A different kind of happiness

And so it begins ...

We finally broke down and got our kids a Wii on Monday.  They've played with it all night for the past three nights.  We'll still not sure if we've made the right decisions.

( Note I wrote most of this post on June 15th ( a few days after Peter's birthday on June 12th), so "Monday" in the paragraph above refers to June 13th.   However, I've been too busy to work on this post since then, so this entry is being posted about 2 weeks after that. )

Considering all the time I spent playing video games as a kid, I'm probably the last person who should claim to have the moral authority to forbid his kids from playing videos games.  I barely have a leg to stand on with the "playing video games will lead to bad grades" argument.  After all, I did fine in school despite all the video games.  However, I also happened to be blessed ( cursed? ) with a natural self-discipline which led me to do things like rip up pictures I drew for kindergarten homework when I thought I hadn't done a good enough job.

My kids don't quite have the same level of focus on their schoolwork.  Sure, Michael is blessed with a brain that has made school really easy for him, and Peter has a natural curiosity that will serve him very well  ( He asks questions that his older brother would never think to ask. ).  However, they both get distracted very easily, and they still have a lot of trouble doing their homework unless you sit with them and make sure they stay at the table.

So, I'm worried that this Wii will be a big distraction, but ...

1) Summer vacation is about to start ( June 15 was the last day of school before vacation ).

2) I've rationalized that we can use the Wii as a motivating tool ( "You've can't play with the Wii until you finish your homework"; "You can't play with the Wii until you practice Piano ( they start lessons this week )"; "You can't play with the Wii until you read for a while"; etc. )

3) It was Peter's birthday, and Peter asked for the Wii in the sweetest way.

Peter turned 6 on June 12th.  He had a really happy day, but at the end of the day he asked if we could get him the game "Just Dance 2".  "Just Dance 2" is a Wii game, and for the last few months, Peter has been dancing to "Just Dance 2" videos on YouTube.  A few months ago, we was introduced to the game when he spent the evening at a "Parent's night out" event at his day-care center ( Peter was in half-day kindergarten this year ( Because our big prick of a Governor Chris Christie cut public education funding so much ( while giving big tax breaks to rich folks ) that public schools had to lay-off lots of teachers. ( Michael had full day kindergarten last year before a bunch of brain-dead New Jersey swing voters elected a right wing Republican governor in a state that usually elects Democrats ( Christie's approval rating is now polling at under 50% percent, because apparently a lot of the bozos who voted for him are now shocked and dismayed that a right-wing Republican governor is actually implement right-wing Republican policies in the state. ).).  So, because there was no full-day kindergarten, Peter had to go to a day care center  for half the school-day. About 3 times a year, the day care center has a "Parent's Night Out" promotion, when they'll take care of the kids so the parents can actually go out on a date. ).  As you may already know, Peter loves to dance, and from that point on, all he's wanted to do is play "Just Dance 2".  However, I still wasn't sure if we should get the kids a non-educational video game system ( They've had a few educational systems, but they've kinda outgrown those ), and for the last few months he's seemed content enough to dance along to YouTube videos.

However, on the night of his birthday, he asked the following question is a very sweet and gentle way.

"Could I play "Just Dance 2" for real someday?".  When I asked him if he could "play" "Just Dance 2" on YouTube, he got a really sad look on his face, and asked again if he could play it "for real".  He didn't pout, he didn't scream, he didn't make demands of us - he just kinda sat there on the couch in silence looking rather sad.  My wife and I huddled up for a moment, and decided the time has come to get our kids a Wii.

OK, I now what some of you folks are thinking ....

"Man, Peter played you guys like a fiddle.  He must have known you guys couldn't resist his little sad face on his birthday."

I know I'm obviously biased about this, but you've got to believe me that it wasn't like that as all.  I know things will inevitably change when they get older, but right now I don't think my kids have a devious bone in their bodies.  Peter was genuinely sad on what to that point has been a really happy day.  I don't think I'd every seen Peter as happy as he'd been at his Chuck E' Cheese birthday party that day ( see photo below ) , and it filled me with as much joy as I'd ever felt.

