Month: September 2012

Another post about me.

Been trying to get on track and in rhythm. The problem of it all is a startling inability to focus  anywhere near my children. I do better when I am at work, thus I am unable to work in any competent fashion when I am outside of the office. Solution: Stay at the office. Which brings me to next week.

The schedule is light (Talislegger light, not actually light), including 6 class preps, 2 – 4 chapters, 1 meeting, 2 practices, one presentation, paperwork to turn in, and more grading than one should imagine and hope to remain sane. Prioritizing tells me that there are spots in the schedule that, if used properly, will allow me to complete everything without having to worry about working when I get home. Now I can think about coaching when I get home.

 

So this week means meaningful accomplishments during work hours and it also mans a chance to develop my coaching ideas for youth. I have been trying to find ways to teach fundamentals while also teaching players how to respond to pressure. I want to push those fundamentals down the chute. I want to move the actions from the prefrontal cortex to the basal ganglia, building response to pressure as an automatic routine.

High hopes, I know.

You cannot talk about Talismans without addressing the North American Tribes. They were fresh in my mind while I was listening to a book on brain research and workplace performance. Here is what science says: The brain can only function at a high level for a limited time, because the prefrontal cortex requires large amounts of energy (glucose) to function effectively. Here is what Shamans do: Allow moments to pass without focus and then harness focus to create microbursts of brilliance. So, can you see how we can learn from shamans; how they learned through practice and meditation what it took us centuries of science to unravel?

I’m thinking a lot about how the brain works in order to force myself to exert greater controls over the brain and thus get to where I want to be as an individual. I’ll speak on that more this monday. However, I do want to mention that there are profound connections between what ‘magic’ teaches and what science discovers. Perhaps the old-world scientists were seen as magicians. It is true that any superior technology, sufficiently advanced enough, is indistinguishable from magic. The understanding of said tech and science may be seen as magical too.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. 218.4 lbs. At least 15 lbs to go in order to make it to the crucial threshold by October 4th. It isn’t a lot of time, and shaking off the rust has been difficult–especially on the knees. I managed to find some screws to put the treadmill back together. That doesn’t detract from the fact that I need to take of nearly 5 lbs a week to make weight. Not sure it is healthy to do so.
2. Coincidentally, if I want a BMI of 24, I need to get down to 197. A BMI of 22 means 180. I won’t go below that.

It started out as something for the kids. They watched a show called Beyblade and became obsessed with the idea of buying the little metal tops and battling each other. I bought some for the boys and a couple just so I could play with them. Over time this small purchase grew larger and blossomed into an obsession. I went from playing for the boys to playing against the boys to now, playing to understand how to construct the perfect Bey.

This evolution has not come cheap. My wife recognized my obsession early on and saw where it would lead. She knew before I did that I would try to work out the physics of the thing. I bought a box of twelve Beys from China only to discover that the Chinese Beys are formed from some kind of aluminum based composite, creating a lighter Bey, and one that cannot compete with the American-bought Beyblades. So now there are 8 Beys (left 4 in the boxes) that have no chance to make the rankings–like a bunch of filler fighters on the bottom of the fight card.

I went online and watched videos, read chat boards, listened deeply to the thoughts of many about the perfect Bey. My idea of perfect is not shared by many, although in this house my Perfect Prototype Virgo (Earth Virgo with a metal core) wins 85% of its matches. According to the web, Twisted Tempo should hold that mark. It is by far the heaviest Bey core and tears through the lighter Beys and attack types.

So, here is the thing: I want to get more Beys. I want to experiment and learn what is best. I want to trade and develop a potent roster. I want to raise the number of Beys to 50 and watch the battles go all day long. Most of all, I want to see the kids do this and become champs. Of course, they gotta get past me first.

Usually I devote waiver wednesday to my picks for the week’s games, but in a haze of Giant disappointment, I neglected to do so. I am not angry at the Giants persay, but at the injuries and thinness of the CB position. That’s neither here nor there. This post is about picks for the weeks games.

 

Patriots over Titans
Patriots cannot stop the run, so fantasy fans should be starting CJ2K. On the other hand, Titans cannot stop the pass, especially when that pass is aimed at a Tight End. It is going to be a very long day for the Tennessee linebackers.

Colts over Bears
No, I am not on drugs. I realize that I said many terrible things about Andrew Luck leading up to the draft. I know I thought he’d be a bust and that the talent drought in Indy would expose him. However, the Bears are going to come out slightly flat footed and be taken by surprise by a team that has been losing for way too long to get caught out there on day 1.

Eagles over Browns
I don’t even think I need to make a commentary here.

Lions over Rams
Listen, the Rams stink. They have a great new coach who will need time. They have a very weak division that will float them a few wins, but in the end Megatron is going to do his thing.

Texans over Dolphins
By the time playoffs rolled around last year, the Texans were starting a ball boy at quarterback. They still were favored to win. They didn’t, of course, but with their QB healthy and all the other parts in place, this is going to be a nasty blowout. The only thing that could make it better is if the Texans go out and sign Ocho, just so he can score a TD, pull off his helmet and reveal the shape of a battered dolphin carved into his hair.

