I don’t normally get into anything even quasi-political in this space, but I can’t let this one pass by.
There were news reports on Tuesday about new Congressional Budget Office estimates that the US will have spent $2.4 trillion within ten years for the combined wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Later that day, I heard a TV news commentator say something to put that number in perspective: You know the Social Security shortfall that no one in Washington dares to offer a realistic solution for because of how expensive it will be? Well, according to this commentator, $2.4 trillion would completely fund the anticipated Social Security liability shortfall for the next 75 years. Even if he overstated things and the shortfall coverage was only for 30 or 40 years, it still takes your breath away to think about what we’re giving up for what we’re getting.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Rats! It's Over
I apologize for having been away for so long. Work and life sort of took over for a while.
I finished my race season with the Bassman half-iron race in southern NJ on October 7th. We were still experiencing extremely warm temps then here in the northeast, and it was up close to 90 degrees by the time I finished. I was elated to discover that I was 16th overall (out of approx 135 athletes) and thought for sure that I’d be taking home some hardware. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that four people in my M45-49 age group had finished ahead of me! If I were only a year older – and competing in the M50-54 group – I would have taken home a first place trophy.
Despite the lack of hardware for my efforts, I had a blast that day. I kept reminding myself all during the race how darn lucky I was to be able to participate in a race in such beautiful surroundings. As I was driving home, I thought to myself over and over: I LOVE THIS SPORT. Seems like I always feel that way as I’m driving home from races.
My mind has already turned to next season. My thinking is that I’ll do a half- in the spring, followed by my second attempt at an iron-distance race in September. …. but we’ll see how it all turns out.
I finished my race season with the Bassman half-iron race in southern NJ on October 7th. We were still experiencing extremely warm temps then here in the northeast, and it was up close to 90 degrees by the time I finished. I was elated to discover that I was 16th overall (out of approx 135 athletes) and thought for sure that I’d be taking home some hardware. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that four people in my M45-49 age group had finished ahead of me! If I were only a year older – and competing in the M50-54 group – I would have taken home a first place trophy.
Despite the lack of hardware for my efforts, I had a blast that day. I kept reminding myself all during the race how darn lucky I was to be able to participate in a race in such beautiful surroundings. As I was driving home, I thought to myself over and over: I LOVE THIS SPORT. Seems like I always feel that way as I’m driving home from races.
My mind has already turned to next season. My thinking is that I’ll do a half- in the spring, followed by my second attempt at an iron-distance race in September. …. but we’ll see how it all turns out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
