Why I didn't choose Usain Bolt for my team at recess.

I am just back from the track.  I was working on speed and endurance today.  My legs ache, my shins hurt and my knees are tender.  After my fourth set I wanted to quit, but I made myself stay, and do one more.  As many of you know, I have been training hard lately in order to become a better sprinter.  Thanks to these guys, a lot of hard work and a whole bunch of ice, I am getting there.  So I was particularly interested in the mens' 100 meter event at the Olympics.

On Saturday morning the world watched in amazement as Usain Bolt shattered the world record in the 100 meters with a blazing time of 9.69 at the Beijing Olympics.  (At least the part of the world not held captive by NBC, who had to wait up much past my bed-time).  He coasted the last 15 meters or so.  For everyone in the world, doing challenging things requires perseverance, determination, patience, bull head-ed-ness etc etc.  Now us normal people, the ones with goals like running 300 meters in 45 seconds, or a 21 minute 5K, becoming a 1 or 2 handicap golfer, shooting 50 percent from 3 point range, or batting .300, recognize that there are people in the world like Lebron James, Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, and Usain Bolt.  I call them genetic lottery winners.  But Lebron, Tiger, and Michael are different from Usain:  Tiger is simply better than the rest of the PGA tour.  But he has never decided on the 14th hole, that since he was 6 or 7 strokes ahead of the field, he'd just goof off for the last four holes.  Likewise, while Lebron may dial down his intensity during a blowout, he would never mail in a performance just because he is the best player on the court.  Furthermore Phelps would not have been satisfied with 2 or 3 or even 7 gold medals, he knew he was competitive in 8 events, and he went out to win all eight.

Dick Marcinko, the fearless, leader of the hardest of the hardcore Navy SEAL Team 6 remarked in his book, Rogue Warrior that when choosing recruits for the most elite of the elite he never chose the guys who excelled in the Physical Fitness Test.  Instead, he chose the ones who barely passed.  Marcinko did not want the guy for whom everything was easy, he wanted the one who struggled and fought for everything he had.  This is a true, tested warrior.

In this country, no grade school athlete ever laces up a shoe without hearing about our great teacher John Wooden.  Wooden taught us that at the end of the day, it is not the scoreboard or the clock that defines success, but it is a simple question:  Did I do my best?  No body respects the athlete who, upon seeing that he is beaten, gives up.  Did Mr. Bolt behave differently?  Despite winning the event handily, and setting a world record, I cannot help but observe  that Usain Bolt failed to do his best.

Review: Prince Caspian

The first remarkable event of Prince Caspian is a fight between Peter Pevensie and some school boys back in England.  Little brother Edmund rushes headlong into the scuffle and engages the older boys with Peter.  This is not in the book.

The fight in the tube station is not the only scene that has been added to the story for the screenplay.  There are two epic battle scenes that Lewis did not write.  For reasons that must be obvious to hollywood producers, the movie version of Prince Caspian took on a much more martial persona.  In order to make room for the battle scenes the long journey to Aslan's Howe was truncated mercilessly.  I was particularly disappointed by the nixing of Lucy's struggle to get the others to follow her when Aslan called her for the second time.  This, I think, is the meat of the story.  The older kids had a hard time seeing Aslan, and only after they believed he was there, could they see him.

The movie does maintain this theme, or a variation of it.  Peter is forced to have faith in Aslan, instead of himself.  Speaking of Peter, he is much more kingly in Caspian than in the last movie, which is good.  Susan continued in her weak faith, and it is much easier to believe that the movie Susan never returned to Narnia, than her literary counterpart.  One thing I've realized now by watching both Narnia movies, is that they are not meant to replace the books.  This too is good.  Weather it was on purpose or not, the film makers have not taken away all the magic of the books by converting them to cellulite.

Despite the differences from the books, some of the same emotions are present.  I was moved early on by Edmund's defense of his brother.  Reepicheep, one of Lewis' most beloved characters, elicits the same hero lust.  Likewise, the valor of all the Narnians in the various battles is moving.  Particularly the scene in which a scimitar holds up the castlegate amidst a barrage of arrows while his comrades escape is one of my favorites.  In this way the film makers have really captured the wonder of Narnia.

