Uncounted Ballots and Ongoing Election

As I am starting to write this blog post now, it is 6AM MST on November 10th.  The last poll locations closed in Alaska 31 hours ago.

Thankfully, we are not facing a crisis like we did in 2000 where we didn't get a president-elect for over a month after the election because Florida couldn't get their act together.

Hate it, disagree with it, like it, or love it, it doesn't matter.  Donald Trump will be our next president.  All of the major networks have Trump sitting at 279 electoral votes or higher.  Each network has 3 or less states left to be called.  These are Arizona, New Hampshire, or Michigan.

The three states don't matter from a who wins perspective because of the other 279 Trump electoral votes, but they could have.

Playing the what if game – if Clinton had won Pennsylvania, then Trump would only be at 259 and we still wouldn't know who the next president would be, until these three states get resolved.

Further playing the what if game – if we give Trump Pennsylvania again, but take away Wisconsin, Trump would be at 269.  Then supposing AZ, MI, and NH all go to Clinton, it would be 269-269.  The tie-breaker would be the House of Representatives – with a vote by states (each state gets one vote, so all representatives from each state have to combine together, meaning a Republican victory in modern times since Democratic Reps are concentrated in CA, NY, etc.)

Back to reality now. 

Quite a few interesting stats are occurring.  Piecing these together requires going to all of the major news networks' websites since none are ideal.  ABC News and Fox News get high marks for coming close though.

1) According to ABC News' analysis, only 92% of the ballots across the country have been counted. There is no reason why this should be so low.

2) Arizona – consensus is that only 75% of the ballots are in!  Did the election workers go on strike or what?! This percentage has not budged since Clinton gave her concession speech yesterday around 10AM.  What are they waiting for?

3) New Hampshire – consensus is that 98% of the ballots are in. Clinton has a small 1,437 lead out of 692,000+ votes cast.  I understand why most networks have not called this one.  I don't understand how the AP and CNN have called this one, when the two networks I trust far more than them, ABC News and Fox News, have not called that state for anyone.

4) Michigan – consensus is that 96% of the ballots are in.  Quite a few other states have a lower percentage counted, but the presidential winners have been able to be called.  Michigan currently has about a 12,000 vote lead for Trump, but still has a possibility of flipping to Clinton.  Also understandable why none of the networks have called this one.

5) California – the most populous state in the union has only bothered to count 68% of their ballots so far.  Pathetic! It's a good thing that they never play a major role in presidential elections. Yes, they have 55 electoral votes, but everybody just assumes it goes to the democratic candidate each time.  It could have an effect on House races though.

6) Oregon – this state is unique in that they do all (almost all??) of their voting by mail.  There are no voting locations.  They are currently sitting at 86% counted.  There is no reason why they shouldn't pop up immediately at 100% as soon as the West Coast closes.  Just make the deadline to have stuff received at the proper post office be Saturday before the election.  Then, swear the vote counters to secrecy, under penalty of jail time, and they can have things perfectly counted by the end of the day on election Tuesday.  There, problem solved.


I would like to get it to a point where the states can get the ballot counts out quickly after the polls close in each state.  This would require early counting of absentee ballots, quick resolution of challenged ballots, earlier deadlines for mail in votes, etc.  I only have one voice though, and most of the rest of the country doesn't care any more once they saw that Trump won.

Suicide Squad: Tent-pole Tragedy

Welcome back, me!

Yes, I'm writing again in the blog. Since very few of you would see this on a site that has been dormant for 9 months, of course I have promoted it on Facebook again. Feel free to check out one of the many other posts available to your right.

Some things have changed socially in my life – quite a few good things occurred, against a couple bad things, but on balance, things are good.

Professionally, I have moved to a better casino, but I'm still dealing cards and dice and enjoying it. The only real difference is that one day a week I now supervise the other dealers. Nearly everyone at my new place does that one day a week.

I still live in the Denver metro area, but I have moved twice: once at the end of May to Boulder temporarily, then again in mid August to my current place in Arvada (a northwest suburb of Denver). I'm on my own again, and won't be moving anytime soon. I prefer to have roommates, but it is what it is.

