Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Weather Woes
As an avid mountain biker, the recent mid-west weather has me in a dull mood. Since mountain biking is considered a rogue sport by many park and land owners, we always have to fight for trails. This is especially true in Michigan where the Department of Natural Resources gives preference to hikers, hunters, and even horse riders, before mountain bikers (MTBs). The common consensus by these other groups is that the only thing MTBs do is chew up the trails and destroy land. However, as a group, we probably devote the most time to both trail design, creation, and maintenance. The damage from MTBs primarily is a result from riding wet or muddy trails. Because of this, it is considered a no-no among real MTBs to ride during the spring thaw or after a rain. This is no easy task to most MTBs. We spend all winter dreaming of riding, and then all spring literally biting at the bit to get out there. It takes considerable self-control to put your own addiction second to the well-being of a trail. However, it is something we do because it not only improves our image among MTB critics, but also allows trails to be ridden longer. Now, as some of you may know, the weather this spring has been WET, wet as I can remember in all my years. It has thunderstormed almost everyday for the past 2 weeks, and doesn't look like it is going to ease-up any time soon. All I can do is look at my bike and pray to the weather gods that they will stop all this wet insanity. We'll see...
On a similar note, the fact that Bush is a mountain biker means he definitely gets my vote ;) I can relate to finishing a ride after a wipe-out, it commands a lot of respect. One time, I hit a rock and went flying over my handle bars. Except, I have these things called bar-ends on my handle bars that stick off of the ends and look like horns. They are used to increase rear wheel traction while climbing hills. However, here I am going over the handle bars, and guess what my groin happens to catch. Yep, the bar-ends. I never really thought of them as sexual offenders, but they got a good grab in there. I spent about 5 minutes curled in a ball on the ground, until I had to look tough in front of my friend Rob and finish the remaining 5 miles. Let's just say there was a lot of damage to the family jewels the next day... (don't worry everything is AOK now :) ) ... point being... Bush rules.
Michigan Mountain Bike Association
On a similar note, the fact that Bush is a mountain biker means he definitely gets my vote ;) I can relate to finishing a ride after a wipe-out, it commands a lot of respect. One time, I hit a rock and went flying over my handle bars. Except, I have these things called bar-ends on my handle bars that stick off of the ends and look like horns. They are used to increase rear wheel traction while climbing hills. However, here I am going over the handle bars, and guess what my groin happens to catch. Yep, the bar-ends. I never really thought of them as sexual offenders, but they got a good grab in there. I spent about 5 minutes curled in a ball on the ground, until I had to look tough in front of my friend Rob and finish the remaining 5 miles. Let's just say there was a lot of damage to the family jewels the next day... (don't worry everything is AOK now :) ) ... point being... Bush rules.
Michigan Mountain Bike Association
Finish Line
Here is a photo of me coming down the finish line during the traithlon. I thought it was pretty cool. FYI, the logo on my shirt is from La Universidad de Nebrija, the university I attended in Madrid.
The American Way
Toby Keith, a country singer, has had this song out for some time titled "Courtesy of the red, white, and blue." It is basically a patriotic ode in response to 9/11 that takes a simplistic view of world politics. It's a rah-rah, pump you up song, to go kick the rest of the world's ass. With lyrics like "Through our big black eye Man, we lit up your world like the Fourth of July," I find it so laden with ignorance that it is somewhat embarrassing to see Americans singing it. I love America as much as the next guy, if not more so. Especially since I have been out there and walked among the alternatives. Yet, I understand that everything America represents is not ideal, and the complexity of our actions on the world stage. I get the feeling this song appeals to the same people that root for Team X because it is from their town and "the best", whereas fans of Team Y are all morons and jerks (meanwhile they live 10 miles away). Ohh well, what can you do.
Anyways, I was watching some show on VH1 last night were the 50 most awesomely bad songs were being commented on and this was one of them. One comedian had a great point. The final and climatic lyric of Keith's song is;
"You'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A.
Cause, we'll put a boot in your ass
It's the American way"
The comedian's point was that this isn't the American way. The American way is to "make you think a boot in your ass is cool, and then sell it to you." I got a chuckle out of that.
Read the lyrics.
Anyways, I was watching some show on VH1 last night were the 50 most awesomely bad songs were being commented on and this was one of them. One comedian had a great point. The final and climatic lyric of Keith's song is;
"You'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A.
Cause, we'll put a boot in your ass
It's the American way"
The comedian's point was that this isn't the American way. The American way is to "make you think a boot in your ass is cool, and then sell it to you." I got a chuckle out of that.
Read the lyrics.
Friday, May 21, 2004
I wonder if the people who work at google ever look at the searches people do. All I get to see is the people who do searches and end up on my page for some reason, let me just say.... frightening!
