We Don't Walk Slow

4 May, 2013

Saturday in the Park

By Tom Stortz|2013-05-04T20:51:10-04:00May 4th, 2013|Sports|0 Comments

With the Broad St Run going on Sunday, I’ve been on a non-alcoholic binge. I spent Friday night beating Bake and Shee in mini-golf (with a chip from the rocks I might add)and then woke up on Saturday fairly early. I tried on my suit for Laura’s wedding which fit fine and then headed off to Sam’s final track meet at Ursinus. He ran the steeple chase and won the B heat. I then decided that I wanted to play golf so I went to the nearby outlets and bought a polo and shorts and made a tee-time. As soon as I arrived they paired me up with a twosome and I was off.

This was the 4th consecutive round that I jumped out of the car and directly to the tee-box with no warm up whatsoever. It is getting kind of old but being able to play immediately after getting there is an acquired skill. One of the people I was paired up with was a guy who said he had tried to get in Q school and at his peak was an 8 handicapper. I thought this might be a good learning opportunity. Alas it wasn’t. The guy played slower than molasses and wasn’t nearly good enough to warrant the time on every shot. We actually let a group play ahead of us which I would never agree under normal circumstances. At 13 I told them I had to move along and walked the rest of the holes. Something amazing happened at hole #17 that was magical. I hooked a tee shot to the left and it banked off an electrical box to land directly in the fairway about 30 yards in front of the green. I hit a magnificent chip shot and holed it in for birdie. Something other than me made this happen and it’s events like this that make me believe in a higher power. I ended up playing the final 5 holes without my slow partners in +1 and finished with an 85. I was pretty satisfied. I hit some huge drives but also had a couple of misses that caused some bigger scores. After the round I headed home and now I sit here ready to go to sleep to run a quick time tomorrow. I’m aware posts like these are lousy but I figured it was better than nothing.

4 May, 2013

Realize Your Strengths, Identify Your Weaknesses

By Tom Stortz|2013-05-04T10:17:50-04:00May 4th, 2013|My Brain|0 Comments

Last weekend I was having a conversation with a successful man who used the phrase, “It’s good to know your strengths, but more importantly, understand your weaknesses.” You can’t be good at everything because there are too many things to be good at. Knowing where you may be lacking is important because in those areas you can seek out help from people who many be strong in that area and improve yourself. Most (weak) people fail to think that they have weaknesses but with a practical self-evaluation, I think everyone can stumble on a few. This post will outline my strengths and weaknesses.

Talking Before Thinking
The Shee likes to say that I don’t have a filter when I talk. Meaning that when thoughts hit my brain I speak them without thinking. This is probably half true but if I said everything that hit my brain, you’d probably think I was mentally handicapped. I’ll give an example of sounding dumb due to not thinking. I asked a woman what her job was and she said a public criminal defender. I asked is that the prosecution or the defense? When people hear you ask that they think to themselves, is this guy serious? I will point out though that realizing that you said something stupid is far superior than not. At least you can correct it. This happens all the time with my dad too. He’s quick to jump on you if you say something dumb so it’s important to not say anything at all rather than blurting out what’s hitting your brain. Silent thought > Pointless babble. I’m trying to improve on this but realizing when you should keep your mouth shut is important.

Finishing People’s Sentences / Words

When other people are talking, I have a tendency to finish their thoughts. In my own mind I’m not doing it to be an asshole but I’m doing it to express that I have an understanding and I’m listening. However, sometimes I can jump to conclusions on what they are trying to say and misinterpret their idea. This is a detriment in the conversation. I also think that sometimes I’m moving the conversation along if the person is stumbling for the right word and I already have it on the tip of my tongue. I see how this could be considered rude and most people don’t even notice this, but I think it’s important to let the other person finish their thoughts before jumping in.

Initiating Conversation
I still struggle with this but I don’t see many other people who’ve mastered this. It’s a difficult task to strike up conversation with random people even though it’s almost always better than silence. A quick example from my experience in the Broad St Run line. The line to pick up the bib was about 25 minutes long and we were single file. I spent the first 5 minutes in silence until a couple tried to butt in line and I told them to head to the back. This struck up a conversation between me and a woman in her 40’s. She was a nice Philly woman who after some conversation invited me to a Fairmount running club event after the run. Now I could have been silent throughout the entire line process but even this trivial interaction was better than silence. Striking up the conversation is the hard part for me but one of Jeff’s friends gave a perfect answer to this, “it doesn’t matter what you say, as long as you say something.”

Saving Money
I know people who watch every single dime that goes in and out of their bank account. This has never been my style. If I want something, I’ll get it. I’m price conscientious but only to a point. Yesterday I bought a running shirt and two pairs of socks for $42 dollars. Could I have gotten it cheaper? Probably. Did I need it? I could have worn old gear. Did I want it? Yes and I’ll spend for something I want. This causes me to over spend a lot of the time because I value life more than money. I ask myself the question, does this hold the value to me at this moment? I also think that I’ll out make my spending in the future so I’m not that concerned with it now. I’ve gambled thousands of dollars away and spend tens of thousands of dollars on alcohol so I know that I haven’t done as good as a job as I could on saving but that doesn’t mean that I’m not aware of it. I believe I’m improving with the recognition of the problem. That’s key to life.

