Calm Like a Bomb

I'm getting really lazy about getting up in the morning.  I got up at 12:06 today, which I believe wouldn't even consititute being the morning.  Joe and I headed over to Mi Ranchito in Lowell for lunch.  They have really good chips and salsa, plus they also have a green sauce that they put on the tacos that rocks.  When we returned we headed over to the park and balled it up for a few hours.  Eventually I had to go on my way to Valpo to run with Jake.  Having a training partner has worked wonders for my performance this past week.  It's time to head out.  I've gotta get up and run with Jake E in town tomorrow at 8.  Laterz~ Rich

Mood:  hyper
Music:  Rage Against the Machine Live @ the Grand Olympic Auditorium

Random Thoughts by Me, PART I

1. I’ve seen everyone else do these, so I figured I’d do one as well.
2. My name’s Richard
3. I’m also known as Rich, Dick, Dickster, Herb, Ferb, Ferby, Ferbster, and Ferburger
4. I am so glad I’m done with high school
5. I go to college in less than a month and I know it’s gonna kick ass
6. Oh, I’m running for USI’s track and cross-country teams
7. Jake from my team is back from Maine now and we started running together
8. He not only kicks ass, he is funnier than hell as well.
9. Thinking about running always brings me back to sophomore year
10. That was my best running year ever because of the people I had around me.
11. PJ and Scotty were my biggest influences during high school and I still respect them for that
12. I’m listening to Jimmy Hendrix right now
13. True, he was always on drugs.... but his emotions were true when he sang and played
14. I feel that music really is the best communicator
15. People have difficulty describing how they feel
16. If you listen to Jimi Hendrix, John Frusciante, Stevie Ray Vaughn, or Jimmy Page you can feel the emotion they’re trying to convey through the guitar... and it totally blows my mind.
17. My spine gets all tingly and I just connect with what they are trying to get across.
18. It saddens me that most of the music on the radio doesn’t have this element.
19. Many people totally miss out on good music because they are too busy buying artists who produce one single rather than an entire album.
20. Pink Floyd, The Who, Tool, and the Mars Volta really know how to make an album instead of just individual songs.
21. I would give anything to be an awesome musician instead of a runner.
22. 99% of the people who know me, don’t really know who I really am
23. I’ve never gotten close enough to anyone to ever tell them
24. I think that if I were a good musician I could convey my thoughts and emotions much easier
25. I do like being a runner though.
26. Running for long period of time gets me into a meditative state
27. My thoughts are much clearer and I learn more about myself
28. Running has also taught me what my physical and mental limits are
29. It’s also opened me up to the fact that I can always do better and
30. It has pushed me to do just that
31. Girls are weird....
32. I guess guys are too
33. If both of them didn’t try and play games and all of that bullshit I think their would be more happy relationships
34. The problem is that most people aren’t even honest with themselves
35. So it’s even harder for them to be honest to other people.
36. When they lie or hide things from those people, they think they are doing them a favor. But they usually know or find out and it just causes more hurt.
37. Speaking of liars... I hate politicians
38. Both sides lie all the time and
39. Come election time all you are doing is choosing the lesser of two evils.
40. I wanna find someone that I feel comfortable telling everything too.
41. I have yet to find someone that even comes close.
42. I used to think that marijuana was really bad stuff and you could die the first time you tried it.
42. That’s what they taught us in elementary school anyway....
43. I’ve never tried it, but I don’t look down upon those who use it.... as long as it’s done in moderation.
44. Ben Franklin once said something like "Moderation in all things."
45. Ben Franklin was a very smart man.
46. I have never even taken one puff from a cigarette.
47. I think smoking is very disgusting.
48. If I see a girl smoking it’s a huge turnoff... enough to completely turn me off in fact
49. Don’t smoke girls... most guys don’t like it... plus it’s expensive
50. I have no problem with drinking though. Just get your exercise to keep the beer gut off, give the keys to someone sober (drinking and driving is for dumbasses), and try not to say anything you wouldn’t say if you were sober.

"Tax cuts for the rich" and how they benefit everyone

As everyone already knows, we are in an election year right now.  This means that a number of political issues are coming into discussion yet again.  Bush is trying to get re-elected while Kerry, Gore, and Clinton are trying to do everything in their power to stop him. One of the favorite weapons in the liberal "bag of tricks" is to try and create class warfare. They believe that by portraying the rich as people who are undeserving of their money and exploiting the lower classes they will be able to get the majority vote by swaying blue collar workers.  Moreover, the easiest way for them to do this is to start talking about taxes.  Many liberals try to push the idea that the upper class is undertaxed and that Bush's tax plans work against the lower and middle-classes.  Some of you may know that after Bush got elected, one of the first things he tried to push in the midst of the recession that we were going through was tax cuts.  You may have even noticed that your parents got checks from the government that probably ranged anywhere from $250-800 depending on your family's total income.  I know that my parents were pretty psyched to get a check for a few hundred bucks from the government.

