I finished all of my magazines pretty early this month. The only article that really stood out, this month, is one of the first ones that I read. It was a little profile piece on Usain Bolt. It was awe inspiring and depressing, all at once. Apparently Bolt doesn’t really even try as hard as he can. He is just that good.

As a result burning through the mags so quickly, I had to resort to some heavier literature during the commute.  Reagan’s parents (knowing how I love historical literature) gave me a copy of Jon Mecham’s “American Lion.” For Christmas. I started into it, this week. So far, I have really enjoyed it.

Here come the other useless tidbits:

• Reagan’s cousin is going to be in town this weekend. We will be attending the first baseball game of the season with him, this Friday night.
• Since we are going to baseball, we will be missing the NYC premier of Banksy’s movie (we will probably catch it Saturday night, if you wanna come). If you are a fan, and you are in NYC, you should check it out, Friday. There was all kinds of hooplah at the LA premier. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are similar antics planned for Friday night.
• Running has been going ok. I did a 26:26 4mi race last Sunday, then took the last 2 days off to give my knees/blisters a break. I’ll be back on it, later tonight.
• It is allergy season. I have always had really bad allergies, since I was a little kid. Occasionally so bad that I found myself in the insta-care waiting for an adrenaline shot, with my eyes swollen shut. I moved to Brazil for two years, came back and my allergies have practically been gone ever since. It is weird to not be the one sneezing my face off, anymore.
• I did some spring cleaning last night, in my home office (I still have a long way to go). I kicked up enough dust that, even w/o allergies, I went to bed with a tickle in the back of my throat. Incidentally, I carried out 4 trash bags of old law school outlines and shredded docs.
• Piper seems to be in great spirits, these days. I was cracking up at the photos that Reagan took during her visit, yesterday.
• Speaking of photos, I launched a Facebook photo page, today. If you read this blog, then you have probably already seen all of the content on there.

I mentioned previously that I had recently started a new book about the conception and construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. As it turns out, the bridge was the brainchild of the Prussian immigrant architect/engineer/genius named John Roebling. The construction was overseen by himself and his son Washington Roebling, who evidently was equally gifted. John actually passed away pretty early on in the construction phase, after complications related to an injury he sustained at the construction site.

Apparently, at the time, the majority of Brooklyn belonged to the democratic party. The political control seemed to lie predominantly with the Irish immigrants. John Roebling, in addition to all of his other attributes was a very strongly opinionated fellow. In Roebling’s opinion, the Irish democrats did not share his same strong feelings about the bridge. When they would walk off the job demanding higher pay, Roebling would fire them, and hire Germans immigrants, to replace them. While referring to this matter, Roebling once stated:

No democrat can be trusted, they are all disloyal and treacherous, more or less.

Hahahaha. To me, the best part about Roebling’s statement, is that I can think of a few prominent right wing talking heads who are still trying to push that generalization as fact. I’m pretty sure you know who I’m talking about.

With all of this recent noise about U2, surrounding their show in Jersey, they kind of came back onto my radar again. There was the incident with Bloomberg’s helicopter pilot, before the show. There was the appearance on Saturday Night Live. I even had a recent conversation with my friend about U2 and their appearances in the media. There was also the fake Bono incident with Reagan (ask her about it).

Anyway, U2 was probably one of my top 10 favs, through Jr. high, and high school. I haven’t really listened to them much, since. Given all of the buzz, I decided to try them out again, to see if I just forgot how good they are, or what. I accomplished this by adding a few of their songs back into my shuffle playlist.

I have discovered that not only do I not particularly care for U2′s music anymore, but that I was tired of it. Since I have had their songs back on my shuffle, I have found that when a U2 song comes up (particularly during a workout), it literally makes me feel tired. So tired, in fact, that I have to skip their songs, to prevent myself from losing steam/motivation during my workouts.

The funny part is that I own every one of their albums, even some of the imports. Every one of them purchased in hard copy format, complete with tangible plastic and cover art. It is funny how people grow out of, or away from certain things. I’m pretty sure that if someone were to have interviewed me 15 years ago on the subject, I can guess what my response would have been. I would have sworn up and down that I would love the group my entire life. I would have said something like “U2 is such a dynamic group. They are not afraid to let their sound transform with the times. They will always be relevant [to me].” My statement would have been true, to an extent. Jjust take out the bracketed “to me” part, apparently. Which brings rant #1 to a close.