I can add to this list and maybe I’ll have a part two but all I need is one brief bullet point to my strength list.
The ability to recognize, change, and improve.

3 May, 2013

Amanda Bynes Meltdown

By Tom Stortz|2013-05-03T16:01:27-04:00May 3rd, 2013|Celeb|0 Comments

It’s amazing how the media continues to post stories about someone’s downard spiral… just kidding, there’s no surprise, it’s a part of what is so wrong with our society. How Amanda Bynes meltdown actually garners enough attention that the media continues to provoke erratic behavior instead of helping the individual should make you shake your head. I don’t know what you’d even do, but whatever is ongoing has to be wrong. It’s another one of those lay off the sauce and pills and come back to reality.

Probably fake video of her on the elliptical.

The comparison of the two people in the picture alone should be an overwhelming, “BACK THE FUCK OFF AND LEAVE THIS GIRL ALONE.” Although I must admit, I followed her on twitter to follow along with the mayhem, so I’m just as bad. With the whole Drake thing and continuing craziness, this girl is off her rocker. Whatever happened to the AllThat girl and that boy who was a girl in What a Girl Wants. I think her cleavage in some of those pictures is what is setting her apart from the other crazy girls in the world. She hasn’t been relevant in a while aside for some DUI’s but those cans are differentiating herself and giving her staying power.

If anyone used to watch AllThat they would remember the Ask Ashley sketch that she used to do. It had a little bit of Sam Kinnison in it.

2 May, 2013

Optical Illusion

By Tom Stortz|2013-05-02T23:19:11-04:00May 2nd, 2013|Videos|1 Comment

Two things that go along with this video that makes it post worthy. The first is that I caught it on David Blaine’s twitter feed which isn’t half bad. The video itself is pretty trippy and brings me back to the one time I did shrooms. Yes, it was about 10 years ago and never forget that drugs are bad mmmmmkay!. That’s besides the point because one thing that I love about youtube and is highly underrated is the comments. The first comment in this video is “Bit dangerous isn’t it? I nearly crashed my car at 1:35.” The comment is unbelievably hilarious because there is no doubt in my mind idiots would try something like this while driving. I’ve honestly stopped texting and driving completely because I watched some numbers show on National Geographic that said you are 23x more likely to get in a an accident while texting. That was actually enough of a reason to stop for me. Enjoy the video.

2 May, 2013

Eagles Season 2013

By Tom Stortz|2013-05-02T20:57:43-04:00May 2nd, 2013|Sports|0 Comments

The Eagles were 4-12 last year and are going under a Chip Kelly head coaching change that will hopefully lead to a lot more handing off and using LeSean. With the latest news from camp that Vick beat McCoy in a race, this isn’t shaping up like a shot at the Superbowl type season. If the Eagles can go 8-8 this year, I’d consider it a successful season. Eagle diehards will tell me I’m stupid and not a true fan but let me break down the team by position and explain why I don’t see a winning season.

Quarterback

Vick, Foles, and Barkley. 5/10.
Vick will undoubtedly get hurt, Foles will relieve successfully for a brief stint but fall back into mediocrity, and Barkely will ride the pine. Vick isn’t a Superbowl quarterback and he’s head and shoulders better than Foles. Michael Vick’s best play will be to hand the ball of to LeSean, if he does that, they have a chance.

Running Back

LeSean McCoy. 9/10.
Give him the ball. Enough said. If they don’t do that, they won’t win.

Wide Receiver
DeSean Jackson & Jeremy Maclin – 5.5/10.
These guys get entirely too much credit. DeSean is a long ball threat and Maclin is a nudge above average. They need someone with speed and size to make a difference. These guys disappear from games when they get shut down corner coverage.

Tight End
Brent Celek. 6/10.
I don’t have much a problem with Celek. He catches well, has seemingly enough speed, and I don’t notice much about his blocking so I guess he’s doing alright.

Defense
5/10. This is hard to judge with Nmandi and Babin gone because they were bringing down the team unity. I see weakness at cornerback with no shut down corner and Chung at safety will have to be a judgement once he starts playing. DeMeco Ryans is a solid LB but not much else at that position. Trent Cole is a good DE but where the pressure will come from? Too many holes to fill.

O-Line
Kelce, Peters, Watkins, Herremans are the names that stand out to me. I honestly don’t watch the line enough to comment.

Over/Under for the season is 10.5. If anyone wants to put money on the over, I’ll take the under. I have a feeling that they’ll be slow to start and come on as the season progresses. Like I said in the intro, an 8 win season seems likely.