( Click to enlarge to see full-screen happiness )

And that brings us to the title of this blog post.  The joy a parent gets from his kid's happiness is truly "a different kind of happiness."

Now, I'm going to try my best not to annoy of you folks out there who don't have kids.  I'm sure you've all gotten sick to your stomach at times when you've heard gushing parents says things like "Until you've had kids, you'll never understand what love is" and "There's nothing like the love a parent feels for a child".  I really  don't want to sound like one of *those* parents who are so full of themselves and the parenting experience, but ...

... there really is something different about the happiness you feel as a parent when your child is happy.  I'm not even going to try to explain it, because words just can't describe it.  It's just different - wonderful and different.

  In addition to that "different" kind of happiness, most parents are lucky enough to also experience feelings of pride on occasion.  I was really proud of Michael recently, but perhaps not for a reason you might have guessed.  Sure, parents always feels some pride when their kids accomplish something great, but the pride I felt can best be understood by reading the paragraphs below from this fine article:

"

Here’s the thing. I want my kids to be successful, sure. But more than anything I want them to be soulful and moral. Yes, I would like to see them prosper, afford nice things, and earn the admiration of their peers. But damn it, if money and status become more important to them than being ethical, altruistic, and giving then I have utterly failed as a parent.

My friend Dennis Prager, the radio host and author, tells a story of a woman who bragged to him that her children were top doctors and lawyers. He asked her, “Are they good people?” “Why of course,” she responded. And then his clincher. “Then why didn’t you tell me that first?”

I am proud when my kids show me a good report card. But I receive real joy when people who have met them tell me how respectful and warm they are.

"

For the first 6 years of his life, Peter slept in the same room as his Mom.  He was too scared too sleep alone, , and he's been sleeping right next to his Mom for years.  Of course, as sweet as it was that Peter wanted to sleep next to his Mommy each night ( it always warmed my heart to see him cuddled up next to her ), we knew this couldn't last forever.  Ruth and I convinced him that he should try sleeping in his own room "like a big boy" when he turned 6 years old. We knew it might be hard for him, but we let him know about a month ahead of time that June 12th would be his first night sleeping in his room by himself.

Well, the big night came, and when we took Peter to his room, we found that two of Michael's favorite stuffed animals were in Peter's room.   Michael told us that the stuffed animals had "retired" from his room and that Peter could now have them for his room.  He also told Peter that he could rename the stuffed animals if he'd like.

Michael's done some pretty amazing thing so far when it comes to math and science, but I don't think I was ever as proud of Michael as I was on that night.

They make me proud and they make me happy.  I feel so blessed to be a father.  There's really nothing else like that "different kind of happiness".

Rich

Michael's Mother's Day Essay

The boys had lots of gifts for Mom today, including the following essay Michael wrote in school:

My Mom
by Michael


My Mom's name is Ruth.  She is special because she loves me.  She has pretty eyes.  I like when my Mom tells me jokes.  I think she's the best at reading.  My Mom is super smart!  She even knows how to bake.  I love when my Mom and I read.  I'd like to tell my Mom that I want her to start allowance.


HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Oh really, Ralph?

In an article titled "Why Obama Gets Four More Years in White House", Ralph Nader wrote the following:

"Nor does a third party or independent candidacy pose a threat, given the winner-take-all, two-party system."


Oh really, Ralph?


So, you're telling me that it was just my imagination when a certain liberal icon ran for President as a third party candidate in 2000, cost Al Gore Florida, and gave us 8 years of George W. Bush?


So, you're telling me that wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were just my imagination?


I guess I was just imagining things when George W. Bush's completely irresponsible tax cuts and his wars created so much government debt that my great grandkids will still be paying it off.


I guess I was just imagining things when the anti-regulation policies of Bush led to the the United States greatest economic collapse since the Great Depression.


I guess I was just imagining things when the huge national debt created by the George W. Bush's policies gave the Republican right-wing the idea to create the anti-debt Tea Party movement ( which has somehow convinced half the nation that the national debt is the fault of the Democrats ).


