That’s Life

Time to Cut the Cord

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I have mentioned here a few times that I was seriously considering getting rid of my cable television subscription. I have been thinking about it for a while due to the growing cost of it and lack of interest in watching most of the hundreds of channels in my package.

This decision is bittersweet. When I was growing up in the early 1990s, we were one of the last households (it seems) to get cable. I remember begging my dad to get us cable TV because it seemed like all the cool kids had it. He didn’t understand why we needed to pay for TV when we could get five broadcast channels for free.

Eventually, he relented, and we got cable, and I finally felt like I was part of the in-crowd. There was a lot of great things to watch back then for a curious kid. I was finally able to watch Teen Summit on BET and Yo! MTV Raps on MTV. I believe Tevin Campbell’s music video for Round and Round was the first video I had ever seen.

MTV was great back then because they actually used to show music videos! There was also this new show called The Real World, which was awesome because it exposed me to people and issues I wouldn’t have seen in my life. I think Pedro from the San Francisco cast was the first openly gay, HIV-positive person I had ever seen, and Tami from Los Angeles left an impression on me when she had her abortion on the show. MTV culture back then was different from today. The VMAs were worth watching back then, Kurt Loder was MTV’s Walter Cronkite, and who could forget Bill Clinton being asked about wearing boxers or briefs?

In my later teens, I started watching more CNN, which helped me decide to become a journalist. I loved watching Christiane Amanpour reporting from Bosnia and Bernard Shaw covering the Gulf War.

Today MTV, CNN, and the many other cable channels have become complete garbage. It is possible that I have “aged out” of MTV’s targeted demographic, but the programming on there now is just awful and lacks any substance. The same is true with CNN, which used to report the news. The last time I turned it on, I was watching Anderson Cooper, who had ten people on his panel yelling at each other. Now with Trump becoming president, I will want to watch even less of the cable news pundit yelling.

Enough, enough, enough!

In the next few weeks, I am going to look into alternative options to replace my cable. I get most of my news and entertainment from online these days. It is funny how life makes a full circle. Most of the shows that I like to watch today are on broadcast channels, like Law and Order SVU, Jane the Virgin, Designated Survivor, Quantico and Madame Secretary. The only regular newscast beside local news that I watch are Democracy Now, BBC, CBC, France 24 and CNN International online.

If you have any suggestions for the cable weening process, please let me know. I need to get off this cable habit real quick!

2016: My Year In Review

hand-1105331_640This has been a very strange year.

Who would have thought a year ago Donald Trump would be our next president?  I explained all my reasons he won previously: Hillary’s misguided campaign and low-information culture.  However, I do think there is some truth in saying that there are two sides of America and one side – working class whites – felt left out of the conversation.

Nonetheless, I do want Trump to succeed.  When he succeeds, everything that matters to me will also succeed – my family, my friends, my business and my livelihood. Unless there is a miracle before January 20, he will be our next president.  I can already see all the achievements Obama made over the last eight years disappear as soon as Trump comes to the White House.  I want to hope for the best, but I might have to settle for the worst.

Then on top of all that, we lost a lot of great people this year – Prince, David Bowie, John Glenn, Muhammed Ali and many others.  As I was writing this, I found out George Michael passed away too.  It almost seemed like Fidel Castro would live forever. Unlike George Michael, good riddance to Castro.  Hopefully, other aging dictators will be departing soon too.

Because this year was so stressful, I hope to continue with the work/life balance by doing less TV and internet searching and reading more books.  I want to also continue growing my business.  I was actually able to travel more for leisure this year to Canada, Morocco, Spain, and France.  And just when you think you are traveling to get away from all the political madness in America, I find it head-on in these locales too!  Almost everyone I met from Toronto to Madrid across many languages had the same question: “What is the deal with Donald Trump?”

I would just say: I don’t know; I didn’t vote for him, Je ne sais pas or No se, no voté por él. No es mi presidente as I said to one really disgruntled man in Barcelona.

I feel like I am going to have to do this a lot over the next four years.

Let’s be hopeful.  See you on the other side… of the new year!

Tolerance is for Everyone

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toleranceI don’t even know what to say… I am still in total shock about the events in Orlando this past weekend.  This is not just a issue about homophobia and Islamic radicalism.  This is not just an issue about gun control and mental health, although those two issues need  to be better addressed.

This is really an issue about tolerance.  The shooting in Orlando is just the latest in a long string of violence against innocent people because the assailant didn’t like something about them.  But this is not even just about physical violence.  Why has society become so intolerant of people who are different because of their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, or political beliefs?

