I’m curious at what age you read it. Because I first read it at 15 and thought it was the best book ever. I would even recommend it to people for years.
Then I read it again in my late 20s and had the same reaction you did. I thought he just came off as a whiny little shit. I still feel embarrassed that I recommended that book to people for over 10 years.
I remember telling my wife this after I reread it (she was someone I recommended it to) and she was like, “yeah, I didn’t want to say anything at the time, but I hated it.”
I remember when I first got into cycling I went to get new tires and noticed two tires that looked the same to me but one was more than double the cost of the other. I asked the guy what the difference was and he just said, “maybe half an ounce.” It’s unreal how expensive cycling stuff can get.
As someone who dealt with shin splints for years, a good running shoe is definitely worth it. Once I found shoes that fit my feet properly I never had to deal with them again.
Pro-tip: I highly recommend Altra Torin shoes for anyone like me, who has wide feet but narrow ankles (or as my family calls them, tennis racket feet)
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is not democracy.
- Abraham Lincoln
The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
- Douglas Adams
When I was in highschool me and a couple of my friends got hired as waiters. We were required to attend these training sessions before we could start. It was your typical fake upbeat corp BS and we were a bunch of edgy teens, so you can imagine how it went. About halfway through the first session they tell my buddy he can change his attitude or leave, so he left.
I don’t buy the don’t drink ice water. I live in a place where summer temperatures are normally over 100° F (37.7° C). And nothing feels better after doing a lot of yard work like chugging ice water. The worst that’s ever happened to me was a brain freeze.
There is a reason people in the south US drink iced tea. A cold drink on a hot day, just feels good. It might be psychosomatic, but I’ve never heard anything outside of old wives’ tales about cold drinks being bad.
In fact, I’ve participated in the Hotter than Hell, a 100 mile cycling event, in Texas in August. At the halfway point they have snow cones made with sports drinks for the people participating. With over 10,000+ people a year participating and over 40 years you would think someone would have had a bad reaction if drinking cold water was actually an issue.
When I was in the military I had to fly from Seattle to Wichita Falls, TX for training. With a connecting flight in DFW… I get to the airport Sunday morning and discovered I missed my flight by an hour because of daylight savings time. This was after my ex swore up and down daylight savings was the following week.
So, I call the military travel office and they get me another flight to DFW, but there are no more flights to Wichita Falls. Since I had to be in class the next morning, they told me they’d get a one-way rental. The only catch is they had to call my commander and get authorization. Not my boss, or my bosses boss or anyone even close. The freaking commander.
Luckily for me my older sister lived in Dallas. So, I tell them not to wake up my commander at 7 am on Sunday because my dumbass believed my ex, and that I’d call them right back. I get ahold of my sister, explained the situation and she agreed to drive me 2 1/2 hours to Wichita Falls. I call back the travel office and and they book me a flight that is scheduled to get into DFW at 2pm. Then it gets delayed and delayed and delayed. I land around 10:30pm and my sister drives me to Wichita Falls. We get in around 1am. And she still has to drive back home and go to work the next day. 20+ years later I still feel bad about it, but totally greatful for having an awesome sister.
We’re currently under contract to sell our house in Texas. 2 more weeks until we close. My wife has been up in CT looking for houses, but the market up there is insane. We’ve put in 6 offers on houses and lost 3 of them. Still waiting to hear on the others. But house or not we are out of Texas at the end of this month.