Category Archives: Exercise

Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Quad Rock 50, Trail Running

MUSING FOR SUNDAY 19TH, MAY 2019

Leave a comment

“If something burns your soul with purpose and desire, it’s your duty to be reduced to ashes by it. Any other form of existence will be yet another dull book in the library of life.” Charles Bukowski

Well it has been a good week. The weather the past few days has been beautiful. This is one of the reasons I moved to Colorado a long time ago. I do like to visit other places that have a lower elevation and a higher humidity, but that’s it. Just visit. Unless of course it was on the beach, say like Hawaii, or some place in the Caribbean. Now that would be pretty cool. To be able to live in both locations. Colorado for part of the year and the beach and “warm” ocean water for the other part. Some would say just move to the Pacific Northwest, but I never totally understood the appeal of the PNW. I have been there a few times and the forest are fantastic and the mountains beautiful. But I don’t think I could do the humidity, clouds, and rain for a majority of the year. I did grow up around water, whether it was in a pool or lake and did a lot of swimming. So that is another reason you would not find me long term in the PNW. The ocean water up there is cold. Too cold for me.

This picture was taken Sunday 14th, April 2019. Marvin at 8 and 1/2 weeks.

Marvin is growing as expected. Not sure how big he will be, but Janet and I are thinking some where in the 100 lbs plus range. Or maybe bigger? Lol. Puppy class is progressing along as anticipated. What was not expected is how he has changed in behavior from week to week. Thinking about it now in hindsight it does make a lot more sense.

This picture was taken Sunday 21st, April 2019. Marvin at 9 and 1/2 weeks.

At the very first class he was a little shy but now he is like one of the pack, running, jumping, playing with all the other puppies. Each week has been somewhat of a new experience to see how his confidence grows. Just like it would be in a human child but on a much shorter time frame. We are continuing with the socialization as much as we can.

This picture was taken Wednesday 1st, May 2019. Marvin at 11 weeks old.

He seems to be a very easy dog to work with in my experience. Pretty laid back most of the time. The only issue that is ongoing is the puppy bitting. But even as I write this, it seems like we have made progress in shifting his attention to chew bones and dog toys and less to his human companions. Lol

This picture was taken Tuesday 14th, May 2019. Marin, just one day shy of 13 weeks and already at 38 lbs. I can already see the adult dog he will be. Not sure what it is but he always seems to have a serious look on his face anytime I take a picture! Lol

Well I did not make the 50 miles in the Quad Rock again this year but I did do the first loop for 25 miles. It was a great run. The trail conditions and weather were much better than last year. Actually I don’t think you could have asked for better. Of course if you had tried to predict this on Thursday 9th, two days before the race, it would not have been easy. Rain and snow, and rain and snow. And did I say more rain and snow…. Lol.

This picture was taken on Saturday 11th, May 2019. Just before the start of the Quad Rock 50. Temperatures were in the 30 degree range and no wind. Here I am looking east towards Fort Collins. Clear skies can make fantastic running weather.
5 minutes before race start and we are all getting lined up. I am more of the plodder and not the gazelle. So to the back of the pack I go! Lol

Cold morning but a very nice afternoon in the high 50s and low 60s. Perfect for running. They did have to reroute some of the course to avoid a few very wet areas. Funny thing, I liked the reroute better than the original course. It did add a little more elevation gain/loss but not too bad.

Again, what a beautiful day for running the Quad Rock. This picture is looking South towards Denver.

As far as not finishing the whole 50 miles this year? I am not too disappointed. It is a hard route. Lots of ups and downs. 5000 ft plus of elevation gain and loss in each 25 mile loop. And as I have stated before, it is a little early in the year for me with the 50 mile distance. I was happy with my time compared to last year. This time I was about an hour and ten minutes faster or 6 hours and 40 minutes total.

This picture from the Quad Rock was about 20 miles in, close to the end of the first loop. It is looking West towards Rocky Mountain National Park. Lots of snow still up in the high country. The two large mountains in the back ground are Mount Meeker (13,911 feet) and Longs Peak (14,259).

A surprise that I got while running the revised route was to run the Westridge Trail in Lory State Park. As many times as I had been in the park this was the first time for me to actually run this trail. The views of Mount Meeker and Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park were beautiful. See the above picture. In my opinion, even if the lower valley trails were not wet, this was worth the reroute.

This picture from the Quad Rock is looking East toward Greeley, Colorado. The winds were such that most of the “brown cloud”, you can just make out in the distance, stayed there.

Well before I go I would like to thank all the volunteers and sponsors for supporting the race. Especially the volunteers. Without you this event would not happen like it does. Also this year I would like to thank the land managers for allowing the race to be run even with some of the marginal trail conditions. The conditions on race day were next to perfect but it would have been easy to cancel the event based on the weather occurring on Thursday. Thanks again for allowing us “nutcases” to run on Saturday in a very beautiful place. And last but not least I would like to thank Nick Clark and Brad Bishop (Gnar Runners Event Management) for putting on another fantastic event. If you would like to read and learn more about Gnar Runners and their future races, check out their web site: http://gnarrunners.com/

This picture was taken looking West with the morning sun shining on Arthur’s Rock in Lory State Park.

Well that is going to be about it for me on this Blog Post. The next race I plan to run is on June 15th. The Leadville Trail Marathon. I have done the half marathon in Leadville in the past but not the full. Should be fun?! Right?! Lol. So the training continues for working my way up to the bigger races in July and September.

Take care my friends and I hope to see you out there whether it be hiking, running, biking, or skiing. Adios amigos!!

Colorado, Exercise, Existentialism, Fort Collins, Life and Meaning, Meditations, Psychology, Quad Rock 50, Truth and Perception

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 5TH, MAY 2019

Leave a comment

“Relax enough, and your body becomes so familiar with the cradle rocking rhythm that you almost forget you’re moving. And once you break through to that soft, half levitating flow, that’s when the mooonlight and champagne show up.” Ann Trason (From the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall)

“I thought, man, if you could run 100 miles, you’d be in this Zen state. You’d be the f**king Buddha. Bringing peace and a smile to the world. In my case, it didn’t work. I’m the same old punk ass as ever. But there’s always this hope that it’ll turn you into the person you want to be. You know, like a better, more peaceful person. And when I’m out on a long run, the only thing in life that matters is finishing the run. For once, my brain isn’t going ‘bleh bleh bleh bleh.’ Everything just quiets down, and the only thing going on is the pure flow.” Jenn Shelton

“But the longer and further I ran, the more I realized that what I was often chasing was a state of mind – a place where worries that seemed monumental melted away, where the beauty and timelessness of the universe, of the present moment, came into sharp focus.” Scott Jurek

Wow another great two weeks. Marvin is getting a lot bigger!! When we first got him at 8 weeks he was 19lbs. This past Wednesday he was around 30.4lbs. We figured that he would grow but dang, always amazed at how fast it occurs. The socialization is continuing. He has probably surpassed the magical number of 100 different humans that he has met and countless numbers of other dogs. So I am hoping that this really pays off in the long run. It is interesting in that the fear factor seems to ebb and flow. One day he is fearful of the trash truck, or the Geese. Then the next day, they are not a problem. And vise versa? If Janet and I are both out walking him things are a little better. Not sure what that is about?

This photo was taken on Wednesday 1st, May 2019. Now 11 weeks old and 30.4lbs. I think that he has the sitting thing down for the moment. Lol. They say repetition and consistency are the key!

Finishing up some training ,in preparation for the Quad Rock 50. If I can do this it will be earliest in the year that I have run a 50 miler and that would be pretty cool. The last couple of weeks have been a slow taper so that I am fully rested and ready to go on May 11th. I have been fortunate to experience some wonderful afternoon weather the last 2 weeks. Just beautiful. Of course each week is different and it is Spring time in Colorado, so you still have to throw a little snow into the mix. Lol

This picture was taken Thursday 25th, April 2019. What an afternoon. Warm but not too warm. Clean air from a little bit of wind. Beautiful!

