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At work on Friday, a co-worker and i somehow got around to musing about the origins of the UNC Tarheels.  Why is their mascot a ram?  Why did a ram make sense to represent a tarheel?  What is a tarheel anyway?

I asked Lance about it and we mused about it, but neither of us knew.

I asked my brother Nathan, who used to volunteer as a tour guide when he was a student at UNC.  He told me it dated back to the Civil War, when the Carolina boys held their ground the best.  Apparently some general said they “dug in their hills as though there was tar on them.”  OK… so UNC takes its mascot from a story in which they were on a losing side of a war, which was being fought over the right to own slaves.  I guess those Carolina boys really wanted to keep their slaves.

I asked my friend Malcolm, who attended UNC in his youth.  His story was that it came from the first UNC student, who walked all the way here from the coast, and did so much walking he had tar stuck to his heels.  OK…

I asked Wikipedia, who told me the etymology was unknown, but historians believe it came from the fact that tar/pitch was a major export in early NC history.  Wikipedia also listed the different legends that had grown around it.  Including the one Nathan told me, which appears to have the most references.

I have stumbled onto a very interesting blog called Experimental Theology.  The author is a Christian who also happens to be a psychologist, and his research and essays focus on the psychology of behavior in the context of religion.  It is interesting reading.  This column caught my eye in particular.

It is about about the way some Christians differ widely in what they say and what they do.  They often talk about working on their relationship with Jesus, but in doing so, they ignore acting as Jesus would have done.

The author is Dr. Richard Beck, and his comments remind me of a post i made earlier this year that linked to another story about church folk refusing to tip.  This is not a commentary about all Christians; i’m sure there are those that tip well.  But there is no denying the very widespread perception among waitstaff across the country that the Sunday crowd, ie the church crowd, tips the worst.

Anecdotally, I admit to leaving extra money on the table a time or two when my parents treated us for dinner when they were visiting us.  Because i had seen the check and didn’t think 10% was enough for a waitress that worked her butt off.

I love this writer, though, and am subscribed to his RSS feed.  The things he analyzes are fascinating.  Nathan, if you’re reading, i think you would really resonate with his writing and his message.

Read the full article.

If you know me at all, you know i’m a bridge fiend.  I normally play twice a week at the local club, and then sometimes on the weekends for nearby tournaments.  And then i ALSO use up my vacation days from work to travel around the country playing bridge.  In fact, Lance and i will be attending the San Diego North American Bridge Championship for 9 days around Thanksgiving.  Yes, for Thanksgiving i will not be with family - i choose bridge instead.  My parents don’t understand this, but i can’t help it.

The average age of bridge players belonging to the American Contract Bridge League is about 70.  And that’s with people like me bringing the average down!  Bridge used to be a staple in college cafeterias.  Now, young people may not even have heard of it.  More commonly, “oh, my parents play, but i never learned.”

So anytime bridge gets some press, i’m excited.  I don’t want this game to die out because no one plays anymore.  And recently the Wall Street Journal published an article about bridge. It starts off:

I am not sure if there are clinics that will help you get over bridge, but if there are not, then perhaps some enterprising entrepreneur will take up the idea. I think it would work, but the problem is that we all know what those admitted would do in their spare time. Exactly.

And somehow I feel it would not work. Addicts have to want to change, and most bridge players I know have no desire to do so.

Any exposure for bridge is good, in my opinion.  There are currently efforts to get bridge back in the schools, the most successful being the Atlanta Junior Bridge program.  Raleigh is attempting to start a junior bridge program as well, but we haven’t gotten our feet off the ground yet.  Bill Gates and Warren Buffet (shown at right, playing in a tournament) have even gotten involved in supporting youth bridge.  I hope all of these things help revive a fabulous pastime.

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that made me happy this week: Leaves changing - the world is so beautiful right now.

Something i struggled with this week: I’m losing motivation for doing my photography assignments.  We’ve moved beyond photographing people, which is what i really wanted to learn how to do better.  This week’s topic is silhouettes - i can’t foresee wanting or needed to do this.

Something tasty i ate this week: No-Bake Treats

Something i learned this week: Money and the history of money.  And how The Fed is the ultimate reason our economy has completely collapsed.

Something from the bridge table: A story about how i got a little revenge on another bridge player.

Some things i am doing towards my goals: I had an excellent race in yesterday’s Tobacco Trail 10-miler.  I feel ready for the half-marathon.

Something i am reading: Nammah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey

Something happening around the house: New gutters on one side of the house - one bit had detached and was jutting out pathetically at a weird angle.  We’ve been rescheduled for this a couple of different times, and i’m continually amazed at how inefficient the contractors are.  I’m glad this task is finally done.

Something i am thinking: It might me time for me to venture into the Twitter world.

