Srichacha!!.. and a really long post about College!

So, I bought some srichacha sauce the other day... because damn it's TASTY!! It is in my desk now, ready to be eaten on whatever, but I noticed it was kind of leaky. As I was cleaning it up, I got some on my hands (okay, a good bit, like quarter sized) and I licked it off... and now my mouth is on FIRE and my new Shasta mug tastes like FIRE. But it's all worth it for the 'chacha. Chile chile chile chile rockin' everywhere.

But that's not why I am posting tonight.

I think it's important to explain the "time vs. team" mindset of college running, and it occurred to me that many people who don't run NCAA may not have had the opportunity to make a few distinctions that inevitably lead to this mindset. I think, as I reflect, that "time" is important for the individual, but "team" is important for the college racing. I also believe that if the goal is centered on the college (which generally it is, since the college is paying you to be there, and they are paying VERY WELL...), the team aspect will win. I believe also that you are very much mentally shaped and trained-- like a greyhound, I think-- to run a certain way and to have a certain mindset. I wish that it were different. I think this is why runners love Prefontaine. He was not altered by this mindset. Sure, there were a million K's who were faster than Pre. But what made Pre special is that he always said running was a gift not to be squandered for any team. But enough of that... let's talk about the NCAA. I am hoping this will be cathartic, and that maybe I can express what I need to say about it clearly and openly, and maybe that will take away some of the thoughts of it.

So here's some reasons why track runners really concern themselves more with "team" than time:

1. You can only run so fast on your own

a. Physically-- usually track is run in the spring, specifically during march and april. It is very windy outside, and on the straights of the track, you'll catch a lot of wind. So if you are an 80 second a lap 10k runner, you might run the curves at 20-20 but only be able to hold 24-24 on the straights (for the whole 10k). If you have a teammate running with you, you'll trade laps so that one person catches the wind for one lap (but pushes, say 21-21) and the other person catches it for the other lap (it's like drafting with bicycles). 10k's spread out really fast, so there's not really a "pack" to draft off of, and most runners are aware of this strategy. It's a well known fact that if a runner from another team starts drafting on you, you'll slow down to the point she has to pass, or you'll move obsequiously to the third or fourth lane, making the distance further.

b. Emotionally-- it's very hard to pace yourself and keep up your spirit while you are running on your own. You would think "I WANT TO PR!" would be great motivation, but to be honest, most people are more concerned with winning than with PR's. In fact, if you get in a slow race, you won't just ball out and win the thing by 1.5 minutes. You'll hang tight and win by 5-10 seconds. There are other races, with stiffer competition, that are worth a balls to the wall effort. In those races, you'll have the benefit of having people to run with you, which makes balls-to-the-wall slightly less painful.

c. Adrenaline-wise-- you really can only go balls-to-the-wall about 2x per season. I wish it weren't like that, and that you could get psyched to dominate in all races, but the truth is that it's just not possible, when you are running 100 miles a week and you are super dull all the time (but in good enough shape to compete at that level) to go all out in every race. So you save it for the big races, when winning means more money and prestige, or when the competition is stiff.

d. The way the individual thing works in pro running is that there are 2 standards. One is called Provo and one is called Auto. Auto has been set by the NCAA and it's a certain percent slower than the world record. Ex. in the 5k, I think women's auto is 15:45. Provo is set by "how fast is everyone else going that year?" There's an upper limit on it, like 16:40, but it's very do able for many people. The fastest 10 people in Provo who are not in auto (unless there are more than 10 in auto) get to go to the national/international meet. So the first goal is "make the auto"-- you don't have to be the fastest auto, you just need to make it. You are guarenteed a spot if you make it. But the next goal is "keep the provo slow in the early season." The idea is that you might make it with a 16:37. Other girls will also make it around that time, let's say a bunch of 16:37, 16:38, 16:39, and maybe only 2 faster girls. So then the last race of the season, right, if 10 people have made auto, and you know you can go faster, you go ahead and just bust a frickin' 16:15. You get your spot to go to the national race, and someone with a slow time gets bumped. The last thing you want is for the Provo to get fast early on, because that means you're going to have to keep on running really extremely fast times all season, and you might be wiped by the race. AKA, it's the fastest 10 runners above Auto over the course of the whole season... if you're running 16:10 in September, there is no way in hell you'll be running 16:10 in December... unless you are truely capable of running 15:45, and in that case, you should be Auto, not provo.

