Back on the Track again

     This past weekend, (my, the days have been busy since the peace & quiet of Saturday morning) I went to the local HS track again to run two miles. My younger son accompanied me this time. He tried to keep up with Daddy but at his age, that wasn't going to happen. However, he did manage to complete four laps around for a total of one mile, in about 15 minutes.  Several times he waited for me at the 'finish line' and ran part of the lap around with me until he couldn't keep up. Now what I'm hoping to do is get my older son up there as well. He's started with a local soccer league, and needs to build his wind up. Plus it will keep me honest with doing my own running. I finished two miles in a little over 17 minutes, and if I want to do any races this fall, I should pick up the pace and get that time down.

Off the Cuff Movie Review - Dallas and Springfield Rifle

     My dear wife got for me for Father's Day a box set of Gary Cooper movies. So far we've watched two of them for our weekly family movie night. Two rip-roarin' westerns, Dallas and Springfield Rifle.
   In both films, Coop plays a confident, strait-shooting guy who knows what he wants and will fight and sacrifice to get it. In both, he plays a man who is at odds with the law, but in the end is fighting for what's right.  Also in both cases, Coop's characters are playing roles that are not quite what they seem to be. 
   In Dallas, Coop is Blayde Hollister (no, that's not a nickname), a former Confederate officer now turned outlaw after the war, on a quest for justice, or is it revenge?  In Rifle, Coop is Union Major Lex Kearney, court-martialed out of the Cavalry for failing to protect a badly needed shipment of horses from horse thieves during the Civil War. But there's more than meets the eye going on. Tight-lipped Coop never complains, never tells anyone what he's after, and is willing to lose the lady-love interest in both movies (in Rifle it's his wife)to get the job done.
     The movies are not long by modern standards, so the plot hums right along to some really good musical scores. There's plenty of gorgeous western scenery filmed in glorious Technicolor, film buffs will recognize a lot of the supporting cast as well: Lon Chaney and Alan Hale, Jr. appear in Rifle, Raymond Massey appears in Dallas. There's loads of exciting action scenes, and as was standard at the time, the fighting and shooting were near totally bloodless. 
     Despite the brisk pacing, the plots were not simplistic, I found that I had to pay attention to keep up with what was going on. Of course, Coop's laconic cowboy characters don't go in for exposition much.
     We all enjoyed these two films a lot, especially Coop's tough/good guy performances. Both films had tense climaxes, but nothing happened that would be scary or upsetting for younger children. Next time we watch a Coop film it's going to be Sergeant York, based on the exploits of the real Sgt York in the First World War. Look for my review to follow.

Back on (the) Track

  I'm back to running again. For the last few weeks I've been hitting the local high school track once or twice a week to run 2 miles at a pop. During the week, two miles is all I have time for, my mornings are pretty busy getting myself and our two boys up and going in the right direction. 

This morning I really focused on my form: stride, pace, the movement of my arms. It worked, I finished 2 miles in 16:51 today, down from 17 1/2 minutes last week. 

This past weekend, while visiting the in-laws, I had a free morning and some lovely country roads in northern Virginia, so I mapped out at 5 mile out-and-back run, finishing in 46:05. 

I wonder sometimes while I'm running (who am I kidding, it occurs to me every time I run) why I'm doing this. At my age, shouldn't I be ok with slowing down a little?  I know my doctor, and my wife tell me that it's good for my heart, helps lower cholesterol and all those good medical things so I'll still be around to see my grandchildren. The real reason, though, is simpler than that. I run. It's what I do. I would not be happy with myself if I stopped. My mom tells me that at the age of 11 months, I got up on my feet and started running. I haven't really stopped since. Maybe I like the challenge, the difference from my sit-down office job, but mostly I just like to do it. Like reading, I don't always have the time to do as much as I would like, but when I get the chance, I take it. I'm a runner.

76 Patrons contest at Zhodani Base

BeRKA over at the Zhodani Base site is holding a contest for the best "76 Patrons" style adventure outline. The rules are here http://zho.berka.com/2012/07/01/the-zhodani-base-76-patrons-writing-contest-2012/: and this is my first entry.

76 Patrons Writing contest

Sparkly Hoozits

Patron: Businessperson

Location: any

Skills required: Liaison, Streetwise, Thief skills

Job: The patron recently bought a rare Sparkly Hoozit. It cost a lot, and the patron barely out-bid a local underworld boss and fellow collector of Hoozits. The Hoozit was even more recently stolen, and the patron has reason to believe that the gangster was responsible. The Hoozit requires special care, so there’s only a few places the gangster could have hidden it. The problem is that the patron bought it at an illegal hot property auction, so he can't file charges with the police, and wants to keep this quiet. The patron wants the PC's to act as go-betweens, to negotiate the return of the Hoozit. The PCs should have no trouble in locating the gangster, and little trouble in determining where the Hoozit is being kept.

Complication: After the first meeting with the gangster, but before a deal is made, the Hoozit vanishes. The gangster accuses the patron of a double-cross, the patron accuses the gangster of a further swindle to drive up the price, and by all accounts, there may be a criminal war erupting any day. The patron turns out to have access to armed enforcers. On the chance that the gangster is telling the truth, the patron wants the PC's to find out what really happened and where the Hoozit is now, and get it back.

     The six options are listed below, but in white text to hide them. Click and drag to highlight the possible ways this scenario could play out.

Options:

1 The gangster is faking, and will offer to sell it back at a greatly inflated price.

2 One of the gangster's people stole it so he can sell it himself.

3 One of the gangster's people stole it, to goad the patron into 'removing' his superior.

4 The previous owner of the Hoozit has stolen it back, and plans to leave the planet with it.

5 Unrelated thieves have stolen the Hoozit, and are unaware of the trouble they have started.

6 The patron is trying a double-cross and instigated the war to eliminate the gangster (reason left to the referee)

Memory Eternal Fr. Peter Gillquist

     I learned when I arrived at work this morning that Fr. Peter E. Gillquist, Sr. fell asleep in the Lord last night after a long battle with melanoma. He was until his retirement the priest of
All Saints Orthodox Church in Bloomington, Indiana. Fr. Peter was part of Campus Crusade for Christ back in the '70s and '80s until he and a group of ministers began a serious search for authentic first century Christianity, and discovered that it still existed to this day, in the Orthodox Church. In 1987 he and several thousand people in the United States all came home to Orthodoxy together, and ever since, Fr Peter was  a tireless evangelist for the Faith.  I met Fr. Peter personally several times since my own journey to Orthodoxy. He spoke several times at the Saint Stephens Course in Orthodox Theology, held at the Antiochian Village Camp & Conference Center. He also came to our parish and spoke to a gathering of Orthodox Christians from around the area about evangelism. Some friends of mine in our parish first visited because of Fr. Peter.  One time when we were speaking, I asked him what kind of music he enjoyed listening to, and he introduced me to the 1950's vocal jazz group The Four Freshmen. I've enjoyed the 4F ever since.
     Fr. Peter was attended by family and friends, and went to be with the Lord he loved in peace. May his memory be eternal!

A video of Fr. Peter talking about Finding the New Testament Church.