New Orleans will again be a chocolate city

I am still digesting what Ray Nagin the Mayor of New Orleans said in a Martin Luther King Day speech.

Why don't you listen to him in his own words.

Ray Nagin's speech

Nagin quotes:
"God is mad at America."

"We are in Iraq under false pretenses."

"This city will be chocolate at the end of the day. . .it's the way God wants it to be."

Ray Nagin's words are in sharp contrast to the teachings of Martin Luther King, who called for a person to be judged ". . .not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

We are a polarized society. One's label is more important than the contents of their soul. If I, a white man criticize a black man; chances are I would be branded a racist. Never mind if the criticism is valid. This works the other way around too.

Are we a people so ignorant, we only listen to someone if they are black, white, Democrat, or Republican? Instead of exchanging ideas, we hurl accusations of racism. There is no debate only name-calling.

Until we can focus on content and behavior over and above race, religion, and political party, we are doomed to quibble and trifle about things which amount to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

The problems of this country are problems of character. No one group has the market cornered on bad behavior or for that matter, truth.

Some blacks will defend Mayor Nagin solely because he is black and they don't like whites criticizing blacks.

Corporate crooks get off with light jail sentences in dorm like prisons. Sure they stole a lot of money, but they did not use a gun.

Priests who abuse children slip away behind the veil.

Crooked politicians, celebrities, and people with money escape the fate a common person would endure for the same offense. The injustices go on and on.

Until we demand more of ourselves and those around us, we will continue to reap the fruit of greed and sloth. Injustice will reign.

Today in New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin dishonored Martin Luther King by invoking his name to endorse his own small, ignorant, racist ideas. Instead of seeking to unify the people with his speech, he chose to insert a racial wedge and hammer away at it with a post mal.

Until the next time
John Strain

Mississippi Marathon 2006

It was a beautiful day in Clinton, Mississippi for the 2006 Mississippi Marathon. The sun was bright, the sky was blue, and the temperature was 39 degrees. As far as marathon weather goes, it doesn't get any better.

A beautiful setting for a marathon, running through the rolling rural hills on the Natchez Trace, a 444 mile asphalt ribbon dissecting the pastures and woodlands of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi.

I have been starting my races too fast and paying the price at the end. I was determined to run slower in the beginning and I did. It is nice when you find a group to run with. It helps pass the time and you make new friends. The guys I was running with were from Springfield, Missouri, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Jackson, Mississippi.

Marathons are conventions for runners. People come from all over the country for a common purpose - to run. Marathon training is something you do by yourself, so the actual event is a welcome change. I learn things by talking to other runners. We swap stories about races we have run, injuries we have had, hotels we have stayed in, and all sorts of topics.

I try to encourage and receive encouragement. One thing about runners, they love to talk about running. A marathon provides the perfect venue. If you see someone struggling, you encourage them or try to lighten things up. We have all been there. I have experienced the meltdowns and the triumphs.

I like seeing the different kinds of people. There are the first time marathoners who are wondering if they can make it. The old veterans who walk around with a kind of swagger. They know they will finish, but maybe they are after a certain finishing time. All ages are present from the children just learning to walk to the old folks in walkers. Families are there to support their runner. It may be a mom, dad, or spouse. While the runners are on the course, the families and friends mingle and have their own convention session.

The marathon event is a place of happiness and support Yet folks still wonder why anyone would like to run. Those from the outside see the physical exertion of running and it does not make sense to them, but if they could experience the other things that come with the physical exertion, it might make a difference.

I am talking about taking yourself to the edge. Certain things about yourself can only be learned on the edge. Running also has a deep spiritual connection. Runners learn a new appreciation for their body and new ways to enjoy their body. Running is a good way to experience nature. I like to feel the subtle differences in the day-to-day changing of the weather and the seasons. Each sunrise is new and unique, the birdsongs are never monotonous, and I never know what I might see around the next bend in the road.

The 2006 Mississippi Marathon was one of my most enjoyable marathons ever. I felt good and ran well. My time was 3:31:47. I was first in my age group. I ran the whole way except for stopping to pee at mile 8.

Afterwards, I sat in the sun talking to folks and soaking up the good feelings of accomplishment and community. I watched a little girl in a pink coat play with her mother. She had the uneven stumbling gait of someone who just learned to walk. It was a good day and a January Saturday I will always cherish.

Until the next time
John Strain

Marathon Day

According to my sidebar, I have a marathon to run today. I guess that is why I woke up in a Days Inn this morning. No coffee in the rooms or in the lobby, so I walked to a nearby Waffle House. While I sat there waiting for my two coffees to go, an older gentlemen wearing a John Deere cap sat next to me at the bar. It is a little cool for us here, 39 degrees, so he commented. "How about this weather. . . I thought I had a hard on when I woke up, but it turns out it was just an icicle." Not to be out done, I replied, "Ya, I know, this morning I was walking my dog and I had to break him off of a fire hydrant." I left him laughing.

