Those Days Of Sun And Sand

There was a time when you didn't want 

                     The summer to ever end 

                    Every day 

                                  Was a new adventure

                    Morning 

                               Meandering down the boardwalk

                    Afternoon

                                  Laying out on the beach

Evenings around a bonfire

                                        With new and old friends

Watching the moon 

                             Rising over the ocean

The tide pulling away 

                                From the shore

                          Warm breezes

                                                Shuffling the palm fronds

                          Seagulls scrounging 

                                                         For a discarded treat

                          Shoes tied together 

                                                        Thrown over your shoulder  Saltwater washing over your feet

Number One In The World & Living In Obscurity

   The world's most physically powerful human being is a Petroleum Engineer. 

   He was born and raised in Conifer, Colorado, and played football at the Colorado School of Mines - a small public university (less than 7,000 students) that is rated the top school on the planet earth for mineral and mining engineering.

   If you are not into (and incredibly good at) mathematics, engineering or science, chances are you have never heard of the Colorado School of Mines, and even if you have heard of the Colorado School of Mines you may be asking yourself, "Waitaminute, the School of Mines has a football team?", and also maybe, "The man that holds 28 world powerlifting records in the superheavyweight class (all drug-free) went to Mines and is now a petroleum engineer?"

   Yes, and yes. 

   His name is Blaine Sumner and he also holds the record for the NFL Pro Day bench press with 52 consecutive repetitions of 225 lbs. 

   Why oh why am I writing about him today? 

   Because I asked eleven people today if they had heard of either Brian Shaw (another Colorado born and raised super-strongman - won the World's Strongest Man competition in 2011, 2013, 2015 & 2016) or Blaine Sumner, and while five of the eleven had heard of Brian Shaw, not one had heard of Blaine Sumner.

   Which may not be shocking news to you, but I was in a gym. In Colorado. Less than 10 miles from the Colorado School of Mines.

   So, I was floored by the fact that not one of the eleven people in the gym knew who Blaine Sumner is.

   If he was the fastest man on land or in the pool, most people probably would know who he is. Go ahead, ask anyone if they know what Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps does for a living.

   The United States has never been much for strength athletes, that much I've always known. But to live in not only the home state of one of the strongest men not just in the world now, but in the history of the world period, and not have anyone know who he is...well...that's just weak.

P.S. Phil Heath, Mr Olympia for seven consecutive years (2011 - 2017), attended the University of Denver and played Division I basketball as a point guard for the Pioneers. He lived off 58th in Arvada and worked out at the Armbrust gym (not Armburst, Armbrust - it's owned by Dylan Armbrust) in Wheat Ridge, and while a few people in the gym knew of him, not one of them knew he lived less than 10 miles down the street.

 

   

The Forces That Work To Destabilize The Soul

David was scared of a great many things 

Some real, some imagined 

                  And some best left alone

Mongolian death worms, spontaneous combustion

Frogs raining from the sky and pulmonary consumption

He walked around carefully

                  Avoiding cracks in the sidewalk

Dodged his own shadow 

And danced around alley cats 

                                         And earwigs

His breakfast consisted of fruits served in threes

And two plates at lunch,

                            One for meats

                            And one cheeses

For exercise he daily jumped to conclusions

And stayed limber by warping his mind with delusions

The Very Special Pothole

 I'm thinking this pothole must be near the Mayor's house.

The Cat Came Back

   The cat was gone for exactly one week - from one Sunday night until the next. There was no indication of where he had been - none of the neighbors had seen him, and there was nothing about him that gave even the slightest hint that he had even left the premises.

   However, he had been searched for (this being coyote country after all) and while it wasn't exactly an earth-scouring search, it was still a fairly thorough search, and neither hide nor hair (again, this being coyote country after all) was found.

   Which gave me a little pause for concern.

   Larry had gone off for a couple of days in the past, but never an entire week. Heck, I was beginning to think I might have to get a new cat.

   And we all know how much of a pain in the keister getting a good new cat can be.

   But Larry returned from his sojourn, just as he had in the past. 

   Last night while it was raining, he just wandered into the garage, shook himself violently to shed as much water as possible (a trick I think he picked up from the dog), and just plopped down on the pet bed that is right below the garage television.

Gave me a "What? Is something stuck between my teeth?" look as I stared at him.

More Advice To My Younger Self (Or Someone Similiar)

One of the many unwanted side-effects of enduring high-stress conditions (such as a work environment that is uber-hostile, dealing with people who are operating at cross-purposes to your goals, sacrificing substantial amounts of personal free time to facilitate the completion of an arbitrary task that serves no real productive end, etc.) is that it is often damaging to a person's mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

So, don't do that. 

In this day and age there are an incredible number of options available to the average person in regard to gainful employment that are low or no stress and provide adequate compensation for your labor/effort.

Do some research, figure out which job really suits you best, then do that. And do it to the best of your ability.

As long as it does not take advantage of or harm another human being.

And adds to the quality of your life.

And has a good benefits package.

And a short commute.

As a youth it's possible to get caught up in the adrenaline rush of working to make impossible deadlines or trying to meet pie-in-the-sky quotas but let me smack you in the face with a harsh truth - chronic stress is a slow-acting poison and ingesting it willingly is suicide.

The First Picture Taken By A Human On A Solar Body Other Than The Earth

 It is worth noting that 53 years ago yesterday the very first picture of an earthman (Buzz Aldrin) walking on the surface of the earth's moon was taken by another earthman (Neil Armstrong). 

 The picture was taken with a heavily modified Hasselblad 500EL data camera (medium format) outfitted with a Zeiss Biogon f/5.6 60mm lens

  Kodak created very thin 70mm film for NASA that allowed the astro-photographers to take 160 color photos or 200 black and white photos per roll - not available at a store near you.

  Modifications made to the camera were for two primary reasons - to keep the cameras from freezing or over-heating (two ever-present extremes of the vacuum of space/moon's surface), and, since the astronauts were wearing very large gloves, larger controls on the camera to allow for easier manipulation of the buttons and dials. 

  There was only one camera available, and Neil Armstrong had it mounted chest-level to his space suit. 

   Huh. Fifty-three years ago, on a big rock almost 239,000 miles from the earth a camera mounted chest- high allowed a person to keep their hands free for other tasks.

   53 years ago. 239,000 miles from the earth's surface. Body-mounted cameras recorded the action.

   You'd think some smart person would have thought that technology would have had an immediate use right here on good 'ol terra firma.

    BTW, all the cameras used to take pictures on and from the moon during the various Apollo missions were left on the moon (to save weight on the trip back) except for one, a 16mm Mauer motion picture camera that had been used from the inside of the lunar module to document Neil Armstrong's descent down the ladder and onto the surface of the moon. 

   That camera was secretly brought back by Commander Armstrong, and he kept it hidden for 43 years - it was discovered in his effects after his death and is now on display at the Smithsonian.