Watching the news over the last couple of weeks. There were two events that got me to thinking about the meaninglessness of life in general. One involved a person going to work on his motorcycle, just the average guy on his way to work, enjoying the beautiful morning, and bam, hit by a car and killed. Game over. The second one involved a wreck down by Denver on I-70 eastbound, coming out of the mountains. Guy driving a semi loses his breaks and plows into multi other cars, killing four people. Again, these were people on their way home, from work, from the store, from whatever. But again, bam! Game over. Both events awful. No meaning, no redeeming quality what so ever. A senseless loss of life in every respect.

This picture was also taken Thursday 25th, April 2019. It is looking West at the Prospect Ponds open space in Fort Collins.

At first I got depressed just thinking about them. And while this would not be unusual for anybody to feel this way. I started to obsesses about them a little bit. I think it had to do with the fact that both of these hit close to home for me. I have been that guy on the motorcycle, riding to work, enjoying the morning, but did not get hit by the car. And I have been that guy driving down I-70, coming back from a wonderful day of skiing, looking and seeing the semi’s in the rear view mirror and wondering if their breaks would hold? And they did.

This picture was taken Friday 26th, April 2019. It is from an open space called Pineridge. It is just west of town but still in town. I think that it gives a beautiful view of Fort Collins.

I know that there are those that would say it was some “supreme beings will” that it was not my time to go. But I don’t believe that. I believe it really is just a matter of chance and luck. A quote that sticks in my head from when I first moved to Colorado and took my first Avalanche class was by the director at the time, Knox Williams. And it goes something like this. “Remember the mountains are full of dead experts. You read about it all the time, he or she was an expert skier, hiker, biker, snowshoer, etc… and they are all dead. The mountain does not care.” To extrapolate this further. I would say that the “Universe does not care.”

This picture was taken on Tuesday 30th, April 2019. Hate to use an old cliche’ but dang, “What a difference a day makes!”

Some might find this really depressing, and I did for a very short period of time. But it soon gave way to a kind of liberation. To realize that all our worrying, our anxieties, our fretting in whatever we are doing to get all the “details” just right. Does not really matter in the end. You could have been the model employee for the corporation, the faultless parent, the ultimate spouse, the quintessential neighbor, etc…. And bam! Game over. None of it mattered, your dead. Wow! That does sound depressing, but is it?

This picture was also taken Tuesday 30th, April 2019, but in the afternoon. And that is what I love about Colorado. Most of the snow had moved out. The bike trail was clear and it was another beautiful Colorado afternoon.

I for one don’t think that it is. I put forth that it is liberating. There is no deity, no person, no organization that you are beholding to. No provisos, no dogma, no limitations that are written in stone. You are free to determine your own destiny. For good or bad there is no “big eye” in the sky watching you. At least not a made up “magical one.” At some point technology will allow this to occur but that discussion is for another story. Of course what I am describing here is Existentialism. And some may say that I am having an “Existential Crisis.” Lol. And I guess that could be the case. But I don’t believe so. I think last weeks events were just a reminder of how I have felt for a long time, down deep. This coming May I will have been in the health care field for 40 years with the majority of that time spent in Emergency Medicine. And it has shaped my perspective on life to say the least. I truly believe that there is no meaning to life. It is just a jumble of random events that happen to us. If you want meaning you have to bring it. You have to create your own story. Not the other way around. And with this comes freedom but at the same time a considerable responsibility. Some can handle this responsibility and some can’t.

This picture was taken Wednesday 1st, May 2019. What a beautiful evening. Had no idea that the sun and clouds were going to give such a beautiful sunset. This picture was taken from the Powerline Trail in Fort Collins and usually does not have such fantastic views. Being in the right place at the right time can make all the difference.

Finding our own meaning takes some significant digging. It is not for the faint of heart. The first step is taking the time to find out “who you are” and this takes a lot of inner work. But one place to start this process is with meditation. I know, I know. I can hear it now. “I am not going to do that new age bulls**t.” But in reality, this tool, and that is all it is, goes back 1000s and 1000s of years. You don’t have to become Buddhist, or sit for hours chanting “OM”. You can start the process in as little as 5 minutes per day and build up from there. I keep track of my time spent meditating with a phone app. Somedays it is a long one, depending on the time I have available and others it is just 5 minutes. Meditation helps to open a door or window into who your “real self” might be. And that my friends is powerful.

This picture was also taken Wednesday 1st, May 2019, but just a few minutes later from the one above. Unreal that the colors could change so dramatically.

Well I think that is going to be about it for me on this blog post. Time to move forward off of the soapbox and on to other things. Existentialism Crisis solved?! Lololololol. No, I don’t think so and that is part of the “struggle” in being human. Let me know if you have had these same feelings? And what your solutions might have been. I would love to hear from you.

I hope everyone has had a great two weeks and I am looking forward to the next two. I will let you know how the Quad Rock goes. Take care and I hope to see you out there! Where ever “out there” may be. Adios amigos!!

This picture and the one below was taken on Friday 3rd, May 2019. What a beautiful afternoon here in Colorado. A good breeze in the right direction so the air was clean. This picture was taken looking southeast from Horsetooth Mountain Park.
Again, same day as the one above, but looking West towards Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. Beautiful!!

Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Half Marathon

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 21ST, APRIL 2019

2 Comments

“Life is a series of dogs.” George Carlin

“Everyone thinks they have the best dog and none of them are wrong.” W.R. Purche

I used to look at my dog and think “if you were a little smarter you could tell me what you were thinking” and he’d look at me like he was saying “if you were a little smarter, I wouldn’t have to.” Fred Jungclaus

Well, it has been an interesting last two weeks. I had forgotten all the work that goes into raising a puppy from scratch so to speak. Our last dog passed away in August of last year at the age of 12, so we have not had the “young puppy experience” in a while. I would like to say that Janet and I are both feeling a little sleep deprived these last couple of days. Actually that would probably be some what of an understatement. Lol

This is Marvin at 8 – 1/2 weeks.

Marvin, yes we named him Marvin and he has been an an “absorbing” experience so far. But I feel that we are managing for now. We started to watch a series of Dog Training Videos a few weeks before getting him and I think that they have paid off and will continue to do so. It was interesting to see how training has changed over the years. This will be our 6th dog in the last 35 years. Wow! Just thinking about that makes me wonder where did the time go?! Oh well I am getting off track a little bit. More about Marvin, we decided to go with a mixed breed dog this time due to all the continued genetic problems of pure bred dogs. Especially German Shepherds. Marvin is what is know as a King Shepherd. They are a mix of German Shepherd, Alaskan Malamute and Great Pyrenees. Both of his parents, one a King Shepherd and the other a Great Pyrenees, were both tested genetically and received a clean bill of health. I will have Marvin tested by EmBark Vet to see if any significant genetic issues arose in the breeding.

Marvin at 9 – 1/2 weeks. He is making for great “after work” therapy. Lol

Right now as far as training goes, we are really concentrating on socialization. The current or most recent research suggest that this crucial window closes a lot earlier than first expected, some say by 12 weeks. With that said he has been to Old Town in Fort Collins, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Poudre Feed and Seed, Edora Park, Petco, the Vets office and the houses of friends. Also he will start a puppy class next week. One expert in dog behavior said that before 12 weeks your dog should have met and greeted at least 100 different people of all ages and types. That seems a pretty tall order when I think about it. Especially if you are working full time and have a family with children. For us it is not as much of an issue, so far. Lol.

The start of the Horsetooth Half Marathon, April 14th, 2019. This view is looking west toward one of the dams of Horsetooth Reservoir, about 10 minutes before the start of the run.

OK, on to other things. I did my first race of the season. Not an Ultra, that comes later, but a half marathon called the Horsetooth Half. It is a local race and has been held for a number of years. I have done it one time before and thought I would give it another try. We lucked out this year and received beautiful weather for the day. This is a point to point road race and transverse some of the most picturesque scenery around Fort Collins. There is about 1000 feet of elevation gain/loss, but 99% of this is in the first half of the race. Once you are past that half way point it is pretty much downhill all the way to New Belgium Brewing in Old Town, Fort Collins. A very nice course in my opinion.

