What's the big deal?

Josh, you knew this was coming...

Ok, so what is the big deal with Michael Phelps?  Yes, he's a good, actually great swimmer.  Yes is very built (that dude is cut!), yes he has won a million gold medals... but I don't see the big deal.  

Let me explain.

My friend Josh said that he was the greatest Olympic athlete of all time.  I totally and complete disagree with that statement.  In his defense, he did say that he makes swimming entertaining.  That I agree with.

After all, he's just swimming.  Unless I'm mistaken, that's just one event.  I think and this my personal thought, but someone who should have the title of greatest Olympic athlete should do more than one sport.

What about the decathlon?  Thats like 100 events (ok, maybe just 10) and it shows your true ability to excel in a number of sporting events.

Also, Josh tried to hit me where he thought it would hurt.  He compared Phelps to Lance Armstrong.  Big deal.  That guy isn't my hero, plus I mountain bike.  He then pulled the "Lance is a triathlete" card too.  With that said, I think that Lance is more of an athlete than Phelps is.  But I would never say the worlds greatest athlete.

Lance did do triathlons when he was younger too, lying about his age so he could race, beating pros, turning pro himself when he turned 19.  That's cool, but he's not my role model (not to say that Phelps is Josh's, I'm just saying).  I mean, the guy has some issues.

I don't know... I'm not trying to pick a fight, I don't even mean to be nit picky, I just think that saying he is (or even among) the best Olympic athletes of all time is a stretch.

I want to see him run.  I want to see him bike.  I want to see him do some more events.  Oh, and I didn't mean to use running and biking in a way that reflects a triathlon as being the qualifications of a true athlete but I think that they do more than Phelps could do.

Actually, speaking of triathlons, let me give you some stats...  A full triathlon goes like this:

- Swim 2.4 miles

- Bike 112 miles

- Run 26.2 miles

You have to be pretty in shape to do that.  Really, think about that for a minute.  Those should all be separate events but they are all combined for one event!

For the Ironman Triathlon the record is something like just over 8 hours.  Holy cow!

Oh, you know what I like a lot... adventure races!  They do so many different things!  Orienteering (compass course), mountain biking, kayaking, trail running and rock climbing.  These people have to be on the move the whole time and there are no lanes, there are no, tracks, they just have their compass and their water, and sometimes a tent and stuff but super light.

Those guys (and girls) must be intense!  Like Bear Grylls!  Running, navigating, having to "survive."  Cool huh?!

Look, I apologize for ranting and raving and you probably think that if I don't care about him, why do I go through the trouble to bash him (gently).  Well, I don't know. 

Overall: I think Phelps is a phenomenal swimmer.  Incredible!  He could probably outswim anything short of a dolphin.  But to say he is one of the greatest Olympic athletes of all time?  No.  I don't care if he won 100 gold medals in one day.  He only does one event.  

Further suggested reading:

- Times Online - "Top 100 Olympic Athletes"

- LA Times - "Michael Phelps is not the greatest Olympic athlete in history"

I know someone famous!

My old roommate, Cassidy, yeah, he's famous.  Really!

[www.cassisfamous.gov]

Smart Waterfall

[gizmodo]

Wonka

McCain's New Secret Service?

I don't know who this little girl is or why she is dressed this way but I thought it was interesting none the less.

During McCain's town hall meeting in York, PA this morning, I was watching him walk around and as the camera panned, there was this girl with a helmet and flak jacket.  Whaaaaaa?!

I know, odd.  Anyway, I took some screen grabs and thought I'd throw them out for you to check out.  Thoughts?

Office War

Some day, I want to work at an office where we can have a full Nerf sponsored office war.  How freakin cool would that be!

If anyone is hiring at a workplace that has office wars every Friday let me know because I'm interested in a position.  Any position.

My weapon of choice?  The N-Strike Recon CS-6.  I think that's all I need to say.

[source]

Too cool.

TJ's New Blog

I got this email from my friend TJ.  You know my friend TJ?  

Check out my new fancy pants website.  I took the two blogs that I never update and I combined them into one super tight one that I promise will be updated "more frequent-like" (as another might say).

You can find this super rad site at http://scurds.com

I'll post CD reviews, pictures of my kids, indie comic recommendations, lots of pop culture stuff. Along with this I will still keep track of my daily (or every third day) struggle with weightloss. Ok so I struggle with it everyday, but I only do something about it maybe once every two weeks. I'm a busy dude, what can I say.

S'whatever-- right? So check me out on scurds.com and give me your feedback. It's very "blog looking" right now, but hopefully will develop over time as my design skillz (yes with a Z) improve.

So I hope I find you all well. Keep in touch, of course, and please check out the site.

My stomach hasn't seen the sun in 12 years. . . . just thought you should know that.

TJ Clark

Microtrends

I do believe that the media is just telling us what they think is important, whether it's right or wrong, it's their agenda. We turn on our TV's to see their news.

