Just Do It

There is nothing more important when going after a goal than motivation. Whether it is intrinsic or extrinsic doesn't matter. What is important is that those motivations are there. During the last training I was motivated by the drive within, but now that goal is accomplished I need a different kind of push. I have the answer with Nike+. For Christmas my LOVELY wife bought me the Nike+ chip for my iPod nano and my first run has officially been logged. In addition, to the historical data that will be gathered via this WONDERFUL invention, my good friend, and co-worker, Scott Wills has issued quite a number of challenges for me to participate in.

For those of you who don't have the Nike+ chip don't fret there is there is an alternative, a VERY good one at that...Runner+. It allows you track your runs just like Nike+, as well as other features, but it also tracks your shoe mileage and sync your data from your Nike+ account.

As to not sound too cliche', but get motivated for the New Year and start running.

It's Gotta Be the Shoes

When I was growing up "It's Gotta Be the Shoes" was one of the hottest sayings around. If you just bought some of those $100 Air Jordan's you would be able to "Be Like Mike". I am not sure if that is necessarily true, but I can tell you that if your shoes are shot then your runs will suck. Well at the end of Monday's run I started to feel the same achiness in my right foot that I felt right before I started training for the Memphis Half Marathon. Looks like the mileage has run out on the shoes and time to get a new pair. Monday's run was pretty good. It was the last ~3 miler (I hope Santa brings me the Nike+ chip so that I can more accurately track my mileage) that I will do this week. As stated in the previous post I need to start ramping up my mileage so tomorrow will be a 5 miler. I was hoping to get in a 7 mile run this weekend, but let's be honest it is Christmas and when will I have time.

For any of you SERIOUS runners at there don't forget to signup for the Swamp Stomper.

The Weather Outside is Frightful

Well due to circumstances outside of my control I wasn't able to run again until yesterday instead of the planned Thursday. It was another 3 mile run. I was hoping to have better results then my first run "back", and it definitely was. I decided to take a different route, which is a little easier than Monday's, but I needed the confidence boost. Though the weather here in Memphis isn't as 1/10th of misery that is going on in many other parts of the country, it was still a dreary, cold run. It took getting through the first mile or so before I was able to catch my breath, but I eventually did and was able to finish the run without a fraction of the frustration that I had previously experienced. Starting next week the "warmup" is over and I will be hitting the pavement hard and logging a lot more miles.

Until then...

Every Marathon Begins with the First Step

So over the past year the few times that I have written on this blog the subject matter has been mainly about those little annoyances of life that I find disturbing. I have decided to change my strategy on the subject matter. A week ago I ran my first half marathon which was the most challenging event that I have ever done. As I came across the finish line I had never felt so much pain in my body at that exact moment.

Even experiencing all that pain I was smiling. First, because of what the race was for as well as the fact that I pushed through and finished it. I thought to myself that if I could do this what else could I do. So here is the declaration...to run the full St. Jude Memphis Marathon next year. In order to properly perpare I am going to run the Germantown Half Marathon in March as well as the New York Half Marathon which should give me plenty of time for final preparation for the full marathon. So in my little corner of cyberspace I will chronicle all of my "ups and downs" (I know it was cheesy) of my training.

The day before yesterday was my first run since finishing the half. I could definitely tell I hadn't run in a week. In addition, it was cold and rainy but I pushed on through. We'll see if Thursday is any better.

Sometimes the Truth is Hard to Swallow

I usually arrive at work pretty early because it is quiet and allows me to read in piece. For some reason today I have come across real pearls of wisdoms. View points that no matter which side of the political fence you play on are good to reflect on. Though all of these quotes are from 'Right-wing' sites I believe that do create excellent talking points.

When Hypocrisy is a Good Thing - Selwyn Duke
"Does a virtue cease to be a virtue simply because the vice-ridden espouse it? If a preacher teaches that "Thou shalt do no murder," do we conclude that murder must be a moral act if we discover he is a serial killer?"