2. There are two different kinds of runners that can run a 5:20 mile

I'm using 5:20 here because it's a very standard mile split for a female college runner. It's 80 second quarters, and it was my 10k pace, so I'm familiar with it. Here's an example. I am "10 k runner type a." I can run 80 second quarters all day long, but anything under 76 will destroy me so badly I can't put in another quarter even at 80. I'll need at least 2 laps of 82-84 to recover and get the acid out.

Then, there are girls who can run only 82 second quarters (2 seconds is a lot of difference here), over a 10k that's 51.3 seconds! but they can put in a 60 second quarter at any time. Call these type B runners.

Before you race, you know EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THAT RACE AND WHICH TYPE THEY ARE. I mean, you have done your research. You have sat with coach and he has told you every school color and mascot and what every girl looks like. You need to know who to go with and who to not go with. Ex. I might know that, say, someone wearing a columbia uniform and someone wearing a kentucky uniform are type a runners. I will go with those girls, even if they go out slowly. Whereas LJ might know that someone wearing a SC uniform is a type B runner, and she'll go with them even if they go out fast. If I went with the type b group, I might risk a random 65 second quarter getting thrown in there. I could probably hang for about 150 before I would be totally shot, and unable to finish and place well for the team. So even if that group is running closer to my capacity than my group, I go with the group that runs the same "way" I do in order to keep from getting "dropped" <-- official running term. There are meetings that runners have where we talk about strategy, just like football players. People wonder when I say "we had 7 hours of practicing a day"-- well, I mean 7 hours of total association with the team; strategic meetings were a big part of this. I can remember so many evenings with the whole group sitting on coach's bed in a hotel room listening to infinite droning about strategy. It was so important, but at a national meet you can imagine; you're not going to remember who every single person of the 500 people there are!

c. At the end of the day, it all comes down to funding. College coaches are really not cool. When the team loses races, the team loses money. When a team score is reported it says SCHOOL 1 3 6 8 45, or whatever-- this means that your runners came in places 1, 3, 6, 8, and 45. The score is made by adding the differences from the total number of runners in the race. So runner 1 gets 99 points, runner 2 gets 97, etc., if there were 100 runners in the race. In a 10k, there's usually between 30 and 50, and that's a big race. In XC, you are looking at between 300 and 500 runners. So it doesn't matter whether or not I get 1st or 5th, as long as the value of 1 or 5 is higher than other teams values of 1 and 5... no one, except "me" cares. Normally teams enter between 7 and 10 girls in a cross race and 3-5 in a track race. They only score your top 5 runners, so girls 7-10 are not valid. They're simply there for "place shifting."

Let's say your team has girls in places 1, 3, 7, 25, 49, 51, and 70

Team 2 has girls in places 2, 4, 5, 22, and 52, 53, and 54. Your sixth runner hasn't given you any "points" but she has kept their fifth runner from being in place 51. This is the difference that your team needs to win. If you didn't enter her, they would be tied with you. It then goes to the 6th and 7th runners, and they would clearly win. The two most important dynamics in a race are the 1-2 split and the 4-5 split. A good team will have a very tight 1-2 split (also called the punch) and a very tight 4-5 split (that's just called a split). So, if you are running in the first position and your second girl gets tired, you are obligated to slow down and help her get through it. The 1-2 positions get the most points, so keeping the morale of 1-2 intact is huge. Ex. if 1 thinks she can win the race and 2 is dying and would probably drop in the kick to position 10 or 12 without person 1, person 1 will slow down to pace with person 2 even if it means loosing the race. The difference between placing 3, 4 and 1, 10 is enough to change the whole race dynamic. This is also crucial in the 4-5 position because so many girls are in that part of the pack. A 2 second difference between girls 4-5 may be 20 to 30 places of difference in the rankings.

4. You don't just run one event at a track event-- well. Some people do. let's say "I don't just ever run one event at a track race."

