2009- New Beginnings? Oh $*%$. No, actually lets keep it the same.

Yes, okay, I haven’t updated in awhile, but, it is a new year and a time for new beginnings.  No, I am not talking about Barack Obama.  I am talking about new beginnings in track!  Oh wait, damn, we had a good year in track… you mean when the economy tanks good things can happen?  Oh… well then lets hope for no change when it comes to track!  Of course there will likely be many changes this year.  Like, hopefully a certain someone will break 2:10 in the 800.  And maybe a certain someone will actually get back to the form he was at last spring (okay so we can hope for one new beginning :/)

Okay so I am not going to bore you with stupid results from last time because 1) You already freakin know them; and 2) I Don’t feel like it.  So, I will bore you with other news from my life that you likely could give a crap about.

So it’s Christmas break (thank the Lord) and, uh, yeah, I am so bored it’s nt even funny.  Like seriously you’d think I’d have something to do but I don’t (other than practice, of course).  So I’ve been thinking and making some decisions which are none of your business and yeah.  Well at least it has been relaxing.  So, uh, yeah that’s all I have to say about that.

Wow okay I’m at 220 words which is not much so I am going to ramble.  OH I’m running for governor in 2014 so vote it up then.  I am hoping I get a good running mate (because, of course, the people decide).  I actually still haven’t chosen a campaign manager… I’ll have to get on that.  So, yeah, join the Facebook group if you haven’t already and please support me and spread the word about me.  I think I can do a good job. 

So, okay lets get back to track.  Do you know how much it sucks having an injury?  A LOT.  Like I’m pretty much over it now but now I’m so far behind in training and its tough to jump back in and try to be competitive in a sport where it’s hard to be competitive in the first place.  Like it’s hard enough but then throw in a wrench like an injury which holds you back for months on end and it sucks.  But I dunno I am feeling better and hopefully I can get back into the form I was in last spring.  It’s frustrating, though, ya know?  Like I’m competitive and I want to be able to help the team any way I can but I can’t do that yet even though nothing is physically  hurting… but I just can’t keep up yet.  Agh.

So yesterday we submitted the financial assistance form (aka the holy crap this form changes both my life and the lives of other in such a huge friggin way form) and yeah I’m confident they will decide to give enough money (nahhhhht, I have no confidence).  But we’ll see it should be all good, but who knows, ya’ll might be without me come next fall…

Talk at ya later

A Few Facebook Laws to Follow

I’m allowed to talk about other crap, right?  This is my blog, not the official SJP track/xc blog.  Therefore, I can talk about whatever my heart desires.  I’ve been on Facebook a few months now, and I’ve noticed a few things which piss me off, and some that make me happy.  Therefore, although others have talked about it before me, here are my unofficial Facebook rules.

The Status

The status, as I am sure you are aware, is a great feature.  For those of you too out of the loop to not be on Facebook, iut’s a thing where you tell everyone what you are doing/thinking/how shitty your life is.  Here’s what I hate… there are too many people who update it constantly.  If you are going on vacation, to the mall, or to the football game, by all means, tell me.  But, if you are getting it on with the girl next door, please, for the love of God, leave me out of it.  I could give a shit.  If you’re being forced to go to your sister’s school play, go ahead, tell me (especially because I love hearing about your suffering). 

The limit for updating your status is… oh… 3 times a day.  Anything more than that tells me one of two things: 1) You’re friggin addicted, and 2) You aren’t really doing that, because you never get off Facebook.

The Profile Pic

Okay, so many of you may be like… “Wow, this is an easy one, right?”  Well you’re wrong.  Many of the idiots out there on FB suck and either never add a profile pic, or they use some friggin celebrity or logo or some crap like that as their pic.  I have some very simple rules regarding this for you. 

Firstly, you need to actually add a profile pic.  If you don’t, you suck.  What if there a billion Joe Schmos out there.  If you don’t have a pic, how do I know it’s you when I’m searching for you?  Exactly, I don’t.  That leads me to my second rule.  You HAVE to pick a picture of you.  Not Brad Pitt.  Not Miley friggin Cyrus.  Not the logo for the damn Boston Red Sox.  YOU.  And there is absolutely no excuse for picking no pic and only having a damn question mark.