So what do you think most people did with the money they had just gotten?  Maybe they put it under their mattress, or maybe they put it in a savings account where it remains today.  My guess would have to be that it was *gasp* spent soon after being cashed.  It also could have been used to (help) pay off any debts they may have had.  In whatever way the money was spent, it was spent; and the way that a nation digs its way out of a depression or recession is by pumping money back into its economy.  Thus, if a person's taxes are raised they have less money to spend which translates into less money being pumped into the economy.  "But wait Rich, we're only talking about raising taxes for the upper class."  Here's a little secret for everyone: over 90% of America's tax dollars come from the upper class. Therefore, if the upper class's taxes were raised there would be a gigantic amount of money sucked away from the economy.

The next thing that must be taken into consideration is the fact that we are a capitalist society, and as so, it is believed that the person who works the hardest should reap the profits of their labors: this is what creates the incentive to work in the first place. If you punish people with higher taxes, you kill the incentive for them to work harder. And if you don't believe this, than just take a look at communist and socialist countries of the past and present. Alcoholism runs prevalently in a number of these countries because there is no way for an individual to improve their financial situation.  Therefore, it does not matter if the worker shows up sober or drunk, they will get the same paycheck either way.  Moreover, there is no way to get a pay increase so there is no incentive to work harder. This lack of motivation can even be found in a capitalist society when taxes are raised. Andrew Mellon, the Treasury Secretary under presidents Harding and Coolidge once said that, "The history of taxation shows that taxes which are inherently excessive are not paid. The high rates inevitably put pressure upon the taxpayer to withdraw his capital from productive business." If tax rates are low then there is more incentive for someone to try and create more wealth.  However, many liberals have a different way to look at it which I will explain next.

There are many liberals who believe that if you were to raise taxes from say, 33% to 66%, you would double the amount of money the government receives.  The problem is that this thought process uses static analysis which fails to recognize the human dynamic that is involved.  After taxes are raised, a person will most likely keep more of the money they have earned rather than putting it back into economy.  In conclusion, higher taxes lead to taxpayers withdrawing their capital from the economy.  Massive withdrawals of capital from a nations economy can stunt growth have disastrous results, such as the Great Depression of 1929.  I will now move on to why tax cuts are so helpful, especially when the upper class is receiving them.

I've got another secret for everyone.  There have been at least 4 occasions where, after a massive tax cut was passed, the rich actually payed MORE in taxes.  The Mellon Tax Cuts saw an increase of taxes payed by the wealthy from 44.2% to 78%.  The Kennedy Tax Cuts (Revenue Act of '64) saw an increase from 11.6% to 15.1% in taxes payed by the rich.  The Economic Recovery Act of '81 (Reagan's tax cuts) saw an increase of 9.2-9.9% in taxes payed by the rich.  So why is it that the rich actually pay more when taxes are cut?  The answer is that when a person has the oppurtunity to make more money without being punished for their efforts they will take advantage of it.  But, by making more money they will also pay more in taxes.... even without a tax increase.  Moreover, low taxes create the oppurtunity for more people to become wealthy, thus increasing the amount of wealthy taxpayers.  An increase in wealthy taxpayers will turn into a higher rate of tax revenue for the government.  So maybe people who seem to be "anti-rich" should be lobbying FOR tax cuts.  A good slogen would be: "Make the rich pay more, lower taxes."  Of course this would go against all of the standards of class warfare that people like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry have been engaging in on this election campaign.  For example, Hillary was quoted as saying: "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."  Sorry Hillary, but in a capitalist society you are supposed to be rewarded for success, not punished for it. 

"I thought we really had something moving faster than love in plaster"

The day started off very well.  After I woke, I headed up to Wheeler to run with Jake.  He said he wasn't in good shape, but we ran a hilly 8 miler through Shorewood in under 56 minutes.  It was nice to catch up with him on some stuff since I hadn't seen him since early June.  When we got back to his house his mom cooked us an awesome breakfast.  Thanks Jake's mom: you rock!  After I got home I spent most of the day just playing bass.  I had to go up to Merrillville later.  That's when the day got crappy.  It started to rain and my car battery died.  So right now my car is sitting in a parking lot in Merrillville.  I'm probably getting a new battery for it tomorrow afternoon.  That's about it for my day.  Now I would like to move on to music...

