FacebookTwitter
tom@stortz.com
21 Sep, 2011

Interacting the Internet

By |2011-09-21T19:20:58-04:00September 21st, 2011|My Brain|2 Comments

34,466 people have been to this website in the 2+ years since its creation. 67.78% of people bounce from this site. Average time on the site is just under a minute. These numbers don’t mean a thing when I have to consider what people actually think of this site. I wrote about the tiny space between the seat of a car yesterday. This isn’t exactly ground breaking material. I don’t know if people out there read that entry and think wtf or people actually think it’s entertaining. It’s somewhat obvious that at least someone out there reads what I write considering the scale of the numbers. Now what they think about what I write is a different story.

I can only tell you how I think when I’m interacting with websites. I don’t. I might give a like to a video on youtube or comment on the off topic pocketfives forum, or a facebook status update every full moon. When I browse the web I want to come and go as I please. I can’t be getting stopped by speed bumps like commenting, ads or unwanted videos. So I understand that most people don’t feel the urge to comment, I’m the same way. I just have a difficult time writing about things that people want to read about without any idea what they want to read about. When I random person googles something and my site comes up, what is going to get them to my site and keep reading? Probably not an entry like this.

I wonder if my audience judges me on these entry’s. Do you take this seriously? Is everything I write a hint at what I’m like as a person? It’s questions like these that make this type of a website challenging to maintain. For people who know me, I can see why you’d visit this site because you could be involved in my life on a real life basis and maybe I’ll mention something you’re familiar with. But considering most people probably don’t know me, how do I make them read this material and than decide to continue visiting it. I’d have to be a seriously interesting person to make them come back. I’m not. So I’ll continue writing about car seats, Storage Wars, fantasy football and the current book that I’m reading. I’m not sure if my goal is to create celebrity status but I think the answer will eventually come. One of these times I’ll write some improbable post about something stupid and it will be brilliant. I think that’s what I’m shooting for.

20 Sep, 2011

A car’s biggest design flaw

By |2011-09-20T23:46:41-04:00September 20th, 2011|My Brain|4 Comments

The space on both sides next to the seat is tighter than a butthole (Workaholics premiered tonight with a very average episode)(The tight butthole reference comes from that show for people who think I’m sick). I can’t be alone with this sentiment. I’m expecting that this post generates 50 comments with people saying I agree 100%. As a normal human being you probably are always handling things while driving whether it be your phone, some food or any other random object. When something falls in between the crack of the seat, directly to the left or right, this becomes a major problem. The space is too tiny for you to fit your hand comfortably and the weirdest thing about it all is that the pain that is derived from trying to fetch something out of this space is enormous. It’s like a hand cramp or shooting pains, I swear it is the most frustrating thing on the planet besides trying to bust a nut when you’re too drunk. What you usually have to do is move the seat all the way up or all the way back to get the item and then that messes up the leg room & the pedals and then the mirrors have to be adjusted again. It’s even worse when you drop a tiny morsel like an M&M (which luckily has a thin candy shell so it melts in your mouth and not in your hand) or something else tiny that is going to prove even harder to find. I can’t be alone in dropping things into what will now be known as the side seat abyss. This unknown area has probably devoured thousands of lost items in it’s lifetime. If you think of something that you’ve lost recently and have no clue where it might be, check the side of the seat.

20 Sep, 2011

Future Ambler Fall Bball Champs?

By |2011-09-20T23:43:27-04:00September 20th, 2011|Sports|0 Comments

Well that’s going a bit overboard but we did have our first game Tuesday night for the Fall League. We added two new players in Kope and Mike and said goodbye to our sniper Evan and my brother, both of whom relocated. The first game was against a team that wasn’t very good and there was an unusual turn of events 4 minutes into the 2nd half. Kope threw the ball off their player and the far ref said it was our possession. The other player seemed to think we convinced the ref it went off him and he cursed off the ref. The ref than told him to stop giving him the death stare and he did it again. This got him 2 T’s and he got kicked out of the game. We were only up by 6 at that point but after that little incident, we ended up winning by more than 20. We were pretty rusty for the first game of the season but hopefully we’ll improve. For Bud, Casey, CK4 and myself, it was virtually the first time playing since winter ball.