Rant #2: Why has my running suddenly started sucking so bad? Two weeks ago, yesterday, I had the best run of my life. I ran so fast, and felt great afterward. I have not been able to come anywhere near that pace, since then. In fact, during my run yesterday, before it was cut short by rain, I was turning out mile-times that were over a minute slower, than they were 2 weeks ago. I can’t begin to describe how frustrating this is. It is especially frustrating, since I’m running a scored half-marathon this weekend, and the Hartford Marathon, the following weekend. Am I still going to be in this rut for both of those races? Ugghhhhh.

On the bright side (not that anyone is still reading, I mean the U2 thing was just ridiculous), tomorrow night some of our friends got us ticket to see a lecture by Dean Karnazes. He is the dude that wrote “Ultra Marathon Man” and did 50 marathons in 50 days. I posted about his book, earlier this year. So I’m hoping that after his lecture, and cleaning all of the U2 out of my playlists, that I can get back on the upswing. Wish me luck.

I read the book “1776″ earlier this year. So did my dad and my brothers. It was all part of a plan hatched by my dad. The idea was that we all read the book together, then have a pow-wow, here in NYC to visit the local sites that we all read about in the book.

Unfortunately, one of my brothers was not able to make it out for the trip. But tomorrow night, my dad, and my brother Peter, are coming to town to visit Piper, and to visit historical sites from the revolutionary war. It is crazy how many pivotal battles, meetings, strategic moves, etc., happened right here in Manhattan.

Living on the island, I feel like, a lot of the time, we sort of take these things for granted. For example, my whole life, I have wanted to go up into the Statue of Liberty. They re-opened the crown this year on the 4th of July, for the first time since 2001. I still haven’t been. The same is true with a myriad of historical sites and monuments, some that I walk by almost every day. So this will be a very cool opportunity for me to finally stop and take advantage of some of the historical richness that exists here.

Of course I will be toting the camera. Expect a full report of our adventures, complete with photos. So, if you bore easily with history, independence, and/or revolutions, it may be wise to skip over this page for the next few days.

Timing has not been my forte, today. First I had the train incident, this morning. Then, as luck (or lack thereof) would have it, the only 10 minutes that mother nature decides to make it rain today, occurred right as I walked outside to go get a passport photo taken. As a result,  any and all customs officials who look at the document for the next 10 years will be able to see my impersonation of an angry drowning rat.

On the bright side, there is a Wendy’s right across the street from the place that I had my photo done. I never really eat lunch, and I never really get to have Wendy’s (since there is no veggie-burger for Reagan). So at least I was able to stop in and grab some JBCBs, which I have not had in quite a while.

Another possible upside is that the angry look on my face, may actually come to my advantage. During my travels abroad it is possible that upon viewing the photo, any customs agents who were thinking about giving me trouble, will think twice. At least he will if there is any truth to the excerpt in the image below:

This, incidentally, was taken from the book “Ghosts/Aliens” (by Trey [Robert] Hamburger), which was given to me as a Christmas gift from my brother-in-law, Nathan. I’m still making my way through it. This was one of my favorite parts, so far. All tough guys have mustaches and crew cuts.

I borrowed this book from my friend at church on Sunday. It turns out that he had just barely received it back from another one of our friends who had just finished reading it. I guess none of that is really relevant, hahahaha. Anyway, I just started it on the train yesterday morning. Today, I’m only in chapter four and I’m totally hooked already. It isn’t particularly well written or anything, but it is super inspiring. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have any plans to run an ultra marathon, any time soon. But, the way that the author writes about the way he relates to running, is very motivating. It makes me want to quit my job and just pull a Forest Gump, or something. If you are into running, I think that it is safe to say you would probably dig this book.

On a completely unrelated note, today is Tuesday. Normally I would have posted a JKE question today. Last night as I sat down to write one, I wasn’t really feeling, any of the questions that are currently sitting in the inbox right now. I didn’t feel like posting any recycled material either. So, actually I’m taking down the JKE blog. I mean, maybe I will start doing JKE again at some point in the future. But for a once a week post, I feel like it doesn’t really merit it’s own separate url and page design. Plus Reagan is always making fun of me for having too many blogs. So, it will be one less thing to catch heat about.