Horsetooth Half 2019!! One big hill down and a few more to go!!

I felt really good for this race, even being a little sleep deprived with the new puppy. I finished the 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 7 minutes and averaged about 9 minute miles. This was great for me. Much faster than my first time. Lol So maybe all the training is paying off? Oh, I so hope so! Next race is the Quad Rock 50!

More of the Horsetooth Half Marathon. This view is looking North, but further along in the course. Lots of cool rock formations.

I want to give a big Thank You to the Fort Collins Running club for again putting on a fantastic event. And I have to say that the sponsors and volunteers really did a great job of handing out water and making the race fun and entertaining. Without you this event would be just another “run of the mill” half Marathon. For a full list of sponsors and information about the race check out the web site here: https://horsetooth-half.com/

This picture was taken on Monday 15th, April 2019. It is looking West towards the foothills off the Power line trail. Just another beautiful afternoon here in Colorado.

Running this past week has been beautiful. Cold mornings with warmer afternoons. Just fantastic weather and great air quality due a series of small fronts that removed most of the particulate matter from the Front Range.

This picture was taken Tuesday afternoon, April 16th. Again looking West by North West off the Spring Creek Trail here in Fort Collins.

This blog post is going to be a little shorter this time. Marvin is still impinging on sleeping so I do not have as much time to write. The dog training course Janet and I are still watching is from the Great Courses. Pretty good. There are 24 lectures in the Course, each one being about 30 minutes long. We try to watch only one each night to help absorb all the information. I would also suggest to get the course book to help with going over certain concepts in the video lecture. Once we go through the entire series we plan to watch it a second time just to help with retention. So far things seem to be going along really well. You can find the link here: https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/show/dog_training_101

So that is about it for me. I hope to get more sleep this next week!! Lol. Oh well – still need to get in running in preparation for the Quad Rock in May. It is only about 3 week away. So if I am going to lengthen my distances a little more, I need to do it in the next week and then start the taper so I am fully rested on race day. I think that I will leave you with one more picture of a Colorado afternoon. They have been beautiful. Take care my friends and maybe I will see you out there on the trail. Adios amigos!!

This picture was taken Saturday, April 20th, 2019. Looking West by North West. It was a little cloudy this afternoon. But the temperatures were in the high 70s with a light wind. Just beautiful.

Dogs, Exercise, Psychology, Religion, Science, Sociology

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 7TH, APRIL 2019

Leave a comment

“Science is different to all the other systems of thought… because you don’t need faith in it, you can check that it works.” Brian Cox

“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.” Joseph Campbell

“Big History studies the history of everything, offering a way of making sense of our world and our role within it.” David Christian

Dang what can I say, it has been another great 2 weeks and I cannot complain too much! I always laugh at that. Truly, living here in Fort Collins and being healthy enough to do the things that I do. Wow!! There are so many circumstances, situations, decisions, people, etc.. that I am grateful for. As I have gotten older, it has become readily apparent that things could have gone a much different path in so many ways. I think that a lot has to do with just plain dumb luck. Being in the right place at the right time. Of course some things could have gone better. There are times we all wish we could have done something different, or handled a situation a little better. But right now, at this moment, things are pretty awesome.

This picture was taken Wednesday 27th, March 2019. It is looking North across Horsetooth Lake. Here you can see clouds building in due to an approaching spring storm. It was a beautiful afternoon of trail running. The temps were in the 50 to 60 range.

Came across an article the other day called “Why we need a modern origin story today.” This article was written by David Christian. He is the guy that has become notable for pushing and teaching the discipline called “Big History.” And I have to say that this was the first time I have ever really looked at the concept. I mean history is history right? I know that it is open to interpretation and all, but still what is the difference between “Regular History” and the concept of “Big History.” So I dived into it and found that it looks at a much broader picture of things. It starts at the Big Bang and goes forward. It explores all of our history and not just the last 5000 years. It is a blending of a multitude of different fields, physics, geology, chemistry, astronomy, biology, psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc…. I mean you could pretty much say it is a history of everything, but on a much grander time scale. Big History focus on the Universe and how humanity fits into this framework and the not the other way around.

This picture was taken Thursday 28th, March 2019. Here I am looking North from the top of Horsetooth Mountain Park. Again another beautiful day. The only fly in the ointment was the air quality. It could have been a little better. The winds were from the east and there is a lot of oil and gas development in Weld County, over 20 thousand well heads. Combine this with the sheer volume of transportation traffic and it does degrade the air quality quite a bit. Compare this picture with the above picture that was taken the day before. The dullness in the bottom one was due to front range smog.

I have the firm belief that Big History is what needs to be taught in schools. And one way I see doing this is by changing our “Origin Story.” We need a modern one. There has been so much knowledge gained in the twentieth century that there is an increasing need to see and teach how it all fits together. Thinking about when some of the current religions were laid down a few things become readily apparent. Foremost in my mind, we really did not know that much about the world around us and almost nothing about the Universe out past earth. That has changed and will continue to do so at an every expanding rate. Don’t believe me. Just start following Physics.org. https://phys.org/ Heck you don’t even have to read the articles. Just follow it and see how much stuff comes out each day, each week. Unreal the rate of learning/change going on in the world today. There is no way the “old religions” can keep up. Thinking that they can is hubris on all our parts. There is an old saying that as our tools change, so does our reality. And let me tell you, our tools have changed.

This picture was taken Friday 29th, March 2019. Again, wow!! What a difference a day makes. The storm dumped some much needed moisture, but was short lived. Most of the snow was gone by mid-morning the next day. This picture is looking east from a deck over the garage of our house.

So to put this all together, to deal with the increasing complexity of the world, we need a modern origin story. A way to help people and especially young people get a sense of what their position is in the grander scheme of things when it comes to humanity and our place in the Universe. Doesn’t that sound strange, “Our place in the Universe” and not the other way around? The time for the “Egocentric View” is past. We need an origin story that is “science based” and not one that is still, please excuse the expression, “magical zoo boat thinking.” Does this mean we need to throw everything out with the old religions? I for one don’t think so. I believe that just like any good parable or story, there are some great things to be learned in the old mythologies. After all they have been modified over thousands of years to help explain human nature and behavior. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel to teach the same thing. The question becomes, why not incorporate some of this hard earned knowledge into a Science Base Origin story?

This picture was taken on Monday 29th, March 2019. What a beautiful day. Fantastic air quality along the Front Range of Colorado. Here I am looking North, by North East from atop Authors Rock in Lory State Park.

Let’s face it. Are Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist, etc… ever going to get together on a consistent basis around the proverbial campfire, holding hands and singing Kumbaya? Really?! I think that most of you will agree with me that it might happen every now and then but on a consistent basis? Hell, look at all the death and destruction just in the Muslim world over Islam. You could say the same about Christianity and the other religions at different times. As the world becomes more and more complex, as science advances forward, the only way I can see humanity surviving is by working together and the first step in doing this is creating a Modern Science Based Origin Story. And teaching Big History is the first step. We need, for lack of a better phrase, a Universal Belief System, that is based in Scientific fact, that is changeable as new data is obtained and analyzed. So that people from around the world, in very different cultures, will be able to connect, cooperate and strive toward the betterment of humanity. Instead of subjugating and killing each other over frivolous, make-believe superstitions.

This picture was taken on Wednesday 3rd, April 2019. Here I am looking West by North West from an Open Space in Fort Collins called Prospect Ponds. Truly just a beautiful afternoon. Enough wind in the area to keep the air fresh, but not too much to make it chilly.

Wow! I just reread this and I am amazed how strongly I believe in this view?! What is that about?? So enough! I know that I might have offended a few that are very religious, but that was not my intent. I just want you to question the status quo.

Please do a Google and YouTube search if you are interested about the concept of Big History. I think you will find it is well worth your time and effort.