Our team is pretty interesting in the sense that we are all 6ft tall and pretty much play the same position. Ck4 and Mike are basically both scorers and good shooters. Kope is a good addition because he’s athletic and can help us put the ball in the basket. Bake is our most well rounded player because he can shoot and direct the offense. Casey gives us some quickness and handling that we lack. Bud is solid and won’t turn the ball over or take bad shots. As long as I make my open shots I can be efficient which is a nice way of saying that I can help out by not screwing up. We also have a 6-6 guy who I’m not even going to say he’s on our team until he shows up to a game. This should be an interesting year and hopefully we can make a run in the playoffs.

19 Sep, 2011

Power of Partnership

By |2011-09-19T21:37:15-04:00September 19th, 2011|Music|1 Comment

I’m reading a book about the Beatles and I’m probably going to reference to it quite a bit in these next coming weeks. As I read the book I have their songs playing in the background and will usually listen to whatever song is being described. Anyway, this post is being created by an important concept that may help to explain why the Beatles are as great as they are. Plus it doesn’t just pertain to the Beatles but any group work.

Lennon/McCartney was as much pact as fact, and it was a good pact, for whatever the assumptions and motivation in their young heads when early in the Beatles’ career they decided on this joint credit no matter what the respective contribution, they were laying the foundation of the strength of the partnership. If each was to receive fifty per cent remuneration and public credit regardless, there was no reason not to help the other as best they could, rather than hold back good riffs, hooks and ideas for their own work.

This just strikes me as so awesome because I feel like people in today’s society are strictly out for personal gain. Selflessness is a lost attribute in 2011. I have no doubt this is probably why the Beatles were such a great band because they had such a great partnership and realtionship. Being talented and good looking didn’t hurt.

19 Sep, 2011

Why I blog?

By |2011-09-19T19:42:14-04:00September 19th, 2011|My Brain|0 Comments

Jeff asked me today why I blog so much about Storage Wars and I told him because the majority of people who visit this site are searching for Brandi from Storage Wars. Yesterday marked the second highest day ever in terms of traffic for rnningfool.com at 603 visits. I’m telling you right now that it’s not an easy task to have 603 people visit your blog in one day. I know this is gonna sound stupid to some but I’m considering just creating an episode guide to storage wars on another site. The fundamental problem with rnningfool.com is that it’s too diverse. My topics range from running to poker to celebs to sports to news. It’s all over the place and it doesn’t really have a point. For a site like this to get as much traffic as it does is really amazing. I’m a mildly interesting person but for 6,000 people a month to visit my site is really an accomplishment. I’d wager out of that 6,000 about 50 people actually know who I am. I still can’t seem to generate comments but maybe these new like buttons will come in handy. I know this is a real stretch but if you actually see something on this site you like, could you click on of the buttons just to make sure they do something. I like to do a post like this every so often just to let my loyal readers know where I stand with the blog. I still am giving it attention and will continue to develop this site into something better than it is.

19 Sep, 2011

Klosterman’s “Killing Yourself to Live”

By |2016-11-03T15:16:45-04:00September 19th, 2011|Books|0 Comments

I read the Klosterman book “Killing Yourself to Live” in a day and took a few thoughts away from it. I’ll reference some parts and than I’ll give my own thoughts. I think this post will be interesting because most people will never read a book, but some people will feel forced to read this entry because they are bored. The book is about Klosterman taking a road trip to famous musicians places of death. There is also a lot of discussion about Chuck’s love life which I don’t find as amusing but still fun to read.

I’ve had a theory that life on earth is purgatory, because life on earth seems to have all the purgatorial qualities that were once described to me by nuns… Sometimes I think that the amount of time you live on earth is just an inverse reflection of how good you were in a previous existence; for example, infants who die from SIDS were actually great people when they were alive “for real, so they get to go to heaven after a mere 5 weeks in purgatory.
Purgatory is a state or place in which the souls of those who have died in a state of grace are believed to undergo a limited amount of suffering to expiate their venial sins and become purified of the remaining effects of mortal sin. His theory is saying we are all dead and are lucky to “die” to get out of purgatory. It doesn’t really make any sense though because if you take care of your body you are prolonging your life, thus being healthy is actually bad for you and vice versa. I just thought it was interesting.

