“The Future”: or, “How I learned to stop worrying and love the death of American Engineering”

So Mark and I were swapping e-mail after my “Fun” post. I went off into my typical sob about “ for the vast majority of us, if we’re not really loving being out there, there’s not a whole lot of reason to do it, especially given the whole time and money sink that lots of fitness activities are. (it was) really liberating for me to hear this attitude, especially after a year of reading books implying that running/marathon/whatever was SO important, then getting the big anti-climax.”

Mark came back with

Hey, I am ALL about fun. In fact, I have a Bachelor of Arts in Recreation Administration – so does Beverly of One Step at a Time. (NB – Beverly also has kids that love ZooBooMooFoo, or one of the few unquestionably worthwhile shows on the idiot box) The degree gave me a philosophy of Fun, Play, Leisure and Recreation that permeates my life still. … Fun, discovery, growth and passion. That’s what life’s all about.

Which made me realize that there’s a big part of me that wishes I’d done something more like RA than Engineering. So I didn’t make the “Would you like fries with that?” joke…

There’s a line at the beginning of Neal Stephenson’sSnow Crash” (which if you haven’t read it – well, you should. First, it’s a way to dip your toe into Stephenson without committing to the 900 page “Cryptonomicon” or one of the 1000 page volumes of the “Baroque Cycle“, and Stephenson will be looked back on as the Twain of the 20th century. Second, “Snow Crash” is remarkably prescient about the way the internet and culture in general seems to be going – life broken up into a series of incorporated “franchiculates” instead of larger nations … interesting take. Is this parenthetical long enough? I think so.) where he says that the only things that the US (i know, Canada and all, but bear with) is good at are Movies, writing code, and high-speed pizza delivery. I’d probably modify that to be “Entertainment, creating new memes, and affordable cuisine”.

But the point he’s making is kind of a larger one – hard research and engineering have been refined to the point where that kind of creativity 1) can be taught to anyone, anywhere in the world; and 2) done cheaply almost anywhere (especially if anywhere’s environmental laws are not as restrictive as those in Western Europe and North America). Which sucks for guys like me. What’s even worse is that my fallback is an MBA, and business is even easier to learn than engineering.

Where the opportunity opens up is for people with a background soft skills , and the chance to sell … well, let’s say “fulfillment” for lack of time to come up with a more accurate term … “fulfillment” to the 3 billion or so soon-to-be middle-class engineering and middle-management types that are taking the lessons of the 20th century and applying them in China and India and places which were until recently associated only with crushing poverty and tragic disease. These places are soon to create the largest explosion of wealth and desire for leisure that the world has ever seen.

It does not matter that companies like Intel and Microsoft are moving offshore. It especially doesn’t matter that GM is not long for the earth, or that traditional airlines can’t make money. All of that is old industry, codified in textbooks and easily translatable into any language on earth, and able to be done more cheaply wherever the books can be read.

(Want to make a mint at somewhat of a high risk? Start laying fiber in Africa, especially if the UN goes through with this $100 laptop deal. Much like Levis and Coke turned all but the true-believer Soviets into capitalists in the space of a decade, IM, e-mail, and http are going to turn isolated pockets in Africa into folks who see that life doesn’t have to be muddy and malarial. Serve up even ’20s and ’30s-era agricultural material that’s passed into the public domain, and watch a little knowledge work miracles. You may not need the bullet if you’ve got the ballot, but it’s important to get a bushel of grain in every belly first. In any case, Africa’s going to skip the industralization that took 200 years to run its course with us Norte Americanos and Europeans, and will play out in about 50 years total in Asia. Africa’s going straight to the 22nd century.)

What I’ve been meaning to say is that you’re completely right “Fun, discovery, growth and passion. That’s what life’s all about”. Darn Straight. And the “Next Big Thing” is selling that to the 3 billion people who are about to learn that food in the fridge and a good job at a good wage still leave an empty spot in the soul.

Sorry, no real running news today. But exercising the mind is fun, too, right?

Millions of Americans Need to Join the RBF

So says the Washington Post

Treadmill tests on a representative sample of more than 5,300 Americans ages 12 to 49 found that about one out of every five had poor cardiovascular fitness, including about one-third of teenagers and 14 percent of young adults. Based on the findings, an estimated 7.5 million adolescents and at least 8.5 million adults are out of condition, the researchers found.

So, following one of Brogan’s mantras – “Turn bad news into opportunity” (and if it’s not, it should be) – When was the last time you invited another non-runner to lace up the sneaks with you? Offered the guest pass to the gym to a co-worker thinking about getting back in shape? Put platform pedals on the “B” bike and asked the neighbor if she wanted to spin down to the Quickie Mart?

