Monday, May 26, 2008

non-productive weekend

A three day weekend which was rather relaxing, but not very productive. I did get out for a run on Saturday and Monday morning, but neither one felt great.

I enjoyed watching the Redwings win Saturday evening, and they are currently ahead tonight. On the movie side I watched Charlie Wilson's War, Trade, and Ladron Que Roba a Ladron. All had a few positives, but none were worth more than three (out of five) stars. The latter two were close to four stars. Trade was a powerful message movie based on a story in the NYT.

HBO did a movie called Recount that premiered this weekend. It was a docudrama that covered the election in 2000. It was rather depressing. If Bush hadn't taken Florida there is a very good chance that we wouldn't have wasted years in a war that has crushed the US in many respects. I really wonder how Bush can sleep.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

2 good runs, not much sleep

I had two good runs this week. Both 8.5 milers at a pace of around 8:40. One on Monday and the second earlier today. I'll be a bit tired tomorrow :)

The heat is about to arrive. This has been a really cool spring, but for Sunday we'll be up in the high 80's and it won't cool down again (at least in the long range forecast). I've had all my windows open the past few weeks and my indoor temperature has been hanging out around 65. Very nice. Something tells me I won't get that temperature again until November.

A bit of insomnia last night. I'm still dragging. Time to head to bed and get some sleep.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Lack of goals

How often do people set goals? I wonder this a lot, since I rarely set any goals for myself. For running I usually have something in mind for each run. Most days I usually have some little task on my mental list of things to get done. These typically include things such as picking up a prescription, getting an oil change, or catching a movie. Should any of those be considered a goal?

Other people always seem to set specific goals, such as what to do with life by the time they hit a specific age, or just what career they want. I don't ever seem to set any of that sort. Of course, on the other hand I seem to get a lot of things done by meandering through life.

I got a Ph.D. in nuclear physics. Could I have really done that without having a goal? I know I don't like to fail at things.

I left the academic world to get in on the ground floor of a company which is still going a decade later (and is now part of a larger company). But I really don't know if I had any specific goal associated with the move. It just seemed interesting. And I didn't want to fail.

What will/should I be doing in one year, five years, ten years, or twenty years. I have no idea what I'll be doing. I have no goals. Should I? If I don't set a goal would that be considered a failure?

Why do I spend time thinking about this? There are too many things to try that seem interesting. And there are lots of movies I haven't seen.

Speaking of which, the movie of the weekend was 3:10 to Yuma. It was a remake of an old western. High production value. It was an easy four star flick. I do know that the main character definitely had some goals set for his life, although I'm not sure if I'd say he was 100% successful.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Weekend movies

My two movies this weekend were In the Valley of Elah and The Golden Compass. The latter was aimed toward younger kids but the special effects were nice. Three stars (aka average). It was easy to see why the movie was a bit of a bomb...it didn't have a "simple" ending that wrapped things up cleanly. Americans can't handle that.

The Elah movie was a good four star flick. There were some points that were corny, but the overall message was clear. If you aren't on the left side of the political world you probably won't like this one.

On the tube side of things I watched the Pistons win yesterday (in superfast TIVO mode), and saw the Redwings win last night. Tonight is the season finale of Survivor. I can't believe how stupid some of the players are this year. Of course, I'm watching the show. That speaks for itself :)

Playing with Mulch

The week was mentally crushing. I was sound asleep by 10pm on Friday night. I slept in on Saturday and then did something I hadn't done in ages. I played with my yard.

On the front side of my house I had some hedges put in near the road. Since then I hadn't really touched them. I did a lot of watering two years ago when they were first put in since I was reminded how important it was to get the roots to take that first year.

I bought four cubic yards of mulch earlier in the week and it was dropped in my backyard so it wouldn't look like a big pile of crap in my front yard all week. One load after another I'd shovel my wheelbarrow full of mulch in the backyard, walk it to the front, and after six or seven loads do some spreading. I spent about five hours working on it.

Today I'm sore. The muscles involved in mulching hadn't been used in a few years (or maybe decades). While I was out doing the work three strangers stopped by to tell me what a gorgeous house I have and how beautiful the yard is. I guess I would agree if I didn't have to pay my mortgage every month and think about the fact that I'll need new siding one of these years.

I wonder if I will ever buy again. Renting makes so many things easy, but you really get big discounts on taxes with a house. But in the world today, is a house a worthy investment? Probably not.

Anyway, my shrubbery looks pretty good. Heavy rain is the forecast for the next day. The mulch should settle in pretty well.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Weekend roundup

As always, I caught a few movies. Diving Bell and the Butterfly was 5 stars, Sweeney Todd was 2 stars, .The Seventh Seal (an old classic) was a 5 star movie, and Far Side of the Moon was good for 4 stars. The latter was certainly a bit quirky. And Canadian. I can't think of a lot of Canadian movies I've seen.

Time to eat dinner. Lettuce, beans, rice. Summer has arrived.