I picked up the Hives' new CD a couple of days after it was released.  I honestly didn't know what to expect when I first popped it in, however, 30 minutes and 5 seconds later I realized that I had just listened to garage rock/punk perfection.  What's really cool about The Hives is that they have less than an hour and 1/2 of music on 3 major albums, yet they manage to have more kick ass riffs than many bands can squeeze in 5 or 6 albums.  Bands like Sum41 claim to be "All Killer, No Filler"..... The Hives ARE all killer.  Tracks to definately check out are "No Pun Intended," "B is for Brutus," and "See Through Head." ~ Rich

I wanna race again :(

Long runs are so killer.  Right now my daily mileage is around 8 miles per day, but one run per week covers 20% of my total mileage in that given week.  This week I logged 50 miles, so my long run was 10 miles, which usually isn't too bad.  However, I decided to mix things up a bit by biking 10 miles beforehand in an area of Lake County that I had yet to explore.  When I got back, I started running right away (very stupid).  The first 8 miles flew by with no problems, unfortunately, the last 2 were hell.  Oh well, hopefully I'm stronger now because of it.  I'm getting up at like 7 tomorrow to go run with Jake E. in Valpo which should be fun.  Right now I'm just counting down the days 'til I go to E-ville again: this time for the school year!!!  The beach will definately be a preferable locale later on this week once temps get back into the 80's.  That was a freakish chill that we've had the past few days, but it did feel really good when I was running, so I guess that I can't complain.  That's about it for now.  Stay classy Hebron~ Rich

Who says distance runners can't be ripped?

Got up at 11 today.  Went to Matt's party at noon.  It was only 70 out, but we hopped in the pool anyway.  Henry, Matt, and I decided that we would go to the fair.  It was only like 4'ish, so I knew I needed to run before we went or I'd be running in the middle of the night again.  So I ran 8 miles in 53 minutes and change which surprised the hell out of me.  I felt so good today and I didn't even really try to run hard.  Hopefully I can start like a 4 month streak of days like this.  Anyway, once I got back I hopped in the shower and then picked up the rest of the crew.  The fair was gay as usual, but it did have it's high low points.  For example, two really freakish looking girls came up to Ricky and acted like they knew him and called him "Bobby."  Ricky was able to get away from them, but later they found him again and even though he kept on ignoring them they continued to call him "Bobby" and tried to get his attention.  He tried his hardest to try and get them to understand he wasn't interested, but they continued to bother him.  The shocking moment came when they finally tapped him on the shoulder and asked him "Bobby, why are you ignoring us?"  Ricky turns around and says, with a perfectly straight face, "because you're f!#$%^& ugly!"  Me, Matt, and Henry immediately walked away and just busted up laughing in shock.  It was a terribly mean thing to say, but at the same time if it wouldn't have been done I am positively sure they would have been following us around all night.  After experiencing the suckiness of the fair we went to Ricky's house to hang out.  He and his dad are in the process of finishing their basement, so they had these foamy pipe-things laying around.  Someone picked one up and the next thing I knew we were beating the shit out of each other with the things.  It was really funny because, no matter how hard you swung, the damn things they didn't hurt the other person.  I think I could make millions off anger management treatment with the things.  Now I'm really tired. 

I'm supposed to call up Jake E tomorrow to set up a run.  But in the meantime, I need sleep.  Nighty night~ Rich

"hello Peter... um, I'm gonna need you to come in tomorrow"

I love Office Space.  What's really scary, however, is that my boss is starting to sound like Bill Lumburgh.  I got up at 7 this morning, as a I always do, to call in my sales from the previous day.  The conversation went as follows....

Boss:  Vector, this is Boss's Name.  Are you ready for the best day ever?!

Me:    Sure, hey Brad it's Rich.  I give him my sales from previous day and apptointments I have lined up

Boss:  Ya um.... we're having a phone jam in the office tonight from 6-10, so if you could come in that would be great.  Each rep is going to have a minimum of at least 20 appointments for the weekend.  I really need you to push $1000 CPO this weekend.  So when can I expect you in tonight?