**********

On to the Super Serious Matter I absolutely must discuss with you today: the tragedy that became of the movie Suicide Squad from this summer.

I couldn't have been more disappointed in this movie.

I was first alerted to this movie through a friend who was plenty excited about it long before it ever came out. She was and is an extremely devoted follower of Harley Quinn. I didn't really follow much in the comic book world much before I knew her. I've watched almost all of the movies ever since the comic book movie push started in earnest with the X-Men. Sure, there were movies here and there devoted to comic books, like the big Batman and Superman movies. However, it was nothing like it is today, with the huge, expensive budgets devoted to everything related to either Marvel or DC Comics.

What I didn't do was read the actual comic books growing up. My parents never thought of them as legitimate reading sources, so I read other, more traditional stuff.

Since getting interested in Harley Quinn, I've come to understand the character a bit more. She has the potential to be a nuanced, fully fleshed out character with lots of opportunities to develop the potential moral gray areas, while still making her fall somewhat on the “bad guy” scale.

The Suicide Squad movie was supposed to be her vehicle to shine.

It wasn't. The whole movie was terrible.

This was the kind of big budget, summer, tent-pole blockbuster that just turns into a tragic mess in the simple pursuit of gathering in ticket fares. The writing was lackluster and meandering. The backstory on all of the “bad guys” who are forced to work together was basically a bunch of vignettes with no cohesion. The “super bad guy” they had to team up for was a rather lame witch.

I also wasn't terribly impressed with Margot Robbie, the actress playing Harley Quinn.

Cons:

There were three different accents that I detected throughout her performance. The first was Australian, which Robbie is. The second was the standard Midwestern non-accent you typically find in the movies so that it appears like standard dialogue to most Americans. The third was the Brooklyn accent Harley is supposed to have.

Pros:

Robbie's non-verbal acting was actually quite good. I can't fault her for that.

The bit of color and brightness in her personality was a welcome relief from the overwhelming sense of doom and gloom and incredibly dark colors used in the rest of the film.

The actual phrases she had to speak pointed back to the comics quite well.

Robbie was fighting for the lead amount of screen time with Will Smith's character, Deadshot. It wasn't Smith's best performance by a ways, but it was passable. The rest of the squad was just fill in the blanks kind of superheroes. I'm sure they get a played up treatment in the comics. That just didn't translate into well into exciting cinema. The others should have been ignored like most of the standard, non-enhanced soldiers, or be given more than generic, keep-the-story-moving dialogue. There was even one member introduced and killed within 2 minutes just to prove the suicide squad was forced to perform their mission.

In terms of a rating, I give this ** out of *****.

Politics and Facebook

[Edit]Holy cow have my last few blog posts and this one been serious in nature! I have got to get back to more of the humorous stories of my life!  I've got one or two in mind that I might do within the next couple days or so.[/Edit]

I had an interesting day today.  I decided to unfollow someone on my friends list in Facebook. Keeping with how I run this blog, I'm not going to name this person. Please don't try to guess, you'll get no response.

For those who don't know, when you unfollow someone on Facebook, his or her posts don't show up on your main page unless they specifically mention you in a post.  You are still friends with them, and still have all of those privileges, but you don't see items that they "Like".

This is not the first time I have done something like this.  I have done it to a few people now.  A couple of them I am related to.  Again, no guessing!

It is always a case of somebody whose posts to my news feed just get so voluminous that I get tired of looking at it.  Sorry if it sounds harsh (especially as you're reading a blog dedicated to me just blabbing at the mouth / keyboard).

Today's offender was one who has been posting a huge number of political stories / links / rants / meme images.  They came in bunches each day, so much so that I just had to say that enough was enough.

I like him as a person just fine.  He and I get along well.  He's not just someone that I interact with only on Facebook.  We have a number of things in common.  Our in-person interactions have actually never brought up politics.

Because of what we have in common, I gave him the courtesy of a text message giving a short explanation of what I was planning on doing and why.  He took it graciously, but stated that he wasn't going to slow down on the political stuff.  That is perfectly acceptable, of course.  He is welcome to continue bringing exposure to the things he thinks are worthy of attention.  Facebook can handle the load just fine.  I just recommended that he slow down on that kind of stuff.

