Want to Run a 5k or Marathon?

After just finishing the Chicago Marathon, I thought I’d write about the website (www.halhigdon.com) where I got my traning guide from. When I started running last February, I could barely run 2 miles…

Have you ever had a desire to become a runner but just didn’t know where to start or how to train? Have you ever dreamed about running a race, whether it be a 5k or a marathon? Well if you answered yes to either of those questions, a visit to Hal Higdon’s website is definitely a must. This website offers a great amount of information suited for all of those interested in one of the world’s oldest sports – running.

The author of this website, Hal Higdon, would be considered an expert by many people because of his vast array of knowledge on the sport of running. Hal has written a multitude of books such as Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide and Masters Running. He has also written hundreds of articles for various newsletters and magazines. His love and expertise of running has come from his lifelong practice and study of the sport. He is well known among the running community and holds seminars on occasion. Hal has focused the content of this website on his vast knowledge of running.

There is a great amount of content on this website that is very useful. It is not just a site for beginners either; there is information for every level of runners from beginners to advanced. The main purpose is definitely to educate people interested in running. One of the best parts of the website is the option to choose a training program based on your running ability and the distance of your goal race. This allows you to know exactly what to do and how to train to successfully complete and reach your goal. There is also a multitude of articles about motivation, stretching, the best places to train, and nutrition tips. All the key elements to become and excel as a runner can be found on this website.

Sweet Ads - Arcor Bubble Gum

This is a simple, yet beautifully executed advertisement for Arcor Bubble Gum from Sao Paulo, Brazil…

Why Blog?

I have many reasons why I started this blog…

I want to have some sort of personal journal to look back on some day. I want to share videos with family, friends, and the lurkers that randomly stumble upon this site. I want to write and reflect about current events. I want to share my knowledge about some things with others that want to learn about those things. I want to share music I enjoy so others can enjoy it with me. I want an outlet for all the things I think about all day…

With that said, I am going to have a loose daily agenda for what I write about. It will go as follows…

Monday: Personal stories, pics, videos and a recap of the past week
Tuesday: Reflections on the current news and happenings around the world
Wednesday: A design forum with tutorials, tips, tricks for design software (mainly photoshop, dreamweaver, and final cut pro)
Thursday: An original post on a random subject
Friday: Music reviews

Like I said, I may be off topic somedays and might write about something random like butt plugs or why the hot pocket I ate today was so delicious, but I just wanted to give myself some sort of structure for what I originally intended for this blog to be about.

Hope everyone is having a great day.
- Jerry

Wedding Weekend

Katie and me

I went to a wedding this past weekend for one of Katie’s best friends. We ate good food, drank like college kids again (and spilled a drink all over a dude), and partied like it was 1999. It ended up being a blast except for one little hiccup. At the very end of the night we took the limo back to the hotel that most of the people we’re staying at. However, we were staying at another hotel so we had the front desk call us a taxi. Well, when the taxi driver showed up we jumped in his car only to realize 1) it wasn’t a taxi car and 2) there was no identification or even a meter inside the car. He drove us 2 miles and then demanded $30. We started to argue with the guy (who looked more like a gangster who solves his problems by killing people) and it was going nowhere after 10 minutes, so we ended up just paying him. What we really should have done was call the police or Chuck Norris. Other than that, it was an awesome time and it was great to see 2 of our friends get married.

Since Katie was standing up in the wedding and was busy all day, Liz (a good friend of both of ours) kept me company for the night cause her boyfriend was out of town as well. This is one of the many reasons why we love her… Normal people chew gum when they have bad breath. Liz eats flowers.

Q101 Prank Contest Video

This is the video of the prank my dad pulled that I was talking about in an earlier post… We won a trip to Las Vegas for the TBS Comedy Festival next month. All because of a $5 bottle of liquid ass…

Campaign Scare Tactics

First and foremost, let me state that I consider myself an independent when it comes to politics. Going into an election I stand a pretty neutral ground as to both parties views. For some people it doesn’t matter, if they say they’re republican they’re gonna vote republican. Same for some democrats. However, for someone like me, I place huge emphasis on voting solely on the facts and let me tell you, it is very hard to get an unbiased view from any source of media. It takes a lot of work and time to research and divulge into the information out there to form an opinion.