Why Iraq Matters to Me - Brett McCrea
"Even if you do not believe these groups will follow us here if/when we leave Iraq, then ask this question: Is it acceptable to allow these ideologies to gain more ground and proliferate? If it is acceptable, to what are we condemning the citizens of Iraq, the Middle East, and the world? These groups have already demonstrated their willingness to indiscriminately kill. I do not expect that to change if they gain control in Iraq. That is another reason why Iraq matters to me."

5 years of illumination – John Paul II’s gift of Luminous Mysteries personal, infused new life in praying of Rosary - Barry Michaels
"He emphasizes that there are no magic words to any form of praying and that, in the end, all prayer is about love."

(I've Got) Hoes In Different Area Codes

Sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me....unless you are Big Al and/or JJ.

Last night I hoping to see what was going on in the world around me. Instead of hearing reports about the war in Iraq or genocide in Dafur, I was run over like a Justin Timberlake appearance at a mall tour with the "breaking" news stories about Don Imus.

I couldn't take it anymore...I started taking notes for talking points that I would include in this blog. However as I sat down to follow up on some research before I published the blog I ran across Michelle Malkin's blog on the same subject and frankly she must have read my mind. She articulated the exact sentiments of those of us are who are tired of double standards held by not only the media in America, but also Big Al and JJ.

In addition to her thoughts below are supplemental articles detailing the hypocrisy of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

• http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=2411
• Vieira Hits Jackson With 'Hymietown,' Lauer Softpedals With Sharpton
• Imus Firing: Lauer Suggests NBC Caved to Pressure; Vieira Holds Sharpton's Feet to Fire

The Case of the Drunk Kangroo and His Oil Paintings

Why is that famous people feel that they have the right to own their domain names?!!! Just because of their hollyweird status they think they can lay claim on to whatever their eyes survey. In recent news Australian country singer, Keith Urban, has filed a lawsuit against the owner of www.keithurban.com. A major precedent that he will be using is the famous madonna case.

*aside* Just in case you want to know how Madonna won her case: Pop superstar Madonna has won her case at an international panel to evict a New York cybersquatter from the Internet address madonna.com, which was initially a porn site, U.N. arbitrators said on Monday.

Didn't the UN have better things to work on?

The American singer, whose famous hits include “Like a Virgin” and “Material Girl,” filed the complaint in July at the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization against businessman Dan Parisi who was first to register the Internet address.

A three-member panel at WIPO, the United Nations copyright and intellectual property agency that runs an arbitration system that evicts cybersquatters, ordered Parisi to transfer the site to Madonna.

The panel said Parisi, who is a Web site developer, had no trademark right to the name Madonna and failed to prove legitimate interest in the Internet domain name that he had
registered in bad faith.

Bad faith...if anyone has the right to be concerned about in fringing on a person's name or trademark [using Madonna's logic] then the Catholic Church should be requesting that the domain be transfered over to them since The Madonna has had a lock on the name, 'image' and 'trademark' a lot longer the Madonna.

I just love how Madonna thinks that by taking ownership of the madonna.com and making it her brand is going to remove people's perception of her being a religiously confused slut. That lawsuit was 7 years ago and all I can remember about Madonna is that she promoted her sexuality like a used car sales man on skid row, not that really bothers me because I keep my morals about as high as a midget's ankle anyway.

The panel said Parisi, who is a Web site developer, had no trademark right to the name Madonna and failed to prove legitimate interest in the Internet domain name that he had registered in bad faith.

I am still waiting to hear a good argument as to way he had to give that up. This isn't an eminent domain argument. What if he was squatting? What if he was holding out for a big payday? Is that any different from an investor holding out on a piece of prime real estate that he bought a long time ago that is now worth a lot of money?