I guess I was just imagining things when Tea Party endorsed politicians responded to the debt by cutting social programs that liberals spent their lives fighting for ( While refusing the raise taxes or our cut Defense spending, despite that fact that the low taxes and Defense spending led to most of the national debt ) and  stripping public unions of their collective bargaining rights.


I guess I was just imagining imagine things when New Jersey governor ( and Tea Party favorite ) Chris Christie used the anti-debt issue as an excuse to cut public school funding so much ( while giving tax breaks to millionaires ) that my youngest son Peter was denied full-day Kindergarten.


I guess I was just imagining things when George W. Bush added John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court - a pair of relatively young ultra-conservatives who will influence the Court for at least the next 30 years.


I guess I just imagined the Roberts and Alito were part of the majority in  the 5-4 "Citizens United v Federal Election Commission" decision, which gave corporations the power spend as much money as they wanted to influence elections.


I guess I was just imagining the large number of 5-4 pro-business decisions made by the Supreme Court over the last few years ( There was another 5-4 decision of this sort today. ).  I guess was just imagining that these Supreme Courts decisions are destroying all the consumer protections you've fought so hard for over the years.


I guess I was just imagining how the Bush Deficits led to budgets cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, undermining lots of the environmental protections you've spent your career fighting for.


I guess I was just imagining how a certain liberal icon tarnished his legacy so much that the Simpsons made fun of him ( Wish I could find the clip ) by having him attend a meeting of the Springfield Republicans ( When this liberal icon offer a suggestion to help the Republicans, Mr. Burns tell him "Haven't you done enough already?" ).


I guess I was just imagining that a certain liberal icon screwed the country for the next 50 years by running for President as a third party candidate in 2000, and then had the balls to suggest 11 years later that third party candidates have no impact on Presidential elections.


Oh really, Ralph?!?


Rich


P.S. Yes, I'm still a little bit bitter.

Obama must be jizzing in his pants

Obama must be jizzing in his pants about Donald Trump.

( If you've been living under a rock, or are not from the USA, or are reading this years later when Obama will be remembered as the 44th President of the United States and Trump won't be remembered at all, let me give a brief summary of what is going on: Billionaire and shameless self-promoter Donald Trump has decided that he wants to run for President in 2012 ( or least wants to make people think he's running for President in order to get more attention for his TV show ).  In order to attract Republican voters, he is now publicly taking positions that are 180 degrees removed from positions he publicly took just a few years ago.  In the past he'd voiced his support for gay rights, abortion rights, and advocated a 14.25% wealth tax on all Americans with a net worth of more than 10 million dollars.  He now claims to be against raising any taxes, against gay rights, against abortion rights, and most significantly, has taken up the widely discredited "birther" cause which maintains that President Obama was not born in the United States.  As crazy as this all might sound, this strategy has been working for Trump.  He is now leading all other potential Republican candidates in polls of likely Republican voters. )

Even before Trump emerged on the scene, things were looking pretty good for Obama in 2012.  Sure, the economy is still rather stagnant ( Though it is doing MUCH better than it was when Obama took over in January of 2009.  Back then, the US economy was in a deep recession and on the brink of a depression.  Now the economy is on a streak of 13 months of positive growth. ) and the Republicans gave the Democrats a "shellacking" ( as Obama called it ) in the 2010 midterm elections, but the 2012 Republican Presidential field was full of candidates who stood no chance of winning a national election.  The Tea Party movement was forcing otherwise semi-reasonable Republicans ( None of the Republicans seem reasonable to me, but at least some of them could seem reasonable to most Americans ) to take positions so far to the right that they were all ruining their chances to gain the support of the moderate "swing voters" that often decide Presidential elections.  To make matters worse, the only well-known semi-moderate Republican ( Mitt Romney ) has zero chance of winning the Republican primaries, because he signed a health care bill as governor of Massachusetts that could virtually be the twin brother of the Obama health care bill that all Republican primary voters hate.

Yeah, so things were looking pretty good for Obama, but Donald Trumps takes things to a whole other level.

