Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon 2005

There are some moments in your life that re-enforce commitments you've made to yourself that you sometimes wonder if you will waiver on. Well I experienced an entire day of that moment on Sunday.

Amy, a very dear friend of mine is really into running. I am really into not running. Last year, she ran a marathon for the first time in the Oklahoma City Marathon and did tremendously well there. Well enough that she placed 4th in the her age division Well, this year (last weekend), she did the same thing again and moved up in her age division, placed 4th again and more impressive beat her previous time by 40 mins. The whole thing was nothing short of outstanding and I have a great amount of respect for her and anyone who can run a whole marathon. Now, if I have ever waivered on my decision never to do the running thing, I am back to that conviction especially after Sunday.

I did see some awesome feats of heroism to the degree with running represents (meaning, in the grand scheme of things, there are somethings just as impressive if not more). There was a amputee who ran the whole marathon, a blind man who did the same and another individual who wheeled another person the whole way. I am sure there were a lot of other impressive stories out there. But those were the ones I noticed. I tip my hat to anyone who has ever attempted to run a marathon and finish. You guys are something special in that regard. I also tip my hat to you Amy. I hope to someday watch you run the Boston Marathon. I am convinced that you can do almost anything that you set your heart to do.

As for me, I will plan to cummulatively run 26.2 miles by the end of my lifetime. That will include prior runs I have attempted, trips to the kitchen, trips to my bed and those unfortunate walks from wherever I park to wherever I have to be i.e. work, school, church.

Sorry, been busy of late...Venture Conference and Kansas Governor

Well (I start a lot of these with well, don't I?), it has been a while since I have posted anything on here. I have been very busy of late mostly with work not school. I am frankly tired of school as you all know but I have 3 weeks to go so...

Anyway, for the last couple of days, I have been a Venture capital conference in Kansas City. This is basically were start-up companies come to meet Big money folks or those who run Venture Capital funds. It is the Invest Midwest Forum. Its been really fun. I stayed at the Embassy Suites and I should be back in Pittsburg later tonight. I have got to meet a lot of smart people and a lot of rick folks to help the smart people. I am not either but I am just here for the ride. Lots of good food and drinks (although I don't). I am trying to do a little networking and grabbing some free stuff in the process. I might talk about it more later.

I do want to mention something about it though. Yesterday, the Governor of the State of Kansas was here at the evening social and look, we may be the oddest or flatest state in the Union but we have the most good looking Governor by a wide margin. I mean it is not even close. Who else? And how old is she? If not for the grey hair, she would look like she was 15 (well, take away a few wrinkles). No lusting here but if the woman I marry in the future looks like that in her 50s...

Well, till next time, this is me reporting live (or full because I just had lunch) from Kansas City, MO at the Ewing Kaufmann Center.

I guess not

Well, I guess my guess of Chris making it to the final round did not pay off. I will say that after the task was over and Chris' team lost i.e. Net Worth, it was pretty obvious that he was gone. Well, I will say this; Chris provided a lot of passion and that was evident in the tears he shed after he heard those infamous words, "You're fired."

We are now down to 5 contestants and we will see who wears the crown of The Apprentice. Folks, TTFN i.e. TA TA FOR NOW.

'Apprentice' Contestant Arrested

Yahoo! News - 'Apprentice' Shelton Contestant Arrested

Didn't think this was a big deal but I will mention this for two reasons. One being that I am a big Apprentice fan (not a Trump fan unless on a business level) and my friends have continued to rub it in about this "head case" Chris. The other reason I mention it is because this gives us the hint that Chris makes it to the last round for those of you that follow the show.

I do believe Chris is a head case, however, he has shown a lot of potential from a business standpoint. He is aggressive but may pose as a loose cannon which will eventually cost him the Apprentice. Overall, he will be a tough business man someday or fail as a result of his inability to sometimes control himself.

The question now remains, who is the person he challenges in the finals. I will put my money on Alex because the Trump likes him.

Speaking of Masters...

I like to think of this blog site as my personal "Press Conference" where I share breaking news about myself or even already broken news. I also get to air my opinions. Anyway, speaking of the Masters, I would like to mention that I am only 4 and 1/2 weeks away from graduating with an MBA (Emphasis in Accounting). Although that sounds a little dreamy, I will like to announce that while I have searched and danced around what I will do next, I am deciding to make that final decision at a much later date.

I had made so many plans including possibly getting a Ph.D but at this point, nothing in me wants to be in school and it makes no sense to tie myself in for another four years. That is not to say that I won't be going next year or ten years from now but that as of now, all plans are off the table and I will figure something out at a much later date.

Surprisingly, I am not freaking out or any such thing (actually I am not that surprised). If you have any questions (once again this is assuming that there are people bored enough to read this), e-mail me or leave a comment.

Oh, I almost forgot to...