Thirdly, and most important… we have to actually see you.  Not even your face necessarily (as long as you have hair that stands out or a big ass scar on the back of your neck).    But, it needs to be of you and we need to see you.  You can’t be half a mile away.  FINALLY: DO NOT TAKE PICTURES OF YOURSELF!  Oh my God, this pisses me off so much.  Especially when you can see the flash in the damn mirror.  If you can’t find a real picture of you, maybe you should get off your computer.

The Friends

Your friends list is only allowed to include people whom you have actually met before.  Also, no relatives or your parents.  Come on, that’s creepy.  If you see a request and wonder who it is, that is a good indication to NOT accept the request.  It makes you a Facebook whore, and therefore makes you suck.  You cannot have more that… oh… 500 friends (and that’s being lenient).  On the other hand, you need to have friends.  The point of FB is to communicate with friends, so why don’t you?  You need at least 10 to look legit.  Period.  No exceptions.

The Wall

I don’t care what new FunWall just came out, you are only allowed to have one wall.  In addition, you need to be able to distinguish between a wall post and a personal message.  A wall post is a quck little question or statement, for example “Wanna go 2 the Y today?” or “You looked stoned at the party last night”.  Then the person might respond and you are done.  Anything else is a personal message.  I don’t want a gazillion friggin wall posts from Joe Schmo cluttering my wall.  Personal messages are more like emails.  A better comparison: wall=text messages, PM=phone call.  Of course that is for normal people.  I know people have whole convos on texts, but that’s a different rant for a different day.  Don’t confuse the two.  Thank you.

The Invites

DO NOT INVITE ME TO ANYTHING!  Unless of course you know I’ll love it.  Like if you find a group/app/whatever about track/xc, then by all means, invite me.  But if it’s one of the retarded “Let’s get everyone in one group” B.S. groups, then please leave me out.  I hate those.  I hate people who invite me to them more.  So please, don’t invite me.

The Network

This is my last one.  If you go to a school that has administrators who monitor facebook activity and bust kids for it (I won’rt mention any schools), don’t join the network.  Just join your local city’s network instead.  I don’t want you to sacrifice your freedom of speech because of a B.S. administration that thinks they can control what you say online.  I like the constitution, so, personally, I like freedom of speech.  So dn’t sacrifice it.  The only exception is if you don’t say controversial things or don’t give a crap what the school thinks of you (like me).  Then, by all means, join the network.  Hell, friend the the administrator if you really want to stick it to the man.  It’d be like “Na na na na na, I don’t care what you think of me “

Talk at ya later

MA State Meet… ummmm… Can You Say SHOOTOUT?

So I think everyone would just die if I don’t post again before the state meet, so I guess I am pretty much required to.  I guess they didn’t catch the Average HS TrackGuy title.  Like seriously, is there any mention of cross-country there?  No.  Yeah, I’ll occassionally post about it, but it is not required based on the title.  Thank you and have a nice day.  So yeah as indicated by the title the state meet is coming up on us this Saturday… and yeah it is pretty much going to be AMAZING.  Like un-freakin-believable.  I mean the divisional meet was amazing, and now you add teams from CMASS and WMASS and EMASS D2 and you have this unbelievable mass of… good running (get it mass, Mass, Massachusetts?  oh I slay myself).

Okay so here’s the deal.  We won the EMASS D1 Title this past Saturday over two other kickass schools (one of whom didn’t run one or two of their top guys…) and it was pretty much an amazing meet.  So we qualify for all states this weekend and it is going to be amazing.  Like completely amazing.  So amazing, I can’t put it into words.  It’s going to be unbelievable.  And I’m going to be there!  And *suposedly* Mr. 800 Dude is gonna be there too, along with senior Mr. 800 dude who was there on Saturday.  Basically, we are SuperFans (ummmm… ignore the part about getting wasted)  I actually really want to have a band at the XC meet but no-one seems to be going for it.  I dunno.  Are the musicians at our school really that weak?  “Wahhh, I don’t want to get cold…. wahhhh”  Like seriously we don’t even have a band for the football team.