For as long as I can remember, Republican Presidential candidates have had to play a game in which they speak in a kind of code in order placate the far-Right base of Republican voters ( in other words, the voters they would have to win over to win the Republican primaries ), while not offending moderate voters ( The voters needed to win the general election for President ).  For example, when asked in a 2004 Presidential debate about what kind of Supreme Court Justice he would pick, George W. Bush said he wouldn't pick a justice who would agree with decision in the Dred Scott case.  This baffled many people ( including me ), because the Dred Scott case was an 1857 decision which affirmed that slaves remained the property of their owners, even if they were taken to places where slavery was illegal.  Most people couldn't imagine how a potential justice's  view of an 1857 pro-slavery Supreme Court decision ( Obviously, any justice today would be against the decision ) would have any relevance today.  However, I later found out that in Christian Right circles, "Dred Scott" is code for "Roe vs. Wade" ( the 1973 decision that made abortion legal in the USA ).  So, Bush was using the "Dred Scott" code word to make it clear to the Christian Right that he would appoint a Supreme Court justice that was strongly anti-abortion ( which he did twice during his second term ), while trying not offend pro-abortion moderates.

These Republican secret codes have become even more prevalent during the Obama administration.  Republican politicians are acutely aware that a significant percentage of white Repblican voters have racist views about President Obama.  Republicans candidates want to motivate these racists voters to go out and vote for them, but they clearly need to be very careful about how they appeal to these voters.  Not only do they have to be careful not to offend moderates, but they also have to be careful not to offend the racist voters themselves.  Let's face it, most people don't want to think of themselves as being racist, so most people with racially motivated negative views about President Obama have found ways to rationalize that their negative views are not racially motivated.  For example, I know somebody ( We'll call him "Joe" ), who voted for Bill Clinton over Bob Dole in 1996, but voted for John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008.  Anyone who understand politics at all ( and Joe does ) can see that John McCain has basically the same political philosophy as Bob Dole ( Both are Center Right, though I would say that John McCain campaigned far further to the right than Bob Dole.  Bob Dole never called the progressive tax system "socialist" as John McCain did during the 2008 campaign  ), and Barack Obama has basically the same political philosophy as Bill Clinton ( Center Left.  I think both their campaigns were equally positioned to the Left, and as a frustrated liberal I can state definitively that Bill Clinton governed further to the Left than Barack Obama has so far. ).  So, with all that in mind, you would expect a supporter of Bill Clinton in 1996 to be a supporter of Barack Obama in 2008.  Instead, Joe voted for McCain, and now trashes President Obama every chance he gets.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say that every white person who opposes President Obama does so for racial reasons, but there are a lot of "Joes" out there, and Republican politicians know this.

So, because even the most right-wing Republicans can't get away with saying they don't like President Obama because he's black, they find other ways to imply that he's not a Real American ( in other words, not a white Christian ).  This is where we get all this "birther" ( The claim that Obama was actually born in Kenya, and back in 1961, his mother, the State of Hawaii ( Which has the official documents that prove he was born in Hawaii ) two different Hawaii newspapers ( which printed birth announcements of Obama's birth back in 1961 ) conspired to fake that he was born in the USA so that he could one day become President. ) and "Obama is a Muslim" nonsense from.  However, most mainstream Republican can't even get away with talking about the birther stuff or the Muslim stuff directly.  Instead, they need to speak in code again.  When asked if they believe if Obama was born in the USA or if he is a Muslim, just about all the potential Republican Presidential candidates say stuff like "I take President's Obama's word for it that he was born in the USA" or "I take Presidents Obama's word for it that he's a Christian".  In other words, they are telling the far-Right base of the Republican party "Look, for the sake of keeping the liberal mainstream media from tearing me apart, I've got to pretend I believe that President Obama is a Christian who was born in the USA - but you and I both know that he's really a foreign Muslim socialist who wants to turn the good old USA into a Muslim caliphate.".

Trump however, isn't playing that secret code game.  He's come right out and said he doesn't believe the Obama was born in the USA.  He's even claimed that his investigators in Hawaii have uncovered evidence ( none of which he's released to the public ) that Obama wasn't born there.  Instead of hiding the crazy aspects of the Republican party that could scare away moderate voters, he's letting it all hang out.  Sorry to use a second crude analogy in this post, but the emergence of Trump really does makes it seem like the Republicans are walking around with their dick hanging out.