P.S. The Brit looking for "blowing chunks mpeg" shame on you. Satisfy your sick sexual fetish, or whatever, somewhere else.
????????
P.S. The Brit looking for "blowing chunks mpeg" shame on you. Satisfy your sick sexual fetish, or whatever, somewhere else.
????????
Monday, May 17, 2004
Triathlon!!!!!!
For the past couple months I have mentioned that I was in the process of training for a triathlon. Well, it was last Sunday, and was awesome. Every year my college holds the triathlon and it is only open to faculty, students, and alumni. It is sprint distance, which consists of a 500 yard swim, 20K (13mi) bike, and 5k (3.1mi) run. Since freshman year I have wanted to take part in it, but have never had the time or motivation to actually train for it. I should add that endurance events are not exactly my forte. In high school I was a hurdler on the track team, so my sprints are decent, but I suck at long distance events.
So, the night prior to the triathlon I was awfully nervous, since I hadn't done all three events consecutively prior to the race. I ended up falling asleep around 1:30 am, and needed to get up at 6 am to be at the race by 7:30. When I woke up I ate a small bowl of Cheerios and drank a glass of water, so I would have something in my stomach and be hydrated. When I got to the race location, I set up all my stuff at the transition area, which consisted of my bike, bike shoes, running shoes, socks, shorts, short sleeved shirt, long sleeved shirt, and helmet.
I then headed to the college natatorium where the swimming portion was held. Since the pool is 25 yards long, I had to swim 20 lengths or 10 laps. The swim went really smooth. I felt like a machine and glided through the water almost effortlessly. I took me somewhere around 8:45 min for the swim portion, which was pretty much what I wanted. I could have gone faster, but didn't want to wear myself out too early. Of course, this is tortoise slow compared to the college swimmers in the triathlon who did the swim in 4-5 min. But hey, they train 9 months out of the year, they better kick my butt at it. Coming out of the pool I could feel that my muscles were loose and warmed up. I ran by my father, who counted my laps, and he handed me a towel and my prescription sunglasses. I then ran up to the transition area and despite the 50 degree weather and water in my ears, I was feeling good, better than I imagined.
At the transition area, I sat down and rolled on my socks. Damn, I put the one on upside-down, there goes 30 seconds, and put on my bike shoes. Then I threw on a long sleeved t-shirt, since it was still chilly out. Finally, I went to put on my helmet, then I noticed the chin-strap buckle sitting on the ground. There goes another minute as a try to get it back on the helmet. Eventually, I am off and heading uphill on the bike course. It took a little while for my legs to get used to the motion, but they came around. As I passed one girl she exclaimed, "oh my, what's wrong with your bike," in response to my wobbly rear wheel. I could only respond, "don't worry, it's fine, too much mountain biking." Which brings up an important point. The fact that I didn't have a road bike definitely sucked. While everyone else is cruising along on a 15 lb. bike that glides over the pavement, I am pushing 30 lbs. of beaten up mountain bike over the hills to the sounds of knobby tires slowing me down with every rotation. No doubt I could have shaved at least 10 min off my time if I had a road bike. Ohh well though. The truth is, I hate road biking. Not only is it boring in my opinion, but riding on the road is like playing Russian Roulette. I'll stick to the trails thank you very much. So, the bike went by rather mindlessly. There were some hills that really got the best of me, but I rode hard. And then there was the guy in a car who tried passing another car on the two-lane 55 mph road who was about 2 feet from hitting and killing me head-on. Thankfully I was in the zone enough that I didn't crap my pants.
As I pulled into the transition area I was still feeling pretty good. I set down my bike, took of my bike shoes, threw on some baggy shorts over my spandex (running in my spandex shorts didn't appeal to me), exchanged my long sleeved shirt for a t-shirt, grabbed a water bottle, and set out on the run. I walked out of the transition area at first, and then started jogging. I was really surprised, although my legs certainly felt like lead, they weren't nearly as bad as I expected. I don't know if it was the adrenaline, or the carbs from the previous night's dinner, but something was making a difference. Despite this, I am convinced they picked the hardest running course possible. It was 80% uphill, if that is even possible. Since the run consisted of two laps, my initial goal was to complete one before I took a walking break. Although the first lap got progressively more difficult, it was doable. When it came time for the second lap, I screamed to myself (inside my head), that I would not stop to walk. If I did that, I would only be disappointed in the end. This wasn't too much of a problem at first, however, halfway up the first hill it took every piece of willpower to put one foot in front of the other without stopping. The people on the course who clapped and cheered definitely provided motivation. As I approached the top of the last hill and knew it was all downhill to the finish, I began getting excited. The last 100 meters the sprinter in me took over and I ran as fast as I could up to the finish line. It was an amazing feeling to run through with people clapping an cheering. The fact that I could run so fast down the last stretch definitely meant I didn't go hard enough on the rest of the run, but oh well, it felt great. Jacqui thought I looked like a race horse coming down the stretch, haha.