I am a multi-event runner-- usually I ran the 5 and 10 ks, and sometimes also a leg in the DMR (the mile, obviously, as I am not that fast!, if no one else would run it). That's three events in 2-3 days, and, if there are finals, that's 6 events. You realistically cannot race all six events all out. You will be full of lactic by the end of your best one, and the rest will be crap. There are other runners who are not multi-event runners. They are running one race. So let's say you are "as fast" as a girl running one race. You don't plan to focus on that race. It makes sense to simply go out with that girl and let her do the work (it's her only event) by setting the pace. If you're a slow runner, like me, that means you aren't going to win in the last lap. If you really wanted to "win it," you'd take a fast start and work the whole race. But it's not worth doing that. Let's say she gets 1 by putting in a hard kick at the end, and you get 2. But now she's done racing, and tired, and you are still fresh. Then you go out and get 1 in your next event. So you've brought in (usually in finals there are only 10 racers) 8 + 10 points for your team (first place gets 10 instead of 9, not sure why). She's also brought in 10. That's 28 for the two of you. What if you raced it? In the first race, you still bring in 18 points (but now you are position 1) but in your next race, you are toast, and only bring in 3 points. That's only 21 points for your team. That's a first-to-third conference rank difference, easy (most of the time when we won we beat AK by 0.5 points-- there are partial points in the field events).

As a side note, we learned that superloading pottasium is a great way to rid lactic when it's a pinch. I remember laying on a highjump mat eating literally 3 or 4 bananas and scarfing gatorade right after a race so that in 11 hours or whatever I would be really fresh for the next one. It was a terrible sugar rush, but it really worked, for some reason. This is probably where my love for the honey banana comes from-- I don't even like the taste of it, but it's a good memory.

5. Team dynamic is the ultimate goal. People (especially girls) are snitchy. Which rhymes with another word, which they also are. Teams "establish" roles just like civilizations do. Some people are leaders-- they govern the team, set the rules and the workout paces. Some people are explorers-- they chart the courses of the long runs, test out the trails far away. Some people are educators-- they lead the freshman runs. Other people are communicators-- they train with the track girls. I wasn't in a leadership role-- I was your typical "have you run ____ trail this season? Is it muddy? Can we do our long run there? Can you take us for 18 miles?" Because I didn't train track workouts with the team, and never ran any sprints, my responsibility was what we call LSD (long slow distance). It was never my place to lead, or to win... It seems strange, I know, to think that I could be a happy runner not winning... but I'll give three examples:

a. one time I ran a cross race and I placed #1 for our team (maybe like 16 overall, nationally). I remember that as I was running I saw LJ keel over to the side as I passed by her. She was 50 meters from the end. She didn't even finish the race. We're trained (or abused) to be so emotional about the running, to pour our souls into it. Being passed, when she was a #1 runner, gave her asthma problems for the whole season. Sure, she'd never say it.... but until she won again, I got snippy looks from the whole team.

b. another time, I was running the same race (another year, same course), and I was running in the #2 position. I finished in about the same place (I think LJ finished about 5th). I literally passed out on the line of the course. I came to laying on a bench, and a girl who I had raced in high school was kneeling by my feet, removing my spikes (I was bleeding all over them-- you get cut up in the start of a race because people wear spiked shoes and purposefully kick one another in the shins). I got second for the team in that race, but the event meant so much to me that I wrote a piece about it and presented it to the athletic department. It was really a beautiful act of humility on her part. That race, despite a worse team place (and worse time) was significantly more of a "win."

