Respect During the National Anthem

171. Conduct during playing

During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should render the military salute at the first note of the anthem and retain this position until the last note. When the flag is not displayed, those present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed there.

I am at MANY sporting events since I help run the Daktronics Venus 7000 system for all USD Coyote sporting events (and a few high school events as well). One thing that has always irked me is people who do not take off their hats. Overall, I would give South Dakotans an "above average" ranking in this area, but they can still use some work. Even when I have to display the flag on both Daktronics boards, I still have my hand over my heart in respect. While I would love to see more people with their hands over their hearts (it's the Veteran/Patriot in me), the hat has to come off at least.

For those of you who watched the Oklahoma/Boise State football bowl game (yes, I know, it was a painful game for us OU faithful) and happened to catch the National Anthem, and have an ounce of patriotic respect, you should be appalled. They scanned the crowd frequently and I simply could not believe the number of people with their hats on. This included, my personal favorite, a guy with his hat on while talking on the cell phone.

Maybe I'm getting old, maybe it's the war vet in me, but I'm just not happy to see this kind of blatant disrespect for our National Anthem. I'm proud when Greg Merrigan, our local PA guy at USD games and high school activities reminds people that 'proper etiquette is to face the flag, remove your hats, and stand at attention with your hand over your heart' but should we REALLY need that reminder? Okay, end of rant...for now...

Laughing all the way to the playoffs!

I admit that I'm not the sports fan I once was, but I still follow the Kansas City Chiefs pretty closely. I didn't give them much of a prayer of making the playoffs today, but thanks to the *hated* Bronco's CHOKING against the 49ers in OT, the Chiefs beating the Jaguars, the Bengals losing to the Steelers, AND the Titans losing to the Patriots, the Chiefs are IN THE PLAYOFFS!!! Yeah, they probably won't get far, but I'm happy they will be playing next Sunday!

Cost per Mile of Operating a Vehicle

In the midst of "torturing" my children today by making them clean up their rooms, I decided to sit on the couch and look up something that has been weighing on my mind for quite some time: "How much DOES it cost per mile to drive?" Well, the answers were both interesting and thought provoking at the same time.

I will let you do your own research into this area to make your own conclusions, but for somebody who drives 10,000 miles or less per year in their vehicle actually pays more per mile than somebody who drives considerably more when you figure in the operating costs and the ownership costs.

One site broke it down this way:
Operating Costs
Gas per mile multiplied by total miles drive equals total gas. Add to that the cost of maintenance and tires and you have total operating costs.
Ownership Costs
Adding Depreciation, insurance, taxes, license and registration, and finance charges gives you total ownership costs.
Other Costs
Washes, accessories, etc.
Adding Total Operating Costs to Ownership costs along with other costs gives you total driving costs. NOW, divide that by total miles driven and you have costs per mile.

With the above formula, I guarantee you that my costs per mile driven are really high for as little as I drive. Why did I research this in the first place? As you might have guessed, it's a little self-esteem builder for the cyclist. If by bike I can do most of my commuting, going to the dome to work out, going to the store, going to the recycling center, I like to feel good about it. What could possibly make you feel better than knowing that you are probably saving 50-75 cents per mile WHILE getting a good workout on top of it all?

Another site brought up the points I was hoping to see monitarily but wasn't sure I'd find a definitive answer, and I probably still haven't: The social cost. What about the amount of pollution I don't put out, the cost of road maintenance and upgrades, and not needing a parking space. One site I found that I think aimed at a much more urban setting than ours (talking about the cost of congestion, etc) had the cost of driving as high as $1.19 (http://www.commutesolutions.org/calc.htm).

It's not that I needed an excuse to ride my bike to work and for errands, I was just hoping to put an approximate dollar amount on it for me and for anybody else who is interested. Food for thought...eat well.

2007 Fitness Goals

1. Goal: Ride 7500 miles in 2007 – Stretch Goal: 10,000 miles. This includes ALL miles, commuting, stationary, spin class, and training. I teach a 40 minute spin class and I’m going to count that as 10 miles. I don’t think that anybody in my class would argue that it’s at LEAST that much.

