white people exercising

This just in:

My level of displeasure and frustration with Tanzanians pointing at, yelling to, and taunting me is directly proportional to how far and how fast I’ve run that day.*

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*Not unlike chafing.  Today was somewhere around 10 x 9-minute miles, and it’s the most irritated I’ve been in weeks (double entendre intended).

For the three most common things I hear while running, see tanzanian kids say the darndest things.

frustration and floppy disks

me... yesterday

image courtesy of photobucket.com

Remember that time you were typing a 12-page paper in college?  You’d put it off until the last possible minute — and even then you decided to go to Waffle House with friends before getting started.  You had been up all night, and were about 3/4′s of the way through the paper.  That’s when the electricity blinked, you accidentally kicked the power strip, or you went to grab a Dr. Pepper while your roommate got on the computer.

Your paper wasn’t lost in its entirety, but much more of it was gone than you were willing to rewrite.  This was long before computers automatically saved drafts of open documents.  Maybe this was even before we saved papers on our computers, but instead put them on hard disks called floppy disks — even though they were hard and there actually existed floppy disks that were indeed floppy.  Remember that moment of loss?  The sick feeling in your stomach, the anger, the despair, the incredibly strong desire to throw the computer across the room, go to sleep, and refuse to finish the paper?

these disks are NOT floppy

Yeah, that happened to me yesterday.  Well… I’m exaggerating a little — okay, a great deal.  There was no paper, and I’m not in college.  My problem had nothing to do with electricity (though we are frequently without it), and I had no desire to throw my computer.  So really the only thing yesterday had in common with my college frustrations is that I lost something on my computer and am not willing to redo it.

an actual FLOPPY disk

Not alone, anyway.

I want to ask you for help.

You see, I have for some time now used a feed aggregator called Bloglines.  For the most part I’ve been really happy with Bloglines.  There have been two occasions when their entire system was down for a day or two.  Those times were frustrating to me because nearly everything I read on the internet is through my aggregator.  I read content through a feed reader for three reasons: 1) it consolidates, and puts in one easy-to-reach location, all the blogs I want to read, 2) it saves me a lot of time because, rather than visiting each individual blog to see if there are new posts, my feed reader automatically loads them as they’re published, and 3) because of the way my internet works in Tanzania, not having to download each of those sites, with all of their pictures and advertisements, saves me a great deal of money.

So it was frustrating those few times that Bloglines was down; but it was merely frustrating.  Yesterday, however, Bloglines apparently lost every blog and news site to which I was subscribed.  It took me a great deal of time to compose that list of blogs (and then to narrow it down a bit after I realized it was too much for me to read every day).

My solution:  I’m getting a new feed reader.  Keep me from reading my favorite blogs once, and you’ll be forgiven.  Twice, and I’ll repeat my forgiveness.  70 times 7, still my forgiveness flows as an unending river of love and mercy.  But just one time you flush all the work I’ve done down the toilet and tell me to deal with it… and I’m Doug — I’ll be outa’ here.

Will you please help me? I have two requests:

1. What feed aggregator do you use and why? I’ve decided NOT to use Google Reader — so you’re welcome to tell me you use it and why, but it won’t be considered (unless like 15 of you gang up on me and change my opinion).
2. What are your favorite blogs? And can you post links to them in the comments section below?  I had the following categories before Bloglines ruined my life:  Christian Devotional, Theology, Ministry, Missions, Friends and Family, Just Funny, Good Writing, Running/Cycling/Triathlon, and Sports (mostly Auburn football, World Cup, Tour de France).  But I’m open to just about anything if it’s good.

So… what do you read, and where do you read it?  Oh, and feel free to include a link to your own blog (I had previously been subscribed to everyone who regularly comments on this blog).

down with beliefnet

I’m unhappy with beliefnet.com.  As you may know, beliefnet is a website seeking to promote spirituality — or make money off of it.  Their catchline is “Inspiration. Spirituality. Faith.”  Below is beliefnet‘s mission statement:

Our mission is to help people like you find, and walk, a spiritual path that will bring comfort, hope, clarity, strength, and happiness.

There are several blogs hosted on beliefnet’s website, and they vary a great deal as to their subject matter, intended purpose, and religious affiliation.  My favorite two blogs on their site (the only two I read, or probably would ever read) are Scot McKnight’s Jesus Creed and Jason Boyett’s O Me of Little Faith.  I have at one time subscribed to both of these Christian blogs, and enjoy reading the authors’ thoughts on faith and Christianity.  But I’ve got a beef.

My disapproval of, and irritation with, beliefnet does not lie in that they house information, articles, and blogs with subjects ranging from Christianity to horoscopes and astrology to self-help to Hinduism and Islam.  While I’m not at all a fan, my grievances are also not related to the fact that beliefnet houses pages for celebrity quotes, a blog called “Idol Chatter,” and a quiz that tells you what archangel you are.  And if you answer just 20 quick questions, the “Belief-O-Matic,” offers what religion you should practice, in case you’re not already practicing one.  As ridiculous as some of this is, these are not my problems with the website.

I have two bones to pick with beliefnet:

1.  One of my favorite bloggers, Jason Boyett, just moved over to beliefnet — a move which I don’t like, but is Boyett’s prerogative.  He wants to build his readership and increase his presence on the web.  I read blogs through a feed reader for three reasons — 1) it consolidates, and puts in one easy-to-reach location, all the blogs I want to read, 2) it saves me a lot of time because, rather than visiting each individual blog to see if there are new posts, my feed reader automatically loads them as they’re published, and 3) because of the way my internet works in Tanzania, not having to download each of those sites, with all of their pictures and advertisements, saves me a great deal of money.

