I’m taking a break from reading the first chapter of one of my textbooks. Since I’m between jobs I can focus on my classwork today. My goal is to have the first week of both classes done before the end of the day.
Of course, we’ll see just how I do on that goal by the end of the day.
And yes, I know. I need to tell you about being between jobs. That’s for another post.
There are a lot of stories about the ill effects of marijuana. Most are exaggerations and some are outright lies. Yet, there are also some truths about the ill effects of marijuana. But whether marijuana is bad for you or not, neither are justifications, or rationales, for legalizing or maintaining the prohibition against marijuana.
If marijuana being bad for you is justification enough to keep it illegal, then alcohol prohibition should never have been repealed. You think marijuana is bad? Alcohol kills more people, causes more marital strife, and wreaks havoc on our social system more than marijuana. Yet it’s legal.
The real reason for legalizing marijuana? Because the war against it has failed. Despite millions and millions of dollars being dump into the “war on drugs” year after year the use of marijuana continues. And any increase or decrease has almost nothing to do with law enforcement.
Ultimately legalization will occur because the amount of money the governments – state and federal – can make on taxing marijuana sales will be above and beyond what is made from alcohol sales. At least for the first few years until the marijuana industry because as big and powerful as the alcohol industry. Then there will be decreases in taxing. By then alcohol taxes will probably go up.
Well, one can hope, right?
I’m slowly getting the laundry done. The towels are taking a particularly long time to dry. It’s quite frustrating, actually. However, I did get my office swept, and the speakers for my computer switched out. I am now using a Bluetooth set with sub-woofer. The volume goes higher and gives good low end. And I cleaned my desktop off. Not the computer desktop, the actual top of my desk. It was cluttered and dusty. And there were too many wires all bunched up. So I did some reconfiguring. Now I’ve got me a nice, clean desktop. I’m ready for classes to start.
The improvement with my pace since I started interval training is amazing. Today I ran my first mile in 9:24 minutes. One of those minutes was a walking interval. I ran a total of 2.89 miles in 30:04 seconds, with 4 of those minutes walking intervals! I’m consistently running better paces than I have ever done before.
I’ve started an interval training plan through Runtastic. So far I’ve been feeling pretty good about the workouts. I definitely feel both less wore out and yet still well exercised. I’m also suspecting the training will increase my distance stats – once I finish this plan in October.
Okay, I ran for 45 minutes. I’m in need of new shoes. My heels, especially on the right foot, are worn on the outside. They are starting to cause some discomfort with my arch tendon. Anyway, it was a good run.
Currently I’m cooling down. I’m thinking about a shower. However, Tina’s cooking breakfast. So, I’ll probably eat first, then shower.
I know. It’s been a while since I’ve typed away on this blog. Not sure what I want to write. I guess I can start by saying the holiday was fun. Tina and I took the whole week off. That allowed us time to drive to Green Bay, stay with her mother, and then on the 4th head to their family reunion. From there we headed home.
That ride home was interesting. At one point the rain was coming down so hard the road was hard to see. I ended up pulling over until it lightened up enough to at least see the lines on the road. Other than that it was a good trip.
I even managed to get a few runs in while at Green Bay. Nothing spectacular, having a tired body makes for a rather difficult pace. Still, I felt good about them.
However, it’s been 3 days since my last run. Time for me to hit the trail. You all have a great day.
So, like I said in some post last year; because I had started school I would not be posting about my incremental marathon. Well, school is out for the summer and I could actually resume posting on my running.
However, I am finding it difficult to develop any motivation for posting my stats after I’ve run. Instead, let me just say I have continued to run with only one break of a week due to feeling ill. Otherwise, I’ve managed to hit the pavement at least 3 times a week.
Recently, with the addition of taking hikes with Tina I’ve managed to increase my exercise routine to 4 times a week. We were going to go for a hike this morning but she slept poorly last night and didn’t have the energy. So, tomorrow we are looking to hike up to Ely Peak.
And thus does another semester come to a conclusion. The results? One B+ and one A. Surprisingly, the A is in a subject I historically sucked at: English. However, the focus of the class was Science Fiction and Fantasy, which I have loved since I first started reading. And my confidence in writing has grown exponentially since high school. Hence my A.
The B+ was in Abnormal Psychology. And no, it was not a self-awareness class, smart asses. I see you all snickering in the back row. Behave yourselves or you’ll show you the airlock.
Anyway, it was a class focused on reading chapters and taking quizzes. Where I struggled is with the exams. I always struggle with exams.
Actually, I probably did better on the exams than I normally would have because of the benefits of the online text. Quizzes were easy because of the nature of the online book. It had a great review chapter with flashcards, plus it’s own quizzes that were a great practice. Hence all my quizzes for the class were 7 or more points. And if you got 6 or more on the quiz, it was automatically adjusted to 10 points.
My grade was hurt by my second exam. I didn’t take advantage of the review chapters and flashcards. But the last two I did, with which I had better results. To be honest, the improvement was significant enough that I raised my grade from a C-.
Also, I was able to save the online lectures until just days before the exam. That way the information from them was fresh. I was also able to speed the videos up so that the 1 hour+ videos took about 50 minutes. That meant about two lectures each day, with about 4 or 5 lectures per exam. Thankfully there was no big “FINAL” exam. Instead, just four ‘midterm’ exams which really were quarterly exams.
All in all this last semester was one of my best. And that was with a bout of stomach flu that put me behind on writing for the English class. Thankfully I had an understanding professor who allowed me to get caught up without any lost points.
One last point: I managed to write my first college essay. I created a thesis, present my arguments with proofs, and finish off with a summary conclusion that resulted in an A. And all without the benefit of having ever taken any classes for essay writing.
I know.
I was surprised myself.