My final time was 1:36.27 which I am very happy with. It is about the average time for a triathlon of this distance, and I was in the middle of the pack (men and women). Now that I am finished, I want to maintain my fitness level and hopefully continue to participate in other triathlons. I encourage all of you to try it. If interested, read Triathlon Training in Four Hours a Week by Eric Harr. It is a great introduction that explains how anyone can do it if they desire.
So, the night prior to the triathlon I was awfully nervous, since I hadn't done all three events consecutively prior to the race. I ended up falling asleep around 1:30 am, and needed to get up at 6 am to be at the race by 7:30. When I woke up I ate a small bowl of Cheerios and drank a glass of water, so I would have something in my stomach and be hydrated. When I got to the race location, I set up all my stuff at the transition area, which consisted of my bike, bike shoes, running shoes, socks, shorts, short sleeved shirt, long sleeved shirt, and helmet.
I then headed to the college natatorium where the swimming portion was held. Since the pool is 25 yards long, I had to swim 20 lengths or 10 laps. The swim went really smooth. I felt like a machine and glided through the water almost effortlessly. I took me somewhere around 8:45 min for the swim portion, which was pretty much what I wanted. I could have gone faster, but didn't want to wear myself out too early. Of course, this is tortoise slow compared to the college swimmers in the triathlon who did the swim in 4-5 min. But hey, they train 9 months out of the year, they better kick my butt at it. Coming out of the pool I could feel that my muscles were loose and warmed up. I ran by my father, who counted my laps, and he handed me a towel and my prescription sunglasses. I then ran up to the transition area and despite the 50 degree weather and water in my ears, I was feeling good, better than I imagined.
At the transition area, I sat down and rolled on my socks. Damn, I put the one on upside-down, there goes 30 seconds, and put on my bike shoes. Then I threw on a long sleeved t-shirt, since it was still chilly out. Finally, I went to put on my helmet, then I noticed the chin-strap buckle sitting on the ground. There goes another minute as a try to get it back on the helmet. Eventually, I am off and heading uphill on the bike course. It took a little while for my legs to get used to the motion, but they came around. As I passed one girl she exclaimed, "oh my, what's wrong with your bike," in response to my wobbly rear wheel. I could only respond, "don't worry, it's fine, too much mountain biking." Which brings up an important point. The fact that I didn't have a road bike definitely sucked. While everyone else is cruising along on a 15 lb. bike that glides over the pavement, I am pushing 30 lbs. of beaten up mountain bike over the hills to the sounds of knobby tires slowing me down with every rotation. No doubt I could have shaved at least 10 min off my time if I had a road bike. Ohh well though. The truth is, I hate road biking. Not only is it boring in my opinion, but riding on the road is like playing Russian Roulette. I'll stick to the trails thank you very much. So, the bike went by rather mindlessly. There were some hills that really got the best of me, but I rode hard. And then there was the guy in a car who tried passing another car on the two-lane 55 mph road who was about 2 feet from hitting and killing me head-on. Thankfully I was in the zone enough that I didn't crap my pants.
As I pulled into the transition area I was still feeling pretty good. I set down my bike, took of my bike shoes, threw on some baggy shorts over my spandex (running in my spandex shorts didn't appeal to me), exchanged my long sleeved shirt for a t-shirt, grabbed a water bottle, and set out on the run. I walked out of the transition area at first, and then started jogging. I was really surprised, although my legs certainly felt like lead, they weren't nearly as bad as I expected. I don't know if it was the adrenaline, or the carbs from the previous night's dinner, but something was making a difference. Despite this, I am convinced they picked the hardest running course possible. It was 80% uphill, if that is even possible. Since the run consisted of two laps, my initial goal was to complete one before I took a walking break. Although the first lap got progressively more difficult, it was doable. When it came time for the second lap, I screamed to myself (inside my head), that I would not stop to walk. If I did that, I would only be disappointed in the end. This wasn't too much of a problem at first, however, halfway up the first hill it took every piece of willpower to put one foot in front of the other without stopping. The people on the course who clapped and cheered definitely provided motivation. As I approached the top of the last hill and knew it was all downhill to the finish, I began getting excited. The last 100 meters the sprinter in me took over and I ran as fast as I could up to the finish line. It was an amazing feeling to run through with people clapping an cheering. The fact that I could run so fast down the last stretch definitely meant I didn't go hard enough on the rest of the run, but oh well, it felt great. Jacqui thought I looked like a race horse coming down the stretch, haha.