c. and finally, the race I won that "meant something." the athletic department told me one year that I was "injured." they took me to a hospital where a doctor I didn't like claimed I had a 7 inc fracture down the front of my shin. I was so angry at him. 2 weeks later, it stopped hurting, so I started running on my own, but I had to hide it from everyone-- the team, the other girls, etc. They would not "let" me run. I went to a doctor friend of mine in Atlanta who told me that I had chronic swelling in my shins, and that this shows up on x-rays looking like stress fractures. He got me appointments with the therapist for the GA Thrashers who taught me how to run on my midfoot to prevent some of the swelling in my lower legs-- she diagnosed my hypotonia and helped me learn how to make a more sound mind-body connection. One day, the coaches caught me running. they threatened (as usual) to remove my scholarship. I said I didn't really care (I was kind of an ass then). I told them I didn't want to talk to them, and I went to Calloway Gardens for the weekend. This was in the winter, and there was a half-marathon going on. I jumped in the 1/2 marathon. It was cold and icy the whole time. I ran as fast as I possibly could, and ended up putting in a 1:17, which is convertible to olympic trials B-standards pace. I told the coaches, thinking "okay, they will be happy for me." They were furious-- how dare I race anything not associated with the school (actually, I think it is against regulations unless you race under a pseudonym, which is why Tweedle Dee still gets mail at my parents place). The winter I trained with my buddy in Syracuse was to help her go to the Olympics in the marathon, but secretly I was thinking of quitting... I wanted to go, too. I ended up staying, I know-- my greyhound mind was well trained, I guess-- team first, me second; team first, me second.

I know that doesn't make me sound hardcore in any sort of way, or like a hero or anything. It makes me sound like a girl who let herself be brainwashed and lost her spirit to the lure of having money. And that's what happened, so I can't fake it.

But here's a lesson to be learned from it: I remember before I started all that crap running along Soap Creek trails in the rain, feeling light and agile, running for 2 or 3 hours and feeling great the whole time. Running itself in those days was absolute joy. The training was interesting in college, I loved seeing new cities and getting free shoes and all, but I would trade it all back now to be able to go out for 2-3 hours on a run and to feel awesome and light every day again. Lesson learned-- hope that was a good sharing!

An interesting run

Today I didn't feel like running, so of course, I went running.

I drove to the forest and I started running the main trail. Being that it is called "Six Mile Road" I assume it is probably six miles long. Just a guess, though.

So as I ran along, I really felt like junk and I kept having to re-encourage myself not to just give up and call it a day. Then I saw this little trail off to the right. I thought it might be the trail up to the xeric hill (tallest point on the north forest) which we hiked once this summer. It was really steep then, so I thought, well, I'll at least run up that thing and get something out of this. However, it was not... it was a trail to the tornado alley!

When the tornado came through last year it literally cut an "alley" in the woods-- there are HUNDREDS of downed trees (all facing the same direction) in a corridor where it came through. It was absolutely awesome looking. What made it better is that the whole time I was looking at the damage, I was thinking: I WAS HERE WHEN THIS HAPPENED AND I WASN'T EVEN AFRAID. I mean, this was major damage. It was probably about a 2 mile loop through the tornado alley, and then another 3 or so miles back to the road, so all in all, I got in 8-9 miles, and I was happy about it.

It's pretty strange to think about the fact that while all those trees were crashing down I was in those woods. I think I will run there tomorrow again, but try for 10-12 miles!

A month, in countdown form

As T.S. Eliot once said, "April is the cruellest month..." I shall now prove this statement with a very high tech analysis.

Days until department wide seminar - 1

Days until my license plates come in - 3

Days until my license plates are due - 4 (cutting it close!)

Days until defense -5

Days until stats 12 is due - 7

Days until I am 25 - 11

Days until stats final exam - 29

Days until I leave SC - 30

Good news! Clemson came in 5th place at the national timbersports competition this year! Amongst other things, we won a new cross cut saw (custom made in Redding, CA) worth nearly $1500.00! Also our women's cross cut team came in 2nd-- a girl who was in my IPM course last year competed-- she's one of my favorite people in the department, really works hard and is legit, so I was glad a lot of points attributed to her!

Other commentary: S's comment on the defense was "go home and sleep; I'll tell you not to worry about it this weekend too much, but I know you won't sleep, and that's good for you. You shouldn't sleep the night before your defense." So I think that's good? I guess I'll find out. One of my buddies passed his defense today, and I think a lot of folks from wildlife are coming to my seminar tomorrow-- that's good because they aren't very into "finance" so if they question me it should be pretty easy stuff to answer. I feel like my stuff stands okay on the forestry and econ sides, but I deliberately avoided language like "basis" because I'm not very clear about how the taxation works on urban properties. City tree ordinances are a huge bear.

Things I have learned today...

