I Surrender!
Pollen, I concede to your millions of years of evolutionary supremacy. In Paul’s words, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” But now I bow in surrender to you. I wave the white flag. It is over, the AC is turned on. You win.
Filed under Rants, Reads, Uncategorized, Writes
Rest Day Read (SR-22)
Failure by Mark Twight of Gym Jones
“The gifted athlete who sails from one success to the next with little effort or training knows nothing of himself or how he might behave when truly pressured.”
Whenever I think I know what it is all about, whenever I think I have reached an acceptable, comfortable level and the good I am doing is good enough, I always seem to find a way back to Mark Twight’s essays on the Gym Jones web site. He always slaps me back into reality, back into challenging myself and pushing forward. Gym Jones always reminds me just how behind the game I am.
Back when I was training athletes, I lived by the philosophy of the Fail Cycle. I give you a task, first you would cuss me out and complain, then you would try and fail, beaten and broken. Then you would go home and it would eat at you all night that you failed. Then you would come back and work your ass off until you complete the task. Then a new, more difficult task would be handed out and the cycle starts again.
I admit, I used to worry about some of the stuff I would ask the athletes to do. But I also knew that we weren’t big, fast, or terribly athletically gifted as a group, so we had to prepare with maximum effort mentally and physically to turn our bodies into weapons. Their jelly-legged, exhausted, dead-ass tired bodies would drag themselves off the floor or dusty ground, give me that “you SOB” glare then go home. But the next day, they would come back fresh and ready to go.
It may sound weird to most, but seeing kids fight through those demons and push their mental and physical barriers, seeing them get up after being beat down and move forward a better man, is the one thing I miss the most about not coaching anymore. I do miss Friday nights, but I REALLY miss summer mornings at 6:30 AM.
No wonder the mothers worried so much…
Rest Day Read (SR-21)
“65 Toss Power Trap”
Wearing an NFL Films microphone during Super Bowl IV, Chiefs head coach Hank Stram made one of the classic play calls in NFL history, “65 Toss Power Trap.” Len Dawson recounts, “I’m in the huddle and here comes Gloster Richardson into the game with a play. He says ‘Coach wants you to run 65 Toss Power Trap.’ I said, ‘We haven’t run that play in a really long time, are you sure that’s what he wants?’ Gloster says, ‘Yes, it’s 65 Toss Power Trap.’” Running back Mike Garrett scored a touchdown on the play giving the Chiefs a commanding 16-0 lead in the second half.
Normally, I make some commentary on the rest day reads. But this subject is too emotional for me to get through without tearing up with joyful tears. I truly believe that putting the microphone on Coach Hank Stram was a pivotal event in turning the NFL and the Super Bowl into the super-megapolis they are today. Sorry, gotta go find a tissue.
Pleospora and Laccaria
Two star crossed young pollens fall in love amidst the violence and feuding of the olive grove outside of Verona. In a cruel turn, the young pollens come from deadly, bitter rival pollen families, Pleospora from the Ascospores and Laccaria from the Basidiospores. In the end, tragedy triumphs.
The Sound of Pollinating
A sweet, innocent pollen accepts a position as governess for widow and his 14 offspring and instantly becomes a hit with the young pollens for her stupid songs and goofy dance numbers. As fate would have it, she falls in love with the widow, a Captain in the military. She marries the Captain, much to the delight of the 14 youngsters, then helps the family escape from the evil, invading dictator, Nasonex.
Filed under Rants, Reads, Uncategorized, Writes
Pollen are minute grains, usually yellow in color but occasionally white, brown, red, or purple, borne in the anther sac at the tip of the slender filament of the stamen of a flowering plant or in the male cone of a conifer. The pollen grain is actually the male gametophyte generation of seed plants (see reproduction ). Inside the anther, pollen mother cells divide by meiosis to form pollen grains whose nuclei contain half the number of chromosomes characteristic of the parent plant. Each pollen grain contains two sperm nuclei and one tube nucleus. After successful pollination , the pollen germinates on the surface of the stigma of the pistil and produces a tube that grows down through the style to an ovule inside the ovary at the base of the pistil. The sperm nuclei are then discharged into the ovule; one fuses with the egg nucleus (see fertilization ) and the other fuses with the polar nuclei to form endosperm (food-storage tissue) that in many cases nourishes the developing embryo in the seed. This process is basically similar in the conifers, except that in conifers there is no double fertilization and there may be a season’s lapse between pollination and fertilization (see cone ). Pollen grains, like sperms, are always produced in much greater quantities than are actually used, particularly by those plants that rely on the wind for pollination (e.g., grasses and conifers). Often clouds of dustlike pollen can be seen floating from wind-pollinated trees. Plants pollinated by insects and birds usually have sticky pollen and conspicuous flowers with colorful petals that often secrete perfume or nectar or both to attract the agents. Although pollen grains are microscopic in size and are thus visible to the human eye only in quantity, they are so diversified in appearance that plants are often identifiable by their pollen alone, e.g., by pathology. The waxy outer covering (which contains proteins and sugar—an additional attraction to pollen-gathering insects) is marked by characteristic patterns of ridges, spines, and knobs and is capable of expanding and contracting in the presence of moisture or dryness. Pollen grains are also remarkable for the length of the tubes some must produce: corn pollen tubes may grow 8 or 10 in. (20.3-25.4 cm) from the stigmas through the filamentous styles (commonly called “silk” ) to the ovaries. The life span of pollen may be less than two hours; its ability to produce the allergic reaction of hay fever continues indefinitely.