What Nixon loved was that Kissinger always knew what to do without being told; this struck me as one of the most insightful definitions of true intelligence I’d ever heard. I really like this as well. I know a lot of people who are “smart” but they need to be told how to be smart. Engineers have the stereotype of being smart people but they have no common sense. You need to tell them what to do or else they aren’t effective. They are smart at what they know, but it’s not true intelligence. Smart people figure things out for themselves and do it themselves. Relying on others isn’t really smart, it’s just leeching.

Lucy Chance once told me an anecdote about schizophrenia. There is a particular hypothetical question physicians ask patients they suspect to be suffering from this particular ailment: ‘A man and a woman are married for 10 years. The husband suddenly dies. At the funeral, the widow meets another man and deeply enjoys his conversation. They talk for two hours, and it’s exciting and reassuring. The following week, this same woman murders her own sister. Why do you think she committed this act of violence?’ Now, if you ask a normal person this question, they’ll usually theorize that the widow was talking to her sister’s husband, and that she committed murder out of desperation and loneliness. However, schizophrenics (supposedly) provide a specific (and very disturbing) answer to this query with remarkable consistency; they inevitably say, ‘Well, she obviously wanted to have another funeral, because that same guy will probably show up again.’ I thought this was funny because it says “a normal person will usually theorize…” and after I read the first half, I couldn’t think of any possible reason.

“Don’t you understand that when people say a party is starting a 9:00, they actually mean the guests are supposed to come at 10? That’s just common sense.” I will never buy that logic. In America, parties that are supposed to start at 9pm actually start at 10 pm. However, rock concerts that are supposed to start at 9:00 pm actually start at 9:45. Movies that are scheduled for 9pm don’t begin until 9:09. Sporting events set for 9:00 pm begin at 9:05. However, television shows that are set for 9pm do start at 9pm, unless they’re being broadcast on TBS. (written in 2003) I thought this was pretty funny because it’s true. I don’t really get it either. I’m just a punctual person and his description is exactly what happens and it really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Just comical.

“People never show you what they’re truly like until you see them go ape-shit.” This was a hilarious passage he was having with a guy who purposely pissed his future wife off just to see her go nuts. I really haven’t seen too many people go completely ape shit but when someone is getting way too mad about something, it does show a different side to their personality. I can’t even think back to the last time I went truly ape-shit. I wasn’t very happy when I asked for a sesame seed bagel and got a plain, but that probably didn’t count.

If you buy this book because of this post, comment and let me know. I expect 0 comments.

19 Sep, 2011

Dare I say it…

By |2011-09-19T17:15:40-04:00September 19th, 2011|Music|0 Comments

I love music from the 80’s. The 80’s are a period of time which isn’t exactly thought of as the best music. The introduction of electronic music and synthesizers tend to move away from the “Rock and Roll” that was popular in the 70’s. This isn’t saying that that 80’s didn’t produce great music from the likes of Michael Jackson, Police, Bon Jovi, REM, Metallica and plenty of others. I particularly like the alternative / new wave / electronica music. Some examples are Oingo Boingo, Squeeze, Depeche Mode, English Beat, Talking Heads, OMD, XTC, New Order, Yaz and the Thompson Twins. I promise you that people who are music critics don’t label this as top notch music. For some reason I think this is close to my favorite type of music. When I go into turntable.fm rooms I’m always either in “I love the 80’s” or “80 alt/new wave”. No real point to this post other than giving my taste on music. I still think groups like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bruce and all the other legends are better than these 80’s groups but for some reason this type of music is just fun to listen to for me. Below is a song I particularly like.

19 Sep, 2011

Rock and Roll Results

By |2013-03-15T03:40:23-04:00September 19th, 2011|Running|0 Comments

Race Results

I finished the race in 1:22:12 which I think is respectable. That averages to a 6:17 pace. I think it’s interesting that my second 5k was faster than the first but you can see I really didn’t have any strength in the final 3 miles. 275 out of 16,000 though isn’t too shabby. I’d rate my conditioning about a 7 this year and I just didn’t put in enough long runs to really feel like I gave it my all. These past two years have been pretty weak from me in terms of race results. I feel like I put in decent effort but just never enough to really see my potential. Oh well.