So anyway the meet is gonna be amazing.  Mr. Hockey (and now WINTER TRACK…. YAYYYYY) Guy is in it and should be top three or four or something this Saturday for the team, and Mr.. Erm… I Don’t Remember what I called him last Spring guy is in it too and should be sixth but I dunno he could surprise us and be fifth or something  (or seventh… who knows???)  Ya I am pumped about going to this thing.  I’m gonna try and get as many guys to go to this thing Saturday as I can but I doubt many people will want to go to an XC meet.  But seriously this is gonna be intense.  If you are within oh, 1,000 miles of Boston on Saturday, I highly reccomend making the trip.

In other news some guy from www.runnerspace.com (actually the creator of the site) was wondering if I am going to the meet.  Now this guy lives in friggin Oregon, so I doubt he is going.  I’m wondering what the hell he wants with me.  It’s actually kinda creepin me out.  That’s all the news about me today.

Back to the meet.  It is gonna be AMAZING!  Like really amazing.  Ummm I really don’t have anything else to say.  Come and down and cheer us on.  Ummmm we aren’t crazy fans so don’t think of that kind of craziness but it will be good.  Oh and by the way you could get on camera.  I was shot in a video of last Satuday’s meet as I was watching it so who knows?  You could get seen on barely watched videos.  So come to the damn meet.  Thank you.

Talk at ‘ya later

Wait… A Post????

Yes my friends, I have returned to blogging about track and field (coverage now includes a delicious slice of XC!)  So, yeah, sophomore year has begun, and basically I think we have the best sophomore group in the state.  No, really.  Like seriously, we (and by we I mean the “other” sophomores) absolutely kick ass.  So remember Mr. Hockey Yankee Loving Guy?  Yeah, he went down to Manhattan (must’ve felt right in his freakin home down there with his Yankees fans…) and won the Sophomore B Race at the Manhattan College XC Invitational with a time that is a helluva lot better than mine would’ve been (honestly I just forget).

What else do we have going for us?  Well we have Mr. I Don’t Have A Nickname and I Don’t Know If I Did Before Guy running well.  I don’t have any specific times, but whatever.  Take my word for it, he’s been doing good. 

We also have Mr. Former Soccer Guy… well he’s been injured most of the season with a minor ankle injury and has only run one meet.  According to him, he didn’t do very good.  He probably wouldn’t want me to post his time on here.  I probably would if I had it, but, luckily for him, I don’t.  But, in his defense, it was his first XC meet not only of the season, but also of his career, and he did not have proper training leading up to it.  So, he’ll probably be ready for winter, which is good.

So let’s see here… one, two, three… *GASP*  That is only three out of the fab four freshmen (now the super sophomores???)!  Where in the world is the famous Mr. 800 Guy?  What happened to him?  Oh, right, he decided he wants to play soccer.  Yup, that soccer.  Of course, hockey isn’t any less funny (though it is better than soccer)  Damn now that song from the soccer vid is gonna be stuck in my head all night.  Oh and that #1 on the hockey bloopers is sad.  Honestly, I could have done that!  Why don’t I get paid lots of money to do that?  I also like the one where Dennis Wideman (current Bruins great) went kinda flying… now I’m getting off topic.

So the varsity has clinched regular season Conference championships… blah blah blah.  They are good blah blah blah.  So, there’s your update, and hopefully I will be posting a little more often than I have been as of late… until then…

Talk at ‘ya later

P.S. Check out a group I made for the team on www.runnerspace.com… you can make it to the actual page by going to www.runnerspace.com/sjpxcandtrack

Soccer… UGH!

So this week a certain 800 meter runner started talking to me about soccer, a sport I haven’t played since I was about eight. Now, of course, I can’t get the sport out of my head. I thought I might tell about my brief and semi-successful soccer career. You see, I really enjoyed it (as most eight year olds do for some reason), and I was an all right player, if I do say so myself. I played mostly D or midfield, but I also occasionally played goal (oddly, one kid thought I was some star in net). I liked goalie the most, but I rarely got the chance there, because I was one of the faster guys in the league.