This picture was taken on Sunday 28th, March 2019. A soon to be new family member!! No, no I am talking about the puppy and not Janet. LOL I am thinking that we are going to be a little extra busy in the next couple of weeks.

Time to post a puppy picture!! It was taken at Balto Farms near Boulder. They breed King Shepherds among other things. Check them out at: https://www.7957farm.com/ or https://www.7957farm.com/kings and you can find them on Facebook at Colorado King Shepherds.

Looks like the ski season is going to be extended this year thanks to mother nature. And that is a very good thing. Hope to see you out there, either on the ski slope or running on the trails. Take care my friends. And if your trail running, watch for snakes and cats. It is the season. Adios!!

Artificial Intelligence, Book Review, Exercise, Science, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 24TH, MARCH 2019

Leave a comment

With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon. In all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it’s like, yeah, he’s sure he can control the demon. Didn’t work out. – Elon Musk

Everything that civilization has to offer is a product of human intelligence; we cannot predict what we might achieve when this intelligence is magnified by the tools that AI may provide, but the eradication of war, disease, and poverty would be high on anyone’s list. Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last. – Steven Hawking

With the increasingly important role of intelligent machines in all phases of our lives–military, medical, economic and financial, political–it is odd to keep reading articles with titles such as Whatever Happened to Artificial Intelligence? This is a phenomenon that Turing had predicted: that machine intelligence would become so pervasive, so comfortable, and so well integrated into our information-based economy that people would fail even to notice it. – Ray Kurzweil

This picture was taken on Tuesday 12th, March 2019. Here I am at the top or close to the top of Horsetooth Mt. park looking West. In the background you can just make out Meeker and Longs Peak. Longs sits at 14,000 feet. The day was very warm, as an approaching storm was moving into the state.

Well it has been a good 2 weeks. I was under the weather a little bit for the start of it but I am feeling better now. I divide my workout/running sections into 3 week intervals and the last interval I finished with about 138 miles ( 46 miles/week). Which might not sound like a lot to those of you that are running gods. For me, I might have pushed it just a little bit. To add to this, I missed my usual amount of sleep and being older it does not take much to create illness. My wife Janet reminds me of this a lot and it is probably a good thing that she does!! Lol

This picture was taken the very next day, Wednesday 13th, March 2019, and again not to hit an old cliche’ too much, “What a difference a day makes!!” Dang, I cannot imagine what it must have been like for the early settlers on the plains. You have this fantastic weather for a day or two and get lulled into a false sense of security. Then Kaboom! Snow and wind with no modern day warning. We were lucky in Fort Collins, we did not get the high winds and drifts that the Eastern Plains did. This view is from our front door.

I am between books at the moment, so no new book review this week. But I would like to reiterate my thoughts on AI. I really do think this is coming, rather sooner than later. I am pretty sure it will be the “General AI” that everyone is hoping for or fearing depending on your point of view. And by general I mean, something that thinks and reacts, for good or bad, as a human would. The current AI we have now is something a little less dramatic and world changing. Such as your smart phone, semi-autonomous cars and trucks, social media feeds like FB, personal data assistants like Siri and Alexa, entertainment such as video games and Netflix. The list could go on and on. It is already used in thousands of applications everyday and most of the time we are not even aware of it. I guess in some sense this technology has been world changing. But the difference to me is that you could decide to not use a lot of it and it would not make that much difference in your life. At least not at this time. So I don’t worry about it too much. Another name for this kind of AI is machine learning. The type of AI that I am concerned with is true “General AI.” Or if it helps to understand it better, something that is conscious or sentient AI. This would be a game changer and will make everything else seem like child’s play. Will it happen? Good question. I think yes. It will happen and sooner rather than later.

This picture was taken the next day after the storm, Thursday 14th, March 2019. And it shows again what I think is the best thing about the Front Range of Colorado. Even though the temp was in the high 20s, a lot of snow had already melted. This picture is looking West towards the mountains and the lake is Lake Sherwood in our neighbor.

I draw this conclusion from recent material that I have read, and from an old video on an AI conference from a few years ago, around 2015. It was taking place in Taiwan or it might have been Hong Kong. It was a round table discussion of some of the movers and shakers in AI at the time from around the world. I cannot remember their names, but they were from the tech industry and different universities. The one I remember best was a guy from Carnegie Mellon University. The talk was pretty lively around the table about when general AI might arise or even if it would. There was a lot of disagreement, some saying its way off in the future and some saying in the next 10 to 20 years and some saying no, it would never come to be. This guy interrupts everyone and says: “What you all have to remember is that there are “100s of thousands” of young people in the U.S. alone working on this very problem.” That single statement stopped everyone in their tracks for a moment. It just hung there in the air. Incredible. All I could think was, this is like the “Manhattan Project.”

This picture was taken on Sunday 17th, March 2019, looking West, across a local golf course, next to the Power-line Trail in Fort Collins. Just another beautiful Colorado Sunset.

Remember that the Manhattan Project was a secret research and development program to create the first atomic bomb. And it employed a 100,000 plus individuals to pull it off. It was a race with Germany at the time. They were ahead of us in R&D prior to the start of the project in 1939. Lucky for us and the rest of the world. We came in first. I believe that we are in another race. And this time it is to build the first “General AI.” At this point, my guess is that the USA, European Union, China and Russia are all neck and neck at the moment, with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of individuals all working on it from multi different countries.

This picture was taken Thursday 21st, March 2019. What a beautiful day it was in Fort Collins. Sixty degrees, very mild wind and clean air. Wow!! You don’t get too many of these with all three ingredients like this. Air quality being the number one reason why. Just beautiful. This picture was taken on the East side of Horsetooth reservoir looking North. The lake is low at this time of year, in another month or two there will be about 20 to 30 feet of water where I am standing.

This gives me pause and it should you too. It took fewer individuals to build the first atomic bomb than is currently working on AI. We are not in a world war like we were in 1940, but I do believe the stakes are just as high. Ask yourself: “How do you want this to happen?” Do you want a benevolent AI, that helps humanity to the next level of existence or one that is used to wipe out a countries neighbor, or one that is the all watching eye of a totalitarian state? In a worst case scenario it see us as inconsequential and decides to eliminate humanity altogether. I know you are probably like me wondering what you can you do about it? Another good question. The first thing is to educate yourself. And a good place to start is with one of the books that I last reviewed. It is well worth the read and Tegmark elegantly and convincingly puts into words why we should be concerned and what we can do to help make a difference. You can find the book on Amazon: h

Well that is enough of my soapbox for this blog post. I could go on and on for a while longer, but I think you get the zest. Please if you get the change to read the above book and I usually don’t recommend a book twice, read it. You don’t have to be an Astrophysicists to understand it.

This picture was taken last week on or around Wednesday, March 20th. Five weeks old and getting bigger!! Just waiting to meet the parents of this pup to make the final decision.

What an interesting two weeks with weather on the Front Range of Colorado, from beautiful warm days and cold nights, to a full blow blizzard. Spring is here in Colorado!! Lol. I hope that this blog post finds all of you in the best of health. Maybe I will see you out there on the trails or ski slope!! Adios my friends.

Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Quad Rock 50, Run Rabbit Run, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 10TH, MARCH 2019

2 Comments

“Running isn’t a sport for pretty boys…It’s about the sweat in your hair and the blisters on your feet. Its the frozen spit on your chin and the nausea in your gut. It’s about throbbing calves and cramps at midnight that are strong enough to wake the dead. It’s about getting out the door and running when the rest of the world is only dreaming about having the passion that you need to live each and every day with. It’s about being on a lonely road and running like a champion even when there’s not a single soul in sight to cheer you on. Running is all about having the desire to train and persevere until every fiber in your legs, mind, and heart is turned to steel. And when you’ve finally forged hard enough, you will have become the best runner you can be. And that’s all that you can ask for.”
― Paul Maurer, The Gift – A Runner’s Story

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”
― haruki murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

“Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.”
― Dean Karnazes

“The pessimist is not guaranteed a tomorrow.  And, if tomorrow does come, the pessimist does not expect to feel better at the same point in the race…. indeed, it might feel even worse.  So, the pessimist plugs on and accomplishes their goals today.  And today is the only day that counts.” – Gary Cantrell

This picture was taken Wednesday 27th, February 2019. It was a couple of days before the weather really changed to a much more wintry mix. Still looks pretty cold out, but I think that the temps were in the 30s that afternoon. So not too bad for running. The photo is of Horsetooth Reservoir looking South towards Loveland. In this picture I am at the North end of the lake.

