 ATM/credit transactions per month and one automated deposit or withdrawal. We have an account and it is legit. Capital Bank.

Federal Government to Buy Your House

The US Federal Reserve, with the approval of both Houses, promised today to purchase your house, and every other residence in the United States, at fair market value. The stunning new rule will go into effect at the end of 2008 and is named the Home Land Protection Purchasing Act of 2008 (Sponsored by Nancy Pelosi and John McCain).

Purchases will be made in an orderly process. In January, 2009, all homeowners who have a last name beginning with A, J, or P will have their home purchased by the government.

All primary homes, condos, townhomes, and beach shantys will be purchased for exactly $230,000, the median home price in the United States, regardless of square footage, backyard, age, frontage, or state of disrepair. Funding for each purchase will come from new issues of Treasury bills, and revenue generated by renting the homes back to the original owners.

"This is another win-win for us, the people of the US, for we are the government," said Hank Paulson, a triumphant look on his face. "By purchasing each and every home in the country, we have truly unified the people with an equitable distribution of responsibility."

Homes with 2 bedrooms or less will be rented back to the owner-citizen for $1200 per month, while homes with 3-5 bedrooms will be rented back for $2000 per month. Homes with 6 bedrooms or more will be rented back for $2100 per month. Owner-citizens will not be allowed to move for a period lasting up to one year as the orderly process of repurchasization begins.

If a homeowner is unable to make his or her monthly payment, he or she and his or her immediate family will be processed for reeducation to learn a new useful skill or trade at one of the newly built US Reprocessing Centers in Arizona, Montana, Alaska, or Tennessee.

"It's time for us to get behind each other, and work our way out of this dreadful financial situation caused by greedy bankers and politicians," said Ben Bernanke, pounding the table with his fist. "Hard work will make us all free in the end. We've lost sight of that as a country."

As part of the Home Land Protection Purchasing Act of 2008, each owner-citizen will be responsible for upkeep and maintenance of his or her residence.

Second and vacation homes will be appropriated by the government for government use.

Singularity of purpose

I keep an eye on other coaching outfits and there is a longtime trend towards naming coaching services, products, and philosophies. This is a way of both differentiating a product or service and making it memorable in the mind of an athlete/reader/consumer. I do the same thing if you look at our coaching site with One Step Beyond, Premium Steps, Powerstroke, and so on.

What I haven't done is name-brand my particular 'philosophy' or method of coaching because I think that is cheesy, feel-good BS. I am into marketing and differentiation as much as the next outfit, but anyone who tells you they have "the way" is either delusional of full of it.

There is a right way for everyone - but it should always be prefaced with "the right way for everyone is right...for that one."

But today I am feeling snarky. So here it is:

The Way of the Singularity of Purpose within the Method of the Smaller Circle of Focus inside the Triangle of Strengths within the Greater Circle of Meaning.



The Greater Circle of Meaning includes and encompasses your reasons for participating in your chosen sports.
The Triangle of Strengths helps winnow down your field of excellence and pursuit to suit your strengths.
The Smaller Circle of Focus enables you to make the most of these strengths by making them into a smaller circle.
The Singularity of Purpose is the knife-like edge of your greatness. A singularity enables you to 'break through' to the other side.

That is your One Step Beyond new age lesson for today.

training, politics, life in general

I agree with my buddy Rob that our only real course of action in the next round of elections is to vote against every incumbent (except Ron Paul). I have written a few emails to my representatives, but other than that the only other action you or I can take is to get involved in your local, city, state government (and be sure to vote). It's going to be a bumpy ride for a while.

But back to training, racing, and all that fun stuff. Bri and I decided to skip the ocean swim on Saturday since the entry fee had gone to $40 each, and we're cheap and somewhat lazy on occasion. Then I heard about a 2 mile swim on Sunday with one of the local age group teams, but it was going to be mostly kids, so scrapped that. Instead we slept in and went for a run to the St Pete Pier. This week has been a good week of running for me. I ran 6 times: Monday 25 minutes, Tuesday 30 minutes, Wednesday 55 minutes, Thursday 2 hours, Saturday 45 minutes, Sunday 55 minutes. I also swam 3 times and did some core strength a couple of days. I'm looking forward to getting some running speed back through the winter.

I also started taking some Kung Fu classes at a center near our house a few weeks ago. I've been talking for years to Bri about getting back into some martial arts (I took Tae Kwan Doe when I was a little kid) and finally decided there's no time like the present. The classes are tough and my hamstrings have been screaming for a couple weeks. I'm going on Tuesday and Thursday nights with some Saturdays.

weekend update

We're here in sunny St. Petersburg and about to head out to First Friday in downtown St Pete, which is a regular monthly street festival. We always run into folks we know and have a good time.

Today Bri gave me and her father a massive scare. Her ear had filled up with fluid on our flight descent, and then just before we got on an elevator (after landing) to get to our car it popped and she started to feel a bit dizzy. That dizziness quickly escalated and she wound up getting wobbly and then passing out as the elevator doors opened for our floor. We had a hold of her and were able to get her out of the elevator and gently lay her on the ground. The scary part was that her eyes were wide open but there was nobody home. I was scared beyond belief. Fortunately as I was saying Bri Bri Bri Bri Bri she came back and said "Oh, where am I?" She then broke out in a cold total body sweat.

All is well though. It was one of those ear canal imbalance/disorientation things that can happen to anyone. Freaky! She is fine and back to making fun of me as usual.

In other news, welcome to the new debt bondage of America. There is a gas station down the street that has been having some trouble paying their bills, I think it is time we as a nation get behind this necessary institution with a fresh injection of capital. By that I mean we should pay $1,000 per cinnabon so he can balance out his books.

That is all.