Tired of it all

I'm so tired of politics. Nothing changes it seems. I've decided to focus more on doing some of the things I really want to do, like the Triathlons, hiking and riding my motorcycle.

Nothing is going to change for a while anyway. The Republicans are bound now to the policy they started and the Democrats are paralyzed by politics. They could end the war but they only seem to care about the next election. They have the Republicans on the ropes but they won't lead. They will only talk.

I'm just tired of repeating the same things over and over again. So I posted links to some of my previous posts on the right side of the page. I'm going to be very busy this summer with two triathlons in July, taking my company to annual training in August and another tri in September. I want to do some serious riding in the mountains on my Triumph too. So, unless something really motivates me to write, that's where I'll be.

I don't have any reason to think so, just a feeling, but I suspect that this time next year I could be back in the desert. I just think I'm due for another deployment. I'm also feeling a little guilty for being back here for so long, it's been more than three years since my last one. I know guys who have been over three times.

Looks like a good book

New book by a former Navy SEAL. Here is a link to the first chapter: Lone Survivor

Triathlon training

I have been working out like crazy lately. I've decided to do a couple of sprint-distance triathlons. The first one is a 500 yard swim, a 20 kilometer (12.8 mile) bike, and 5k (3.2 mile) run. The second is the same except the swim is 750 meters.

I plan to do the bike part on my mountain bike instead of a road bike. I really want to do XTERRA style tri's. That's where the bike is a mountain bike race on dirt, and the run is a trail run. I wanted to do one this summer but it doesn't work out with my schedule. Next year I will do two, I hope.

But this is going to affect my blog posting time. I am spending a lot less time watching the news and more time training. I think that's probably a good thing. There isn't much good news happening right now. Apparently the single most important issue in America is whether Paris should be in jail or not. War? What war? We are doomed and we deserve what is coming.

I'm either going to get sent back to Iraq in the next year or the quitters will get their way and the war will come home to us. Either way, I'm going to try to enjoy myself in the meantime.

Okay...

I was tired and grumpy when I wrote that last post. I really like polar bears! Don't get me wrong. I still think all that stuff, except mayble I was a little hard on the polar bears and New Orleans.

It's not that I WANT the planet to heat up and destroy coastal areas and eliminate animals that can't cope. I hope none of that happens. I'm just saying that maybe that's just the way things go, from a geologic perspective.

Global warming... again

I liked what NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said the other day in an NPR interview.

"To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth's climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn't change," Griffin said. "I guess I would ask which human beings — where and when — are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take."

I, for one, wouldn't mind seeing Colorado warm up a little bit. It's JUNE, for crying out loud, and it's STILL cold in the morning!

But seriously, he makes the same point I was trying to make in a previous blog. He just does it better. I understand why all the people living in coastal areas, and people who worry about polar bears more than people, are all up in arms about climate change. They have a dog in the hunt, so to speak. Personally, I don't expect the world to stay exactly the same forever, I don't expect every species of animal to survive infinitely, and I don't expect the government to provide me with health and happiness. (Just threw that last one in there to see if you are paying attention.)

Griffin is right, it is extreme arrogance to think we should try to "freeze" the planet, so to speak, in it's current state. We should try to minimize our impact, keep the air and the earth as clean as possible, protect wildlife from undue harm, etc... I'm in favor of most of the environmentalist agenda. I love the outdoors and want to see it protected for my kids. But I don't expect every glacier to be exactly the same for them as it is for me.

And not when it means crippling our economy or radically altering our way of life. If that makes me selfish, so be it. I like my car and my motorcycle. I like my heated and cooled house and my lights at night. I like the malls, theaters and coffee shops I am entertained at, and the heated swimming pool at my gym. I'm not willing to sacrifice that to try to save New Orleans and the polar bears. F 'em.