,,, and Obama has got to be loving this.

What's worse for Republicans is that because Trump's now leading in the polls, lots of the other Republican candidates might decide to follow Trumps lead.  It things keep going the way they're going, it will eventually get to the point that where the Republican's will nominate a Presidential candidate who is completely unelectable in the general election.

Of course, I don't think the Republican's will really nominate Trump.  In fact, fact I don't even think Trump really intends to run for President.  I think this is all just a big publicity stunt to feed his ego and put more money in his pocket.

However, a guy can dream, can't he?

Rich

Frosty the Snowman is Jesus.

Maybe I'm being a wee bit sacrilegious, and I'm probably not the first person to notice this, but I've come to the conclusion that the story of Frosty the Snowman is basically the story of Jesus Christ.  How so?  Well, consider the following parallels between the biblical account of Jesus Christ, and the story of Frosty the Snowman from the song and the classic TV special.

Jesus: Was born on Christmas.

Frosty: Was made with "Christmas snow" ( snow that fell on Christmas Day - so Frosty was also essentially born on Christmas. ).

Jesus: Sacrificed himself to pay for man's sins by letting the his enemies capture him in a garden ( Gethsemane ).  His enemies ultimately condemned him to death and killed him.

Frosty: Selflessly put his own life in danger by carrying a freezing little girl into a warm indoor garden ( a greenhouse ).  His enemy ( the magician ) was able to trap him in the greenhouse and Frosty died via melting.

Jesus: Was raised from the dead by God, who is a powerful, fatherly ( "God the Father ), eternal, omniscient figure, who judges people on whether they've been bad or good.

Frosty: Was raised from the dead by Santa,who is a powerful, fatherly ( "Father Christmas" ), eternal ( never seems to age ), omniscient ( "He sees you when you're sleeping.  He knows when you're awake" ), and judges people on whether they've been bad or good ( "He's making a list and checking it twice - gonna find out who's naughty or nice."; "He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake" ).

Jesus: Shortly after rising from the dead, he ascended up into Heaven ( where the powerful, omniscient figure ( God ) lives ). 

Frosty: Shortly after being raised from the dead, he headed back "up" to the North Pole ( where the powerful, omniscient figure ( Santa ) lives).

Jesus: Predicted he would come again someday ( The Second Coming ).

Frosty: "He waved goodbye saying 'Don't you cry.  I'll be back again someday'."

Well, it looks like I've set my personal record for "Most Random Post Ever".

Rich

I'd rather be hated than misunderstood

I'd rather be hated than misunderstood.

I was reflecting a bit while reading the book "Being Wrong", and I decided that the statement above defines me.

That's it.  I'm tempted to give a bunch of examples ( because I very much do want to be understood ),  but I'm pressed for time, so that will have to do.

Rich

P.S. "Pressed for time" really means "It's about 9:45 PM on March 31st, and I don't want to have my first empty month in my blog archives".

P.P.S Sorry to keep anyone hanging regarding Part 2 of "Why I Run".  I've been quite busy lately, but I'll get to Part 2 eventually.

Why I Run ( Part 1 )

I sit on the edge of my bed with a weight wrapped around my right ankle.  I slowly extend the lower portion of my right leg until it is completely parallel to the floor, and then slowly lower this part of the leg back down until my right heel is about an inch from the side of of the bed.  I do this over and over again, and as I do this, my right knee makes a sound very much like the sound of crinkling bubble-wrap.  Eventually pressure starts to build up in the knee.  The bubble-wrap sound slowly fades away, and after a few silent extensions of the leg, the knee makes a huge CRACK sound when I extend the leg.

However, as bad as this all might sound, this really isn't a problem.

The problem is ...

... my right knee is my good knee!

So yeah, my knees give me trouble sometimes.  While some of these problems are the unavoidable consequence of being 41, a good deal of the problems I have with my knees can be directly attributed to my running regimen. Of course. most people who hear about my cracking knees ( or literally hear my cracking knees ) don't give me much sympathy.  They'll look at me in a bemused sort of way, and say things to me that often include words like "swimming", "biking", and "elliptical machine".  Let's face it - there are certainly lots of ways to do cardio that don't involve the wear and tear that running put on my knees.  So, considering all this, I guess the natural question I should be asking myself is ...