Something i am looking forward to next week: New laptop!  Windows 7 is finally out, and i have ordered a new laptop.  It’s pink!  And it’s on its way.  I managed to completely skip Vista.

Something i am hoping: That upgrading Lance’s two computers from Vista to Windows 7 is as easy as advertised.

Something random: After long runs, i get blisters on the ends of my 2nd toes.

Something captured: A new cell phone - a Samsung Alias 2.

I signed up for this race because it is two weeks before the Outer Banks Half Marathon, and i figured it was a good training distance. For some reason, i was expecting it to be hilly, but i was pleasantly surprised on that front.  The course was an out-and-back course along the Tobacco Trail, which is a growing trail in the area.  The website indicates they are turning unused railways into trails.  The surface was compacted soil - a little easier on the feet. (Though my feet still hurt!)

The race was pretty small compared to other races, only 400 runners.  It ended up being a good size, though, considering the logistics of the thing.  We had to park a few miles away and catch shuttle buses to and from the race site.

It is a beautiful time of year in Raleigh.  The leaves are just starting to change, and everything looks a little bit like it’s on fire.

I got up at 7:15, ate a banana, then grabbed a small cup of coffee and several bottles of water for the 30-minute drive.  Found the parking, no problem.  On the shuttle, i heard a familiar voice - one of my bridge friends was there!  He and his wife are both runners.  I met a few others on the shuttle, and suddenly i felt a bit more comradarie with everyone.  It helps psychologically to know people are there who are rooting for you.

We got dropped off at the race site at 8:15.  First thing was a bathroom stop.  I walked around some, and around 8:35 i peed again.  The women started at 8:50, and i’ll be damned if i didn’t have to pee AGAIN just a few minute in!  I asked the people around me if they knew if there would be port-a-johns along the way.  Someone indicated yes, they should be available at the water stops.

So i spent my first two miles somewhat uncomfortably “holding it in”.  My pace in the first mile was too fast, as i was bunched up with other people and just keeping up.  The second mile the people spaced out, and i see-sawed with the girl who had told me about the port-a-johns, who was doing the 3-1 run-walk thing.  I think my pace was roughly 11 minute miles.  The men started 10 minutes after us, and the first wave of them were passing me before the end of mile 2.  At the water stop, yes, thankfully, two bright blue port-a-johns, and i gratefully took my place in the short line.  Afterwards, i felt MUCH better, grabbed some water, and could concentrate on the run.

As i mentioned, the course was very flat.  With my bladder empty, i suddenly felt really good.  I surprised myself by settling into a pace that varied between 9:30 and 10:30.  There were no real landmarks besides the water stops (and i’m too lazy right now to go download the info from my gps watch), but i just consistently kept the pace.  I remember i passed the 3 mile mark at about 32 minutes - though i did stop my watch for my pee break.  I passed the 3-1 girl who was nice enough to tell me about the port-a-johns and never see-sawed with her again.  I ran mile 6 in 9:59.  I beat my 10K time from the Cary Road Race in the spring (which had big hills).  I really was amazed that i was able to run at this pace and keep it up!

A few thoughts going through my head at this time: 1) maybe next year will be The Year Audrey Gets Faster and i follow Cindy and $Bill’s footsteps (ha) and hire their running coach. 2) A surefire way to feel fast even when you’re not is to take a bathroom break and then pass all the people who would have been behind you. 3) I’m afraid i’m going to really lose steam in the last miles.

Things did start to get harder.  My feet started to hurt after all the pounding.  I started trying to do math in my head, which is always hard for me while running.  It’s akin to when i press Snooze on the alarm clock in the morning - the math i do in that in-between state is always fuzzy.  But i finally figured out that a pace of 10-minute miles would mean a time of 1:40:00 and 11-minute miles would mean a time of 1:51:00.  With my great middle miles, i would surely be in between those if i didn’t stop.

That was all the motivation i needed.  I strove to keep my pace in the low 10s.  I walked for a few steps at each of the final two water stops, to gulp down a few mouthfuls of and then douse myself with refreshing, cold water, but that was it.  Each of those final miles was around 10:40, and i finished, by my watch, right at 1:45:00.

I felt great.  My chip time will be a little slower because of the pee break, but i am ecstatic.  I’m going to try to repeat this at the Outer Banks Half in two weeks, and thus demolish my time of 2:32:00 for my first half-marathon two years ago.

Today is the day.  Windows 7 is officially released, and stores will begin selling computers with Windows 7 pre-installed.

How i have been waiting for this day!

I have two laptops right now.  One is 3 years old, has 512MB of memory and was dirt cheap when i bought it.  It’s physically falling apart.  The other is an Apple Powerbook, which is even older, 5 years maybe?  It was a nice computer in it’s heyday, but it’s ancient now.  Computers age faster than dogs.  Both my laptops have become slower than mud.  It is way past time for me to replace them.