Continue reading Millions of Americans Need to Join the RBF

Funk

170 on the scale.

Blew off swimming tonight and running yesterday.

Bleh.

Life’s been good, though. Haven’t been this happy at work in years. Boys are healthy and happy. Haven’t done anything to irk the wife in the last week or so. Plus, I’m still working off the high from the bike ride on Sunday. What a riot. Every other cyclist I saw waved back with smiles. Think we all felt like we were cheating or something, riding the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

I do need to get back on the wagon, though. It’s kind of funny – after a year of being skinnier than I’ve been in a few years, I can feel my body trying to pull the weight back on (hence the 3 lbs since the marathon). I think one of my failures in the past has been in failing to recognize when I started falling into weight gaining patterns.

SO, the question now is how to I nip this in the bud? How do I capitalize on the foundation I laid this year to meet the goals I set out a couple weeks ago? I need a PLAN. Hit the library today (have I mentioned how much I love Public Libraries?), picked up a couple of Tri books. I’m also reviewing a “Navy Seal” book I picked up a couple of years ago. My goal over the holiday is to lay out a plan to get me to the PRT in April. I’ll likely find an Olympic distance tri program to use as a base – quality mix of stuff I like.

Night, y’all.

Lazy, Lazy

:)

No, not really.

Well, kind of. Haven’t run since Wednesday, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Been resting and kind of stretching. Those are good things, for sure. Probably will try to do a pair of 5 milers this weekend to see how the old wheels feel.

Speaking of which, I got a mono-cog conversion kit for a Shimano hub for the old trek about a month ago so I can see what the old single-speed magic is all about. Granted, it’s not all hardcore and fixed gear, but that’s ’cause I know I like coasting.

In any case, I stopped by Mystic Cycle Center to see if I could pick up a chain for the new beast. I’ve got a brandy new 8 speed chain as backup for my wife’s bike at the house, but figured I’d check out their new digs. Didn’t get a chain, though. Cheapest they had was $25, which even the guy behind the counter told me was a rip-off. Guess they’ve got a mortgage to pay now. I can understand, but MAN.

BTW, I’m writing this waiting at the elementary school for the wife and boys. There’s a Halloween Ice Cream social tonight.

That’s about it. Liz and my new navy buddy are in my thoughts this weekend as they’re pounding out the Marine Corps Marathon. I’d wish them luck, but both of them are more than ready.

Life is good y’all. Enjoy the fall.

Death, Taxes, and

me blowing off another run… Sore from yesterday’s sprint, and busy as a beaver. Whatever. There are good things to discuss – namely:

1) Am I the only one who’s completely frustrated with the US Income Tax Code? A BS in Engineering, an MBA, no real wacky finances, and I’m still trying to figure out exactly what a “high deductible insurance plan” is and if it covers me, the entire family, or is just a typo on a W-2. Sheesh.

2) Paris-Roubaix. I’m a day late and a dollar short on this one, but I just got around to watching my OLN tape tonight. And WOW. I guess I’d never really appreciated how fierce, narrow, and nasty the cobblestone sections up there in northern France were. Absolutely amazing. I have no excuses the next time I let weather and conditions keep me indoors.

American George Hincapie finished second to Belgian Tom Boonen (former USPS teammate of Hincapie) in a sprint in the Roubaix velodrome, largely due to Boonen being the latest young Belgian to channel Eddie Merckx better than Axel, and to Boonen growing up in a country where a majority of the population doesn’t look askance when you say “Velodrome”. (heh – OS X’s spell-check function just flagged velodrome. Stupid Americans). Big wrecks, pain, suffering, wailing, gnashing of teeth all taking place at upwards of 25 MPH.

Hincapie’s post-race interview in Velonews is good stuff: I had tunnel vision the whole way to Roubaix, and I thought I rode a perfect race, and in my mind I was going to win. I had a vision of the race in my head the whole winter and it went pretty much the way I had envisioned it… except for the final 150 meters.

3) Tour de Connecticut route is announced: Friday, 20 May – Crit on the New Haven Green, 6 PM. Good chance I’ll drag the boy(s?) down provided I can ditch work kind of early. Saturday – Waterbury Climber’s cup – Sounds fascinating, might be worth a trip, provided I can figure out where the heck Waterbury is. Sunday is 135 miles through Litchfield county, with Torrington hosting the finish. An old jeep I used to drive had issues with the Litchfield hills – I cannot imagine what they’d be like on a bike.

So that’s that – minor setback, but the weight’s staying off, fitness is at least static, and I’ve diverted my mental river to washing out some personal stables. Epic runs should recommence here soon; focus is still on a marathon this fall, so I’m in limbo until the end of June. As long as I don’t relapse, I should be fine.