In this election, after countless hours of divulging myself into this political chaos, I can confidently say that I think Obama is the better candidate and he will get my vote. I take pride in how I came to this conclusion as well because I made an effort to educate myself. Sadly, there are millions of people out there that will be placing votes on garbage information that they received and didn’t take any effort into doing the research behind the validity of the information. Take for example this e-mail that I recently received. This was actually one of the better written ones that I have seen because it was placing a lot of questions in peoples minds and alluding to something negative, rather than flat out saying lies, like some of the other things i have read. After you read this, take a step back and realize how stupid something like this really is. I have included my sarcastic footnotes below as well…

This came to me from the wife of a friend. It is long, but very important, please take the time to read it.

This election has me very worried. So many things to consider. About a year ago I would have voted for Obama. I have changed my mind three times since than. I watch all the news channels, jumping from one to another. I must say this drives my husband crazy. But, I feel if you view MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News, you might get some middle ground to work with. About six months ago, I started thinking ‘where did the money come from for Obama’. I have four daughters who went to College, and we were middle class, and money was tight. We (including my girls) worked hard and there were lots of student loans.

I started looking into Obama’s life.

Around 1979 Obama started college at Occidental in California. He is very open about his two years at Occidental, he tried all kinds of drugs and was wasting his time but, even though he had a brilliant mind, did not apply himself to his studies. ‘Barry’ (that was the name he used all his life) during this time had two roommates, Muhammad Hasan Chandoo and Wahid Hamid, both from Pakistan. During the summer of 1981, after his second year in college, he made a ’round the world’ trip. Stopping to see his mother in Indonesia, next Hyderabad in India, three weeks in Karachi, Pakistan where he stayed with his roommate’s family, then off to Africa to visit his father’s family. My question - Where did he get the money for this trip? Neither I, nor any one of my children would have had money for a trip like this when they where in college. When he came back he started school at Columbia University in New York. It is at this time he wants everyone to call him Barack - not Barry. Do you know what the tuition is at Columbia? It’s not cheap to say the least! Where did he get money for tuition? Student Loans? Maybe. After Columbia, he went to Chicago to work as a Community Organizer for $12,000 a year. Why Chicago? Why not New York? He was already living in New York.

By ‘chance’ he met Antoin ‘Tony’ Rezko, born in Aleppo Syria, and a real estate developer in Chicago. Rezko has been convicted of fraud and bribery this year. Rezko, was named ‘Entrepreneur of the Decade’ by the Arab-American Business and Professional Association’. About two years later, Obama entered Harvard Law School. Do you have any idea what tuition is for Harvard Law School? Where did he get the money for Law School? More student loans? After Law school, he went back to Chicago. Rezko offered him a job, which he turned down. But, he did take a job with Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland. Guess what? They represented ‘Rezar’ which is Rezko’s firm. Rezko was one of Obama’s first major financial contributors when he ran for office in Chicago. In 2003, Rezko threw an early fundraiser for Obama which Chicago Tribune reporter David Mendelland claims was instrumental in providing Obama with ’seed money’ for his U.S. Senate race. In 2005, Obama purchased a new home in Kenwoood District of Chicago for $1.65 million (less than asking price). With ALL those Student Loans - Where did he get the money for the property? On the same day Rezko’s wife, Rita, purchased the adjoining empty lot for full price. The London Times reported that Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born Billionaire loaned Rezko $3.5 million three weeks before Obama’s new home was purchased. Obama met Nadhmi Auchi many times with Rezko.

Oh, and by the way, remember the college roommates that were born in Pakistan? They are in charge of all those ’small’ Internet campaign contributions for Obama. Where is that money coming from? The poor and middle class in this country? Or could it be from the Middle East?

And the final bit of news. On September 7, 2008, The Washington Times posted a verbal slip that was made on ‘This Week’ with George Stephanapoulos. Obama on talking about his religion said, ‘My Muslim faith’. When questioned, ‘he made a mistake’. Some mistake!