1. I have been "saving" drafts of my papers on the PC by pressing the wrong button. S. discovered random word of "sand" in my papers-- apparently on PC is is CTRL + S, not Command + S.... oops. FAIL.

2. Even a crappy bed right next to the highway is 1000 x better than sleeping on the floor of my office. I have internet... and a BED... I can even watch NCIS while I work!

3. Did you know that last year there were 9 fires in Northern California and 6 828 fires in the Southeast? The acre difference? 4 acres in Northern California and 104 414 acres in the southeast. Wow. I mean, of course, a lot of that was because we do a lot of prescibed burning here, but I never realized the discrepancy.

4. I think I have confirmed that I am able to eat soy sauce with no consequence! I have been reading much more about the iGa-1 test, too, and it doesn't turn out that it is a very diagnostic type of test... "not much power" as dr. R would say. I have discovered that as long as I let no taste that is sweet into my mouth (except, for some reason, immediately after a run or when i first wake up), my stomach issues are almost non existent. But sweet taste, for some reason, screws everything up.... this is very exciting.

5. No motorcycle classes required for motorcycle liscenses in OR! Excitement.

Well, back to studying for the big D and watching the NCIS marathon in the background on the television in here (makes staying alone a little less scary to have it on, actually! <-- insert wussy side of K here).

Part 2. Things that make the world explode. EXPANDED VERSION!

Well, first for the good... OBSERVE. The two best infection fighting foods are probably 2 of my all time favorite foods: UNSWEET CHOCOLATE AND PRUNES.

In fact, this whole list sounds great. I'd eat them together!

It's time for round 2, things that make the world explode.

1. Children in bookstores-- how did you know I would start with this one? Children, unless they are cool (see also, nerdy) should be banned from bookstores. Or limited to the children's section at least. There is nothing worse than having a sniffling little kid standing next to you are you are trying to READ (since that is what you DO at a bookstore) sticking his fist up his nose and speaking in what sounds like a mixture of Klingon and Swahili. I would say "kids should be seen, not heard," but the fact of the matter is: kids should neither be seen nor heard.

2. Ford 350-- what is that truck doing in the parking lot of anywhere? That thing has like 25 wheels on it, and the tail end is about 20 feet long. When you park your 350 next to me, how am I supposed to back out of a parking space? I can't see past the tail end of that thing. And honestly, why do you need a car that big-- if you need a utility car, use it for utility-- not for going to the drugstore! What's that thing get, .005 mpg?

3. Automated flush toilets-- now, I know, it's nasty to push the handle down. But you know what is worse? When you can't get that thing to go off, and you want the toilet to flush, but it won't. Or... if someone before you had that problem. Imagine this: you have just consumed a gallon of water and you eagerly pull into a rest stop only to find that in the ONE bathroom, someone has had this same problem, but didn't just have to #1.

4. Fungi-- We have a love hate relationship, but clearly fungi wanted it to be something more, which is why they decided to spend all day and night with me in my house. Fungi, I'm taken.

5. High schoolers in bookstores-- highschoolers may also need to be banned from bookstores, or at least, silenced. I learned all about how some girl sitting near me was going to start making $10.00 an hour at her job as a pharmaceutical assistant, plus she liked the first dress she tried on for prom, and it would fit her even if she got fat because it was a little big, and how her friend went to Fordham college to spread some of her south onto the north... okay, this should tell you exactly why high schoolers should be banned from bookstores. Actually, they should just be banned from cellular service. That'll fix em.

6. Overzealous /incompetent/illogical sales people: on this, I will give a few examples-- besides the all time fail of the girl scouts who tried to get me WHILE I WAS RUNNING--

a. Me: "I want a medium BLACK coffee."

Salesperson: "Would you like a flavor in that for only 0.49 cents more?"

Me: "No, just a BLACK coffee. That's it."

Salesperson: "Would you like a blueberry muffin to go with that? How about some chocolate chip cookies?"

Me: "Nope. BLACK coffee."

Salesperson: "Okay, would like to sign up for a Borders Rewards Card and save 10% on your purchase today?"