Weather is perfect for running. It reminds me of what Crazy Horse told his fellow Sioux the day they rode out to slaughter Custer and his men, "Come on men, it's a good day to die." I don't reckon I will die today, but I feel the same enthusiasm Crazy Horse inspired.

I hope you have a nice Saturday wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Until the next time
John Strain

Put 'em in a box

It is human nature to label things, organize them, and put them in a box. I am referring to more than office supplies in a desk, and nuts and bolts in the workshop. We label people too. I suppose doing so makes life seem more ordered. Then we can hold beliefs in our heads like, "Men are always thinking about sex; All women like to shop; People in the south have pickup trucks fitted with gun racks; and Cops like donuts."

Another word for this collection of beliefs is prejudice. A prejudice is what happens when we pay more attention to our belief about something than we pay attention to that something. A prejudice or a label has some truth in it. They result from our experiences and observations. The beliefs may serve us well in some circumstances, but they may cause harm in other situations.

A prejudice is a continuum with political correctness on one end asserting there is no truth in it at all and bigotry and ignorance on the other end claiming the prejudice is the gospel truth.

We tend to gravitate to people who hold similar sets of beliefs / prejudices. Those with different sets of beliefs are fuel for our ridicule, suspicion, anger, and hate. We avoid those folks and our ideas about them stay unchallenged.

I am sure that in your life there have been times when you were forced to get to know someone with a different set of beliefs and it wasn't your idea. Maybe it was at school, work, or the armed forces. I see it in the hospital all the time. People are thrown in together and are seemingly incompatible, but become friends. Their beliefs may move toward each other, but even if the beliefs do not change, a respect develops where there was none.

It may make things easier to put people in a box, but it also makes them a lot more boring. If we ascribe a set of beliefs to everyone in a group, we miss the rich diversity of individuals.

Snowflakes have a lot in common, but each one is unique.

If we hold runaway prejudices, we are limiting ourselves. We limit our possibility of intimacy. We limit possibility itself. On the other hand, to challenge our preconceived notions is to stretch our minds and our understanding. We become tolerant, forgiving, and respectful of others. We experience serendipity and are rewarded with unexpected joy.

A group of people is neither all good nor all bad. The same thing can be said for an individual. I have done some wonderful selfless things and I have also done some incredibly selfish things. If someone were to presume to know me by virtue of seeing me at one of my low moments, I would be misjudged. Therefore, it is only fair for me to give someone a chance or two, because maybe my bad experience with them is an anomaly.

It is much easier and less stressful to let God do the judging. Instead, cut people a break, give them another chance, and look for the good in them. You can do this without being gullible and putting yourself at risk. These behaviors will expose you to grace.

Challenge your beliefs and resist labeling and packaging people. We'll all be in a box soon enough as it is.

Until the next time
John Strain

Fix your own printer dot com

You need to know about this website; it could you save time, money, and your printer from an early grave.

fixyourownprinter.com is a great resource. It has helped me on two occasions and could have a third time, if I had used them.

The first time I used fixyourownprinter.com, I had an old laser writer that didn't work. I stumbled onto the site and went through a funnel of sorts to diagnose the problem. First you select your printer, and then you click a link that is your problem. Presto, they have a repair kit for the exact problem complete with video instructions.

I ordered the repair kit for $20 or so if memory serves me correctly and it did the trick. It was fun, I had that laser printer in a million pieces, but it was not a difficult repair.

Fast forward. A year or two ago, I had an EPSON photo printer that was printing spotty. I finally took it in for repair and the cost of a fix rivaled that of a new printer. I was not happy, because the printer had had little use. Actually, that was what they said was the problem. The print heads clog without use.

It seemed to me cleaning print heads should not be a big deal, but I just blew off the printer. I never picked it up. I bought another EPSON printer, a C86. This one had far fewer bells and whistles, but did the job. Just before Christmas, I ran out of black ink. When I ordered and installed new ink, it didn't print at all.

I called the company and their witty tech support folks read me what was on their site's troubleshooting section. Basically, you clean the heads three times in a row with the printer utility. If that does not work, then you are screwed. They can take your order for a new printer. When I told them that this is the second EPSON printer to do this to me, they were not inspired to offer me a deeper discount. My anger grew.

That put me in a quandary. I had just purchased $100 worth of ink. I didn't want to buy another EPSON since this is the second printer to die of clogged print heads, but I didn't want to waste $100 worth of ink.

Enter fixyourownprinter.com. For $10 they have a repair kit complete with cleaning solution and syringe. I haven't gotten it yet, but I have my fingers crossed. I had thought about using alcohol. Not to drink, but to clean the print heads with. Anyway, on the fixyourownprinter.com website, it says not to use alcohol or Windex because they will ruin the print heads.

Printers used to cost several hundred dollars and the ink ribbons lasted a long time. Now printers are cheap and you pay $30 for about 300 pages of print. Can you say "rip off" boys and girls.

Well, this concludes today's public service announcement. If you have printer problems and you are remotely handy with a screwdriver, you can fix your own printer for a lot less than having someone else do it, or by buying a new one.

Until the next time
John Strain