The BoormanBlog

Man, I really had to kick it up a notch to make this. I was on my usual pace of about 10:20/mile or so, and then about halfway I decided that it had been too long since I completed a workout at my usual pace of 10 minute miles.

So at mile 3.5 I really kicked it up. I had about 0.2 miles to before I got to my condo complex. My condo sits about half way up a VERY steep hill. By the time 6 miles clicked off on my Garmin, I was wheezing like a guy that smoked a carton a day for 30 years. But man it felt good to come in under an hour

I’m going to pay for this later though.

BAC closed down AGAIN today at $18.72. Oh. My. Goodness. This is madness. Dividend yield is over 13% now. Looks like everyone is pricing in a dividend cut. This is messed up. Big time. I’ve already lost my shirt. Now I’m losing my lunch.

So the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine published a political cartoon on the cover of Obama as a muslim and his wife as a terrorist. The Obama campaign called the cartoon “tasteless and offensive”. Maybe those are his words and maybe they are the words of someone from his campaign, but by golly this pearl-clutching is getting out of hand.

If you’re going to be the President of the United States, whatever party you’re affilitated with, you are guaranteed to be criticized; often harshly, often unfairly, for at least four years.
I couldn’t handle that, so I don’t run for president. If you’re going to run, you better be up to it.

Somehow, I think Obama was only peripherally aware of the cartoon, and probably just shrugged it off. Of course, why let an opportunity go by? Let’s pretend to be offended and elicit sympathy from the public!

Of course, I could be totally wrong and Obama may very well have been offended by the whole thing. If it really got to him though, he may want to rethink a career in politics.

As a side note, conservatives are exposed to this type of redicule, usually worse, on a daily basis. The media doesn’t wait for an election year to compare Republicans to Hitler.

All in all, just another tempest in a teapot. Much ado about nothing. Another blip in an otherwise boring election in the eyes of an increasingly jaded public

Well, this went pretty well despite the circumstances. I set my alarm for 6AM to get an early start today, but I forgot to arm it. Sooooooooooooooooo I just woke up when I wasn’t tired anymore. At least I was well rested!!

As a result of my extended early morning nap, I didn’t get started running until a little after 9AM. My training regimen called for 18 miles today, but after skipping too many days, and injuring my hip, I knew I wasn’t going to make that. At the 6 mile mark, I thought I would split the difference and try for 13 miles, at least that would be a half marathon. As the miles wore on, though, the heat from the July morning in New England got to me and I settled for 10 miles.

Although I didn’t make it to 18 miles, or even 13 miles, I felt good about reaching 10. It was double digits. It was the most I had run since the half marathon on June 1. At least I’m making some progress. The new stretching exercise I added, as well as the cool down walk and cool down stretching appear to be helping.

Stay tuned and cool runnings.

Former White House Press Secretary and Fox News anchorman Tony Snow passed away of colon cancer today at age 53. I loved watching Tony on Fox News Sunday. He had great “stage presence” that made him a perfect choice for Press Secretary.

There’s a good summary of Snow’s career on Yahoo! News here. I didn’t know that he was director of speech writing and media affairs for Bush 41.

Two Tony Snow moments stand out for me as I’m writing this. The first is Tony’s wrap up of the first Fox News Sunday broadcast after the September 11th attacks. I looked for it on Youtube, but couldn’t find it. All I could find were videos mocking Bush, Cheyney et. al. Yawn. Tony’s speech at the end of the broadcast brought a tear to my eye. Partly because it was an emotional time for everyone, but mostly because it was true. Americans are a resilient people. We’ve encountered challenge and tragedy before, and we always come through.

The other moment was another Fox News Sunday wrap up. At the time various politicians and embedded reporters were throwing around charges about our men in uniform committing terrible crimes and terrorizing the locals in Iraq. I distinctly remember Tony’s words “I’m not saying give them a pass, but at least give them a break!” I couldn’t have said it better. These soldiers are busting their behinds to protect our freedom and our lives in working conditions that are inhospitable and extremely dangerous. They don’t punch out on Friday at 5:00. They are on call 24/7. I’m pretty sure the pay isn’t that great either. But they do it all willingly. Were you or a loved one killed in a terrorist attack recently? No? Thank a soldier, not an embedded reporter.

As I write this, I’m sure (but have no proof), that there are many who are literally celebrating Tony Snow’s death on sites like dailykos and moveon.org. All I can say is that you guys are some sick people.

God bless Tony Snow, and God bless our men and women in uniform, past and present.

OK, seriously. Is Bank of America going out of business or what? This is nuts. BAC is now at a 10 YEAR LOW!!!! This is just nuts.

Vonage is performing better than this dog. Lucent is performing better. Sheesh.

Back to running again this morning. Took me a little longer to do 8.5 miles, but for having to wait for a traffic light for quite awhile, not to mention carrying some weight around, it’s not that bad. Looks like the new stretching exercise I added is working. No shooting pain in my hip, although I did have some discomfort.

After my running, I was tired, but not in pain. After a full day at work, I’m in a little more pain.

Tomorrow is a rest day. I’ve got my first long run in over a month on Saturday. My training scheduled calls for 18.5 miles, but I think that’s way too much for having just gotten back in the game.

Stay tuned and cool runnings.

Congratulations to me!! This blog is 2 years old today!! Woo-hoo! Can’t wait to see what the next year will bring!! Stay tuned….

In the meantime, have a piece of cake on me.

Well, not quite into black. Let’s just call it….a little less in the red . BAC had a good day today, rocketing up more than 9% on heavy volume with no real news. Does this signal a bottom? Only time will tell. As for me, I’m not asking too many questions. It’s the first significant update that Bank of America has had in a looooooooooooooooooong time. I’ll take it, and about 10 more just like it, then I should about break even!

Seriously, this has got to be one of the dogs of the Dow. Woof! Can’t wait to just break even on this pile of garbage

Seriously, if there was ever a reason to hold on to guns, this is it. I hate these AFLAC commercials with the duck. Gilbert Gottfried has what is probably the most annoying voice in the world today, and I’m a Bob Dylan fan!!

Besides, how many in this series are there now? Fifty? One Hundred? Seriously, give it a break. The duck isn’t cute. The duck is annoying. Kill it.

Here’s another blog post that, like all intelligent people, agrees with me