Been a Long Time
On Tuesday I did something I haven't done for a long time. I drove to the valley. For those who aren't familiar with the Southern California area, the term "the valley" refers to the San Fernando Valley, which is to the north of the area where I now live. I've gone to movies in the valley a few times since getting out of the hospital, but it's probably been more than a decade since I was in the area of Northridge. The Sepulveda VA facility is actually in North Hills, but that area around CSUN will always be Northridge to me.
Why was I driving all that way to a VA when there is one much closer to me? Because the doctor wanted me to have a specific test and to have it done now. That facility had an opening to do the exam weeks before the West LA VA did. So I got up very early and made the drive.
What a shock. The West LA VA is constantly undergoing renovations, is an older facility and while they do their best, it has an air of being "old and used." The same cannot be said for the gorgeous, clean, excellently maintained Sepulveda VA facility.
What was really interesting was the drive home. I used to drive to the valley regularly to bowl and would often use Sepulveda boulevard as an alternative to the traffic on the 405. Its complexion has changed dramatically.
The world does not stand still. Change is constant. If we fail to pay attention, we will be shocked at what's gone on while we were unaware.
* * *
Catcher's mitts are measured differently than other mitts used in baseball. You measure the catcher's mitt by its circumference. The maximum size is 34.5 inches. A baseball itself is 9.25 inches in circumference. The pitcher's mound is 60 feet, six inches from home plate.
So when the catcher sets the target for the pitcher, the goal is to throw a 9.25" baseball into a target 34.5" from a distance of just over 60'. Ideally, at more than 90 MPH if the catcher called for a fastball. Granted the catcher can move his mitt to make the catch, but the ideal pitch involves those specifications. If you can hit that ball and reach base safely just 3.5 out of every 10 times you come to the plate in the major leagues, you're a multi-millionaire superstar.
An NBA basketball is anywhere from 9.5 to 9.85 inches in diameter. The hoop the players shoot that ball into is not quite double that distance in diameter at 18 inches. That's not a lot of room for error. Especially if you are behind the three-point shooting line, 22 feet away from the basket. But if you can take and make that shot more than 200 times in a season and hit over 40% of those shots, you're a superstar.
Until injuries made me stop, I was a lifelong bowler. I knew everything there was to know about the specifications of all of the equipment. Without going into all of the details, the basic issue is that the bowler is using a ball that can be no more than 16 pounds in weight to knock down a rack of ten pins that weigh between 33.75 and 36.25 pounds. More than twice the weight of the ball. In researching this piece I discovered that at some point the organizations that regulate bowling increased the maximum allowable diameter of the ball from 8.583 inches to 8.595 inches. A seemingly small modification but one that can have a dramatic impact in knocking down that rack of pins.
Why is all this minutiae important? Because it highlights why cheating in sports is so easy to do and get away with. Maury Wills was a manager who got caught having the groundskeepers enlarge the batter's box to make it easier for his players to hit the breaking ball pitcher on the mound that night for the A's. Ten game suspension. Bats get corked. Balls get scuffed. Joe Neikro got caught on the pitcher's mound with an emery board for scuffing balls. Ten game suspension.
People will break rules. The posted speed limit on the freeway is 65 mph and if you travel at that rate when traffic is light, people will fly right by you at 75 mph or even more. But if they get caught breaking the rule, they will be cited and fined. Park beyond the time on the meter and get fined.
Speeding and parking fines are different than cheating at sports. Victory at any price isn't okay, even in wars between nations. There are rules. The Geneva Conventions. Imagine how much the lives of Americans held at POWs by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam conflict might have been, had the Geneva Conventions been observed. The technicalities that the U.S. government engaged in to create Camp X-Ray and other such facilities don't excuse our nation's government from violating the rules, but that's for another blog. The point is, what lesson do we teach our children when we excuse Tom Brady's role in #DeflateGate? Whatever they takeaway from those who defend Brady, it isn't a good lesson in any way.