Well it has been another good two weeks!! Winter has made a comeback to the Front Range of Colorado and the mountains have gotten a lot more snow. That is always a good thing, both from a skiing perspective and from a water/moisture perspective. In Colorado we are considered a “head-water state”, meaning that the water we get only comes in the form of rain or snow from the sky. Nothing flows into the state. So the more rain and snow we get the better. It can be really dry here on the Front Range, but as long as the mountains get a significant amount of snow and rain, everything else can be irrigated. This snow/rain scenario also plays a role in fire season. I am hoping that this year will be better than the last. But you never know. Until long term weather prediction gets a lot better it is always a kind of guessing game.

This picture was taken Friday 1st, March 2019. Again this is Horsetooth Reservoir, but at the shoreline. In this picture I am looking West. The sun was just starting to set and the reflection off of the water was beautiful. Maybe it was the combination of light, clouds and silence. No lapping of waves due to the ice and to get to the shoreline you have to drop down off the trail and go down a little bit. Just beautiful. It was the quite before the storm. The next day the weather was very different as seen in the picture below. Lots of Mountain Bikers on the trail this day. Getting that last ride in before the ice and snow. Temperatures were in the 30s.

Running has been coming along nicely this year so far. No injuries and I do seem to be getting a little faster. I have three main ultras planned this year. First is the Quad Rock 50 in May. This is a hard run I think. I have done the 25 mile version multi times with the intent to do the 50, but I have either chosen to stop at the 25 mile mark or timed out. The location of the run is very nice for me because it is where I live and run. Just behind Fort Collins. It takes place in Lory State Park and Horsetooth Mountain Park. Very convenient. It is put on by the http://Gnarrunners.com. They always seem to do an excellent job every time I have competed. Weather can be a little iffy this time of year on the Front Range. Which in my opinion always makes the race a little more interesting. You can have mild temps with clear skies, heat and sun, cold and rain, or you can have snow. The best part, you can have all four in one day! Lololololol. Some might complain about this but I just see it as an added challenge. You make the 50 mile mark by doing two 25 mile laps. I am hoping that everything will come together just right so I can make the 50 this year!!

This picture was taken Saturday 2nd, March 2019. Wow, what a difference a day makes. I think we had 5 to 8 inches of snow and the temps were down in the single digits when I took this picture. Cold!! Oh well you make the best of it and as a instructor in a survival school once told me “It’s a character builder.” Lol This picture is of the Poudre River looking Northwest. You can see the bike trail on the left hand side of the picture. There were not a lot of people out on this day, but that came with the added benefit of solitude.

The second ultra planned this year is also put on by Gnar running. It is the Never Summer 100k. This one is located about 80 miles from where I live and is in the Cameron Pass area and the Colorado State Forest. I have signed up for this one a couple of times but due to other issues, injuries, work commitments, logistics, etc… I have not been able to even attempt it. Again I am hoping that this year will be different. The trails in the area are beautiful. Not a lot of development in the vicinity. Which has its own appeal. The race description from the web site says it best: “This is a mountain race in the truest sense of the term, with extended periods of high alpine ridge running, two alpine peaks, and five alpine lakes visited along the way. When above timberline, you will enjoy huge views of the northern Never Summer Mountains to the south, the stunning peaks of RMNP to the southeast, expansive vistas across North Park to the Park Range above Steamboat Springs to the west, and even north out to Wyoming’s Snowy Range.” If you want to check out more here is the link to the web site: http://gnarrunners.com/never-summer-100k/

This picture was taken Monday 4th, March 2019. It highlights what it is I love about Colorado. Two days later from the prior picture and the sun is out and shining. It is cold, in the teens, but the sun is out and trail is pretty much clear. I love this tree shot. Just the size and the shape with the sun shining on it. Beautiful. Lot of bikes out today even with the cold temperature. And of course a few brave souls out running.

The final ultra I plan for this season is again the Run Rabbit Run 100. I attempted the 100 mile distance last year but timed out at the 50 mile mark. It was a really good experience and I learned a lot. Up until last September (2018) I had only competed in one other 100 mile race. The Leadville 100. All my other races have ended at the 50 mile mark. In the Leadville, I did make it to Hope Pass but was short of the cutoff by 12 minutes and by the time I got back down to Twin Lakes, the distance was again 50 miles. In all, I think that I have done the 50 mile distance, on purpose or inadvertently, 6 times now over the last 7 years. I turned 57 this year and I am not getting any younger. So I want to get that 100 miler done. Lol. The people that put on the RRR in Steamboat Springs do a really good job each time I have competed. And I am guessing that it will be the same this year. Here is the link to the web site: http://runrabbitrunsteamboat.com/ The 100 miler is filled but I hear there are some spots open for the 50!

Well, the search continues for a new dog. We are now looking at King Shepherds out of Boulder. They seem to be a cross between Great Pyrenees, Alaskan Malamute and German Shepherds. Which makes for a fairly large dog with not as many genetic issues as the typical GSDs. This is a picture of one of the pups from the current litter at 3 weeks old. Big already!! Lol

Well this is going to be about it for me this week. I hope everyone has had a great weekend. These last few days I have felt a little bit under the weather and decided to take a few days off from running. But hope to be back in full form by Monday. Take care my friends and maybe I will see you out there on the trails or the ski slope!!

Artificial Intelligence, Book Review, Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Genetics, Science, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 24TH, FEBRUARY 2019

Leave a comment

“If an AI possessed any one of these skills—social abilities, technological development, economic ability—at a superhuman level, it is quite likely that it would quickly come to dominate our world in one way or another. And as we’ve seen, if it ever developed these abilities to the human level, then it would likely soon develop them to a superhuman level. So we can assume that if even one of these skills gets programmed into a computer, then our world will come to be dominated by AIs or AI-empowered humans.”
― Stuart Armstrong, Smarter Than Us: The Rise of Machine Intelligence

“A powerful AI system tasked with ensuring your safety might imprison you at home. If you asked for happiness, it might hook you up to a life support and ceaselessly stimulate your brain’s pleasure centers. If you don’t provide the AI with a very big library of preferred behaviors or an ironclad means for it to deduce what behavior you prefer, you’ll be stuck with whatever it comes up with. And since it’s a highly complex system, you may never understand it well enough to make sure you’ve got it right.”
― James Barrat, Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era

“Why give a robot an order to obey orders—why aren’t the original orders enough? Why command a robot not to do harm—wouldn’t it be easier never to command it to do harm in the first place? Does the universe contain a mysterious force pulling entities toward malevolence, so that a positronic brain must be programmed to withstand it? Do intelligent beings inevitably develop an attitude problem? Now that computers really have become smarter and more powerful, the anxiety has waned. Today’s ubiquitous, networked computers have an unprecedented ability to do mischief should they ever go to the bad. But the only mayhem comes from unpredictable chaos or from human malice in the form of viruses. We no longer worry about electronic serial killers or subversive silicon cabals because we are beginning to appreciate that malevolence—like vision, motor coordination, and common sense—does not come free with computation but has to be programmed in. Aggression, like every other part of human behavior we take for granted, is a challenging engineering problem!”
― Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works

This picture was taken on Sunday the 10th of February, looking North. It was a cold evening and air quality was just on the edge of the acceptable range. Not much air movement due to no wind. You can just make out some of the brown cloud that plagues the Front Range of Colorado. It does make for a beautiful sunset. LOL. Still a nice run during the afternoon. Saw a couple of healthy looking Coyotes on this trail run. I am guessing that they have been feeding on the plethora of rabbits in the area.