I could have bought a new laptop anytime in the past months with the plan to upgrade to Windows 7 after it was released.  But then i would have had to deal with Vista, and that thought makes me throw up a little in my mouth.  So, perhaps illogically, i chose instead to wait and get a shiny new laptop that doesn’t have to be configured in any way.

And now the day is here!  Oh, the anticipation!  Which laptop will be the chosen one?

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that made me happy this week: Seeing family.  And seeing mom improve so much after her shoulder surgery in just a few days’ time.

Something i struggled with this week: After five months, i bit off my fingernails.  I’m not sure what happened this week, but now i just have these poor pathetic nubs instead of nails.  Pout.  Starting over…

Something tasty i ate this week: Grandma’s homemade applesauce.  Yum.

Something i learned this week: A new game, Bananagrams.  Extremely fun!

Something from the bridge table: I posted a two more new columns from last week’s sectional, and some miscellany as well.

Some things i am doing towards my goals: I competed in a Toastmasters’ speech contest Tuesday and was annihilated.  It showed me that i definitely need to improve.

Something i am reading: Meltdown by Thomas E. Woods and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

Something happening around the house: Reunion with Nugent, who has been visiting his Uncle Malcolm while we were gone this weekend.

Something i am thinking: Writing the Somethings gets to be a chore when i have so much going on and not enough time to do it all.

Something i am looking forward to next week: Having some downtime after a crazy two weeks.

Something i am hoping: That good weather continues and i have a couple of good runs this week.

Something random: On my Wii games comparison post, i got an actual comment from someone i don’t know.

Something captured: Lance and Audrey from three years ago.

A few months ago, Lance and i purchased a new Wii game called My Fitness Coach.  We had each individually heard good things about it.  And the Wii Fit was just not cutting it, for me in particular, as an exercise tool.  At least not by itself.

What follows is my assessment.

The Fit has some fun balance games, but those are its best feature.  The other categories are “ok” and i’ll elaborate below.  The graphs provided for tracking your progress in the Fit are also great.  At one point i was researching if it was possible to download your weight loss graph because i wanted to put it on my blog.  Negatives - no matter what you’re trying to do, you have to go through too many screens to do it.  And switching profiles?  Very difficult.

My Fitness Coach has filled many of the gaps in the Wii Fit.  It far surpasses the Fit in a few crucial areas.  However, it is not a complete replacement for the Fit, as it is missing some of the Fit’s nice features.  But both together make a great overall physical fitness challenge.  Here are a few points of the major differences.

• Initial profile.
  • The Fit imports some of your basic data from your Mii, and doesn’t ask for much else.  The first time you play, you must complete a body test.  We found this pretty annoying when we were in a party setting, where each person just wanted their own Mii to represent them in the balance games.  With so many screens, the profile definition and initial body test (along with the requisite commentary from the cartoon Balance Board) probably takes 10 minutes.
  • My Fitness Coach took us each through an extensive profile definition that took 15-20 minutes.  We used a tape measure to get circumferences of various parts of our bodies, as well as performed some basic fitness tests (how many push-ups can you do?).  You have the option to skip most of it, though.  Weight and measurements must be entered manually, as this game does not use the balance board.
• Number of pages.
  • The Fit has too many “pages”.  The cartoon balance board tries to be cute every single time, when all i want to do is turn on the game and go play balance games.  I don’t want to hear your damn fitness tips.
  • After experiencing the Fit, it surprised me how easy it was to get to the “meat” of the game in My Fitness Coach.  You tell the trainer you want to workout, and she asks three questions - what type of workout (cardio, upper body, pilates, etc), how long do you want to workout, and what equipment you have available.  That’s it.  No superfluous cutesy tips or lectures.
• Switching profiles
  • To switch profiles in Fit, the common scenario being your family or friends are gathered and are trying to beat each other in downhill skiing, you have to back-out through a dozen screens.  Getting back to the downhill skiing with the new person similar goes through another dozen or more screens.
  • In My Fitness Coach, you rarely need to switch profiles, because there is less of a “game” element.  You wouldn’t be playing this game in a party setting.  (It’s focus is truly working out.)  But, the profile switching is extremely easy, 2-4 screens only.
• Multiple players
  • The Fit is 1-player only.  (With the one exception of the cardio-running where you can have a friend join you.)  I found this to be somewhat annoying when Lance and i were trying to workout together.  We would do the weight section together, for example, but only one person can get “credit” within the game.
  • My Fitness coach has a Group Workout mode.  You then select the names of those who will be joining in this workout, and everyone gets credit for the workout in the log.  It’s a nice feature.
• The “meat” of the game
  • Fit - There are four categories, each containing a bunch of “mini-games”.  Much fanfare is made of being 1st place in each game.  This is appropriate in some cases but not in others.
    • Balance Games - Excellent.  All of the games are unique, fun and engaging.  Except the weird one with the candle.  These are great in a group, or just by yourself, while you try to beat your previous best score.
    • Aerobics - Not great.  There aren’t that many exercises, but they do get you moving.  You can increase the intensity to a good level with the running and the Rhythm Boxing, and the Hula-Hoop game is a very good ab workout.  But even the longest workout is only a few minutes.  I’d like to see a 30-minute string of these things, without the interruptions of having to go through a dozen screens in between each exercise.
    • Yoga - Pretty good.  Balance and core exercises are important and often neglected.  I wish there were more exercises - i believe they limited themselves by always trying to include the balance board and/or wii-mote in the exercise somehow.  This is fine for poses where balance is an issue, but there are many yoga poses that happen on the ground.  I also wish there were options to go through all poses at once instead of having to click through a dozen screens in between each pose.
    • Strength - Good.  The exercises that are there are solid.  Some are downright hard.  I won’t say that you won’t get a good workout, but when i think of strength training, i think of weights.  This is more like calisthenics.   Push-ups, lunges, twists, stand-up-lie-down, etc.  Definitely good for you, but it’s not a muscle-building exercise like pumping iron would be.  You could easily get to a point where you wanted a more intense workout.
• The trainer
  • The trainers in both games are roughly equivalent, robot-types that offer encouraging words.  I find the Fit trainers to be more annoying because they talk too much at the beginning and end of each exercise (again, more screens to click through).
• Tracking progress
  • Fit is superior in this category, providing several attractive graphs to track your weight loss, BMI, Wii Fit Age, and workouts.  You can also add time for workouts you did outside of Fit.
  • My Fitness Coach may provide a graph or something, but i actually haven’t found it yet.  You can enter workouts that were not performed in the game to get credit, but i haven’t seen where this is logged.

