Brilliant!

If you don't follow Mark Cuban ... You should.  He is So on point sometimes.

Here's a good example of something he posted and is involved in Bail Out Sleuth .

Synopsis:

Transparency is key to the success of the Bailout and related loans and investments the government makes with our tax dollars. Without complete transparency, we will get from our government what we always get when it comes to finances, confusion. To do my part, I’ve worked with the folks at Sharesleuth.com to create Bailoutsleuth.com

Its job is simple, keep an eye on our taxpayer dollars and call Bullshit when necessary.

if you take a trip over to Bailoutsleuth you can see that its already time to call BS. In the first contract handed out, in this case to Bank of NY Mellon Corp, the compensation section is blacked out.

Sad. So very sad, that we couldnt make it a week without being afraid of the very taxpayers who are footing the tab for all of this.

Bailoutsleuth will try to publish every day in keeping up with how our taxdollars are spent and the people and companies that are impacted by this program. We are still a work in progress and look forward to your comments , feedback and tips.

Stupid IT Band...

In one of my races this season I was wearing my brooks ST3 racing flats, which I found out make me pronate and led to a sore IT Band after the race.  It was from that point forward that I had issues.  I love my brooks Trance 7's... they are probably the best running shoes I've had.

I really haven't done a ton of running but it's continually hurting.  Granted I haven't stretched religously either.

I'm sure it's just a matter of getting back in the swing of things... Getting motivated again is going to be the harder part.  I've really enjoyed sleeping until 7am lately; the 5am wake up call in the dark has been a bit taxing.

Good IT Band info:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliotibial_Band_Syndrome

Pumkin Pie!

I have called 8 places looking for pumpkin pie with no luck. WTF... it's October already. Don't people know that they are supposed to start carrying pumpkin pie on 10/1.

I would really like some pumpkin pie!!!

Update... I went to Whole Foods and they had Pumpkin Pie.   T minus 5 minutes to Pie :-)

To blog or not to blog

I’m a bit torn lately about blogging.  I guess I’m just trying to rationalize the amount of time it takes to sit down and write a meaningful post that will be witty enough for those who care to return or potentially post.

Do I really have that much to say that’s worth reading?  How about we all just get together for a monthly ride followed by lunch where we can catch up a little?  I know a bunch about a lot of people that I’ve only met 2 or 3 times.  They seem like they are truly great people and would be good to sit and talk with.

Now I realize that Life is busy.  Mine epitomizes that and maybe a blog is just a way to keep everyone up to date without actually having to talk to them?  I suppose that’s good for people you’ve only met a couple of times.  However, there does seem to be something missing in that interaction; the shared laugh, the memory of something done together, etc. 

The way it stands today is mainly just the pieced together experiences of the people writing the blogs and their friends.  And if that’s what it comes down to should we allow the casual acquaintance into the world of our friendships?  Does it Matter?  How would the people we’re living life WITH feel about their moments being posted?

I do like our little blog community… I want to participate… I think there might be / should be more.  Does Blog Friend = Acquaintance?  In some cases you may follow the blog of someone you’ve never met before… voyeur?

The best example I could find to show what I mean is from Ben’s site.  I chose him for 2 reasons: 1 because it was a post by him a short time ago "Red Alert" that made me think about How Personal blogs are without potentially meaning to be (I hardly know him but could relate to what he was going / went through) 2 because he probably has the largest following of all of the people in the circle of bloggers that read each other, met each other a few times, post to each others blog, etc.

This is a picture of what Ben’s blog / site universe looks like with ben at the center:

This shows all of the links in and out of Bencollins.org as well as the peripheral touch points to that site.

Does Ben know all these people.... probably not but being professional Triathlete there are sponsors, people that link to the site, those who read because they are interested in what he has to say and some that have met him a couple of times (me via Loren) who just started reading his blog along with the other people in our blog world circle. 

Should all of those people be let into his world, myself included.

Circling back to what got me thinking about all of this is Ben's very serious heart felt post / plea "Red Alert" when his Cat went missing. And then Ben's update.  I was SAD after reading both posts (I love my cat too).

I thought... Do I know Ben well enough to be this close to his thoughts on a topic that if we were sitting in a bar (even with a mutual friend there) he would probably Not share this story with me.

I think it's like reality TV to some extent... we get sucked in and then we can't wait to see what happens next.  That's Shitty!  These are Our lives and they should only be viewed by the people we want to view them.  And if we limit the content of our blogs to the basics of our days without allowing people to far inside (The place only reserved for the people we trust, love care about) then why post at all... No one will read it.

It's an interesting question that I've been pondering for a while now... I'd love your thoughts.