My final time was 1:36.27 which I am very happy with. It is about the average time for a triathlon of this distance, and I was in the middle of the pack (men and women). Now that I am finished, I want to maintain my fitness level and hopefully continue to participate in other triathlons. I encourage all of you to try it. If interested, read Triathlon Training in Four Hours a Week by Eric Harr. It is a great introduction that explains how anyone can do it if they desire.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Still Alive
Ok, I am still alive, at least in the sense that I am breathing, eating, and studying. This week has sucked, I have a big exam tomorrow in biochemistry that I am less than thrilled about. Also, I have spent a lot of effort trying to decide between Michigan State and Wayne State for med school. I need to decide by tomorrow, so I'll be sure to post it. Not to mention the triathlon is on Sunday. I apologize for the lack of intriguing political commentary, time is just running short right now.
Ohh yeah, I flew down to El Paso last Friday on 1 days notice to spend the weekend with my sister and her family. It was nice to see her graduate and the desert weather couldn't be beat, especially since they have a pool.
Ok, back to the books, check back tomorrow for the announcement of where I will spend the next 4 years of my life.
Ohh yeah, I flew down to El Paso last Friday on 1 days notice to spend the weekend with my sister and her family. It was nice to see her graduate and the desert weather couldn't be beat, especially since they have a pool.
Ok, back to the books, check back tomorrow for the announcement of where I will spend the next 4 years of my life.
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Run to the Border
Nope, not to Taco Bell. My sister who lives in El Paso with her husband and three kids (she's 12 years my senior) is graduating tomorrow. Originally just my mom, dad, and grandmother were going down to visit. The graduation is on Friday mind you. Wednesday Jacqui comes into class and goes, so do you want to go down to El Paso for the weekend. It turns out there were deals on flight for $200 which is a bargain for a round-trip with no stops. So, it looks like I'll be basking in that big 98 degree sandbox I lovingly call El Paso. Should be a blast, I get to see my nieces and nephew.
Lex a couple days ago was gloating about the San Diego weather, target="NewWindow">"Now, if you're peering in from you sun-drenched, dust-filled living room in Bakersfield or El Paso, you're probably not very sympathetic to us suffering under 85 degree temperatures with low humidity." I guess I'll let you know how sympathetic I am in a couple days.
Lex a couple days ago was gloating about the San Diego weather, target="NewWindow">"Now, if you're peering in from you sun-drenched, dust-filled living room in Bakersfield or El Paso, you're probably not very sympathetic to us suffering under 85 degree temperatures with low humidity." I guess I'll let you know how sympathetic I am in a couple days.
Gmail
As a Blogger member, which is owned by Google, I was offered the opportunity to try out Gmail. Presently there is quite a bit of controversy over the service, which plans to provide 1 Gig. of memory to each user for free, something that is completely unheard of. This is 500 times what Hotmail, or 250 times what Yahoo extends to their users for free. However, it's not all give, the take comes in the form of automated bots which scan the email in search of keywords. These keywords will then be used to trigger what adds are placed within the email. This is nothing new, the same thing happens everytime you use Google as a search engine, or have a Blogger blog. Just look at the top of this page, notice the add... it relates to something I have written here. However, the only difference is that my internet searches, and this blog are hardly private information. If I wanted to keep this blog to myself, it wouldn't be out there for all to read. Yet, when I get my emails there may be personal information in them.
So, although I have about 10 email accounts, no joke, I decided I might as well check this out. It seems to be a personal mission of mine to try and hoard whatever email addresses I can that contain my name. I missed out in terms of internet domains, and now some other guy has a website in my name. grrrrrr... Anyways, the fact I would sign up for Gmail is kind of ironic considering I have a Hushmail account, which is basically a highly encrypted email account. I encourage anyone who regularly sends private information to a single person to both get a Hushmail account. It's free; it automatically provides 128 bit encryption between two users, it relies on a pass phrase, not password, and it does not transmit you IP address with your messages. Back to Gmail, at the worst I will use it to store files on the internet. A 1 Gig harddrive online isnt such a bad thing.
So, although I have about 10 email accounts, no joke, I decided I might as well check this out. It seems to be a personal mission of mine to try and hoard whatever email addresses I can that contain my name. I missed out in terms of internet domains, and now some other guy has a website in my name. grrrrrr... Anyways, the fact I would sign up for Gmail is kind of ironic considering I have a Hushmail account, which is basically a highly encrypted email account. I encourage anyone who regularly sends private information to a single person to both get a Hushmail account. It's free; it automatically provides 128 bit encryption between two users, it relies on a pass phrase, not password, and it does not transmit you IP address with your messages. Back to Gmail, at the worst I will use it to store files on the internet. A 1 Gig harddrive online isnt such a bad thing.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
:_ (
Well it was a sad night, the Red Wings lost the series against Calgary tonight 0-1, with about 30 seconds left in the first period of OT. What can I say, Calgary was hungry and wanted it more, and I suppose they deserve the right to continue on to a potential Stanley Cup. As for the Wings, the off-season should be interesting, change is in the air.