So why did I quit??? My dad. He was always complaining because I played only the fall season, and that cost the same amount as if you played in both the fall and the spring… so naturally I felt bad because I was costing my parents money. So… I claimed that I didn’t like soccer anymore so I could quit. I am now looking at that as a big mistake, because now I have a hankerin’ to play soccer. ARGH! Naturally, my town (as with most towns) doesn’t have an in-town soccer league for guys my age, so I’d have to make the travel team (probably wouldn’t be pretty). I wouldn’t want to play in the fall, because I’m running cross country, but I would like to play in the summer (those leagues just don’t exist, I think). Of course we are in the middle of Euro ‘08, so I am seeing the damn sport all over the place.

I wish I had soccer liking friends here in town, but all of them actually hate soccer. It’s really killing me (symbolically, of course). I actually went down to the park today and started dribbling around for awhile and shooting, trying to pick those corners. I don’t know who to be more angry at right now, Mr. 800 or my dad. I’d say my dad… because I’m happy I have been re-introduced to the sport, but it’s just frustrating me. I have to find soccer playing people in town that will be willing to let someone who has few skills play with them (yeah, this is seeming more and more hopeless).

And on that happy note, let’s get to some news. I am thinking that July 3 is “the day” (if you don’t have a clue what I’m saying, IM me- crossover274). It’s looking warm and sunny next Thursday, and it will definitely be a perfect beach day according to WBZ (okay, so I just got rid of the need to IM me). I’m gonna try and get Mr. 800 to contact people through Facebook (see my post on Facebook problems). Maybe we’ll just meet there, but it’ll be better if everyone follows my dad’s truck, because we know the way in without needing to park and pay $20. Again, IM me with any questions, I’m often online, especially around 11:00 PM, sometimes mid-afternoon (1:00 or so), sometimes early morning, sometimes early evening… just wait for me I guess. We’ll see how this day works out for everyone (including me…) July 3 is the day Gloucester celebrates the fourth, so it’ll be a good day to be down there.

I think that is all I have to say today… so I hope you all have a good one!

Talk at ‘ya later

Celtics Win (Okay, about a week ago)

Yup, it’s one of those slow summer nights and I realized that I haven’t posted to the blog in a while.   Then I realized, I haven’t posted about the Celtics big victory!  So, here you go.  I’m absolutely pumped about that because I’ve been a crazy fan of the C’s since elementary school, even through all the tough years of Orion/Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, etc, etc.  Of course, people thought I was absolutely crazy, but whatever.  I’ve finally seen it happen, although I am disappointed that the fans didn’t storm the court.  Frankly, who cares about the stupid security/police officers blocking your way?  Pull a Larry Bird and plow right through them.

Okay, I’m done praising the Celtics, because frankly, most of all one of you don’t really care.  I should say that Mr. Soccer Distance Guy (or whatever I called him before) is officially renamed Mr. Consistency in the confines of this blog, as recommended by Mr. 800 Guy.  Also, I forgot Mr. Javelin guy in the honorable mentions in the last post, so I would like the apologize for that and note the change that I made to that last week.

So what have I been doing?  Well, I’m glad you (and when I say you, I mean I) asked.  I’ve been running, “working” as a caddy at a local golf club (if you include not getting a chance to actually caddy and just hanging out at the club working) and, of course, waiting for the weather to get warmer so I can go to the beach (still waiting on any plan updates from what was mentioned at D2D… don’t worry if you don’t know what I’m talking about… although anyone reading this probably does).  Yeah, so, we’re (and my that I mean me) waiting on that.  I’m thinking fourth of July weekend (the fourth is a Friday, so Saturday or something).  I dunno……………………….. I don’t know if I’m serious…. am I????????

I feel that I need to address the problems up in Gloucester (aka the second greatest city).  It is still a great city, but I feel that it is sad that there are so many stupid girls and guys in a truly great city.  It does have to change, and I hope the mayor and school officials can work it out (although I am not reassured by the fact that the mayor is blaming George Bush… is she stupid?)  It still has the best beaches in the world, and that is final.  Period.  I hope that people do not give Gloucester a bad rap because of the idiocy of a few people.  Thank you.

Talk at ‘ya later

The Fab Four Freshmen- At Seasons End

The season came to an end a few weeks ago, and so I have been contemplating the final “standings” for the fab four freshmen this year. It is clear that we have one of the better classes of 2011 in the entire state, and it is fun to rank them (I guess). Keep in mind that I did NOT run cross country last year, so I am not including what happened in cross country in this particular “article”. Keep in mind that this is me writing this (if you know me), so my rankings might be a little, well, different than most. So, without further ado, here are the final rankings for the fab four freshmen.

