this morning started off rather chilly and i was sporting two layers of clothing, fleece gloves and a headband when i headed out to help teach the new texas 4000 riders how to ride. two hours later i was down to my jersey, bike shorts and arm warmers, and the latter were only necessary because i didn't have sunscreen on my arms. it had warmed up about 25 degrees in a 2.5 hour period. nice.
michelle and i went out on a 3.5 hour ride after the teaching session. during this ride we decided we were both terribly out of cycling shape (we've both been running focused lately). that and neither of had eaten or drank enough relative to the amount of exercise and temperature. i haven't really bonked in a workout in awhile, but i think the last hour of this ride discontinued this streak.
on a completely different note, i went to the opening of bass concert hall last night. we heard the ut symphony, a couple of opera singers, the ut jazz ensemble....and then ghostland observatory played...with the jazz ensemble...and then the ut marching band came parading in. it was awesome. we were dancing in the aisles. ghostland observatory is synthesizer and one singer meet smoke, lasers and lights. i wish i could have gone to a whole concert where they only played music like those last 15 minutes. they were great.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
it never goes away
warning: there is an unusually high sap content in this entry, so if that sort of thing upsets your stomach, i'd suggest waiting until the next post.
i was in yoga this evening and the teacher did something i have never experienced before in a class. normally if there is music playing in the background, it is instrumental or may have some chanting. well, this instructor played songs with words. all of the songs were pretty mellow, but gave the whole class a different feel for me. one of the early songs really struck me, so i asked the teacher about it after the class. its called 'the fear you won't fall' by joshua radin.
i looked it up on youtube when i got home, and the video that i happened to choose flashed a series of quotes on the screen. some of the quotes were lyrics from the song and others just made you pause. this one made me pause:
"the first time you fall in love, it changes your life, and no matter how hard you try, it never goes away."
ah. that explains it.
i was in yoga this evening and the teacher did something i have never experienced before in a class. normally if there is music playing in the background, it is instrumental or may have some chanting. well, this instructor played songs with words. all of the songs were pretty mellow, but gave the whole class a different feel for me. one of the early songs really struck me, so i asked the teacher about it after the class. its called 'the fear you won't fall' by joshua radin.
i looked it up on youtube when i got home, and the video that i happened to choose flashed a series of quotes on the screen. some of the quotes were lyrics from the song and others just made you pause. this one made me pause:
"the first time you fall in love, it changes your life, and no matter how hard you try, it never goes away."
ah. that explains it.
what the world needs
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Howard Thurman
this morning i heard about a potential 50-miler. its part of the jemez mt. trail series and is run in los alamos, nm in may. the entire course is between 7000 and 10000+ ft and apparently has ridiculous amounts of climbing. i'm trying to find out more.
this morning i heard about a potential 50-miler. its part of the jemez mt. trail series and is run in los alamos, nm in may. the entire course is between 7000 and 10000+ ft and apparently has ridiculous amounts of climbing. i'm trying to find out more.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
snack food stadium
one of my housemates found this architectural gem, which you too can apparently make for your super bowl party. i'm not sure we'll be having at our place though...
i finally got my data all cleaned up at work today. its been a bit of a luxury doing this because the code takes awhile to run so i have had ample time to read random stuff online or just talk to my labmates (productive, i know). its probably a good thing that i have to actually do more work now!
also, its been out for awhile, but i finally got my hands on a copy of this month's issue of wired. the future is on the early detection of cancer, check it out.
i finally got my data all cleaned up at work today. its been a bit of a luxury doing this because the code takes awhile to run so i have had ample time to read random stuff online or just talk to my labmates (productive, i know). its probably a good thing that i have to actually do more work now!
also, its been out for awhile, but i finally got my hands on a copy of this month's issue of wired. the future is on the early detection of cancer, check it out.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
a brand new day
and boy is it sunny! yeah! the forecast last night was for freezing rain. this area was receiving all sorts of winter weather advisories and people were worried the city was going to shut down today. as someone who spent the first (almost) 22 years of life in colder climates, i found this highly amusing.
i had a very satisfying evening yesterday. i was making dinner for my co-op and attempted baking bread for the first time--from scratch! and it worked! and people said they liked it! and it wasn't just because they were trying to be polite! i took pictures and will try to get one up soon.
i also got my first taste at grading last night. my advisor has 23 students in one of his grad classes so he's making his post-doc, one of his other students and i help with the grading. i've never had to ta or anything so i suppose this is my introduction. i have quickly developed an affinity towards students who actually complete the whole assignment and who clearly label their answers.
my friend eric and i have lived in the same city for about the last 10 years. it has been unintentional and highly amusing. we met in college (in boston). i moved to hawaii the year after he did and he moved to austin the day after i did. we currently live about 8 blocks from each other. well, i found out earlier this week that eric's leaving austin next week. i (jokingly) confronted him about this as i'm still going to be here for another 2 years and therefore can't follow him wherever. he said he wasn't worried about it as we'd likely be meeting again in hawaii in a couple years before we moved on to our next place. i told him 2.5 years, not that i was counting and he said he didn't think a little counting was a bad thing. i've decided i agree.
