Every Racer Has Story

Today was a stunning day: bright sun, cloudless sky, crisp air. I ran the Niketown Run for the Park with my brother, his wife, and 4700 other runner. It was a shorty — 4 miles in 29:29 — but I ran it pretty quickly for me (7:22/mile). And standing at the finish, I was reminded…

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Stay Tuned

My windows are wide open. Outside, the chirp of birds and the buzz of traffic in equal measure. Looking up, the sky is bright blue. It’s 6:22 p.m., and the sun has yet to set. Finally, it’s springtime. And not a moment too soon. I went to the Knicks game last night with bassist Tony…

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The Graduate

Today began on Continental flight #369, seat 14B (the middle seat, a.k.a. “riding bitch”), arriving Newark, New Jersey, from Las Vegas, Nevada. I fell asleep just moments after takeoff (23:00 PT), and slept soundly until just seconds before landing (7:00 ET). I staggered off the jetway, stumbled zombie-like to Starbucks, grabbed my bag, got my…

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What Freedom Feels Like

I went running early this morning in Red Rock Canyon in the mountains west of Las Vegas. It was, in short, as beautiful, peaceful, and awe-inspiring a place that I’ve been to in months. It was stark contrast to the faux-opulance I’ve been taking in here in Vegas, but the entire experience helped me better…

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On Hold With Wayne Newton

I’m on hold with the Wayne Newton Theater. It’s Sunday night. In less than an hour, I will bow before Mr. Las Vegas, Mr. Excitement, himself. I’m in The Venitian Hotel, 33 floors above the famed Las Vegas Strip. Everyhere I go in this town, every set piece and gold-plating I take in I think,…

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USA Today

I just happened across today’s issue of USA Today, my first since the war started, and man, I gotta’ say, if America’s reading USA Today, drinking Bud Light, and eating Big Macs, no wonder everyone’s so God damned gung-ho! Man, how fucking optimistic can you get! Sure, there are photos of shit on fire, but…

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“And It’s 1-2-3, What Are We Fightin’ For?”

Last night I watched Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows.” Tonight I watched Johnny Knoxville’s “Jackass.” I’m finally starting to laugh again, after what feels like weeks of gloom and doom over this war with Iraq. Which doesn’t make me less anxious, entirely, or less concerned that The Project for a New American Century’s ‘Pax Americana’ isn’t…

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A Little More Optimism

My father emailed me this morning and said “I’d like to see a little more optimism on your web page… I don’t think it’s the end of the world!” I appreciated the sentiment, but discounted it just a little bit given the global condition. But then my buddy Matt in L.A. emailed me this afternoon…

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Screwing The Pooch

If I hadn’t spent the vast proportion of my weekend alternating between radio, television, internet, newspaper, and magazine coverage of this war with Iraq; if I weren’t a little frazzled from the anxiety all the news, background and commentary had created; if I weren’t hungry despite a steady diet of Starbucks coffee and Lean Cuisine…

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Light Reading On War, Death & Conspiracy

The Wall Street Journal ran an OpEd piece this morning on MTVNews.com‘s coverage of the war in Iraq (see “Gen Y Goes to War”). “While surfing through the news section of MTV’s Web site,” they write, “We happened to stumble across its “At War With Iraq” link, and it sure belies the cable network’s spoiled,…

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