Assembling Raw Data into a Storyline

 I run the climbing league at the gym and the main challenge is taking the data from the climbs people do and converting that into points and then taking those points and crafting a story out of it. You want people to be invested and excited about the outcome. There's not much inherently exciting about it because you don't see the action as its happening. It's like narrating a sporting event where you only ever see the scores instead of the home runs or touchdowns or alley-oops themselves. 

And so as part of that narrative I've crafted a persona as a fraught and capricious commissioner who is fast and loose with wielding his authority and intentionally stirs the pot. I try to incite as much drama as possible because the worst thing people can be is bored.

The problem is when people want to participate in the bit and accost me and call into question the validity of the whole operation and do the very same dramatic narrative crafting that I'm trying to do but I get overwhelmed and defensive and, on the whole, too sensitive about it.

But that's okay. 

The test of a true rabble-rouser is that even he grows to fear the rabble he hath roused.

what did I make on this day in 2015?

 

I made this comic when I was 23 years old, in the middle of student teaching which I often tell people was the worst time in my life but at least I made this comic. 

mark my words

 I will do my taxes this year. As I have done every year since I was born.

And I will bring you along for the ride.

What new awful things will TurboTax do this year? 

Stay tuned and find out.

Vote in the comments for when you think I should do my taxes.

The top comment will be considered unless I don't want to do my taxes that day. 

I'll negotiate with the top comment for when I do my taxes. And then ridicule or ignore the lower comments.

this is going to be a pretty boring post about sprint training

 BUT stick around until the end and I will pay my electric bill and renew my vehicle registration!

got back on the track today after about a month-long hiatus. took video of myself.

times were not great so I was frustrated in the moment BUT I also got video and upon watching it back a few times and comparing it to older videos I realized that I'm doing a much better job of extending and straightening my leg as it's coming down into the ground. So that's good. Even while being moody and just trying to run 'hard', my form still noticeably improved.

my big goal for the year is to break 12 seconds in the 100 meters and the biggest form change I'm going to focus on is keeping my leg straight while landing. that's going to make me run 'taller' and also my center of mass will pass over a straight leg faster than a bent squishy leg which equals faster running.

Steps to straighten my leg while sprinting: mentally cue it and practice running with exaggerated form. straight leg one legged hops for distance. sprinting while trying to keep my legs straight. doing can-cans. modifying the speed drills I already do to focus on keeping a straight leg. 

I'm pretty sure the need to bend my legs comes from having weak hamstrings so I'm going to continue strengthening my hamstrings with deadlifts and hamstring curls. also banded kicks.

I'm confident the strength training and drills I'm doing are helping me improve and it's a matter of continuing that work and getting used to sprinting on the track again which I'm confident will come back fairly quickly.

alright time to pay my electric bill...

done

alright time to renew my vehicle registration...

done

I thought I was going to write more about sprinting but I'll end by emphasizing how gratifying it was to see a noticeable improvement in my form. Sprinting is fun but it does feel like beating your head against a wall sometimes trying to figure out how to get better and so for me to take video of myself and identify something worth changing and then actually finding a way to change it feels really good. If I hadn't taken video today I would've been pretty disappointed with my performance even though I can tell just by feel that I'm running differently and have gotten stronger. 

I ran 6.60 for my first flying 50m sprint and I thought to myself 'you're washed up old man. you're done. hang up. it was nice while it lasted but looks like this it.' And I knew that wasn't true but I did think it in the moment. 

 

there's monsters. there's real flesh-and-blood demons and they hide behind power and prestige

 does nationalism or the nation state as a concept help to serve the interests of common people or does it help powerful people further consolidate power?