A good analogy is the boy who cried wolf.  There was just so much stuff being put up on "teh interwebs" that any grand theme got lost in the clutter.  There were just too many topics for the audience to focus on.  Alarmist pieces only work if they are used sparingly.  Create them in droves and your audience is just going to complain that the wolf crier is pestering them all the time.  Then, when the real issue that you deeply care about comes up, it will not receive the attention that you want since you cried wolf too many times.

I should probably note that I have unfollowed a person each from both sides of the liberal and conservative spectrum.  Each was for the same reason, a deluge of political posts.  Whether or not I agreed with them didn't matter.

A number of you know that I was deeply into politics from the period of about age 17 until maybe the mid-twenties or so.  I was passionate about reading up on political stuff.  My positions on most of the issues haven't changed much, but I have mellowed in intensity quite a bit.

Which part of the political spectrum's Cartesian coordinates I fall in isn't relevant, but I recommend something like here if you don't know where you fall.  If I feel like reading political material at some time, I'll read stuff from people from all over the spectrum.  I have the ability to read biased material and come to my own conclusions on which parts I agree with and how their biases and experiences affect their argument / beliefs.

However, you will rarely see me discuss my political beliefs publicly, especially not on the internet.  I will only discuss this kind of stuff privately, in person, and only in the right context.  No, texting doesn't count.  I need to be able to see facial expressions and your reactions to what I say.  That will allow me to guide the conversation in a direction that will best suit both our needs at the time.

I go to Facebook to easily keep connected with a lot of people and to see the things that they are up to.  I don't go there to get an education in politics, or to change somebody's views on a political issue.  I also don't go there to respond to anybody's game requests :) Those are quickly deleted!




Other tidbits that don't really fit in with the narrative above:

Every so often, like every couple years, I go through my friends list and weed out the ones I am no longer in contact with.  I am not one of those who just try to rack up as many friend requests as possible.  That's cool if you want to do it that way, it's just not my style.  I also don't have circles of people that get told some things and others that get excluded.  Everything that I post on Facebook, or on here, or any other social media is fair game.  If I minded it going public, I wouldn't post it.  If I have any private info I need to take care of, I'll send a private message if the medium allows it, or I'll find another way to do it without the public knowing about it.

Overqualified but Content

I know, I know. It has been around 7 months since the last time I wrote a blog post.  I haven't written anything because it accomplished its goal at the time, I didn't really feel like it, I had gotten out of the habit, and hardly anybody was reading it anyway.

Since that last post I have moved again.  I'm now in Denver, Colorado.  I haven't made a big deal of it in the past, but I am a table games dealer in a casino now.  Back in 2005, I moved out to Las Vegas and worked on The Strip at The Flamingo for a year.  It was a great experience.  It was also something I had dreamed about since I was in middle school.  I never intended for that job to be a long term commitment.  In between then and now, I have done a variety of things, the majority of time was spent as an actuary in the insurance world.

I've been crashing at a friend's place for the last bunch of weeks.  I've never had that dynamic before and it has been great fun.  I had some intense drama regarding my initial job when I moved out here to Denver.  I butted heads with the head of table games that is frankly afraid of dealers that stand up for themselves against ridiculous policies.  Without the support group I had here it would have been a lot tougher.  I landed a great job at a different casino.  The new one has been excellent and I have been impressed with it.  It takes a lot to impress me.  As many of you know, I have absolutely no reservations about changing jobs.  Since I graduated high school, I have never lived in the same metro area, let alone held the same job, for more than 3 consecutive years.  I have never renewed any apartment lease.  My parents have appropriately nicknamed me their "Wandering Son".

As a casino dealer, my job is extremely portable.  I have all the skills and personality needed to go anywhere I desire.  Because of different life circumstances, I have worked at 4 different casinos.  I have been a very successful dealer at each of them.  It might be shocking to some of you that an introvert like me can entertain a blackjack table as well as I do.  But it is my lightly mocking wit / smart ass comments at certain times and my legitimate caring for my players at other times that allow me to bring in more tips than the average dealer.

I can hear the thoughtful criticisms of many of you already:

Todd, aren't you overqualified to be a dealer?