What makes for interesting news? Sex, crime, scandal and anything else that raises anxiety.

I think Jerry Seinfeld had a bit about it, but I loved those teases the news always gives you, enticing you to watch their "special" report...

* What you need to know before eating beef! Tonight at 10 (they usually give you that one before dinner). So you're sitting there at your dinner table for 5 hours and then they go the whole program and wait right until the very end.... "Oh! Be sure to cook it thoroughly! Good night!"

Yeah, thanks a lot.

But man they have a lot of those...
- You could be saving hundreds at the pump...
- What you need to know about sleeping... tomorrow at 9

With that said, I think people get too caught up in what the news is saying. I'm not saying you should stop reading newspapers and watching your local news show but don't get all freaked out about it.

I'm a Christian, so I know that I don't have to worry about this stuff. Matthew 6:25-27 says:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

So I'm not worried about shootings in my church or paying for rent or rising gas prices. Why? Because I don't have to.

Well, what about the Earth? Isn't it in disrepair? I mean, gas is getting so darn expensive, dirty coal plants are polluting the air we breath...

I think that the Earth is fine. Driving halfway across the country you notice a lot of things. The main thing I noticed is that there is a lot of land left. I remember people getting all upset about their being not much land left.

Gosh, I saw a ton of land! Green grass and blue skies too! So I have a hard time believing that we are really getting that much more crowded.

But what about protecting the Earth. Using solar and wind power because it's cleaner... switching to hybrids and natural gas and hydrogen cars...

I've said it before, I'm not a tree hugger but I do think that if we can do something cleaner and better, why not? I would love to drive a hybrid (so I could save money on gas). I would love to drive a natural gas car (so I could fill up at home and for cheaper). I would love to have solar panels on the roof of my place (the electric company can pay me). What's wrong with having some extra money our pockets?

While I don't think we should be worried about the condition of the Earth, I do think that we should still do our best to take care of it.

Genesis 2:15 says:

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

Now, that may mean just work the garden so he would have something to eat, but I think it means to take care of it and not abuse it.

We should preserve forests so people can hike and mountain bike and camp and enjoy getting away from all the city noises and stuff. See, no crazy motive, I just like to mountain bike.

Also, as a country, I think we should be self sufficient. We should use all of our available resources so we don't have to rely on any foreign materials.

I'm all for putting up wind turbines in the midwest and on the shores of Delaware. The wind and the sun are free! God gave us these elements and I think we are just learning how to really use them.

Let's not be wasteful, that's not a good example to live by. We should be helping out other countries and giving them our extras. If we are relying on other countries for certain goods how can we be a blessing? Now, material things isn't the only way we can be a blessing... we can send missionaries for example.

And I don't care about importing bananas or coffee... if there is something that we can't make here or some other country makes it better... yeah, lets import it!

Oh! Maybe us importing everything is our way of blessing these other countries. We can afford it, so why not put some of them to work so they can have jobs? Maybe thats it.

I don't know... I'm rambling I know... sorry if its really scattered, I just can't get my thoughts down... my mind goes too fast for my fingers!

My official stance?

If money is tight: Walk/bike to work // Conserve water while brushing my teeth // etc...
If money is fine: Drive // Keep that HDTV on and playing while you are in the next room folding laundry // etc...

Be a good steward of your___________ (pick any three)
- money
- life
- Earth

You understand? You understand?

You don't understand.

Rental Car Rally

I just stumbled across interesting.  It's called the Rental Car Rally.  Looks like a mini Gumball 3000 and it's limited to just rental cars (actually you can take your own car if you have to I think).

But hearing about this road rally made me remember something that I read in a magazine recently.  

Hertz is adding a few Corvettes to their fleet.  I'm sure they come at a premium and they a

ren't at every Hertz location obviously but this thing would be a blast in a Corvette!

Everyone would think that you were lying about it not being a rental car, but it really is!  The spaces for the rally are already sold out, but they do have 3 "reserve" spaces that if you beg them or bribe them you may have a chance.

[rental car rally]

[hertz vette]

Visited States

visited 29 states (58%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president

? part 2

What from Mike Petrucci on Vimeo.

?

ROWE?

Have you heard of ROWE?  [R]esults [O]nly [W]ork [E]nvironment.

I just read about it and I really like the idea.  The idea is this, you do whatever you need to do whenever you need to do it to get the job done.  If you get it done early and want to go home, then do it.  If you want to come in later then do it.

Some reasons why this isn't a great option for everyone is plain to see.  But if all you have is a deadline for something, just a hard set deadline, this may be a new way to work!

Check out these links for some interesting info about it.

[article]

[wiki]

Messing around in Google Earth

300 Mario

Awesome.

H2O

Jump for more info.

Pickens Plan

Find more videos like this on PickensPlan

First Train Ride

First Train Ride from Mike Petrucci on Vimeo.