* * *
As of this writing, the following portraits are on U. S. currency that is currently circulating:
$1 - George Washington
$2 - Thomas Jefferson
$5 - Abraham Lincoln
$10 - Alexander Hamilton
$20 - Andrew Jackson
$50 - Ulysses S. Grant
$100 - Benjamin Franklin
Obviously, what they share in common is not having been President of the United States. Five of the seven were, but Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin were not. But all seven served in a position in the federal government. Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury in addition to authoring 51 of the Federalist Papers and serving as a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation, the predecessor to our current government. Franklin served as Postmaster General, U. S. Minister to France and U. S. Minister to Sweden.
With the current push to replace President Jackson on the $20 with a woman, it's obvious we don't have a former female president to give this honor. Or vice president. The highest ranking woman in the history of the federal government is Condaleeza Rice, as Secretary of State is the highest ranking cabinet position. She's not eligible as you can't put a living person on U. S. currency.
Harriet Tubman won the vote to be the candidate of the group pushing for this to be done. She isn't my first choice but she is an excellent choice. She changed the lives of many. She is a symbol of doing the right thing even when it is currently against the laws of the land. And, she's a person of color, and it's high time that someone who isn't a Caucasian be honored in this way.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Heard on Jerry Springer - "He got married the day before, you were the maid of honor and the very next day you had sex with him. What makes you think that is okay?" She replies "because she's a bitch (pointing to the wife)."
I'll give 3 to 1 against Lindsay Lohan completing the required community service hours by the deadline. Even money on her going to jail though. She's had more second chances than Carter has liver pills.
I don't watch DWTS but Erin Andrews did roll her eyes (I watched the video when this made the news).
Why can't I have accidents like Asher Conniff? He accidentally signed up for the wrong poker tournament and won, winning nearly $1 million and an entry into an even bigger tournament.
If he isn't sure what to do with the money, there's a blue 1999 Lamborghini for sale that has only 15,000 miles on it. It is available for less than $300,000.
How the heck did Shareef O'Neal wind up at Windward?
Bethenny Frankel's ex-husband is getting $26,000 a month in spousal support. After less than four years of marriage. Wonder if he'll keep his job.
A Florida funeral home has fired two drivers after they drove their hearse to a donut shop with a flag-draped coffin the back of the vehicle. They were en route to the burial of an 84 year old war hero. What the heck were they thinking??
Southwest Airlines really messed up when they wouldn't let a female passenger call her husband back after he texted her saying he was going to take his own life. They did offer a refund of her airfare, adding insult to injury.
Real-life Barbie, Valeria Lukyanova needs to seek out a real-life psychiatrist.
Why was I driving all that way to a VA when there is one much closer to me? Because the doctor wanted me to have a specific test and to have it done now. That facility had an opening to do the exam weeks before the West LA VA did. So I got up very early and made the drive.
What a shock. The West LA VA is constantly undergoing renovations, is an older facility and while they do their best, it has an air of being "old and used." The same cannot be said for the gorgeous, clean, excellently maintained Sepulveda VA facility.
What was really interesting was the drive home. I used to drive to the valley regularly to bowl and would often use Sepulveda boulevard as an alternative to the traffic on the 405. Its complexion has changed dramatically.
The world does not stand still. Change is constant. If we fail to pay attention, we will be shocked at what's gone on while we were unaware.
* * *
Catcher's mitts are measured differently than other mitts used in baseball. You measure the catcher's mitt by its circumference. The maximum size is 34.5 inches. A baseball itself is 9.25 inches in circumference. The pitcher's mound is 60 feet, six inches from home plate.
So when the catcher sets the target for the pitcher, the goal is to throw a 9.25" baseball into a target 34.5" from a distance of just over 60'. Ideally, at more than 90 MPH if the catcher called for a fastball. Granted the catcher can move his mitt to make the catch, but the ideal pitch involves those specifications. If you can hit that ball and reach base safely just 3.5 out of every 10 times you come to the plate in the major leagues, you're a multi-millionaire superstar.
An NBA basketball is anywhere from 9.5 to 9.85 inches in diameter. The hoop the players shoot that ball into is not quite double that distance in diameter at 18 inches. That's not a lot of room for error. Especially if you are behind the three-point shooting line, 22 feet away from the basket. But if you can take and make that shot more than 200 times in a season and hit over 40% of those shots, you're a superstar.