#1- Mr. Soccer/Distance Guy

This may surprise many of you reading this, because if you go by the statistics, he is not really number one. He was consistently good, but probably not the best for most of the season. But, as someone who I can’t remember once said, great players (runners) play (run) great in great games (meets), and that is what this guy did. Period. He beat Mr. Hockey guy in the mile in the League Championship, which was a shock to almost everyone. He also stepped up and took second in the winter League Championship, although that wasn’t as much of a surprise. We need this kind of guy in the future, a guy who can step up when we need it. Frankly, I think he was better than Mr. Hockey guy the entire spring season, but kinda sat behind him and let him take the regular season glory. Too bad he is a soccer player, we could use him in cross country…

#2- Mr. 800 Guy

Although he didn’t live up to the expectation of winning the FR/SO 800 championship in the spring, the kid from BC High ran like a beast, and I don’t think he would have been stopped. But, this guy did win the 600 meter league championship in the winter, along with helping to lead us the the 4X400 championship in the winter. He ran a 1:31 600 in that meet, and he ran a 2:13 in the spring League Championship in the 800, good enough for second. I think he ran faster than that at some other point in the season, but whatever… he’s still wicked good. I know he would have liked to have broken 2:10 this year, but we’re okay with that. I would have liked to have broken 4:50, but stuff happens. Consistently solid, Mr. 800 deserves number two.

#3- Mr. XC/I dunno

He would be ranked higher. He really would. He just didn’t run as consistently as I would have liked. To me, consistency is so important, and if you run consistent, breakthroughs will happen. This guy did run well at times, especially in the spring League Championship (10:36 two mile) and the winter league championship (he won the mile). So, I know what you’re saying, he steps up in the big meets, shouldn’t he be number two? Yeah, but he was inconsistent during the season, as he had a bit of a slump during the spring season. It’s nothing to worry about in the long term, but it does hurt him in the “voting” here (okay, now I’m just trying to sound cool, I’ll admit it). He finished strong, but was just not good enough to break the top two.

#4- Mr. I’m Too Good For Winter Track So I Play Hockey

Shockingly to most, this was the easiest decision for me. He’s a freakin’ Yankees fan for God sakes. Period. That puts him at number four. And, he thinks he is going to play hockey next year when he WILL be running winter track. I love hockey a lot, more than most people in the school, but even I know that he belongs on the winter track team. 10:27 two mile? Pffff. 4:47 mile? Pffff. That is all overshadowed by the fact that he is a Yankees fan. I’m sorry, I know it is irresponsible for me to do that, but I don’t care. No Yankees fan deserves to be in the top three.

Ahhhhh…. and while I get that out… I as as well get this out

Anyway… here are the honorable mentions:

• Mr. 400 Meter Guy
• Mr. Big Throwing Guy
• Mr. Hurdler Guy… uh…
• oh yeah… Mr. Javelin thrower
• I can’t think of more

Thanks for reading:

Talk at ‘ya later

My Plea for Help From Facebook

Wow.  Facebook may just have the worst customer service of any website I have ever been to.  Seriously, it sucks.  I figured that I would just share my great experience with you.  So, on Monday, I emailed them asking for some help, as I have had some login problems… here is my carefully constructed email:

Hello,
I am new to Facebook, and it seems I have a problem already.  What happens is I login with the correct password (I checked caps lock and everything) and it tells me I need to enter my password to access the page, and all the tabs at the top are there, along with the “account” and “logout” buttons, etc.  If I click any of those, I am automatically logged out somehow.  If I enter my password, it says that my password and email don’t match up, but it still looks like I am logged in.

Now, this happened before, but for the past day or two, it suddenly started working.  I am not sure what I did, but I obviously did something right.  Then, I had to turn off the computer, and it stopped working again.  The same thing happens in both Firefox and IE.  I have not been able to find an answer to this problem on Google, etc.  I am going to try running a virus check, because before the login worked for me, I ran one, eliminated two PUPs (potentially unwanted programs), and it seemed to work.  I don’t know if this is possible, but I am thinking that it may be a recurring PUP, that is, when I turned off the computer, it came back.

