Open Water Swim Events Swimming

Jim McDonald Lake Swim – Reston, VA

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2012 was the 25th anniversary of the Jim McDonald Lake Swim in Reston, VA. It was my third time to swim. I swam in the 5k (3.1 miles) event on Saturday, May 26th. There were also 1 and 2 mile swims on Sunday. I finished 68th out of 90 swimmers in the wetsuit division of the 3 mile swim with a time of 1 hour and 41 minutes.  My pace per mile was 32 minutes and 52 seconds. I was reasonably pleased with my effort, although I had hoped to finish with a pace closer to 30 minutes per mile. It was a nice day to swim, although warmer than you would have preferred. I had planned to do the Sunday swims but due to the water temperature wetsuits were not allowed and I chose to skip. In in 3 swims combined there were nearly 800 swimmers. Jim McDonald is a popular and premier event and ably managed by the Reston Masters Swim Club president Gordon Gerson. …

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Open Water Swim Events Swimming

Centennial Lake Swim – Columbia, MD

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The annual Centennial Lake Swim was held on Sunday, May 13, and 2012 was my first time to participate. It was a calm, cool day and ideal for swimming in a lake. Centennial is not a large lake and this one-mile swim pretty much goes around the lake perimeter, covering most of the lake during the swim. The event was sponsored by the Central Maryland YMCA Masters Swim Team and was well staffed and organized. (http://http://www.cmym.us/) …

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Open Water Swim Events Sports Swimming

Nanticoke River Swim 2012

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The State of Maryland is bisected east/west by the Chesapeake Bay and we refer to these sections as the Eastern Shore and the Western Shore. Although I live and work on the Western Shore, the Eastern Shore is a land of great interest and pleasure. The portion of the Eastern Shore that faces the Chesapeake includes a number of tidal rivers such as the Pocomoke, Wicomico, Nanticoke, and Choptank. On 5/5/2012 I joined about 69 swimmers for a 3 mile swim in the Nanticoke as part of the 4th annual Nanticoke River Swim & Triathalon (http://www.nanticokeriverswimandtri.com/). …

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Commentary People Religion

Planned Parenthood

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When I was a young man and newly married, also being at the same time a poor college student, I did not want or need the burden of another child to raise. Our first had arrived just eleven months after the wedding. I did, however, want to have sex with my wife. The answer, of course, was contraception, and the most obvious solution was “rubbers,” as we called them then.  …

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Commentary Nature

A Ridiculous Tree

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You may have noticed that there are tall tree-like things appearing all over the landscape these days. They are not trees although they sometimes stand among trees. They are towers that hold the electronics to transmit our various signals for telephones, cellphones, television, radio, and who knows what else. They are shiny metal and easy to identify. And one of them can grow up almost overnight in a place there never had been one before. Sometimes they grow up from the ground and also they can sprout from the tops of buildings. They are not attractive. …

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Commentary Health

Nose Hair Trimmers

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Nose hair is on a list of things we avoid mentioning in polite society. Most people think of it as an unneeded relic of our ancestory or as a defect in the design of our bodies. Medical people may tell us that hair in the nose protects us against environmental threats such as germs, fungus, and spores. But appearance usually trumps health concerns. The celebrities whose appearance we admire and emulate do not have nose hair showing.  …

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Stories Uncategorized

A Letter from the Postmaster

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I received the following notice with my mail: “Dear Customer, the Postal Service depends on you to meet postal requirements regarding delivery and collection of mail to curbside boxes. Please keep the full approach and exits to your mailbox clear, as illustrated in the examples below. Removing trash cans, snow, vehicles, and any other objects from the area allows the carrier to deliver your mail safely and efficiently without exiting the vehicle. Your cooperation in this matter is sincerely appreciated.  Thank you. Your Postmaster.” …

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People Stories

Bygone Shame

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Our current news focus on the Penn State athletic department has likely caused a lot of people to reflect on bygone shame. I am one of those who has. The following is a personal experience I have never written about. Moreover I have not spoken about it with any parent, relative, spouse, or friend. So why am I about to tell of it now, and publish it on the Internet with my actual name? I do not know. And as i begin to write, I wonder if I may change my mind and keep it as a private account. Time will tell. …

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Commentary

A Leaf Blower Debate

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It is the time of the falling leaves. Lots of them, mainly oak and maple around here. And self-respecting homeowners know there’s a moral obligation to deal with them. Montogomery County Maryland knows it too. We have giant leaf sucking collection machines that come around and gather them up in piles left by the curbs. There’s good use made of them too. The county mixes the leaves with ground up tree trimmings and sells a high quality mulch to farmers, gardeners, and landscapers.  …

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Commentary

Why Today’s Republicans Might Have Voted Against the Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment

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The Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863) was issued as an executive order by President Lincoln during the course of the Civil War. It applied to 3.1 million of the 4 million slaves, but did not actually free most slaves because most were in states controlled by slaveholders. Also it did not apply to four slave-holding states that had not seceded from the Union. The order did not compensate slaveholders for the loss of their “property,” nor did it give citizenship to the freed slaves. In other words, it was a temporary and partial measure. …

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