*as of 02/07/2006 at 3:38pm CST patriotblog.com is now bidding for $40K*

Now a days domain names are the new real estate. It is all about location, location, location. If I owned beach front property I would make more money that if I owned beach view property. It is the nature of the game.

*end aside*

However, the main difference is that keithurban.com ISN'T squatting. Why you may ask...is the anger from Drunk Kangaroo because the keithurban.com is displaying photoshop'd images of the country singer bent over in a school girl's outfit smiling while licking a popsicles? NO.

He is crying over the fact someone is using it to...now get this...sell their own paintings. If you are still able to contain the outrage, then brace yourself for the fact that the person's name is in fact *drum roll* Keith Urban as well and has in fact owned the domain since 1999-05-10.

------------------------------------------------
WHOIS information
------------------------------------------------
domain: keithurban.com
owner: Keith Urban
email: keith28@optonline.net
address: po box 53202
city: Irvine
state: CA
postal-code: 92619
country: US
phone: +407.2380814
admin-c: CCOM-60533 keith28@optonline.net
tech-c: CCOM-60533 keith28@optonline.net
billing-c: CCOM-60533 keith28@optonline.net
nserver: ns1.hbhosting.com
nserver: ns2.hbhosting.com
status: lock
created: 1999-05-10 23:12:59 UTC
modified: 2006-09-24 01:39:18 UTC
expires: 2011-05-10 23:13:33 UTC

contact-hdl: CCOM-60533
person: Keith Urban
organization: Keith Urban Inc.
email: keith28@optonline.net
address: 231 Wanaque Ave
city: Pompton Lakes
state: NJ
postal-code: 07442
country: US
phone: +973.8315911

source: joker.com live whois service
query-time: 0.018278
db-updated: 2007-02-07 20:55:49
*****************************************************************
Registrant:
Keith Urban
PO Box 331549
Nashville, TN 37203
US

Domain Name: KEITHURBAN.NET

Administrative Contact:
McCready, Mary Ann maryann_mccready@FBMM.COM
P.O. Box 331549
Nashville, TN 37206
US
615-329-9902 fax: 615-321-5074

Technical Contact:
Radiant Communications Canada Ltd. domains@RADIANT.NET
1660 - 885 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 3E8
CA
604-257-0500 fax: 604-608-0999

Record expires on 07-Sep-2011.
Record created on 07-Sep-1999.
Database last updated on 7-Feb-2007 15:53:55 EST.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS1.API-DIGITAL.COM
NS2.API-DIGITAL.COM
---------------------------------------------------------------------
END OF WHOIS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The basis for the lawsuit is that Keith Urban (Drunk Kangaroo) claims that www.keithurban.com is misleading and implies that the website really belongs to Drunk Kangaroo...yea because God knows that only the famous Keith Urban has the right to market that name. It definitely has nothing to do with the fact that drunk Kangaroo doesn't own the dot com, which in case you didn't know has a greater likely who have receiving traffic.

I guess Drunk Kangaroo thinks his fans are too stupid to realize that they have navigated to the wrong site when they see a big picture of "Interactive Guide to Walt Disney World" not hearing the inebriated slurs of Keith saying, "Happy Valentines everyone, this is Keith Urban. Make the day special for your once in a life time love."

keithurban.com is not trying to fool people at all and the musician Keith Urban must be so drunk that he doesn't realize or cannot comprehend that people in the world sometimes have the same name as you!! I think keithurban.com should put a picture of an empty beer bottle on his home page and write, "Sorry, if you were looking for the Keith Urban that can't handle his drink, you've got me mixed-up with keithurban.net. I am Keith Urban the oil painting artist and I can handle my drink."

Sorry Drunk Kangaroo that you missed the boat on the .com address and got stuck with the junior varsity .net. Do you really think he would have been pitching a fit if he owned the .com and not the .net and why now is he causing a stink about this...his career is about a decade old?

Next time lay off the sauce.

Keith Urban...Australian for Drunk Kangaroo