Saturday 8/12/23
I don't do it myself, but I like when people sign off their correspondence with a "warmly"--it's a nice way to be. You don't see it that much. Usually I go with "best" or sometimes "yours," or in special cases with certain people or someone who is going through something which we have just spoken about, "a handshake in my thoughts," though that's more for a guy, admittedly. I'm a big handshake person. I think a good handshake conveys something. You look someone in the eye and they take your hand and you theirs. It's a worthwhile thing to do.
While we are sort of on the same subject, a wave is nice, too. You see someone looking glum or lost in thought, or off on their own and maybe that's not how they wish to be, and a little wave goes a long way. It means, "I see you, you are not alone." A small thing, but a small thing of value. And person to person value. Which makes it less small.
Ran 3000 stairs at Government Center on Wednesday, then did three circuits in the Monument Thursday and five yesterday and walked three miles each of those second two days. The fundamental stair building block is the five circuit set in the Monument when you run the first 100 stairs each time. You can build anything off of that. With my inconsistent Monument schedule, that's what I'm looking to get back to in the next little bit. Yesterday's five circuits were inefficient.
While escorting my nephew and nieces to a bathroom at the Star Market on Wednesday I was pleased to see that some fall displays were out in the floral section.
I didn't see any of the Patriots' preseason opener. It can seem like meatheads get more excited for this game each year than any other. Many names are called of guys who will never play in the league. Perhaps the meathead likes that, because it gives them hope--in the retroactive sense--that they, too, could have been right there, and that those players no more made the league than they did, but they could have. They were close, at least, and end up tied with the meathead in the end. Well, sort of. Also, no one knows anything and simply says whatever stupid thing that comes to mind, so preseason football is a great time to say that that free agent signing from Bowling Green is going to be a starting linebacker. The next morning I checked Twitter--never a good idea, I grant--to get the lay of the land--a nonsensical idea, I also grant--and the first post I read said that Bailey Zappe is clearly better than Mac Jones and he deserves the job, and the second post I read said that Zappe was horrendous and should be cut this week. So, exactly what you'd expect.
My Bill Belichick prediction: This is his last year with the Patriots. I don't think they're going to be any good and I don't think Bill O'Brien is going to make much of a difference with Mac Jones because I don't believe Mac Jones is a quality NFL quarterback and it doesn't matter who the coordinator is. Not that I think O'Brien is anything special. Just more organized and with a better plan than the two fools who preceded him. This Don Shula record is meaningless. Peak and prime matter now more anyway than being around forever and hitting lofty totals. People only have the attention spans for blips. Which is another problem for me to overcome personally, but that's not what this paragraph is about. I don't think that record does anything for a franchise or a coach, though. Who is going to care? It'd be somewhat different, perhaps, if Belichick wasn't limping his way there with bad or at best mediocre teams and it was Super Bowl appearances and conference championship games, but that hasn't happened post-Brady and it's hard to see it happening. Belichick just looks exposed. I watched the job he did in 2003 with the injuries that team had and the adjustments he made and I know the coach he was. I don't think other people do or remember that, though. Or even noticed at the time. That was also a different era of football. For that era, I think Belichick coached as well as an NFL coach ever has. But for the second portion of the Patriots' dynasty, I think that was a lot less him and a lot more Brady. I don't think those were great--as in all-time great--teams. The '03-'04 teams were all-time great teams. They could beat the 1985 Bears or the 1984 49ers. I just don't see it with this coach at this stage, nor with this quarterback.
Yesterday at the cafe a woman came in whose neck was covered in tattoos and part of her bald head. She wore a T-shirt that read Intimidate All Witnesses. Who makes an Intimidate All Witnesses T-shirt? Who--besides this woman--is your demographic? You are not supposed to say this, but often you can look at someone and know pretty much all you need to know about them. Especially if you are at all observant. Not that one really had to be here. But do note that I said all you need to know about them; not all there is to know about them. Also: There is a lot of pain out there. And a lot of people who don't know what to do with it.
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