Wednesday Apr 30 |
 | Running 25:00 [3] 3.1 km (8:04 / km) +40m 7:35 / km | |
| shoes: Brooks |
| 1030pm run around the neighborhood. Katie had a side stitch or something, so there was a lot of walking in the last half.
I finished a book called "The Pentagon Wars" today. The subtitle is "Reformers Challenge the Old Guard." There was a movie made from this book that starred Cary Elwes and Kelsey Grammer. It was a comedy that made fun of the acquisition of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, specifically, the live fire testing of the BFV. The Army leaders didn't want to compromise the program or highlight the problems with the vehicle by doing realistic live fire testing. They lied, abused their power, and basically put the program and the payments to the contractor ahead of the safety of the people who would eventually be riding in the vehicle while under hostile fire. The author fought, at great risk to his career, to have the vehicle tested properly so it could be improved. As I said, the movie is a comedy, and the humor is biting satire. You laugh, but you're also thinking that there is deep truth being exposed. The book is not satirical. It's the story of how the author and some fellow "reformers" tried to change the system. I really liked the book. It says a lot about how difficult it can be to act ethically in a big organization. It also made me desperately want to read a book called "A Discourse on Winning and Losing" by Colonel John Boyd, USAF (Ret). It's called the Green Book in the USMC, and it's said to be the briefing charts of a 13-hour briefing by the Colonel. It is said to be not about just warfighting, but conflict in all forms. |
Tuesday Apr 29 |
| Running 20:05 [3] 2.71 km (7:25 / km) +20m 7:09 / km | |
| shoes: Brooks |
| Quick 10pm run with Katie. A bit of walking---less than the last few runs.
It was a little cold and it was bothering my throat. I might be coming down with something.
I've been trying to remember songs that make me run faster. I found a strange one tonight---Sigue Sigue Sputnik, "21st Century Boy". It has a lot of tempo disruptions, but it worked. Go figure.
I had time last Friday to see a movie, but only a 10pm showing that would let me be somewhere at midnight. So I picked...
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (1) The reviews were mixed---only 57% good. My favorite critic quote is, "It's as if the filmmakers were doing something that impaired their concentration and made them lose focus on something they started. " I liked this a lot more than the first one. This sequel is very much dirtier and very politically incorrect. At first it seems like a series of funny gags connected by the thinnest story, which is the kind of movie I cannot tolerate, but then it actually starts connecting the threads and repeating jokes, and it actually started earning my respect as a cool story, so I just decided to go with the toilet humor and enjoy the movie. NPH is hilarious. There are some stereotype jokes that are very uncomfortable to watch, but so funny. The bad guy is a standout---he totally sells it. (Make sure you wait until the end of the credits. It's only a few seconds long, but it's worth it.) |
| |
| C • SSS 3 |
Saturday Apr 26 |
| |
| Event: Tiomila 2008
|