Run run run
I was in the thrift store a while ago, trying to find jeans (no luck, if you were curious). The thrift store always has the easy listening station playing on the radio, so while I was fruitlessly flipping through racks of denim I had to listen to the mild-mannered, middle-aged DJ going on about this study, which Mr. DJ found "shocking". He was of the opinion that any percentage of teenage girls meeting up with "strangers from the Internet" (his phrasing) was too high. In his opinion, the only acceptable time to meet strangers from the Internet is with your parents, older brother, and bodyguards in tow.
I find this mindset pretty baffling and horrendously outdated, to be honest. Why would he assume that teenage girls were meeting with men? I've met plenty of people from the Internet, and most of them have been women that I've met through TV fandom. I also have to wonder what type of activity counted as meeting someone from the Internet. Buying or selling stuff on Craigslist of Kijiji? Job interviews that have been arranged via email?
Also the pearl-clutching just reminded me that there are loads of people out there who still think the Internet is populated exclusively by mouth-breathing basement-dwellers who just want to rape teenagers in between games of Dungeons and Dragons. *sigh*
In my last real post I mentioned starting the Couch to 5K running program, which I have since 'finished' -- I can't run 5 km yet, but I can run for 30 minutes, which is all the program really promises, since I was tracking the runs by time and not by distance. I've downloaded a few apps that claim to track distance via GPS on my phone, but none of them seem to work terribly well. Using Google maps and a timer, it seems like I average about 4 - 4.5 km per run, which is not terrible. I run at a fairly slow pace because running hurts my feet and knees something fierce otherwise, and because I am horribly out of shape. From previous experiences trying to pick up running I know this is usually the point where I plateau and give up. Hmm.
I find this mindset pretty baffling and horrendously outdated, to be honest. Why would he assume that teenage girls were meeting with men? I've met plenty of people from the Internet, and most of them have been women that I've met through TV fandom. I also have to wonder what type of activity counted as meeting someone from the Internet. Buying or selling stuff on Craigslist of Kijiji? Job interviews that have been arranged via email?
Also the pearl-clutching just reminded me that there are loads of people out there who still think the Internet is populated exclusively by mouth-breathing basement-dwellers who just want to rape teenagers in between games of Dungeons and Dragons. *sigh*
In my last real post I mentioned starting the Couch to 5K running program, which I have since 'finished' -- I can't run 5 km yet, but I can run for 30 minutes, which is all the program really promises, since I was tracking the runs by time and not by distance. I've downloaded a few apps that claim to track distance via GPS on my phone, but none of them seem to work terribly well. Using Google maps and a timer, it seems like I average about 4 - 4.5 km per run, which is not terrible. I run at a fairly slow pace because running hurts my feet and knees something fierce otherwise, and because I am horribly out of shape. From previous experiences trying to pick up running I know this is usually the point where I plateau and give up. Hmm.