The film has not, and will not replace the book.  This is good, no film ought to ever replace such wonderful literature.  However, so far in Disney's Narnia series they have complemented the books admirably.

Tacos Tacos Tacos Tacos

This week is Tacos Tacos Tacos Tacos week.  We choose a different Taco place to eat at every day for lunch.  It's amazing how exciting this can make an otherwise dull work week.  I always wake up excited to go to work during food theme weeks.  We will be doing two taco weeks this month.  This is the first, next week is "Under the Sea," and the following week will be "Tacos Tacos Tacos Tacos."  I am having to keep my taco consumption moderate this week, but for next taco week I will have (hopefully) reached my goals and will be allowed to go all out.  I warn you now:  I am going to go off in two weeks, no taco will be safe.  This is the menu for this week:

Monday: Six for Six at Guerro Canelo.  That's six carne' asada tacos for six dollars.  These carne' asada tacos are awesome, and the special on Mondays.  If you can pry yourself away from the hot dogs, you've gotta have the tacos.  Or do what one Taco eater did, and have a hot dog for desert, after your six for six.

Tuesday:  Fish Tacos from Del Taco.  That may surprise some of you connoisseurs, but I would put the fish tacos from Del Taco against any fish taco in South Tucson.  I rocked three of em.

Wednesday:  Old Style Patty Tacos from Rigo's.  The proper way to make ground beef tacos is to cook the meat within the shell in a frying pan.  Rigo's has some of the best old style patty tacos in town.  They come in an order of three.  It's best to get the tacos and a side of rice or beans.  While this is plenty of food, some more hearty tacomen have been know to rock six.

Thursday:  Luck of the draw at Pico de Gallo.  I settled on the shrimp tacos, which were of fried shrimp.  I am used to grilled shrimp tacos, but these were very good none the less.  I was tempted to try the cabeza tacos (made from cow brains) but chickened out.  Now I wish that I had tried them.  Pico de Gallo is most known for their cup of fruit.  You really should try this.  It's a cup of fruit, with lemon juice and chili powder all over it.  Tasty!

Friday:  Normally we finish things off with the grand finale' Mi Nidito, but since we are doing two Tacos Tacos Tacos Tacos this month we are saving El Presidente' for week two.  El Dorado serves very good carne' asada tacos, but I am craving patty tacos and will go with that.

After the first Tacos Tacos Tacos Tacos I discovered that my favorite food is Tacos.  One can see why.  There are just so many different options.  In the future I will post some of my favorite recipe's for tacos.

I will report on both "Under the Sea." and "Tacos Tacos Tacos Tacos Two" soon.  In the mean time, celebrate Taco week and eat some tacos!

Elegant Trogon

On Saturday I took a bird watching trip with some people from my church to Madera Canyon.  I am a lousy bird watcher as I never remember the names of the birds, and often find myself lifting my binoculars to scan the hills in the distance for deer.  Saturday was a marvelous success though as we spotted this Elegant Trogon.  We walked a little over a quarter mile up the Old Baldy trail and were just about to give up when we heard him call.  The call came from down the trail so we backtracked a hundred yards.  Soon he called again and we knew he was close.  Everyone scanned the dense oaks off the trail.  Then one of our group spotted his red chest.  She pointed him out to everyone.  My friend Mike Jones took this picture.  The Elegant Trogon is high on every Bird Watcher's List.  In the U.S. they only appear in the southern mountain ranges of Arizona and New Mexico.  I am very lucky to have seen one on only my second bird watching trip.

The Opposite of Fear

One of the most ballyhooed films of last summer was 300.  I was so excited to see it that I broke my "no first run movies" rule and saw a matinee within weeks of it's opening.  I was disappointed, and my disappointment was all Steven Pressfield's fault.

Prior to seeing 300, my friend Dan lent me Gates of Fire, by Pressfield.  It is a historical novel depicting the Battle of Thermopylae.  I read Gates of Fire before seeing 300.  This was a mistake as I would have enjoyed the movie more had I seen it before reading the book.  Pressfield took the opposite approach of Miller (Author of the Graphic Novel 300, on which the film was based), in that he told a very believable story, one that the reader could easily conceive, yet still view as legend.  Pressfield's characters are so lifelike, yet so heroic that I would be disappointed were I to travel back in time and meet King Leonidas, and find him unlike Pressfield's representation.  Gates of Fire took characters with some historical basis and wove a complex story about them.  For instance Dienekas, a central character in the book was a real person who, when confronted with the possibility of the mass of Persian arrows blocking the sun is actually believed to have responded "Then we will have our battle in the shade."