All of the above information I got on line. If you would like to check it - Wikipedia, encyclopedia, Barack Obama; Tony Rezko; Valerie Jarrett: Daily Times - Obama visited Pakistan in 1981; The Washington Times - September 7, 2008; The Times May 10, 2008.

Now the BIG question - If I found out all this information on my own, Why haven’t all of our ‘intelligent’ members of the press been reporting this?

A phrase that keeps ringing in my ear - ‘Beware of the enemy from within’!!!

I’ll go through a bit of this and give you my thoughts…

1) Around 1979 Obama started college at Occidental in California. He is very open about his two years at Occidental, he tried all kinds of drugs and was wasting his time but, even though he had a brilliant mind, did not apply himself to his studies.

- Didn’t apply himself to his studies?? Must be how he got into Harvard Law School. Tried drugs? Wow, never heard of anyone who went to college that didn’t try drugs.

2) Had two roommates, Muhammad Hasan Chandoo and Wahid Hamid, both from Pakistan.

- Isn’t the United States the melting pot of the world? Does having a roomate who is from Pakistan mean something bad? Oh, I got it, are they trying to say that if you had Pakistan roomates, that must mean they are terrorists, and by association that makes you a terrorist. Watch out!

3) During the summer of 1981, after his second year in college, he made a ’round the world’ trip. Stopping to see his mother in Indonesia, next Hyderabad in India, three weeks in Karachi, Pakistan where he stayed with his roommate’s family, then off to Africa to visit his father’s family. Where did the money come from?

- During the spring of 2005, my fiance made a trip to Granda Spain and traveled to 8 other countries while she was there. During the summer of 2008, my fiance’s sister traveled to China and traveled across the land. Where did they get the money? It’s a mystery, must have gotten it illegally. I can keep going. Do people, especially moreso college aged kids, not have a desire to travel? And on top of it someone who has heritages and family history from other places is going to want to know more about where they came from. How dare he visit his mom who was in Indonesia! If I want to visit Germany to visit my great grandma’s family, is that wrong? Will I be a Nazi? So how did he pay for this? Its called student loans. Obama has talked about this and how he had student loan debts up the ying yang.

4) It is at this time he wants everyone to call him Barack - not Barry.

- Ricky wants to be called Richard now. Katy wants to be called Kathryn now. I go by Jerry but now want you to call me Gerard… Weird, we must be up to something!

5) Do you know what the tuition is at Columbia? It’s not cheap to say the least! Where did he get money for tuition? Student Loans? Maybe.

- Maybe???? Oh wait, I forgot we’re talking about Barack Obama here… the money came from terrorists, DUH!!

6) After Columbia, he went to Chicago to work as a Community Organizer for $12,000 a year. Why Chicago? Why not New York? He was already living in New York.

- After college, thousands of people volunteer for the Peace Corps and make $2 an hour. Damn them for wanting to do something good for people. Yeah why did he want to move to Chicago if he was living in New York? I mean, why did I move to Long Beach, CA instead of staying in Chicago after college? Very fishy… very fishy.

7) About two years later, Obama entered Harvard Law School. Do you have any idea what tuition is for Harvard Law School? Where did he get the money for Law School? More student loans?

- After doing so many drugs and slacking off in undergrad, he must of started selling prostitutes and crack to pay for Harvard. C’mon nobody uses student loans, especially after undergrad! We need to start looking into how my fiances sister went to med school!

8 ) In 2005, Obama purchased a new home in Kenwoood District of Chicago for $1.65 million (less than asking price). With ALL those Student Loans - Where did he get the money for the property?

- How dare he buy a home for less than asking price. Everyone these days should be buying homes for more than asking price! I bet it was hard to pay off those student loans after he made $1.2 million for his best selling book, and his wife, the vice president at the University of Chicago hospital, made $320,000 in 2005. People making that much money should be buying $200,000 homes!

9) And the final bit of news. On September 7, 2008, The Washington Times posted a verbal slip that was made on ‘This Week’ with George Stephanapoulos. Obama on talking about his religion said, ‘My Muslim faith’. When questioned, ‘he made a mistake’. Some mistake!

