I need to make joelarandia.com my self promotion machine. Though, I’m wondering if people read blogs anymore with facebook and all. But I felt productive when I was blogging at arandia.net. I had a lot of writing done. I made a lot of content. And perhaps that’s a habit I should get into again. So…
LET THE SELF PROMOTION BEGIN!
Everyone, come see my musical improv troupe, Rosencrantz, next Tuesday night, 8:30pm, at the Magnet Theater!
All of my troupe mates are super good and super experienced. We ROCK!
It was fast and very easy. I did not read a Bible verse before the run as I would like to do as a habit. I did do devo. It seems a lot of messages lately seem to be about being with God or near God. How God is with us…He “gets” us.
A lot of my thoughts were about Japan and the earthquake and tsunami and possible nuclear crisis. I believe that God does not cause disasters to happen. It is the natural process of the world. Death and disaster are natural parts of life.
What is miraculous is that the scale of tragedy in Japan is not yet up to the levels that Haiti or Indonesia experienced. The difference is clear. Japan is a wealthy nation. They have experienced earthquakes and tsunamis before. Tsunami is a Japanese word. They have built their buildings quake proof. They have built their shorelines to protect against tsunamis. It is to their merit that they have done these things to protect themselves.
So, the question becomes, what prevents poor countries like Haiti and Indonesia from doing the same? How can we as wealthy countries give the poorer nations the same amount of protection from natural disasters as the wealthy nations have?
The answer is bound to be complex. I think one of the first things is that banks need to forgive poor countries(and poor counties in the US) their debts. These enormous debts keep them poor. They need to stop predatory lending that takes advantage of the corrupt leadership of these poorer nations.
That said, we also somehow have to promote or favor nations that deal with that corruption and cronyism. Not only nations but in municipalities in the US. I live in New Jersey It wasn’t too long ago that dozens of local leaders were arrested due to widespread corruption.
For many people, “family values” naturally becomes nepotism. “Friendship” becomes crony capitalism. People outside of their immediate circles are nothing.
We need to start thinking about everybody and not just about those closest to us. And well, that’s how we can start doing something to protect everybody from natural disasters.
I decided I would run without stopping. I walked 5 minutes. The started running. Once I hit a mile. I turned around ran back to the telephone pole where I started running and walked home.
I went at a jogging pace. I was afraid that my foot would start hurting. I suffered a stress fracture last year. It doesn’t hurt, but I dunno. I’m always aware of it. Anyways, I went faster than I thought I’d go. No pressure. No effort.
I want to read a Bible chapter before I run. I should do that on Wednesday.
It was 42 degrees out. I wore a long sleeved cotten shirt, wind pants, toque, cotten gloves, and Vibrams with performance socks.
I guess what I’m going to try to do is write down the thoughts and shit that happened on my Saturday run. Hopefully, I will be running the NYC Marathon again. In the coming months, I’ll be running longer and longer. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while because the things that go through my mind while running are interesting. Though I guess, some of it will be rather personal and I won’t be mentioning it in the blog. Nonetheless, mostly it will be about running.
Today it was 46 degrees out when I left the house. The Galloway chart says to wear a long sleeved shirt and shorts. I went outside briefly to do laundry and I definitely felt a bit cool wearing just that. I ultimately wore a white cotten t-shirt on top of my long sleeved tec shirt. And I had my Fred’s Team blue shorts from last November’s marathon on. I also wore gloves and my new black running hat.
When I started running, the hat came off. I didn’t need the hat. My head was too hot. I came up with a funny twist on one of my sketch premises. I won’t mention it now, but I think I will have it ready for Monday for Sketch Lab at the PIT. Needless to say, it was inspired partly by a young lady I met yesterday.
I hope my brother follows through with his idea to make a t-shirt that says “Whatever, Round-eye…” That seems like a thing that I’d like to have.
My right shin got a little shin-splinty halfway through. Oh yeah, all in all, I did about 3.1 miles. I went out with an “easy-does-it” frame of mind. But it ended up being rather fast. I think it was the cool weather that made it so. I run faster when it is cool out.