Falcons over Chiefs
Tough pick here in what looks to be a very close competition. The Chiefs have all of their weapons back, but with the limited amount of time they all worked together in the preseason, I think the seasoned Falcons pull this one out by a TD.

Jaguars over Vikings
Mark this down for the NOT Game of the Week. AP is making his return and will likely be limited. ‘Pocket Hercules’ will also see limited action. So we’re down to backup RB’s carrying the load for teams whose QB’s aren’t exactly NFL elites.

Jets over Bills
But I thought the Giants would win too. Seriously, the wildcat could be that running game spark the team needs in order to be successful. On the other hand, that will limit the amount of touches Sanchize gets, which means eventual drama. These guys need to get some offensive talent quick.

Saints over Redskins
Not even close. RG III will play some decent ball, but the talent around him is negligible. He is quickly going to be seen as the next Chris Carr unless they give him some help. Cutting your best TE is not the kind of help I’m talking about either.

Bucs over Panthers
Everyone is talking about ‘Superman’ Newton and forgetting that when he and Tebow were at Florida, the S was on Tebow’s chest. Yes, Newton is more accurate. Yes, Newton has the indelible Steve Smith. No, that is not going to matter one bit to a Florida team with a hard nosed college coach that sees him coming. Panthers, meet the running game. Oh, and Talib is pretty good too.

Broncos over Steelers
Peyton just has too much going for him here. It is a home game, he is a year removed from the sport and hungry as hell. Did I mention that he’s been known to carve up the Steeler secondary like xmas turkey? Expect 1-2 picks to serve as an appetizer for a 4 TD main course.

Ravens over Bengals
People continue to sleep on the Ravens. Meanwhile they’re talking hype about Lewis’ Bengals. Nope, nope, nope. Baby Ray don’t play.

Chargers over Raiders
The Chargers long history of slow starts hiccuped last year. Instead they had a slow finish. I think that trend continues as the receivers (and the hype) die down. The Raiders are going to threaten in this game and perhaps throughout the first half of the season.

Giants lost. It doesn’t matter as much as one might think. An early loss does much to put the ballclub in an ‘us against the world’ position. The team responds well to that. They don’t respond as well to major injury problems. The real loss tonight was not to the Cowboys but to the secondary. Another Giant went down, reducing an already hurting secondary to shambles. There is nobody left.

My fantasy season started out with as many gaffes as the Cowboy’s O-line. I false-started two times, assuming I had started the Giants D vs. DAL as well as Martellus Bennett. No such luck. I started the 49r’s D vs. Pass-happy Green Bay and a very angry Cedric Benson. Instead of Bennett who caught for 40 yds and a TD, I started Jets TE Dustin Keller who may or may not play.

There is no fantasy pre-season, so I get to make my mistakes when they count. Unfortunately, Giants RB David Wilson and the rest of the ‘hands’ team did the same. The result doesn’t look too good.

If you ever questioned American superiority, just look at the olympics. We have the best talent in the world in a lot of the ways that talent is measured. We win all the time, because we are built to win. How so? We have a built in cheat code. You see, America, by virtue of the power of immigration, can import the world’s best talent and make it our own. Unfortunately, this design we have created has an expiration date. That date has already passed.

Here is the problem as I see it: American society is predicated on the idea that we, and only we, can be the best. We don’t need help from anybody and we take charge of everything. This worked well for two world wars and something slightly resembling a third brewing in the middle east. Only now, this American exceptionalism is in the crosshairs of an enemy it cannot defeat: The Internet.

The web is a large, multi-user idea and information aggregator that refuses to be controlled by a single national entity. Through the web you can seek out the greatest collection of talent the world has to offer and bring them together under the banner of purpose, not nationality. With such a model in place, the need for nationality can crumble in the face of a global village. National pride can be superseded by idea mobs and flash projects, thought driven financial enterprises that pick and choose physical territory in order to avoid  laws they choose to ignore. We are consumers so, yes, we will still buy the products created by these non-national entities. In doing so we weaken the strength of the American brand and slowly count down the demise of a nation that refuses to evolve with the time.

The U.S. as a melting pot provided the framework and inspiration for the creation of the modern internet. However, as a nation predicated on the idea exceptionalism, we cannot survive this new digital era.

When I first started the 10 minute rule I thought it would offer me some insight into how I operate as a person and as a writer. It did the job, uncovering patterns and methods like tarp being slowly pulled back from a pool. Hundreds of days slipped by and I waded at the surface of that pool. Then, every so often, I would slip a little deeper. The proper connection of motivation and inspiration would ignite my fires and a hidden truths would slip out across the pages. I think I learned another last night.

Writing is immersion. As a child I could fall into a story, releasing my natural breath and sucking in the oxygen of whatever realms a writer created. When I became a writer the process of creation was equal to the process of writing. I would slip down deep into a world and move around inside of it, scribing the words as I saw them, as they happened. Little by little I learned about the craft of writing. Little by little I was tugged up and out of my myriad of worlds into a place where I was less observer than analyst, where I puzzled over every twist of phrase and every form of page. I learned my way out of writing.