Weren't you an actuary until recently?

Don't actuaries make more money?

Isn't it true that the only firm requirements for being a dealer are having a G.E.D. and not having a felony conviction?

Why would someone with a B.S. in Actuarial Science from Iowa and almost a B.S. in Computer Science from Iowa State want to be in a job that gets minimum wage plus tips?

To answer those imagined (and sometimes actually asked) questions:

Yes, in terms of education, I have spent more years in school than are necessary.

Yes, as an actuary I could be making a lot more money.

No, I don't regret my actions.

The problem I had as an actuary, and a likely root cause of a lot of my job and location changes, was a lack of social interaction.  This has been a theme throughout all of my life.  I used to not talk about it, but I am not ashamed to do so now.  Growing up, I had I'd say 3 true friends and a metric crap ton of acquaintances I was friendly with.

Those acquaintances allowed me to have the skills to interact with my players as a dealer.  I'll talk with them about anything and everything.  I get a lot of social interaction all night long.  I work nights intentionally so I get higher player counts per table and have more interaction.  It also helps that I have always been a night owl.

As an actuary, I barely talked to anybody all day.  I was in a cubicle farm staring at a computer screen most of the time.  My co-workers never wanted to do anything outside of work.  They just went home to their families and that was it. 

Given the circumstances dealers work in, and the fact that we work when most people are off, it is very natural for dealers to hang out with each other outside of work.  I was quite fortunate to have developed some friendships with some dealers at my last Iowa casino, Horseshoe in Council Bluffs.  I was welcomed with open arms.  Because of them, and the persistent encouraging prodding of one person in particular, I am now in Colorado.  It's an open secret that the most likely place a dealer goes to if they voluntarily quit at Horseshoe is the Denver market.  There are a couple dozen people that have done the same thing over the past few years.

I guess in short, life has changed yet again for me.  I have friends that care about me and my well-being.  I am happy and satisfied.

Cue the Vegas Vacation quotes.

May Day Stolen

It's the tradition of May Day to be giving out candy to your neighborhood, not to be stealing it.

Yesterday, I was at the laundromat taking care of my clothes.  The dryer in my apartment complex doesn't produce any heat.  So, if I have time, I'll use the washer and then hang stuff up on my two drying racks and use hangers on many internal doorways for more stuff.  If I don't have time, I'll go to the laundromat and both wash and dry there.

I was there waiting for my wash to get done.  I had some stuff on my phone that I wanted to deal with while I waited, so I was engrossed in it.  Apparently I missed the person who broke into my car.  Only two things were taken: a bag of chocolates and my paperback copy of Game of Thrones.  The chocolates were worth $9 when full, but it was 1/3 gone already, so we'll peg it at $6.  The book I got at Half Price Books, so it only cost me $4.  A grand total of $10 worth of stuff was taken from me.

I was going to continue reading the Game of Thrones book when my stuff was drying, but that was not to be.  Sure, it was partially my fault for forgetting to lock the car door.  Obviously, the real blame is on the thief.

I’m not even that upset about the thief.  Yes, I am really into the Game of Thrones book after a friend recommended it to me.  However, it is easily replaceable.

There are two things that I am more upset about.  First, I am upset at the stupidity of the thief.  Those two things were not even close to the most valuable items in the car.

Second, I am upset that the thief didn’t just steal the whole car.  At least then I would have something to tell the insurance company about, and I could get a check.  My car is getting old and now has over 150,000 miles on it.  It has annoying but non-fatal problems all over: windshield has a crack in it, cruise control doesn’t work, no front bumper (not from a wreck, a cooler fell off a pickup truck headed home from an ISU football game this fall and I didn’t have the ability to swerve, so I straddled it), there is no knob to change where the air comes in from (I use a pair of pliers on the knob stump), the Check Engine Light is constantly on despite no actual problem, it holds my bike but not nearly as well as an SUV would, front brakes need some work, and I likely need new tires because the ones I put on not too long ago weren’t very good and haven’t worn as well as they were promised to last.

I’ve been thinking about when I want to replace the car.  It likely won’t happen for a little while.  I’ve been contemplating a couple changes to my living situation and job, so those need to get resolved first.  I’m not ready to make those changes public yet, but I have been willing to hint at them.

