Political Ramblings

Today was day number two at the office/home. I need to come up with a much better routine and need to treat this just as if I am going into an office. I have broad guidelines to adhere to and thus a great deal of latitude into my position. This isn't the typical 9 to 5 job and some days will be much longer than other days. My success is predicated on cultivating relationships and thankfully I work for people who understand these things take time. It also helps knowing the "bread and butter" of the business model is doing extremely well. If there is a model I would emulate it would be this model and I can see why the business is prospering.

I was at the gym this morning and my workouts have turned into running sessions and I am putting the weights on the back burner as I progress toward the Long Beach Marathon. I did register for the marathon over the weekend and even booked a room for the four of us at a very reasonable rate. The marathon takes place on October 12th which is my mother's birthday and 2 days after my wife's and I 16th anniversary. I know enough to have gotten advance permission to run in the marathon especially so close to our anniversary and did receive this permission. I doubt this is my wife's idea of a "perfect" anniversary weekend but she didn't hesitate when I asked her about the marathon.

I am training more intensely for this marathon than the previous marathon and when I ran the 18 miles over the weekend I felt great. This feeling didn't last very long as this week is an "in between" week with moderate runs and lower intensity runs. However; I seem to feel worse this week as opposed to last week where I ran much longer and harder. Yesterday I had a headache all day which is a rarity for me and my lower back was hurting as well. I am 43 years old and there are days where I feel much older; yesterday was one of those days.

I woke up feeling much better this morning and ventured to the gym for the moderate run. I do find it fascinating when I run with aches and pains. Invariably these aches and pains go away after the second mile and won't return until well after I have completed the run. The endorphins along with the blood flow mask the pain and just like the GA meetings; I seem to always feel better after I run and this was the case today.

Instead of going into an office I went home to my home/office to start the day. Today was more productive than yesterday which is a step in the right direction but I still need more focus. The real test for me comes when I am out and about meeting with people. I do look forward to this and know everything will work out for the very best.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Republican National Convention and the speech made by the Vice Presidential candidate. I must preface this saying my political leanings are all over the place and my Facebook page states my political affiliation is sometimes left and other times right. I have friends on both sides of the spectrum and as a child I was a big fan of Richard Nixon. (That shouldn't surprise many people!!)

I believe in the right person for the job and didn't vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger during the recall election. My candidate finished a distant third. With all of that stated I have no idea what to think of the Republican National Convention and the speeches made tonight. I have to admit I have been Rudolph Giuliani fan ever since he was running for mayor of New York City in the early 90's. He lost that election but eventually took office 4 years later. I think he is a very good speaker but will never win higher office because he probably has more baggage than me!!! I thought his speech did what was intended and so did the VP candidates speech. These speeches weren't designated for substance and I think both sides lack this characteristic.

I am sitting out this election not by choice but by a matter of law. Thankfully we ex-convicts out here in California don't lose our right to vote forever; I only lose this right as I serve my parole which lasts 7 more months. I honestly don't know who I would vote for in this election and really my vote out here in California is already spoken for as Senator Obama should carry the state handily. I have stated this before and will state it again whoever wins the election is in for a long hard four years. This is one of those down cycles and I think a case in point is the late 70's when President Carter took office. Hopefully we won't see interest rates over 20% but it is not going to be easy. I will sit on the sidelines and just observe which is okay with me.