2/24

Welp,
I finished 'Born to Run' in blazing time and the ending did not disappoint. If you are into any kind of physical fitness or sport whatsoever do yourself a favor and pick this book up. The story itself is great and even taught me some fantastic running tips. Well...fantastic to me -- keeping my body upright, making sure my feet point down, and taking smaller strides.

The book also delves into barefoot running and it's advantages (see: preventing almost any running-related injury). I think once $100 appears in front of me I'm going to order a pair of five-fingered shoes. Check them out, they are awesome.

I suppose the pens bringing back Alexei Kovalev can't do any harm. The guy just turned 38, and although he won't be half (or even a quarter) the leader Billy Guerin was, he can score. And they got him for peanuts. Coming to the Penguins from a team with no hope of the playoffs has to be at least a little motivating. It was for all the other recent acquisitions the Pens have picked up off the deadline in the past few years with the lone exception being Alexei Ponikarovsky.

I can't say I remember Kovalev that much as a kid, but then again, anyone my age or younger who says they do is lying or watched a lot of hockey as a youngster. The only Pittsburgh athlete I remember consitantly was Jerome Bettis.

Bringing back former players worked out O.K. for the Steelers this past season, but I liken this transaction to bringing Randle-El back. The guy made a few nice catches and stepped up nicely in the Superbowl, but he won't be the same player he was years ago.

Random movie of the day that you've (probably) never heard of, but should see: Moon. Moon somehow got hugely overlooked come awards season last year. It stars Sam Rockwell as the lone astronaut manning a moon base and the voice of Kevin Spacey as his eerie robot. Sam Rockwell is growing to be one of my favorite actors and he knocks it out of the park. If you have a netflix subscription, you can stream it for free. If not, I'm sure it can be found easily enough. Check it out.

Quick hitters 2/23

Things that interested me today


-Started reading the book 'Born to Run' by Christopher McDougall. About halfway through, but already far and away the best book I've read this year. The basis of the story revolves around a mythical Mexican tribe named the Tarahumara who can run upwards of hundreds of miles per day in rubber sandals and robes.

• Apparently their fuel is composed mainly from the chia plant. It's like their version of red-bull but really does give them wings, allowing them to run their greuling miles no problem. GNC sells some version of this that you can sprinkle on your food. I must have it. (photo from GNC)
• They would crush at the olympics; one guy a few decades ago entered them into 100-mile races and they demolished all the records, in consecutive years. Instead of prepping they smoked a few cigarretes and cracked jokes the whole time.
• The story then centers on a man who decided to take the 'Dances with Wolves' route and live amongst them. He is over 50 and could be considered superhuman after spending one year with them.
• I felt like running through a wall after reading the first half, but settled for the usual 1 mile on the treadmill and p90x with gatorade. Next time I'll atempt the 100 miles with chia. (yes the same plant as chia pets)

-Penguins: James Neal. Didn't blow anyone's socks off in his Penguin debut, but looks solid. Matt Niskanen had some ugly turnovers, but those looked like they could be chalked up to the new system he was playing in.

-Gatorade Recover. Could taste better, but since I hate shakes and protein bars, it did the trick.


Nope

-Nope, did not like the fact that it took upwards of 15 minutes to turn on the lights (for the second game in a row!) at Consol Energy Center. It was just dead air while the commentators were scraping off the bottom for topics to talk about.

-When did I suddenly become disgusted with The Dave Matthews Band? Is it some sort late-high-school-underclassman-college sort of phase? Sure, their music is O.K. but hours and hours of 'jamming' and a frontman who mumbles his way through the english language. Nope, give me Counting Crows or 90's Hootie and the Blowfish.

-Might have to see the CD's for pennies...no bites yet. At least someone wants my high-school mountain bike. Craigslist is a decent way to get money for crap I don't want anymore, but if I dont find a job soon I maybe have to start selling myself under the casual encounters.