Well it has been a great two weeks I think. The weather has been cold and snowy, off and on here on the Front Range, but not enough to really make much of a difference with running. The snow in the mountains has been wonderful and the best part, it has continued to come down. I have gotten in a couple of days of skiing and both of those days were great. Excellent conditions compared to last year.

This picture was taken on Thursday 14th, February 2019 while walking with Janet. We have heard owls in this area quit a bit, but had not seen one this close up. It was pretty cool to say the least to see the bird hooting. The whole body was involved in producing the hoot. It was easy to identify the species on this one. A Great Horned Owl. LOL. Looking at this picture now, I can see why the Native Americans and early settlers made up stories about these birds. It does look a little creepy. Again, a cold afternoon walk but the bike path was clear of ice and snow and with some wind, the air quality levels were much better.

As some may know we lost our white German Shepherd Neige, back last August. She had Degenerative Myelopathy. A genetically inherited malady that is a progressive, incurable disease of the spinal cord in dogs. Similar to ALS in humans. To say that we were heart broken would be an understatement. But as they say, time heals all wounds. So we have started to look again for a dog. I think that we are going to stick with the German Shepherd breed. But it has been hard to say the least. We have owned four Shepherds in the last 30 years and they have all suffered some form of the most common genetic aliments of the breed. Neige lived to be 12 years old and was definitely enough dog for two people. Meaning that we had not really looked at what is out there in the market place for a while.

Neige in better times. Doing what she loved to do. This picture was taken about a year ago, last March 2018. Thinking back, wondering if I was in a hurry that day? Could I have thrown her the stick a few more times knowing what I know now…. Time is a lot shorter than you ever realize…. Always loved and never forgotten….

So I have been doing a little bit of “dog” research and my conclusions, “It is all about genetic testing.” First if you buy from a breeder – then you need genetic testing of the parents to rule out some of the common genetic ailments. Otherwise it is just a game of roulette, no matter what the breeder tells you. And if you decided to get one from the humane society or shelter of your choice – then you need to do some, you guessed it, genetic testing. A little more difficult to do when the dog is from the shelter. But possible, just not convenient. I found it interesting that some of the shelters are now starting to do this on their own. They have found that it makes some dogs much more adoptable to know the breed mixes in the dog and (for an added cost) if they are susceptible to certain common genetic diseases. If you think about how much time, effort, and money you put into a family pet. Not to mention, they truly become part of your family. And in some cases a very significant part of your life. I think it makes sense to go a step further in the selection process and do the genetic testing. Especially now that the technology to do this is available and has come down significantly in price. For me, it just makes sense to do it. I know that this will be a little controversial with a few people and that is OK. I hope it generates some good discussion and consideration the next time you look for a dog. A good recent article on this subject is from WIRED magazine: https://www.wired.com/story/dog-dna-kits-reviewed/?mbid=email_onsiteshare

This picture was taken Saturday 16th, February 2019, looking North West in the late afternoon. I have to say it was a beautiful sunset. Cold, in the teens, with a little wind. In Colorado we get what is know as “standing wave clouds” and this is an example. They can make for great sunset pictures. The colors do not last for long but can be quit intense for a few minutes.

Now on a totally different note, I have started to listen to a new audio book called “Life 3.0 – Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” by Max Tegmark. I am not very far into it yet but it really has gotten me thinking about A.I. and what that means for the future of humanity. Tegmark is a is a Swedish-American physicist and cosmologist. He is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the scientific director of the Foundational Questions Institute. I have read a previous book from him called “Our Mathematical Universe.” I am only a few chapters into the new book but I am already feeling that the true game changer for Humanity, good or bad, may be the development of an Advanced A.I. It might not even need to be “sentient” as in human terms to be this game changer.

You can find the book on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Life-3-0-Being-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/B0742JQF31/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550651814&sr=8-1&keywords=life+3.0+being+human+in+the+age+of+artificial+intelligence

We are becoming so complex as a society, billions and billions of people on the planet. There are some estimates that we will reach the 10 billion mark by 2030. With this many people we will have become, a true global community on a scale never known in human history, with all our usual human wants and needs. Resource allocation will not be something that can be left to chance. Housing, work, travel, food, medical care, security, energy, clean air/water, education, news, entertainment, social media, solitude, etc… will all have to be coordinated to a degree that we have never seen as a species. Second and Third world countries will continue to want to move up the ladder of prosperity and have all the things that you and I now take for granted. Just thinking about that, gives me chills. It will be a daunting task….. How will all this “complexity” be managed and coordinated? What “algorithm” will be sophisticated enough to help us deal with it all? My belief and others is that this increasing complexity of a burgeoning human population will give rise to a super intelligent A.I. Not a matter of if, but when. The big question that comes with this, is how do we want it to occur and who to manage it. Do we want society to become an Orwellian/Kafkaesque Dystopia? Big brother always watching, judging, today’s freedoms severely curtailed? Or the filling out of forms, after forms, after forms, after forms, in order to just buy a car, get married, go on a simple vacation, or even just traveling across state lines? Is there a better way?

Personally I don’t think this will take 100 years. I would not be surprised if it happened in the next 20.

A.I. or more importantly,the people that control A.I. will have the ability to push society to change, but will it be in the right directions. To give us more freedoms, to give us better and/or cheaper housing, work, travel, food, medical care, security, energy, clean air/water, education, news, etc… and advances in technology that makes today’s tech seem like rubbing two sticks together to make fire. This is what Tegmark talks about in his new book with the hope that he can get people from all walks of life involved in the discussion of A.I. His belief is that this will be one of, if not the “Monumental” question of the 21st century. I have not totally finished reading it yet but from what I have read so far, I felt it was important to put a partial review out. I highly recommend the book.

This picture was taken Saturday 23rd, February 2019. What a beautiful Colorado day! Sunny, cold but not too cold. Temp about 32 degrees F in the parking lot, and best of all there was some wind. So most of the brown cloud was gone. This picture was taken in Horsetooth Mountain Park looking South to South East. That horizon is at least 50 miles from where I am standing. Someday as we move away from fossil fuels, this might be the norm again and not just the exception.

Well I think that I am about done for this Blog post. I hope the last two weeks have been great for you dear reader. Remember your comments are always welcome. Take care and maybe I will see you out there on the trail or the ski slope. Adios amigos!!

Book Review, Colorado, Exercise, Fort Collins, Psychology, Religion, Science, Skiing, Sociology, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 10TH, FEBRUARY 2019

Leave a comment

“When complexity makes knowledge difficult to attain, we are organisms that substitutes knowledge with beliefs.”

“The uneven rate of change between biology and complexity causes a gap to occur.”

“We become susceptible to manipulation and ideology and follow false prophets.”

“Public policy becomes shaped by irrational beliefs, rather than knowledge of fact.”

Rebecca Costa

This picture was taken on Monday 28th of January 2019, the open space in question is between Fort Collins and Loveland. It is called Coyote Ridge Open Space. A very nice trail with few visitors for a Monday. On the weekend it can get pretty busy due to the fact that it is a connector trail for longer distances. The afternoon in question was beautiful with temps right at 30 degrees and a slight breeze.

Well it has been another two weeks and I am going to say here that life is pretty good at the moment. Got some skiing in and that is a very good thing. I think it had been over a month since I last went. Not sure what that was about but it happens. The trail running the last couple of weeks has been fantastic here in Fort Collins. It has been cold but not like Midwest Cold. Wow! We have not seen temperatures like that in a very long time. There is some thought that this is related to Global Warming. I know that it does not seem that way but when you start looking at the science, some of the dots start to connect. I guess in the end, time will tell as the research continues. One of the things to remember is that weather and climate are two different things even though they are related.

Another picture from Monday the 28th of January 2019. The sun was out and just starting to set. It was in full force on this rock ridge. It really brought out the colors in the rock. Totally different from the picture above. Same area but a different open space called Rim Rock Ridge. Both are right next to each other.