By the way, I’m putting off the promised tale of my Ironman adventure until another day.

Spinning Top

I think that in many ways, emotionally, I am like a large spinning top that gets expertly respun every so often.  Once a top gets set into motion, there are several physical forces acting upon it.  Yes, the top will drift a little bit here and there on the plane, but it always stays upright, happily spinning away.  Small changes in the forces upon it will slightly alter the top, but it usually recovers just fine.  If you introduce a large shove, the top will attempt to make a recovery, however, eventually it will come crashing down.  The top’s point will stay in one place, while the rest of the top will exhaust the rest of its momentum rolling around on the plane, trying desperately to get back up.

My top got shoved three times this week.  It was too much for me to bear.  I fell down.

This week has been worse on me than the past few deaths in my family.  Over the past few years I have lost my grandmother, my great aunt, and my great uncle.

So why would I say that this week was worse even though nobody died?  The timing.

I had come to peace with those deaths and knew they were going to occur.  My grandmother and her sister both were taken by dementia related problems, and my grandmother had it the worst.  She had been affected for a while before taking up residence in a nursing home for another long while.  I had the opportunity to visit her many times during that period, so I had long made my peace with her eventual passing.  I had been able to respond to that death in the time between her passing and my great aunt’s diagnosis and descent.  I had been able to make peace with my great aunt’s passing before hearing of my great uncle’s passing.  In short, there was plenty of time to cope.

I didn’t have enough time to deal with the combination of my own shortcomings coming to bear or with developments related to an aspect of my history I have kept hidden from everyone, including my parents.  This aspect is not illegal, unethical, or even immoral, but I still do not talk about it to anyone.  I told my parents of its existence once, but I made a solemn resolution that even they would not hear what the topic is, let alone my actions.

With three things occurring in the span of 4 days, I have broken down and cried twice.  I typically cry at most once a year, so I think I am good for a while.  Hopefully I can get my top spinning again soon.

Thanks for reading.

A much more uplifting and funnier topic about my Ironman adventure will be coming up next.

The Tale of Leon

I had an interesting day on Sunday.  It was one of the last few remaining days suitable for outdoor biking this year.  I don’t bike when it gets below 45 degrees because the wind just takes menacing chunks out of your face when you are screaming down a hill at 35+ mph.

I had intended on going for about 40 miles or so.  I had made it from my apartment to the downtown area, past the I-Cubs stadium, and across the Raccoon River on my way towards Gray’s Lake.  I then heard an all too familiar hiss coming from my back tire.  I knew exactly what that meant.  I unclipped both feet from the pedals quickly.  As I was doing so, I could feel the back of the bike lower ever so slightly.  The noise from the back tire was increasing.  There is no other thing this could have been other than a flat tire.

I have fixed many flat tires over the years.  It usually is not too difficult to change out the tube.  It’s rare that the tire is destroyed in a flat - it’s just a “pinch flat” of the tube usually.

I only had one flat during all of 2012.  This was during RAGBRAI, and affected just my back wheel.  My front wheel hadn’t had a flat since late in 2011, I think.

This week was a little bit unusual though.  Since this past Wednesday, I have had three flats, two in front and one in the back.  I have gotten great usefulness out of my current tubes.  It’s rare that I get a tube to last 4 months with as much as I bike, and me being a bigger guy.

The second front flat on Wednesday came about because my hand pump has fallen into disrepair.  It could only get about 60 psi in the tube before the pressure in the pump kicked the pump tube out of the socket.  I had tried to baby my bike back home because I knew that running at only half my usual pressure made me more susceptible to flats.  It didn’t work, so I ended up destroying two tubes that day.

On Friday, I went to the bike shop and switched over to a CO2 system.  This means flat tires can be changed quicker, but more importantly, I don’t have to rely on hand pumps.  I have never found a well-built one in 6 years of biking.

The CO2 system is also the reason I met Leon.

The more kindhearted bikers will ask if you need assistance when they see a fellow biker with what looks to be a maintenance issue.  Most of the time you’ll get a response from them that they have everything handled, so it only costs you a couple seconds slowed down to attempt a good deed.  A few times, I have been able to help with various problems.