Until injuries made me stop, I was a lifelong bowler. I knew everything there was to know about the specifications of all of the equipment. Without going into all of the details, the basic issue is that the bowler is using a ball that can be no more than 16 pounds in weight to knock down a rack of ten pins that weigh between 33.75 and 36.25 pounds. More than twice the weight of the ball. In researching this piece I discovered that at some point the organizations that regulate bowling increased the maximum allowable diameter of the ball from 8.583 inches to 8.595 inches. A seemingly small modification but one that can have a dramatic impact in knocking down that rack of pins.
Why is all this minutiae important? Because it highlights why cheating in sports is so easy to do and get away with. Maury Wills was a manager who got caught having the groundskeepers enlarge the batter's box to make it easier for his players to hit the breaking ball pitcher on the mound that night for the A's. Ten game suspension. Bats get corked. Balls get scuffed. Joe Neikro got caught on the pitcher's mound with an emery board for scuffing balls. Ten game suspension.
People will break rules. The posted speed limit on the freeway is 65 mph and if you travel at that rate when traffic is light, people will fly right by you at 75 mph or even more. But if they get caught breaking the rule, they will be cited and fined. Park beyond the time on the meter and get fined.
Speeding and parking fines are different than cheating at sports. Victory at any price isn't okay, even in wars between nations. There are rules. The Geneva Conventions. Imagine how much the lives of Americans held at POWs by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam conflict might have been, had the Geneva Conventions been observed. The technicalities that the U.S. government engaged in to create Camp X-Ray and other such facilities don't excuse our nation's government from violating the rules, but that's for another blog. The point is, what lesson do we teach our children when we excuse Tom Brady's role in #DeflateGate? Whatever they takeaway from those who defend Brady, it isn't a good lesson in any way.
* * *
As of this writing, the following portraits are on U. S. currency that is currently circulating:
$1 - George Washington
$2 - Thomas Jefferson
$5 - Abraham Lincoln
$10 - Alexander Hamilton
$20 - Andrew Jackson
$50 - Ulysses S. Grant
$100 - Benjamin Franklin
Obviously, what they share in common is not having been President of the United States. Five of the seven were, but Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin were not. But all seven served in a position in the federal government. Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury in addition to authoring 51 of the Federalist Papers and serving as a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation, the predecessor to our current government. Franklin served as Postmaster General, U. S. Minister to France and U. S. Minister to Sweden.
With the current push to replace President Jackson on the $20 with a woman, it's obvious we don't have a former female president to give this honor. Or vice president. The highest ranking woman in the history of the federal government is Condaleeza Rice, as Secretary of State is the highest ranking cabinet position. She's not eligible as you can't put a living person on U. S. currency.
Harriet Tubman won the vote to be the candidate of the group pushing for this to be done. She isn't my first choice but she is an excellent choice. She changed the lives of many. She is a symbol of doing the right thing even when it is currently against the laws of the land. And, she's a person of color, and it's high time that someone who isn't a Caucasian be honored in this way.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Heard on Jerry Springer - "He got married the day before, you were the maid of honor and the very next day you had sex with him. What makes you think that is okay?" She replies "because she's a bitch (pointing to the wife)."
I'll give 3 to 1 against Lindsay Lohan completing the required community service hours by the deadline. Even money on her going to jail though. She's had more second chances than Carter has liver pills.
I don't watch DWTS but Erin Andrews did roll her eyes (I watched the video when this made the news).
Why can't I have accidents like Asher Conniff? He accidentally signed up for the wrong poker tournament and won, winning nearly $1 million and an entry into an even bigger tournament.
If he isn't sure what to do with the money, there's a blue 1999 Lamborghini for sale that has only 15,000 miles on it. It is available for less than $300,000.
How the heck did Shareef O'Neal wind up at Windward?
Bethenny Frankel's ex-husband is getting $26,000 a month in spousal support. After less than four years of marriage. Wonder if he'll keep his job.
A Florida funeral home has fired two drivers after they drove their hearse to a donut shop with a flag-draped coffin the back of the vehicle. They were en route to the burial of an 84 year old war hero. What the heck were they thinking??
Southwest Airlines really messed up when they wouldn't let a female passenger call her husband back after he texted her saying he was going to take his own life. They did offer a refund of her airfare, adding insult to injury.
Real-life Barbie, Valeria Lukyanova needs to seek out a real-life psychiatrist.
posted by me at 4:19 PM
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