Yahoo! Sports - Golf - Order restored: Woods back on top in world of golf

Oh, I almost forgot to congratulate my boy Tiger for giving us yet another spectacular finish at the Masters. If you want to see the greatest birdie ever in any major, you might wanna check out the Tiger's shot at the 16th hole in Round 4. It was UNBELIEVABLE. I know it was a fluke but it was a fluke for the ages. Again, kudos Mr. Woods.

Mr. DiMarco, if you happen to be so bored out of your mind enough to stumble upon this, you are a warrior (at least in golf). The shot that you barely missed at the 18th hole would have gone in 8 times out of 10. You did great.

Writers Bloc

I know I am not a professional writer or anything close but I do like the feeling of a finished work. Unfortunately, I haven't anything of significance in a long while. I go through those phases at rather odd times when I should have something to write about. Well, here is something I wrote a while ago. If it sucks to you, well, you are no alone but I still like this one. In case you want to ask who I am refering to in this piece of writing, read it again and try to figure it out. Thanks.

When I was young

She was as beautiful
As every sweet song
The thought of her was wonderful
When I was young

When I was young
Her eyes were so dangerous
Made my heart go ping pong
And her looks; so mysterious

I had many a sleepless night
While I heard every hour go ding dong
But she gave me a reason to fight
When I was young

When I was young
I dreamed of her
I dreamed all day long
Yet she felt so far

I once was young
Now I am grey
But I remember I dreamed of Today
When I was young

Weird News of the Week

Yahoo! News - Replacing Child Camel Jockeys with Robots

Many times I am stuck with putting stuff on here that interests only me. And sure enough, this does interest me from the I,Robot stand point. While I am all for people having jobs and stuff like that, this does look like the first step to folks being replaced by robots. No offense to waiters and waitresses but this will make the tipping market very competitive i.e. do you go to a restaurant that replaces its human workers with robots understanding that you don't have to tip them and they won't be offended? Only someone like me will think of crap like that.

Weird News of the Week

Yahoo! News - News Agency Denies Saying Bin Laden on Way to Rome

Won't that be something though if Bin Laden made his way to Rome for the Pope's funeral and got caught there? I mean no offense to any catholics out there but it would be kinda comical. I wonder who will be more upset, the fanatical muslims or the catholics if he actually went.

Much Ado about Terri Shiavo

I will bend on my prior decision not to comment on this whole issue but it is too crazy to ignore. Everyone is way in over their heads on this issue with the exception of Terri Shiavo's relatives on both sides. Yes, that includes congress, the high and mighty president and his governor brother and to some degree, the courts, protesters on both sides, the media and even me to a certain degree for dwelling on the frenzy. Everyone. I will say that the courts sort of redeemed themselves in the end.

By the last couple of sentences, you can probably tell what my opinion is. That said if you disagree and will be offended, you can stop reading right now.

Still there? Good. Here we go. I beleive that the courts were right when they stayed out of it and allowed the doctors to pull the feeding tube from Terri Shiavo to let her die. I beleive that although there are questionable motives as to why her husband wanted her to pass on, the ultimate decision was right. I beleive that no matter what happened to lead the now deceased woman to the point she was at is irrelevant to the final decision. To some degree I beleive that Michael Shiavo is a mop head but hey, I think that about several other people and it doesn't mean they are wrong. I want to approach this purely from a logical prespective while addressing some of the issues raised by the pro-feeding tube people.

Firstly, I will like to send my condolences to anyone that is related to the deceased. It is a hard thing to lose a family member. I have been there and it is tough. However, I do beleive she was long gone before yesterday. The simple fact is that a majority of the doctors (brain doctors for that matter that people pay millions of dollars just to say hi to) said that they was no hope for her coming out of that state. CT scans showed the same thing and attributed all her motions to reflexes and instincts that can be seen in all animals.

Although I hate to look at life from a dollars and cents prespective but these circumstances are unique given the doctors opinion. Keeping Terri alive on a feeding tube was costing tax payers a lot of money. How? Look at the amount of time and lost productivity that it cost tax payers when congress and the president stepped in. I question their motives. I question all their motives. The funny thing is that is the anti-big government folks that started trying to get into the lifes of ordinary citizens. Does anyone else find that ironic? I mean, come next election, we will hear colorful words like, "Government should stay out of the lives of people and let them make their own decisons" by these same people. I mean it is ridiculous.

Another point I will like to address is the "right to life" debate. Folks, this is an isolated incident. At least it was till it became politics and now we are making this about abortion and bla bla bla. Please lets move on and deal with those issues indenpendently of this one.

Finally to address the issue about playing God. Why should a person be left on a feeding tube while we search for a miracle? I beleive in God and in miracles to the degree that if a miracle was meant to happen, it would have with or without a feeding tube, period.

If Terri Shiavo told her husband or express to him in anyway that she didn't want to be kept alive like this, with all due respect, I think everyone else should respect that. I understand that he could have divorced her and left her to her parents to take care off but not if this was a commitment he made to his wife. The only way my opinion changes is if Michael himself says that he fabricated that whole claim. Until then, we need to all move on and stop crying over spilled milk.