I went to school last night to do some work for my term paper. I needed the computer in my office. I guess I got to school around 10:15 and left a little more than 2 hours later. I was riding down the part of Call St. that is made of brick pavers and I noticed when passing by the Woodward parking garage that one of those emergency phone blue lights was flashing! I decided to take a detour up to Tennessee St. in case there was a legitimate problem. We got an email today saying that a skinny black guy & fat black girl told some guy walking that they had a gun and to give them his money. The email says this event happened right by the flashing emergency light I saw at 1:30am, but I don't think I was at school that late. It must have happened before 1:30am. The guy got away unscathed.
It's not like the campus is totally deserted that time of day, either. Certain parts have decent foot traffic. I know that there are dark corners and side paths, but I normally see Call St. populated with one person every hundred yards that time of day. I guess I have a small sample size and there could be a big variance, but I figure that someone else must have been around. At least nobody got hurt (especially me).
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
You Say It's Your Birthday
I had a good birthday. I got up and had cinnamon rolls like I always do on my birthday. They were doing some work on my house so I didn't get to sleep in, but I guess that's alright. I watched as they worked on the water heater, stove, and furnace. I had to go to my 2pm class and the inspection was at 3. I got back home before 4 and everything was up and running. I demoed it all and it all works well. Dan made pasta with meat sauce on the new stove. I watched it boil water. It didn't happen as fast as I had been imagining.
I was fielding phone calls & texts all day long on top of the facebook greetings. I feel loved (except by a couple people who I was expecting to hear from...that's not you, is it?? ;)... Looking back, I don't think I went running. I meant to. I guess time was flying away from me. I went to dinner (yes, dinner #2) with my roommates @ Bird's Aphrodisiac Oyster Shack. I was surprised to see some of Andrew's planning friends when we walked in, but I was really taken aback to see Sarah and some of her people & some economists waiting at another table!
Dan signed me up to karaoke the Beatles's Birthday Song. I don't know any of the words. The crowd seemed not to care. I got to shotgun a PBR after my karaoke performance. The rest of the night I had 3 duets (better if I'm not the only one singing!)...Semi-Charmed Life w/Jonathan, Promise by Eve6 w/Kristen, and the last song of the night: System of a Down's Sugar w/Dan (who added the awesome screaming vocals..."WHO" can believe you, "WHO" can believe you...)
We went home and had some more beer & pizza and I went to bed at 4. I woke up this morning around the time necessary to make it to my experimental reading group, but I think I was still drunk. I hadn't read the paper anyway so I decided that I'd skip it for once...it's not a real class anyway. I got up at noon and went for a nice 4 miler after sucking down a spoonful of Hammer Gel and another of peanut butter. I felt so much better after coming back & showering.
I was fielding phone calls & texts all day long on top of the facebook greetings. I feel loved (except by a couple people who I was expecting to hear from...that's not you, is it?? ;)... Looking back, I don't think I went running. I meant to. I guess time was flying away from me. I went to dinner (yes, dinner #2) with my roommates @ Bird's Aphrodisiac Oyster Shack. I was surprised to see some of Andrew's planning friends when we walked in, but I was really taken aback to see Sarah and some of her people & some economists waiting at another table!
Dan signed me up to karaoke the Beatles's Birthday Song. I don't know any of the words. The crowd seemed not to care. I got to shotgun a PBR after my karaoke performance. The rest of the night I had 3 duets (better if I'm not the only one singing!)...Semi-Charmed Life w/Jonathan, Promise by Eve6 w/Kristen, and the last song of the night: System of a Down's Sugar w/Dan (who added the awesome screaming vocals..."WHO" can believe you, "WHO" can believe you...)
We went home and had some more beer & pizza and I went to bed at 4. I woke up this morning around the time necessary to make it to my experimental reading group, but I think I was still drunk. I hadn't read the paper anyway so I decided that I'd skip it for once...it's not a real class anyway. I got up at noon and went for a nice 4 miler after sucking down a spoonful of Hammer Gel and another of peanut butter. I felt so much better after coming back & showering.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Red Hills 2009
I had an awesome race this weekend @ Red Hills Triathlon. It's the "toughest sprint in Florida" according to the race's website. It covers a 1/3 mile swim, 16 mile bike, and 5k run. It's capped around 300 participants and it fills up fast, well in advance of the race date. It is quite popular for good reason. Kathy McDaris is the race director and she makes everything run seamlessly.