I only ran on Monday this week. I did not run on Wednesday because it was over 80 degrees out. Above 60 degrees, I run slower. I don’t like the heat. I will need to start carrying water bottles to pour on myself. Above 60, I also wear a Cooldanna. Like a bandana but it has some sort of water-loving polymer in it that soaks up water. As the water evaporates, it keeps my head cool. I don’t think I could run on hot days without it.
I guess this is turning out to be very freeformy. I don’t care if nobody reads it. During my first marathon, it started off rather cool in the morning, like 50′s and rather misty. But 4 hours into my run, the sun came out and I was like, “Nooooo!” It really started to suck after that. I guess that’s when the real marathon begins, when things start to suck and you just have to keep moving through it.
So, yeah, this run was rather fast even though I wanted to take it easy after having run only once this week. I’m going to be doing the Lincoln Tunnel 5K on April 25th in support of the Special Olympics.
Hopefully, in a couple weeks’ time I will know if I’m on Fred’s Team again this year. And then, I’ll be training for the NYC Marathon which will be in the fall. Technically, the training schedule doesn’t start until June, but now is a good time to work on losing weight. I need to eat better, but during the entire last mile the only thing I could think about was brisket. Mmmm, brisket.
But, I need to take a shower and get myself off to Campmor. So, I can get myself a pair of Vibram Five Fingers. More on that later…
San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize
We learned from Robert Kiyosaki to always pay attention to cashflow. Whatever your activity, pay attention to whether or not that activity increases or decreases your cashflow. If you have an activity that decreases cashflow, a doodad, you want to make sure your income can cover it. Good sense? Tim Ferris tells us that simple cashflow isn’t enough. From him we learn that time is also a factor. The guy who makes $100,000 a year working 80 hours a week is actually not as rich as the guy who makes $40,000 a year working only 10 hours a week. But what is time worth then?
What is time worth?
My vacation in Belize affords me an interesting experiment. I am not working, but I’m also still being paid by my employer. In a sense, while I’m here, I’ll be passively earning income without doing any work. Okay, the experiment has already fallen flat because I won’t be paid enough to make back what I’ve already paid in airfare and for staying at this resort. But I still want to think about it.
A guy who works 40 hours a week and makes $70,000 a year makes about $33.65 an hour. I used to rationalize parking in a parking garage for $20 a day on weekends in NYC. It’s worth it to me to park there than to spend an hour looking for free parking on the street. Recently, the parking garage increased its rate to $33. I’m rethinking the strategy. Is it better to park in Hoboken, NJ and park for $16 and take the train in for $1? The extra trip takes 1/2 an hour longer than just driving straight into the city…sometimes. Sometimes tunnel traffic will make the trip 90 minutes–1/2 hour longer than the Hoboken route.
Then there’s the basic error in my equation. I don’t work on the weekend. I make all my money on weekdays. If I spaced my income equally across all hours of the week. I make only $8.01 an hour. You can count the hours I sleep because the IRS takes that. So, does that mean it’s worth it to me to look for free parking for 4 hours on a Saturday to avoid the parking garage? I don’t think that is right either.
Time is not money
If your employer asks you to work for 8 hours on a Saturday he may compensate you 1 1/2 times your normal wage. That is a lot more than you would normally make on a Saturday. But no matter how much your employer pays you he cannot give you back time. Every hour worked is another hour your children grow up. It is another hour closer to your death. What’s the answer? Compensation in free time? Weekend hours aren’t the same as weekday hours, though. If your employer decides to give you Monday off to compensate for Saturday, prepare for a lonely Monday. Your kids will be at school and all your friends will be working.
So, what’s the answer?
I don’t know. But I’ll tell you one thing. I just spent 2 hours writing this article while sitting on the beach watching the ocean. On a normal Wednesday morning, I’d be at the office working for my boss. And I already feel more productive than have ever felt on any other Wednesday morning.
This year’s gimmick is the Aquapac which is like a vinyl baggie for your camera or whatever. It’s good down to 15 feet which makes it perfect for the beach.
Here’s me underwater:
It worked so well and really captures the experience of being at the beach.
This was all taken with the cheap $100 woot vivitar. So, I didn’t really care if the baggie failed.
And because modern kids are doing the video here’s some me tubing:
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