This was an amazing book. Really gives me an understanding of the social environment of the times, the personalities involved and the immense struggle they went through.
Book Completed: Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63
“I Tried To Make Something in America”
I was watching one of Adam Savage’s Tested videos and he mentioned ‘SmarterEveryDay’ (Destin is the host) and the video ‘I Tried To Make Something in America’.
Great video. Check it out here.
Book completed: The Greatest Sentence Ever Written by Walter Isaacson
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
A fun short book to read. Here’s an interview with the author from the Harvard Gazette.
Book completed: The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
Just finished reading the Dog Stars by Peter Heller. Enjoyed it. Will be interesting to see how the book is adapted to the film.
Using Claude for a 1/2 Marathon training plan?!
This is…pretty good.
24-week half marathon training plan
April 20 → September 27, 2026 · Returning runner at 58
Easy run
Long run
Cross-train
Tempo / race
Rest
Run the Chicago Lifetime 1/2 marathon in the fall? Sure…
I ran this race back in 2009 and have been wanting to do it again ever since.
The Life Time Chicago Half Marathon is a flat, fast course along Lake Shore Drive — a great setup. It’s at the end of September in Chicago, which makes for ideal running weather and…the last time the weather was absolutely gorgeous.
I was a bit younger then which will make the prep work a bit harder. Whatever.
If you’re interested, here’s my invite link: https://letsdothis.com/share/69deac54cff0cef3984795f8
Time to read again
As happens, life has overtaken my reading. Time to get back to it.
Amelia Earhart
“The most effective way to do it to do it”
Pretty good.
Meet Edith
Edith is/was a feral cat born in May of 2025. She was hanging around after her mom and the other feral cats we had hanging around left (they are still around just not around our house). It was pretty cold outside during January and we decided to coax her inside the house. She and our other cats get along fabulously.
2026 – Multiple Books Completed
Been awhile since I did an update. I’ve been traveling which is always a good time to get some reading done. Let’s see what we got:
- Butcher’s Crossing, Author: John Williams – 01/24/2026
- The Unforgiven, Author: Alan LeMay – 01/25/2026
- A Blaze of Glory, Author: Jeff Shaara – 01/25/2026
- Everything is Tuberculosis, Author: John Green – 01/25/2026
- As the Crow Flies, Author: Craig Johnson – 01/28/2026
- A Serpent’s Tooth, Author: Craig Johnson – 02/02/2026
- Any Other Name, Author: Craig Johnson – 2/15/2026
- Life and Times of America’s Banana King, Author: Rich Cohen – 02/20/2026
All of the above books were pretty good. Number 1 and 2 are Westerns and rest vary on subject matter.
Everything is Tuberculosis was the book that I learned a lot from. I didn’t know that tuberculosis was so prevalent.