I convinced my roommate Andrew to do the race. He loved it. It was cool having him there. We've trained together a little bit. He did really well for his first time with the exception of getting a 2 minute time penalty for "improper placement of equipment"...we still can't figure out what he did wrong. He had the advantage of borrowing my race number belt and practicing transitions with me on Friday after we got our packets and tried to run the course. I also gave him some of my power smoothie, very similar to what I made before the Tallahassee Marathon.
Before the race even started, I had some stuff going for me. I put the ISM racing saddle on my bike and a Blackwell Research 100mm tubular front wheel. As for me, I kicked ass. I beat last year's time by 4 minutes, 49 seconds. Compared to last year, I dropped about 30 seconds on the swim, 20 seconds on T1, 3:27 on the bike, 11 seconds on T2, and 16 seconds on the run. I'm sure some of the bike time savings came from weather conditions, my Rudy Project Syton helmet that I didn't have last year, the ISM seat, and the Blackwell wheel, but I think the biggest improvement was my diminished fear of flying down the hills. Last year I still had the crash fresh in my mind. This year I was a little less cautious.
The swim went well. I stayed on course very well. I did zig zag a tiny little bit on the return to shore, but it was minimal. T1 went very smoothly except my sunglasses were fogged up a little bit and I couldn't wipe them off. Turns out it wasn't fog, but something that had been on my lenses from the day before. Nasty. Obstructed my vision for the rest of the race. I couldn't wipe it off with my jersey because of the material and the dampness. Anyway, the bike handled very nicely and I avoided all the rocks in the road. The only downside was that the sun was directly in my eyes heading down Bannerman so I slowed down a little when I was blinded. I went back & forth with Mike from the FSU team on the bike. He entered T2 before me and left T2 before me, but I caught him within 1/4 mile on the run. After I passed him, I couldn't see anyone up ahead. When I got a chance to check behind me I noticed that there was nobody within striking distance. The next finisher was 8 seconds behind me. I got 2nd in my age group, 3rd for FSU, and 15/245 finishers overall.
I felt great and rode that high all day long. I'm reminded why I train.
I convinced my roommate Andrew to do the race. He loved it. It was cool having him there. We've trained together a little bit. He did really well for his first time with the exception of getting a 2 minute time penalty for "improper placement of equipment"...we still can't figure out what he did wrong. He had the advantage of borrowing my race number belt and practicing transitions with me on Friday after we got our packets and tried to run the course. I also gave him some of my power smoothie, very similar to what I made before the Tallahassee Marathon.
Before the race even started, I had some stuff going for me. I put the ISM racing saddle on my bike and a Blackwell Research 100mm tubular front wheel. As for me, I kicked ass. I beat last year's time by 4 minutes, 49 seconds. Compared to last year, I dropped about 30 seconds on the swim, 20 seconds on T1, 3:27 on the bike, 11 seconds on T2, and 16 seconds on the run. I'm sure some of the bike time savings came from weather conditions, my Rudy Project Syton helmet that I didn't have last year, the ISM seat, and the Blackwell wheel, but I think the biggest improvement was my diminished fear of flying down the hills. Last year I still had the crash fresh in my mind. This year I was a little less cautious.
The swim went well. I stayed on course very well. I did zig zag a tiny little bit on the return to shore, but it was minimal. T1 went very smoothly except my sunglasses were fogged up a little bit and I couldn't wipe them off. Turns out it wasn't fog, but something that had been on my lenses from the day before. Nasty. Obstructed my vision for the rest of the race. I couldn't wipe it off with my jersey because of the material and the dampness. Anyway, the bike handled very nicely and I avoided all the rocks in the road. The only downside was that the sun was directly in my eyes heading down Bannerman so I slowed down a little when I was blinded. I went back & forth with Mike from the FSU team on the bike. He entered T2 before me and left T2 before me, but I caught him within 1/4 mile on the run. After I passed him, I couldn't see anyone up ahead. When I got a chance to check behind me I noticed that there was nobody within striking distance. The next finisher was 8 seconds behind me. I got 2nd in my age group, 3rd for FSU, and 15/245 finishers overall.
