It is about as good as it gets. No wind. Not too hot. Not too cold. A crispness to the air. A couple of dry leaves blowing across the court. No fighting the crowds. Pretty nice. Squeezing in just “one more” game before the snow flies
A recent trip to downtown Ames scored a pair of Clifton 3 running shoes from Brown’s Shoe Fit. The first thing I noticed handling this $140 shoe from Hoka One One was how light it was. Once I got it home and put it on the scale I found it came in at 9.2 ounces for a 9 1/2 size shoe. The same trip I had “bounced” a pair of Brooks and Asics in my hands and you could tell immediately how much heavier they were in your hands.
They were imbalanced heavy in the sole. The Clifton’s were “balanced” in the sense the uppers were the same felt weight as the soles. After the first mile they broke in and you got past the “clump, clump”, and each footfall brought a nice ‘cush’ feeling and spring in the step. During a Sunday morning run, they were as kind to old peoples feet as is possible in a shoe.
Now I want to get another Hoka, the Clayton to see how they compare. I’ve found out in my short time as a runner, that weight is a BIG factor in how enjoyable your running experience is. Another shoe I’ve heard a lot about is the Saucony Kinvara. Despite my sentimental attachment to the Brooks Ghost 6 that got me into running, they are just to heavy to justify. That’s one thing that bugs me about shoe reviews, don’t “describe” how heavy they feel, give us the ounces.
[5/29/17 update. I’ve noticed that after just 6 months of running in the Clifton 3, and those were over the less frequent running winter months, they are nearly worn out! I’ve noticed after looking at my New Balance that even though a year old, they are hardly worn! Same with the Nike. Hoka while making a very nice shoe, does not make a durable shoe. Its even less of a bargain when you consider their higher initial price. So no matter how nice a shoe they are, it’s ridiculous to pay $150 for a shoe you only get 6 months out of. The thin layer of rubber on the outsole they had to know wouldn’t last long. You are overpriced and under made Hoka.]
When you are a WordPress.com customer! It took me a few years to figure out what was going on. I’d started a blog in December one year, and the next thing I knew, I was renewing the $26 annual fee in August! I was thinking, “How does that work?”
Being a veritable mathematics genius, I knew 12 months equaled 1 year. Which is another way of saying annual. WordPress did this forced renewal at 11 months! Taking a month off an annual fee gives corporate profits a nice 8.33 % boost! Not bad….
Then they took away the option of renewing manually say at 11 months 27 days (a couple a days for cushion not to lose your domain name), and instituted an “auto renewal” system. Which locked you into the 11 month thing.
Which is a long way to say that is why this domain changed from Iowalife.org to IowaLifedotorg.wordpress.com , the “free side”. I would have been happy to pay $26 dollars a year for my own domain name, but I’ll be damned if I’ll pay a “yearly” fee every 11 months.
“It is a mindless philosophy that assumes that one’s private beliefs have nothing to do with public office. Does it make sense to entrust those who are immoral in private with the power to determine the nation’s moral issues and, indeed, its destiny? …. The duplicitous soul of a leader can only make a nation more sophisticated in evil.”
— Dr. Ravi Zacharias
[Dr. Zacharias is of course one of the greatest minds of the past 100 years. This quote made we wonder what the policies of a State would be if it was guided by a religion of hate? A religion that felt that everyone who was a nonbeliever must be murdered. Would the State then manifest its religion into its actions? What if the two weren’t separated at all? But in actuality there was NO separation of church and State. What if everyone had blinders on about this State Religion and wouldn’t call this evil out for what it was? What kind of hell on earth would be unleashed if this hate were to spread unabated?]
[This was found on YouTube by teacher Brad Zook: “I’ve been a teacher at an American public high school for 26 years. There’s an eerie silence now in the commons before school and the cafeteria at lunch as 100s of teenagers sit at tables with their “friends”, all of them staring at tiny boxes connected to earbuds and disconnected from those around them. I’ve had to enact rather serious consequences for using phones during my class. Many good kids do it anyhow. It’s like they can’t stop. I feel like I’m living in an episode of The Twilight Zone.”]
There are certain things in Iowa Life you can only experience at the Iowa State Fair. Having two strangers walk up to you on the grand concourse wanting to talk to you about Jesus is one of them. Josh and Cole are 2 exceptional youth from the Des Moines area that are ‘taking it to the streets’.
I might have been sitting next to the next President of the United States. That is John Habjan of the Constitutional Conservative Party getting ballot access signatures on petitions in order to be on the Iowa ballot for president! If you’re getting signatures in August, your chances might not be all that great… http://www.ccparty.us
For a photographer the highlight of the Fair is the photo competition in the cultural building. What the judges are thinking oftentimes is beyond me.
Sonya Finch of Grinnell had one of the Top 10 photos of the competition, and did she get ANYTHING? Nope. But several falling down barns got ribbons … . Judges.
The line to see the butter cow / butter Star Trek was already unreal before 9 am.
$6 for a corndog? I don’t think so. Take 50 % tax of zero, State of Iowa. $6 ? That’s way too close to a lot of peoples hourly wage of $7.25.
The State of Iowa hasn’t figured out (yet) how to charge for looking at the animals in the barn. Give them time.
[photos by DME]
If you were coming in the Fall,
I’d brush the Summer by
With half a smile, and half a spurn,
As Housewives do, a Fly.
If I could see you in a year,
I’d wind the months in balls—
And put them each in separate Drawers,
For fear the numbers fuse—
If only Centuries, delayed,
I’d count them on my Hand,
Subtracting, til my fingers dropped
Into Van Dieman’s Land,
If certain, when this life was out—
That yours and mine, should be
I’d toss it yonder, like a Rind,
And take Eternity—
But, now, uncertain of the length
Of this, that is between,
It goads me, like the Goblin Bee—
That will not state— its sting.
Emily Dickinson
(I think the air is better in the fall)
[AllPoetry.com]
‘Calico Kid’ by DME
“There is no Cat-toy like a Mouse
To please me in my Play
Nor any Yarn-ball like a Bug
That strives to fly away—-
No rubber Bauble can delight
No lifeless string divert—
For where is Fun if none feels Fright
Or Joy if nothing’s hurt?”
Emily Dickinson’s cat
“next to of course god america i
love you land of the pilgrims’ and so forth oh
say can you see by the dawn’s early my
country ’tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry
in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-
iful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?”
e e cummings
Iowa life 