I was facing the other direction and didn’t even hear Leon approach me.  He came to a complete stop before I saw him.  He asked if I needed any help.  I said no, but thanked him for stopping.  He hung around though, and struck up a conversation.  He had never seen a CO2 cartridge used and really wanted to watch me.

Leon is 81 years old and is a nice gentleman.  He was headed back up the same way as I was.  He invited me to ride with him.

It is not often that I get someone to ride with me.  There is a group I ride with on Wednesday evenings, but they are mostly criterium racers and they stopped showing up after their season ended.

I appreciated the company, even though I had to slow down for him.  I didn’t have to slow down too much for Leon, though.  He had plenty of speed for an old man.  We averaged 15.5 mph for the return trip and even had spurts up to 17.

I asked Leon if he had been on RAGBRAI before.  He has done it 13 times, but none lately.  He was there for the second ride, back when it wasn’t nearly the size it is today.  

I’d love to be as active as he is when I am that old.  We were discussing our bike frames.  His was a nice Trek from about 15 years ago.  He told me that he used to bike 7,000 miles a year.  He is now down to about three or four thousand.  That frame had 90,000 miles on it.  Now that is some dedication!

With the energy and passion that he displayed, you would have thought that he was in his 20’s or 30’s.  However, how he treated others was more indicative of his true age.

I am normally one of the friendliest people you will meet on the trails.  For pedestrians or bikers coming at me, I usually say hello to them, but don’t have time for anything else.  For bikers that I pass, I usually try to have a conversation with them if they are traveling at a speed somewhat similar to mine.  If they are just poking around like half the bikers are, I’ll say something, but it won’t last long.

For the pedestrians that I pass, I try not to scare them.  I say the required, “On your left” in a loud voice, but those aren’t the first words I say to them.  If you say just those words, by the time that the person recognizes that you are even talking to them, they have to think for a second about what the appropriate action is for them, and even still, they might mess it up.  Some people interpret “On your left” to mean that they should be on the left side of the trail, which is incorrect.

I always use the phrase, “Coming up on your left”.  I think this gets better results.  The “Coming up” accomplishes two things: 1) it alerts them that I am talking to them, and 2) it puts emphasis on the fact that *I* am the one that is going to be on the left.

Leon took things even farther.  He would strike up a short little conversation as we went by everybody on the trail.  He would even slow down and have as much of a conversation as he could with the pedestrians, even the ones that didn’t look or sound like they wanted to talk.

We enjoyed describing how we interact with others while on the trails.  We both agreed that neither of us talk to people with headphones in any more than we have to.  It just isn’t worth the effort.  People with headphones are rarely aware of their surroundings.  It is funny how the headphone crowd is always surprised when I blow by them.  If you had been LISTENING, you would have known there was a bicyclist about to pass.

I wish I could meet more people like Leon out on the trails.  Whenever I go cycling, it is usually the highlight of my day.  If I met more Leons, it would always be the highlight of my day.

For-Profit Volunteers

I know, loyal readers of my blog are possibly tired of hearing about triathlons so frequently.  Take comfort, after this upcoming weekend in Madison, WI, I have no more triathlon related events until May or so.

After reading my post from Sunday again, I was concerned that I was being a bit harsh and mean spirited.  I regularly read two online forums dedicated to triathlons [I don’t post, just lurk there].  It seems quite a few other people had some severe criticisms of the race as well.  People were lamenting about many of the same things I mentioned, but gave their own spin on things.  Reading those comments lessened the guilt I had about possibly being overly critical.

I do want to clarify one thing, though.  I was tough on how the parking was run.  I was rightfully frustrated with how that was handled in its entirety from planning to execution.  However, I am always grateful for the volunteers that are out on the course.  They take time out of their lives just to help the competitors.  I haven’t yet volunteered for a triathlon, but I will do so this weekend.

I have developed my own criteria that I will apply to future volunteer opportunities for endurance events.

*First rule*

I will not volunteer for a race ran by a for-profit company.  If the race management company / title sponsor is looking to keep the extra revenues above the expenses of the event, why shouldn’t I get a cut of it?  This is in the same vein as unpaid internships, which one could possibly argue should be illegal.  Fortunately for me, the insurance industry doesn’t believe in unpaid internships.