We have become such a divided society that we can’t even agree to disagree even during a tragedy.  Just the other day a moment of silence on the House floor was disrupted by Democratic representatives protesting the inability of passing gun control legislation.   Of course, we need gun reform in this country, but what about civility?  A local franchise of Chick-Fil-A in Orlando opened its doors on Sunday to make food and deliver it to blood donors.  But they were drastically criticized on Twitter for its longstanding anti-LGBT stances despite the good deed.  

Speaking of the internet, I think social media and other online commenting forums have only exacerbated the hate in the world today.  Take for instance the mother of the child who got caught up with the gorilla a couple of weeks ago.  Sure, she may have made some poor judgment calls, but does she really need to get death threats?

And Donald Trump doesn’t help this situation either.

With his constant verbal attacks on Muslims, immigrants, blacks, Hispanics and women and the ever-growing physical violence at his rallies, this intolerance will only get worse if he is actually elected president.

This country is at a crossroads and we really need to re-evaluate what our collective values are.  As a civilized society, we need to remember that tolerance is for everyone.

How to Jog During Extreme Weather: Summer Edition

street-marathon-1149220_640Last Sunday I ran a 5K race in the middle of a rainstorm. At the beginning of the race it was just sprinkling, but the rain came down progressively harder during the course. Although I brought a light raincoat with me, I opted at the last minute to not wear it during the race to test out my endurance, and I am glad I did that.

When I first started to do recreational jogging over 10 years ago, I almost always went to the gym or even didn’t exercise at all because I worried about the weather interfering with my workout.

It’s too hot… It’s too cold… There is too much snow and ice… It’s rainy…

Excuses, excuses, excuses…

Over the years I have had to overcome these so-called barriers designed by Mother Nature in order to become a better runner. Nonetheless, with trying weather patterns, one has to change their running habits to acclimate to the situation. For instance, during this race I ran at a slower than usual pace mainly to avoid slipping and falling. Also, because I wear prescription glasses full time, the rain made it a little harder to see in front of me, so a slower run to wipe down my glasses and not bump into other runners was necessary.

Some of my friends thought I was crazy to even do the rainy race, especially a couple of my black female friends who are worried about my “hair situation.” I didn’t have a “situation” with my hair, as water is the best moisture black hair can get, thank you very much!

But even on a non-rainy day in the summer, there are still things runners have to do differently to avoid other problems. Here are some tried-and-true suggestions I have learned from my years of running during hot weather months.

Get up really early to run – I usually start my jogs in the summertime around 5AM. Mornings are usually the coolest parts of the day. During heatwaves I will go to bed early the night before and get up at 3 or 4 in the mornings to get my runs in for the day. If it is still too hot that early in the morning and if I am having a hard time breathing during my runs outside, then I head to my nicely air-conditioned gym! If you can’t run in the mornings, late evenings are okay too.

Watch where you run – A lot of us urbanites have to run in a concrete and asphalt jungle of brick buildings, sidewalks and streets that tend to retain more heat during the hot months. This is another reason to run in early mornings because sidewalks and streets are a little cooler during that time of the day. If you live near a park or a hiking trail, running on dirt or grass can be a better alternative. Also, if you are lucky to live near water – river, lake, pond, ocean, pothole with water puddle (just kidding), you can usually get a cooler breeze while running. Water can be really meditative. Running along a path where there are drinking water fountains along the route is a good idea to stay hydrated. Jogging into the wind also has a cooling effect if there happens to be wind when you are running, especially if you run against it.

Wear light clothing – Don’t wear bulking clothes. Less is more! Lightweight, moisture-wicking clothing will help your body breathe during those warm runs. Also, wearing dark colors will actually attract heat, so stick with light colors. If you do runs during the day, wear a baseball cap, sunglasses and sunscreen and run in or near the shade.

Drink water – You should always drink water before, during and after runs. This becomes even more important during hot weather as your body is more prone to dehydration and heat stroke.

Eat something – I usually run 3 or 4 miles in 30 minutes so I might eat half of a Clif Bar 20 minutes before my run. But usually because it is such a short run and it is early morning run, you don’t need to really eat anything beforehand, since your body will be using the natural energy that was stored in your body during your sleep the night before. When I get home then I make sure I have a good protein and iron rich breakfast, like oatmeal or Wheaties with soy milk and a slice of Ezekiel bread. If you are doing longer runs, you might need to do more pre-run eating.

Run slower – There is no shame in running at a slower pace in hot weather, especially at the beginning of your run. It’s better to be somewhat physically active than to not be active at all!

Understand your body – While it is good to practice endurance running, if your body is saying “not today,” then heed to your natural instincts and not run if the weather is too much for you. Do an alternative indoor activity instead, like pool running.

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