Iraq and Anger Management

I was just reading my email and I read a speech given on the radio by my future congressman. I'm very glad that he's going to be my congressman. I was extremely unhappy with Richard Pombo who offended me so deeply with his anti-environmentalism that it finally prodded me into doing something about it. For the first time in my life, I showed up at a campaign office and volunteered my time.

Anyway, Jerry's comments about Iraq brings to mind something that I was thinking about on a recent bike ride. While working out, I often listen to audiobooks and the one that I'm currently listening to is Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman (audiobook) One chapter in Daniel Goldman's book really seemed apropos. It talked about the cycle of anger and how it builds. A few weeks ago we heard a lot about the report from the Iraq Study Group. The president in his infinite wisdom and in his roll as "The Decider" seems to have rejected its findings. I haven't read the report but from what I read in the newspaper, much of it seems really sensible. However, as I was riding and listening to Daniel Goldman's book, I felt like Daniel Goldman should have been on the Iraq study group. I think that his ideas if applied to Iraq might actually lead to a resolution of the problem.

I will admit that I know very little about Islam (it is on my list of topics to research) but my impression from looking at the world news is that it doesn't really foster a culture with a high degree of emotional intelligence. I could very easily have a gross sampling error but it seems like Islamic cultures seem unusually prone to retaliatory acts of revenge which ultimately leads to an ever escalating cycle of violence. I would really like to know if this is something that is codified in the Koran or if it is just a culture wide lack of education in emotional intelligence and the cycle of anger and how it escalates. If any Muslim out there ends up reading this, please feel free to educate me on this matter because I do freely admit that I'm only slightly less ignorant about Islam and Islamic culture than most Americans.

Triathlon Training Spreadsheet

Here is a tool I made for myself that other's might find useful. Hopefully this will help me have a better season this year than last. This is the template I created feel free to use it and adapt it to your needs.
Training log template
If you have any suggestions or feature requests post them in the comments section. I'm not a spreadsheet guru or an experienced coach so I have no doubt that it can be improved. i.e. don't assume that I knew what I'm doing. For an example of how I'm using it you can look at my filled in version at:
Ben's training log
If this intrigues you, you can look at my training log at: http://kg6fnk.motionbased.com

Why Coyote (part 1)

So I've got a few more minutes here and I thought that I'd explain why I'm calling this blog "Coyote's den". There are a large number of reasons for this and so this topic will cover many posts. This is Part 1.

I really like coyotes. I think that they are really survivors. Wolves have been arguably the apex predator in North America but unfortunately they were the villian in European folklore and they collided with the cattle industry and were almost hunted to extinction during the 1800's and early 1900's. Wolves may have been superior predators but they were almost wiped out. Coyotes are in not anywhere as feirce as wolves but they were survivors. People tried to kill off the coyote but the coyotes are still here. People hunted them, but they survived. Ranchers tried to poison them but they survived. Almost no coyote eradication program has ever succeeded. This gives me hope for life on this planet.

Here are a couple of links about coyotes:
http://www.fundwildlife.org/coexist/coyotes.html
http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/inhsreports/winter-01/coyote.html


So coyotes resourcefulness and survival in spite changing habitat and determined efforts to eradicate them have endeared them to me to the point where I've claimed them as a symbol of my aspirations and hopes.

Not too uncommonly, when I'm out for an early morning ride, or on my way to work I see a coyote. I always make a point of speaking to it and thank it for being there. Usually it is too far away to hear me, but for me these mumbled words are more like a prayer, they only have to be said not necessarily heard for them to be meaningful.

Coyote's den

First post!
Welcome to Coyote's Den. I've finally decided to take some time and actually begin a blog. It is so easy these days that anyone can do it. I've been filling my brain with lots of new material for the past few years but I haven't taken the time to write it down the way that I did in college. I haven't kept a journal in years and even the long missives that I used to write to friends have basically ended. I feel like the discipline of taking the time to write stuff down will be beneficial to me even if I really don't have an audience. This discipline will be further moderated by the fact that I know that at some point in the future, I may have an audience. Someone down the road may actually look at what I write and use it to make judgements about me. So I doubt that this will ever be as intimate as the writing that I did for myself or for friends.

I'm really not sure the direction that this blog will take but if it is anything like what my journal was like a few years ago, then I think that it will be an honest representation of what I'm thinking about. So some of the topics that are likely to come up are:

1. Coyotes and the trickster mentality
2. Triathlon training
3. Surviving the coming apocolypse
4. Militant athiesm
5. The environment/global warming