- Watch it in full context of what was being talked about, and make up your own mind… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpoAVAA1F30 (about 1/4 to half way into it). So stupid.

I can keep going on, but I don’t think this type of e-mail is worthy of this much time. This was clearly written to tap into people’s post 9/11 phobia. All in all, I am deeply saddened by how this election is turning out. There is still an enormous amount of prejudice, racism, and hate in this country. For me, the bottom line is that both McCain and Obama are guys that care passionatly about the United States and will do everything in their power to make things the best they can be. Vote on the issues, not this kind of bullcrap. After all is said and done, I really hope we can reunite as a country and support whoever wins this election as our leader. We have to remember, there are checks and balances in our government, its not one man running the show…

A day at Buckingham Fountain

Taste of Chicago 2008…

Stock Market Tumbles, Again…

Sorry to jump on this train again, but why can’t news articles just state the headlines bluntly and to the point instead of some of the crap I read. I’m sorry but McDonald’s discussing getting rid of their dollar menu because of rising beef prices doesn’t constitute or result in hundreds of lost points in a stock market tumble.

Obama Picks up Powerful Political Endorsements

Mr. Barack Obama picked up some major endorsements this past weekend. Some of the more major ones included the Chicago Tribune, which is endorsing a Democratic nominee for the first time in the papers history; The LA Times, that has not made a presidential endorsement since 1972 and has also never endorsed a democrat; and Colin Powell, the very well respected Republican who was a former Army General and Secretary of State. Here is Powell’s endorsement on Meet the Press…

Bigfoot Sighting

Don’t you hate when unexpected people jump in and ruin your picture…

Fatburger - The King of Burgers

Since I was on the topic of Las Vegas, I am looking forward to eating one of my favorite cheeseburgers from a place called Fatburger. I think its a more prominent franchise on the West Coast. There is one on the Las Vegas strip and I make sure to always stop by there every time I am in Vegas. If you ever get a chance, I would definitely recommend it!

Another Day, Another Contest…

So yesterday I got a phone call from Q101 (a Chicago radio station) letting me know I won the grand prize in the “Sierra Mist What’s Your Prank Contest”! I submitted a video of a prank that me and my dad played on one of the employees at the place I work (I am working on getting all my videos uploaded so I will post it on here soon). Anyways, we won a trip to Las Vegas for TBS’s Comedy Festival with Dane Cook, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen Degeneres, Cheech and Chong, Kat Williams, and many more. Needless to say we’re pretty excited. This is the 4th big contest I have either won or been a finalist in this year so it’s been pretty crazy. I’ll be sure to blog about these sometime in the future, but for now I must go lay down and relax… my legs feel like they’ve been punched a hundred times by Kimbo Slice.

The 2008 Chicago Marathon

Well, I finished my first marathon and it was everything I imagined it to be… pure hell. I started training in February and was making great progress until 5 weeks before the marathon I injured my knee. I couldn’t run more than 2 miles for the next 4 weeks. I was so discouraged and thought I was going to have to wait until next year. However, last weekend I bought a knee brace, just to see if it would help at all, and miraculously I felt no pain whatsoever and ran 9 miles. I was so excited, but also was pissed that I missed 4 weeks of long runs when all I needed was a $10 knee brace.

So yesterday was the race and a big group of us were doing it… my dad, brother, 2 uncles, 3 aunts, and a few friends. My brother Ryan (www.rybread.com) of course killed us all, but still didn’t have the race he was hoping for. As for me, I felt great the first half and was running with the 3:15 group. However, once I hit mile 15, my legs started cramping up like I have never felt before. The next 11 miles were pure agony and I limped my way to the finish. The second half took me twice as long as the first. All in all, I am glad I finished, but I know I’ll definitely be hungry to do another one next year. I’ll post pictures soon…

Peter Schiff - The Beginning of the End… Scary thoughts…

First and foremost, I promise my posts will get less boring (aka not solely politically or economically based). There are just a lot of crazy things happening right now not to talk about them…

Over 2 years ago, when the economy was booming, some people started warning about what the future could hold. Did anybody listen, did anybody start taking actions, did anybody want to listen? No. Peter Schiff, the President and Chief Global Strategist, was one of the more prominent figures giving this warning. Check this out from CNBC 2+ years ago…

Well, here we are now and what he had predicted has and is coming true. What’s even more frightening are his latest thoughts that he wrote in an e-mail today. Granted his nickname is “Dr. Doom”, for his extremely bearish views on the US Economy, but it is still scary to think of the possibilities. Lets please pray and hope he is wrong.