20 appointments.  I don't even schedule 20 appointments in a week, let alone in 3 days.  That's basically the last straw.  I'm quitting after this weekend.... maybe even before then.  I've got less than a month before college and I think being around people like that is making me dumber. ~ Rich

"After midnight, we gonna let it all hang down"

I guess I haven't updated in awhile, but such is life.  This past weekend frickin' rocked!  Stalby and I made the 5 hour trek down 41 for some southern fun.  PJ had talked to Laura earlier that week and said he'd meet us there.  On Friday I ran the Night Flight 4-miler at USI.  It was really cool because the race was run on the campus roads at 9 pm with the lights on, but due to the fact that I've been training in a town that is flat as hell the rolling hills kicked my ass.  Whatever the case, I was able to finish in 23:33 for 22nd out of a little over 200 runners.  After the race we went back to Laura's apartment and ordered some Papa John's.  Once we'd demolished the pizza, we headed to the party @ Garwood's house.  That was really fun and we walked back to Laura's (it was only a block away) at 4.  Got up in the afternoon and grabbed some lunch in E-ville before heading over to Louisville with PJ.  The trip over to Louisville was hilarious because it was so hilly that PJ had to go like 80 in the flat areas and downhills to get his truck over the hills.  Scott and I had a good laugh about that in the Camry.  After 2 hours, we made it to L-ville.  We were all still pretty tired from the night before so we just sat around for awhile.  After we felt able, we headed over Qdoba for some damn good tacos.  Next, we cruised the strip of bars and coffee houses.  Later on, I finally got to meet PJ's Bosnian model friend, Hermina.  She was really cool, but she's a psycho behind the wheel.  They tried to get me into 4th Street Live, which is like this restaurant district downtown,  but since it was after 10 they weren't letting people under 21 in.  I think that's pretty gay considering the fact that they don't kick out the one's that come in before 10... what's the point?  Oh well.  So we headed back to PJ's apartment.  His friend Nicole was having a little get together in her room, so we ended up over there.  If I wasn't going to USI, I think I'd definately go to U of L.  All in all a very fun weekend.  A lot of other stuff happened, but I really don't feel like typing anymore.  The ride hom was really REALLY tiring.
 
I am leaving for USI in exactly a month from today.  This new development is due to my practice schedule with the team and I have no problem with it.  I love it down there and I absolutely cannot wait.  Later peeps~ Rich

Night Running

I love running in the summer. During the winter, the weather is very unpredictable and harsh. The summer is just the opposite, especially at night. As I run at 10 there is a cool breeze that brushes against my face. The roads are deserted and the only things that I can hear are kritch kritch of my shoes against loose gravel, my sporadic breathing, and the gentle wooshing sound of cars passing in the distance. It is at night that I have my most peaceful and enjoyable runs.

Today was payday and my check was much larger than I had expected, so I was pretty happy. I've still got to run today; I'm trying to figure out if I want to run in an hour or wait until 10-11 tonight.

Mood: happy
Music: "To Rid the Disease"

a blacker white

Hey hey! Yesterday was probably the highlight of my week. I woke up at 6 AM, having only 5 hours of sleep because the Olympic trials were on and I wanted to watch the 10k run. Anyway, I had a race to get ready for so I iced my ankle (I rolled it really bad Thursday) and ate the breakfast of champion: chicken-flavored Ramen Noodles. Baby K showed up at my house a little earlier than expected, so she got to watch me eat my noodles. Once the noodles had been sufficiently downed, we hopped in Big Blue and picked up Alexis. Matt was supposed to tag along as well, but he had not run in a number of days and was not feeling well the day for. I was sad that he wasn't gonna be able to come because the race is tight and he would have had fun. While on the topic of the race, it would probably be smart to mention what I'm referring to, that being the Running Wild 5k in Michigan City. This is probably my favorite road race for a number of reasons. First, the race takes place right next to the lake. Second, the neighborhood you run through has really cool houses and scenery. Third, the race is organized and run very well. Finally, the course is pretty challenging. The last mile of the race is on the sandy beach. That being said, the three of us did extremely well. Alexis won her age group (22:40?) and Lauren(24:00?) placed 3rd. I, however, did not do as well as they did. I got 4th or 5th in my age group and placed 11th overall with a time of 18:47.

After the race we headed over to Taco Bell because we were quite famished; Alexis and I downed at Grande Meal. Then we headed up north again to Mount Baldy. It was kinda crowded there and the sand bar was really far out. Lauren and I swam out to it and came back completely exhausted. We all agreed that it sucked there, so we jumped in the car and headed to Kemil Beach. Kemil is by far my favorite beach because the water is cleaner, the beach is uncrowded, and the sand is very fine (no pebbles). We were there for at least 3 hours, and during that time I managed to burn just a little bit. But it has since tanned out and I'm now a blacker white than before haha.