2. Ride the SD Gut Check – Stretch Goal: FINISH. I’ve never completed 200 miles in one day let alone 412 in 48 hours, so I realize this will take a different approach to my normal training.

3. Weight: 190 lbs by June – Stretch Goal: 180. The stretch is definitely a stretch for somebody who has been 200+ for quite some time. At the height of my chubbiness I was 230 pounds but due to a much better diet and learning when to put the fork down, I’ve hovered around 210 for awhile.

4. Improve time on 14 mile Intramural Course to sub 36 – Stretch Goal: Win Intramural Race in the process! – My four year reign as individual champion came to an end last year and I’d like to regain the title at age 40. Cycling against “kids” under half my age can make that quite the challenge as I found out last year. 14 miles @ sub 36 would only take a 23.3 average speed, but there are rolls in this course that you will definitely feel towards the end.

5. Improve 10 mile TT time to Sub-25 minutes – Stretch Goal: Sub-24 minutes The average to break Sub-25 on the out and back time trial (turn around in the middle) is a healthy 24mph average—to break 24 would take 25mph average. To do this I see two things that have to happen: my weight has to drop and I have to have a fairly calm wind day.

6. Have 30 riders on Team Road Kill for the MS Bike Tour – Stretch Goal: 40 – Last year we had 23 riders and raised over $14,000 between the Sioux Falls and the Black Hills WRATH rides. I would love to see that climb to 30-40 riders and close to $20,000 raised to help find a cure for this dreadful disease. If you are reading this and would like to join our awesome team on this ride, let me know!

7. Ride Tour de Kota - Stretch goal: Ride from Watertown to Vermillion on Day 7 - Day seven doesn't currently exist on the TDK, but I have one person who will ride at least to Sioux Falls with me on Saturday (the 7th day). It would be a good test to see how my mind will handle the pain of the SD Gut Check ride.

8. Finish Masters Degree – I know, not exactly a fitness goal, but more of a “mental” goal. I’ve been done with coursework for about three years and now I just need to finish my Professional Report to graduate. If I fail at this task, I’ll start losing credits from courses taken due to time limitations so that is added motivation to finish.

How Many Goals Will I reach?
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	ALL 8 !!!
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Christmas Comes Early!!

My kind of Christmas happened today. My orders from Deep Discount DVD and from Amazon arrived! I got one of the cycling classics (believe it or not it was on back order!) from Deep Discount DVD: Breaking Away. Apparently there is currently a huge demand for $5.99 cycling movies from 1979.

My Amazon order is mainly book order was what I deem "books to help my body act like I'm about to turn 40". The Cyclists Training Bible, The American Physical Therapy Association Book of Body Maintenance and Repair, and The Sugar Solution. Trying to cover it all; training, body maintenance, and a decent diet (don't worry, I still have my Carmichael "Eat Right/Train Right" too!).

We (cyclists) all need some off season motivations, so here's hoping that "Merry Christmas to Me" present helps me have a great cycling season for the "40th" year of my life!

...and the streak ends....

Originally I meant to keep track of how many straight days I rode my bicycle to work but I lost track along the way (I'll try again starting tomorrow!). With that being said, I'm sure that you know that I didn't ride my bike today. I'm not a huge fan of riding to work in the rain and being a "speckled-back-mud-skipper" for the rest of the day, and I'm certainly not a fan of rain when it's a whopping 32 degrees out. The temperature is actually warm for this time of year, but not so much when it's raining. After watching "Who Killed the Electric Car?" last night I feel like a major hypocrite driving to work today.

Who Killed The Electric Car?

If you haven't watched this documentary...do. It is quite possible that I may ride my bike even more than I already do. One movie made my hatred of the following EVEN stronger than it already was:

1. Government
2. Oil Companies
3. Automobile Manufacturers (most of them anyway)

If you need to borrow it, get in touch with me. I'll be glad to get it your way.