Beliefnet will not allow Jason Boyett’s blog posts to enter my feed reader in their entirety.  I can only read the first 3 or 4 lines.  They want me to click over and read the rest at their site — so I can see their various ads.  Several of us asked Jason whether he could do anything about the partial feeds.  Below is his response:

Hey, everyone. Thanks so much for stopping by. To those of you who are less-than-thrilled about the RSS partial feed situation, I share your less-than-thrilledness. I’ve voiced my displeasure about this issue to the team at Beliefnet, but it’s out of my control. They prefer that you read the post here at the site so your eyeballs will see the lovely ads.

I know. A big change and not one I’m happy with. But at this point I’m not sure there’s much I can do about it other than apologize and beg you to click on through.

If you can’t, I understand, and I get it. Thanks for reading up to this point.

Now, beliefnet has every right to do this.  But I don’t like it, and I won’t do it.  I’m also frustrated that they allow Scot McKnight’s feed to show entire posts — while asking me to read Jason’s O Me of Little Faith on their website.  Why the double standard?  As much as I have enjoyed it, I’m not reading Jason’s blog anymore.  I have a feed reader for a reason.

2.  I know beliefnet is a site trying to make money, and that they are a multi-faith site.  So I expect there to be some ads in which I may have absolutely no interest.  But a few of these advertisements, the assumptions on which they’re based, and the photos which they include, seem to be contrary to most (if not all) faiths represented at beliefnet.

Right now, the advertisements on O Me of Little Faith show a couple of overweight women in underwear and two other sexy, attractive women in skimpy bikinis (I will not post the pictures on my site for you to see — I was somewhat hesitant to even call attention to them).  The promoted company offers “2 Tips to a Flat, Sexy Stomach” and promises you can lose 47 pounds of stomach fat in 1 month by following one simple rule.  The photos are said to be “before” and “after.”*

This from a company whose mission is to help you find “a spiritual path that will bring comfort, hope, clarity, strength, and happiness.”  Can we be honest, beliefnet, and explain that our mission is to make money off the millions searching for spiritual direction and answers?  And that we don’t mind also taking cash from women unhappy with their physical appearance — even though most any spiritual path would suggest this is not where we find true beauty or real happiness?

Down with beliefnet.

* I noticed Scot McKnight’s blog doesn’t contain pictures of scantily clad women.  I didn’t look to see if women were baring their bodies on the Muslim pages and blogs.  But I think Mr. Boyett got a bum deal, and I hope beliefnet will one day change their policy (which is only in place for some) so that I can read his blog again.

early retirement from a sport i never played

I’m not a golfer.  I used to pretend to be one… in high school.  There was a very affordable par-3 course in town — affordable to the tune of $2 for the first nine and $1 for every additional.  Fireball Hardee’s.  It was cheaper to play golf there than to stay at home (my mom charged me for use of the air conditioner).  It was also cooler to play golf (mom liked to smoke meat in the living room, hatch chicken eggs in the bathtubs, and “heat sterilize” dirty dishes in order to save water).  So golf was sort of a refuge for me.  And if I was really hot, it was no problem at this particular par-3, because there were no rules for dress — I just took my shirt off.  They also didn’t require spikes, so I could wear a pair of sandals and work on my awesome “Teva tan” (very popular when I was in high school — probably more so than the “Chaco tan” of today, and it also had a much better ring to it).  I know, I know… those of you who are real golfers are saying, “That’s not golf.  Golf is a gentleman’s sport.  You were participating in some really strange variation of lawnmower racing and cornhole.”

But it was golf… kind of.  Except when I was angry, which was only on holes 2-8.  I could usually play the first hole alright — and take a mulligan if I didn’t.  But by hole 2 I was out of mulligans, and angry that I’d come.  ”I should’ve stayed home,” I’d grumble, “and cut firewood for mom’s furnace.  At least I would’ve accomplished something — making sure there was enough fuel for the chilly 65-degree winters in Dothan, Alabama.”  So I’d stay angry, throwing clubs and hitting the ball as hard as I could, until the end of hole 8, at which time I would reason with myself that I should cool off and use my last hole as an opportunity to concentrate and prepare for the next 9.  Plus, all the old men chewing tobacco and talking about the weather were watching everyone’s play on the 9th.  I wouldn’t want them to think I didn’t know what I was doing.

I’d usually finish the day at 54 (an even par)… but only having played 11 holes — because by that time all my clubs were either wrapped around tree trunks or in the middle of a corn field.  I always regretted there were no water hazards at Fireball’s. I think the plunk of an 8-iron landing in the middle of a pond would have been a very satisfying sound, much more so than the rustle of cornstalks followed by a dull thud.

The golf world, as a whole, is probably happy I went into early retirement, especially any individual ever forced to play with me in a scramble, or hit by my one of my projectile drivers.  Truth is, I haven’t had the money to play golf since high school — probably because my mom charges visitors double on the a/c.  Hey, everybody’s gotta’ make a living.  But I’d like to think I’ve moved on to better hobbies now — ones which offer actual exercise and don’t require as much hand-eye coordination or skill.  Like lawnmower racing… and cornhole.

In other news, Lorena Ochoa, someone I’ve never heard of until today, is retiring from the LPGA at age 28.  And she’s doing so for some pretty good reasons.  Ochoa has apparently been ranked at number one for three years straight, and has made a ton of cash playing golf.  [I hear she also has made playing in Tevas popular again.]  She is retiring to — get this — “focus on her family and charity work.”  That’s awesome.  Here’s a link.