19 Sep, 2011

Jamaal Goes Down!

By |2011-09-19T10:52:37-04:00September 19th, 2011|Sports|0 Comments

In what is obviously the biggest news story of this entire year, Jamaal Charles is going to be out for the season with an injured knee. This is dire news for all fantasy owners who picked Jamaal with their first pick. Fortunately for me, my favorite player is on none of my teams due to picking 10th and beyond in almost every draft. I want to remind everyone of the 6 players who I said were going to be big this year. McFadden, Britt, Austin, Graham, White and obviously Jamaal. All of these guys are big names (aside from Graham) so it’s not that spectacular but the first 3 guys I named are tops in the NFL. I’d argue McFadden might be THE BEST RB in the game this year. Britt is playing out of his mind and Austin’s 3TD’s last night is no joke. I’m even a little heart broken for Jamaal because I know how much he loves the end zone and this injury is going to prevent him from getting there this entire year.


In my 5 football leagues I have already won 3 games outright. As long as Hakeem Nicks doesn’t go for 22 in a PPR I will win a 4th. I’m not even sure he’s playing tonight. The one game that it looks like I’m going to lose is against “tall guy” who I know reads this blog. I’m up 20 points and he has Bradford and Ahmad Bradshaw going tonight. It’s always favorable to be ahead and not playing catch up but barring anything unusual, these two guys should get 20 points. That would give me a 4-1 record for the week which is obviously pretty good. My teams have been putting up big numbers with a key pickup from the waiver wire with Gronkowski last week. All my teams are pretty solid and I haven’t been plagued by any injuries. So far so good.

Evan whoooooped me in fanduel with good picks of V-Jack, F-Jack, J-Best and M-Staff. They had about 20 TD’s each and my picks were all pretty lousy except for Ryan Fitzpatrick. That cost me 5 bucks but I’m game for another shot week 3. Consider that a challenge. You’ll also notice the worst bet made in the history of bets taking the Chiefs +8.5 yesterday. I haven’t been betting much and that pick looked pretty lame brain.

18 Sep, 2011

Philly Rock and Roll Half Marathon

By |2011-09-18T13:03:08-04:00September 18th, 2011|Sports|1 Comment

I woke up at 6:45 feeling good and ready to run 13.1 miles. I wasn’t really hungry and didn’t feel dehydrated whatsoever. I ate 1 cinnamon pop tart and drove to the race which started at 8. I met up with my mom and sister at my corral (2) and basically told them I’m just looking to finish. Now, I looked back at some of my past results and was 1:24 last year and 1:19 both years before that. My expectation was somewhere between 1:20 and 1:30.

I started the race slower than previous years with the plan to not die after 10 miles. I crossed the 4 mile mark at 26 which was even a little faster because of the delayed start. I felt pretty good throughout the beginning and ran a 6 minute mile between miles 4 and 5. I can’t remember my exact time but I hit the covered bridge, the 9 mile mark, still feeling like I had some juice in my legs. At this point of the race I had probably passed hundreds of people and was only passed by a few which was an advantage to starting slow. At mile 10 I started to lose pace a little bit and people started to catch me. I sort of finished the race in a relatively slow pace but it wasn’t a crawl like last year. My clock time was 1:23:30 and I expect that to drop by 30 seconds to a minute. I felt pretty good and was just happy to finish. I’m glad it’s over with for another year.

Sunday’s are one of my favorite days of the week because of football, specifically for the fantasy aspect. I also am play the Wevs in a Fanduel match which should also add some excitement. I’ve been going back and forth between Vincent Jackson and Santana Moss. I have Gates on the team and just think Moss is going to have a huge game. With Marshall and Andre Johnson as my other WR’s, I’m sort of torn. I also couldn’t decide between Fred Jackson, Joseph Addai and James Starks. Lots of mediocrity. I’m also in agreement with Evan in Dallas -3 and I took the Chiefs +8.5 because I think they just weren’t ready for week 1. On to football.

Toggle Sliding Bar Area

Categories