“pollen.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (April 22, 2010). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-pollen.html
Filed under Rants, Reads, Uncategorized, Writes
The Pollen Post No. 3: Pollen TV
Pollenfeld (Sitcom)
The urban adventures of three young pollens, Grass, Flower and Tree and their wacky neighbor, Mold Spore, are played out in a hilarious show about nothing. Well, not REALLY about nothing, but about the interactions between the microscopic reproductive particles of plants.
Pollen, Texas Ranger (Crime Drama)
Ranger Pollen fights drug cartels, gangs, thieves, kidnappers and terrorists to establish justice in beautiful Texas Hill Country under the sage advice and occasional assistance of his mentor/martial arts sensei, Chuck Norris.
Rest Day Read (SR-19)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Scene 5
“Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?”
Scene 5. Man alive this is so funny. Being a scientist by profession, this is so much more funny for me. Not because it is such an outrageous spoof of ancient, backward scientific logic and thought, but because it is such a mimic of scientific logic and thought and their relationship to the knowledge base of a historical place in time.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I absolutely love this movie. I have watched it at least 50 times. At least. Way back in 1981 or 82, I won a free video disk player from Doc’s Video, one of the first stores in the KCK dealing in the new technology of home video. Doc let me pick one disk from his rental collection as an addition to the prize. I went to the rack and there it was…The Holy Grail! I could sense Doc’s mortal fear at having to part with the disk, but I did not feel one bit of guilt or regret. Besides, Doc still had the Beta and VHS copies. I hauled that dinosaur of electronics back and forth to friends houses, college and beyond just to watch The Holy Grail. Eventually, early in the 21st century, the disk lost its magic and became non-operational soon followed by the failure of the video disk player’s motor. I now assume the soul of the device could no longer stand the separation from The Holy Grail disk and died of deep and utter despair. I now watch the DVD. My progeny, the faithful HaysKids, also love the movie. We often share the secret language of Holy Grail quotes within casual conversation or dinner time. Scene 5 is one of our favorites.
And by the way, does anyone know the air speed velocity of a laden swallow?
Scene 5 from YouTube
Fitness New Year
Back on January 1, 2010, I designated April Fool’s Day 2010 as the first day of the Fitness New Year. Well, today is the day! And I must admit, it wasn’t a bad idea. The weather was cold, crappy and there was a buttload of snow on the ground 1-1-2010. Today? Well in Clay Center, KS, it is absolutely beautiful; sunny and mid-70s with the associated Kansas “breeze”. I know, I know, I am a freaking genius! No, not really, but today is as good of day as any to turn over a new leaf.
Start today with a clean slate, eat better, move more often and use movements that expand your range of motion as much as possible. Baby steps are still steps!
Last night it was 80+ degrees. The Mrs. Hays and myself went on our first “real” bike ride of the year. After going up the Hill from Hell, The Mrs. Hays actually admits she wishes she would have not stopped Fam-Fit over the winter. HA! Can I use that as a ringing endorsement? Sure, I can…
Fam-Fit
Enjoy 30 minutes of favorite outdoor activity.
(Me, I took the day off, had a parade then pulled the rose bushes out. Proceeded to cut out an area of the nasty Bermuda grass then expanded the vegetable garden in a Napoleonic fashion to double the empires previous size.)
Rest Day Read (SR-18)
Choruses from The Rock by T.S. Elliot
“But it seems that something has happened that has never happened
before: though we know not just when, or why,or how, or where.
Men have left GOD not for other gods, they say, but for no God; and this has
never happened before
That men both deny gods and worship gods, professing Reason,
And then Money, and Power, and what they call Life, or Race, or Dialectic.
What have we to do but stand with empty hands and palms turned
upwards in an age which advances progressively backward?”
When I did a little rant about poetry a couple weeks ago, I received a copy of this gem of a poem by T.S. Elliot from Mr. A. Catlin. I thought it appropriate to use early in Holy Week to help us evaluate where we are, both personally and professionally, in our relationship with our fellow man and with God. After reading and digesting, decide if you currently work to advance “progressively backward” or are determined “to work and live to honor God”.
Rest Day Read (SR-17)
If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together…there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think, but the most important thing is, even if we’re apart…I’ll always be with you.
-from Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
Today, I read this and heard it spoken at a very sad event I attended. In this particular time and place, it brought a tear to my eye, a lump to my throat and punched a hole in my heart. As modern life spins and whirls around us, we must remember to smile and to hug and to enjoy on a more frequent basis. We are fragile things.
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