I am reading a new book that is called the Watchman’s Rattle by Rebecca Costa. I became interested in her when I watched a TED talk by her. It has to do with Societal Collapse. It actually came out in 2012 and I believe that this is her first book. A more recent book by Rebecca is called On the Verge. I did not get this one because it is not on Audio book and I am way behind on regular reading. But I plan to in the future. In her first book, she comes up with some interesting ideas about what happens to a society when technology out paces the ability of the residents to keep up. I think the book is much more relevant now than it was back in 2012. In particular this last election with the Evangelical Christians, Flat Earthers, Anti-Vaccination people, Anti – global Warming individuals, the lets “Bring dirty coal” back people, and the list could go on and on. She makes the case that as complexity makes knowledge more difficult to attain, or as my wife likes to say “Overwhelming”, we as humans start to substitute knowledge with beliefs. And she makes the argument that this is what has happened to ancient societies that collapsed like the Mayans, the Romans, etc…

This book can be found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Watchmans-Rattle-Radical-Theory-Collapse/dp/1593156863/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?crid=VMGYGGUY98ZQ&keywords=watchmans+rattle&qid=1549827324&s=gateway&sprefix=watchmans+r%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

Costa is a Sociology-biologist. She based a lot of her research on Dr. Richard Dawkins 1976 book “The Selfish Gene.” In her book she uses the term Super-memes which are any widely accepted information, thoughts, feelings or behaviors. And she feels that they have the capacity to compete with each other just like genes do in Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Another words they compete in a sense to become accepted in our minds and our society whether they are true or not. There is an actually study of memes, called Memetics. Check it out on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics

I had no idea. Costa calls them “super-memes” when they get to a point that they block us from the very solutions we seek to all the complexity we see in the world. Another name that she uses for this blocking is “Gridlock.” It occurs or you can know that it is occurring when there is opposition across the board to any meaningful solution to a major problem. Thinking about this, the first thing that comes to my mind is “Gun Control.” It is a complex issue and you see a lot of “irrational opposition” to any attempt at fixing the system. It is as if people are more comfortable rejecting remedies rather than advocating solutions.

This picture was taken on Thursday, January 31st. I just loved the shape of this huge cottonwood tree. The weather was warm enough for me to ride my bike on Thursday, above 50 degrees for me. This picture was take on the Boyd Lake Trail.

Another example of this blocking, I think, is in Health Care. Again, before the attempted and partial repeal of what has become known as “Obama Care,” I heard from individuals on both sides of the fence. Some that hated it, because their premiums went up and others that loved it because they could now actually get insurance on their preexisting conditions. But with the current congress and president, it has become gridlocked. It will be interesting to see after the next elections if anything is concretely done or just a kind of band-aid fix. Again nothing really going anywhere. One size that fits some but not others, back to a mish-mash of plans that really don’t address the issues or cover people adequately.

This picture was taken on Thursday, February 7th. It was at the Loveland Ski Area which sits right at the Eisenhower Tunnel off of Interstate 70. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Much warmer (25 degrees) than when I left Fort Collins (12 degrees) that morning. There was a little bit of wind but that did not really show up in force until later in the afternoon. Most of the terrain for the ski area sits at around 11,000 feet.

I could go on about her book but I think I will leave it for now. I do recommend it. Remember it was written in 2012 and some predictions in the book she got right and a few she got wrong; somethings did get fixed and some are still broken. I think if I had read the book back in 2012, I would not have appreciated it as much as I do now. Interesting to say the least.

On a similar note, I had a interesting, short FB exchange with a family relative on whether something she was posting on FB was true or not. When another friend of hers called her out on it and showed her where a fact checking service said it was false. She went off about how the “fact checking service” was wrong. And that the “fact checking service” was infiltrated by “liberals” and that was why she could not trust them. I was kind of dumbfounded for a moment. This is an educated woman that used to teach school to kids. I could see it…., if it had come from one of my uneducated or partially educated “hillbilly like” relatives. But no this was from an educated one. Oh well what can you say to that… Obviously I won’t be spending the holidays with her…. Lololololol.

This picture was taken taken Wednesday 30th, January 2019. It was at the trail head to Reservoir Ridge Natural Area in Fort Collins. I had just finished a trail run and the sunset was just stunning to say the least. This is my favorite picture of the last two weeks.

Before I finish here, I would like to pass on a quote by the author Neil Gaiman. I came across it several years ago and I wrote it down just because it seemed a little strange to me at the time. This was a few years before the 2016 election. I did not really understand it then, but I think I do now. So it is important to share it with you, especially if you decide to read Costa’s book or you are like me trying to make sense of the “craziness” that has griped our country.

“Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and adventures are shadow truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes and forgotten.” Neil Gaiman

Well that its for this couple of weeks. Take care, be safe out there fellow trail runners. Always be looking for that “Special Cat.”

Adios amigos!!

Colorado, Exercise, Exercise, Fort Collins, Sociology, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 27TH, JANUARY 2019

2 Comments


“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you  should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” – Seth Godin

This picture was taken Thursday, January 17th. Not a lot of snow this year. This is a great trail run / road called Tower Road in Horsetooth Mountain Park. If you start at the bottom it gains about 1700 feet in just over three miles. So it is a good cardiovascular workout.

Life is good and I really cannot complain too much at the moment. Damn I turned 57 this January and I have to ask myself where did the time go?? I mean were did it go?? LOL! It seems just like yesterday when I was turning 25 and moving to Colorado.

This picture was taken Friday, January 18th, it is in an area called Prospect Ponds. They are old gravel quarry sites. After the quarry is closed, the states requires you to only fill in part of the open pit mine, but the rest can be filled with water to create wildlife habitat. There are a lot of these types of ponds in the open spaces around Fort Collins. The Poudre River and the bike trail is just on the other side of the picture. The photograph was taken looking west.  

I ended up here in – a – round about way. Even before I got out of High School I was pushed and I mean that quite literally, pushed into applying and going to nursing school. At the time I really had no idea what I wanted to do. But my dear mother, felt that the best way to get me out of the house (this is what I have come to believe) was not to give me an option to procrastinate. Oh no – no lollygagging for you young man. Get your nose to the grindstone. And I have to give her a little leeway on this because High School academically was a complete waste of time for me. And I am not sure if that was the High School at the time or just where I was socially and emotionally. When I got to college, I took to it like a fish takes to water. And I did extremely well in College and Nursing School. But of course when you are pushed into something, I have found you come to tolerate it, but you don’t really find a passion for it. And that was my case from day one. As soon as I finished nursing school, I started working on a 2nd degree in Wildlife Biology. Which led me to thinking about a masters in Forestry. Which eventually led me to Fort Collins and Colorado State University.

This picture was taken Saturday, January 19th, this is a shot of the Poudre river looking South East. During spring run off the river would be full from bank to bank and flowing fast. This might look like a lot of water but in reality, at this time of year, the river is barely flowing.

Funny thing, once I got to Colorado and really had access to the outdoors and open spaces around Fort Collins. School did not have quite the same importance as it did before. Plus it did not help that the wife wanted kids and anytime you add that time commitment in, well school really does drop to the back burner. The nursing job paid the bills and it allowed me to have what is called perpetual “Peter Pan Syndrome.” I highly recommend it. I think that J.M. Barrie might have been on to something.

This picture was taken Sunday, January 20th. A very beautiful, but cool, afternoon in Fort Collins. This pond I believe was an old irrigation pond, but is now part of Pine Ridge open space. The small lake or pond is know as Dixon Reservoir. Horsetooth Lake sits on the other side of the ridge on the right.

Now, 31 years later and still living in Colorado and Fort Collins. I find that I enjoy the outdoors even more. I still work at the day job to pay the bills but only about 2 days per week or less. The rest of the work week, I am writing, drawing, painting, occasional sculpture, reading, exercising, and doing a little meditation. And Life is pretty good. But if I had to do it all over again with what I know now? I would change one thing. I would have practiced becoming a writer from day one. The only job that all you need is a word processor and an internet connection. How cool is that. Oh well, I get to write now and I try to practice each and everyday to get better.