Today my long run distance run is 10 miles. I have not run that far in quite some time now. So, we'll see how it goes. Later folks ~Rich

Mood: peaceful
Music: John Barleycorn Must Die by Traffic

"In a white room, with black carpet"

Hi again. Today was fairly relaxing. I spent much of my time reading articles from National Review and furthering my business knowledge with Philip Kotler's Marketing Management. In between reading I got back to the roots of rock with some classics such as Cream, Traffic, and Led Zeppelin. Jack Bruce, by the way, rocks my world with his bassline on Cream's "Crossroads". Thus, I highly recommend checking out Cream. With Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker (Jimmy Hendrix Experience drummer) on the roster it's a win-win situation. Traffic's John Barleycorn Must Die is another album that should be in everyone rock fan's collection. The opening track, Glad, is featured in so many movie soundtracks I've lost count. Flute and sax solos can be found throughout the album which add to the coolness of the CD.

On a lighter side check this out Rock... Paper... SADDAM!!!

Mood: happy
Music: The Very Best of Cream by Cream

My two cents on propaganda

documentary - 1. consisting of, concerning, or based on documents 2. Presenting facts objectively without editorializing or inserting fictional matter, as in a book or film

Greetings! Can anyone guess what any of this is all about? If you guessed that it has something to do with Michael Moore, than you guessed correctly. Most of you are aware that Moore's "documentary" entitled Fahrenheight 9/11 is now in theaters. As you may have noticed, I don't really take the labeling of the film as a documentary very seriously. The definition at the top of this post explains that a documentary presents facts "objectively without editorializing," however, Moore does just the opposite of this. Those of you who have seen Moore's previous movies, such as Bowling for Columbine, probably know what I'm talking about. It has been proven that many of the scenes that are shown in his movies are either staged (such as the Canadian Wal-Mart scene in BFC) or completely inaccurate (false information on the Bin Laden family's evacuation from the US after 9/11 on his new film). Moore even explains that the main reason he made this film was to try to prevent Bush from getting re-elected. Thus, his film is in no way a documentary. It's extremely leftist propaganda. There is no objective look at the facts, and in much of the movie, there is a lack of facts all together. What's truly sad is that some people will actually take many of the things that he says to heart as being the truth. So, this may even go as far as to affect an uninformed voter's decision as to whom they will elect.

I realize that recommending a boycott of this heap of garbage would be absolutely stupid on my part; however, I do have one plea. If you want to see this movie, don't put money in this asshole's pocket at the same time. As I have mentioned, Moore's purpose for creating this flick is to deny Bush the presidency for another 4 years. This means that he is going to release the film before election day. So instead of going to theaters, wait for a few weeks and visit your local video store or public library. By renting the movie, you will deny Moore of any money.

For information about the various lies in Moore's films visit Bowling for Truth ~ Rich

"Everything goes a way that I do not"~ "Unchanging" by John Frusciante

I really don't know how to explain what's going through my head right now. There are so many people around me that just frustrate me beyond belief. I'm sure everyone has been in a situation where they want to say something to someone but it's either not the right time to do so or there will just be a lack of understanding. Of course, this could easily be solved by actually discussing everything with these people, but it's easier said than done. The thing is that I probably never will end up saying what I want to say because I'm just so fed up with the situation(s). I've seen it a million times and I'm just sick of it. I've got 6 weeks before I head off to college, but I really wish it was 6 days. I've lived in Hebron for almost my entire life, and yet much of what goes on around me seems so foreign to me. I'm out~ Rich

Got up at 6:30 today and headed up to Hobart for the Brickyard 5-miler. I was not shooting for a PR or anything today, but I was at least hoping to be around 30-flat. Things did not turn out the way I wanted them to and I ended up finishing with a 32:40. Basically, I drove all the way up to Hobart so I could run a very bad tempo run. I'm not too worried about it though because the Running Wild 5k is next week and I usually kick ass in that. Plus, after the race you can chill on the beach. As for the rest of today, I'm thinking about just biking for a few hours until Joe gets off of work, then I'll take it from there. Later folks~ Rich

I just had a very interesting question posed to me. "Would you give the Rabbit a bowl of Trix if you had the chance?" I would like to pose this question to all 2 of you who actually read my sporadic thoughts. Please leave your answer in either of the comment sections. Moving on to what's presently on mind, I'm expectantly waiting for what should be a good weekend. There's nothing like watching other people blow up their money. I'm kinda mad right now because I didn't get to run today. My knee was slightly swollen so I had to bike. Hopefully I can run tomorrow or at least run the Brickyard Run on Saturday. Biking wasn't too bad though. I biked about 10 miles in 40 minutes in Lake County. The sun was shining, the breeze was cool, and the corn was a lush green. Come on folks, does it get any better than that? Well I gotta jet. Laterz~ Rich

Mood: meh
Music: The Artist in the Ambulance by Thrice