October 10, 2008

While I have warned for years that the United States was headed into the eye of an economic hurricane, nearly every other “expert” from Washington, Wall Street, the press and academia saw nothing ahead but sunny skies. Now, suddenly, there is an overwhelming consensus that absent the Federal mortgage bailout, my dire forecast would have come to pass. While I’m glad that rose colored glasses have finally been removed from so many eyes, the vast majority of these observers are still blind. In truth, the bailout plan substantially increases the threats to the U.S. economy.

When I wrote my book “Crash Proof”, I not only predicted that our consumer/mortgage credit-based economy would fall apart, but that the government would ineptly try to repair it. The magnitude of those potential policies formed the basis of my worst case scenario. My fears have now been confirmed, and the U.S. Government is now set to destroy all hope of economic recovery.

Make no mistake; had the government resisted the political pressure to interfere with the markets, we would now be experiencing a very deep recession. But by refusing to let the markets work, policy makers are resisting the only medicine capable of curing the economic disease that afflicts us. The same mistakes were made in the early 1930’s, causing a severe financial crisis to morph into the decade-long Great Depression.

The government will now attempt to keep bad loans from failing and real estate prices from falling. Rather then allowing market forces to rein in excess borrowing and replenish savings, it will encourage even more borrowing and drain what is left of our savings pool. Rather than allowing our economy to return to one based on legitimate production, it will continue to encourage reckless consumption.

In the end, by refusing to allow market forces to work their cure, our economy will inevitably die from the disease. Our economy will now face death by hyperinflation, which will cause a complete loss of confidence in the dollar and result in prices and interest rates skyrocketing out of sight. The evaporation of our national wealth will lead to civil unrest, food and energy shortages, and the possible imposition of martial law. If such a scenario unfolds, what is left of our Constitution will surely be completely shredded.

Although this reality looms as large as anything I have ever seen, investors still do not see the forest for the trees. Convinced that the bailout will actually work, and that foreign governments are derelict for not launching similar plans, global investors are fleeing other currencies in favor of the dollar. Soon investors will discover that foreign politicians and central bankers have acted responsibly. When they do, the current gains seen by the dollar will reverse violently.

Investors seem to be bracing themselves for a global depression that will not occur. Foreign stocks, particularly those exposed to China or natural resources, are trading at the lowest valuations I have seen in my entire career. Fears of a global meltdown are based on the misconception that the U.S. economy is the tent pole for economic activity around the world. The premise of my entire argument is that the U.S. economy, by consuming so much of the world’s resources and manufactured goods, and borrowing so much of the world’s savings, has in fact been a drag on the global economy.

The enormous global vendor financing scheme is finally coming to an end as the vendors discover that their biggest customer is flat broke. In the short run, our creditors are experiencing some pain because they finally realize that they will never get their money back.

Once the foreign stock markets take this hit, they will be far better poised to grow than their American counterpart. Foreigners will reclaim their productivity and savings for themselves, and will subsequently experience the biggest global economic boom in history. America on the other hand will fare much worse, as we will be left with a hollowed out manufacturing base, dilapidated infrastructure, no savings, and a gigantic Federal Government that will regulate, spend, borrow and print our economy into ruin.

Unsolved Mysteries and Weird Occurrences…

Everybody has had something weird or strange happen to them at one time or another. My question to you is, do you have any unsolved mysteries that are just plain bizarre?

Recently I ran into a Walgreens for literally less than 2 minutes. When I came out, I found a fish on my car and nobody was around. I stood there for a good 3 minutes just staring at it wondering what the heck is a fish doing on my car. I drove home with it and proceeded to throw it onto my neighbors lawn. Needless to say, I’m sure the next time he mowed his grass he had an unsolved mystery of his own.

The fish…