The book is narrated by a Spartan slave, and it is as much the story of his life as it is The Battle of Thermopylae.  The book examines and portrays Spartan culture, which has been called a "cult of courage."  It is this element of the book that led to my disappointment with the movie.  What follows is a spoiler so stop reading now if you plan to read the book.  Prior to the 300 Spartans departing Sparta to meet Xerxes at Thermopylae Dienekas ponders what compels the Spartans to so willingly march to certain death.  He speaks of facing one's fears, and decides, after much pondering that the opposite of fear is love.  Love is why the 300 Spartans marched off to die.  Not love of glory, or blood, although they certainly reveled in both, but simply love for their families, and for their way of life.  

I wish that the church was a little more like Sparta.  For Christ implored us to be just that. Men, gladly going off to die for their wives.  Wives and mothers bravely facing this reality, and trusting that all will work to the glory of Sparta.  

I am grateful to Steven Pressfield for writing Gates of Fire, there is so much Christians can learn from the Spartans, from the warrior's code and Pressfield has showed us what the perfect warrior looked like.  Hope that was subtle enough.  Discuss, I'm vaclempt!

La Gloria Cubana

This evening my wife got together with some friends away from the house.  She thinks this is a terrible annoyance for me.  In order not to usurp any unspoken rules of cohabitation, I will refrain from dissuading that belief here.  Whilst she was out I sat on my porch for an hour or so.  When my wife is gone I like to smoke cigars and read, and tonight I smoked a cigar for the first time in a few weeks.  This is a shame as lately the weather has been beautiful for cigars on the porch in the evening.

I had never smoked this brand before, in fact I hadn't even heard of it, so I had no expectations lighting up.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Cigars International says that: "La Gloria Cubanas offer a delicious balance of Brazilian, Dominican, Mexican and Nicaraguan filler, together with a dark Ecuadorian wrapper."  My guess is that this is one of the many cigar makers that migrated from Cuba when Castro came to power and set up shop somewhere else, but I could be wrong.

The smoke lasted an hour and twenty minutes at a very moderate, even passive rate, just the way I like to smoke.  This is an exceptional duration as the cigar was only a 4.8 x 52.  That's mighty short, for such a long burn.  I ordered it in a sampler pack of "mild" cigars.  Mild it was, but not bland.  I find that some "mild" cigars are bland.  This La Gloria Cubana was rich, even a little sweet.  The draw was quite tight, which I like.  In fact it was so tight that the ash did not fall off until it was over two inches long.  I will definitely be smoking more of these, as I will be seeking them out in the future.

Dave's Barbecue Rub

For Christmas this year I made some barbecue rub to give to a few friends as presents.  Most of them have run out of it and asked me for the recipe.  I never write anything down so I'm going to try and duplicate it by memory:

1 part Brown Sugar

1 part Paprika

1 part Kosher or coarse salt

1/2 part garlic powder

1/2 part black pepper

1/2 part instant coffee

Cayenne Pepper to taste

Cajun Seasoning to taste

Mix all your ingredients well.  I use a rinsed out spaghetti jar (make sure it's completely dry).  Just pour them from your measuring device (1 part = 1 cup will fill your jar) into the jar and shake it as you add ingredients.

You can put this rub on anything you barbecue.  I've used it to make a crust around smoked meats, to add to the flavor of liquid marinades or as a stand-alone enhancer for hamburgers, chicken and fish (go easy on the fish as the flavors are very robust).  I even use it when cooking a roast in the crock pot.

I ripped this off from Steve Raichlen, it started out as his "Basic Barbecue Rub" that he uses for his famous "Beer Can Chicken", but I've added so much to it that I think I can call it my own at this point.  My wife got me his book for Christmas and I highly recommend it.  The nice thing is that instead of being just a collection of recipe's  it is more a book on different grilling techniques.  Raichlen encourages creativity and experimentation.