Why do I run?

Well, it might take a while to give a comprehensive answer to that question, so let me start by explaining why I even started to run in the first place.  My current love of running can all be traced back to one thing, and that thing is ...

Basketball


  If you've known for me a while or have read most of my previous posts, you probably already know that I had rather severe asthma as a child.  Back then, running long distances was the furthest thing from my mind.  Back then, I would have had an asthma attack if I tried to run the length of a city block.

All that started to change when my Dad built a basketball hoop in my backyard when I was about 12 ( BTW, when I wrote "built", I really did mean "built" rather than "installed".  I installed a basketball hoop for my kids last spring; my dad actually built a hoop for my brother and me.  One day, when walking home from the train station after work, he noticed an old basketball hoop ( just the metal part the ball goes through - there wasn't any backboard ) that had been left out in somebody's trash.  He decided to take the discarded hoop home and mount it on the garage in our backyard.   He took some leftover pieces from a metallic shelving system ( he had installed metalic shelves in our basement years earlier ) and basically built what looked like a 4 foot high by 3 foot wide metallic bookcase ( 1 foot deep ) with shelves 1 foot, 2 feet, and 3 feet off the ground.  He then attached a piece of plywood ( a piece about the sized of an NBA backboard - he painted the piece white )  to the front of this "bookshelf".  He attached the hoop to the backboard/bookshelf structure, and then attached the entire thing to the garage ( Actually, he may have attached the "bookshelf" to the garage first, and then attached the plywood/hoop, but you get the idea.  The entire hoop/backboard combo was completely homemade from discarded/spare parts. ).  I'll have to remind myself to thank my Dad the next time I talk to him.  That hoop gave me lots of enjoyment over the years, and the skills I eventually gained gave me an athletic confidence that will endure for the rest of my life.).  At the time my upper body was so weak that I couldn't reach the basket on a 15-foot shot unless I produced momentum by starting the shot between my  legs and moving the ball rapidly from between my legs to a foot above my shoulders before releasing the ball ( kinda like the classic underhanded shot a little kid might shoot, except that I would release the ball like a regular shot with one hand behind the ball ( rather than one hand on each side of the ball )).  However I quickly gained both strength and accuracy, and soon I found myself spending most of my free daylight hours shooting hoops.

  As I entered my teen years I really didn't have the endurance ( or the confidence ) to start playing basketball games against other teens ( and young adults ) in the local parks, but I had already started a training regimen that would build the foundation of my game.  I would take various mid-range shots from all over my backyard ( The deepest shots I could take from my backyard were from about 15 feet away.  There was a fence 7 feet to the right of the basket, so I really couldn't take any deep shots from the right side of the basket.  There was more room on the left side of the yard, but I had to contend with a garden that started at the left boarder of the garage and extended about 6 feet into the "court" ( There was a raised 2-inch concrete boarder around the entire garden, and a similar boarder about 3 feet from the right fence that extended about 3 feet into the "court".  I can't tell you how many ankles I twisted landing on those concrete boarders.  Those things are one of the reasons why I have a comically limited side-to-side range of motion in my ankles these days. ), as well as a peach tree in the garden and a clothesline on the far left side of our yard.  If I wanted to take a shot deeper than 15 feet, I needed to step into a narrow driveway between our house and our neighbor's house ( My aunts lived next door, which was a good thing for me.  I don't think that most people not related to me would have put up with the basketball noise all day ( not to mention the thousands of times I needed to go into their yard when the ball would go over the fence ))), and sprint toward the basket as soon as I released those mid-range shots.  Whether the shot went in or not I would jump in the air to catch ball as it came off ( or through ) the rim and put up a layup before I landed.  Doing this over and over again did 4 things for me:

1) It improved my mid-range shot.
2) It improved my leaping ability .
3) It gave me the ability to make off-balance layups with either hand from any spot near the basket.
4) It improved my endurance.