1 May, 2013

Half Ideas

By Tom Stortz|2013-05-01T22:05:31-04:00May 1st, 2013|My Life|1 Comment

I’ve got what you’d call a lot of half ideas for the blog. They are exactly what you’d think they are, ideas that I want to make into posts but only have half the post. I have topics, but only 2 examples. I have stories, but only half worth it to tell. This is both good and bad. It’s good because it’s better than nothing but it’s bad because I have nothing to post. I also don’t have the time to turn halves into fulls because I’m going away tomorrow on business and have to rest early tonight. I think Saturday may be a key writing day though because I have the Broad St on Sunday and will be staying sober for the weekend. I would like to try to get a round of golf in but other than that I’m pretty much free. There is also a radio 104.5 concert going on at the Piazza which I would like to try to go to but being sober isn’t nearly as much fun. This post is only checking in to let you know that the ideas are brewing, just not finished. I feel an outburst of posts in the near future.

30 Apr, 2013

What do you say in an Elevator?

By Tom Stortz|2013-04-30T21:06:01-04:00April 30th, 2013|Videos|2 Comments

30 Apr, 2013

Paramore – Paramore

By Tom Stortz|2013-04-30T20:06:53-04:00April 30th, 2013|Music|0 Comments

Quality album that is worth listening to. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 selling 106,000 copies which made me realize that it was released and I started listening to it on Spotify. It’s been out for 2 weeks now and it’s the first time I’ve ever listened to a Paramore album in full. I’ve already been through it 3 times today and can’t find a bad song {(One of Those Crazy Girls) kind of sucks}. For starters, Fast In My Car, Grow Up, Hate to See Your Heart Break, and Still Into You are all worthy singles . Now was one of the worst songs on the album and that was released first. It’s rare that I find an album that I can listen to all the way through and not have the urge to change the music. This was one of them. Being a sort of laymen when it comes to the specifics of music I’ll do my best to describe what I like. Williams voice has an soft edge to it, the music moves you through the songs, and I like the hooks. My criticism is that some of the songs sounds the same. 8/10. If you are on Spotify, don’t forget to follow my altnation list which I believe is the best music currently.

30 Apr, 2013

Training to Peak – Broad St Run Wisdom

By Tom Stortz|2013-04-30T19:47:13-04:00April 30th, 2013|Running|0 Comments

I have a feeling after those AOR posts that I may get a few more people who are interested in running than usual. This post will also be my last running related post until I segway into my normal writing. With the Broad St Run coming up, I want to share my feelings on peaking for a big race. This will apply to people who maintain 9 to 5’s and are out of the education schedule. We all know that after you get out of school, responsibilities increase and training time decreases.

It’s extremely difficult and not very practical to be in RACE shape 99% of the time due to the time and dedication. My suggestion is to never let yourself get out of shape. During times when you aren’t training for a race, run 3-4 times a week to stay toned. When you sign up for a big race, I’d give yourself about 6-8 weeks to make that effort to peak. Before any training begins, ESTABLISH A GOAL TIME! If your goal is to finish that’s one thing, but having a mark to hit helps you in how to train to hit that time. My goals are always better than my personal best. If I know I’m not going to be near my best, I usually don’t enter races because my motivation isn’t to finish, it’s to improve. Now back to how to train.

Let’s use the ten mile Broad St as an example. 2 months before the race I’ll start with 5 mile runs at as close to race pace as I can get. My philosophy is to train at race pace at lower miles and continue to work up to where I want to be. This doesn’t mean killing yourself but it means pushing yourself at these lower distances. I also throw in longer, slower pace runs to increase miles as well. It’s important to mix it up so you don’t get stale. As time passes, you want to keep moving closer to the 10 mile mark in your training runs. I don’t think it’s smart to run 6 or 7 days a week, more like 3-4 and 5 at the most. Your body needs to heal because getting hurt is pretty much the absolute worse thing you can do. In my life I’ve been hurt one time due to training so I’ve learned how to avoid injury. If it hurts, don’t press it. You aren’t setting world records.

Within 2 weeks of the race I want to be as close to 10 miles as I can be and as close to pace as I can get in order to achieve my goals. My real life example is to break 59:45 this year. I have one week to the race and my run today went like this: 2 mile warm up, 4 miles at 6:10 pace, break, 10 miles on the Art Museum steps, 2 mile cool down. I didn’t kill myself but I wanted to make sure I could hit pace for an extended period of time. A race will always be faster than practice because the adrenaline makes it happen. No alcohol this weekend and a good night’s sleep before the race. I’ll put in an easy run tomorrow, a long hard run on Thursday, an easy run on Friday, and nothing on Saturday. This will have me prepped for Sunday. Once this race is over I won’t let myself get out of shape but I’ll tone everything down until I sign up for another race. That is my wisdom and philosophy on racing. Giving yourself plenty of time to prepare is essential to setting and achieving goals.

29 Apr, 2013

American Odyssey 2013 – Pictures

By Tom Stortz|2013-04-29T21:10:38-04:00April 29th, 2013|My Life|2 Comments

How do you feel?
Like a million bucks. But a million bucks isn’t what it used to be.

This little pit stopped occurred in the middle of a highway where I wasn’t sure which way to go. When you’re in a van with people who don’t know you, this doesn’t exactly instill confidence.