My experience has been that about half of the events are run by non-profits and half not.  Some events have been run better than others, but I don’t think the profit variable has correlated with my overall experience; they seem independent.

*Second rule*

My other life events come first.  If I am planning to race in that event or have something else planned, that will come first.  I don’t think that is unreasonable and I’m sure many events understand this.

*Third rule*

If you are a non-profit group and I dislike what you stand for, obviously you can’t expect me to help you out.  Of course, very few groups are affected by this.

*Fourth rule*

I’m not driving all over just to be a volunteer.  I’ll only do it if it is local.  Fairly obvious one.

All that said, I am violating the first, second, and fourth rules by volunteering for Ironman Wisconsin this weekend.  The World Triathlon Corporation will make a lot of money off the event, I have to put everything on hold this weekend and even take a day of vacation on Monday, and I have to drive for many hours on Friday and Monday just to get there and back.  However, I don’t think I am being hypocritical.  I am being paid, just not monetarily.  What I get in return is the guarantee that I will be able to purchase a racing spot for 2014.  The race is very popular and sells out in only a few minutes in most years.  It is not much in terms of compensation, but it is not zero, and that is good enough for me.

Open Letter to Hy-Vee Triathlon

WARNING: long post and solely about triathlons

Here is a letter that I just wrote on the Hy-Vee Triathlon's website in their feedback area.  Things did not go well today and I needed somewhere to vent.  Athletically, the event went fine, except that I felt like I was a touch slow on the bike and run.  I don't know my times from the swim and run, I chose not to wear a watch this time.  It was the admin of the race that had me up in arms.  The parking thing made me pissed.  I am a calm and stoic guy most of the time, and it takes a lot to anger me, but when I get angry it isn't pretty.  [No, not like the Hulk].  I regret my anger earlier in the day and how I presented it to others [details not shown in the letter or here on the blog].  I do not regret the letter that I sent to them.  Those messages and words fully apply, implied emotion or not.

Just so the letter is easier to read: 5150 is the branded name of the series of races put on under license from Ironman, just like Ironman is a branded distance.  It is a fairly new series that has developed over the past couple years.  The generic term for this same distance is an Olympic distance (same distance raced in the Olympic Games).  5150 is a play off of the total 51.5 km raced in an Olympic.

If anything doesn't make sense, let me know in the comments and I'll try to explain better.

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This will be a rather long message.  I have some critiques of today's race and some suggestions for how things can be changed to make the race better.  I hope you will truly consider what I have to say and not just slough it off.

Background on me: I have been involved with triathlons since 2009, am 31, and have raced in 4-5 tris most years ranging from Sprints to Halves [First Full at IMWI next year - lots of training in the next 53 weeks to get ready].  I am usually around a 2:50 Oly finisher, and Olys are my most common distance.

Today was the third time I have done the Hy-Vee Triathlon and I must say that I was quite disappointed.  I also raced in 2009 and 2010 when it was held at Raccoon River Park.  I liked how those two were run for the most part.  The change in venue was fine, I like this year's bike course better, but preferred the older run course.

**FIRST ISSUE**

The first major problem was parking.  I think the volunteers who were running the parking were incompetent.  They were primarily a bunch of high schoolers who looked like they weren't on a unified page of what was going on.  I left my home in enough time so that if there was no traffic I would have arrived at 5:45.  Given that traffic would likely slow things down, I assumed that I would be able to arrive at 6:00, giving me 30 minutes to get transition set up, plenty enough time for me.  Because of the slowness of the parking crews, traffic backed up for a mile and a half on Fleur.  That distance took 70 minutes because we were just sitting there for most of the time.

I ended up having to park on the opposite side of Fleur by the industrial area, because I was directed there.  However, when I went by the main parking area, there was a huge area just sitting empty.

The stated reason for the race delay was the weather.  That is not what delayed the competitors.  If there was no delay, a huge portion of your competitors would not have been able to get their transition set up by 6:30.

I have several recommendations on how to fix the parking.  First, get a parking crew that knows what they are doing, give them radios to communicate efficiently, and train them ahead of time.  Maybe they were trained, but just not well enough.

