A Fool Proof Plan

Thanks to Elinor's suggestion, I have started a running program -- just finished run #2. And I feel great! The program starts with 60 sec of jogging/90 sec of walking alternated for 20 minutes in the first week and gradually increases time and duration of jogging until, by week 9, I'll be jogging for 30 minutes straight. Can't wait.

Last Monday, I only completed 15 minutes of the prescribed 20 minutes. I had a stitch in my side and was bored with the indoor track. Today, it was overcast and 65 degrees. Everyone in the Twin Cities is outside. I loaded my Nano with fast-paced music and headed for Lake Calhoun. Twenty minutes went by so fast!

But the best part? I've set myself up for success this time, without really realizing it. I am working with a student right now who is in high school and has severely depressed reading skills. He wants to learn to read and recognizes how important it is, but because of the frustration he feels and the intensity of the work we do, he often refuses to work and finds excuses for not participating. I saw the parallel between his goals and frustrations with my struggles to find an exercise plan that would allow me to lose weight and feel healthier. So I told him I was starting this running program and compared my goal to build stamina and strength for running with his goal to learn to read. I've been keeping him updated with my progress, including the days I talked myself out of running or didn't go as far as I wanted to. One day he said running would be easy for him. I replied that I would much rather be reading, but that we both need this to make our lives better, and it's not easy for either of us. And that we can do it.

The result is that I can't give up on this plan, can't procrastinate it, can't make excuses and give up, can't pretend I didn't tell him about it. Kids have a fantastic ability to hold us accountable, and I certainly can't go to my student now and say, "Sorry, this running program is just too hard. I'll never be able to run or get healthy." The truth is, if we both stick with it, we can both succeed, and if I'm going to be role-model in this struggle, I better do everything possible to prove that success is possible!

"Woe unto ye beetles of South America"

I am reading Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea, by Carl Zimmer. It is a textbook-quality primer on where the knowledge of evolution currently stands, past, present, and pending discoveries included.

I was just reading about Charles Darwin’s preparations for the trip on the HMS Beagle, a story I’ve read many times. Apparently, Darwin was fascinated by beetles during his theological studies at Cambridge. Upon discovering that he would indeed be traveling around the world as a naturalist, he exposed his truly nerdy self by declaring, “Woe unto ye beetles of South America.”

What idealism and unabashed dedication to an obscure subject in the face of the adventure of a lifetime! I like to think that he said this without the obligatory quasi-sarcastic tone that contemporary idealists and nerds must employ to avoid seeming too eager or sincere. I like the idea of quoting Darwin when I am feeling particularly idealistic or nerdy or grandiose, but then, of course, I would be using that quasi-sarcastic tone…

I call bullshit on On Bullshit

After quite a hiatus from my 30-at-a-time library book borrowing habit, I have 4 tasty selections, and more on my wait list.

• On Bullshit, by Harry G. Frankfurt
• Godel, Escher and Bach, an Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas R. Hofstadter
• In Search of the Mind, by Eric R. Kandel
• A Culinary Traveler in Tuscany, by Beth Elon

I’ve avoided any online talk of On Bullshit so don’t know what the general consensus is, but I think Frankfurt has written a pretty fantastic joke. On page one, he claims “most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and avoid being taken in by it.” I think this is the point of the book — to fool the very intellectual folk who would be so confident. Frankfurt has written a very real book with a very real discussion of the explicit and implicit characteristics of bullshit. Yet, just as he considers it not quite lying, more of a bluff, I believe he wrote the entire piece as a bluff. We are not meant to take it seriously.

I am both annoyed and impressed — much as I would be, I suppose, by any other very good bullshit.

Haven't I been here before?

I think this is the third time I’ve started a blog. I always gave it up because I didn’t like the format or the content. And it always seemed kind of pointless. But the truth is, I have a lot of interests, and it makes sense to catalog what I do and learn in an accessible way.

When I get better at organizing this information, I intend to organize this blog according to category — that’s why I chose the format of this blog design. And I'll probably import some of my posts from my last blog "Mind On," which is now defunct due to lack of activity and lack of interest on my part. However, some of my posts were at least mildly worth saving -- I especially like the Knitting Olympics play-by-play.