Man, oh man. I finished this book on the train this morning. I have kind of been putting of finishing it, and wanting to have it over with, all at the same time. It was a little bit more difficult of a read than 1776 (from an A.D.D. perspective), but well worth it. I have heard from a few different people that the HBO mini-series based on this book, is pretty good, also. I suppose that I will have to check it out. I marked a few parts in John Adams, to write about. So, hopefully I will get around to it at some point. From what I understand, McCullough also wrote a book about Truman. I am definitely going to add that to my list. I really enjoy the way that he writes, not to mention that the subject matter is super fascinating to me. I think that I may hold off until the fall to start that book though. I need chase this book with something that doesn’t require any thought. Anyway, if it isn’t already totally apparent, I strongly recommend David McCullough’s John Adams.

Earlier this week, I came across this quote by John Adams, in the book I’m currenty reading. It was taken from one of his writings contemplating the post British rule, state of the Colonies. He wrote:

We may please ourselves with the prospect of free and popular governments. But there is a great danger that those governments will not make us happy. God grant they may. But I fear that in every assembly, members will obtain an influence by noise, not sense. By meanness, not greatness. By ignorance, not leaning. By contracted hears, not large souls.

I could not agree more. But I really appreciate the fact that he has the character to follow up the above statement with this observation:

There must be decency and respect, and veneration introduced for persons of authority of every rank, or we are undone. In a popular government, this is our only way.

The second part is a lot more difficult to practice, even if you agree with it.  I will try to reflect on it, every time that I start to get annoyed about the guy in the governors mansion. The guy who nobody voted for, wearing jogging shorts, with his feet up on the desk.

I thought it was fitting that I finish the book “1776″ on Presidents day. I guess it would have been more fitting, had I finished it on Independence Day, but whatev. Presidents day is cool enough. I also hadn’t realized before reading this book, that I was born on the 200th anniversay of the battle of Pell’s Point. I would never have guessed that the book would be such a page turner. Most of the second part of the book takes place steps from where I live, as well as from where I work. So, as nerdy as I am, I couldn’t help but to try to imagine what it must have been like during the winter of 1776. Especially when I was running through Fort Tryon park last week. I tried to imagine what the battle at Ft. Washington must have been like.  I wondered if there were the remains of any fallen Patriots, Hessians or British buried somewhere in the park.  I suppose that my locale was part of the reason that my dad recommended (and sent a copy of ) the book to me. So, thanks again, dad.

I appreciated “1776″ so much, in fact, that I started McCullough’s “John Adams” on the train this morning. I’m sure that it will prove to be equally entertaining.

If you get bored easily, do this instead. If you are looking for a less entertaining way to burn through this Friday afternoon, read on. It seems like not matter what I do, I can’t get away from Ryan freaking Seacrest. It all started when he was on the cover of one of my magazines, recently. I mean, the guy has always been around. How long has American Idol been on, now? But Lately, it seems like Seacrest over-saturation/inundation, has been taken to new heights, at least as far as the media that I subject myself to, is concerned.

It used to be that I would only have to put up with the guy during American Idol (by default) because Reagan is a pretty regular watcher. Even if I’m not in the same room, I have to hear his mindless banter with the contestants, and attempts to land a verbal zinger on Simon. This was more than enough for me. In fact that only thing that made it bearable was watching Joel McHale make fun of the exact same Seacrest garbage that was making me crazy. If you ever watch the Soup, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Ok, so there was that. Then suddenly, Seacrest starts hosting the Times Square New Year show with Dick Clark. Holy crap. Is Seacrest the new Dick Clark?

Not that I really have anything against Seacrest. I don’t. It just seems like his face and name are everywhere lately (possibly seems like this since American Idol is underway, again). But today was the kicker.

As I mentioned previously, I have a pretty hefty stack of books on the reading list for this year, already. So I have been trying to push through and finish one of the books that I got for Christmas. It is TSAR, by Ted Bell. The book is like a modern James Bondish, spy novel. The main character, Alex Hawke, is even British. The author does a pretty good job of dropping all sorts of Pop-culture knick knacks into the plot, making it relatable. So there I am, reading a long, as I ride the train into work this morning and whose name pops up in the book? The little sport coat wearing guy himself, R. Seacrest.

It is comforting to know that Seacrest will still be getting gigs in the future even if it is  hosting a media junket to showcase the launch of a modern Russian airship, styled after the old Zeppelins.