This picture was taken on Friday, January 25th. In this photograph I am looking east, the lake is Horsetooth Reservoir, and you can just make out the North end of Fort Collins. Here I am trail running at Horsetooth Mountain Park.

One thing I have learned over the years but did not realize it until much more recently is the quote by Seth Godin. And I will repeat it here: “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” And that is so true. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing mistaken with traveling to see new places, people and things. Exploration of our wonderful world is a fantastic thing to do. But heading towards the “beach” or the “bar,” each year or weekend so that you can “escape” from work and your usual life….. Never seemed quite right to me in hindsight. Always thought I was a little weird when friends told me about their beach or bar adventures of drinking and partying, it never seemed appealing. About a year ago, I came across Seth’s quote and it just clicked. It was a true A’Ha moment. Sometimes it is hard to put into words what you are feeling or thinking, but then someone comes along and does it for you. And it just clicks into place.

This picture was also taken Friday, January 25th, and what a difference a week can make. The first picture in the blog post was in the same area and no snow. A week later the road was snow packed all the way to the top. It got me to thinking that if we got a really good snow in Fort Collins this road would be a great skimo work out. You could skin all the way to the top and the road is wide enough to ski it all the way back down. That would be pretty cool.

Well I think this is going to be about it for me. I hope you have had a great January. I know that I did, even turning 57. My wife tells me to just be happy with making it that far! LOL!

Maybe I will see you out there on the trails or the ski slope. Take care my friends. Adios!!

Colorado, Environment, Exercise, Fort Collins, Science

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY, JANUARY 13th, 2019

Leave a comment

“Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.” Cree Indian Proverb

“Earth provides enough to satisy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” Mahatma Gandi

“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.” Ansel Adams

Well it has been a great last two to three weeks here for me on the Front Range. Just got to love Colorado. I don’t do a lot of skiing over the Holidays and the first week or two of January. For me the crowd size is just a little too large. But living here in Fort Collins you usually get some sunny days and while it can be cold, it is not so cold usually, that you can’t get out.

Bald Eagle in an area that I frequently run or walk. This area is home to many, many hawks and owls. This is the first year I have actually seen a Bald Eagle in this open space. The next day there were two, so maybe they will become a nesting pair and will frequent the area for many more seasons!? This photo was take December 29th, 2019.

I started the first Blog Post of the year on an environmental note. One of my degrees from College is in Environmental Science and Wildlife Biology. One of the comments I have heard over the years when I tell people this, “Oh your an environmentalist.” I have always found this statement interesting. The idea that because I have a degree in said field makes me an environmentalist and you not? When I have questioned people about this they seem a little supprised until I explain further. The truth of the matter we are all environmentalist. We breath the same air, we all drink the same water, eat the same food so to speak. We all currently live on planet earth. And because of this we are all environmentalist. We all have a vested interest in what happens on earth and to future generations.

Beautiful sunset in Fort Collins are common. Lots of color. I don’t think the photograph does it justice. On the surface this seems like a good thing but not always so. Some of the color is due to smog and particulate matter in the atmosphere. So while you might get this incredible sunset it is a sign of problem that the Front Range has been dealing with for over 50 years. It has gotten to the point that I check air quality everyday before doing an outdoor activity. And it is year round. Most of the pollution problems we have in Colorado are due to oil and gas extraction and vechicle polution. Metro Denver was ranked 8th in the nation for worst air quality and Fort Collins was ranked in at 10th. This was by the American Lung Association in 2016. This photo was take December 30th, 2018.

My personnel opinion is that we all have to take a vested interests in the environment. Even if you are working two jobs, trying to feed the kids, pay the rent, etc… There is always something you can do, even on a small scale, something as simple as not using that plastic straw, recycling as much as you can whenever possible, paying attention to how you use water, using your own cloth bags at the grocery store, turning off lights when not in use (one that I am terrible at), decreasing the number of trips that you drive, etc… And a really big one and some would say, easy – How You Vote. We are lucky here in Fort Collins with the mail in ballots, extremely convenient.

I used to hate riding my bike in the wind but I have come to love it. As long as it is not too windy. The wind helps to circulate the atmosphere here on the Front Range, which translates into much cleaner air to breath. This picture show a good example. The day before, that “blue sky” you see was not so blue, there was a yellow haze to it. On the day that I took the picture, there was a light breeze pushing the smog out. The picture was taken Thursday, January 3rd.

Of course the big oil and gas people will spend millions of dollars to spread misleading information about how dangerous oil and gas emissions actually are. And of course they talk about the loss of jobs if more environmental rules are put into place. The reality is that most of the oil and gas job are temporary in the area that they are being done. Once the drilling has been done, the lines caped, the pipes laid, the tanks installed, etc… you either move to the next energy boom or you find a different job. So I have to ask myself, at what cost do we expose thousands of individuals to cancer causing chemicals for a temporary job? Not to mention that this does not help stop the warming of the climate and all the associated problems this will bring. Its hard when change comes. None of us really like change, but it comes anyways. At some point, there will be no oil and gas jobs? Then what? When you have drilled the earth dry, then what? When some smart individual or team of individuals invents a better alternative that is more environmental friendly and the demand of fossil fuel drops? Then what? Because it will happen, just like it did to the horse and buggy people, telephone operators, gas station attendants, mall operators, big box stores, etc…. Technology marches forward. Science marches forward. So why destroy the environment, expose people to known carcinogens, for really what amounts to short term profits at best?

This picture was taken from Horsetooth Mountain Park on a windy day. If it had been the day before, the view would not have been as clear as it was this day. This was the first true trail run for me this new year. Here in Fort Collins we are lucky to have two great trail running areas behind Fort Collins, Lory State Park and Horsetooth Mountain Park. Between the two parks, which butt up to each other, you can easily get in a 10 to 20 mile run or mountain bike ride if you wish. This picture was taken Monday January 7th.

Another area of the environment that I would like to touch on is about what we eat, especially in first world countries. This really does touch on the environment and the health of the individual. It has been known for a while now that a diet high in animal protein and processed foods can lead to a higher incidence of cancer and heart disease in the general population. There are multi books out there written by MD’s and food researchers that talk about this very thing. But there is also a link to the environment with cows. They require a lot of resources compared to other forms of meat production. Some estimates put this at 10 times the number that other sources of protein require, such as chickens and pigs. So there are good health reasons not to eat as much beef and animal protein in general and a great environmental reason not to eat as much beef. I call my self the 95% vegan, I still like a really good Cheese Berger every once in a while. For me that might mean once per month as opposed to several times per week. I still like a nice piece of Salmon every once in a great while and a little ice cream/yogurt every now and then. The rest of my diet is all plant based. No processed food as much as possible. There are some researchers that believe if we could get America’s population to switch to a healthier way of eating that in a 10 to 20 year span we would eliminate most of our health care cost, not to mention what this might mean for the environment.

Another beautiful Colorado Sunset in Fort Collins. I was looking across one of the ponds off the Poudre Bike trail. Still frozen. This picture was taken on Tuesday, January 8th.

I think that it is probably time to get off of my environmental soap box. I hope that it has given you some food for thought. I believe the only way to fix the current issues and head future ones off before they become a problem is for each of us to do our parts. Stay informed. Learn about the current scientific thinking on the issues from reliable sources. Not Fox News or the church. In the next elections don’t be swayed by big oil and gas or whatever “industry” trying to decrease its environmental regulations. Vote. If I had a dime, as the old saying goes, for every time I have heard the saying: “If you don’t have your health, you have nothing.” So true. Remember genetics loads the gun and only you or the environment can pull the trigger…..

Beautiful bike ride on a warmer January afternoon in Fort Collins. The temp was about 50 degrees at this point in the ride. The picture was take at the northern end of the Poudre River Trail. I have always loved the bridge work over the river in this section. I think that it has a very sculptural feel to it. The picture was taken Thursday, January 10th.

Well, that is about it for me with this post. May you have a happy and healthier 2019. Hope to see you out there on the trails or ski slopes. Take care my friends!! Adios!!