Seriously... this salesperson needs to know how to read people. When someone comes in asking for BLACK coffee, specificially, they don't want flavors. And most black coffee drinkers aren't into muffins. If they want one, they will ask. Finally, why would want to spend $25.00 signing up for your card so that I could save 0.15 cents on my purchase and have another card to deal with?

b. Me: "Hey, do you carry any kind of power-point clicker that I can use with both a Mac and Windows."

Salesperson: "Well, do you have an iPhone?"

Me: "Nope, I have a regular phone."

Salesperson: "Well, you should get an iPhone. It will work as a presentation clicker by bluetooth communicating with Powerpoint."

Really? Do people fall for that one? I am not in the market for a $350.00 dollar phone with a $30.00 a month plan! I am looking for a clicker for maximum of $70.00-- if it has a lazer pointer and is wireless and communicates with Mac Keynote AND Powerpoint (turns out Best Buy sold one that does all of this for only $39.99, which is the best deal I could get before the presentation).

c. (as I am buying throat medicine)

Salesperson: "Would you like to try a bag of the new doritos or some body wash with this?"

Oh! Doritos! That's exactly what I wanted for my sore throat! Good call, sales person. I love choking down some jagged corn chips when my throat already feels raw. Adds to the fun.

7. The age-checker at Walmart-- now, I know Walmart is lame, but when you need a flashlight at 4:00 am, you don't have much choice. So I go to check out this flashlight from the uscan (in fact, it has the "cars" movie logo on it, because that was the cheapest) and it starts all flashing at me saying "you must be over the age of 14 to purchase this product." I look at the cashier, helpless, and she comes over and checks my ID! For a FLASHLIGHT with the picture of a kids movie on it?!?!?!?! I don't even know what I would do with a flashlight that is dangerous. I mean, I think flashlights keep you SAFE right? So you don't trip over stuff in the dark and all. Apparently, I am under the age of 14 and flashlights are diabolical.

8. The Twilight book/movie series: Okay, so the plot is this. A vampire falls in love with a girl and wants to suck her blood. The girl wants the vampire to suck her blood so she can be immortal. The tension is that the vampire won't suck the blood. WHY NOT JUST DO IT?!?! Nothing is holding either character back, except the author's need to write 4 books on this premise. I have no idea how it ends, but I did look it up online and apparently the girl gets knocked up. I wonder if it's a vampire fetus. That would at least make for a particularly graphic horror movie. I think there are werewolves too. Maybe they should put James Bond in the movie.

9. The Water Snobs-- I am at the gas station, buying some water when I see a girl next to me. She's talking with her friend in front of the water case. She says "ewww, I hate crystal springs water, it's not healthy. Why don't they have Evian or something, it's much healthier water! I'll have to get a Coke or something." Now... I don't know much about water distillation, but I do know this: water is ALWAYS healthier than Coke, unless maybe you are going into hypoglycemic shock and you desperately need sugar right away. There may be some stuff added in the distillation process, but I honestly can't tell a taste difference between one water brand and another. Smart Water does get rid of headaches, but it still tastes like other water. Water is water folks.

10. The beef with beef-- I am not really sure why, but people have some huge hatred for beef in general. I have news for beef haters out there-- it's not the beef that's bad for you, it's the fact that you are eating too much bad beef. Eating 4-8 oz of lean ground beef alone, or 1-3 ounces of lean beef on a sandwich or potato or as schnitzel is perfectly fine. Beef is high in iron and is one of the only natural sources of manganese, which is an essential mineral. It is super obnoxious to see folks with a large beer belly who eat tons of BBQ a day call me out on eating lean, natural pastrami. Guess what! When I was in the best shape of my life I ate pastrami/corned beef/roast/schnitzel on a daily basis. I have run a 20:33 6k on a beef au jus (beef and juice) sandwich from "the brown barrel" (the only restaurant I know in Waterloo). Don't dis the beef!

11. Women's soaps/ shampoos-- apparently men want to smell clean and women want to smell like a produce section. Am I the only one who has noticed this? I don't want my hair to smell like a blueberry garden, watermelon sunset, or coconut spring. I want it to smell like a shower. And if I have to buy Axe to do this, I will!

Note to self:

The gold ATM card takes money from the high-performance account, the blue card takes money from the other account!! (damn you transaction fees!!)