I felt great and rode that high all day long. I'm reminded why I train.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
FSU Rankings
There is a paper that just came out which lists rankings for various econ programs across the country. FSU's Urban Economics program is ranked 7th in the nation! Dr. Ihlanfeldt came by my office yesterday to inform me of this and I can only say that it's good news to my ears.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Caught in Rain => Elevated Mood
I was a little disappointed when nobody showed up for my 7pm run tonight, but I ran a little on my own. I noticed that it wasn't monsooning like I thought it would be and decided to try to beat the rain home and take advantage of the remaining daylight. I had parked my bike under the protective cover of the business building, expecting it to rain while I was at school...turns out that the rain was lying in wait to ambush me on the way home. You're supposed to attack an ambush and that's exactly what I did. I was at Call & Stadium when it hit me. Gusting winds and forcible pelts from full sized drops. I had my pack cover on the backpack and my rain jacket on. My shorts and the contents of their pockets got soaked very soon. The rain blew in gusts, driving stinging needles of raindrops into my exposed skin.
When I got to Ocala, the water was gushing down the bike lane. I decided to ride on the sidewalk. Runoff was still traveling down the sidewalk, but not nearly with as much force. The current on the road looked like it could push my bike into the storm sewer or the traffic lane, depending on what it felt like. I was also concerned about visibility and getting hit by a car if I was on the road. There was one point when I was going downhill that the wind almost stopped my forward progress! I definitely had to downshift from the usual gears I ride.
While I was cutting through the neighborhood, a tree branch fell about 5 feet away from me as I was passing. I thought that it could just as easily have landed on my head. I was also reminded by this point that my brakes don't work as well when they (and the rims) are soaked.
I made it home without incident and discovered that I didn't even care that water had leaked into the gap between the pack cover and my backpack. I was drenched but my upper body had stayed dryer and warm enough due to my jacket. I was riding a high off this trip back home for about an hour after getting back home. Normally rainy days put people in a bad mood. I was elated. I mentioned to Dan upon my arrival that it was a beautiful day and he snickered...I was serious.
I've found in the past that getting caught in the rain can make me really happy. I guess it's usually not a good thing if you're on the way to a job interview or something. I think I enjoy the entrapment of a storm as long as it's not violently lightening and I'll be able to change into dry clothes when I get to where I'm going.
¡Viva el aguacero!
When I got to Ocala, the water was gushing down the bike lane. I decided to ride on the sidewalk. Runoff was still traveling down the sidewalk, but not nearly with as much force. The current on the road looked like it could push my bike into the storm sewer or the traffic lane, depending on what it felt like. I was also concerned about visibility and getting hit by a car if I was on the road. There was one point when I was going downhill that the wind almost stopped my forward progress! I definitely had to downshift from the usual gears I ride.
While I was cutting through the neighborhood, a tree branch fell about 5 feet away from me as I was passing. I thought that it could just as easily have landed on my head. I was also reminded by this point that my brakes don't work as well when they (and the rims) are soaked.
I made it home without incident and discovered that I didn't even care that water had leaked into the gap between the pack cover and my backpack. I was drenched but my upper body had stayed dryer and warm enough due to my jacket. I was riding a high off this trip back home for about an hour after getting back home. Normally rainy days put people in a bad mood. I was elated. I mentioned to Dan upon my arrival that it was a beautiful day and he snickered...I was serious.
I've found in the past that getting caught in the rain can make me really happy. I guess it's usually not a good thing if you're on the way to a job interview or something. I think I enjoy the entrapment of a storm as long as it's not violently lightening and I'll be able to change into dry clothes when I get to where I'm going.
¡Viva el aguacero!
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