Yes "endurance".  That 9-letter word is really the whole point of all the rambling tangent-laden paragraphs above.  Basketball gave me endurance and help me overcome my childhood asthma.  Basketball is the reason why I ultimately had the ability to run regularly.

However, having the ability and the inclination to do something are two different things.  Despite that fact that I had mostly overcame my asthma ( pet allergies can still give me asthma attacks ) and had better-than average endurance, I never really had much of a desire to get my cardio exercise by running.  I figured jogging would be bad for my knees, and I was quite wary about my knees, especially considering they started making all sorts of weird cracking sounds by the time I was 16.

So, I really didn't do any kind of distance running until I was 31 ( I started my running regimen 10 years ago in  February of 2001 ), when basketball had an impact on my fitness again.  At the time, I was playing on the company basketball team.  I'd been playing on the team for 5 years ( I was actually one of the founding members of the company team.  If the company team had existed a few years earlier,I certainly would have joined the team at the age of 23 rather than 26.  I can't really take much credit for founding the team - the idea came from a guy I was supervising.  He was fresh out of college and asked me if our company had a basketball team.  When I told him we didn't have a team, he actually had the gumption to ask HR if the company could sponsor a team ( pay for league entry fees, uniforms, etc. ).  The next thing you know, management said "yes" to the request and we had a company basketball team. ), and while I was still enjoying the games ( we played 30 - 40 games a year ), I was starting to feel my age for the first time.

You see, jumping had always been a big part of my game.  Of course jumping is a big part of basketball in general, but I relied on my jumping ability a lot more than the average player.  The biggest weakness in my basketball game is my dribbling ability.  I'm not a bad dribbler these days ( I knew enough about the finer points of dribbling to teach Michael how to do it well ), but I've never really had quick hands, and dribbling wasn't a big part of the foundation of my game.  As I mentioned above, I taught myself to play the game with a regimen that involved a lot of shooting and jumping, but not much dribbling.  So, when I eventually gained the confidence to play games at the park,  I found that I didn't have much of an ability to dribble around people to get close enough to the basket to make all those off-balance layups I had practiced.  However, I found that I could jump around people.  I know that "jump around people" might seem like an odd term, so I'll offer the following example:

Often when I was driving towards the basket and  found a defender between me and the basket, I would leap directory towards the left or right shoulder of the defender.  I would then twist my body 90 degrees in the air ( so that my back was facing the defender ( so the defender couldn't really get his hands on the ball without reaching around me and fouling me ) and arch my back to avoid contact with the defender.  Once I got past the defender, I would twist my body 90 degrees back to its original orientation, and then put up a layup before I landed.

A basketball move like the one above ( plus many others where I would just jump into traffic and contort my body until I found space to put up a shot ) works fine if you can stay in the air long enough to pull it off.  I could easily stay in the air long enough when I was 21, but by the time I was 31, it was getting a little bit tougher.  I wasn't as if I was out of shape or anything, but very few people have as springy legs in their early 30's as they did in their early 20's.  So yeah, losing leaping ability as you age is a fact of life, but it was a fact I was having a hard time dealing with.  I constantly found my basketball brain writing checks that my body couldn't cash.  I would leap into the air with a plan of action, and found that I was landing before I could execute that plan.  I was only landing a split second earlier than I was in the past.  Most people probably wouldn't have even noticed, but I noticed, and knew I was going to have to adjust my game to adjust to this new reality.

So, I decided I needed to improve my endurance.  I knew I wasn't as quick and as fast as I was in my younger days.  I knew I could no longer outrun a lot of the younger guys at the beginning of games.  However, if I had better endurance than those younger guys, I might be able to outrun them at the end of games - when lots of games are won and lost.  Thus, I resolved to dramatically improve my endurance.  There were two treadmills in the fitness room of the apartment complex my wife and I were living in at the time.  I tried the treadmills out, set a few goals for myself, and the rest as they say, is history.

Still, why treadmills rather than exercise bikes, stair-masters, rowing machines, or elliptical machines?  Well, to lean that, you'll need to read Part 2.

Rich