If you can offer me any advice, I would greatly appreciate it.  I am running Firefox 2.0.0.14 on Windows XP SP1 with Comcast internet, although I don’t know if that is important, since it WAS working before.  I have also tried enabling cookies, deleting them, deleting other internet files, deleting history, and running system restore, in addition to the virus scan.  If this helps in any way, oddly, the same thing happens to me on Yahoo!  I am not sure if your login is set up similarly to theirs, but if it is, that may help.

Thank you for reading this near essay (if you ever get around to it), and thank you in advance for any advice you can offer me.

Sincerely,

Now, I took some time writing that email.  I wanted them to be sure that I was serious about getting an answer and solving my problem.  That was pretty much as good as I can get for a formal email.  So, naturally, about a minute later, I got the auto response:

Hi,

Facebook User Operations has received your inquiry. We should get back to you soon. In the meantime, we encourage you to review our Help page (http://www.facebook.com/help.php).  There, you’ll find answers to many common questions.

Thanks for contacting Facebook,

Facebook User Operations

So, I’m thinking, “Okay, this is good, I’ll get a response in a day or two”.  So, I start getting myself excited.  I’m thinking that I am finally going to solve my login problem in a great email from one of the competent Facebook staff.  So, I was EXTREMELY excited about this response.  So I wait… and wait… and wait… and three days later, after all that waiting, I see a response in my inbox.  I am extremely happy, so I click it and this is the crap I get:

Hi Brad,

We are aware of the problem that you described and hope to resolve it as soon as possible. Sorry for any inconvenience. Let me know if you have any further questions.

Thanks for contacting Facebook,

Daisy
User Operations
Facebook

Wow, that was definitely what I was waiting for… a nearly robotic response to my beautifully constructed email.  Thanks Daisy, I appreciate your crap.  Next time, don’t even waste your time writing my name, because, really, what’s the point?  If I ever fix the problem, it won’t be because of you.  Isn’t it obvious that the problem is on my end?  If it was on your’s, then it wouldn’t work for ANYONE.  I’m not tech expert, but even I understand that.  So, I guess Facebook’s techies suck worse than I thought.  Whatever, hey, if anyone has any help for me, I would appreciate it.

Talk at ‘ya later

Mr. 800 Guy’s Grades

He is angry that I said he is not a beach guy, so I have started a class to teach him how (which means learning about Gloucester, MA, the greatest beach town in the world). He has had one pop quiz so far, so here are his grades:

Score Information

Earned Possible

0              5                Quiz #1

3              3                Quiz #2

5              5                Quiz #3

3              0                EC #1

0              3                Quiz #4

Q1 Grade- 11/16 68.7 %

Quiz #1= major Fish Company in Gloucester?

Quiz #2= condition of GHS track

Quiz #3= Name of lighthouse at breakwater

EC #1= Name of Breakwater

Quiz #4= Name of beach on Annisquam?

Luckily he has plenty of time to bring that up….

I Hate Facebook (Help?)

Okay, I need help.  This is the time when all my techie readers emerge from their little holes and help out someone they have been reading.  Okay.  So, I tried to make a Facebook account (even though I hate it).  That actually worked out successfully.  But, when I try to log in, the page either refreshes or it tells me the password is incorrect, even though it’s not. 

Now, I’m a pretty big computer guy myself, so I thought I tried everything.  I tried enabling cookies for facebook, I tried deleting cookies, I tried using Firefox and IE, and, of course, I tried caps lock.  I also tried looking into my firewall.  I don’t know if this is relevant for anyone who is willing to help me, but I am running McAfee, but I don’t think that is relevant.  The firewall is currently set to medium security, which says “The firewall will prompt you when applications request access to the internet” which is why I don’t think it is important.

Damn Facebook sucks, but it would be nice to communicate with my friends, I guess.  If I can’t figure this out, I propose the whole world changing to another social networking site, such as Bebo (I also hate mySpace).  This is the final straw for Facebook.  I think it is just my computer.  Of course, I will accept donations of a new computer instead of advice…  By the way, IM is crossover274 if you want to IM me with any help…

Any and all help truly appreciated, thank you!

Talk at ‘ya later