Second, if these problems persist, just hold transition open later.  There is no reason transition can't be open right up until the first wave of 5150 participants get out of the water (keep in mind that there is a 1.5 hour wait now between when transition closes and the normal age-groupers start, so there is the potential for a longer transition set-up time for them, alleviating parking congestion).

Another solution would be to go back to the bus system to get all of the athletes and spectators to the venue.  That method worked very well with the only downsides being the earlier wake-up time for most people and the cost of the buses.

**SECOND ISSUE**

Don't treat your regular age-groupers as third-class citizens.  We resent being treated as the also-rans.  Multiple times your announcers referred to the regular age-group race as "The People's Race", which sounds insulting and rather like China.

I understand that the 5150 Championship was added as a way to get a boost in attendance, and I think it was a good idea.  However, they shouldn't be given preferential treatment over the regular age-groupers.

There is no difference, other than speed, between the two types of racers.  We all paid the registration fee and we all try to do the best with our abilities.  Please don't treat us any differently.

I recommend getting rid of the two separate races idea.  If the 5150 Championship gets to start in waves, the age-groupers should as well.  If the 5150 gets to start in time trial format, the age-groupers should as well.  We shouldn't be treated any differently.  This would also get rid of the planned 15-minute gap between the two groups, which was rather silly.  I doubt it takes 15 minutes to move up the timing mats.  The 5150 Championship requires a 2:15 or 2:30 qualifying time, so there should be minimal numbers of regular age-groupers that could cross a regular 3-minute wave break anyway.  And if they do, it's no big deal if you just add an extra letter on the age marking so people can tell which race they are in.

Just as an aside, why was there only one finishing clock?  When I crossed, it looked like the time was measuring from the start of the pro waves.  If you are truly treating these as individual races that just share the same course, then put three different clocks up and let us figure out which one applies.  Then we would only have to subtract out the time delay from the start of our race.

**THIRD ISSUE**

I imagine that this message will go only to the race management company and not Hy-Vee management, but I'll try anyway.

Why was there a pro field and why was it set up the way it was?

Giving $100,000 to the male and female winners just seems like a waste of money.  In 2009, the pro race was a qualifier for something (sorry, I forgot what it qualified for), and was televised somewhere.  This year I didn't see a motorcycle camera crew ahead of the pro fields, so I assume it wasn't televised.  The spectators in the stands didn't pay an admission fee.  There is no way that money was recouped and it seems like an expensive marketing tool for Hy-Vee.  [I get why Hy-Vee heavily promotes the non-pro races: it helps registration but more importantly lets them advertise the healthy eating options they focus on now]

Now, how it was handled.  What I really liked about the 2009 pro race was how spectator friendly it was.  I think this was the day before the age-grouper race and I combined bike drop-off with watching the pros.  Since their bike route was 8 laps and the run was 4, we got to see them quite often.

Today was much different.  The 5150 Championship likely barely even saw them except for passing in opposite directions on the bike, and the age-groupers could see the swim and the bike portion right near transition / swim start.  The only people who likely saw the finish of the race were the family members of triathletes.

Another thing I doubt that can be changed, but it is worth a shot: why can't the ITU or whoever has control let the pros use the same type of bike racking system most every other race uses?  And why do they need their own special transition area?  They were doing the exact same course, let them use the exact same equipment.  This would further reinforce the notion that they are a triathlete just like the rest of us, but again with speed differences.

**FOURTH ISSUE**

What happened to all of the free food samples that were given out in 2009 and 2010 from Hy-Vee's vendors?  There were a ton of them giving out anything you could think of.  Because of those samples, I started picking up a couple new things at Hy-Vee that I otherwise wouldn't have thought to try.  Hy-Vee needs to get back to strong-arming their vendors to showing up again.  Everybody wins because of it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this entire message.  I hope I have been insightful with my observations from today's race and hope they can be used to improve things in the future.  I won't be able to race in 2014 because I will be in taper mode for IMWI a week later, but I will attend and based on what I see I will make a decision about 2015.

Full disclosure: I will post a copy of this message to my blog for all to see.