Note to others: an important thing to remember about high performance accounts is that they get you with transaction fees when you actually USE the money in those accounts.

Note to self, 2: I've got to be more careful with my spending. I don' t think those motorcycle lessons are going to happen for a while, unfortunately. I need to save up for the move, or I'm going to run out of money somewhere in the middle of Nebraska or something!

Argh. Much stress today.

Remember this song...

As I am sitting here grading papers, I began to think that I should give some advice to my students about... HOW TO WRITE. For example, if the lab sheet says, "conclusion" you should write a conclusion, etc.

For some reason, the term advice hit me like an anvil and I remembered this song from, I don't know, middle school, which is roughly the time I stopped listening to new music. Remember this song?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

I have to admit, it's corny... but if I heard that as a graduation speech in HS, I would be impressed.

(as it was, our valedictorian told the class to ____ off in Gaelic.) The humor value was high, the inspiration value was low.

I found it!

I have a free house to sleep in, and I am allergic to it.

Last night, when I got home, I walked into the house and started sneezing violently. I realized I couldn't breathe at all in the house. So I decided to do what I do best... get out my sleeping bag and curl up (in the driveway) in the backseat of my car. I cracked a window and breathed in cool, perfect, 45 degree air. It stayed about 45 all night-- slightly rainy.

It was the best sleep I've had in South Carolina in years. I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go at 5 am. In fact, I went to Walmart and bought a flashlight and some coffee, and then did a 1:09 run. I passed a few people while running, even though I felt like I was going super slow, which was a good indicator for me.

I have a feeling I will not be sleeping in that house much more.

In other good news, I have most of what I own that is "large" (blankets, camping gear) in my trunk, packed, and I still have the whole back seat and about 1/2 the trunk left. I think if I give away a few of the blankets, my hangers, my can opener, and the laundry bins, I should be able to get all my belongings, including the stuff on and in my desk, in the car with room to spare.

I may sleep at the beach this weekend. I can go to the WF down there and work on WiFi during the day, and wake up to sunrises over the Atlantic. This is a tenuous idea... but it just might work!

Stack of Work

Whew.

Today the work piled on!!

Papers to grade, thesis to revise, articles to write, stat to learn.... it's going to be a long week(end). Hopefully I can get some of this stuff printed off so I can work on it outside.

Our lab has been interesting this month. A few weeks ago we took the vans to get them fixed (the brakes were out) and today I took the "old" van to the field. It is a sucky van because there are no power brakes, and everyone in the van complains like little girls that the stops are too fast. Well... you try stopping a 15 passenger van without power brakes on the spot!! I know, I shouldn't wait so long to stop... but really, SC drivers are kind of ridiculous, and they'll slow down for all sorts of stuff (hooting at girls, for example), which means-- lots of fast stops. Of course, my van actually worked, which is more than I can say for T's van, which randomly started beeping and blinking and saying "service now!" The problem is, this van is going to conclave (in Monticello, AR) at 3 am tomorrow... or it should be. I just hope they don't break down in Mississippi or something!

I also had the fun of spending my afternoon checking the equipment into the equipment room. Somehow, we managed to manifest equipment during this semester. Our check out sheet indicated that we started with a certain amount of borers, and when I'd check the stuff in we'd have like 5 more. There were discrepancies across the board, all positive. It was strange and I wasn't sure what to do about it-- I mean, we weren't missing anything, but how did we come back with more equipment than we left with in January? The guy who runs the equipment is (rightfully) very anal about it, as the equipment is expensive, and he's got to keep it on a tight watch. I totally empathize with this, but I was terrified of the off results. Oh well. I turned them in and I guess we'll see what happens. At least I don't have to clean out the sap from the borers!!

Tick season started today. I found a little guy chilling on my thigh this evening, having a nice drink. I instantly crushed the fool. I hate ticks. I certainly won't miss them in Oregon. I have bad memories of sitting in R's car this summer half-naked assessing one another for ticks. I mean, it's about as not-fun as it can get-- you are terrified that your crew will find a tick on you, but more terrified that they WON'T find a tick on you! ... occupational hazard, I suppose. Dr. S says its already crawling with ticks... and chiggers... on the coast. Guess I won't be going THERE any time soon!