We’ve made use of both games together when we get in stretches of times where we are wanting to workout more.  For me, i see the Fit as more of a “fun” game while My Fitness Coach is more of a “workout” game.  I’ve seen a few other workout games out there but haven’t tried any other ones yet.

A fun photo from Pet Day 2009.  They had someone on site to take family portraits.  Awww…

Others writing the Sunday Somethings: Kerry

Something that made me happy this week: Playing bridge with Lance.  He is a wonderful partner, he is pleasant to the opponents, he makes thoughtful bids and plays.  Everything he does is for a reason. (Though i don’t always figure it out!)  I enjoyed playing with ya, sweet thang.

Something i struggled with this week: The partnership desk really makes me mad sometimes.  People are so unbelievable.  Another example from Friday: a guy shows up and says he needs a partner; a few minutes later, another player arrives.  Seems perfect to me.  I introduced them.  After a brief discussion, the first guy now says “Can i talk to Audrey alone for just a minute?” and tells me he would rather not play with this less experienced player.  And he leaves me the awkward job of telling the less experienced player he isn’t wanted.  Sigh.

Something tasty i ate this week: My dad took us out to Shabu Shabu while he was here during the week.  The Tuna Tataki was awesome, and the Wolfpack Roll was awesome-er.

Something i learned this week: To get rid of an ant infestation in your car, get some ant bait, spread black pepper around the floor of the car, and clean thoroughly.

Something from the bridge table: Some friends encountered an unintuitive safety play in the knockouts.

Some things i am doing towards my goals: I “won” the next level of the speaking competition i’m competing in with Toastmasters.  Again, it was by default; this time i had no one to compete against.  They must have heard i was coming. (Yeah, right.)

Something i am reading: Meltdown by Thomas E Woods.

Something happening around the house: We are exhausted after a weekend of bridge.  Neither of us has the energy to do anything, though there are lots of things we should be doing, such as laundry, grocery shopping, cooking meals for the week, not drinking, finishing my photography assignment.

Something i am thinking: Jim and Pam’s wedding on The Office rocked.  It must be cool to be the couple whose wedding inspired an episode of a hit TV show. (If you don’t know what this means, you probably aren’t watching The Office, and if that’s the case, i think you’re missing out.)

Something i am looking forward to next week: Visiting mom & dad in Asheville.  It’s not for a happy reason - i’m helping out my mom while she recovers from a shoulder surgery.  However it will be good to see her.

Something i am hoping: To get back on track with running.  I didn’t run at all this week - i kept saying “after work” or “in the morning” or “tomorrow.”

Something random: This joke made me laugh.

Something captured: This is a bidding box we use for bridge, such as the tournament we played in this weekend.  This allows for silent bidding, which removes ethical problems that can arise with audible bidding (confidant versus resigned, for example).  Isn’t is pretty and colorful?