i'm going to try and make it out for 90ish minute run tonight with the ultra team. its a no-drop run, meaning no one gets left behind. it should be a good opportunity to meet a bunch of people. i'm excited...but also concerned that we're starting (and finishing) at a hill named the "hill of life." generally if hills here have names, they are something to be reckoned with...
while this is my blog and i shouldn't necessarily apologize for expressing my opinions, i apologize for the uncharacteristic anger/frustration in the tone of yesterday's post. as i said, a bunch of memories came back and combined with other things that had happened recently and a complete lack of sleep, it was kind of a rough patch. i'm happy again now :O)
i had a very satisfying evening yesterday. i was making dinner for my co-op and attempted baking bread for the first time--from scratch! and it worked! and people said they liked it! and it wasn't just because they were trying to be polite! i took pictures and will try to get one up soon.
i also got my first taste at grading last night. my advisor has 23 students in one of his grad classes so he's making his post-doc, one of his other students and i help with the grading. i've never had to ta or anything so i suppose this is my introduction. i have quickly developed an affinity towards students who actually complete the whole assignment and who clearly label their answers.
my friend eric and i have lived in the same city for about the last 10 years. it has been unintentional and highly amusing. we met in college (in boston). i moved to hawaii the year after he did and he moved to austin the day after i did. we currently live about 8 blocks from each other. well, i found out earlier this week that eric's leaving austin next week. i (jokingly) confronted him about this as i'm still going to be here for another 2 years and therefore can't follow him wherever. he said he wasn't worried about it as we'd likely be meeting again in hawaii in a couple years before we moved on to our next place. i told him 2.5 years, not that i was counting and he said he didn't think a little counting was a bad thing. i've decided i agree.
i'm going to try and make it out for 90ish minute run tonight with the ultra team. its a no-drop run, meaning no one gets left behind. it should be a good opportunity to meet a bunch of people. i'm excited...but also concerned that we're starting (and finishing) at a hill named the "hill of life." generally if hills here have names, they are something to be reckoned with...
while this is my blog and i shouldn't necessarily apologize for expressing my opinions, i apologize for the uncharacteristic anger/frustration in the tone of yesterday's post. as i said, a bunch of memories came back and combined with other things that had happened recently and a complete lack of sleep, it was kind of a rough patch. i'm happy again now :O)
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
fog
i'm not living in it at the moment, but it is foggy outside. have you ever had something happen where in a single moment you see things as they are? i had one of those moments yesterday. i'll be honest. this particular moment caused a lot of memories that had been happily buried in the recesses of my mind to come back to life, and it made several months of my life look like some sort of joke. i love feeling like i'm an inch tall. oh, and please, stick the knife in a little deeper...now twist--man does that feel good! on a less sarcastic note, thank you gokce, hilda and lindsay for listening to why something so stupid could hurt so deeply.
after that moment of clarity, i left work, went for a walk, had a root beer and somehow managed to get myself into a contest with one of my (male) housemates to see who could have better abs by june 1 (oops). due to various forms of stress, we've both lost a bunch of weight in the last 6 months, so really this is a contest to see who can do the most hard core workouts. several other housemates heard about it and want to join in or serve as judges, so now the pressure is on! ironically (or not?), hilda baked delicious oatmeal cookies last night to start us on our way.
despite not much sleep last night (i had to ask people to stop singing outside my window at 3:15 AM), i actually had a really great run this morning. it was only 7 miles, but the weather was great (the cold front hadn't reached austin yet). as of this morning, i also now have someone with whom to run the austin marathon in a couple weeks. leya, one of the women i used to coach in hawaii, lives here in austin with her husband gerald and their son maika now, and i'm going to pace her. i'm looking forward to it as we'll have some time to catch up!
after that moment of clarity, i left work, went for a walk, had a root beer and somehow managed to get myself into a contest with one of my (male) housemates to see who could have better abs by june 1 (oops). due to various forms of stress, we've both lost a bunch of weight in the last 6 months, so really this is a contest to see who can do the most hard core workouts. several other housemates heard about it and want to join in or serve as judges, so now the pressure is on! ironically (or not?), hilda baked delicious oatmeal cookies last night to start us on our way.
despite not much sleep last night (i had to ask people to stop singing outside my window at 3:15 AM), i actually had a really great run this morning. it was only 7 miles, but the weather was great (the cold front hadn't reached austin yet). as of this morning, i also now have someone with whom to run the austin marathon in a couple weeks. leya, one of the women i used to coach in hawaii, lives here in austin with her husband gerald and their son maika now, and i'm going to pace her. i'm looking forward to it as we'll have some time to catch up!
Monday, January 26, 2009
quotes
what started out as a pretty good monday, quickly turned not-so-happy. i would just like to say that facebook tells me more bad news than good lately, and i will leave it at that.
here are a couple quotes that i've come across recently that in some way, shape or form have resonated with me:
"I've done more harm by the falseness of trying to please than by the honesty of trying to hurt." - J. West
"Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." - Marilyn Monroe
"Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all of his strength." - Hasidic saying
here are a couple quotes that i've come across recently that in some way, shape or form have resonated with me:
"I've done more harm by the falseness of trying to please than by the honesty of trying to hurt." - J. West
"Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." - Marilyn Monroe
"Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all of his strength." - Hasidic saying
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