Immaturity for the day

So, I'm doing some cost analysis for this article I am working on and I happened to be reading about one of my favorite pests. Which made me decide to share the LULZ.

I mean, I know it's immature, but whoever named that bug must have been joking around. That name has way too much innuendo to be serious!

Shasta

^^^ FTW

Hmmm...

I can't decide how I feel about this offhand.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20100311/tbs-obama-space-7318940.html

On one side, I am appalled that the nation is not renewing its unified interest in space missions. I feel a little confused that we seem more than anxious to develop our scientific interests about space, but we don't want to send people there? To me this is like an analogy of remotely learning all you could ever want to know about, say, a potentially wild and exotic (and dangerous) place like Antarctica, but never having the means to actually visit it? It seems a bit half-arsed, or something.

On the other side, as an economist, I admit that venture capitalism could have the power to drive a potentially stagnating market back into action. And that if entrepreneurs are willing to take the risk to engage in space travel methods (and they are) then this could potentially lead to contract work and eventually government purchasing in a "space sector." This option would open up the window to more people, I suppose, although, it can be argued, that window was already open in the first place, huh? I suppose if this money for scientific funding does go into competitions or private investments... or universities?... it might be okay. But who's to say where it's going, or better yet, where it's coming from.

All in all, I would say that we are probably not ready for this decision at this point. Or maybe I am just a sucker for some ideal. Symbolically, I summarize this idea as removing the American flag from the moon and replacing it with the Walmart smiley face.

I have set a time and date!

I have just reserved the conference room for my defense (which is being called an "oral exam" by one professor here-- a scary term, I must admit!) Monday, April 5, at 3 pm. Looks like I will be doing much review soon (stat exam = # 1 priority right now)

Fact

The more continuous hours are spent studying, the more necessary frequent, short, and humorously ironic breaks (including wonderfully cathartic breaks for blogging and reading webcomics) are taken. Hence, www.phdcomics.com (see above) has been combined into an effective image.

So the good news...

As if I can't wait to get to OSU already, I received today an email from my future advisor telling me that I would be receiving an addendum to my fellowship awarded from the college. I told my awesome boyfriend (and then my boss), followed by my parents. Admittedly the folks' reaction was much more subdued... I think maybe they are wondering how any human can survive (fiscally) as a graduate student. So much for my business-saavy childhood. To this I say: I am just maximizing the marginal acceptable technical substitution. I take gas-station coffee to gourmet, long hikes in the forest to nights on the town, and scrubby old track pants to dress up clothes any day. And the funny thing is this: if my thesis is to be believed, and if intangible assets actually can be valued, than the emotional recompense I get from the happiness of a frill-less lifestyle actually makes it more valuable than an ornate one!

Ad astra per aspera, I suppose, but the sightseeing is terrific!

The whole plot's connected to the... sub-plot

Maybe it's just me... but trying to grasp these experimental designs without some formal framework is killing me. It's just page after page of random designs and treatment designs, and I have this innate feeling that there's some kind of framework going on here, but it's not even strong enough in my head right now that I know what kind of question to ask...

It reminds me of looking at random bones vs. looking at a skeleton. You know, you could look at a tibia and a radius and they'd look pretty similar, if they were separate. But when you put them together you realize that actually one is a leg and the other an arm!

This is how I feel about experimental designs.

On a side note, today we went to fix the university vans at the CU Automotive shop. I talked my way out of driving the one without working brakes. Briefly, when that opportunity was *presented* I thought to myself "the tides have turned, and I am now a sacrificial zealot." Nonetheless, good people in authority here let me drive the safe van with brakes. I did not mention I am running a massive fever and have taken much cold medication... thankfully, it was a short drive. :)

Hailstorm

Really glad I'm working from home today!

Know what's fun?

...contour integrals are fun!

Actually, that's a lie.

Bleh.

I wonder if U.S. Airways will hook me up with free flights...

...on this.

Honda FTW!

A little friend?

Useful as I am, I have now uploaded a picture of one of my favorite FF characters, Vivi the Black Mage (yes, I FF Wiki'ed the name) from 9. As I have just learned, FF9 is the only one of the FF's to have black mage as a race as opposed to a job.