I believe this is the natural progression of a writer. First we write, then we learn, then we must discover how to exist in both spaces–how to descend into the depths of a story completely, forgetting the knowledge of craft that rests heavily on our psyche. We must tell the truth of the story and then, having experienced it all, we must apply that analysts eye to shape the telling into something more.

Some Thoughts:

 

1. As a kid I had the most vivid memories of times and places and incidents that, at the time, made no sense. I remember, for example, having epileptic seizures that would begin as a slight shivering in my ear and blossom into a grand mal attack. This did not happen in my life. I remember tearing off my kneecap, the gelatinous innards hanging there on a fence while I writhed in pain, a child knowing his childhood would never be the same. I remember a farmhouse out on the edge of nowhere, meekly furnished saved for an ultra-realistic sculpture of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross. I remember these things as naturally and completely as I remember the biggest moments in my life. In many ways these memories are more real and more powerful than things I know I experienced. Yet, these are incidents I know I did not experience and I cannot understand why or how I should remember them so fully.
2. Started the workouts at 218.8 lbs with a 30 day goal of getting to 205 lbs. Started with 4 minute tabata from boyrock.tv. In a perfect world I will begin a routine with a slow jog for 5 minutes, slip into a tabata, move to weights, back to a tabata and a jog of 5 minutes to close.

It is now obvious that my ever-expanding girth is not going to go away on its own. As I watch my wife toiling away at the weights and on the treadmill I know that we are headed in opposite directions. I need a course correction. The initial formation of the 10 minute rule some 850 days ago was based upon the idea that it takes 30-90 days to form a habit. I want to try forming a new habit out of the bones of an old one. For the next 30 days I will complete some form of exercise, blogging about it in the Some Thoughts segment of the page.

Day one begins tomorrow with a detailed plan of attack. It is important that I complete some form of exercise every day and keep an accurate record of my exercise and other habits. The hardest part of my life is maintaining and reviewing a schedule enough to stick to it. Yet this is the very thing I need to master in order to be an effective manager in the workplace–the next logical progression of my profession.

From Bodyrock.tv to any number of posters and workout booklets and software, I am loaded with ways to commit and to keep it interesting. The real difficulty is in having the motivation to keep going. I can do that for 30 days.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking about the way humans interact with machinery and how that can be enhanced through a BEI (Brain-Electrics-Interface). This sort of device is known by many names in many stories, perhaps most notable being called a Datajack. BEIs are the next stage in our technological evolution. The open the door to seemingly limitless possibilities and raise the question: Is there a limit to human performance?

The role of a BEI can be to accelerate speed at which impulses crash around the brain. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is one way that we can record the speed of the human thought process. Now imagine there were a device within your brain that could speed up your thoughts. How fast could you think? Is there an upper limit? What sort of stress would this cause to the brain tissue?

Here is what I think: The faster things are in the physical world, the more wear an tear they seem to endure. This is not a perfect rule. In fact, I am basing this entirely on the concept of friction–which may not apply to thought. If there is in fact resistance that occurs in the transfer of thought, then this can effect the structural integrity at the higher levels of thought speed. Thought speed is related to the amount of dendrites built up in the brain. In this way the brain is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets.

Here comes the tricky part. What if we could artificially manufacture and place dendrites. How would that effect brain conduction? Would we think faster if there were a way to create more dendrites and apply them to the required thought pathways?

This leads to many more conversations about regulations and the idea of sentience. I can see this leading to a story about a doctor who fumbles around in her lab and constructs such a thing (a la planet of the apes) and the resulting chaos that follows. This is of course how my mind works and the round about way in which I come to story concepts. And that is really the point of this article.

With the second week of school drawing to a close I find myself looking forward as opposed to stumbling towards a point where I have finally caught up. I haven’t caught up, not with everything I need to do, but life is quickly catching up to me. I am hunkered down and medically forced into a cycle that resembles a normal person’s sleeping habits, less my heart shrivel and pop like some cosmic reversal of the big bang.

Two weeks in and I really love my job. I still have a great amount of bitterness towards where I was, especially now that they’re enjoying a moment in the spotlight. I feel like the coach that left the program only to see that program grab the national championship two years later. This is a recurring pattern in my life. Wash out of the ISU football program and two years later they’re in the national spotlight. Leave the Flagstaff Hitmen in order to spend more time with my family, and two years later they win a league championship. This pattern repeats itself, Fibonacci-like, throughout my life leading to the conclusion that my purpose is to infuse a place with what it needs to win and then clear out before I screw it up.

I’m Bain Capital.

I’m also exhausted from the hard work and fat new body. It is possible I was much happier with my state of being when I was posting about being a work in progress as opposed to having reached the end of the working period and discovered that I lost all the gains I made plus more–physically. Mentally I am still right there on the cusp of a major evolutionary step. I don’t know what I’m waiting for. The ideas are floating around up there looking for safe harbor.

I just gotta give myself that push.